k you,' says I. 'What for?'

"'I find out about the bush rangers,' he said. 'You go and tell
captain dat, tomorrow morning before de day begins, dey attack the
station of Donald's.'

"'Are you quite sure?' says I.

"'Quite sure,' says the black. 'Me heard dem say so.'

"So as I hates the bush rangers like poison, I saddles up and rides
into the station; and when I had told the boss, he said I better
ride and find you, if I could. You would be at one of the stations
this way. I stopped at three of them, and at the last they told me
you was here."

"Thank you greatly, my good fellow. Donald's! I don't know the
name. Where do they live?"

"They have only been here a couple of months," Reuben's host, who
was standing beside him, replied. "They bought that station of
Anderson's. He was a chicken-hearted young fellow, and sold out
because of the bush rangers. There is a man, his wife, and her
sister, I believe. I fancy they have got a pretty fair capital.
They took Anderson's stock, and have been buying a lot more. That's
why the bush rangers are going to attack them."

"I thought," Reuben said, "that Anderson's was not one of the most
exposed stations."

"No, that was what everyone told him, before he sold it."

"How far would you say it was from here?"

"Thirty-five miles," the settler said. "It's ten miles from
Barker's, and I reckon that's twenty-five from here."

"Well, of course I shall ride at once; as there are women there, it
makes the case all the more urgent. I have got my orderly, and
there are two more men at the station, this side of Barker's."

"I will go, of course," Reuben's host said, "and will bring two men
with me.

"You had best stop here for the night," he added, turning to the
shepherd. "You have ridden pretty well thirty miles already, and
that at the end of your day's work."

"Not I," the man replied. "Jim Walsh is not going to be lying in
bed, with the thought of two women in the hands of them murderous
bush rangers. You might lend me a fresh horse, if you have got one.
If not, I must try and pick one up at one of the stations, as we go
along."

"I have plenty of horses in the yard," the settler said.

"Well, let us be off as soon as possible," Reuben put in. "It's
past twelve o'clock now, and we have thirty-five miles to ride, and
to stop at two or three places, so we haven't a minute to lose."

In a few minutes the horses were saddled, and the six men dashed
off at full gall