essed in v grey tweed suit
with a flannel shirt, dressed in a grey tweed suit with a
flannel shirt. This mourning a girl said the deceased was
her father,' etc.

A few lines further down in the same column was the intelligence that
Chief Justice Higinbotham of Victoria had 'sentenced the man Power to
imprisonment for the term of his natural next.'

When Denison turned up next evening, the editor asked him in distinctly
cold tones if he 'had read the paper.'

Denison said he had not--he was too tired.

Then the editor pointed out twenty-nine hideous mistakes, all underlined
in blue pencil and on a par with the two above-mentioned. Denison
explained in regard to the word 'next' that he meant 'life,' but there
being a turned 'e' in 'life' he somehow deleted the entire word, and
just then in his zeal, calling out 'next proof,' he unthinkingly wrote
'next' on the proof instead of 'life.' As for the matter of the boat he
had no excuse to offer. The editor was not harsh, but said that a man
of Denison's intelligence ought to be employed in building up Britain
beyond the seas instead of reading proofs.

For the next two issues he pulled through fairly well. Sum Fat advanced
him ten shillings, with which he bought Susie a pair of canvas shoes,
and Susie kissed him seven times and said she loved him because he never
said horrid things to her like the other men. And when she laid her
innocent face upon his shoulder and wept, Denison was somewhat stirred,
and decided to get away from Susie as quickly as possible.

On the fourth evening a beery local politician sent in a paragraph,
written in an atrocious hand, stating that he (the beery man) had
'received a number of replies to the circulars he had sent out to
the supporters of the Government,' etc. In the morning the paragraph
appeared:--

'_Mr Ebenezer Thompson, the champion of Separation, for
North Queensland, has again received quite a large number of
reptiles,' _etc.

Of course Mr Thompson was terribly insulted--everyone in Cooktown knew
that he had periodical illnesses, during which he imagined he was chased
by large snakes joined to blue dogs with red eyes and crimson tails--and
demanded Denison's instant dismissal. The editor however, pleaded for
him on account of his inexperience, and the matter was passed over.

He worried along pretty well till the end of the week, and then fresh
trouble arose. Mr Pinkham the sub-editor, who did t