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A COACH ACCIDENT.
The coach from Tarrong railway station to Emu Flat, and then on to Donohoe's Hotel, ran twice a week.

Pat Donohoe was mailman, contractor and driver, and his admirers said that Pat could hit his five horses in more places at once than any other man on the face of the earth.

His coach was horsed by the neighbouring squatters, through whose stations the road ran; and any horse that developed homicidal tendencies, or exhibited a disinclination to work, was at once handed over to the mailman to be licked into shape.

The result was that, as a rule, Pat was driving teams composed of animals that would do anything but go straight, but under his handling they were generally persuaded, after a day or two, to settle down to their work.
On the day when Hugh and Mrs.Gordon read Mr.Grant's letter at Kuryong, the train deposited at Tarrong a self-reliant young lady of about twenty, accompanied by nearly a truck-full of luggage--solid leather portmanteaux, canvas-covered bags, iron boxes, and so on--which produced a great sensation among the rustics.