as redhot, while a supplementary fire
blazed outside the shanty. Between them oscillated Old Colonial, pipe in
mouth, hirsute and unkempt, grim, grimy, and naked to the waist. His two
aids, the Saint and the Fiend, had a bad time of it. They were his
scullions, marmitons, turnspits, or whatever you like to call it. They
had to keep up the supplies of firewood, to prepare the fowls and fish,
and generally to do all the dirty work; and the way that Old Colonial
"bossed" them round was an edifying sight to see.

The preparations were stupendous. Victuals enough had been laid in to
feed a regiment, and the variety of them was endless. But Old Colonial,
once having given way to the mania of extravagance, was determined to
lay under contribution every conceivable thing, and to turn out more
dishes than even an American palace hotel would put on its bill of
fare.

Finally, it was discovered that the shanty was far too small a place for
our banquet. So, on the appointed morning we were up at sunrise, and,
from then till noon, we laboured at the construction of a bower; while
Old Colonial was busy with his hot meats and confections. The bower was
an open shed, running all along the shadiest side of the shanty and
beyond. It was a rude erection of rough poles, latticed and
thatched--Maori fashion--with fern-fronds and flax. Under it was _the_
table, supplemented by another of loose boards on such supports as we
could fabricate; and round it planks resting on kegs and boxes made
sufficient seats.

Hardly were our preparations finished when the first boat was descried,
coming through the mangroves from the river down below, and a parasol
was visible in the stern. Then there was a hasty stampede down to the
gully to wash; an agonized scuttle into the new shirts; and a hot and
anxious assumption of restful calm. And so we welcomed the guests as
they came.

What a feast that was, and how it astonished everybody! And such a party
as our shanty had never witnessed before! For curiosity brought half a
dozen ladies--all there were in the district--and fully a score of
masculine friends honoured our establishment with their presence.

It is not to be supposed, of course, that all our neighbours inhabit
rude shanties like ours. Some are further forward, or had more capital
at the start; and men do not bring wives into the bush until they can
manage to furnish forth a decently comfortable house for them. Our
married friends live in res