We waited until he was beyond hearing, and then extricated ourselves from the thicket and continued our course. For more than two hours we toiled and worked, until at length we saw an opening through the trees. With eager but careful steps we moved towards it, thinking that the worst part of our expedition was over, and I was just about to throw the gold to the earth and thank God for our escape, when I looked up and saw that we were at the very point from whence we started--that we were standing on the edge of the clearing, and that directly in front of us were twenty or thirty bushrangers, with levelled muskets, evidently taking our bearing with great familiarity.
CAPTURE OF ALL HANDS, BY THE BUSHRANGERS.
There was no time to retreat, had we been so disposed; and though Fred's rifle flew to his shoulder with the quickness of thought, he apparently considered it better policy not to commence hostilities until the bushrangers showed their disposition.
Fighting was not to be thought of; for who would think of taking part in a struggle when eighteen or twenty guns were aimed, and ready to be discharged upon the least sign of resistance.
There was one thing which I had the presence of mind to do. I stepped quietly behind the stockman and Smith, and dropped the bag of gold amidst a thicket of bushes, and I inwardly prayed that whatever might be our fate, the robbers would not get sight of the treasure.
"Do you surrender?" asked a voice; and following the bushranger's words, we could hear the ominous clink of the muskets as they were brought to their shoulders.
"What promises do you make us?" replied Fred, undaunted.
"What do you wish us to promise?" continued the bushranger.
"Our promises are easily broken. Why do you request mercy at the hands of bushrangers?"
"Because, in this case, if we do not obtain your most solemn pledge that our lives shall be spared, we will die with our rifles in our hands. I need not tell you that when we aim, we do so with the intention to kill."
The bushrangers whispered together for a few minutes, and from their eagerness we could see that a large majority of the men were in favor of complying with Fred's request. Once or twice we heard the word "gold" mentioned, as though that was the chief theme of their discussion. Presently the whispering ceased, and the man who appeared to be the leader of the band again spoke:--