t told me all,' he continued. 'Sit
down, man--tell me of your life at home there.'

Jim demurred, but Ryder led him on to the narrative, and eventually he
described his past, and as he talked of the old troubles and
tribulations, his former prejudices awoke, and something of the early
hatred and disdain. Ryder, quick to detect the effect of the revival of
his boyish grievances, kept the young man's thoughts on the more painful
features of the story, and worked upon his feelings guilefully probing
his soul, finding his weaknesses with an unerring touch, prompted, no
doubt, by his knowledge of Richard Done, the man he had been, whose
youthful character he found faithfully reflected here.

'You'll come with me?' said Ryder.

'No, I couldn't do it,' answered Jim. 'Your idea of vengeance strikes me
only as the dream of a madman.'

'But you'll think it over?'

'You don't suppose a man can get this sort of thing out of his mind in a
day.'

'Remember, I bind you to nothing, and there is a big fortune at stake.'

Got by crime.'

'By open, honest daylight robbery.'

Jim looked at his brother with a feeling of despair; he recognised the
utter hopelessness of argument based on accepted ideas of right and
wrong. In disputing he felt like a child blowing bubbles against a stone
wall. Ryder's attitude implied that he had tested everything in the fire
of a terrible experience.

'Man, man!' cried Done, 'how can you hope to beat the world?'

'For four years I have beaten it. And I am appreciated. The Government of
Victoria has just raised the price of my head to one thousand pounds.'

'Why not leave the country at once?'

'As soon as you are ready.'

'Impossible. I will not go.'

'I remain until you change your mind, unless, in the meantime, some safe
and convenient means of transporting my hard-earned gold presents itself.
I have an alternative scheme, but it means greater risks, and, besides, I
find I am still capable of the preposterous folly of liking. I like you.'

'Then give up this brutal scheme, join with me, make an effort to work
the poison out of your blood, to revive a clean, honest interest in
existence, and I'll stand by you through thick and thin, against the law
and all your enemies, while I've a heart-beat left in me. It's worth the
effort, Dick; the world is fair, men are decent, and women are sweet.'

Ryder sat nursing a foot, smiling a smile of kindly interest. 'My boy,'
he said, 'you have the ard