bothered
if I could see how. May I wire to head office?"

"Not till to-night, Mr. Wallace. When the stuff is handed over to you
will be time enough."

"How about Mr. Dudgeon's money?"

"It's there, too."

"He's in town. Will you tell him?"

"Not a word, Mr. Wallace. You are the only people I mention it to; not
even Brennan will be told about it till it's here."

"Well, you know more about these things than I do, so your word's law.
But I shall be glad to let the head office know--I want to have the
general manager's authority to do what I told you was going to be done."

Durham smiled in answer. So did he want the general manager to authorise
what was to be the news he wished to give Mrs. Burke on the morrow. With
five thousand pounds behind him he anticipated less difficulty in
persuading her to postpone her intended return to Ireland, postpone it
long enough, at all events, for her to go, not as Mrs. Burke, but as
Mrs. Durham.

He stood at the door chatting to Wallace before going on to the station,
when Dudgeon rattled past in his old buggy drawn by a borrowed horse.

He did not look towards the bank as he passed.

"If I told him I suppose he'd scowl at me and say, 'Oh, have you?'"
Durham exclaimed as he watched the crazy old vehicle disappear along the
road.

"You are sure his money is there too?" Wallace asked.

"Quite."

"That's curious."

"Why? It was obviously stolen by the same man who robbed the bank, and
naturally they took it to the same spot."

"Have you any idea who the men were--or rather the man, for I suppose
there is only one now to be considered?"

"That is so," Durham answered. "Only one--and he may be--anybody."

"You have no suspicions?"

"I don't want any. If I begin suspecting different persons I may miss
the real individual. As matters stand, I know where, sooner or later, I
shall meet him under conditions which will identify him as the man I
want. The trap is set and the bird will be caught. That is all I can
say."

"Have you heard what they are saying in the town?"

"I've heard a good deal one way and another, but not to-day, as I have
been away since dawn. Is it anything special?"

"Someone started the yarn last night, so Gale told me. There's an idea
that old Mr. Dudgeon is at the back of the whole affair; that he hired
the man they call the Rider to rob the bank in the first instance, so as
to prevent the sale of Waroona Downs being completed. Eustace is
suppos