"No, it's a lie. The nugget is in charge of a mounted escort on the way
to Melbourne."

"What have you done with _your_ nugget, Colson?" asked Obed.

Colson did not reply.

"There's no time to waste here. Stackpole, you and the boys will have to
go with us. Here, you two men, close behind them. We must not let them
escape."

The party started with the captives in the middle. It was decidedly a
bad outlook for our three friends.

CHAPTER XXXII.

OBED IN A TIGHT PLACE.

It must be confessed that the reflections of Obed and the two boys were
far from pleasant. The cup of happiness had been dashed from their lips
just as they had begun to taste it. Then again it was very mortifying to
watch the exultation of Fletcher and Colson, who had finally triumphed
over them after being successfully baffled.

"The worst of it is," said Obed to Harry, who was walking alongside of
him, "that them skunks have got the best of it. It's their time to crow
now."

"That's the way I feel," said Harry soberly. "I believe I would rather
have lost twice as much to anybody else."

"We haven't lost all, that's a comfort. They will take the money we have
with us, but if ever we escape to Melbourne, there is the nugget money
waiting for us."

Just then Colson stepped up with a smile on his face.

"It strikes me I've got about even with you, friend Stackpole," he
said.

"Don't call me friend, Colson; I don't own any man as friend who acts
like you. So you're a bushranger, are you?"

"Certainly not," answered Colson, amazed.

"It looks like it," remarked Obed significantly.

"I am merely in the company of the bushrangers just at present."

"Aiding and abetting them in their scheming. That's so, isn't it?"

"No."

"You haven't any interest in the plunder, then?"

Now, one of the bushrangers was within hearing, and Colson didn't
venture to say "No," or it would be virtually giving up his share of the
money taken from Obed and the boys.

"I don't care to answer any of your questions," he said stiffly.

"I don't wonder--not a mite, Colson. Still I'd like to ask one."

"What is it? I don't promise to answer it, though."

"Didn't you find that nugget rather heavy?" asked Obed slyly.

Colson didn't answer, but frowned, for the subject was a sore one.

"How many miles did you carry it, if I may be so bold?"

"I don't care to discuss the subject."

"I shouldn't if I were you. It makes me laugh when I think how you must