, sniffing like a
retriever.

Ben Kyley rose silently from his stool and approached Wallis.

'Sit you down, Ben Kyley!' roared Mrs. Ben; and Kyley returned as
silently to his seat, and sat smoking throughout the scene that followed,
apparently quite listless.

'Am I selling sly grog, Mr. Sergeant? Then it's a miracle where it comes
from. I haven't a drop in the place, or I'd stand you a nobbler gladly.
It's my opinion there are worse-looking men than Sergeant Wallis in
gaol.'

'Rubbish, ma'am! the place reeks of rum,' said Wallis.

'A bit of a bottle Quigley shouted for the boys, this being his
birthday.'

'Quigley has too many birthdays. Search the place, boys!'

The police commenced a systematic search of the tent, examining both
compartments, and trying the earthen floor for a secret cellar. They
found nothing, and meanwhile Mrs. Kyley was bantering Wallis with
boisterous good-fellowship.

'The idea of an officer of your penetration, sergeant, mistaking a poor
washerwoman's tent for a grog-shop.'

The poor washerwoman does a big business, Mrs. Kyley.'

'Not amongst the police, Sergeant Wallis. It is a miserable living a
washerwoman would make out of them. I hear they beat their shirts with a
stick once a month, as we dusted the carpets in the old Country.'

'We can find nothing, sergeant,' said one of the police.

'Remember how Imeson tricked you all at Bendigo, Wallis, with a hollow
tent-pole that held ten gallons of brandy.'

'I do, Mrs. Kyley. You were Mrs. Imeson then.'

'And if you have the luck I may be Mrs. Wallis one of these days.'

'Heaven forbid, ma'am!'

'Don't waste your prayers on me, sergeant. Maybe I deserve even that, my
sins being many and various.'

'And sly grog-selling is one of them. But I'll have you there yet, my
good woman.' Wallis turned his thumb down.

'Remember I am only a poor weak woman when that happens, sergeant. Will
you have a drink before going? There's a nip left in Quigley's bottle.'

'No, ma'am, I don't drink,' answered Wallis from the door.

'Then, sergeant, commit your nose for perjury. It's bearing false witness
against you all over the field.'

There was a yell of laughter, interspersed with the usual cries of 'Jo!'
as Wallis passed out after his men, and the diggers bombarded Mrs. Kyley
with the bundles of washing that had been hastily distributed amongst
them. Ben Kyley followed the police out, and presently returned and
nodded to Mary, who seize