nviction.

On the way back to the homestead Hugh began to talk of the chance of a
conviction, and the delight it would be to give Mick seven years, but
his ideas were disturbed by thoughts of Mick's face as he said, "Why
should I steal my brother-in-law's sheep?" He looked at the girl
alongside him, and prayed that the old story might never be resurrected.

CHAPTER XV. A PROPOSAL AND ITS RESULTS.

The question whether Mick Donohoe should be prosecuted was not likely
to be prejudiced by his claim of kinship. Billy the Bully would as soon
prosecute his own brother-in-law as anybody else--sooner, in fact. So
Hugh, having reached home very crest-fallen and angry, wrote a full
account of the affair in his report of the station work, and asked
whether he should lay an information.

Grant's reply was brief and to the point; he seldom wrote letters,
always telegraphing when possible. On this occasion the telegram said,
"Prosecute at once; offer reward informers;" which, leaking out (as
telegrams frequently did at the local office) put Red Mick considerably
on the qui vive. The old man actually paid him the compliment of writing
a letter about him later on, saying that it would be a good thing to
prosecute--it would give Red Mick a good scare, even if it didn't get
him into gaol. Circumstances, no doubt, justified a prosecution, and it
was hard to see bow Mick could make a counter-move.

But that gentleman was not without resource; an anonymous letter
arrived for Hugh by the mailboy, a dirty, scrawled epistle, unsigned and
undated, running as follows:--

"Mr. Gordon i herd you was gone to summons Michael Donohoe for sheep
stealing. You better bewar there is some seen you and that girl in the
bush you will get a grate shown up and her two."

This precious epistle was signed "A Friend," and on first reading it
Hugh laughed heartily; but the more he thought it over the less he liked
it. It was all very well to put Red Mick in the dock, but it was evident
that part of the defence would be, "How came you to be under the boughs
of a fallen tree with an attractive young woman when Red Mick's dogs
came up with the sheep?" At the very least they would look ridiculous;
and the unknown correspondent who promised them a "grate shown up" would
probably take care that the story was as highly-coloured as possible. He
shuddered to think what the Donohoes would say, and heartily wished he
had let Red Mick alone.

He fretted fo