ep interest in our black-bream fishing, and
freely gave us a shilling for each one we gave him.

He told us that by taking them to Sydney he could sell them for two
shillings each, and that he would send the money to a lone, widowed
sister who lived in Bridgnorth, England. Our mother deeply sympathised
with the aged William (our father said he was a lying old ruffian), and
always let him take the boat and pull over to Sydney to sell the fish.
He generally came back drunk after twenty-four hours' absence, and said
the sun had affected him. But Nemesis came at last.

One day some of the officers of H.M.S. _Challenger_, with some Sydney
friends, came to spend a Saturday and Sunday with us. It rained hard on
the Saturday night, and the stream which fell into the head of the bay
became a roaring torrent, sending a broad line of yellow, muddy
foam through the narrow opening of the causeway, which I have before
mentioned, into the harbour.

Sadly disappointed that we could not give our guests the sport which we
had promised them, we sat upon the causeway and gazed blankly upon
the yellowed waters of the bay with bitterness in our hearts. Suddenly
"Cass," the Moruya River black boy, who was standing beside us, turned
to us with a smile illumining his sooty face.

"What for you coola (angry)? Now the time to catch big pfeller brack
bream. Water plenty pfeller muddy. Brack bream baal (is not) afraid of
line now."

I, being the youngest, was sent off, with furious brotherly threats
and yells, to our guests, to tell them to come down at once with
their fishing tackle. I tore up the path and reached the house. The
first-lieutenant, commodore's secretary, and two ladies at once rose
to the occasion, seized their beautiful rods (at which my brothers and
myself were undecided whether to laugh in contempt or to profoundly
admire) and followed me down to the causeway.

Before we reached there Billy Duggan and my brothers had already landed
half a dozen splendid fish, one of which, of over ten pounds, was held
up to us for inspection as a curiosity, inasmuch as a deep semicircular
piece had been bitten out of its back (just above the tail) by a shark
or some other predatory fish. The wound had healed over perfectly,
although its inner edge was within a quarter of an inch of the backbone.

With a brief glance at the fish already taken, the two officers and the
ladies had their rods ready, and made a cast into the surging, yellow
wa