A special train had been chartered, and as, at six o’clock in the evening, the closely-packed cars left Sydney it was evident that there was a feeling of uneasiness among the passengers, for it was well known that the unionists were in strong force at various points along the line. Some of the younger men had undertaken the journey from pure love of adventure, but the older men were mostly out-of-luck miners and shearers who were genuinely in search of work. While on their way to Sydney a number of them had already come into contact, at Circular Quay railway station, with some of the unionists, and a fierce fight had ensued; this fact undoubtedly helped to increase the alarm of the rest of the men in the train. At Emu Plains station, where the train halted, the less resolute were seized with an attack of panic, and had literally to be driven back into the cars when the train was ready to start again, where they sat in gloomy apprehension of danger as they approached nearer and nearer their destination. The journey from Sydney to Burrowang is made, in the ordinary course, by train to Forbes, and thence by horse-buggies. But as at the latter place an angry mob of unionists was awaiting the arrival of the “free labourers’” train, it was decided to resort to strategy to avoid the risk of an ugly fight between the two parties. Accordingly, although, as a blind, coaches and mounted police were ordered to meet the special train at Forbes, the driver was instructed to stop at the small station of Droubalgie, where a second contingent of four-horsed cars, also guarded by mounted police, were waiting to convey the men to Burrowang, thus avoiding the unwelcome attentions of the rioters at Forbes, whose anger, when they found they had been outwitted, speedily brought them into conflict with the police.