a yarn there.... Oh, yes,
I'm a Sydney man now--a full-fledged inspector of police... tell you
all about it by and by. But, push along, old man. One of my men has just
told me that a woman who jumped off the Circular Quay and tried to drown
herself, is lying at the station, and is not expected to pull through.
Hallo! here's a cab! Jump in, Jack; there's some whisky in the
sergeant's room, and after I've seen the cadaver--if she has
cadavered--we'll have a right down good yarn."

The cab rattled through the now almost deserted street, and in a few
minutes Harrington and his friend alighted at a small stone building
overlooking the waters of Sydney Harbour. A water-policeman, who stood
at the door under the big gas-lamp, saluted the inspector and then
showed Harrington into the sergeant's room.

Ten minutes passed, and then Walters, accompanied by a big, stout,
red-faced man, came in.

"Ha, here you are, old man. Jack, Dr. Parsons--the man who does the
resuscitating and such silly business of this institution; Parsons, my
old friend, Jack Harrington. Sergeant, where is that whisky?"

"Is the woman dead, doctor?" asked Harrington presently, as the
sergeant's wife brought in a bottle of whisky and some glasses.

"No," replied the police doctor slowly, as he poured some whisky into
his glass, "she is not dead; but she may not live much longer--a day or
so perhaps. It all depends. Shock to the system."

"One of the usual sort, Parsons, I suppose?" inquired Walters--"left the
baby on the wharf, with a written request for some 'kind Christian to
love it,' eh?"

The fat doctor grunted. "You're a beast, Walters. There's no baby in the
case. Here, give me ten shillings--you'll spend more than that in drinks
before you go to bed to-night This girl _isn't_ one of the usual
sort. She's a lady--and she's been starving. So ante-up, you
ex-nigger-shooting Queensland policeman; and I'll add another half-sov.
Then perhaps your friend will give me something for her. And I'm not
going to send her off to the hospital. I'm going to take her to some
people I know, and ask them to keep her for a few days until she gets
round."

Harrington put his hand in his pocket, and then in a nervous, diffident
way, looking first at Walters and then at the doctor, put five
sovereigns on the table.

"I'm pretty flush now, you know.... I'm not a plunger, but I shall be
glad, doctor, if you will take that and give it to her.... I was almost
starvi