aged in hunting down outlaws on whose head a
price was set, to be deliberately shot--murdered in cold blood, as there
was some ground for thinking to be the case. What would be the end of it
all?

We had done things that were bad enough, but a deliberate, cold-blooded,
shameful piece of bloodshed like this had never been heard of in New
South Wales before.

There was nothing more to be done. We couldn't stay any longer looking
at the dead men; it was no use burying them, even if we'd had the time.
We hadn't done it, though we should be sure to be mixed up with it
somehow.

'We must be moving, lads,' said Starlight. 'As soon as this gets wind
there'll be another rush out this way, and every policeman and newspaper
reporter in the country will be up at Black Gully. When they're found
everybody will see that they've been killed for vengeance and not for
plunder. But the sooner they're found the better.'

'Best send word to Billy the Boy,' I said; 'he'll manage to lay them on
without hurting himself.'

'All right. Warrigal knows a way of communicating with him; I'll send
him off at once. And now the sooner we're at the Hollow the better for
everybody.'

We rode all night. Anything was better than stopping still with such
thoughts as we were likely to have for companions. About daylight we got
to the Hollow. Not far from the cave we found father's old mare with the
saddle on and the reins trailing on the ground. There was a lot of blood
on the saddle too, and the reins were smeared all about with it; red
they were to the buckles, so was her mane.

We knew then something was wrong, and that the old man was hard hit, or
he'd never have let her go loose like that. When we got to the cave the
dog came out to meet us, and then walked back whining in a queer way
towards the log at the mouth, where we used to sit in the evenings.

There was father, sure enough, lying on his face in a pool of blood, and
to all appearances as dead as the men we'd just left.

We lifted him up, and Starlight looked close and careful at him by the
light of the dawn, that was just showing up over the tree tops to the
east.

'He's not dead; I can feel his heart beat,' he said. 'Carry him in,
boys, and we'll soon see what's the matter with him.'

We took his waistcoat and shirt off--a coat he never wore unless it was
raining. Hard work we had to do it, they was so stuck to his skin when
the blood had dried.

'By gum! he's been hit bad enoug