have his way. But Dobbs was
one of those gentlemen fond of experimenting at others' expense, as the
boys found out to their cost, for after hopelessly wandering Dobbs
acknowledged he was out of his reckoning. Fortune favoured them,
however, for they met a stockrider of the Nankin Run.

"Chinchilla? Why you are out of it altogether," said he, in answer to
enquiries. "You are a long way from Dalby, too, and if you take my
advice you'll follow me, for it looks like rain. When it rains here, it
does so with a vengeance. We've had none for twelve months, and it looks
like a flood."

The invitation was offered in a rough, genial way, and the boys were
only too glad to accept it. After an hour's drive they came to the
station. The boys had been puzzling themselves as to what position the
man held there, for he looked more like a shepherd than anything else,
in his greasy pants and shirt and dirty, old, cabbage-tree hat, but on
their arrival they found he was no less a person than the Honourable Mr.
Tomkins, owner, not only of that station, but many more.

"Now then, boys, make yourselves quite at home. We don't live in style
here, for I don't like it. I get enough of that in the cities, for, take
my word for it, no tea tastes so well as that brewed in a billy," said
he.

The next day the rain set in and, by Tomkins' advice, they did not
start, for all the creeks they would have had to cross were now swollen,
and on the following day they themselves were living on an island.

"You see, I took the precaution to build my place on high ground. But we
shall be kept busy with visitors now," Tomkins said, as a huge snake
crossed the floor.

Insects in great numbers and reptiles of the most venomous kind began
to make for the house as the waters rose, and all hands turned out to
build a wooden barrier round it, which was saturated with kerosene and
set on fire. This proved an effective barrier, but, nevertheless, they
were kept pretty busy, and their sleep was not of the most comfortable
kind. After six days of this kind of life, they were able to start on
their return journey, and once more arrived at Dalby.

There had been numerous cases of drowning during the flood, and the
first one to come to their ears was that of a young fellow whose body
was found at Campbell Creek crossing, and who had been identified by Joe
Brown as a young man who had accompanied him from Toowoomba, named
Wyckliffe.

Going to the Police Station t