"Convey it home to my mother, Harry. But I would fix it so that my step-father couldn't get hold of it."
"You are a good boy, Jack, for thinking so much of your mother. I wish I had a mother to provide for," and Harry Vane looked sober.
"Do you know how far off Bendigo is, Harry?"
"About a hundred miles. That is, it is seventy-five miles to Mount Alexander, and the mines are twenty-five miles to the north of that."
"It won't take us long to travel a hundred miles," said Jack hopefully.
"On the contrary, it will be a long and difficult journey, as far as I can find out. The country is full of bogs, swamps, and moist land."
"Then we can't walk?"
"No; the custom is to charter a cart, drawn by oxen, which will give a chance to carry a stock of provisions. The roads are not very well marked, and are often impassable."
This description rather discouraged Jack, who was more used to the sea and its dangers than to land travel.
"I wish we could go by water," he said.