g, everywhere, even on the billiard-table.

In the turmoil of rejoicing that ensued, even the shadows cast by the
glow of happiness on the previous evening were forgotten, though it was,
after all, only their own money which Tony had won back for them.
Everybody wished to toast everybody, and in their anxiety to carry out
the wish, they failed to notice that Gleeson quietly withdrew. Only when
other facts were forced upon their attention, and they learned that the
game won had been really lost, did they notice his departure, and then
it was too late.

In the midst of their rejoicing some one called for the stakeholders to
share in the festivity. The proprietor of the Rest was present, but he
misunderstood the suggestion, and thought the men wanted the stakes
handed over.

"Leary has them," he exclaimed. "He took them away last night, quiet
like."

Some of the men remembered accompanying Leary, the constable, to his
cottage late on the previous night. He certainly did not have the stakes
with him then; but they did not stop to argue the matter, for others,
jealous that so important a personage as the local constable, who was
also the stakeholder in the great match, should be absent from the
rejoicing over the Birralong victory, had already started for the
constable's cottage.

They found him lying on the floor with his hands tied behind him, his
legs securely bound together, and a rough but effective gag in his
mouth. Suspicious at first only of a practical joke on the part of some
of their number, they liberated him to the running accompaniment of jest
and chaff. As soon as he was free, he struggled to his feet and, facing
them, shouted--

"I arrest the lot of you for assault and robbery."

It appealed to them as an excellent example of spontaneous humour, and
they burst into loud laughter.

"I know the man who took it. I'd swear to him in a thousand. If it means
hanging them, I'll----"

One of the men, clear enough to miss the point of the joke at which his
companions were laughing so heartily, interrupted to ask--

"Took what?"

"Took what? Why, the gold," Leary answered fiercely.

The words killed the laughter as water kills fire, and where a moment
before the faces of the men were wrinkled with their amusement, the
lines disappeared as the mouths went stern, and the flush of gaiety gave
way to the pallor of fear.

"The gold?" they gasped.

"Yes, the gold," Leary shouted. "We brought it here for sa