eat growing less
oppressive, we certainly did not feel much refreshed by its
disappearance, as our legs, unaccustomed for many days to long walks,
began to grow stiff, while blisters formed upon our feet and galled us
extremely.

We would have given a small sum to have been enabled to halt for the
night; but pride prevented us from asking Smith to do so. We were
fearful that he would laugh at us, and we had our reputation as
Americans at heart too much to let him think that we were failing even
on the first day from Melbourne. But as mile after mile of ground was
got over, we could keep silent no longer.

"How much farther do you intend going before camping for the night?" I
asked of the convict in a careless sort of way, although I could hardly
prevent limping.

"Feel tired?" he inquired, with a grin.

"O, no," I answered, with an indifferent air.

"Well, as you are not tired, and night is the best time to travel,
suppose we keep on until daylight?"

"I'll be ---- if I do," broke in Fred. "I've got a great blister now, on
my great toe, bigger than a silver dollar, and my boot seems inclined to
raise others. I'll tell you what it is, Smith, for the last two months
we've been on shipboard, and not walked five miles during that time, and
if you think we can compete with you as a pedestrian, you are mistaken."

Fred jerked out his words as though each step he took cost him an
immense amount of pain, and I've no doubt it did. The convict laughed
silently, and relieved his feelings by cracking his long whip, bringing
the end of the lash to bear with great precision upon the flanks of the
leading yoke of cattle, which testified their appreciation of his
attention by kicking at the heads of those following; and as such
playful amusement was calculated to inspire vitality in the animals,
they started off with renewed speed, and Fred and myself, with many
groans, limped after.

"I can't stand this," cried my companion, after a few minutes' brisk
walk. "My feet are raw, and getting worse every moment. I'll try an
experiment."

He sat down in the middle of the road, and while the team rolled on,
jerked off his boots and stockings, and declared, as we hastened to
overtake Smith, that he felt he could walk all night, and that hereafter
he would go barefooted.

"Well," cried Smith, as we reached the team, "how do you feel now?"

"Fresh as a daisy," returned Fred, clapping his boots together as though
they were a pair o