Page 65 - In A New World

"That may be," Fletcher admitted, "but it wasn’t so last time. The Scotch
merchant bled freely, you must allow."

"Yes, you did better then."

As Harry listened he began to understand that Fletcher acted as a decoy, to
ingratiate himself with parties leaving Melbourne for the mines, and then

giving secret information to the bushrangers with whom he was connected,
enabling them to attack and plunder his unsuspecting companions.

"That’s a pretty mean sort of business," he said to Jack, when he had an
opportunity to speak to him without being overheard. "I’d rather be a robber

right out than lure people into danger."

"So would I," responded Jack. "That Fletcher’s worse than a pirate."

Still they went on, so slowly that the boys, though compelled to walk, had

little difficulty in keeping up. They were necessarily anxious, but their
predominant feeling was of curiosity as to their destination, and as to the

bushrangers’ mode of life.

At length they came out of the woods into more open ground.