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168 have disposed of the proceeds of the sale of my cattle, I shall be the owner of exactly that in which I stand upright; but thank God," he said, "for all that my heart is sounder than my fortunes."

"Well said" cried Slinger, "I see your difficulties disappearing already."

"Do you?" said Dodge laughing; "just let me enjoy the sight too, for upon my life I see no chance of such a thing."

"What do you think of this proposition?" said Slinger, disregarding the interruption, "you shall go to Melbourne with us, call a meeting of your creditors—by the by, how many do you think you have?"

"Dear me," said Dodge thoughtfully, "how many? hundreds, I should say; thousands, perhaps; for I have had no end of lawyers' letters, and when you know to what a single one of those interesting documents sometimes leads, you can fancy the fix I'm in when I tell you that I have received a sufficient number to make a bonfire that would roast a lawyer whole."

"Well then," said Slinger, who perceived that Dodge knew little or nothing of his pecuniary affairs, "we must call your hundreds or thousands of creditors together, as the case may be, and state fairly to them your position, then we shall see if they may be disposed to come to any arrangement."

"But what becomes of my body in the mean time?" Dodge said mournfully; "they'll grab it—I know they'll grab it—the bloodthirsty ogres."

After a long argument, his scruples were at length so far overcome that he consented, not without considerable misgiving, to extend his journey to the town, and afterwards to leave his friends to watch and turn to the best account such events as might transpire.