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possessed a good knowledge of the country. They were well-mounted, and armed yvith double-barrelled guns and pistols. O n the 28th April they " bailed u p " the several stations of Messrs. Sergeantson, Bond, Peat, Langor, Northcote, Bear, Fleming, Rider, and Captain Harrison, and secured a large booty, consisting of a considerable sum of money, gold and silver watches, gold chains and other jewellery. At nightfall they camped in the bush not far from the house of Mr. Bear, one of the places they had plundered. Next morning, before nine o'clock, they robbed the homesteads of Messrs. Wills, Sherwin, and Roland. They next proceeded to the station of Mr. Campbell Hunter, and leaving their horses at a fence a short distance off, rushed the house, or rather hut, where, at breakfast they surprised the following gentlemen :—The proprietor, Dr. Grimes, and Messrs. Smeathman, Rumbolt and Boswell. Williams stepped forward, and, with the politeness of a Frenchman, intimated to the astonished inmates " that they yvould have the goodness to m a k e yvay for their betters;" they then marched the ex-breakfasters outside, placed them standing backed up against a fence, yvhere Jepps kept guard, with a pistol at full cock and ready to shoot thefirstm a n yvho moved either tongue, foot, or finger. T h e others, re-entering, sat doyvn to the table and proceeded to execute hungry justice on the comestibles. Whilst the robbers are so enjoying themselves, I shall ask m y readers to accompany m e back to the Club House in Melbourne (noyv the Union Club Hotel, corner of Collins and Market Streets). About four o'clock on the afternoon of the day preceding the "breakfasting" event just recorded, the Superintendent of the Province, Mr. Latrobe, yvas at the Club House conversing yvith half-a-dozen members of the Club, when a m a n on horseback galloped excitedly up the street. This person was a mounted messenger, despatched from the Plenty with instructions to report the daring outrages at the Police Station, then situated at the south-western corner of the Market Square, n o w the Western Market. Knowing Mr. Latrobe, he pulled up as he passed, and communicated the startling intelligence to him. His Honor yvas m u c h concerned at the news, and, after recounting the circumstances to his friends, said:— " Look here, Foyvler! the fact is those fellows will never be taken unless some of you do it. W h y not get up a party amongst you squatters, and start at once in pursuit?" T h e person he addressed was Mr. Henry Foyvler; and others, if not all of those w h o aftenvards volunteered, yvere by. T h e suggestion took; yvas acted upon instanter; and when Mr. Latrobe said he yvould supply horses and firearms, the "gentlemen squatters " declared they could equip themselves, a«d set about doing so without loss of time. If they had not done this, there was no police officer in toyvn capable of commanding a mounted search party, and there is no telling to yvhat excess a long immunity might not have induced the bushrangers to go. An adjournment to the Club parlour took place, where a hasty " Council of W a r " yvas held, and the outcome yvas that five brave m e n volunteered to turn out yvithout delay, start in pursuit of the bushrangers, and either capture them dead or alive, o r — b e killed themselves. These amateur heroes yvere Messrs. Henry Fowler, Peter Snodgrass, Robert Chamberlain, Oliver Gourlay, and James Thompson. They took the precaution of getting themselves sworn in as special constables; and though Chamberlain was a retired Lieutenant of the 31st Regiment, who, from his trained military knowledge, might have been appointed Commandant, his professional claim was waived in favour of Foyvler, w h o yvas chosen leader in consequence of his superior bushcraft, and thorough knowledge of the " hunting ground " they were bound for. Booted and spurred, well-armed and well-mounted, they started on their perilous expedition, dashing over the green open upland past the Old Gaol, and thence along through the north-west corner of the Carlton Gardensthen a forest, down by the Travellers' Rest (which though afterwards metamorphosed into a college, was, in the age I a m writing of, a quaint old shake-down of a groggery, round which a main road curled)—and crossing the Merri Creek, tore away to Heidelberg. T h e information communicated in town was so vague that the pursuers did not well know what particular route they ought to take. Arriving at Heidelberg, and obtaining some further intelligence there they m a d e a detour, crossing through Carrington's station, entering the D i a m o n d Creek district, and skirting the picturesque amphitheatre of the Y a n Yan (since misnamed Y a n Yean) arrived about daybreak in the Plenty country. Here they ascertained that nine homesteads had been robbed on the previous day; and in prosecuting their inquiries they incurred considerable danger, for some of the people suspected them to be bushrangers. T h e settlers were in such a state of alarm that at the residence of a Mr. Beal, a pistol was presented at Snodgrass, w h o narrowly escaped a summary eviction from this world. At Mr. John Bear's