" promptly responded that individual.

"Ve should lose our reputation for shrewdness if ve did," muttered Steel
Spring, but his master overheard him, and gave him a kick as a reward.

And in this manner was it settled, that government should not be
enlightened in regard to the information which the miners had obtained,
and it was owing to the plot being overheard at our store that the
people of Ballarat were enabled to abolish the odious mining tax, and to
accomplish that, were prepared for the soldiers when they did arrive.

The inspector left us for his quarters, and the rest of us retired for
the night, with the intention of rising early and riding out to meet
Smith, who could not be more than ten miles distant, according to
Murden's report.

We were on horseback about sunrise, and rode slowly out of Ballarat,
leaving Steel Spring to look after the store and its effects. The miners
were cooking their breakfasts as we passed along, and the fumes of fried
pork and boiling coffee greeted our nostrils at every turn.

Stretched out as far as the eye could reach were tents of every color
and hue, from the new comer of yesterday to the old stager blackened by
the dust and rains of nearly twelve months. We met parties of Chinese,
who had been on a hunt for lizards and other insects, and to judge from
their jargon, they had been eminently successful.

Two of them were staggering under the weight of an enormous snake, that
they had found dead a short distance from the town, and they strung it
on a pole, and were congratulating themselves on the many stews that it
would make. They regarded it in the light of a present from their gods,
and danced with joy.

We left the main road, and followed an almost imperceptible trail that
led us in a parallel course, and within sight of the road that we
expected Smith would choose for reaching the town. By doing so we were
enabled to avoid the dust and confusion, and ride more at our leisure;
and before we were five miles from Ballarat we were repaid for our
precaution, for just as we were passing a small clump of half-stunted
vegetation we heard a fluttering of wings, and on looking up, we saw one
of the largest birds that Australia can boast. It was a full-grown
cassiowary, and stood nearly eight feet high, we judged, with long,
stout legs, black and muscular, and a foot that would cover a peck
measure.

The bird's beak was like an ostrich's, stout and sharp, and its head and
bod