"'Thank you,' says I. 'What for?'
"'I find out about the bush rangers,' he said. 'You go and tell captain dat, tomorrow morning before de day begins, dey attack the station of Donald's.'
"'Are you quite sure?' says I.
"'Quite sure,' says the black. 'Me heard dem say so.'
"So as I hates the bush rangers like poison, I saddles up and rides into the station; and when I had told the boss, he said I better ride and find you, if I could. You would be at one of the stations this way. I stopped at three of them, and at the last they told me you was here."
"Thank you greatly, my good fellow. Donald's! I don't know the name. Where do they live?"
"They have only been here a couple of months," Reuben's host, who was standing beside him, replied. "They bought that station of Anderson's. He was a chicken-hearted young fellow, and sold out because of the bush rangers. There is a man, his wife, and her sister, I believe. I fancy they have got a pretty fair capital. They took Anderson's stock, and have been buying a lot more. That's why the bush rangers are going to attack them."
"I thought," Reuben said, "that Anderson's was not one of the most exposed stations."
"No, that was what everyone told him, before he sold it."
"How far would you say it was from here?"