er fellows might say
something afterwards if anything happened cross. So we saw them make a
fair start for a spot on Weddin Mountain, where they thought they
were right. We didn't think we could be caught once we made tracks in
earnest. After a couple or three hours' riding we should be pretty safe,
and daylight would see us at the Hollow.

We stopped, besides, to do what we could for the wounded men. They were
none of them regularly done for, except the sergeant. One man was shot
through the lungs, and was breathing out blood every now and then. We
gave them some brandy and water, and covered them all up and left them
as comfortable as we could. Besides that, we sent Billy the Boy, who
couldn't be recognised, to the camp to have a doctor sent as soon as
possible. Then we cleared and started off, not the way we had to go, but
so as we could turn into it.

We couldn't ride very slow after such a turn as that, so we made the
pace pretty hot for the first twenty miles or so. By Jove! it was a
great ride; the forest was middling open, and we went three parts speed
when we could see before us. The horses seemed to go as if they knew
there was something up. I can see Rainbow now, swinging along with that
beautiful bounding style of going he had, snorting now and then and
sending out his legs as if one hundred miles, more or less, was nothing.
His head up, his eye shining like a star, his nostrils open, and every
now and then, if anything got up, he'd give a snort as if he'd just come
up out of the bush. They'd had a longish day and a fast ride before they
got to Eugowra, just enough to eat to keep them from starving, with
a drink of water. Now they were going the same style back, and they'd
never had the saddles off their backs. All the night through we rode
before we got to the top of Nulla Mountain; very glad to see it we were
then. We took it easy for a few miles now and again, then we'd push on
again. We felt awful sleepy at times; we'd been up and at it since
the morning before; long before daylight, too. The strangeness and the
chance of being followed kept us up, else I believe we'd have dropped
off our horses' backs, regular dead beat.

We lost ground now and then through Warrigal not being there to guide
us, but Jim took the lead and he wasn't far out; besides, the horses
knew which way to steer for their grass at the Hollow. They wouldn't let
us go much off the line if it was ever so dark. We gave 'em their heads