mb and
piece of paper of his happy youth. Then we started, rowing up the
river, and anchoring silently off the beach opposite our victim's
residence, one night soon after their arrival.

The moon was at the full, throwing sombre shadows down from the woods
upon the gleaming water, and making the splendid scenery of the river
mysterious and romantic. The husband and wife were out on their
verandah, enjoying the calm beauty of the night, and sentimentalizing,
as newly-married couples will.

Suddenly, from the river below them, rises the melancholy and discordant
clamour of our performance. Quickly, the voices of the night awake in
earnest protest against it. Roosting shags and waterfowl fly screaming
away. In the swamp a bittern booms; and strange wailing cries come from
the depths of the bush. On the farm dogs bark energetically, cattle
bellow, horses neigh, sheep bleat, pigs grunt, ducks quack, and turkeys
gobble. Frightful is the din that goes echoing among the woods. And then
the outraged bridegroom gets out his gun, and commences rapid
file-firing in our direction.

But nothing daunts us, or makes us flinch from our fell purpose.
Perspiring from every pore, we labour manfully on to the bitter end.
Cornet and clarionet strive for the mastery, the flutes tootle along in
the rear, the violins screech and squeal, the horn brays with force and
fury, and Old Colonial pounds at his drum as if he were driving piles.
Not until the last notes of "God Save the Queen" have been duly murdered
do we cease; then, breathless and exhausted, we row down river on our
homeward way, rejoicing in the performance of a meritorious deed.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 5: A species of _Blatta_, or cockroach, called by
entomologists _Polyzosteria Novae Zealandiae_.]

CHAPTER VII.

OUR PIONEER FARM.

I.

Of course, all farms are not the same, even in the North. Nevertheless,
there is a good deal of similarity in the work that has to be got
through at the outset. The modifications in it are various, consisting
in the character of the land, the amount of capital available, the
labour employed, and so forth. But, generally speaking, most settlers
must go through pretty much what we did before they get the wilderness
reclaimed into an orderly farm.

People who commence with plenty of capital have naturally a great
advantage. They can employ more labourers, and get the first operations
over more quickly. But, more than that, they are n