he tent, and made for Peter's Bridge Inn, on
the outskirts of a dusty township.

An hour later the Missing Link and the Living Skeleton were sitting under
the pile bridge a mile above the township, with a bottle of whisky
between them. Bonypart was eating bread and cheese with an avidity which
demonstrated the abandonment of all professional instincts. Nicholas
Crips was drinking whisky slightly diluted with creek water. His drinking
cup was a rusty sardine tin.

Two hours later the Living Skeleton and Mahdi, the man-monkey, snored
side by side in the shade of the bridge, the creek rippled at their feet,
the sun blazed on the bushland on the left and right, and the whisky
bottle stood between them.

Meanwhile, Professor Thunder's Museum of Marvels was decorated with a
placard, reading:

"Closed on account of illness in the family."

Professor Thunder himself was racing about the township and through the
surrounding scrub, seeking his missing exhibits, fearing the worst, and
promising himself the satisfaction of a terrible vengeance when he laid
hands on the recreant pair. He knew that Nickie had gone off in his skin
as the Missing Link, and realised the danger of a possible exposure. To
communicate his loss to the people of 'Tween Bridge would practically
mean giving the game away. At the inn he had been given a description of
the two strangers who had refreshed themselves with three long beers, and
then bought a bottle of whisky and certain edibles, and taken the road to
One Tree Hill. Thunder recognised the description, and his language
shocked Peters, the publican, who had once been a sinner and the champion
bullock driver of the Western District.

"Bread and cheese!" groaned the Professor, as he thrashed about in the
scrub. "That Living Skeleton 'll be as fat as a pig."

At about ten o'clock that night Dan Reynolds, riding from One Tree Hill
to 'Tween Bridges, and thinking of Annie, the Cockie's daughter, whom he
had left at the slip-rails, was amazed at a terrible apparition that
arose before him on the moon-lit road. It was a strange, shaggy creature,
half monkey half-man, covered from the top of his head to the knees in
thick, crisp, tufted hair.

Dan's horse snorted and, came back on his haunches, remaining so for an
appreciable space of time, sitting up, glaring at the curious monster
with dilated eyes and inflated nostrils, and Dan clung to the nag's neck
and glared too, even more astonished than his