We remained silent while getting over a mile of the dusty road; but, as the oxen fell into their slow pace again, we renewed the conversation.

“You think that the system of letting convicts have leave tickets is a good one, then?” we asked.

“In some cases I think that it works well; but all men are not alike, and while some play the hypocrite and profess good conduct, others are never allowed their liberty because they brood over their past life so much that they never smile.  They are marked as sullen and discontented, and are worked until their spirits are broken, and they no longer hope for freedom.  The energy and enterprise of liberated felons have increased the trade of Australia until she is no longer a burden to the mother country, and I hope, before I die, to see this island conducted as an independent government.  It would be better for England, and I need not tell you how much better it would be for us.”

“Are the bushrangers, that we hear so much about, really dangerous fellows to meet?” we asked.

“They are the very scum of the great cities of England—­desperate men who are usually sentenced for life, and therefore have no hope of mercy; and many of them desire none.  As soon as they can effect an escape they do so, and fleeing to the wilds of the island, either join a band of ruffians like themselves, or else, fearful of trusting to men that are as treacherous as wolves, will roam without companions for many days, living upon sheep, which are easily obtained from herds without the knowledge of the shepherds, and very often with their consent, to be at last betrayed and shot by the very man who was trusted most.  There are hundreds of them upon the very route that we must take, and every day there are murders and robberies committed, and all the vigilance of the guard, who escort gold dust from the mines to Melbourne, is necessary to insure its protection.

“Teams like our own, however, are most attended to, and if we should wake up in the night, and by the light of the camp fire see half a dozen ferocious-looking fellows standing over us, it would be better to let them take what they want, and go their way in peace, than to trust to an appeal to arms or oppose them.  Once rouse them to anger, and our lives would not be worth a sixpence; for they think no more of shedding the blood of a man than they would that of a sheep.”

“I think it would be better to give them a trial than be robbed, especially when we possess weapons like these,” cried Fred, touching his revolver, which he carried in a belt around his waist.

Smith looked at my companion for a moment in silence, as though trying to satisfy himself whether Fred was in earnest, or only talking because danger was remote.

“I’ve carried many men to the mines,” he said at length, “and been robbed some half a dozen times; but I always found that while my passengers were firm for resistance at the beginning of the journey, yet at night a different opinion was formed, and the boldest has consented to give up a shirt or pair of boots without a murmur.”