So long as they do not take life they know that, if they are caught, all they have to expect is to be kept at hard work during the rest of their sentence, and perhaps for a bit longer.

They don't mind the risk of that.

They have had their outing, sometimes a long one; but if they once take life, they know its hanging when they are caught; and are therefore careful not to press too hard upon their triggers.
"But once they have killed a man, they don't generally care how many more lives they take.

They are desperate, then, and seem to exult in devilry of all kinds.

As to being stuck up by an ordinary bush ranger, one would think no more of it than of having one's pockets picked, in England.
"It's lucky for us, on the whole, that the black fellows have such a hatred of the white men.