78 NEW ENGLAND (n.S.W.), ETC. 



saddled up. Morton took the food to the shepherd whose want 

 of bush knowledge had led to so much mischief, and he cau- 

 tioned the man that he must not take his flock any further. 

 He must wait where he was until some of them returned to him. 

 Then he galloped on to Europambela, and, Rusden being away 

 from home, he used his persuasive powers upon the overseer, 

 Saunders. " You see," he argued, " Jamieson's sheep are on 

 your run, and if you allow them to come on, they will con- 

 vey the disease to your principal flocks. They must be killed 

 where they are, and I will help you, because, although they 

 were not on the Waterloo run, my shepherd turned them back. 

 So hurry up, and let us to the slaughter." That afternoon, as 

 I returned from my visit to the township, a wonderful sight 

 met my view. " Blackfellow's Gully " was an open flat and 

 very boggy. There about eight reckless men had rounded up 

 Jamieson's scabby flock, and by the time I returned, their blud- 

 geons had done their work. About 1,200 sheep lay dead on what 

 afterwards came to be known as the " field of Waterloo !" 



Having completed their task, Moreton sent a letter to 

 Jamieson, telling him what had happened, and suggesting to 

 him, quite in a friendly way, that he might bring some men 

 over and skin the sheep if he cared to save their pelts ! This 

 Jamieson did on the following day. Being young at the time, I 

 almost regretted that I had not had my share in the slaughter ; 

 but the sight of so many sheep lying dead in heaps was a 

 ghastly one, and I soon became reconciled to having been 

 absent. A few days later I became satisfied that it was wise to 

 abstain from joining in jobs of this character. I was busy over 

 something in my room after breakfast, vv'hen my friend Morton 

 came in with a scared expression in his face. I had heard 

 voices outside, and now came the explanation. " Here's a 

 pretty go," said my friend ; " a policeman has come with a 

 warrant, and he is going to take me and those Europambela 

 fellows to Armidale and put us in the lock-up. But he has 

 promised that he will not put the handcuffs on me if I go 

 with him quietly !" So he put a few things in his valise, and 

 rode off with the policeman, and he and the other killers of 

 sheep were safely escorted to the lock-up. The magistrates 

 were kind to them, and took their case into consideration at 

 once, and they were allowed out on bail, after having been 

 committed to stand their trial in Maitland for illegally killing 

 Jamieson's sheep : All the gloss of the affair had worn oft' by 



