The morning's sun, however, soon dispersed the clouds and dried up the rain, and when we examined the burned district we were rejoiced to find that we could pass over the ground if our feet were protected with shoes, a precaution which none will omit if an Australian forest is to be visited. In these important articles of clothing we were well supplied, and without delay we started. Murden gave the word to move forward, but first impressed upon the minds of the men the necessity of caution in regard to the manner in which their guns were carried, for, as he quietly observed, "we have enemies to kill, and can't afford to despatch each other. A spark of fire is sufficient to ignite our powder, and then where should we be?"
We found his advice good, for sparks from half-burned trees were showered upon our heads as we carefully picked our way through stumps that were black and charred and still aglow. On we went, as swift as possible, the soles of our shoes getting warmer and warmer each moment, until we feared that our feet would blister and burn with the exposure. At length, however, we saw the spot where we had left the team, and with a wild shout of exultation we rushed for it, each man striving to be first in the race.
Smith, nimble of foot, and urged by anxiety for the loss of his cattle, outstripped us all; but the poor fellow's face changed when he saw the wanton destruction of his property; for the bushrangers, not content with robbing our cart of every thing which it contained, had deliberately backed it into the fire, and the "body was completely burned off. The wheels, however, were good, and so were its axletrees, and I knew that it would enable us to reach the mines with a little patching. The most cruel part of the proceedings was the chaining of a yoke of oxen to huge trees and allowing them to die a lingering, terrible death. The villains were not prompted to the deed by hunger, for their bodies remained untouched, burned to a crisp, apparently.
"If I had a bushranger within reach," cried Smith, surveying the bodies of his favorites with almost tearful eyes, "I think that I should be tempted to roast him alive, as my poor oxen have been. Why, of all the mean acts that the devils were ever guilty of, this is the meanest."
"Don't repine, Smith," said Murden; "when you get back to Melbourne I'll see that you have a yoke of cattle to replace them."
"I don't wish to hurt your feelings, Smith," Fred exclaimed, "but as the cattle are dead and cannot be brought to life, I think that the best thing we can do is to satisfy our appetites from their carcasses. I, for one, am hungry, and think that a pound of steak is almost worth its weight in gold. Let's strip the skin from one of the brutes, and see whether the flesh is burned up."
"A good idea, and one that we will adopt," cried Murden, with alacrity. "Maurice, where is your knife?"
The officer did not wait for a second bidding, for he scraped off the worst of the burned portions of the hide, and then ripped it off, leaving about the hind quarters as juicy and wholesome looking meat as a man could wish for when in a state of hunger. Smith turned away, too much grieved to touch the food thus opportunely prepared, but the rest of us showed no such signs of delicacy, for in a twinkling our knives were out and cutting huge slices of the beef. The smell was very provoking of hunger, and so Smith thought, for he apparently could stand abstinence no longer. He joined us in our attack, and muttered as he did so:
"I don't see why the rest of you should fill up, while I starve; although I still contend, that to tie the poor things up and let them die such a death was cowardly and mean."
And always after that, if Smith wished to express the very quintessence of brutality and meanness, he would refer to the death of his favorites.