the wrath of God for sin was beginning to darken over Calvary; the premonitory moaning of the coming tempest was in His ears; the Agony, the Passion, the Cross were close upon Him; He was about to be offered, and so His prayer was that of a Priest now offering sacrifice,-sacrifice in virtue of which all prayer was to be made. And so, in the same thought, by this prayer is suggested the character and efficacy of that intercession which after His death He should ever live to make "within the veil" for all His people.

O comfort great indeed in this! When we come to know the might of the forces of evil which are against us, within us as well as without us; when we come to estimate truly our own weakness on the one hand, and on the other the skill, and resolution, and the hate of the principalities and powers which meet together to compass, if they can, our perdition; then it is comfort great, indeed, to remember at what hour the Redeemer prayed, and to know by that suggestion that He is still praying, for our deliverance from the Evil One!

It is no wonder, truly, that these chapters have always been especially dear to the Church of God. How many a lukewarm and undecided Christian has been pricked to the soul by the earnestness and power of purpose which has rebuked his halfheartedness; and not less by the self-sacrificing love and tenderness which has touched him and incited him penitently, and yet hopefully, to a worthier life. How many a stricken and forlorn soul has learnt from them, with unspeakable comfort, that the path of tribulation in the world is the way of peace in Christ, and has gained from them a firmer trust, a deeper love, a patient quietness and confidence which is the strength of the Holy Ghost. How many a soul fighting a hard battle has won from the words a new spiritual vigour and impulse as a clearer sense of his Saviour's knowledge of him and sympathy with him has filled him with joy, and the power of the Saviour's prayer has been manifested for his defence and deliverance. And about how many deathbeds have these chapters been a breathing of peace and benediction-to dying eyes bringing that presence of the dying Redeemer which is the only brightness able to illumine the valley of shadows-to dying ears bringing that only sound which is able to drown the troublous murmurs of the world and the discords of doubt and fear, the voice of the dying Lord with such a bidding as this: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

UP A GUM TREE; OR, A QUEENSLAND

FLOOD.

BY WILLIAM SPICER.

SOME ten days' travel had taken me about three hundred miles into the interior of Queensland. I had passed the border settlement of the colony, Roma, beyond which point there lay nothing in the shape of civilization but the stations of adventurous squatters, few and far between, and began to tire of my solitary journey, enlivened only by a halt for the night at some roadside "grog-shop," a bullock-driver's camp, or, when particularly fortunate, some station near my road. Long marches and short commons were telling on my horse's condition; and as my ultimate destination was still over a hundred miles beyond me, I was seriously thinking of claiming hospitality from some one for a few days till my jaded hack was better able to do his remaining work. Thus I was not sorry when, the tenth evening of my journey, on emerging from a thick scrub, I saw lights in the distance, heard the barking of dogs, and in a few minutes rode into a clearing on which stood the barracks of a detachment of the Queensland Native Mounted Police.

"Glad to see you; come in," said Lieutenant Parr, the officer in command, as, roused by the clamour of the dogs, he came to the door: "You are just in time for dinner. Here, Tommy," to a black trooper, "take the gentleman's horse. To me, "Do you wish him hobbled, or shall he go out with mine?"

"Why, in truth," said I, "I was going to ask you to take me in for a day or two till my horse picks up a little."

"With the greatest pleasure.-Off with the saddle, Tommy, and let him go with the rest." Upon which poor Bob was speedily relieved of bridle, saddle, and "swag," introduced to the troop horses, and led off by them to their favourite pastures.

"Your coming is quite a God-send," said Mr. Parr, when, after a long talk, it was bedtime. "If you are not pressed for time, stay here as long as you like. I patrol your way in a fortnight; give me the pleasure of your company till then, and we will ride together; in the meantime your horse will regain his con

dition, and you can have such sport in the way of hunting, fishing, and shooting as the country can give you."

With the return of daylight I arose, and strolled out to view my new quarters and breathe the morning air. Anything more delightful than the early morn in the bush in Australia it is difficult to imagine. The air is so fresh, so balmy, so pure, and withal so delicately perfumed with a thousand strange and delicious aromatic odours, that one can almost taste it, and the mere act of respiration becomes a positive pleasure. The woods are resonant with the songs of birds and the humming of innumerable insects, and yet their small music hardly seems to break the majestic silence, which becomes more impressive when at intervals the various creatures intermit their song, and the only audible sound is the murmur of the wind among the trees, the only visible motion the sweeping of a fleecy cloud across the blue.

My present resting-place was the police camp at Euleutha, on the Bungil Creek, in the district of the Maranoa. The barracks were a collection of slab huts built on a grassy bank sloping gently towards the Bungil, a "creek," anglicè, small stream, flowing into the Condamine river, which latter further on in its course becomes the Balonne, then the Darling, and finally is merged in the Mississippi of Australia, the Murray river. The central hut was the officers' dwelling, flanked on one side by the quarters of the non-commissioned officers of the detachment, on the other! by the store-huts and the winter quarters of the native troopers, who, disdaining all cover until the colder weather set in, slept during the summer months à la belle étoile in rear of the buildings. On the left was a stock-yard tenanted by a few cows, which Mrs. Cassidy, the sergeant's wife, was busy milking; on the right a garden, small but well stocked with both fruits and flowers; beyond it again a paddock, in which the horses waiting duty were kept. The front was the parade-ground, on which at this early hour a few pet rabbits, on the best possible terms with the kangaroo hounds, were hopping about. On the opposite side of the creek the ground rose somewhat abruptly sixty or seventy feet above our level, throwing from its wooded height a grateful shelter over the camp as the day grew hotter.

Strolling round to the native quarters I made acquaintance with the troopers, who, busy about their accoutrements, were preparing for a parade. A finer set of fellows it would not be easy to find. Tall, athletic, muscular, active as cats, savage

upon occasion as tigers, they were the very men for the rough and ready duties of a border police. Their fidelity is secured by their invariably serving out of their own districts: thus the Queensland force is recruited from tribes on the Murray river, and the Victoria police in Queensland. All Australian tribes are at enmity with each other; these black constables are therefore so many Ishmaels in uniform, and as a deserter would certainly be killed and probably eaten by some tribe through which he would have to pass, he as much from prudence as from loyalty sticks to his corps.

Tommy," the black corporal, Parr's factotum and right-hand man, was a magnificent fellow, strong as a Hercules, and, without exception, the finest rider I had ever seen. All the men were more than a match for any ordinary vice in a horse, but there was one brute in the troop that was too much for any of them but Tommy. On the second day of my stay he was driven in with other horses, and an exhibition was got up for my especial benefit. The "Devil"-such was his appropriate name-was "baled up" in a corner of the yard, bridled and saddled after infinite difficulty, mounted in the bale, and then let go. As soon as the small enclosure was opened, his Satanic majesty darted out into the large yard, cleared the slip-bars, and began a series of the most diabolical attempts to unseat his rider that I ever witnessed. With back arched like a bow and head between his knees, he bucked for a minute at a time, screaming with rage: then throwing up his head so suddenly that I feared for Tommy's brains, he reared upright and executed a fandango on his hind legs: resuming a more natural position, he flung his heels in the air, jumped sideways, spun round as on a pivot, repeating or varying these performances in every way that his infernal fancy could suggest, but all to no purpose; Tommy and the "Devil," so to speak, were one: there was no upsetting that admirable balance, no getting rid of the vice-like grip of those brawny thighs. His eyes flashing with excitement, and white teeth gleaming, as it seemed to me, all over his black face, Tommy bore it all unmoved, till presently, watching his opportunity, he dug the spurs into Satan, who with one tremendous bound dashed into the woods. In half an hour the pair returned, the horse white with foam and sweat, and for the present conquered his rider dismounting took off saddle and bridle as coolly as if nothing had happened, and quite ready to repeat the performance whenever it might be required of him.

:

A week or ten days passed pleasantly enough. Kangaroos and emus were abundant. There were brush turkeys and bronzewinged pigeons in the scrub, bustards on the plains, ducks in the lagoons, fat bream and cod in the creek, and we had as much hunting, shooting, and fishing as we wanted. The long evenings we wiled away with talk, and smoke, and hard fights at écarte and piquet. The time drew near for Parr's patrol; my horse Bob, fully recovered from his fatigue, was as frisky as a kitten, and orders were given for a muster of the horses on the following day.

But next morning broke sullenly and in gloom. The clouds, black and ominous, were gathering heavily; it was evident we were on the eve of the autumnal rains. However, late that afternoon the horses came trooping in, when those required for duty were drafted from the herd, and the remainder again turned loose. That evening the floodgates of heaven were opened, and the rain came down as it does only in the tropics; one might almost say not in isolated drops, but in one vast sheet of falling water, a very avalanche of rain. For about a couple of hours this lasted, when the first fury of the storm abated, but it merely subsided into a steady downpour, with no sign of slack or diminution. The monotonous pelting on the roof had its effect on our spirits; we threw by the cards, and drew near the fire, which, spitting and hissing as the big drops fell upon the flame, was bravely endeavouring to make head against the rain.

"If this sort of thing goes on," said Parr, "we may give up all idea of starting to-morrow. There is every appearance of a flood; you may then be stuck here for some days longer."

The morning brought no change for the better, the rain was still falling, falling. Breakfast over, we went down to inspect the creek; its waters, though swollen and turbid, were not yet so considerably increased in volume as the continuous downpour had led me to anticipate. "Wait till the water comes down from the hills," remarked Parr, "you will not know the creek."

In another hour the waters did come down. We, hearing the roaring of the torrent, visited the creek once more, and what a change! The stream but yesterday a limpid brook, in some parts scarce ankle-deep, was now brimming over it banks. A swiftly moving mass of yellow water, bearing on its distracted bosom great boughs and branches, chafing wildly at every obstacle, rushing like a cataract over the fallen trees and boulders that here and there blocked its impetuous course.