rest. But I soon caught sight of
it again, and on reaching it saw the great mark or blaze in its side,
and from it the next. From this I could see another, and so found no
difficulty in getting through the solemn groves.

On the other side, as I stood by the last blazed tree, I had no
difficulty in making out a vast mass of rock, for which I at once
stepped out, and all proved to be so clear, there were so many landmarks
in the shape of peculiar stones, falls, and clumps of trees, that I made
my way easily enough, and felt no little pride in being so trusted to
tramp through these vast solitudes with a pistol in my belt and my rifle
over my shoulder.

"How grand! how grand!" I kept on saying to myself, as I climbed to the
top of some high point and looked around, while at such times a feeling
of awe came over me at the silence and loneliness of the scene.

I found my way at last to the top of a ridge where I could look down
into a green valley, seeing here and there in the distance faint lines
of smoke rising over the tops of the trees, and after a hot, rather
difficult descent through the pines, just as Mr Raydon must have come
to our help that day, I reached the little camp, and was greeted by the
men with a cheery shout.

They had not seen a sign of danger, they said, and as I looked round I
saw no sign of the place having been disturbed. I heard too that the
gold-washing was going on very busily below, but no party had gone
higher than they were, Barker having urged upon his fellow-miners the
necessity for keeping well together.

After a rest and a mug of tea, which they soon had ready for me, two of
them saw me up to the ridge above the valley, and gave me a hint or two
about my way, with a warning to be careful; and, full of confidence, I
started forward on my return journey.

I soon lost sight of the men and trudged on, keeping a sharp look-out in
the hope that I might see something in the form of game for a shot, and
a change in the fare at the Fort, but the utter absence of animals was
wonderful, and it was only at rare intervals that I heard the cry of a
bird, or caught sight of a squirrel.

I soon found that going back was not so easy, everything looking very
different reversed, and consequently I went astray twice, and had to
tramp back to the spot where I knew I had erred. Once I was brought up
short by a terrible precipice; a second time by a huge wall of rock,
going up hundreds of feet, ample