Adventures in Australia | Page 9

ease."
Fortunately our horses were close to the camp, and as soon as we
reached it we sent Toby to bring them in, not telling him that we
suspected the character of the strangers. As they approached we

anxiously examined their appearance, which was certainly not in their
favour. They were savage-looking fellows with long beards, their
unkempt hair hanging over their shoulders. They pulled up suddenly
when they saw us standing with our backs to a couple of large trees,
our baggage and saddles piled on the ground, and Toby holding our
horses.
"What is your pleasure, friends?" asked Guy. The fellows examined us
without answering.
"You look as if you'd know us again should we come across you," said
Guy. "Just take my advice. Ride on and leave us to cook our dinner."
"Who are you, young chaps, and where are you going?" inquired one
of the horsemen, who from his appearance we concluded was the
leader of the party.
"We are going our own way and are not inclined to give that
information to those who have no authority to ask it," replied Guy in a
firm voice.
"Did you fall in with a young fellow who had been stuck up by
bushrangers?" inquired the man.
The question convinced us that we were not mistaken as to the
character of our visitors.
"I have just told you that we are not going to answer any questions
from those who have no right to put them," said Guy.
"Oh, oh, oh!" cried the man, making a movement as if he was about to
unsling his gun.
"If you do that, I'll fire," shouted Guy. "Our rifles are loaded with ball;
now ride on, we do not wish to take your lives, but we have no intention
of being stuck up."
During this conversation I was looking at the other two fellows, who

had not spoken but seemed to be waiting until their chief gave a sign to
them to act. As my eye ranged over the countenance of one of them, it
struck me forcibly that I had seen the man before, but when or where, I
could not recollect. He was evidently very young, for while the faces of
the others were covered with hair, he had but a small moustache on his
lips, but exposure to the hot sun had so tanned his complexion, that had
he been an intimate friend I might have failed to recognise him. He
looked at me and then at my brother, whose attention was occupied by
the older bushranger and did not notice him as I was doing.
"Oh, oh, oh!" exclaimed the man, after the warning Guy had given him;
and, without saying another word, he and his companions turned their
horses' heads and rode away in the direction from whence they had
come. Probably they had been attracted by the smoke of our fire, and
expected to find some travellers unprepared for them; so we should
have been had we not fallen in with Bracewell, and should certainly
have lost our baggage and horses, and perhaps our lives.
"We have had a narrow escape, for there is no doubt about those
fellows being bushrangers," I observed to Guy.
"Not the slightest," replied my brother. "I felt that there was only one
way to deal with them. Had we shown the slightest hesitation or
nervousness, they would have attempted to frighten us into
submission."
"Did you notice the countenance of one of the others?" I asked. "I
could not help fancying that I knew it well. If it were not so very
improbable, I should say that it was that of a fellow I remember at
school when I first went there. I wish that you had observed him, for as
you must have known him better than I did, you would have been more
sure about the matter."
"What, do you mean the youngest of the three?" asked Guy. "The fact is
I did note him. It struck me that he was wonderfully like a fellow I
always stood clear of, though he especially tried to make friends with
me. If you remember the name of the person you think he was, tell me,
and I shall better be able to judge whether I am right."

"I am nearly certain then that it was Cyril Vinson."
"You are right," answered Guy. "He was a clever fellow without a
particle of principle; and I remember hearing it reported some time
after he left school, that he had committed forgery, and that, although
he was not convicted, his friends had sent him out of the country."
We talked over the matter, and agreed that it was very strange we
should so soon after our arrival in the country have fallen in, under
such