"It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand's booming gold rush. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: a wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous cache of gold has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into a network of fates and fortunes...

Describes how an elephant seal made a home in New Zealand's narrow Avon River and loved to stretch out across a two-lane road, requiring volunteers to tow her farther out to sea after she kept returning repeatedly.

This early work by G. P. Cuttriss was originally published in the early 20th century and we are now republishing it as part of our WWI Centenary Series. 'Some day cold and formal histories will record the deeds and performances of the Australian soldiery; but it is not to them that we shall turn for an illumination of his true character. It is to stories such as these which follow, of his daily life, of his psychology, of his personality, that we...