he, raising his revolver,
pointed it at the breast of the unhappy offender.

There was a moment of intense excitement. Harry and Jack were
spellbound. Their faces were pale, and wore an expression of horror.
They were about to see a human life taken. They could hardly forbear
uttering a groan.

The silence was broken by a sharp, explosive sound. The deadly weapon
had done its work; but it was not the captive who had received the
winged messenger of death. It was the captain himself who staggered and
with one convulsive movement fell prone to the earth.

CHAPTER XIV.

ELECTION OF A NEW CAPTAIN.

The excitement among the bushrangers was intense. Simultaneously they
started forward, and two of them, bending over, lifted the body of their
prostrate leader. But he was already dead. The bullet had reached his
heart, and probably he never knew what hurt him.

Robert Graham, the man who had caused his death, stood erect and
unflinching.

He threw his weapon upon the ground, folded his arms, and said, in a
tone devoid of fear: "Comrades, do with me what you will. I could not
help doing what I did. It was either my brother's life or his. Sandy was
innocent of the crime charged against him. He had no thought of
treachery, though he did mean to leave your ranks. Is there anyone among
you that would stand by and see his brother murdered before his eyes
when he had the means of preventing it?"

The bushrangers looked at each other in doubt. They had at first
accepted the captain's statement that Sandy Graham was a traitor. His
brother's explanation of his attempted desertion put a new face on the
matter. Then, again, there was not one among them that had not tired of
their despotic leader. Alive, he had impressed them with fear, and held
them in strict subordination, but he was far from popular, and had no
real friend among them. So, though they were startled and shocked, there
was no one to shed a tear over the dead. It was a moment of doubt when a
leader was wanted.

"Well," said Robert Graham, after a pause, "what are you going to do
with me? I wait your pleasure."

"He ought to be served as he served the captain," said Fletcher, who
disliked Graham, and had always been a toady to Captain Stockton.

"I say no," rejoined Rupert Ring, a man of medium height, but of great
muscular development. "It was a terrible deed, but had my brother--I
have a brother in England, whom I have not seen for fifteen years--been
i