k at this monster; it will
kill us all!"

"Why, that's only an iguana. It has no teeth, and wouldn't bite you if
it had. I'll try and catch it, and you shall have it for dinner; it
makes an excellent stew," exclaimed Rob, who heard her cry out.

The iguana, a large species of lizard, was, however, far too quick for
Rob, and was away out of sight before he got up to the tree on which he
had seen it. Edgar manfully kept up with him, but having no weapon
except a clasp knife, he could render but little service in clearing the
road. Rob was shouting to the girls to "come on," when suddenly he
himself stopped short.

"Edgar, did you see any one?" he asked, in a low voice.

"Yes, a hideous black face; it popped down immediately behind the
bushes."

"We had better not go on, then; for though many of the blacks are
friendly hereabouts, yet others who come from a distance are very
treacherous."

Not stopping to hear more, Edgar scampered away to tell the ladies, who,
as soon as they heard the alarming intelligence, began to beat a
retreat. They were quickly overtaken by Rob, who had not only seen a
black man, but a bundle of spears, and was fully satisfied of the danger
of remaining longer in the scrub.

Mary was the first to recover herself. "After all, the boys may have
mistaken the stump of a tree for a native; or if they did see a black,
he may have come with no bad intentions," she observed; "we need not
give up our walk in consequence."

However, her cousins looked so frightened that she led them directly out
of the scrub towards the kitchen, garden, intending to go round under a
trellis work, which had a thick hedge on the outside, and at that hour
of the day afforded a pleasant shady walk. They were passing along that
part which was nearest the open ground when they heard the tramp of a
horse's hoofs galloping at fall speed, and directly afterwards Paul
shouting out to Harry--

"Where's our father?"

"He has gone off with Uncle Frank to Gibson's station," answered Harry.
"But what's in the wind?"

"The blacks have shown their ugly faces again, not far off. I caught
sight of a mob of them just before I passed Jenkins's hut, and when
stopping to leave a message I could nowhere find him. The blacks have
evidently been there, and, I am afraid, have killed him. I did not stop
to search longer, but came on to tell father, that he might send over to
Ogilvie to set the police after them."

"I'll ride B