12 IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



We soon made friends among the settlers, and 

 became tenants of a hut near the southern entrance to 

 the Valley. The owners, two brothers, had prospered 

 and built for themselves a neat cottage of weather- 

 board a stately mansion compared with the hut 

 and were glad to give us a lease of the old home with 

 its three acres of ground. 



AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE. 



Settling down was not accomplished in a day. For 

 the hut, though stoutly built of logs, with a bark roof, 

 needed some repairs, while the interior had to be 

 cleaned and fitted with bunks and other comforts. One 

 end of the building was occupied by an open fireplace, 

 w r ith wire hooks and chains dangling from an iron bar. 

 A slight partition, with a low doorway, justified us in 

 describing the hut as a two-roomed dwelling. Some 

 of the floor slabs were loose, there were gaps between 

 the wall logs, and the sky glazed holes in the roof. 

 But we worked hard, and at length our Bush home was 



