night awoke
about once every half hour, and with a shout of,--

"Where's Bimbo--darn Bimbo--lazy Bimbo!" and then would drop off to
sleep again.

At about nine o'clock we reached "Boomerang stream," the same place
where we had witnessed the natives of Australia gorge themselves with
kangaroo meat until stuffed to repletion. The place was alive with oxen
and stockmen, and carts filled with stores on their way to the mines.
Many of the drivers had just arrived, having been on the road from
Melbourne all night, and were turning their cattle loose, intending to
pass the day by the side of the stream, for the purpose of recruiting,
and avoiding the heat of the noonday sun.

We forded the river, the waters of which were not more than twelve
inches deep, and with many flourishes of his immense whip, Smith drew up
his cattle directly under the shade of a friendly tree growing near the
bank.

Before the cattle were turned loose, we were surrounded by anxious
inquirers desirous of asking a dozen questions regarding the safety of
the country, and what the men whom we had ironed had been guilty of.

Murden, who was both cross and hungry by his night's ride, attempted to
satisfy their curiosity by replying; but he might just as well have
attempted to dam a river with a sieve; and the few words which he spoke
were almost lost in the confusion.

"We shall never get any breakfast or rest at this rate," he whispered to
Fred and me, "so lend us a hand to clear the ground, and then I'll keep
them at a distance, or break their necks."

We mounted our horses, and telling the stockmen, miners, adventurers
like ourselves, speculators, and two or three fat old fellows, who were
visiting their cattle-raising districts to see how their stock thrived,
that we feared some of them were in league with bushrangers, and that we
would have no one that did not belong to our force inside of the lines
at present, drove them back until we had cleared a sufficient space for
our convenience, and then the men stretched a rope from two posts, and
inside of that barrier no one dared to venture without permission.

"Hullo, you feller with the blue flannel shirt," cried one of the
rough-looking outsiders, addressing Fred, "did you do any thing towards
grabbing them ere chaps?" alluding to our prisoners.

"Them ere two fellers is hextry policemen, I suppose," cried a newly
arrived cockney, with great staring eyes, watching our movements as
eagerly as t