d his face
sideways to look out of the window the light fell on his cheek and,
though the whisker had only just begun to sprout after his last shave,
I could see that by nature he was as rusty as a jot. I felt downright
certain of him from that very minute. He got out at Rugby, taking his
hat-box with him, and as I had no funds with me I was afraid I was going
to lose him, but he only went into the refreshment room for a glass of
beer and a sandwich and came back with me and travelled comfortably
on to Birmingham. There he engaged a room at the Queen's Hotel for the
night, and having locked up his hat-box in it he went away to order a
supply of clothes and linen, as I found out afterwards. I nipped down to
Moor Street and told them what I had to say. I got my authority to act,
and when my gentleman got back again, I was there all ready for him with
a fellow-officer and we nabbed him at his bedroom door. He nipped out a
revolver and tried to shoot himself, but we were too quick for him.
We made him give up the key of the hat-box and there, sure enough, was
every one of the missing jewels. He had torn the velvet lining out of
the case and had thrown everything into it pell-mell and wrapped it up
in two or three towels so, I suppose, that the contents of the hat-box
couldn't jingle. My getting him was just an accident from start to
finish, and if it had not been for that text of Scripture I should never
have given the man a second thought, but it was reckoned a smartish
capture and it ended in my promotion and my coming here."

CHAPTER XIII *

Eight Hours Day in Melbourne--The Australian Born--
Australians and the Mother Country--The Governor--_The
Sydney Bulletin_--The Englishman in Australia--Australian
Journalism--The Theatres--The Creed of Athleticism--The
Future.

It is many years since I saw a sight which so pricked and stirred my
blood as the final episode of the procession of Eight Hours Day in
Melbourne. The day was wintry and dismal. Early rains had threatened
the dispersal of the patient crowds which lined the roads; the pavements
were muddy and the sky was lowering. The march of the trades bodies did
little to dispel the gloom of the day for the one onlooker concerning
whose sentiments I am authorised to speak. The vast crowd gave each
trade a reception as it passed, and sometimes the marchers passed below
the Treasury windows and cheered the governor. There was plenty of
nois