"It will not do to push them too hard, at first. There is no saying how far we shall have to go."
"Do you mean to follow them into their own country?" Mr. Blount asked.
"I do," Reuben said. "I will follow them till I catch them, if I have to go across Australia."
"That's the sort," Mr. Blount said. "I expect you will find half-a-dozen other fellows at my station, by the time you get there. I sent my hand off on horseback to the stations near, to tell them what had taken place, and that I had ridden off to you, and asking them to come round."
"How far is it?" Reuben asked.
"About forty miles."
"But your horse will never be able to do it," Reuben said.
"I got a fresh horse at a friend's, four miles from your station, so I am all right."
"They will have more than a day's start of us," Reuben remarked presently.
"Yes; thirty-six hours, for you will have to stop at my place tonight. But they can't travel very fast with sheep, you know."