"The squatter would listen to no excuse. I was taken direct before a magistrate--who was also a `squatter'--and charged with neglect of duty. "The charge was of course proved; and I was dismissed from my employment. "You may think that this was no punishment; but you will have a different opinion when you hear more. My year of apprenticeship not being quite up, my wages were forfeited; and I was told, that I ought to be thankful for the mercy shown me: in my not getting severely flogged, and sent back to the authorities, with a black mark against my name! "I probably did my duty, as well as any man the squatter expected to get; and I had good reason to know, that I had been dismissed only to give my rascally employer the opportunity of withholding the balance of my wages, that would soon have been due to me! "The only magistrates in the grazing country, were the squatters themselves; and they used to play into each other's hands in that fashion. There was no justice for convicts, who were treated but little better than slaves. "Three months after leaving my situation, I came across an `old hand,' who had been cheated out of his wages, by the very same squatter who had robbed me, and in precisely the same manner. "This man proposed to me that we should take revenge--by burning down the squatter's wool-sheds. "I refused to have anything to do with the undertaking; and from what the man then said, I supposed that he had relinquished the idea. That night, however, altogether unknown to me, he set fire to the sheds-- causing the squatter a loss of about three thousand pounds worth of property. The next day I was arrested and committed for trial--along with the old hand, who had urged me to aid him in obtaining his revenge. "On the trial, circumstantial evidence was so strong against the incendiary, that he was found guilty. But as he continued to assert his innocence, of course he could say nothing that would clear me; and I was also found guilty--though the only evidence against me was, that I had been seen in his company eight hours before the crime was committed, and that I had been dismissed from service by the proprietor of the sheds! "This was thought sufficient evidence upon which to sentence me to five years hard labour on the roads--the first two years of the term to be passed in irons! "I now despaired of ever seeing home again; and became, like many other convicts, so reckless as to have no thought for the future, and not to care whether my deeds were right or wrong.