.'

'Miss Woodrow noticed the resemblance, and when I heard your name and
your age I thought it very likely that you were my brother. When I saw
you that night in the shanty I was almost convinced. These satisfied me.'
He indicated the scattered articles upon the table.

Jim made no demonstration; he sat with his eyes fixed upon the miniature,
still dazed by the blow. There was something in his had--something he
wished to know, but his ideas were all out of control. The thought
centred with a shock.

'Good God, no!' he cried, clutching Ryder with a nerveless hand. 'They
hanged my brother!'

Ryder's face was perfectly bloodless; it looked cold. He shook his head
slowly.

'I was condemned to be hanged. They altered it to transportation for
life.'

'But they all believed--'

'Mother must have known. It would have made little difference. The horror
of it was a little greater than the horror of hanging. It probably gave
her no comfort.'

'She died of it all.' Jim spoke without volition. 'Yes,' responded Ryder
dully. 'She was the kind of woman who would. I was transported, and for
all those years I lived in hell.'

'For murder!' said Jim sharply.

Ryder shook his head again. His voice was quite even. 'I did no murder.
There was no murder done.'

'The body--what of the body?'

'There was none. The man for whose murder I was condemned still lives.
Stony is the man!'

'Stony!' Jim peered into the other's face again. 'Stony!' he cried. 'It's
not possible. You are lying. It's utterly incredible. Stony! Then this
explains?' He did not doubt even while the words of unbelief were on his
lips.

'This explains. My coming upon you that night in the Black Forest was not
so extraordinary as it seemed. I was following you both. I had been to
Melbourne on Stony's track, having caught a glimpse of him one night at
Ballarat. I ascertained that he had started for Forest Creek. Meanwhile
Mrs. Macdougal and Miss Woodrow had told me of you. It was reasonable to
assume that you also had started for the field everybody was talking of.
At our first meeting I did not see you: I was too deeply interested in
Mr. Stony.'

'Stony was not the name.'

'Stony is an assumed name. Cannon is his real name--Peter Cannon.'

'That is the name. But I cannot understand. My head fails me. I am
utterly bewildered!'

'You'll hear Stony's story? He is in his tent.'

'Not now. You have overwhelmed: me. For God's sake, give me time to
straight