"There must be near half a dozen different ones, for it's the most extensive forest in Australia; and ten thousand soldiers, with every, equipment necessary, would be obliged to retire from its shades, baffled and defeated, before a few hundred men who knew the ground thoroughly."
"Well, let us get beyond the range of a bullet," cried the lieutenant, after a moment's pause; and as we presented a fair mark for any robber who might be in ambush, we were not slow to turn our horses' heads and trot a short distance from such dangerous concealment.
We were about to dismount, and post our sentinels, when I heard a deep bay in the direction of the stockman's hut, which recalled to my mind the many scenes through which Fred and myself had passed since the same sound had first broken upon our ears.
"Do you hear any thing?" I asked, of my companion, pausing to listen.
"No," he replied; "why do you inquire?"
"Did you, Smith, hear no sound that is familiar to your ear?"
"No, sir," he replied, pressing forward, "I did not hear any sound but the shrieking of yonder owl."
"Our friend is getting nervous," cried Murden, with a laugh.
"There," I cried, suddenly, as a deep bay, many miles distant, came floating over the prairie, "you must have heard that howl. The hound is on our trail, and his following us at this time of night means something."
"You are right," said Fred, quietly; "I could distinguish that dog's bay amid a hundred. Let us return, lieutenant, and find out what has happened at the hut."