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"Intended to mean nothing. Very well, Mr. Smith, I shall take care to put the lady on her guard, the next time I see her," said Murden, pretending to be serious. "No, don't do that," cried Smith in alarm, "because I don't know but I shall marry her, yet." "Ah, if that is the case, I'll not interfere on any account. But remember, I'm to be asked to the wedding."
Therefore, if you desire to make Australia a home, don't be mixed up in the present struggle, if possible." "I am half inclined to think that you are right," Murden said, at length. "I also begin to think so," the inspector remarked. "I've hall 'long hentertained similar hideas," Steel Spring said, but he was not attended to.
Murden appeared sad at parting, and more than once he declared that he wished he was to accompany us, for now that we were to leave him, he should have no one who would enter into his adventures with the same degree of interest which we had shown. "There is one question which we wish to ask, Murden," I said, a few minutes before he left us. "Name it," he replied.
The fellow muttered something which we did not hear, and Murden shouted again, "Did we disturb you from a refreshing nap, Bimbo, or have you grown lazier than ever? Come, stir yourself, and start a fire; we want breakfast. In a few minutes there will be a dozen more here, and they will eat you out of house and home, unless you are smart. Bushrangers always have good appetites."
"Perhaps you mean by that I shall die on the gallows?" demanded the bushranger. Murden nodded his head in token of assent. "I'll bet you two to one, that a rope will never end my existence," cried the fellow, with an impudence and coolness that almost surpassed belief.
"This silence is more dreadful than the howling of wolves," cried Fred, at length, as he sat in his saddle, and regarded the dark forest before him. "Those trees, if they could speak, would tell of tales of blood and cruelty, equal to that which I related yesterday," said Murden, after a short pause. "And do you think that there are other gangs of bushrangers concealed in those dark recesses?"
Brown and myself took up our quarters in her house during our stay in the city. In the afternoon we called on Murden, and found that he had accomplished his object.
I knew the speaker well, although I confess that it started me to hear him so unexpectedly, and looking up I saw that Murden sat on his horse, a few paces off, calmly surveying the strange group before him. At a short distance were six of his men, also mounted and drawn up in line awaiting their chief's solution of the difficulty.
"By no means," exclaimed Fred, the last words thoroughly arousing him. "We have not had much rest for a number of nights, but we are not so tired that we cannot keep an appointment. We shall be ready at the time you state." "Then in two hours' time I will send Murden for you. By the way," the captain continued, in a careless tone, "if there is any thing I can help you to, command me."
"Tap a barrel and give them a strong pull at it," Murden whispered, "and you need not fear of their informing." It was but the work of a moment to accomplish the object, and perhaps we were the more ready from a desire on our part to taste what Smith had bought.
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