in a very awkward
position--very awkward. By his action just now I should say that he has
not forgotten the circumstance any more than I have."

That was the first of the only two adventures of any importance I met
with during my stay in New South Wales. And there's not much in that, I
fancy I can hear you saying. Well, that may be so, I don't deny it, but
it was nevertheless through that that I became mixed up with the folk
who figure in this book, and indeed it was to that very circumstance,
and that alone, I owe my connection with the queer story I have set
myself to tell. And this is how it came about.

Three days before the steamer sailed, and about four o'clock in the
afternoon, I chanced to be walking down Castlereagh Street, wondering
what on earth I should do with myself until dinner-time, when I saw
approaching me the very man whose discomfiture I have just described.
Being probably occupied planning the plucking of some unfortunate new
chum, he did not see me. And as I had no desire to meet him again, after
what had passed between us, I crossed the road and meandered off in a
different direction, eventually finding myself located on a seat in the
Domain, lighting a cigarette and looking down over a broad expanse of
harbour.

One thought led to another, and so I sat on and on long after dusk had
fallen, never stirring until a circumstance occurred on a neighbouring
path that attracted my attention. A young and well-dressed lady was
pursuing her way in my direction, evidently intending to leave the park
by the entrance I had used to come into it. But unfortunately for her,
at the junction of two paths to my right, three of Sydney's typical
larrikins were engaged in earnest conversation. They had observed the
girl coming towards them, and were evidently preparing some plan for
accosting her. When she was only about fifty yards away, two of them
walked to a distance, leaving the third and biggest ruffian to waylay
her. He did so, but without success; she passed him and continued her
walk at increased speed.

The man thereupon quickened his pace, and, secure in the knowledge that
he was unobserved, again accosted her. Again she tried to escape him,
but this time he would not leave her. What was worse, his two friends
were now blocking the path in front. She looked to right and left, and
was evidently uncertain what to do. Then, seeing escape was hopeless,
she stopped, took out her purse, and gave it to the ma