Lax as is the native Australian’s morality still he has his code of honour and should one of its articles be infringed he will not be content to lay wait for the aggressor and drive a spear through his back, or strike him dead with his boomerang while he is safe concealed and secure from observation; no, he must have “the satisfaction of a gentleman,” he must call his man “out,” and compel him to be murdered or commit a murder. So in this respect the bushman, “the meanest specimen of humanity,” is as respectable an individual as many a noble born and highly educated Englishman, who lived in the reign and basked in the friendship of the “first gentleman in Europe.” He shows himself even more respectable; for whereas gentlemen of a past generation would meet and fire bullets or dash and stab at each other with naked swords about ever so trifling a matter, as a dispute about the cut of a coat or the character of a sweetheart, the bushman never appeals to the honourable institution of duelling, except an enemy be guilty of the heinous offence of denying that he has a _thick head_. “He no good, his scull no thicker than an emu’s egg-shell.” If a bushman brook such an insult as this he is for ever the scoff and jest of all who know him; but the chances are that he will not brook the insult; he will send a friend to the slanderer to bid him bring his stoutest “waddy,” that it may be shivered on the thick head of the warrior he had traduced. The combatants meet and a select party of friends are invited to see fair. The weapons are the familiar “waddys,” and the men stand opposite each other with their heads bare. There is no tossing for position or any other advantage; indeed there is no advantage to be gained excepting who shall have first “whack,” and that is always allowed to the challenger. The man who is to receive first whack, if he is a person of experience, knows the hard and soft parts of his cranium and takes care so to manœuvre that the former shall be presented to the up-raised club. Down comes the weapon with a thud that makes the recipient’s teeth chatter, but beyond that he has sustained no inconvenience, and now he straightens his back and grins, for it is his turn. His opponent lowers his head as he had done and a loud hollow noise follows, which the man’s friends hail with delight, as it indicates that though his skull may be dented it is not yet cracked. And so the duel proceeds, whack for whack, until one mightier than before, or on a “sore place,” stretches one of them on the grass. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXIV.