This was a great relief to Reuben, as it permitted him to gain an insight into the country before setting to work in earnest.
Upon his tour, he and his followers were everywhere most hospitably received at the stations at which they halted.

Everywhere he heard the same tale of sheep killed, cattle and horses driven off, and the insolent demeanour of the natives.
"I was thinking of giving it up, and moving back into the more populated districts," one of the settlers said to Reuben; "but now you have come, I will hold on for a bit longer, and see how it turns out.

You look to me the right sort of fellow for the post; but the difficulty is, with such a large scattered district as yours, to be everywhere at once.

What I have often thought of, is that it would be a good thing if the whole district were to turn out, and go right into the heart of the black country, and give them a lesson." "From what I hear," Reuben said, "it will be next to impossible for us to find them.

The country is so vast, and covered with bush, that there would be no searching it.