ough it is still warm. We go up to the farmhouse, having hung our
horses' reins over the rail, and saunter in through the back door.
Here no handing in of cards is required, for we know we are sure of
being made welcome; and in Australia hospitality is boundless. We
taste the grapes, which are just ripe, and wash them down with a glass
of home-brewed mead. But beware of that mead! Though it looks very
innocent, it is really very strong and heady.

The farmer then took us into his barn, and proudly pointed with his
heavy whip to the golden grain piled up on the floor; then over his
stable, to look at his horses. There we found our own nags, which had
been taken in for a feed. Bringing them out, and mounting again, we
rode on a little further to another farm situated on a hill-side a
little higher up the valley.

The farmhouse here is a little gem of a dwelling, situated in a nice
shady place, in the midst of a luxurious garden. Here, too, we
dismounted and entered the house, for we knew the host--a most genial
fellow, whose honest English face it was always a pleasure to see: it
was so full of kindness and good humour. We took a stroll round the
garden while the sun was setting, and then turned in for a cup of good
tea, which "missus" had got ready for us.

One of our entertainer's greatest delights was in talking about "old
times"--though they were only a year or two old after all,--yet "new
chums" were always ready to sit listening to his tales open-mouthed.
He had been a digger, like most of the farmers hereabout, and he told
us how he was the first to find the gold at the great rush at
Maryborough; how he saw the gold glistening in the gravel one day
that he was out in the bush; how, for weeks, he lived quietly, but
digging and gathering gold early and late, until, having made his
little golden harvest, enough to buy and stock a farm, he went and
gave information to the commissioner as to the find, and then what a
rush of thousands of diggers there was to the ground! how streets
sprang up, stores were opened, hotels were built, and at last
Maryborough became the great place that it is--the thriving centre of
a large mining as well as agricultural district.

In such old diggers' talk two hours had passed almost before we were
aware; and then we rose to go. The horses were brought out, and we
mounted and rode cautiously home, for it was now quite dark. It was a
fine mild night, and we had plenty of time; so we talk