"Gold was sent down from the mines under a Government escort to protect it from the bush-rangers, and of course a heavy charge was made for the service. Various devices were adopted to foil the rascals by those who undertook to transport their own treasure.
"Men concealed their gold in their clothing or about their wagons, and one smart fellow put nearly a hundred ounces inside a horse-collar, which was worn by the single horse drawing a dray containing a few bundles of clothing and other insignificant things.
BUSH-RANGERS AT WORK.
"He got along all right for the first two days, and on the third began to feel entirely safe. While he was jogging along the road he was overtaken by a man who said the police were after him on account of a fight with a drunken fellow at a way-side inn. He said his horse was much jaded, and he would give the stranger ten sovereigns to exchange.
"The bargain was quickly made, as the animals appeared to be of 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.