Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/424

400 about equal value. The miner unfastened his horse from the dray, and began to unharness it. As he did so the stranger, quick as a flash, seized the collar, threw it around the neck of his own steed, sprung on its back, where the saddle still remained, and was off like the wind.

"'That's all I wanted, mate,' said he, as he rode away. He had somehow learned the miner's scheme for carrying his gold, and played this elaborate game to rob him."

"Speaking of bush-rangers," said another, "did you ever hear of Oliver, 'the Terror of the North?'"

Some had heard of him and others had not, so the story was called for.

"There was once a bush-ranger of that name in the north of Queensland," said the narrator, "and he had been 'sticking up' people in the country back of Robinson. He had a wooden leg, but in spite of this defect he was a bold robber and a very slippery one to hold. He got away from the police several times after they had fairly caught him; and catching him was no small matter.

"One time when he'd been at his tricks, the police got him and brought him to Robinson. The jail there was in a very bad condition, and the police magistrate was at a loss how to keep Oliver, until a happy thought struck him. What do you suppose it was?"

Nobody could guess, and the story-teller continued:

"Well, he locked Oliver up in the jail, but took his leg to his own house, and locked that in a trunk. Oliver stayed that time, and didn't even try to break jail."

"We were speaking of horses just now," said one of the party, "and that reminds me of a clever trick which was played on a rich squatter by a man in his employ. He had sent the man on an errand, and mounted him on a valuable white horse. It was at the rainy season of the year, and all the creeks were flooded. On the bank of a creek which he had to cross the man spied a white horse lying dead at the water's side.

"A brilliant idea occurred to him, an inspiration of rascally genius. He dismounted, skinned the dead horse, concealed the skin in the bushes, and rode away, and sold the animal he was riding for a good price. Then he returned to where he had concealed the skin; and after soaking his saddle and bridle in the river for an hour, he went back to the station, carrying saddle, bridle, and skin, and covered from head to foot with mud. There he told how in attempting to cross a creek the horse was overcome by the waters, and had just strength to reach the