f my possessions, the first careless ride round their boundaries.
Yes, the land on which I stood--for miles, to the spur of those farther
mountains--the land was mine, and, beneath its surface, there was gold!
I closed my eyes; for some moments visions of boundless wealth, and of
the royal power which such wealth could command, swept athwart my brain.
But my heart rapidly settled back to its real treasure. "What matters,"
I sighed, "all this dross? Could Ophir itself buy back to my Lilian's
smile one ray of the light which gave 'glory to the grass and splendour
to the flower'?"

So muttering, I flung the gold into the torrent that raged below, and
went on through the moonlight, sorrowing silently,--only thankful for
the discovery that had quickened my reminiscence of the landmarks by
which to steer my way through the wilderness.

The night was half gone, for even when I had gained the familiar track
through the pastures, the swell of the many winding creeks that now
intersected the way obliged me often to retrace my steps; to find,
sometimes, the bridge of a felled tree which had been providently left
unremoved over the now foaming torrent, and, more than once, to swim
across the current, in which swimmers less strong or less practised
would have been dashed down the falls, where loose logs and torn trees
went clattering and whirling: for I was in danger of life. A band of
the savage natives were stealthily creeping on my track,--the natives
in those parts were not then so much awed by the white man as now. A
boomerang(1) had whirred by me, burying itself amongst the herbage close
before my feet. I had turned, sought to find and to face these dastardly
foes; they contrived to elude me. But when I moved on, my ear, sharpened
by danger, heard them moving, too, in my rear. Once only three hideous
forms suddenly faced me, springing up from a thicket, all tangled with
honeysuckles and creepers of blue and vermilion. I walked steadily up
to them. They halted a moment or so in suspense; but perhaps they were
scared by my stature or awed by my aspect; and the Unfamiliar, though
Human, had terror for them, as the Unfamiliar, although but a Shadow,
had had terror for me. They vanished, and as quickly as if they had
crept into the earth.

At length the air brought me the soft perfume of my well-known acacias,
and my house stood before me, amidst English flowers and English
fruit-trees, under the effulgent Australian moon. Just a