his waist, -all across the long, yellow, gravelly shallow. And there he stood, naked and free, on the forbidden ground.

He quickly dressed himself and began to examine his new kingdom. He found it rich far beyond his utmost hopes. Such wild flowers and such raspberries far surpassing all that he had dreamed of. And when he had grown tired of them, such fern boughs, six or eight feet long!

He would explore this region and see how far it extended. What tales he would have for his father to-night! He would bring him here, and show him all the wonders, and perhaps his father would build a new hut over here, and come and live in it.

There! There is one of those children he had seen before across the river. Ah! Ah! it is not a child at all, but a pretty gray beast with big ears. A kangaroo, my lad; he will not play with. you, but skips away slowly, and leaves you alone.

There is something like the gleam of water on that rock. A snake! Now a sounding rush through the wood, and a passing shadow. An eagle! He brushes so close to the child that he strikes at the bird with a stick, and then watches him as he shoots up like a rocket, and, measuring the fields of air in ever-widening circles, hangs like a motionless speck upon the sky.

Here is a prize, though! A wee young native bear, hardly a foot long, an odd-looking little gray beast with broad flapping ears, sits on a tree within easy reach. It is not afraid, but cuddles into the child's bosom, and eats a leaf as they go along. The mother sits aloft and goes on with her dinner of peppermint leaves.

What a short day it has been! Here is the sun getting low, and the birds are already going to roost. The boy would turn and go back to the river. Alas! which way?

He was lost in the forest. He turned back, and went, as he thought, the way he had come, but soon arrived at a tall cliff, which by some magic seemed to have got between him and the river. Then he broke down, and that strange madness came on him which comes even on strong men when lost in the forest -a despair, a confusion of intellect, which has cost many a man his life. Think what it must have been with this child!

He felt sure that the cliff was between him and his home. He must climb it. Alas! every step he took carried him farther and farther from the river and the hope of safety; and when he came to the top, just at dark, he saw nothing but cliff after cliff, range after range, all around him.

He had been wandering through deep gullies all

day without knowing it, and had now gone far into the mountains. Night was coming down, still and crystal clear, and the poor lad was far away from help or hope, going his last long journey alone. Partly perhaps walking, and partly sitting down and weeping, he got through the night. And when the solemn morning came up again he was still tottering along, and crying from time to time, Mother, mother!" - still nursing his little bear, his only companion, to his bosom, and still holding in his hand a few poor flowers he had gathered the day before.

66

Up and on all day; and at evening, passing out of the great zone of timber, he came on the bald summit ridge where one ruined tree held up its skeleton arms against the sunset, and the wind came keen and frosty. So, with failing, feeble legs, he toiled upward still, toward the region of rock and snow, toward the lofty home of the kite and the eagle.

Brisk as they were all at Garoopna, none were so brisk as Cecil and Samuel. Long before any others were ready these two had strapped their blankets to their saddles, and followed by Samuel's dog, Rover, were cantering off up the river.

Neither spoke at first. They knew what a sad task they had before them; and while acting as though everything depended upon speed they guessed

well that their search would be of little help to the poor child. Still they hurried onward.

Cecil began: "Samuel, depend on it that child has crossed the river. If he had been on the plains he would have been seen from a distance in a few hours."

"I agree with you," said Samuel. "Let us go down on this side till we are opposite the hut and search for marks by the river side."

In half an hour they were opposite the hut, and, riding across to it to ask a few questions, they found the poor mother sitting on the doorstep, with her apron over her head, rocking herself to and fro. "We have to help you," said Cecil. "Where do

come

think he is you

gone ?"

The mother answered, with frequent bursts of grief, that some days before he had spoken of seeing white children across the water who beckoned him to cross and play; that she, knowing well they were fairies, or perhaps worse, had warned him solemnly not to mind them; but that she had little doubt that they had helped him over and carried him away to the forest.

"Why, it is not knee deep across the shallow," said Cecil. "Let us cross again. He may be drowned, but I don't think so."

In a quarter of an hour from starting they found, a

little way up the stream, one of the child's stockings, which in his hurry to dress he had forgotten. Here brave Rover took up the trail like a bloodhound, and before evening stopped at the foot of a lofty cliff.

"Can he have gone up here?" said Samuel, as they gazed up the steep side of the rock.

"Most likely," answered Cecil. "Lost children always climb from height to height. I have heard this often from old woodsmen. Why they do so, God only knows; but the fact is beyond denial. Ask Rover what he thinks?"

The brave old dog was half way up, looking back for them. It took them until nearly dark to get their horses up; and as there was no moon, and the way was full of danger, they determined to camp for the night, and start again in the morning.

At early dawn they caught the horses and started afresh. Both were more silent than ever, and the dog, with his nose to the ground, led them slowly along the rocky ridge of the mountain, ever going higher and higher.

"I cannot believe," said Samuel, "that the poor child has come up here. Don't you think we must be mistaken?"

"The dog does not agree with you," said Cecil. "He has something before him not very far off. Watch him."