with a pony that knows things like Bobs," said Bobs' mistress. "He
always keeps his weather eye open for danger."

"Not a bad thing, as you certainly don't," laughed Jim.

"Well--do you?"

"Certainly I do," said Jim firmly, whereat Norah laughed very heartily.

"When I leave school, Dad says I can go on the roads with the cattle for
one trip," said Jim. "Be no end of fun--takes ever so long to bring them
down from Queensland, and the men have a real good time--travel with a
cook, and a covered buggy and pair to bring the tucker and tents along."

"What'll you be?" asked Wally--"cook?"

"No, slushy," said Harry.

"No, I'll take you two chaps along in those billets," grinned Jim.

"I don't know who'd be cook," said Norah solemnly; "but I don't think
the men would be in very good condition at the end of the trip,
whichever of you it was!"

With such pleasantries they beguiled the way, until, on rounding a bend
in the track, a dull roar came plainly to their ears.

"What's that?" asked Wally, stopping to listen.

"That's the falls, my boy," replied Jim. "They're really quite
respectable falls--almost Niagarous! Come along, we'll see them in a
couple of minutes."

The sound of falling water became plainer and plainer as they pushed on.
At this point the track was less defined and the scrub thicker--Jim
explained that the cattle did not come here much, as there was no
drinking-place for them for a good distance below the falls. They might
almost have imagined themselves back in the bush near the Hermit's camp,
Harry said, as they pushed their way through scrub and undergrowth, many
raspberry vines adding variety, if not charm, to the scramble. The last
part of the walk was up bill, and at length they came out upon a clearer
patch of ground.

For some time the noise of the falls had deepened, until now it was a
loud roar; but the sound had hardly prepared the boys for the sight that
met their gaze. High up were rocky cliffs, sparsely clothed with
vegetation, and through these the creek had cut its way, falling in one
sheer mass, fifty feet or more, into the bed below, hollowed out by it
during countless ages. The water curved over the top of the fall in one
exquisite wave, smooth as polished marble, but half-way down a point of
rock jutted suddenly out, and on this the waters dashed and split,
flying off from it in a cloud of spray. At the foot the cataract roared
and bubbled and seethed in one boiling mass of