'now what dodge has the fellow been up to?' said walters. 'if he is skulking in this myrtle patch, hoping to double back to the creek, he is mistaken. unless he has passed my men on the plain, which isn't likely, we'll soon have him.'

i observed stevenson looking round for pothook, but that youth had prudently slipped off. we afterwards questioned him as to what took place when he and peel met each other. it seems that, cut off from his only chance, the scrub on one side of the creek, and informed, by the way, that the bed of it lower down was guarded, the black had for a few moments given up all hope of escape. he looked in despair between the trunks of the yarra trees towards the out-station hut, which lay a quarter of a mile off, hidden in a belt of myrtle and quandong bushes, some three or four hundred yards long, and extending across the bend so as to shut out the view of the great plain beyond. that plain, he knew, was carefully guarded, and, moreover, it led to the home station. but as he looked he saw an object which excited a gleam of hope, and inspired him with a desperate resolve. the sunken tree was some distance back from where he stood, and to avoid showing his return traces he jumped into the water and swam to it, emerging in the manner described, while the boy took to the creek, intending to remain concealed under the surface until the danger which he fancied menaced himself passed by. in going towards the hut, peel ran no danger of being seen by the black stationed by the mallee, for on such a level plain the yarra trees which fringed the water-hole completely screened from those at a distance on one side whatever passed on the other side of the creek.

the open space between the part of the banks where we now stood and the belt of small timber above mentioned, was less than a quarter of a mile, and while the blacks who had been swimming in the water-hole were dressing themselves, walters galloped across it, and through the bushes and on to the large plain beyond, to see whereabouts his sentries were. he could see two, who were riding up and down just within sight of each other, while between and beyond them, far out, was the shepherd with his flock. there was not a bush to conceal the view, and far away, by the edge of the distant timber, the blacks and their guard were still in sight, on their way to the home station. the timber opened opposite to him, and through this opening he could see miles away on to another plain beyond. the road from the punt to the upper part of the river passed that way, and came up to near where he stood, crossing the creek near the out-station hut, and going through a narrow portion of the mallee, which had been cleared for the purpose. on this road, at a considerable distance off, was a solitary horseman, apparently riding to the home station.

meanwhile the blacks had again taken up the trail, which led straight to the brush in which the hut was concealed. just before we reached the edge of this, walters joined us again.

'i can't make the fellow out,' he said; 'he can't have crossed the plain; and if he is skulking here, we shall soon have him.'

the sentry across at the mallee had been called over, and, with another man, now watched in the open, to give notice if peel doubled out and made back tracks for the creek again; and we proceeded to enter the bushes of quandong and myrtle. all at once there was a commotion amongst the trackers, who sprang to their horses, shouting something to walters, who thereupon raged and stormed; and no wonder. the distant horseman he had a few minutes before seen was the very man he was after.

'has either of your men here got a horse?' he asked the superintendent hastily.

'yes,' replied stevenson (who, i suspected, had been for some time aware of the trick peel had played), 'the shepherd has one. he bought it to shepherd his flock with on these level plains, as he was always losing his sheep. he is a very little man, and consequently could only see a short distance.'

'but he hadn't it to-day, had he?'

'no. the fact is, he was taken in, knowing nothing about horses, and bought a thorough buck-jumper, who pitched him off as fast as he got on. and the brute won't let you catch him in hobbles; so, as he expects to sell it again, he keeps it tethered about the hut handy. i am afraid,' added stevenson to me, as walters, too impatient to listen further, spurred on after his men,—'i am afraid that vagabond has been up to some mischief. i hope watkins, the hut-keeper here, is all right. peel would be desperate, and not stick at a trifle in the fix he was in. i suspected what he had been up to.'

'so i thought,' i replied, as we rushed on after the trackers.

just as they reached the hut door, a man was crawling out on his hands and knees. this turned out to be the hut-keeper, who was covered with blood, which had flowed from a wound on his head.

'why, bill! what's the matter?' said the superintendent. 'did peel do that?'

'oh, is that you, mr. stevenson?' said the man, looking up at our party, and raising himself with difficulty. 'yes, it was; are you after him?'

'yes, we are; but how came you to let him do that?'

'you had best put your men on his track at once, mr. walters. he's got king's horse.'

'we know he has, the villain!' said walters, as he directed the three trackers to follow instantly (peel was still in sight, but soon disappeared in the timber), while he and the rest waited behind a few moments to hear the hut-keeper's account of the attack made on him, which he gave as i bound up his wound.

it appeared that, while engaged in his usual morning work of shifting the hurdles, after the flock had gone out at daylight, he saw some one riding (as he thought) through the bushes towards his hut, and left his work to see who it was. to his surprise, he found the shepherd's horse, which he himself had tethered out that morning at the edge of the myrtle, tied to the door, but immediately concluded that the man himself had come for it, as he was daily expecting to sell it, and that perhaps the intending purchaser had joined him while with his flock. he therefore entered the hut quite unsuspiciously; but it was apparently empty. while turning round, he was felled by a blow with his own gun; and, staggering forwards, fell close to his bed. he was not entirely stunned, and instantly rolled himself underneath it. at first he thought that peel (whom he had recognised) was going to drag him out and finish him, but the black was in too great a hurry. he stayed long enough, however, to saddle the horse, and load himself with the tea and sugar bags, as well as the flour and half a damper which was on the table. moreover, the man found that he had taken down his looking-glass, which hung on a nail in the wall. his object in doing this was that he might whiten his face with the dirty outside of the flour bag. with a cabbage-tree hat and a shooting coat which he put on, at a distance he would not look like a black, and he could pass the sentries unsuspected. in fact, we heard afterwards from them that he went between them, walking, and leading his horse, and pretending to read an old newspaper he had picked up off the table in the hut. it was so natural that a passing horseman coming from higher up the river should call at the out-station, and he turned his whitened, or rather whitey-browned, face towards them both so coolly, that, disguised as he was in hat and coat, and having the horse as well, it was no wonder that, at several hundred yards distance, they should be deceived.

i felt rather queer when i saw the hut-keeper's condition, and reflected that, had he been killed, i should have been indirectly the cause of his death. and what if the black, driven to desperation, committed more murders? there was no chance now of their catching him. he was making straight for the large reed-bed, which extended miles down the river below the head station.

'i don't see the use of following him any longer. he has got off clear!' said stevenson, after we had gone some miles. 'upon my word, he deserves his liberty too.'

we at last reached the reeds, and followed the traces along their margin, thick timber with brush being on our right. in passing the head station all but two of the most expert of the troopers were sent away. with these, the superintendent, walters, and i, continued the chase, although with very slight hopes of capturing the fugitive, now that he had succeeded in reaching the neighbourhood of the reedy swamps, which communicated with the main body of the mallee, extending in the direction of south australia for hundreds of miles down the river.

'dodged me once more!' said walters. 'oh, if i had only thought of telling one of my men to call as he passed the hut where he stole the horse! we should have had him, for they would have been on the look-out. but now— what's the matter, doolibut?'

the track had hitherto led for several miles in a straight line, parallel with the river; but now the leading black pulled up his horse and looked about him. the hoof-marks had changed their character, and swerved from their former course, zigzagging in different directions; these signs indicating that a severe struggle had here taken place between the horse and his rider.

'his horse has been playing up!' said the superintendent. 'these are the marks made by his hack jumping about. i wonder the beast went so far with the black on his back without doing so before, for he is a regular brute. no one on the station will ride him.'

it seemed, however, that peel had conquered, for presently the tracks of the horse once more galloping were taken up, and we followed them on. but again we came to the marks of a struggle; and these increased in number at every mile or so, until we came to a place about half a mile from the scrub for which the black was making, and where the reeds and the timber, mingled with brush, approached each other closely. we were passing along a narrow, winding opening or path between these, having the reeds on our left, when once more the leading black pulled up, and after a brief glance at the ground, dismounted.

the sandy, loose soil on which the trees grew was margined by and intermingled with the soft boggy ground on which were the reeds, here five or six feet in height, and very dense. the spot was thickly overgrown with ferns and small bushes, which in several places were broken and trampled, while the ground was deeply imprinted with hoof-marks. besides these, however, the blacks evidently saw other signs; for, pointing to one particular place, and speaking eagerly to each other, they stooped down to examine it more narrowly; and then, walking on a few steps, came to the foot of an immense tree, which, growing on the very margin of the swamp, had one portion of its roots bathed by its waters, there being hardly room for a man to pass between the reeds and the trunk on that side. on the other were some bushes, which concealed the view immediately beyond.

'why, there is the horse!' said the superintendent suddenly, pointing to the right amongst the trees. 'he has left it, and taken to the swamp on foot. he's safe now.'

the two blacks paused and raised themselves up as he spoke; and, following the direction in which stevenson pointed, one of them walked forward a few paces to look. he stood a single instant, and was in the act of turning to rejoin his companion, when a puff of smoke rose beyond the bushes, we heard a report, and saw him fall to the earth. he was shot right through the heart.

the other trooper, knowing that peel's gun was a single barrel, and that he had now no charge left, ran round the bushes to fire; and stevenson and i rode in the same direction. beyond these bushes was a small open space, margined on one side by a pool of water. half in this water and half out lay an immense prostrate tree; and sitting on the ground, leaning his back against this, was bobby peel. he knew that his last hour was come, for he had evidently made up his mind to die. he had delayed too long leaving his horse, for the animal had at length succeeded in throwing him; and in the fall he came on one of the roots of this large tree, and his leg was broken. he had dragged himself round to the edge of the pool, probably for the purpose of obtaining a drink of water, to assuage the thirst which is always the greatest torture in such calamities.

the dead tree against which he was leaning was that kind of eucalyptus the bark of which is cellular, and very thick. this bark had peeled off the trunk, and lay in great hard dry flakes by its side; and the black had employed himself in breaking up this heavy, brittle material into pieces about the size of a cheese-plate. several heaps thus prepared lay ready to his hand on both sides of him. he was busy in reloading his gun; and for a few moments, from my horse's back, i had an opportunity of noticing these particulars, for, owing to the dense brush which surrounded the place in which he was, it was some little time before the troopers could fairly approach him.

'take him alive, mr. walters,' i urged. 'don't let your fellow shoot him. tell him to surrender, and lay down his gun, stevenson.'

but walters was naturally much incensed at the loss of his man, and felt very little inclination to do anything of the kind; and to the superintendent's summons the black replied by a volley of curses and imprecations against all white men,—in the midst of which the trooper fired, and the ball passed through peel's chest.

the gun, which was nearly reloaded, fell from his hands, and walters dismounted and walked forward to take possession of it. but the moment he appeared within the little open space the black, seizing a handful of the pieces of heavy bark, hurled them edgeways at his head and face with a rapidity and certainty of aim perfectly wonderful. the first piece he flung struck walters across the forehead; and piece followed piece in such quick succession that the lieutenant was compelled to turn his back while he drew and cocked his pistol. for some time he found it impossible to aim, so unerringly did the missiles come rapping at him; but when at length he fired the black fell dead.

years have passed, but all the incidents of that exciting and tragic chase are still fresh in my memory. the fierce strength of that last terrible effort almost appalled us, and we were loud in our regrets that so much skill and endurance should come to such an end. times have changed since then, but it remains a reproach to our civilisation that the aboriginal races are fast vanishing before it. at the same time, there is cause for thankfulness that the efforts of christian benevolence have not been in vain on behalf of the natives. there are still occasional outrages, but reckless treatment of the blacks is now held in check by a healthier public opinion.