, having walked in from Waroona Downs, arrived at the bank,
he found the township in a state of excitement bordering on panic.

The noise of the firing during the night had brought everyone who was
awake at the time rushing to the scene. Men had mounted their horses and
raced away in the direction the fugitives were supposed to have taken,
returning hours afterwards with the information that no trace of them
could be discovered, beyond the prints of their horses' hoofs, here and
there, right up to the line of rocky rises which formed the commencement
of the range.

Durham brushed aside the volley of questions directed at him as to how
it came about that he had returned on foot. Passing into the bank he
asked Harding to come with him into the manager's office, and told
Brennan to clear everyone else out of the building.

As soon as he had heard Harding's account of what had happened, he
produced the handkerchief bearing Eustace's name.

"Can you identify that?" he asked. "It is marked, but I want to know if
you can recognise it apart from the name it bears?"

"It is like the handkerchiefs I use," Harding answered, as he pulled one
out of his pocket. "Eustace and I ordered some to be sent up, and we
divided them, taking half each."

"Did you mark them?"

"Mrs. Eustace did that for us. Is the name on this?"

He turned it round until he saw the name.

"Yes, that is one of Eustace's," he said.

"What time do you think it was when you saw that man's face at the
window?" Durham inquired.

"Between half-past nine and ten--nearer ten probably."

"Was the face familiar?"

"It was, but I cannot recall where I have seen it before. It struck me
as being a familiar face disguised. It was not Eustace's."

"You feel sure of that?"

"I'm quite sure. I wish you had been here to have seen it."

"I did see it."

"But you were at Waroona Downs."

"So I was. It was there I saw it. That man and his companion stuck the
house up. I was asleep on the verandah and they must have crept on me,
for when I awakened I was bound hand and foot. The man you describe was
standing in front of me. When I attempted to shout to warn Mrs. Burke, a
handkerchief was pressed over my mouth and tied by someone who kept
behind me. That is the handkerchief which was used. Who would you say
tied it?"

"I should suspect Eustace, of course; or do you think the man with the
beard was Eustace?"

Durham shook his head.

"No," he said. "The descr