“Our company is disagreeable to you, then,” Fred said.  “We will not force ourselves upon you, be assured.  In an hour’s time we shall turn our backs upon the place, and probably never return.”

“Come, come,” cried the old convict, extending his hand, which we were in no hurry to accept.  “You are angry with me, and yet you have no just cause, for I would expose my life to assist you.  You are richer than I, and need not quarrel with an old friend for the sake of working from the earth a few scales of gold.  Let me remain here in peace; for the present, without being elbowed by strangers.”

“We are agreed,” I replied, pressing the stockman’s hand:  and as we did so, a vision of his services rose before us, and amply rewarded us for the slight sacrifice which we had made.

“Now,” cried the stockman, “we are friends again; and to prove that I am such, before noon I will place in your hands the bag of gold which we came so near losing night before last”

“Ah, now we are convinced that you have our interest at heart,” Fred said, joyfully.  “Let us but touch the treasure and you shall share with us.”

“I want no share—­I’ve been repaid, ay, more than repaid, in obtaining my freedom through your instrumentality, and if I can make some return I shall be happy.”

We no longer stopped to discuss the question of working upon his claim, and in less than ten minutes after our return to the hut, we had saddled our horses, and leaving Smith to follow with his oxen, for the purpose of bringing home his half-consumed cart, we started once more towards the still smoking woods.

The hot winds of Australia, which begin about ten o’clock in the forenoon, swept over the prairie with a blast that felt like the flames of an extensive conflagration, and yet we heeded it not, for our whole thoughts were fixed, like greedy misers, upon the gold which we were soon to acquire, and we speculated what we should do with our wealth, and how expend it.

We urged our panting horses to their utmost speed, and not until the old stockman cried out to us to draw up, or we should exhaust the brutes, did we allow them to take breath.

“There’s no use in being in such a hurry,” he said, “because we are near the spot, and have all the afternoon to get home.”

In fact, even while he was speaking he dismounted near Smith’s cart, and we quickly followed his example.

“When I made my escape from the bushrangers, and carried off the gold, I recollected that I had seen a stone near this spot, and that some kind of animal had burrowed under it.  The knowledge served me a good turn, for when I gained the edge of the woods I scraped away a little dirt and dropped the bag into the hole.  Then I rapidly covered it, and entered the forest again undiscovered.”

While he was speaking our eyes had wandered in search of the rock which he was mentioning, and within a rod of us we found it.  We hardly waited to hear the conclusion of his words before we had pushed aside the loose dirt, and saw the soiled canvas bag which we had taken from the earth on the day of our capture.