ngaroo, for they stopped short, with the thick coat of
hair about their necks bristling up while they charged in and retreated
again and again.

"Can't be blacks," thought Nic, and he checked his nag slightly, but
found the horse began to show signs of uneasiness, sidling away as he
approached, carefully watching for the point of a spear or some shock
head.

"There they are," he said to himself the next moment, as he made his
horse bound away, for some distance farther on he saw both--the rough
spears and long-haired heads dotted here and there.

The next moment, though, he was annoyed with himself for his needless
alarm, the objects he saw being only the native grass trees with their
peculiar growth of tufted heads bearing some resemblance to a rough
shock of hair, the long bare flower spike standing up above suggesting
at a distance the native spear.

There, too, in an open patch, was the cause of the dogs' uneasiness, in
the shape of a snake richly marked with brown, and apparently six or
eight feet long, as it lay in close curves, with head erect, playing
about and seeking an opportunity to strike at the first dog which came
within reach.

Nic felt plenty of inclination to have a shot at what was probably, from
its appearance, the venomous tiger-snake of which he had heard the men
speak. But the urgent duty forced him on, and he cantered forward for
another hour, to where the track, now on his _left_, passed close by a
pool of water, toward which the dogs set off, barking loudly; and the
horse followed straight for the spot.

As usual, it was well wooded all about, but after seeing the dogs reach
it first and career through and, through it without so much as a yelp,
Nic had no hesitation in riding up, loosening his nag's girths, and
then, while it drank a little, taking out his own breakfast, a part of
which he ate with poor appetite, sharing the rest between the dogs as
soon as they had had a good drink and swim.

The halt was very short, and while the horse was refreshing itself with
a few mouthfuls of the rich grass, its master stood gazing through the
clear sunny air at the notch in the mountains, which looked to him just
as far off as it did when he rode off that morning--just as near.

He tried to calculate how many hours he had been riding, how many miles
he had come, but gave up in despair. All he could feel was that the sun
was getting very high, and that the heat would be very great for the
res