crown of the hat.

'Not me!' he said, showing some emotion for the first time. 'D'yer think
I'm going to risk me blanky neck for your blanky amusement for thirty
blanky bob. I'll ride the blanky horse for a fiver, and I'll feel the
blanky quids in my pocket before I get on.'

Meanwhile the coach had dashed up to the door of the shanty. There
were about twenty passengers aboard--inside, on the box-seat, on the
tail-board, and hanging on to the roof--most of them Sydney men going up
to the Mudgee races. They got down and went inside with the driver for
a drink, while the stablemen changed horses. The Bushmen raised their
voices a little and argued.

One of the passengers was a big, stout, hearty man--a good-hearted,
sporting man and a racehorse-owner, according to his brands. He had
a round red face and a white cork hat. 'What's those chaps got on
outside?' he asked the publican.

'Oh, it's a bet they've got on about riding a horse,' replied the
publican. 'The flash-looking chap with the sash is Flash Jack, the
horse-breaker; and they reckon they've got the champion outlaw in the
district out there--that chestnut horse in the yard.'

The sporting man was interested at once, and went out and joined the
Bushmen.

'Well, chaps! what have you got on here?' he asked cheerily.

'Oh,' said Jim carelessly, 'it's only a bit of a bet about ridin'
that blanky chestnut in the corner of the yard there.' He indicated an
ungroomed chestnut horse, fenced off by a couple of long sapling poles
in a corner of the stock-yard. 'Flash Jack there--he reckons he's the
champion horse-breaker round here--Flash Jack reckons he can take it out
of that horse first try.'

'What's up with the horse?' inquired the big, red-faced man. 'It looks
quiet enough. Why, I'd ride it myself.'

'Would yer?' said Jim, who had hair that stood straight up, and an
innocent, inquiring expression. 'Looks quiet, does he? YOU ought to know
more about horses than to go by the looks of 'em. He's quiet enough just
now, when there's no one near him; but you should have been here an
hour ago. That horse has killed two men and put another chap's shoulder
out--besides breaking a cove's leg. It took six of us all the morning to
run him in and get the saddle on him; and now Flash Jack wants to back
out of it.'

'Euraliar!' remarked Flash Jack cheerfully. 'I said I'd ride that blanky
horse out of the yard for a fiver. I ain't goin' to risk my blanky neck
for nothing a