alone?

Father said his bargain with these chaps was that he should send down
to them when anything was up that more men was wanted for, and they was
always to meet him at a certain place. He said they'd be satisfied with
a share of whatever the amount was, and that they'd never want to be
shown the Hollow or to come anigh it. They had homes and places of their
own, and didn't want to be known more than could be helped. Besides
this, if anything turned up that was real first chop, they could always
find two or three more young fellows that would stand a flutter, and
disappear when the job was done. This was worth thinking over, he said,
because there weren't quite enough of us for some things, and we could
keep these other chaps employed at outside work.

There was something in this, of course, and dad was generally near the
mark, there or thereabouts, so we let things drift. One thing was that
these chaps could often lay their hands upon a goodish lot of horses or
cattle; and if they delivered them to any two of us twenty miles from
the Hollow, they could be popped in there, and neither they or any
one else the wiser. You see father didn't mind taking a hand in the
bush-ranging racket, but his heart was with the cattle and horse-duffing
that he'd been used to so long, and he couldn't quite give it up. It's
my belief he'd have sooner made a ten-pound note by an unbranded colt or
a mob of fat cattle than five times as much in any other way. Every man
to his taste, they say.

Well, between this new fad of the old man's and our having a notion that
we had better keep quiet for a spell and let things settle down a bit,
we had a long steady talk, and the end of it was that we made up our
minds to go and put in a month or two at the diggings.

We took a horse apiece that weren't much account, so we could either
sell them or lose them, it did not make much odds which, and made a
start for Jonathan Barnes's place. We got word from him every now and
then, and knew that the police had never found out that we had been
there, going or coming. Jonathan was a blowing, blatherskiting fool; but
his very foolishness in that way made them think he knew nothing at all.
He had just sense enough not to talk about us, and they never thought
about asking him. So we thought we'd have a bit of fun there before we
settled down for work at the Turon. We took old saddles and bridles, and
had a middling-sized swag in front, just as if we'd come