dn't have had a chance of keeping themselves from starving.

He and little Maitland wandered about; and then, feeling hungry,
exhausted all their capital in one meal, "burning their boats," like the
old Athenians.

They would now have either to find something to do to get lodging or
food, or else tramp it back to the ship.

They slept that night in the open air, under some scaffolding round a
new building that was being run up on the outskirts of the town; and the
next morning were wandering about again, feeling very miserable and
wishing they were safely back on board the _Greenock_, it being just
breakfast-time, when they were accosted by a stout, hairy sort of man,
dressed in a species of undress uniform.

"Hullo, my young friends!" the man said, his voice being much pleasanter
than his looks, "where do you hail from? I don't think I've ever seen
you in Ballarat before."

"You wouldn't again if we could help it," replied Teddy so heartily that
the hairy man laughed as jollily as might have been expected from his
musical voice.

"Ah! I think I know who you are," he observed, eyeing them both
critically.

"Well, you must be a conjuror if you do," answered little Maitland, who
had a good deal of native impudence about him, "considering we haven't
been twenty-four hours in Australia!"

"What say you to Maitland being your name and Vernon that of your
companion, eh, my young cocksparrow?" said the man with a quizzical
look. "Am I conjuror or not?"

The boys stared at each other in amazement.

"Well," exclaimed Teddy at length, "this is certainly the funniest
country I have ever been in. The diggings that I've read about in print
over and over again have all vanished into nothing, and here there are
railways running through the bush, with people knowing who you are
twenty thousand miles away from home. It is wonderful!"

"Not so very wonderful after all, Master Teddy Vernon," suggested the
hairy man at this juncture. "I'm an inspector of police here, and we
received a telegram last night which had been circulated in all
directions from the chief office at Melbourne, saying that you two young
gentlemen were missing from the ship _Greenock_, just arrived from
England, and that any information about you would be gladly received and
rewarded by Captain Lennard, the commander of the vessel."

"I'm very glad," said Teddy, interrupting any further remark the
inspector might have made. "We came away suddenly