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930 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,
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¦UGEX8 AND SHADOWS OF AUSTRALIAN UFE. JL...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The French In Algeria. The Tricolor On T...
TheTrench pttMic , reading the account of those proceedings , believed the general had done a boW . deecl . But the Arabs looked at it from the contrary point of view . They saw only a humiliation of the French general , the act of a servant , like that when Emperor Barbarossa held the stirrups of the Pope . It was half-past six -when the conversation came to a close : the son was hidden behind clouds . Abd-el- Kader , without looking : back , vaulted on his horse , and galloped at full speed up the hill ; his hundred and fifty chieftains followed him . The army , which until now had remained motionless , uttered a long protracted yell , Which began at the foot of the mountains , and rolled upwards like the surge of the tide . A sudden clap of thunder , xe-echoed by the mountains , heightened the sublimity of the effect . If our readers , from this specimen , desire to know more of the scenes which grow out of the narrative of the Conquest of Algeria , we must now refer . them from our pages to the pages of Doctor Wagner and Mr . Pulszky .
930 The Leader. [Saturday ,
930 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
¦Ugex8 And Shadows Of Australian Ufe. Jl...
¦ UGEX 8 AND SHADOWS OF AUSTRALIAN UFE . JLigJite and Shadows of Jdsistralian lJfe . By Mrs . Charles Clacy . Hurst and Elacketr . Books about Australia are always welcome—if it were only as a relief tfrom the avalanches of literature about the seat of-war , the -variety would 3 be agreeable . But there is somethin g more than that in real downright Australian adventure from an eye-witness . It has been said that if any snan , evenin dh & old world , simply wrote the story of his life , there would lie something worth Toiowing related . But Australia is just now the land of practical romance , and no one can go into the hush without having moving incidents to & ell . The gold-diggings nave had all sorts of amecdotists ^ and a -jear ago . *•• . A . Lady ' s Visit" to these regions was likely enough to be accepted
jas a aiovelty , evenrbefbre it was read ; when read its intrinsic merits at once stamped it ^ ith public -approbation ••; and Mrs . Clacy must have been ^ ss uTed 1 fest further contributionsi from her notes of experiences ¦ would be nvorthily ackncjwledged , Accordingly she makes a second appearance in JLig 7 itsan & Shadows of Australian Life . The form she has chosen is that of ishiort -stories or noveleties—a defective form in dealing with such materials — but interwoven with fiction is a vast variety of realities which constitute . jgrapbic pictures x > f Australian life , still and active . They are touched with sa skilful And , notwithstanding its being only Mrs . Clacy ' s second essay , a tolerably practised hand .
. We submit such , extracts as our space allows : A wayfarer in the bush ifaas parted from his caravan , and meets with a companion :- — He bowsat upon the ground arid thought over Jhis situation—little need to say 5 t was an ^ unenviable one . He recalled the stories he had lately heard of the bushrangers—what if he should encounter them ?—and whilst bis thoughts were thus occupied he -wasstartled by a ssonnd apparently not far distant . * If not an animal , " said he to himself , "it is a human being from whom those sounds proceed , 'I must sell , my life as dearly as I can ; for none but desperate people would inhabit ithis wild and . dreary forest , " The sounds approached nearer 5 George gazed intently into the bush , and then perceived the figure of a man advancing towards him . He -was unarmed , and came forward with some f light hesitation ,-as if himself nncertain as to whom he might have to encounter ; but this , in the excitement ofthe moment , escaped George ' s observation . He remarked only that the stranger was '¦«• tall , powerful man ; arid , but for the superiority of his possessing firearms , tGeoxge would not have felt over confident as to the result of a close conflict -with him . How ¦ . jnany comrades he might have in ambush was a consideration of a rather disagreeable . nature .
As this rapidly passed through his mind , he thought it advisable to stop the nearer approach of tho stranger—at least till he had learned something respecting him ; therefore assuming as well as possible the manner of one accustomed to the bush and to deal with '• bushrangers , h « cried out : — " Whoareyou ?" u The same man you robbed and pretty nearly murdered three days ago , and IVo been living in this forest ever since , though it ' s a precious sight inore like dying . You'll get nothing more out of me , bo > , if you mean to shoot me , get it over at once . " " Who the d « vil do you take me for ? " cried out George , who had been so astonished at 4 hc first portion of the speech that he remained silent until it was concluded . " A bushranger , to be sure ; though 1 must confess you're rather & more re & pectablelooking one than usual . " " If you meet with . no worse people than myself , you'll not hurt , " replied George , laughin" -: and he then related his mishap in losing his way . A very few minutes suffice to make people friends in the bush—no standing upon etiquette or requiring to be introduced there ; and Georgo soon learned tlie misfortunes of his new acquaintance , which completely throw his own into the shade . t \ stocic to lllawarra settler
o was -Kceper an , and had been to Campbeltown to receive some anoney . for his master . On his way home he had been beset by a party of four bushrangers robbed , knocked about , and probably would have been murdered , had not something diverted their attention and made them hurry away , leaving him upon the ground ( as they most likely thought dead ) , stunned and greatly injured by their blows . Left alone xn the bush plundered of o \ eiy article that could have been of service to him , starvation appeared inevitable ; and such would possibly have been his miserable fate had not ho stumbled on hia clasp-knife , winch providentially had dropped from him in the scufflo . and remained unnoticed on the ground . By means of this ho , with somo difficulty killed . an opossum , which , although bad eating , was better than nothing ; and this , with the tree , g ? ut > s , or maggots , and a few snakes , had been all on which ho had subsisted for the last tlirce days . " But , thank God , " ho added , " I'll have somo kangaroo steak before sunset : " and at this anomont a large one . came springing through the brushwood , and boundod on before them •¦ J . here s * boqmah I—soinethinfi like a kangaroo , thut : " and whilst snvintr this he suntr . luvl
$ ne > gun trow too band of George—levelled—fired ; and the animal , though mortally wounded ctill aprane on through the forest—the- two pursuing it . ' Gradually the bounds became slower and more wcalf , and at length , with ono convul * ivo spring , it fell dead upon the ground . " What a noble followr said the strangor , as , panting with tlio chase , Ui « y reached tlie spot whoro it had fallen ; " why , he ' s a regular ' old man kangaroo' mid must have . stood pretty nigh nix foot . And now let ' s carry him , to where wo mot , and cook oursffloives H good breakfast . " The kangaroo conveyed to Goorgo ' a camping-place , ho , with true bush freemasonry , took possession of Georgia knife , and , cutting somo ato ^ lca from the logs—tho titbit of . tlio animal—prepared to cook them . George busied himself in kindling « , Ore , and , tho wood being dry , it Boon became a heap or . red-hot embers , upon which tho steaks wore placed ; this , with water from tho atrcani , qualified by a little of tho brandy , formed , to tUem , a moat dolicioua ropast . An attacJc by Bushrangers is a natural Australian even !; : —
" Supposo we divide arms a httlo , In cano of an attack . How aro we off for powder ?" * Flunk full , « w » d < mot * bng ditto , " Baid George , congratulating himself on having filled . tliem botoro louviog tko baUock-drivers ; " . and auto bullets , hero aro nineteen ami plenty ¦ of percussion-capa and wadding . " * ' A division « fjarma now took place ; and being thus , to a certain extent , pronsired for all bazarda , they turned their thoughts to getting out of the forest . "That animal ;" aaidT-om , looking ; at tho horse , " will bo rather in tho way for ten to e » o wo have tofbrco a road-through tlio nndorwood . However , ho must carry tho best part * tf ttw kangaroo aa long nsJiro can keep him with us . Now , whore's tho mm ? I eeo—wo
nrust strike off here" ( pointingto the right ) , " and take some object in our eye , or we shall never keep a straight path . That great tree j'onder , bigger than its mates , will just doaad when we ' ve reached that , we'll take another observation , as the sailors say . Now let ' s be off , in ease Colney or his mates have seen our smoke . " " ' " I see you ' re accustomed to the bush , " said George . " I ' ve had more than twenty years of it , and this last ihree days roaming by myself so that I ought to know something of it . " ' u I am only surprised that you did not get out of the forest before you met me . " " 'Why , it ' s the difference of being starved or eating a hearty meal . My first thon ^ hf after I recovered my senses , was to get food , and so I wandered about no one knows wliere Butit ' s an awful thing to be lost in the bush alone , even if you have plenty of provender with you . " " I know that , " said George ; " I felt it yesterday ; I seemed in a sort of dreamy bewilderment—rnot knowing where to turn , and apparently unable to concentrate my thoughts—"
" Hush ! " interrupted the other ; and he flung himself upon the ground , where his well-practised ear could better distinguish between the boundings of an animal and the footsteps of man . " It ' s gone , whatever it was , " said he , as lie regained his feet . " I can't help fancying those bushrangers are banging about . " " They seem to have given you a terrible fright . " " True , " returned Tom , " I don ' t mind owning it . I am in a mortal fear of them ; and so you'd be , if you knew their leader . " 41 Who is he ?" " Colney , to be sure- ; and , as a specimen of his character , I'll tell you his last known exploit before molesting me . He ' s a convict , you must know ; most , if not all , of these bushranging vagabonds are runaway convicts ; and Colney was Government servant to a settler near— - — . Well , he did something wrong ; what , is more than I ' ve heard ; and he was had up before the nearest magistrate , and sentenced to twenty-five lashes . That put his blood up ; he swore he'd be revenged on his mistress , for she'd been the main hand in getting the master to punish him , and dearly she paid for it in the end . He did ' nt make much secret of his revengeful wishes , so he was watched pretty close ; and they'd have
returned him to Government , but work was heavy at the time , and hands few . " Well , ¦ what does he do one day but watches his opportunity and murders the poor mistress , and then , as he knew he was always well looked after wben outside the house , he strips the poor woman's dress from her—horrible , wasn ' t it—puts ifc on somehow about himself , and her large sunbonnet and cloak , and walks out as cool as you can believe . Colney ' s a small tuin mannot a great fellow , as you ' d imagine hiin to be—and he actually passed by some other servants without so much as their guessing who it was , and , they say , within two or three hundred yards of the master himself . However , to cut my story short , he got clear off , and the clothes were found afterwards where he'd pitched them away ; and there ' s a nice reward out for him , I guess . " Now , although Tom . rather enjoyed telling the story—which he did in a mysterious undertone , and with constant interruptions for the sake of listening—it Was not a very inspiriting one for George to hear ; and he b > egan to think that in the bush , "discretion was the better part of valour , " particularly when such sanguinary mortals as Colney were likely to be encountered .
" Still you may be mistaken , " said he , " as to his heading the party who attacked you . " " Mistaken?—Not I ; Colney ' s easy to he known , and that helps to make him desperate I believe . It ' s a wonder and a miracle that he didn't jut an end to me ; but they must have heard something , or had other business in hand . " . " Well , but how is he known so readily ? " demanded George . "I'm rather curious to have a personal description of this redoubtable monster . " " I ' m no band at your personal . descriptions . Colney ' s easy to tell by a great red scar right across Ms forehead ; except that , he ' s not so bad-looking when lie ' s not in a rage , and then—Oh Lord ! " and he suddenly stopped . George did the same ; and both could distinguish a rustling noise near them , and now and again the fall of a footstep , or even of more than one . To say that his heart did not throb mor « violently than usual would be contrary to the truth ; but George was as bravo as he was adventurous , and , after the first moment of surprise , it was the excitement of danger , not the fear of it , that occasioned its quickened
pulsations . Nor was Tom deficient in courage ; less daring than liis companion he certainly was , but lie had genuine English blood in his veins , and needed only tho stimulus of a comrade to make him strong enough to engage two together . " Now , " said George , " we'd better get on , and not stand like targets to be shot at . " " They ' ve only one gun among them , and that Colney uses . " " Then let us move on—the nearer we can got to the edge of the forest the better ; " and for an hour or more they pursued their wa ^ , occasionally pausing , as before , to listen—sometimes catching , they thought , tbo sound of footsteps ; tsometimes hearing only tho rustliii" - of the leaves or the movements of the birds . " Here they are I" cried Tom , suddenly , as a gun was fired , and the bullet came whistling close past his ear . " We must plant our backs against something , and iiro at them carefully when they appear . All we have- to dread is being ovoxpowered by numbers if we get to close quarters ; but v / e ' re better arm « d ; " and as he said this , George cast his eye round for a suitable
stand . He espied a largo rock , against which they now planted themselves , having first tied tho horse to a tree close by . " I wish they'd come on at once . " " No fear—they'll be hero soon enough tor me ; and if that Colney only aims as he usually does , ono of us might just as well have oaten no kangaroo—it was a great waste to kill tho poor animal . " George , dospitp tho clangor in which ho Btood , could not forbear a sniilo at the pathetic tone in which this was said ; but it soon gave placo to a graver expression as two balls came through tho air , ono of which loft a Viicaney in tho low crown of his bread-brimmed straw hat .
" ^ Ventilation gratis—lucky Fin onl y Jive feet ten , " said ho , looking as unconcerned as possible , for he saw that Tom was ruthor dispirited at tlio double discharge . ' If wo could but sco the scoundrels , instead of only hearing their bullets , and d— it , feeling them too , " Tom added , as another shot told upon his loft shoulder . " Uhoy havo more thnn ono gun . that ' s evident . " " Killed some poor dovil , I'll bo bound . " "Ah , thoro ' s an aim 1 " and George fired with such good effucit that tho advancing figure foil . It was Colnoy himself ; and , his log being wounded by tho shot , lie , having managed to raise himself to his I ' eot , liinpqd awuy to liis former lurking-place , and for a sjiort tmio no further attack was rrmdo . " What can tho rascals bo up to now ? " inquired Georgo . " You know their ways better than I do ; ahould you fancy tlxoy have given us up nu a bud job ?" " Not with Colnoy nt thoir h « s » d ; and I fancy that chap you hit was him . " " Tho groator roauon for their leaving ub . " "Littleyou . know , Colnoy—he's a very dovil for rovongo ; and you're a marked man witU him from this hour . "
" Then I suppose wo shall hear or fool Homothing of them in u minute . " " If that animal would carry ua now , wo might havo a chunco , " mud Tom , and ho advanced towards tho homo . " VVliy , he ' n Ininud . " It was true : a ttliot hud struck ono of his fore logs . Whilat examining tho extent of tho injury , which , after all , was but slight , I . ho discharge ) of a gun Bent Tom back to tho rock . BoTeral ehotH now whizzicd past without taking any effect , for , as there wan a slightly cleared spacu bol ' ore thorn , tho bushrangora , in order tu proteot their own portions , remained among tho troos , mid were too far oil" to take an oxuet aim . But another oxpediont proved more huccchbCuI . ltaforu tlio oohooB of tho Inst nhotn hud died away , n slight noise above him made Georga east up Iiih oyo » , and ono glance revealed tho mischief tlioy ' planned and executed during tho tinio thuy had loft thorn un iiioloJlcd .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30091854/page/18/
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