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at Mount Arthur, Mount Communication, and the Coal
Mines. To the westward the line was clear. But at Signal Hill
was no answering light. Burgess stamped with rage. ‘Get me
my boat’s crew ready; and tell the Mines to signal to Woody
Island.’ As he stood on the jetty, a breathless messenger
brought the reply. ‘A BOAT’S CREW GONE TO ONE-
TREE POINT! FIVE MEN SENT FROM EAGLEHAWK
IN OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS!’ Burgess understood it at
once. The fellows had decoyed the Eaglehawk guard. ‘Give
way, men!’ And the boat, shooting into the darkness, made
for Long Bay. ‘I won’t be far behind ‘em,’ said the Comman-
dant, ‘at any rate.’
Between Eaglehawk and Signal Hill were, for the ab-
sconders, other dangers. Along the indented coast of Port
Bunche were four constables’ stations. These stations—
mere huts within signalling distance of each other—fringed
the shore, and to avoid them it would be necessary to make
a circuit into the scrub. Unwilling as he was to lose time,
John Rex saw that to attempt to run the gauntlet of these
four stations would be destruction. The safety of the party
depended upon the reaching of the Neck while the guard
was weakened by the absence of some of the men along the
southern shore, and before the alarm could be given from
the eastern arm of the peninsula. With this view, he ranged
his men in single file; and, quitting the road near Norfolk
Bay, made straight for the Neck. The night had set in with a
high westerly wind, and threatened rain. It was pitch dark;
and the fugitives were guided only by the dull roar of the
sea as it beat upon Descent Beach. Had it not been for the

00 For the Term of His Natural Life