"Oh, Master Nic!"

"You did, sir. You always behaved like a brute and a bully to poor
Leather, and you struck him, and of course he struck you again; and
then;" cried the boy rapidly, in his excitement, "you told lies to Mr
Dillon, and had him fetched over there to be flogged; and do you think,"
he continued, turning his flushed face to Sir John, "if I knew I was
innocent, and I was dragged away to be flogged with the cat, I wouldn't
run for the bush? Why, I would to-morrow."

Sir John frowned, and the doctor looked pained and angry, but he did not
speak.

"Well, all I know is, I've got the mark o' the chopper on the back o' my
head still," said Brookes, rubbing the place softly.

"Mark of the chopper!" cried Nic contemptuously. "You ought to have the
mark of the cat."

"Silence, Dominic!" cried the doctor. "It is very clear to me that you
have let this man impose upon you by his insidious ways, and I am
bitterly hurt by your folly. You ought to know better. However, the
past is past. Now make amends by helping to have this man taken. Where
is he?"

"Out in the bush, father."

"I know that, sir," said the doctor sternly. "No evasions, if you
please. Where is his hiding-place?"

"Don't be angry with me, father," said Nic, in a pleading tone. "I
can't tell you."

"You know?"

"Yes, father."

"Then where is he, sir?"

Nic was silent.

"I desire that you tell me at once."

Nic's brow grew more puckered, but his lips tightened. "Look here, boy.
Are you going to disgrace me here before Sir John O'Hara by your
disobedience, and by refusing to give up this criminal to the law?"

"Father, he is quite innocent, and he has trusted me. I can't be such a
coward--such a wretch--as to give him up."

The doctor took a step forward as if to seize his son's arm.

"One moment, Braydon," said Sir John. "Let me speak to him."

The doctor drew back, and stood frowning.

"It is an error of judgment on the boy's part. When we were his age we
thought we knew better than our elders; but we know better now. Look
here, Dominic, my boy. You are in the wrong. This man, your father's
assigned servant, was tried by a jury of his fellow-countrymen, found
guilty, and sentenced to transportation. Well, my boy, we are all under
the law, which protects us, and we require its protection very much in a
new colony of such an exceptional kind as this."

"But the law was unjust to him, Sir John, and cruel."

"I