"Perhaps you didn"t mean anything," he growled. "If so, all is well, but you had best be careful."
"Follow me, men," said the leader. He turned his horse"s head and rode into the wood.
The eucalyptus trees are very tall, some attaining a height of hundreds of feet. They begin to branch high up, and there being little if any underbrush in the neighborhood, there was nothing to prevent the pa.s.sage of mounted hors.e.m.e.n. The ground was dry also, and the absence of bogs and marshy ground was felt to be a great relief.
The boys were on foot, and so were two or three of the bushrangers"
party. As already intimated, they were of inferior rank and employed as attendants. In general the party was silent, but the boys overheard a little conversation between the captain and d.i.c.k Fletcher, who rode beside him.
"You haven"t distinguished yourself this time, Fletcher," said the chief in a dissatisfied tone. "You led me think that this party had money enough to repay us for our trouble."
"It isn"t my fault," said Fletcher in an apologetic tone. "The Yankee completely deceived me. He was always boasting of his money."
"He doesn"t seem like that kind of a man," said the captain thoughtfully. "What could have been his object?"
"He must have meant to fool me. I am ashamed to say he did."
"Couldn"t you have found out whether his boasts were correct?"
"That is just what I tried to do," answered Fletcher. "I crept to his side early one morning, and began to explore his pockets, but he woke up in an instant and cut up rough. He seized me by the throat, and I thought he would choke me. That made me think all the more that he carried a good deal of money about with him."
"The boys, too--did you think they were worth plundering?"
"Oh, no, I never was deceived about them," replied Fletcher promptly. "I concluded that, even if they had money, the Yankee was their guardian, and took care of it. They are all Americans, you know."
He spoke glibly, and the captain appeared to credit his statements. The boys listened with interest, and with a new appreciation of Fletcher"s character. They could easily have disproved one of his statements, for they knew very well that Obed never boasted of his money, nor gave anyone a right to suppose that he carried much with him. On this point he was very reticent, and neither of them knew much of his circ.u.mstances. However, it would have done no good to contradict Fletcher, for his word with the captain would have outweighed theirs, and he would have found a way to punish them for their interference.
"In future," said the captain, "I advise you to make sure that the game is worth bagging. As it is, you have led us on a fool"s errand."
"That may be," Fletcher admitted, "but it wasn"t so last time. The Scotch merchant bled freely, you must allow."
"Yes, you did better then."
As Harry listened he began to understand that Fletcher acted as a decoy, to ingratiate himself with parties leaving Melbourne for the mines, and then giving secret information to the bushrangers with whom he was connected, enabling them to attack and plunder his unsuspecting companions.
"That"s a pretty mean sort of business," he said to Jack, when he had an opportunity to speak to him without being overheard. "I"d rather be a robber right out than lure people into danger."
"So would I," responded Jack. "That Fletcher"s worse than a pirate."
Still they went on, so slowly that the boys, though compelled to walk, had little difficulty in keeping up. They were necessarily anxious, but their predominant feeling was of curiosity as to their destination, and as to the bushrangers" mode of life.
At length they came out of the woods into more open ground.
CHAPTER XII.
THE HOME OF THE BUSHRANGERS.
On a slight rise stood a collection of huts, covered with sheets of the bark of the gum-tree, held on by ties of bullock hide. For the most part they contained but one room each. One, however, was large and, the boys afterward learned, was occupied by the captain of the bushrangers.
Another served as a stable for the horses of the party.
This Harry judged to be the home of the outlaws, for no sooner had they come in sight of it than they leaped from their horses and led them up to the stable, relieving them of their saddles. Then the bushrangers sat down on the ground, and lounged at their ease. The attendants forthwith made preparations for a meal, appropriating the stores which had just been taken from Obed and the boys. The captives were not sorry that there was a prospect of a meal, for by this time they were hungry. They followed the example of their companions, and threw themselves down on the ground. Next to them was a young bushranger, apparently about twenty-two years of age, who had a pleasant face, indicative of good humor.
"How do you like our home?" he asked, turning to Harry with a smile.
"It is a pleasant place," answered Harry.
"How would you like to live here?"
"I don"t think I should like it," Harry replied honestly.
"And why not? Is it not better than to be pent up in a city? Here we breathe the pure air of the woods; we listen to the songs of the birds; we are not chained to the desk or confined from morning till night in a close office."
"That is true, but are there not some things you do not like about it?"
asked Harry significantly.
"Such as what?"
"Is it not better to earn your living, even if you are chained to a desk, than to get it as you do?"
Harry felt that he was rather bold in asking this question, but he was rea.s.sured by the pleasant face of the young outlaw.
"Well," admitted the latter, "there are some objections to our life."
"It would not do for all to get their living as you do."
"That is true. Some must work, in order that others may relieve them of a portion of their property."
"Are you not afraid of being interfered with?"
"By the mounted police?"
"Yes."
"We are strong enough to overcome them," said the bushranger carelessly.
"What is the name of your captain?" asked Harry.
"Stockton. No doubt you heard of him in Melbourne."
Harry shook his head.
The outlaw seemed surprised. "I thought everybody in Australia had heard of Ben Stockton," he said. "He has a great name," he added with evident pride. "He is as strong as a lion, fears nothing, and his name is a.s.sociated with some of the most daring robberies that have ever taken place in this country."
"And still he is free," said Harry suggestively.
"The authorities are afraid of him. They have offered a reward for his capture, but it doesn"t trouble him. He only laughs at it."