"While we can get this honey there is no fear of starving," observed
Paul.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

A SUITABLE SPOT FOR A STATION FOUND--ENCAMP ON A HILL--BLACKS DISCOVERED
TO BE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD--PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE--ATTACKED BY THE
NATIVES--AMMUNITION EXHAUSTED.

The young explorers had been upwards of two days travelling through a
splendid country, subsisting chiefly on honey, though they might have
revelled in abundance had they ventured to use their guns, when they
came in sight of a river of veritable running water, bright and clear.
In the distance, moreover, were a range of hills of no great elevation,
but rising precipitously apparently out of the plain. Not without some
difficulty they found a ford, by which they crossed the river. It ran
south for some distance, then circled round in front of the hills, and
then again struck off south and east. They galloped forward, eager to
ascertain the character of the hills, for much depended on their being
precipitous or not. Paul surveyed the country with a delighted eye.

"If cattle cannot get over these hills, we have found such a situation
as we might look for over hundreds of miles and not find," he exclaimed;
"they form a fence along one side and a half of the run, and the river,
which appears to be impassable, except in a few places, will serve for
another side and a half, or more, so that there will be but one outlet
for cattle."

"Excellent!" cried Harry. "Father will be as pleased as you are, if it
turns out as we hope."

As they approached the hills they discovered, to their intense
satisfaction, that they were as precipitous as they had expected.
Cliffs from fifty to a hundred feet extended along the whole length of
the range, with here and there dark impassable gullies, having steep
sides, up which no cattle could climb. Down them ran streams of various
sizes, all concentrating in the river through which they had passed.

"No fear of drought here!" exclaimed Paul. "It is worth all the trouble
we have gone through to find it."

Returning to the river, they rode along, tracing it as far up as the
range, which extended a considerable way to the southward, and would
serve as a fence to their station. The country on the other side,
further to the south, was more thickly wooded, and consequently afforded
less pasture. There was a risk, to be sure, that the river might
overflow, but they could find no traces of a flood. All would depend