that rate,' laughed Dick, 'the track we want isn't likely to be
laid your way?'

'Not it,' said the sergeant, 'else I should ha' spotted it on my round.
No, mateys, you can cut right back. Ta-ta!'

The boys gave him a farewell salute, and ran back towards the spot
where they had left the rest of the patrol.

'That's a rum game, ain't it?' remarked Chippy--'a soldier a-walkin'
round in a quiet place like that theer. Who's he a-tryin' to cop?'

'Perhaps watching to see that no convicts escape,' suggested Dick.
'You know, Chippy, they often try to cut and run if they see a chance.'

'Yus,' said the Raven. 'I've seed that in the papers. But wot do they
want convicts for on the h'eth?'

'I know,' cried Dick--'I know. I heard my father talking about it at
dinner the other day. It's the Horseshoe Fort at the mouth of the
river. They're making it ever so much bigger and putting new guns
there so as to be ready if ever some enemy should come to our country
and try to sail up the river. The convicts are at work there, digging
and building and doing all sorts of things.'

'I see,' nodded Chippy; 'that's 'ow they mek' 'em useful, I s'pose.'

'That's it,' said Dick, 'and that sergeant we saw was one of the men in
charge of them.'

'He soon started us back,' murmured Chippy.

'Yes,' said Dick; 'I heard my father say that they are very strict
about letting any stranger go near the place.'

'That was on'y gammon of his about them convicts,' remarked Chippy.

'Of course it was,' agreed Dick; 'he wouldn't let anyone go nearer the
fort on any account.'

'How far are we off?' asked Chippy.

'I'll soon tell you!' replied Dick, and pulled his haversack round.
From this he took out a small leathern case with a map tucked away in
it. The map was a shilling section of the Ordnance Survey on the scale
of one inch to a mile. Dick had bought it and carried it as
patrol-leader. The space it covered--eighteen miles by twelve--was
ample for their work.

Dick knelt down and spread the map on the ground; Chippy knelt beside
him. Chippy had never seen such a map before, and his keen
intelligence was soon deeply interested. His finger began to run along
roads he knew, and to point out spots he had often visited.

'Why, wi' this,' he declared, 'ye could go anywhere if ye'd never seed
the place afore. Look here, this is the road to Lockin', an', I'm
blest! why, 'ere's my gra'mother's house, this little black dot, just
off