convicts said sharply. "We don't want to do an old pal any harm, and
when you wake up in the morning and find the flock some twenty short, of
course you won't have any idea what has come of them."

The man nodded and went back into the hut and shut the door, and the
convicts started for the interior, driving twenty sheep before them.

During the first day's journey they went fast, keeping the sheep at a
trot before them, and continuing their journey through the heat of the
day.

"I tell you what, Captain," one of the men said when they halted at
sunset, "if we don't get to a water hole we shall have to give up this
idea of going and camping in the bush. My mouth has been like an oven
all day, and it is no use getting away from jail to die of thirst out
here."

There had been similar remarks during the day, and the two leaders
agreed together that it would be madness to push further, and that,
whatever the risk, they would have to return to the settlements unless
they could strike water. As they were sitting moodily round the fire
they were startled by a dozen natives coming forward into the circle
of light. These held out their hands to say that their intentions were
peaceful.

"Don't touch your muskets!" Captain Wild exclaimed sharply, as some
of the men were on the point of jumping to their feet. "The men are
friendly, and we may be able to get them to guide us to water."

The natives, as they came up, grinned and rubbed their stomachs, to show
that they were hungry.

"I understand," the Captain said; "you want a sheep, we want water;" and
he held up his hand to his mouth and lifted his elbow as if in the act
of drinking.

In two or three minutes the natives understood what he wanted, and
beckoned to the men to follow. The tired sheep were got onto their legs
again, and half a mile away the party arrived at a pool in what in wet
weather was the bed of a river. A sheep was at once handed over to the
natives, and when the men had satisfied their thirst another sheep was
killed for their own use.

After a great deal of trouble the natives were made to understand that
the white men wanted one of their party to go with them as a guide, and
to take them always to water holes, and a boy of fifteen was handed over
to them in exchange for two more sheep, and at daybreak the next morning
they started again for the interior, feeling much exhilarated by the
piece of luck that had befallen them. They traveled for four d