, without offering to
guide us.

We had gone some distance when Mudge observed to me,--"I don't quite
like the look of these fellows. I have heard that the worst class of
convicts, who are worked in the road-gangs, often make their escape and
live a wild life in the bush, taking by force from the settlers whatever
they can get hold of. They go by the name of bushrangers; and I can't
help thinking that those fellows we have left there are of that
description."

"I've little doubt about that same," observed Paddy; "and it's a pity we
gave them the powther, though I wouldn't grudge them the mate and the
'baccy."

"They would scarcely make use of the powder to injure us," I observed.

"I wouldn't trust them for that, if they are the gentry I take them
for," said Mudge. "However, we must keep a watch, and take care that
they don't surprise us."

We were pretty well tired by the time we reached our settlement, as we
called it. As may be supposed, the supply of kangaroo which we brought
was very welcome, and a portion was served out to the men for supper
that evening. As a fire had been seen burning at Pullingo's camp long
before our arrival, there could be little doubt that he had reached home
much sooner than we did.

The next morning one of the strangers made his appearance at the
settlement on foot. He said that he had left his companion on the high
ground to look after the horses, and that he had come to claim the
articles we had promised. My father had agreed that Mudge was correct
in his opinion of the strangers, but that it would be better to supply
them with what they wanted to enable them to support their miserable
existence, and to try to obtain from them the information about the
country so important for us to gain.

The man looked a little less starved-like than he did the previous day,
but his ragged clothes and dirty appearance made us unwilling to ask him
into the house. We got a table and chair out for him, however, in the
shade; and gave him an ample meal and a glass of ale, which made him
open his heart somewhat. He acknowledged that he and his companion were
leading a terrible life in the bush, but that he saw no way out of it.
He described somewhat minutely the country we should have to pass over:
a large portion was open and easily traversed, but other parts were
mountainous, rocky, and wild in the extreme, with no water to be found
for miles. Whether or not he was giving us a true desc