108 FISHING GOSSIP. 



trees and creepers ; and as for birds, especially in 

 waders and waterfowl, the variety is inexhaustible. 



But it is the creel and not the game-bag that is 

 now in question, and I am going forth for an after- 

 noon's fishing on the Clarence. One of my com- 

 panions is, in Australian phrase, " a new chum," the 

 other a stately old aboriginal, rejoicing in the name 

 of " Billy." " New chum" landed at Sydney from 

 England but a month ago, and left it but five days 

 since by a Grafton steamer. He thus knows no more 

 of the country than he could learn in a forty miles' 

 ride to the scene of our fishing excursion. " Billy" 

 knows every ford and pool of the river, on whose 

 banks he has hunted and fished ever since the days 

 when he was the acknowledged head of a strong 

 tribe, and the most redoubtable warrior among the 

 northern blacks. 



SCENE Open scrub, sloping down to the Clarence. 

 TIME 3 p.m., in early Autumn. 



VETEKAN, NEW CHUM, and BILLY. 



New Chum. This is a noble river. Are we still 

 upon the estuary ? 



Veteran. Oh, no. There lie 120 miles of river 

 between us and the Heads, and 50, as near as I can 

 guess, between these pools and the highest reach of 

 the tide. But even here the river is, as you say, a 

 noble one, and when flooded absolutely terrific. You 



