the gin he had brought
from Nyalong, and if the body was found, the appearance of the skull
would show that death had been caused, not by drowning, but by the
blows of that cursed axe. Nosey began to lay all the blame on the
axe, and said, "If it had not stood up so handy near the door, I
wouldn't have killed the man."

It was the axe that tempted him. Excuses of that sort are of a very
ancient date.

Luckily Nosey owned two horses, one of which was old and quiet. He
told Julia to fasten the door, and to open it on no account whatever,
while he went for the horse, which was feeding in the Rises hobbled,
and with a bell tied round his neck. When he returned he saddled the
animal, and Julia held the bridle while he went into the hut for the
body. He observed Baldy's pipe on the floor near the fire-place, and
he replaced it in the pocket in which it had been usually kept, as it
might not be safe to leave anything in the hut belonging to the
murdered man. There was a little blood on the floor, but he would
scrape that off by daylight, and he would then also look at the axe
and put away the two bottles of gin somewhere; he could do all that
next morning before Baldy was missed. But the corpse must be taken
away at once, for he felt that every minute of delay might endanger
his neck. He dragged the body outside, and with Julia's help lifted
it up and placed it across the saddle. Then he tried to steady his
load with his right hand, and to guide the horse by the bridle with
his left, but he soon found that a dead man was a bad rider; Baldy
kept slipping towards the near side or the off side with every stride
of the horse, and soon fell to the ground.

Nosey was in a furious hurry, he was anxious to get away; he cursed
Baldy for giving him so much trouble; he could have killed him over
again for being so awkward and stubborn, and he begun to feel that
the old shepherd was more dangerous dead than alive. At last he
mounted his horse, and called to Julia to come and help him.

"Here, Julia, lift him up till I catch hold of his collar, and I'll
pull him up in front of me on the saddle, and hold him that way."

Julia, with many stifled moans, raised the body from the ground,
Nosey reached down and grasped the shirt collar, and thus the two
managed to place the swag across the saddle. Then Nosey made a
second start, carefully balancing the body, and keeping it from
falling with his right hand, while he held the brid