ther, half-closed his eyes, and nodded.

"Yes, and no, my lads. You're right; we have got some rough pups about
here--chaps who'd put a bullet into a man for a quarter of what I've got
there. But they daren't. We've got neither law nor police, you see."

"No, I don't see," said Dallas. "You speak in riddles."

"You don't see, my lad, because you're a Johnny Newcome. I'll tell you.
We've got some of the most blackguardly scum that could be took off the
top of the big town sink-holes--men who've come to rob and gamble; but
we've got, too, plenty of sturdy fellows like yourselves, who mean work
and who trust one another--men who'll help each other at a pinch; and
I've heard that there's a sort of lawyer fellow they call Judge Lynch
has put in an appearance, and he stands no nonsense. He's all on the
side of the honest workers, and one of them has only to denounce a man
as a thief for the Vigilants to nail him at once. Then there's a short
trial, a short shrift, and there's one rogue the less in the world."

"You mean if he's proved to be a thief, or red-handed."

"That's it, my lads. There, I've got some friends to meet. Come on and
see me to-night."

The speaker nodded cheerily to all three, and went off at a swinging
gait.

"Well, I wouldn't have minded shaking hands with that chap," said the
big Cornishman. "The more of that sort there is out here the better."

"Yes," cried Dallas; "his words were quite cheering."

"So was the sight of that little leather sack of his, my sons. Do your
foot good, Mr Wray?"

"Yes, I forgot all about it," said Abel, eagerly. "Here, let's make our
fire."

This was done, and the billy soon began to bubble, when the tea was
thrown in and declared to be delicious, in spite of a mouldy taste
consequent upon getting wet in its travels and being dried again.

"Better if we hadn't had all our sugar spoiled," said Dallas, as he
munched his biscuit along with a very fat rusty scrap of fried bacon.

"It don't want any sugar, my son," said the Cornishman. "I've just
stirred a teaspoonful of that chap's gold-dust into it, and it has given
it a wonderful flavour."

"Yes," said Abel, "the sight of that gold seems to have quite changed
everything."

The meal was finished, with the whole party refreshed and in the best of
spirits. Then the sledges were drawn together, a few small
pine-saplings bound on to make a roof, over which a couple of waterproof
sheets were drawn, and