now?"

"Don't you think it rather risky to drive through the bush with a pile
of money like that in your buggy while those bank robbers are still at
liberty?" Durham said quietly.

Dudgeon stood back and looked at him quizzically.

"Oh, you're on it too, are you? That's your game, is it? Well, see here,
my lad, anyone who can take this money without my knowing it is welcome
to it. Do you understand?"

He resumed his work of unharnessing the horse, leading it away, as soon
as it was clear of the shafts, to a lean-to shed at the side of the hut
where he hung up the harness and turned the horse free.

"Well, how about that half-crown? Are you going to stay, or aren't you?
Government won't pay that, you know. You find your own tucker, my lad."

"I wish to stay here to-night," Durham answered.

"Then chuck over the cash."

It was obvious that if Durham wished to stay, he would have to pay, so
without further demur he passed over the amount Dudgeon demanded for his
supper and bed.

"Now we start fair," the old man said, as he put the money in his
pocket. "I'm under no obligation to you and you're under no obligation
to me. That is what I call trading square."

He unlocked the door and flung it open.

"You'll find some cold meat and bread on the shelf, and there's tea in
the canister over the fire-place. You'll have to fetch what water you
want from the tank."

As Durham entered the hut, Dudgeon went to the buggy and lifted one of
the bags of gold in his arms, carrying it inside.

The hut was a small and unpretentious structure. The door opened
directly into the living-room, to which there was only one small window
looking out on the verandah. A second door led into a small kitchen, off
which opened another small room used by Dudgeon for sleeping.

With the bag of gold in his arms he stood in the doorway.

"You'll have to sleep on that stretcher over there," he said, nodding to
a rough framework of untrimmed saplings with a length of coarse canvas
fastened across. "You won't be cold. Keep a good fire on. You'll find an
axe in the harness shed if you want to get any wood."

He passed on through the second door and Durham set about lighting the
fire. As he did so, Dudgeon made journeys to and fro, coming from the
back of the hut empty-handed and returning from the buggy with a bag of
gold in his arms until he had carried all the twenty-five thousand
pounds in. By that time the fire was alight, and Durham went