ted towards the scrub, a silent warning to the new men of the
dangers in store for them. They took their guns and went about the
bush looking for wattle trees, but they could not find in any place a
sufficient quantity to make the business profitable. There was no
regular employment to be had, but fortunately the schooner 'Scotia',
chartered by John King, went ashore in a gale, and four of the
barkers, all Irishmen obtained a few days' work in taking out her mud
ballast. But no permanent livelihood could be expected from
shipwrecks, and the seven strippers resolved, if possible, to return
to Melbourne. They wanted to see Paddy Walsh once more, but they had
no money, and the storekeeper refused to pay their fare by sea.
After much negotiation, they obtained a week's rations, and gave all
the tools they had brought with them to Captain Davy in payment for
his trouble in landing them at One Tree Hill. They were informed
that Brodribb and Hobson had made Western Port in four days on foot,
and of course they could do the same. Four of the men were named
Crow, Sparrow, Fox, and Macnamara; of the other three two were
Englishmen, Smith and Brown; the third, a native of London, named
Spiller, installed himself in the office of captain on account of his
superior knowledge. He guaranteed to lead the party in a straight
line to Western Port. He said he could box the compass; he had not
one about him, but that made no difference. He would lay out their
course every morning; they had to travel westward; the sun rose in
the east, everybody knew as much as that; so all he had to do was to
turn his back to the rising sun, and march straight on to Western
Port which was situated in the west. The men agreed that Spiller's
theory was a very good one; they could not think of any objection to
it.

Each man carried his blanket and rations, his gun and ammunition.
Every morning Spiller pointed out the course to be taken and led the
way. From time to time, with a look of extreme wisdom, he took
observations of the position of the sun, and studied the direction of
his own shadow on the ground. For five days the men followed him
with great confidence, and then they found that their rations were
all consumed, and there was no sign of Western Port or any
settlement. They began to grumble, and to mistrust their captain;
they said he must have been leading them astray, otherwise they would
have seen some sign of the country being inhabi