I could hear the bushrangers indulge in a chuckling laugh, as though the language used to their companion was relished.

“Stop your mouth, you dirty ——­, or I’ll stuff a goose down your throat!” shouted the ruffian, furious with rage.

“You?” she asked, contemptuously; “why, if my old man was within sound of my voice, you would run like a sheep from a dog.  You are the biggest coward connected with the gang, and they only keep you ’cos you can mend their clothes.  A tailor!  Bah, you are only the ninth part of a man, and a botch at that.”

“By G——­d, woman, you shall feel the length of my knife if you don’t close your mouth,” shouted the ruffian, that the woman was goring to madness.

“O Nancy, do be quiet,” cried her companion.

“Keep quiet for the threat of that braggart?” the shrill-voiced woman demanded; “why, if I had a bodkin I’d spit him on it.”  “Would you?” cried the bushranger; “then I’ll give you a taste of the same sort of stuff!”

We heard a struggle for a few seconds, and then the earnest tones of the most liberal ruffian in remonstrance.

“Put up your knife, you fool, and don’t let a woman get the better of you.  Don’t you see that she’s trying to provoke you to kill her.”

“And I will do it, too,” yelled the brute.

“No you won’t, not as long as I’ve got charge of this squad.  I ain’t going to do all the work, and then let you act as you please, by a d——­n sight.  Touch that woman, and I’ll make a hole in your side big enough to throw in a Bible.  Put up your knife, and let us see if we can’t cross the creek before daylight.”

“Well, don’t let her insult me again, that’s all,” the fellow said, in reply to the threat, although it seemed that he was prepared to obey the order, much as he disliked it.

“Insult you! you miserable specimen of a fool? why, it would be impossible to insult you, for your life is but an insult to your Maker!” cried the shrill-voiced woman, who had been addressed by the name of Nancy.

“I’d like to hire that woman to do my scolding,” whispered Mr. Wright.  “Lord, how she would make the men fly if they didn’t come to dinner at the exact time.”

By a flash of lightning we could see three of the bushrangers examining the banks of the creek, for the purpose of judging whether it could be forded by the horses or not.

They seemed to decide against its feasibility, for we heard them grumbling at the idea of stopping there all night, and getting sighted by “d——­d old Wright” in the morning.

Our host listened to the complimentary remarks about himself with great glee, for it showed that he was a power that was respected by the robbing fraternity, and that they took good care to visit his range of land as little us possible.

“Are we to stay here in the wet all night?” grumbled Mr. Brown.

“I don’t see how we are to avoid it,” Mr. Wright replied.