scared away the
bees coming back, and those coming out into pouring forth faster and
faster, till there was quite a cloud darting about above that of the
blinding wood smoke.

Then a few cleverly directed strokes of the axe made a big opening
through the bark, the axe was thrown down, and the black's arm thrust in
right up to the shoulder, and his hand drawn out bearing a great cake of
honeycomb.

This he deposited in the bucket, pausing now and then to give the
smoking wood a wave, or to hold it inside the opening, to drive out the
bees before bringing out more and more comb, till the bucket was pretty
well full.

And now the most difficult task seemed to await the black; but he held
on again with his legs, untied the waist cloth, rested the bucket on his
chest, while he knotted the cloth ends together again, and slipped it
over his head. Then, taking the smoking wood from where he had placed
it inside the hole, he threw it down and descended safe and triumphant,
to begin cleaning his sticky hands after the fashion of a cat, before
bearing the bucket back to the station, where Mrs Braydon gave him a
lump of damper for a reward.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

LEATHER SPEAKS OUT.

Another day, it seemed as if Sorrel felt with his master, and took him
straight to a fresh part of the great sheep run, near where the vast
gorge was fenced at its edge with mighty trees, beneath one of which
Leather was seated, looking hard and stern.

Nic was very thoughtful that day. There was something he wanted to ask
the convict, but he always shrank from satisfying his curiosity; and
this time he showed that he had something upon his mind so plainly, that
Leather after their abrupt salutations had passed, said:

"Not well, sir?"

"Yes, quite well. Why?"

"Looked queer, sir."

"Oh, nothing," said Nic hastily, for he had made up his mind to question
the man, and now the opportunity had come he felt that he could not
speak.

"I was thinking about you a little while ago, sir."

"About me? Why?"

"You were saying the other day that you had seen so few snakes. I've
seen four this morning. Two of them are poisonous; you may as well have
a shot at them."

"How do you know that they are poisonous?"

"Partly from the bad character they have, sir, partly from the shape of
the head."

"Let's see, I've heard something about that before: poisonous snakes
have a spade-shaped head, haven't they?"

"That's what they call it,