s.

It is no uncommon occurrence in the Australian Colonies for a large
number of shearers or others collected in the hut in the country to be
"stuck up," that is, subdued and bound, by two or three determined
bushrangers. Fifteen or sixteen strong active men may be thus treated,
and have been, frequently. At first, one is ready to conclude either
that they must have a private understanding with the robbers or else be
the veriest poltroons. I thought so myself till I had an account of one
of these affairs from a man who had been one of a large party thus
"stuck up" by two very notorious bushrangers, the life and death of
whom, would furnish materials for a romance. Their names were Dalton
and Kelly, and they will long be famous in the annals of daring and
outrage in Van Diemen's Land.

Dalton was a stout, powerful man, and about thirty years of age at the
time of the rencontre I am about to describe. His accomplice Kelly, was
about twenty-three years old. They were both prisoners of the Crown in
Van Diemen's Land. Dalton was transported at an early age, and had for a
time been confined in the "Ocean Hell" of Norfolk Island, the gaol of
the double-damned convict; but was afterwards taken back to Van Diemen's
Land. From the same informant I learned some particulars of their
escape. They were confined in a penal establishment on a strait or an
arm of the sea, wide enough, it was thought, to preclude the possibility
of flight. Dalton, Kelly, and five or six other prisoners, however,
weary of a wretched life, determined to risk that life for liberty; and
having one day eluded the vigilance of their guards, attempted, though
their legs were weighed down with fetters, to swim to the opposite
shore. One after another their strength failed them; they sank and
disappeared till at length only Kelly and Dalton survived. Kelly's
strength was rapidly waning, when Dalton called out to him "Catch hold
of me, Kelly! I can swim another hour yet."

When at last they both got safe to land, Dalton exclaimed, "Well, thank
God, I shall have one comrade at any rate."

They now quickly freed themselves from their irons, procured arms, and,
knowing that they would certainly be hotly pursued they at once started
on a marauding expedition, visiting the neighbouring stations in
succession, and pillaging each; intending eventually, to make their way
across Bass's Straits to Victoria. Dalton was a very formidable fellow;
strong, active, and resol