midday
`` Yes , I know , '' said the convict ; and he walked slowly out of the low wooden building , and five minutes later the regular _ chop , chop _ of the axe was heard , and the rattle of rails as they were laid back in a heap . `` Well , '' said old Sam , `` that 's better than him being as I thought I suppose I may go on with my work now , and get that garden in a bit of order . Well , all I 've got to say is this : if Brooky 's gone to lay a complaint before the magistrate he 's no man . '' Man or no man , midday had not long passed before old Sam , as he raised himself up from his digging to give his back a bit of a rest , caught sight of a flash of something bright , and there was another flash -- the sun glinting from the barrel of a gun ; and turning his eyes , there about a mile away , spurring across country , he made out a party of five mounted men advancing at a trot . The old man drove his spade savagely into the ground and trotted out of the garden and round to the wood-yard , where Leather was going on slowly and laboriously with his rail trimming . `` Leather , my lad , '' he said , in a quick whisper , `` they 're a-coming over the hill : had n't you better go off for a month or two ? '' `` To be hunted down by the dogs and blacks ? ''