“cocky.”

CHAPTER I. the magic hut.

An outcast in a great city. Half-clad, half-starved, kicked and cuffed,

and sworn at, as if he were no better than a mongrel cur, wretched Jack

Cochrane felt that he was a useless unit in the world.

Jack was a foundling, God help him! First one and then another had

taken him in hand, to rear him in the way he should go and make a

decent member of society of him; but the charitable intentions of his

godfathers and godmothers had evidently failed, for here he stood on

this cold winter’s night, a full-grown youth, utterly unlettered,

shivering in the keen wind, like a puppy in a wet sack.

To most of the young ragamuffins of his class he was known by the

nickname of “Cocky,” and while he stood beneath a lamp-post, thinking

how nice and comfortable it would be to tumble into a warm bed, half a

dozen city waifs like himself came roystering by.

“Hello, Cocky! Where’r you going to doss to-night? Biler, or gas-pipe?

Don’t you go on the wharf—there’s two coppers waitin’ there. Wouldn’t a

saveloy hot or a tater go down slick, eh? So-long! Cocky, old man!” and

the squad of shoeless young vagabonds went laughing on their way.

“I must try and get in and have a snooze somewhere,” muttered the lad,

blowing on his finger-tips to warm them. “There’s the railway—I wonder

if I could find a truck with a tarpaulin on it? I will try.”

The idea is acted on at once. Cocky soon finds a line of trucks covered

well from the weather, into one of which he quietly creeps, and finding

it snug and warm is soon fast asleep.

When he awakes it is daylight, and the sun is shining; peeping out from

his cover, Cocky discovers he is far away from the city. He has been an

unbooked passenger by a goods train which has travelled all night and

carried him while he slept into the heart of the country.

Luckily, the train happens to be stationary at a lonely bush siding,

and Cocky makes his way out of the truck and away into the scrub

without being discovered. Hurrying away from the direction of the

railway siding, Cocky finds himself near sundown on a narrow pathway

leading over a range of high hills into a deep valley without trees,

and where stands a solitary hut. An old man, much bent in form, and

whose hair and beard looked as if they had not been shorn since he was

born, stood at the door and gazed at our hero very curiously.

“Please could you give me a morsel to eat?” said poor Cocky, halting,

faint and tired.

“Hum! You had better go farther if you fare worse,” answered the old

man.

“I can’t go any farther,” said the boy. “I’m done up completely. Pray

let me stay here to-night,” he pleaded.

“Hum! Rum-fuddle-em-fee! Very well. What can you do?” questioned the

old fellow, his eyes glinting and glowering upon poor Cocky in a most

remarkable manner, like a cat’s eyes seen in the dark.

“Do?” repeated the lad boldly. “Oh, I’ll do anything if you will give

me some food and find me somewhere to sleep.”

“Bunkum Geezer,” muttered the toothless old fellow in reply. “You shall

have all you want, but you must do my bidding; otherwise you shall not

leave this valley alive. Do you hear?”

Cocky was desperate with all a lad’s gnawing hunger, so he answered,

“All right. Trot out the tucker.”

Close by the hut stood a magnificent fir-tree, whose branches formed a

canopy impervious to dew or rain. Beneath it stood a table already

spread with dainty food. With a wave of his hand the old man pointed

this out to Cocky, and said,—

“Go, eat. Your couch will be beneath the tree also. When you have

eaten, sleep well, for to-morrow you will have to work—to work hard,

boy.” Saying which, he went into the hut and closed the door.

The famishing lad did not need a second invitation to dine. He found a

stool by the table and sat down and began his dinner. There were many

joints and dishes which the waif had never seen before, but they were

very nice. In the midst of his repast a fine-looking magpie came

fluttering down from the tree, and perching on one end of the table,

eyed our hero inquisitively.

“Hallo! Who are you?” said the boy.

“Never you mind, Jack Cochrane. Can I have something to eat?”

“Of course you can,” answered the lad, after his first start of

surprise. “What’ll you have? Here’s baked snails, stewed kangaroo,

fried wallaby, native companion on toast, with a lot of other things.”

But the magpie without more ado perched himself upon a huge rabbit pie

and began to help himself to its contents.

“Here, I say, old fellow, how do you know my name?” said Cocky, after a

long pause, in which he had been staring wonderingly at the strange

bird.

“I know most things,” replied the magpie, whetting his beak on the

table-cloth, preparatory to an attack on another dish. “I know that you

have got into a very dangerous place, and that if you do not get

counsel and help you will assuredly lose your life.”

“That’s pleasant. But who will kill me?” said Cocky, laughing.

“The old man. He’s a terrible magician, Jack. It would have been better

for you not to have come here.”

“That’s just what the old rascal said himself. But why can’t I go when

I like? He’s in the hut, fast asleep by this time.”

“No. Don’t attempt to run away, Jack,” said the magpie gravely. “Old

Gruff would be certain to know and would trap you like a fox before you

were out of the valley. You have been kind in sharing your dinner with

me and I will help you, Jack. Kindness goes a long way with us. We

never forget those who have once befriended us, Cocky Cochrane.”

“Who are you, then?” inquired the boy, with mouth agape in wonder.

“Your good fairy, Jack, from this moment henceforth,” responded the

bird in a kindly tone. “Please don’t bother me with questions now, for

I must be gone. Gruff is a wicked monster. He will set you to do what

will seem impossible; but accept the task boldly and with cheerfulness.

I will be near to help you. Now go to sleep. Good-night.”

Cocky slept soundly. In the early morning he was awakened by a loud

roaring; opening his eyes, he saw standing over him a huge fellow of

colossal proportions, who commanded him to arise in a voice like the

rumbling noise of an express train.

“I am King Red Gum,” said the monster, at the same time twirling a

sapling round and round in his hand for pastime. “In yonder paddock you

will find a young colt who has never been touched by the hand of man.

Catch him and bring him here before I have eaten my breakfast, or I

will string thee up by the heels and roast thee like a rabbit. Dost

hear?”

Cocky laughed and bounded away on his errand. He found the colt, but

soon discovered that it was quite impossible to approach the vicious

brute without being eaten or kicked to death. He had serious thoughts

of running away, when the magpie alighted near him, to whom he

communicated his trouble.

“Shout Stra fonatsa as loudly as you can,” said the bird.

“Stra fonatsa! Come here!” The wild horse pricked his ears and

immediately came over to where our hero stood. He was as gentle as a

lamb and suffered Cocky to lead him by the mane to where King Red Gum

was waiting with his bludgeon.

“Ho! Ho! thou insignificant mortal,” he cried, “so thou hast brought

Stra fonatsa. It is well. Now I must be off for my morning gallop.

Gruff! Gruff! thou lazy skunk, where art thou?”

“Here am I, master,” answered the old man, appearing at the door of his

hut.

“Give this ant his breakfast so that he may be ready to do my bidding

when I return;” and King Red Gum mounted his steed and rode away. Once

more the old man of the hut invited Cocky to a well-furnished table,

then retired within his domicile and shut the door. In the midst of his

breakfast our hero was joined by the magpie, whom he welcomed

cordially. He placed the choicest tit-bits before it.

“I am glad you have a kind heart, Jack, and that you are grateful for

my help,” said the bird, after the meal was over. “Learn, boy, I am not

what I seem. None of us are, mortals or fairies.”

“Who are you, please?” said Cocky coaxingly.

“I am an elfin, Jack; just that. In this country every one of us has

been made the guardian or custodian of some one who has been wronged. I

am the guardian of a beautiful young lady who has been stolen from her

home and shut up in a spacious mansion underground. I have been

awaiting your coming a long time, Cocky Cochrane, for you and you only

can release my darling Brown Eyes from the thraldom of King Red Gum and

his henchman, Old Gruff.”

“Why did they shut up little Brown Eyes underground? What has she

done?” said Cocky.

“That ugly wretch, King Red Gum, wanted Brown Eyes to marry him, and

she would not. So he turned the poor dear into a blue wren and placed

her in a cage below the earth,” answered the magpie in a trembling

voice. “Now, Jack, we all need help from one another. If you’ll help

me, I’ll stand by you.”

“Agreed,” cried the young fellow resolutely. “You have done me good

service already; therefore whatever you order I am ready to obey.”

“Thank you, Jack. Good-bye for the present. I can hear King Red Gum

returning from his gallop.”

CHAPTER II. brown eyes.

Our friend Cocky was not given very much time to digest his breakfast.

Dismounting from his steed the giant beckoned him forward, and thus

addressed him: “You lazy imp! It would suit you very well to do nothing

but eat my victuals and take a sleep afterwards, but you shall work.

Listen! On the other side of yon mountain there is a wide lagoon

fringed with reeds and rushes. There lives the Australian wonder, a

Bunyip. You must find him and ask of him three questions—the answers to

which you must bring to me before sundown, otherwise your miserable

life shall answer for it.”

“Oh, that’s quite easy,” replied Cocky, with a dash of his city

assurance. “I thought you were going to set me something very

difficult. What are the three questions?”

“Why the leaves on the trees grow edgeways to the sun?” said the giant.

“Next: What is the reason there is no water in Phantom Hollow? And last

but not least: Why figs do not grow on the tree by the hut? Now begone!

and bring me the answers before sundown,” cried the Red Giant in a

towering rage.

Our hero departed with a great show of bravado, but when he came near

the lagoon his assumed swagger quickly evaporated. He had heard there

was such a creature as a Bunyip, but he had never met anybody who had

seen one. “Never despair,” however, was Cocky’s motto. He would try and

find it, for the sake of Brown Eyes. He wandered about and searched in

every likely place amongst the rushes, and waded in the water calling

for the Bunyip. But there was no response to his call, and the sun

began dipping westward.

Hereupon the magpie came upon the scene. “Hello, Jack! Looking for the

Bunyip?” he cried.

“I can’t find him. I don’t believe there is such an animal,” cried

Cocky.

“Oh yes, there is; but he’s neither animal nor fish, Jack—yet a mixture

of both. All you have to do is to cut a reed like a whistle, slit it

down the middle, then blow upon it twice.”

Cocky obeyed the directions of the bird, and immediately there came

forth from the middle of the lake a huge monster, with a head shaped

like that of a calf, and a body as large and unwieldy as a young

hippopotamus. Its eyes were dreadful to behold, as it came slowly out

of the water and crouched abjectly at the feet of our hero.

“What want you with me?” it cried presently.

“Tell me why the leaves of the gum-trees grow edgeways to the sun,”

said Cocky.

“Because it is the nature of the tree to grow its leaves edgewise, thou

fool,” replied the monster.

“What is the reason there is no water in Phantom Hollow?”

The Bunyip chuckled. “Because the sun has dried it up,” he cried

contemptuously. “What more?”

“Why do figs not grow upon the tree by the hut in King Red Gum’s dell?”

“Because King Red Gum is an ass, who cannot discern a wild pine from a

fig-tree. Now depart, or I shall drag thee down into the depths of the

lagoon.”

“Ask for a hair from his tail,” whispered the magpie quickly.

“Please give me a hair from your tail,” said Cocky; and ere the monster

could grant or refuse the request our hero, by a sudden dexterous

movement, had possessed himself of the coveted prize and was speeding

away up the mountain-side like a deer, with the clever magpie flying

low at his side.

“Now, Jack,” cried the bird, “we must not part again until we have

accomplished the release of my lady-bird Brown Eyes. Hold fast to that

hair of the Bunyip’s tail, for it will prove one of the most powerful

weapons in the art of magic. It is a talisman to swear by, and none can

resist it, as you will presently discover.”

Then the magpie added a short whisper into Cocky’s ear, and they

descended into the dell, where the giant and Old Gruff stood awaiting

our hero.

“Tiny mortal, hast thou done thy task? What are the answers?” roared

Red Gum menacingly.

“By the hair of the Bunyip’s tail, I command thy obedience,” cried our

hero sternly.

Red Gum let fall his huge waddy from his hand. With a loud cry he sank

down at our hero’s feet cringingly at the potent words. “Thou art the

master! I am thy slave!” he cried in a submissive tone. “What wilt

thou, mortal?”

“I have conquered, by jingo! henceforth thou shalt be a dingo.”

Cocky had barely uttered the charm ere the huge bulk of the giant faded

beneath his eyes and assumed the form of a wild bush dog. At the same

moment the old man of the hut rushed to the assistance of his fallen

chief; but our hero held the key, or rather the hair, of the position,

and bade him stand.

“Dog shalt thou be for thy folly. I will change thee to a collie!”

cried Cocky.

Immediately the fated words passed the youth’s lips the old fellow was

transformed into a big sheep dog, who, seeing the dingo at hand, sprang

upon him at once, and while a battle royal raged between the two our

hero mounted Stra fonatsa, and galloped away in company with the

magpie, much farther than I could tell you in this little story.

When it was near sundown they came to a great cave, situated on a very

high hill, and the magpie without more ado led our hero downward by a

series of stairs cut in the solid rock, through arches and corridors,

onward to an open vista of glorious country, glowing and shimmering

beneath a strange but powerful light, which revealed the most minute

object within their vision.

In the distance appeared a fine mansion, with a high tower in the

centre of it; and when they came to the gate, they found a regiment of

dwarfs on guard, who as soon as they saw the hair from the Bunyip’s

tail fell down on their faces before our hero and besought him to

enter.

The magnificence displayed within the building was something to be

remembered. Here were arches of polished marble, priceless statues,

tables and couches of antique workmanship, with rich carpets woven in

no mortal loom, and where everything was gleaming with velvet and thick

silks and pure gold.

Wandering on in this wonderful place the magpie led Jack Cochrane to a

small apartment overlooking a lovely prospect of forest scenery, dotted

with lakes, glinting under the soft light. In one corner of this room

was hung a golden cage containing a wee wren. This bird became very

lively when it saw the magpie, and the latter was no less agitated on

seeing the little wren.

“Give me the hair of the Bunyip,” cried the magpie in an altered tone

that Cocky hardly recognised. However, he obeyed. In an instant the

room was plunged in profound darkness, while at the same moment came a

musical voice, who in a loud tone cried, “Come forth, Brown Eyes! come

forth from thy thraldom! Night hath fled. Behold the day!”

Then more swift and sudden than a lightning flash Cocky, the city waif,

who had but winked his eyes in the darkness, opened them upon broad

daylight, with the sun streaming into a magnificent apartment and upon

a beautiful young lady with wonderful brown eyes, and also upon a tall,

handsome young man by her side.

“Am I dreaming?” said poor Cocky, rubbing his eyes and staring at his

companions.

“Not a bit of it, Jack Cochrane,” said the handsome youth, smiling down

upon Brown Eyes beside him. “I am your friend still, but a magpie no

longer. The scene has changed, boy, thanks to your courage and

steadfastness. The wren and the magpie are Sir Plum Dough and his

affianced bride, Brown Eyes Wattle Blossom. This is our domain. It is

called The Gloaming. Stay here with us and be our henchman.”

ring down the curtain.