From Household Words.
THE LAND-SHARK.

from the night-dew and the wind, and over
their homely supper sang the songs of the
Fatherland-for they were Teutons-and
slept. From time to time, they found warm-
est welcome in country-homes, where manly
men and fair women had brought the refined
tastes and intelligence of European life, to
blend them with the peace and freshness of
a gracious southland nature.
These happy
and hospitable people almost invariably be-
came their guides to new discoveries. With
eagerest enthusiasm, men and women mounted
their horses, and led the way to distant rock,
river, mountain, or morass, where were to be
found the peculiar productions of the district.
And for many a long year yet will come back
on their memories snatches of romantic coun-
try, bits of solitary forest, the sounding shores
of the ocean, the scalp of the naked hill over-
looking worlds of woods and illimitable sea,
where the feathered hat and flying veil led the
way, or some bewitching face flushed like
a rose at the presentation of some glorious
new thing; or the manly form of the Tasma-
nian gentleman on his sure-footed steed pio-
neered the track down the shelving declivity
or across the rushing stream.

IN that wild region of mountains in Van Dieman's Land, called the Western Tier, which stretches north and south, over a large portion of that side of the island, and terminates only on the western coast, in high black precipices lashed by the booming billows of the ocean, two young men were travelling in the month of May, and lamenting that the fall of the year was about to put an end to their delightful wanderings. Through the long, light summer they had lived the life of nature and of freedom, which is the heaven of the hunter; and hunters they were, being naturalists-hunters of plants and of animals, not for the mere pleasure of destroying or devouring them, but to widen the realm, and enrich the life, of science. The spirit of the chase was their soul and their life's blood. To pursue their object over sea, and moor, and mountain; to seek out, discover, and make prize of something new and curious, was the dream of their existence. To rush impetuously upon some unknown thing, as the hunter rushes upon his noblest game, and to stand on mountain peak or in forest glen with waving caps, and exulting “juchhe!" But now their travel drew to a close, for as they stood before some beautiful object the year drew to a close. The myriad flowthat never before gladdened the eye of nat-ers had disappeared, except the crimson epauralist, which yet had never found its name cris, and a few other natives of sheltered or its place in the books of the learned, - glades; and they were on their way homethat was their glory and their reward. Young wards, warned by rains, and winds, and sharp as they were, they had traversed many lands, nights. in the frozen North, in the flowery South, in the vast and wonder-fraught realms of America: they had sailed on the Mississippi, the Amazon, and the Plata, and revelled in the exhaustless forests of Brazil. But here, at the antipodes, a Flora and a Fauna existed, exhibiting singular laws and modes of being, hitherto unknown to them. They had visited every quarter of the island, climbed the mountains, traced its shores, dived into the densest obscurity of its forests, and stretched themselves when wearied on the green banks of its streams, counting up and putting in order their acquisitions.

From day to day they drove their faithful packhorse before them, burdened with bundles of their gatherings and their supplies, or left him in some luxurious nook, while they ascended hills or explored woods. With the lowering sun they lit their fire at the foot of some tree or crag, raised a screen of boughs

The scene in which they found themselves was wild and remote from life. They had made their way up profoundly silent and spectral forests, along the banks of the Mersey, rank with most luxuriant vegetation, over steepest rocks, and through the grimmest outlets of precipitous ravines, and to the lofty table-lands of the Tier.

Their way was still through dreary forests, in the glades of which already lay patches of snow, where stringy bark-trees of such bulk and altitude still met their view as even, after all they had seen, awoke fresh astonishment. They were in search, as the evening came on wild and stormy, of a resting-place which they had occupied on a former occasion. It was a rude hut erected of boughs and bark, probably by bushrangers or convicts who had fled hither at some time when government was keen in its pursuit of them. It was raised against the face of a rock in a little

dark as the lowest pit of Erebus, and with a suffocating wind, that sends the dead branches down about your ears in most perilous style. Had it not been for my faithful Jack, I must have given it up; but he tumbled along, courageously, over stock and stone."

"But what in the world," said the two naturalists, "leads you here, Doctor, in such a night? Sit down, and tell us all about it, over a pannikin of tea."

green glen which bordered a mountain lake, | jack-boots, vehemently, shaking the hands of whose dark deep waters increased the awe- the strangers. "Well, this is a surprise; inspiring gloom of the scene. Having reached though one ought not to be surprised to meet it, they turned out their tired horse, and pro- you in any savage spot. I saw a light here, ceeded to kindle a fire in their hut. Fritz, to my great wonder, and determined to take the younger, obtained a bright blaze of dead refuge from the storm, though it were with leaves and twigs in the chimney, which daz-bushranger or devil. O! what a night — zled their eyes by its sudden lustre, and then fetched the tears into them by filling the place with smoke. But presently the flame bore the damp air upwards in the chimney, and all became clear; and the active Fritz was not long in cultivating the fire into a generous glow. Around the wretched tenement were seats formed of posts driven into the ground supporting a rude framework of branches. These, covered with a mass of boughs and leaves of the gum-tree, were to "But, first, my horse! Jack," exclaimed constitute the beds of the travellers, as they the doctor, who was the medical man from a had done those of their unknown predecessors. township some twenty miles distant; and, While Fritz was collecting this luxury, the stepping out, he brought up his horse to the professor, his companion, forgetting his learn- light of the door, took off his saddle, girthed ing and his early-won fame in the scientific his own rug round his smoking body, and world, drew from their baggage a small fry-hung to his nose a little bag of oats that he ing-pan, and a tin pan bearing the familiar had carried with him. This done, the three name of a billy, and proceeded to slice a solid friends sat down, and commenced an animatpiece of ham into the frying-pan. Anon, there commenced a lusty frying and crackling over the fire. Fritz brought in the billy full of water, and set it to boil; and the place, with its two cheerful faces, and a very savory smell floating through it, assumed a won-ate fee. drously home-like aspect. Fritz, humming "A case of life and death," said he, "and some favorite Studenten Lied, threw a hand-really almost of the same to the doctor. ful of tea into the billy as it began to boil, set, on the nearest bed, tin pannikins and sugar, and the two comrades sate down to tea.

ed conversation which ran through the recent adventures of the two friends and the doctor's too; who, it turned out, had been over the mountains to a new settlement, at a most urgent call to a sick man, and a proportion

May the settlement ourish and set up its own surgeon; for I never wish to go there again. Fifty miles through these terrible ranges, on the edge of winter, is no trifle; one ought to make one's will before attempting it."

Here the doctor, seeing his horse had fin ished his oats, jumped up, and little Fritz, with a flaming brand, took the animal to be company for the naturalist's horse, in the little sheltered glen, just by. Returned to the blazing fire, they once more blessed their stars for so opportune a shelter, drank pannikin after pannikin of tea, digested many a good slice of ham, and baked in luxurious content in the glow of the ample fire.

The wind roared, as if it would carry the struggling trees all away together. Fritz declared it was dark even now, and they mutually congratulated themselves on having reached this shelter while it could be seen. But hark! at the moment that they were setting about to enjoy themselves, the sound of a horse's hoofs on the rocky ground caught their ear. At the same instant came the thump of a heavy whip or stick on the rude door, and a loud "Hillo! there, within!" Fritz started up, and, as he plucked open the hurdle, in stepped a tall man, stooping, as "This has been some robber's den, take was needful, from the humility of the portal. my word for it," said the doctor. "Some "What! Fritz? what, mein lieber Herr desperate convict skulked here till he found Professor?" exclaimed a tall, gentlemanly means to get over to the other side, and the man, in dark green riding-coat and handsome gold-fields. But what times these are to those

of our fathers in the island? The Musquito por. But the dose was too strong; it procame down upon them with the enraged na- duced violent sickness, and the man, relieved, tives, and Michael Howe and his gang spread arose in a while, and marched on. terror from the Tamar to the Derwent. There is a story a wonderful one- told of those times, which few who hear it will believe: yet it is quite true, and has been mentioned by West in his history of the colony.

"After traveling for some hours, taking, as well as he knew, a direction widely differ ent from that of the bushrangers, to his own and their astonishment, he found himself once more crossing their path.

"What!' exclaimed they, 'are you not dead? '

"The man fell on his knees, and prayed vehemently for his life. It was useless. The choice of sword or pistol was again offered him, and as he continued to implore for mercy, crack went Howe's pistol, and the victim fell motionless on the ground.

"At the time when a heavy sum was offered for the capture of Howe, alive or dead, and when the desperate fellow was so hunted and laid wait for that he was irritated to a state of deadly ferocity, a convict happened to make his escape. He bolted to the woods in nothing but the bright yellow suit which the so-called canary-birds, the convicts, wear. He had made his way up "But he was not yet killed. After a the country, by venturing to approach shep- time he recovered consciousness, felt the top herds and solitary stockmen, who were often of his head smarting and burning terrifically, of the class, and actuated by the fellow-feel- and his eyes blinded by blood. But his boding which makes 'wondrous kind.' From ily strength and feeling of soundness was them he had procured damper enough to wholly undiminished. He rose, wiped the carry him on, and at length, arriving in the blood from his eyes, washed his head at a mountains, he encountered the celebrated pool, and found that the ball had merely bandit, at the head of a gang of his desperate grazed his skull. Binding up his head with followers. his handkerchief, he once more set forward, "Eh, mate!' said Howe, whither trusting this time to steer clear of the merciaway?' less crew of bushrangers. But no such good "To join the bushrangers,' said the man; fortune attended him. After marching some 'I have made my escape.'

miles through a most laborious mountaintrack in a deep inlet valley, he again saw to his horror the robber troop approaching. It was too late to conceal himself; they already saw him; and he heard distinctly the shout of wonder that they raised on perceiving him.

"That won't pass, my friend,' said Howe, pouncing savagely on the man. This is a stale dodge; - won't do here; it has been tried too often. Rather tempting, eh? that price on my head. But we've settled all that. The man that comes here, dies; and so all 's safe. Mate, here's a choice for "What!' exclaimed the terrible Howe, you; - we don't wish to be too arbitary.' still alive? Will neither poison nor bullet The cutlass, the pistol, or the contents of destroy thee? Why, thou art a cat-o'this little vial;' producing one from his mountain, with not nine, but any number waistcoat-pocket. of lives at the devil's need. Art thou man, or ghost, or fiend?'

"The poor fellow, thunderstruck with astonishment and terror, begged piteously for his life, protested over and over his innocence of any treason, and his desire to join them. In vain. The savage outlaw bade him cease his whining, and make his choice, or they would at once choose for him. The poor wretch selected the poison as the least appalling. They saw him swallow it off, wished him a comfortable doze, and disappeared in the wood. The potion began to take instantaneous effect. The man sank down, overcome with drowsiness, on a stump, and felt himself falling into an overpowering stu

66 The poor wretch once more, and still mors movingly, pleaded for his life.

"What had he done?' he asked. 'He wanted only to join them, and he would be their slave, their fag, their packhorse, their forlorn hope in any desperate cases-anything, so that they only let him live.'

"Live!' exclaimed the barbarous leader; live! Why, thou livest in spite of me! Neither fire nor physic harm thee! Nay, I would kill thee, if it were only to see what it takes to do it. I have a curiosity to know whether thou canst be killed, or whether

thou art not the Wandering Jew, or Old those days of unnatural history, natural hisNick himself.' With these words, listening tory, of course, was not. Only think of no more to the tears and entreaties of the stumbling on Musquito or Howe, who may be man than if he had been a hyena, he devoted called the Tasmanian Alexander the Great him to the infernal powers in familiar lan- for, literally guage, and, stabbing him with his cutlass, said, 'Take that!'

"The man struggled violently on the ground for a few seconds, and then lay still on the sand.

666

Thrice he fought his battles o'er,
And thrice he slew the slain.' ”

;

"To shed blood!" simultaneously exclaimed his hearers.

"Fie, Fritz!" said the doctor, laughing. "Yet, even in my early days, here I botan"That's a settler, I think,' said the out-ized and entomologized. And that was the law, whose hand had executed worse horrors sole cause of my encountering any danger, or than even that, since he had been hunted and being compelled to shed blood." bidden for by government; burning secluded families in their own huts at midnight, and making solitary travellers run a race for their lives, as a mark for the rifles of his men. 'If the fellow comes to life again,' he said coolly, 'I must get his secret, for it is very likely to be useful to me.' Wiping his cutlass, first on some long grass that he pulled up, and then on his coat-sleeve, he coolly marched away with his crew."

"And that certainly must have been a settler," said the professor.

;

A serious cloud passed over the worthy doctor's features, and in a different tone he added-"Yes! In all my rough and solitary rides in this insular depot of excited ruffians in all my night wanderings, when called, as must be the case, to often distant abodes, in the very worst parts of the island; I have always found my profession and my errand an infallible safeguard. Whenever I have been stopped by outlawed fellows, whose very "By no means," added the doctor. "After name and fame all over the island were a a time the convict returned to consciousness. horror, to their demand of Who goes Fearfully weak, he was tormented with a there?' my reply, 'The Doctor,' brought burning thirst; but was still alive. With the instant rejoinder. 'All right! Go, in much effort, and various faintings, he managed God's name, doctor!' Nay, these very felto crawl in the direction of a stream that lows have, on many an occasion, been my ran riotously and sonorously down the rocky guides, conducting me by ways known only valley, and there quenched his burning thirst to themselves, confident that I would never in the deliciously cold water. Again ex- betray them. To them I owe a knowledge hausted, he sank back on the bank; and of passes and short cuts through these hills would no doubt have perished, had not a that no man besides is acquainted with. I stockman come in quest of stray cattle. He have often received refreshments from these removed him to his hut, having first bound fierce outcasts of humanity, when I was ready up the wound in his chest; and, after a long to faint with exhaustion; more than once I period of illness and debility, the man was have even slept all night in their rude huts once more well, and determined to return, in the mountains, feeling the profoundest seand deliver himself up to the authorities at curity in guards who had the repute of being Hobart-Town, where, you may be sure, his destitute of all feelings but the most diabolical story and the confirmatory scars upon him I have attended them in their sickness or their excited an immense sensation." wounds, and I have seen and heard revelations by the death-beds of robbers and murderers that would draw tears from a stone. O! if the world did but know what glorious faculties and feelings might be cultivated in youth, in the poorest and most abject of our population - toads, and deformed reptiles as they afterwards appear to us, yet in whose heads and hearts God has originally deposited the precious jewel of a great and capable nature

"But how could the man survive a thrust through the body?" said the professior, in

amazement.

"It was a mere case of loss of blood," replied the doctor; "the weapon had luckily passed between the ribs without touching any vital part, and the man had swooned from agony and hæmorrhage." "Horrid times!" ejaculated Fritz. "In VOL. XII. 39

DCXV.

LIVING AGE.

"I told him nobody should come in on any account till morning. The man swore that he must and would, and proceeded to push violently at the door. On this I started up and cried, 'Desist! or take the consequences; "That is my only comfort," said the doctor whoever comes in here is a dead man!' But musingly; "but we must soon to bed, and bethe man—and he was a huge, brawny fellow fore I can do that, I must relieve my mind of swore dreadful oaths that he would come another scene, which I can only effect by givin; and, as he furiously thrust open the door, ing it words, and thus insure my sleep. I have just witnessed the end of one of those