' CONDUOTOES AND THEIR WIVES^ 
on an exploring expedition, to solve the mystery. 
They arrive at the tall keen a tree, on the edge of 
the jungle, and see amongst the soft ‘^nilloo’’ un- 
derwood, a well-beaten path j this, they enter upon, 
and have no difficulty in following up, after proceed- 
ing about two hundred yards or so, into the jungle, 
Master first, and Conductor following close on his 
heels. The former suddenly stops, holds up his hand, 
as much as to say, hush, and there they both see, 
standing right in front of them, a small grass hut t 
Slowly the master pushes aside the small grass door, 
and there is lying asleep, on a mat, all covered over with a 
red cloth, somebody, but who that somebody is, is a great 
mystery, which will speedily be solved. The Conductor 
himself seems quite certain as to who it is, and quite 
certain of his just right to inflict sudden and im- 
mediate corporal chastisement, on the contents of that 
cloth, for he clutches a long stick he carries in his 
hand, even has the hand uplifted, and has to be 
arrested by the master, who whispers, “ look first.’^ 
Slowly and cautiously the master stoops down, and 
quietly removes the cloth, which covered the head 
and face, which action revealed to our astonished 
gaze, the face of a handsome girl, her head pillowed 
on her arm, and a mass of long fine hair, all hanging 
over her shoulders, her lips were slightly parted, 
revealing a set of teeth, the like of which, no dentist 
could ever supply, and strange to say, no signs at 
all of the red betel stain. All this was seen at a 
glance, which glance was also sufficient to show, that 
the sleeping beauty in this wild sylvan scene, was 
not the conductor’s wife ! Quietly we step back to 
a safe distance from the grass hut, and question the 
Conductor if he is satisfied now, that his wife is not 
concealed in the jungle. He heaves a sigh, says he 
is, for his wife is a much finer looking woman than 
that. We doubt this, but he says, Master is no judge. 
Searching investigations are now made in order to 
solve this new mystery, and the solution was this. 
A junior kanganie on the estate, had run oT with a 
dusky bride from another estate about four miles off, 
and as a matter of course, if he had brought his run- 
away wife openly to the lines, everything would have 
been known, and everything would have been frus- 
trated, a letter would have come to master, and master 
would have ordered his newly made bride to be sent 
back to the estate from which she had come, so he says 
never a word about it, but builds a grass hut in the 
jungle, to which he takes his wife, and where they intended 
to have spent the honeymoon, or until the rainy season 
commenced when all their arrangements were so prema- 
turely and rudely disturbed by the Conductor in search 
of his wife. It is our turn now to assert injured inno- 
