A crowd of men were assembled in the main street of the Settlement one night, and as everything was very quiet, and the place seemed to be practically dead, they decided to try and make some fun. A crotchety old couple lived in a house not far away, so it was suggested and agreed that a commencement be made on them. Two tom-cats were caught and knotted together with wire, and swung across the knob of the front door. There was a continuous strain of cats' music for a few seconds, and then Old ---- opened the door, only to receive a nasty scratch from one of the cats as he did it. The crowd lay in ambush watching the proceedings, and enjoying the fun immensely, and the next thing they saw was a knife on the end of a stick being used to cut the cats asunder; but wire was not so easily cut, and this only tended to increase the music, as one of the "toms" received a gash occasionally. Finally, when everything failed, he got a clothes-prop and lifted them off the door-knob, carried them down to the wharf, and hurled them into the river. So the play ended. Two conspicuous individuals in the Settlement were always quarrelling over a girl, so it was decided to persuade them to fight a duel, and this was arranged after a little difficulty. An hour was then appointed on a certain day, when they should both put in an appearance on the beach, there to settle all disputes. The day came, and the men turned up. Two pistols were handed to them, each one being loaded with thick bullock's blood, and a substantial wad separating it from the powder. The two stood up, shook hands, then walked a few paces, and, turning round, fired at each other. Both were now besmattered with blood, and thought that they were really wounded. I thought the spectators would never stop laughing, but at last the duellers saw through the joke, and after this similar events were at a standstill. "Flash ----" was a well-known character in the Settlement in former days, and was a carpenter by trade. He built a house for a colonel's wife once, and when it was finished she would not pay him. But he had bought liquor from her on several occasions, and when she refused to pay him he informed on her, and she was fined £30 for sly-grog selling. A tall old fellow, named S----, used to be a kind of "flunky" in Port Macquarie, and he was a great rum-drinker. His bed was near the window in a house facing the main street. Fish were biting well, and one night a shovel-nosed shark was landed. This old fellow was lying in his bed drunk, so it was arranged to have some fun with him. The shark was carried up; one of the crowd raised the window gently and pulled the blankets off him, while another lowered the shark in on top of him. The fish naturally began to wriggle, and all that the crowd heard as they made a hurried exit, was "Murder!" "murder!!" The next morning a lifeless shark lay scenting the street gutter. CHAPTER XIV. THE ABORIGINES. "Gimme 'bacca, you pleas, massa."