pply
us, and to take back, without charge, anything that remained at the
expiration of the trip. All difficulties being thus disposed of, we
were left at liberty to make our own private arrangements, until one
o'clock, by which time the 'Daylight' would have laid in her water,
etc., and be ready to start.

But I must now say something of the party itself, which we were
compelled to limit to ten men, inclusive of the native police. These
consisted of the pilot and his crew of two men, Mr. Dunmore, the
officer in command of the police, with the two troopers, Ferdinand and
Cato, three volunteers, and myself. Where all were anxious and willing
to aid in the good task, it would have been invidious to select, and
the volunteers drew lots from a bag in which all were blanks but three,
the gainers of these lucky numbers becoming members of the party.

One other addition we had, and right yeoman's service she did, for it
was a 'she', reader as the sequel will prove. About eighteen months
before, the troopers had visited Hinchinbrook Island, to recover stolen
property, and in one of the native camps had found an exceedingly
pretty gin of some fourteen summers. The personal charms of this coy
nymph of the forest had proved too much for the susceptible heart of
Ferdinand, who, regarding her as his lawful prize, had borne her, irate
and struggling, to the boat, from whence she was in due course
transported to the police camp (mounted on the pommel of the saddle in
front of the adventurous swain), where, in a very short time she became
perfectly at home, and under the name of Lizzie, made Ferdinand a
remarkably pleasant wife.

Certainly the blacks are a curious race, the like of which was never
before seen under the sun. For two days after Lizzie's arrival in
camp, she refused to speak or eat; for the next two days she ate
everything she could lay her hands on, but still kept an unbroken
silence; and for another two days, whenever she was not eating, she
"yabbered" so much and so fast that the other gins looked on aghast,
unable to get a word in edgewise, so continuous was the flow of
Hinchinbrook vituperation. On the seventh day, as if by magic, she
brought her tirade to a close, went down to the creek with the other
gins to fetch water, cooked her husband's supper, appeared perfectly
reconciled to her change of life, and henceforth, from her sharpness,
the aptitude with which she picked up the broken English in which the