d me a beautifully finished little repeating rifle, hardly
heavier than a navy revolver, and a small bag of cartridges.

'Thar, that'll be company for ye, in case ye hev to draw a bead on
the--any one--just temp'ry like. Our horses is hobbled in Bates's
clearing. Take my old sorrel if ye can catch him.' He stopped for a
second and put his hand in a listening fashion. His hunter's ear was
quicker than mine. 'Thar's a war party on the trail, I reckon. It's
a roughish crossing at Slatey Bar,' and he pointed towards the river,
which we could plainly hear rushing over a rocky bed. We shook hands,
and as I turned down the steep river bank I saw him walk slowly into his
tent and close the canvas after him.

The line he pointed to was the one I fixed in my own mind to take long
before our talk was over. The Turon, always steep-banked, rocky in
places, ran here under an awful high bluff of slate rock. The rushing
water in its narrow channel had worn away the rock a good deal, and left
ledges or bars under which a deal of gold had been found. Easy enough to
cross here on a kind of natural ford. We had many a time walked over on
Sundays and holidays for a little kangaroo-shooting now and then. It was
here Jim one day, when we were all together for a ramble, surprised the
Americans by his shooting with the little Ballard rifle.

As I crossed there was just moon enough to show the deep pools and the
hurrying, tearing waters of the wild river, foaming betwixt the big
boulders and jags of rock which the bar was strewed with. In front the
bank rose 300 feet like the roof of a house, with great overhanging
crags of slate rock, and a narrow track in and out between. If I had
light enough to find this and get to the top--the country was terribly
rough for a few miles, with the darkness coming on--I should be pretty
well out of reach by daylight.

I had just struck the track when I heard voices and a horse's tramp
on the other side of the river. They seemed not to be sure whether I'd
crossed or not, and were tracking up and down on each side of the bar. I
breasted the hill track faster than I had done for many a day, and when
I got to the top stopped to listen, but could hear nothing. The moon
had dropped suddenly; the forest was as black as pitch. You couldn't see
your hand before you.

I knew that I was safe now, if a hundred men were at my heels, till
daybreak at any rate. I had the two sides of the gully to guide me. I
could manag