ld man,' says I, 'and good luck. One of us will come
and lead you into the weighing yard, if you pull it off, and chance the
odds, if Sir Ferdinand himself was at the gate.'

'All right,' says he, 'I'll look out for you,' and off he goes. I went
back and told Aileen and Gracey, and we settled that they were to drive
out to the course with Cyrus Williams and his wife. I rode, thinking
myself safer on horseback, for fear of accidents. Starlight, of course,
went in the Dawsons' drag, and was going to enjoy himself to the last
minute. He had his horse ready at a moment's notice, and Warrigal was
not far off to give warning, or to bring up his horse if we had to ride
for it.

Well, the first part of the day went well enough, and then about
half-past one we all went down to the church. The young fellow that
was to marry Bella Barnes was known on the field and well liked by the
miners, so a good many of them made it up to go and see the wedding.
They'd heard of Bella and Maddie, and wanted to see what they looked
like.

The church was on the side of the town next the racecourse, so they
hadn't far to go. By and by, as the crowd moved that way, Starlight says
to the Commissioner--

'Where are all these good folks making for?'

'Why, the fact is there's to be a wedding,' he says, 'and it excites a
good deal of attention as the young people are well known on the field
and popular. Bella Barnes and her sister are very fine girls in their
way. Suppose we go and look on too! There won't be anything now before
the big race.'

'By Jove! a first-rate ideah,' says Starlight. 'I should like to see an
Australian wedding above all things.'

'This will be the real thing, then,' says Mr. Jack Dawson. 'Let's
drive up to our hotel, put up the horses, have a devil and a glass of
champagne, and we can be back easy in time for the race.' So away they
went. Cyrus drove the girls and his wife in his dogcart, so we were
there all ready to see the bride come up.

It looked a regular grand affair, my word. The church was that crammed
there was hardly a place to sit or stand in. Every woman, young and
old, in the countryside was there, besides hundreds of diggers who sat
patiently waiting as if some wonderful show were going to take place.
Aileen and Gracey had come in early and got a pew next to the top
almost. I stood outside. There was hardly a chance for any one else to
get in.

By and by up comes old Jonathan, driving a respectable-loo