running for
his life along the beach towards the bluff, pursued by six blacks.
Un-slinging his Winchester as he galloped over the sand he gave a loud
cry of encouragement to the man. But neither the man nor his pursuers
heard it. Dropping his reins, but urging his horse along with the spur,
Monk levelled his rifle at the foremost native, fired, and missed,
and then he saw the white man fall on his hands and knees with a spear
sticking in his back. But ere the black had time to poise another spear
the overseer's rifle cracked again and the savage spun round and fell,
and the other five at once sprang towards the short thick scrub that
lined the beach at high-water mark. Then Monk, steadying himself in the
saddle, set his teeth and fired again and again, and two of the naked
ebony figures went down upon the sand.

"The other four won't trouble me any more," he muttered, as he rode back
to the wounded man; "and I'm no native police-officer to shoot black
fellows for the pleasure of it, though I'd like to revenge poor Cotter
and his murdered children "--a settler and his family had been murdered
a few weeks previously.

The wounded man was lying on his left side, unable to rise, and Monk,
jumping off his horse, saw that the long, slender spear had gone clean
through his right shoulder, the sharp point protruding in front for
quite a foot.

The man was breathing hard in his agony, and Monk, before attempting to
draw the spear, placed the nozzle of his water-bag to his lips. He drank
eagerly, and then said--

"Now, comrade, pull the cursed thing out."

Taking a firm grip around the shaft of the weapon, the overseer
succeeded in drawing it, and then began to staunch the flow of blood by
plugging the holes with strips of his handkerchief, when the man stayed
his hand, and said calmly--

"Let it bleed awhile, my friend; it will do good. So; that will do. Ah,
you are a brave fellow!"

Supported on Monk's arm, the stranger, who was a powerfully-built,
black-bearded man, dressed in garments which were a marvel of rags and
patches, walked slowly with him to the foot of the bluff and sat down
under the shade of a tree.

"My good friend," he said, with a smile, "you were just in time. Now,
tell me, what are you going to do with me?"

"Carry you up this bluff, and then put you on my horse and take you to
Willeroo Station as soon as the heat of the sun has passed. 'Tis only
thirty miles."

He shook his head. "I was never