silence which followed his unpatriotic argument, and pointing to a
grove ahead by the roadside. "They look as if they've been planted
there. There ain't been a forest here surely?"

"Oh, they're some trees the Government imported," said the bagman,
whose knowledge on the subject was limited. "Our own bush won't grow
in this soil."

"But it looks as if anything else would--"

Here the stranger sniffed once by accident, and then several times
with interest.

It was a warm morning after rain. He fixed his eyes on those trees.

They didn't look like Australian gums; they tapered to the tops, the
branches were pretty regular, and the boughs hung in shipshape
fashion. There was not the Australian heat to twist the branches and
turn the leaves.

"Why!" exclaimed the stranger, still staring and sniffing hard.
"Why, dang me if they ain't (sniff) Australian gums!"

"Yes," said the driver, flicking his horses, "they are."

"Blanky (sniff) blanky old Australian gums!" exclaimed the
ex-Australian, with strange enthusiasm.

"They're not old," said the driver; "they're only young trees. But
they say they don't grow like that in Australia--'count of the