"We must search the ranges at the back of the township first, and another
party must go up the Macalister River," was the reply.

"Need both parties start at the same time?"

"The chances of success would, of course, be greater if they did," replied
the officer, "but still it is not absolutely necessary."

"Well," said Jack, "suppose you take the pilot boat, and go up the river,
which will take much longer to explore than the ranges; and, at the end of
a week, we shall have got our own affairs pretty straight, and will beat
all the country at the back, and join you on the Macalister. What do you
think of that, mates?" he added, turning to the company. "Won't that suit
us all?"

"Capitally!" was echoed from every side, and after sundry drinks the party
broke up; Dunmore and I hastening to make immediate preparations for our
new trip.

The Macalister River was at this time most imperfectly known; for, lying to
the extreme north of Rockingham Bay, its fertile banks had hitherto
attracted little or no attention; the great sugar industry being then
comparatively in its infancy in Queensland. A dangerous bar at its mouth,
over which heavy rollers were always breaking, made pleasure-seekers rather
shy of attempting its entry, more particularly as the muddy mangrove flats
held out small hope of aught save mosquitoes and blacks. Since then the
sugar-cane has become one of the chief sources of wealth to the colony,
and, in the search for land adapted to its growth, the Macalister was not
likely to remain long in obscurity. Along its beautiful banks were