rudely broken.

One day, a member of our party had been down Helensville way. There had
been an auction of the effects of a settler, who was moving off to the
South Island. Our chum had not been able to resist the temptation, and
had invested all he was worth in an assortment of goods. It was night
when he returned, and we were all in the shanty. He came up from the
boat, staggering under the weight of a great kit full of crocks and
such-like.

Of course, the excitement was great as we surveyed the heap of new
treasures we had acquired. Even O'Gaygun was enchanted for a moment,
till he remembered himself, and assumed the stern and savage bearing
befitting the leader of our conservatives. His scorn was withering.

"F'what might this be?" he would ask, fingering contemptuously first one
thing and then another.

"An' f'what do ye do wid it, at all?" he inquired, as article after
article was reviewed, affecting the airs of wonderment supposed to
belong to a child of nature.

Presently his humour changed, and he passed into the declamatory stage.

"'Tis a sinful exthravagance! a temptin' av Providence!" he exclaimed.
"Plates! an' faaks! an' dishes! an' sacers! did ivver anny wan see the
loike? F'what do ye expict nixt? Kid gloves to work in, maybe! That
ivver I'd see the day whan sich degrading emblems av the ould
superstitions of sassiety was brought into the bush! Ough!"

So much and more the O'Gaygun. But there is a sequel to the incident.

Some time after, when we had learnt to love and cherish these
acquisitions, the Little'un was one day detailed as hut-keeper. It so
happened that he had our entire stock of crockery to wash up, as we
generally work through the set before any one will act as scullery-maid.
The Little'un got through his task; he washed every plate and cup we had
got; but, not finding any towel or cloth handy, he disposed the things
on the stones in the chimney-place, round the stove to dry. There he
left them, and went off to chop firewood, forgetting to fasten the door.

Directly the Little'un's back was turned, a wandering pig arrived on the
scene. Seeing the open door, he resolved to prospect a bit, and
accordingly entered the shanty. What followed can now never be precisely
known, but conjecture allows us to arrive at the probable truth.

The pig's first discovery was a number of comical objects, whose purpose
he could not divine, stuck about among stones and gravel. He ruminated
over the