he should find his companion
still there, "the men won't leave their rum; come and speak to the
devils."

He turned in every direction to get sight of his companion, and as he
was facing the hut, I felt a warm pressure from Fred's disengaged hand,
and understood him without a word being spoken.

We noiselessly arose, and relinquished our hold of the dog; but strange
to say the animal appeared to understand our movements, and did not
spring forward as we feared he would. He looked into our faces, wagged
his tail, and remained silent.

"Jim!" cried the bushranger, in a louder tone of voice than he had used
before, "Jim, the boys--"

He had no time to utter more. Fred placed his strong hands around the
fellow's throat, and compressed his grasp until I fancied I heard bones
crack; at the same moment I dropped upon my knees, and seizing both his
legs we had him at our mercy. He kicked violently, and struggled
manfully, but in spite of all we bore him to the bushes, when Smith,
beginning to understand our attack, uttered a chuckle of delight, and
threw his whole weight upon the prostrate bushranger, and began to bind
his arms with cords which he always carried about him in case of need.

Even the hound was not idle, for standing over the astonished ruffian,
with his powerful jaws in close proximity to his face, he showed such a
set of strong teeth that the bushranger manifested many symptoms of
terror, and endeavored to move from such a dangerous neighborhood of
ivory.

The feet and hands of the robber were soon bound by the active Smith,
and then holding a knife at his throat, with an understanding that it
should be plunged into him if he gave an alarm, Fred relinquished his
grasp, and asked a few questions.

"How many are in your gang to-night?" Fred inquired.

The villain looked from one face to the other, as though he was almost
resolved to evade the question; but receiving no encouragement from the
scowling countenances which he encountered, replied,--

"There's twelve of us."

"Who's your leader?" he demanded.

"Jim Gulpin."

"As big a scamp as ever went unhanged!" ejaculated Smith; "I have heard
of his tricks, before."

"What is your object, in attacking the stock-hut?"

"To recover the gold which was stolen from Darnley, and also to revenge
his loss."

"And you expect to succeed?" demanded Fred, ironically.

The bushranger made no reply, and as we had got all the information that
we expected, an