“Man’s destiny is like—­”

“Spare your proverbs,” exclaimed Fred, impatiently, “until we are in a place of safety.  I feel like making my way out of these woods as fast as possible, and if I have got to cut through a line of robbers I shall leave my mark before completing the job.”

“Then let us lose no time,” Smith said, speaking after a profound silence.  “I can hear the devils calling to each other as they make their way through the forest, and if we wait for their arrival we shall be hemmed in on every point.”

Even while Smith was speaking, we could hear the calls of Steel Spring, repeated in rapid succession, as though urging his comrades to renewed exertion.  I raised the heavy bag of gold to my shoulder, and away we went, tramping through the bushes, stumbling over decayed trees, and bumping heavily against growing ones.  Every few minutes we halted and listened attentively; yet strange to say, not a sound was to be heard except quick breathing and beating of hearts.  The stillness seemed worse than the noise, for during the latter we were enabled to define the position of our opponents, and knew that they were at arm’s length; but now, when every thing was quiet around us, we knew not but our next step might bring us under their fire, and then farewell to life and fortune.

“Forward,” whispered Fred; and on we struggled, the forest apparently growing more dense at every step, and at length we seemed so surrounded with impenetrable thickets that we were obliged to halt and consult as to the best route to the team, which we were anxious to reach.

Suddenly the cracking of a twig beneath the foot of a man who appeared to be making his way in the direction from which we came, started us.  Rover uttered a short growl, and would have sprung upon him, but Fred held the brute with hands of iron and whispered a word of caution, and then the dog became mute as stone.

The invisible robber continued on his way towards the clearing, passing so near us that it seemed as though we might have touched him, had we been so disposed.  He evidently was on the lookout for our party, for he would stop and listen attentively, and then proceed with careful and certain steps.

We waited until he was beyond hearing, and then extricated ourselves from the thicket and continued our course.  For more than two hours we toiled and worked, until at length we saw an opening through the trees.  With eager but careful steps we moved towards it, thinking that the worst part of our expedition was over, and I was just about to throw the gold to the earth and thank God for our escape, when I looked up and saw that we were at the very point from whence we started—­that we were standing on the edge of the clearing, and that directly in front of us were twenty or thirty bushrangers, with levelled muskets, evidently taking our bearing with great familiarity.

CHAPTER XXVII.