“Why, hang it, man, do you mean to say that you don’t know a kangaroo when you see one?” and Smith laughed at my greenness.

“Do you mean to say that those are kangaroos?” I demanded.

“Of course they are; see that fellow sitting on his tail near you.  He is almost as large as a native, and were it not for showing the black devils our position I would knock him over, and we would have fresh steaks for breakfast.”

“But I supposed that the kangaroo was a very wild animal,” Fred said, joining in the conversation.

“So they are; but in the night time I have known them to mingle with horses and not leave until daylight.  They appear to have a remarkable attachment for horses; and a man riding over a prairie can approach them within a few rods without exciting suspicions.”

I was listening attentively to Smith, but still I kept an eye on our visitors, and noticed that they gradually lessened their distance between us, and were so near that they could not fail to note our positions.

“Do kangaroos usually carry spears in their paws?” I asked of Smith, in a whisper.

“What do you mean?” he demanded.

“I mean that instead of animals we have natives to deal with, and in another moment our throats would have been cut by the sly scamps.”

I snatched up my rifle, and hardly waiting to place it at my shoulder, fired.

The kangaroo, alias a native sewed up in a skin, sprang towards me, but with a yell of agony fell dead at my feet.

I seized my revolver, but before I could use it Fred’s rifle and Smith’s double-barrelled gun answered my lead, and two more natives were bleeding upon the field.

The smoke slowly drifted past, but no more live kangaroos were to be seen.

I looked for Rover, but he had disappeared during the firing, and he did not return for ten minutes, when by his panting I knew that he had pursued the natives to the bushes, but what other damage he had done the latter only knew.

“We shall rest in peace for the remainder of the night,” Smith said, “that is, provided any one can get rest with so many blasted bugs buzzing in the air.  The natives will not make a second attack upon us, you may be assured.”

Smith’s words were found to be correct, for, when daylight appeared, a flag of truce was sent to our camp, and an old native demanded permission to remove the bodies of his fallen friends.  We gave a willing consent on condition that we were allowed to pass on our way without further molestation; and after accepting our terms, we detained the old fellow as a hostage until we were safe from their ambush, when we dismissed him with a number of presents, and he returned to his camp apparently delighted at his treatment.

We urged our cattle to their utmost exertions, and at sundown we were in sight of the old convict’s hut, and in close proximity to the buried gold.