Part 23 (2/2)

Then I heard a ht I knew his step, and thought I would always tell it froht and firm, so quick and free Even in a prison it was different fro he had ever said about walking and running, both of which he onderfully good at

He was just as cool as ever 'All right, dick; take these spikes' He had half-a-dozen stout bits of iron; how ever he got theht strong coil of rope as well I knehat the spikes were for, of course; to drive into the wall between the stones and climb up by With the rope ere to drop ourselves over the wall the other side It was thirty feet high--no fool of a drop More than one man had been picked up disabled at the bottom of it He had a short stout piece of iron that did to hammer the spikes in; and that had to be done very soft and quiet, you ht would be over and the daylight come before it was all done; it was so slow I could hear the tick-tack of his iron every tiher every tiet his foot on from one to another As he went up he had one end of the coil of the rope round his wrist When he got to the top he was to draw it up to fasten to the top spike, and lower hiround on the other side At last I felt him pull hard on the rope I held it, and put my foot on the first spike I don't know that I should have found it so very easy in the dark to get up by the spikes--it was al toe into a notch cut in the sum tree that runs a hundred feet without a branch, and climb up the outside of it--but Ji ere boys, and were both pretty good at it As for Starlight, he had been to sea when he was young, and could cliot to the top I could just see his head above the wall The rope was fastened well to the top spike, which was driven alan to lower hiht in aafter hih my hands so fast they were sore for a week afterwards But I didn't feel it then I should hardly have felt it if I had cut theround in the darkness I heard the stale of a bit--not h ht that I was a freeI knee couldn't be taken then, bar accidents, and I felt ready to ride through a regiht ers in I kneas Jim Of course, I'd expected him to be there, but wasn't sure if he'd be able to work it We didn't speak, but started to walk over to where two horses were standing, with a'em It was pretty dark, but I could see Rainbow's star--just in his forehead it was--the only white he had about hi them

'We must double-bank my horse,' whispers Jim, 'for a mile or two, till we're clear of the place; we didn't want to bring a lot of horses about'

He juht was on Rainbow in a second The half-caste disappeared, he was going to keep dark for a few days and send us the news Jim's horse went off as if he had only ten stone on his back instead of pretty nigh five-and-twenty And ere free! Lord God! to think thatof their own free will and guiding that puts their liberty in danger when there's such a world outside of a gaol wall--such a heaven on earth as long as a s of a free man, in a country like this Would I do the first crooked thing again if I had ain, and knew a hundredth part of what I kno? Would I put reed? or sit still and let a snake stingI should be dead in twelve hours? Any h to do one that'll do the other Men and women don't know this in time, that's the worst of it; they won't believe half they're told by them that do know and wish 'em well They run on heedless and obstinate, too proud to take advice, till they do as we did The world's always been the same, I suppose, and will to the end Most of the books say so, anyway

Chapter 20

What a different feel fro a lonely outside track! The stars were out, though the sky was cloudy now and then, and the big forest trees looked strange in the broken light It was so long since I'd seen any I felt as if I was going to a neorld None of us spoke for a bit Jim pulled up at a small hut by the roadside; it looked like a far about the place There was a tu door to it, and a padlock; it see that there was any care taken about A man opened the door of the hut and looked out

'Look sharp,' says Jio for the Hawkesbury Guineas I was up and fed hied to you,' says Jiht to the barn, and after a ht out a horse--the same I'd ridden from Gippsland, saddled and bridled, and ready to ju into his hand, which pleased him, for he held my rein and stirrup, and then said--

'Good luck and a long reign to you,' as we rode away

All this tiood bit away When we started he rode alongside of us We were soon in a pretty fair hand-gallop, and we kept it up All our horses were good, and led along as if ere going to ride for a ithout stopping

What a ride it was! It was a grand night, anyway I thought so I blessed the stars, I know Mile after o all the fresher the farther they went I felt I could ride on that way for ever As the horses pulled and snorted and snatched at their bridles I felt as happy as ever I did in my life Mile afterfrom time to time and see his star ht ride after together, but that was the best We had laid it out to o there straight, of course, but nigh enough to make a dart to it whenever we had word that the coast was clear

We knew directly erefor us, and that every trooper within a hundred h to drop on either of the Marstons or the notorious Starlight His name had been pretty well in every one's mouth before, and would be a little more before they were done with him

It was too far to ride to the Hollow in a day, but Jiot a place ready for us to keep dark in for a bit, in case we got clear off

There's never any great trouble in us chaps finding a home for a week or two, and so as we've the notes to chuck about All the worse in the long run We rode hardish (soallop) most of the way; up hill and down, across the rocky creeks, through thick timber More than one river we had to swiht cursed and swore, and said he would catch his death of cold Then we all laughed; it was the first time we'd done that since ere out My heart was too full to talk,out of that cursed prison and onmy breast, and the free forest I'd lived in all , and as for what ht than a schoolboy has of his next year's lessons at the beginning of his holidays It ht come now As I took the old horse by the head and raced hiht call , the rass, the branches of the scrubby trees, everything we touched and saas dripping with the night dew, as we rode up a 'gap' between two stiffish hills We had been riding all night frouesswork Jieneral way, and he told us father and he had been about there a good deal lately, cattle-dealing and so on For the last hour or so we had been on a pretty fair beaten road, though there wasn't much traffic on it It was one of the old mail tracks once, but new coach lines had knocked away all the traffic So houses, well kept and looked after then Now lots of the in ruins; others were just good enough to let to people ould live in the on the sly Where we pulled up was one of these places, and the people were just what you ht expect

First of all there was the , flash-looking native; he'd been a little in the horse-racing line, a little in the prize-fighting line--enough to have his nose broken, and was fond of talking about 'pugs' as he'd known inti line, a little in every line that hty little hard work He'd a decent, industrious little wife, about forty tiirls, Bella and Maddie, worked well, or else he'd have been walking about the country with a swag on his back They kept him and the house too, like many another man, and he took all the credit of it, and ordered thehtest man in the land If he made a few pounds now and then he'd drop it on a horse-race before he'd had it a week They were glad enough to see us, anyhow, and ht fresh clothes, and both of us had stopped on the road and rigged ourselves out, so that we didn't look so queer asmostly do, with their close-shaved faces, cropped heads, and prison clothes

Starlight had brought a false moustache with him, which he stuck on, so that he looked as al had handed hiht with hier, soold in his pocket, he ate his breakfast, and chatted aith the girls as if he'd only ridden out for a day to have a look at the country

Our horses were put in the stable and well looked to, you o short of his half-croo or three of them, maybe We made a first-rate breakfast of it; ith the cold and the wet and not being used to riding lately, ere pretty hungry, and tired too We intended to caain as soon as it was dark

Of course we ran a bit of a risk, but not as bad as we should by riding in broad daylight The hills on the south ild and rangy enough, but there were all sorts of people about on their business in the daytime; and of course any of them would knoith one look that three ht across country and not stopping to speak or make free with any one, were likely to be 'on the cross'--all theparticular inquiries about them We were all arht, we intended to have a flutter for it We were not going back to Berrima if we knew it

So we turned in, and slept as if ere never going to wake again We'd had a glass of grog or two, nothing to hurt, though; and the food and one thing and another ood look-out, and we didn't take off our clothes Our horses were kept saddled, too, with the bridles on their heads, and only the bits out of their ed without the bits at a pinch--everything ready to be out of the house in one minute, and in saddle and off full-split the next We were learned that trick pretty well before things came to an end