ndrels.

"And now, Miss Ellison, if you feel equal to it, would you kindly
give us an account of what happened? Mr. Barker said that he would
not ask you, yesterday; but something, perhaps, let drop by chance,
might serve as an indication to us as to the direction in which
these fellows have gone."

"I will tell you, certainly," the girl said, her face paling a
little; "although it is dreadful, even now, to think of. We of
course had no idea of attack, and had gone to bed as usual. One of
the men was always on guard, on the outside of the house; for these
attacks made Mr. Donald nervous for the safety of my sister, and
myself. Simpson was on guard that night. Whether he went to sleep
or not, I cannot say."

"He did, Miss Ellison," Reuben interrupted. "We found his body
round by the end of the house. He had evidently been sitting down
on a log, against the house; and had been killed by a crushing blow
with some heavy instrument, probably one of the tools they used for
breaking in."

"The first we knew about it," Kate went on, "was a tremendous crash
downstairs, which was followed by a continuous thundering noise. I
think they must have burst the door in with crowbars, or
something--that was the first noise we heard--but a strong wooden
bar, inside, kept the door in its place till they battered it down
with a log.

"I hurried on some things. Just as I had done--it was not a minute,
I think, from the time I woke--Alice ran in, partly dressed, too. I
had heard Mr. Donald shout to the men, then there was another great
crash as the bar gave way, and then some shots were fired.

"Mr. Donald had been standing just behind the door, and had fired
through it the moment before it gave way. He had not time to step
back, and was knocked down by the door. It was fortunate for him,
for the bush rangers rushed in and shot down the two men,
instantly.

"Alice would have run down to see what had happened to her husband,
but I would not let her out of my room. She could have done no
good, and might have been shot. Then we heard them moving about the
house, swearing and using all sorts of horrible language. Then they
shouted up to us to come down, or else they would come and fetch
us; so we opened the door, and came down at once.

"Alice gave a little cry of joy, as she entered the room and saw
her husband standing unhurt, though still looking dazed and
confused from his blow.

"The leader of the band--I suppose you have not s