t get Murden to lend us Steel Spring for a week or two,"
he muttered, "I think that we could make that scamp serviceable to us."

"Murden will accommodate us in that respect, I am sure, if we make
application," I returned.

"If he will, we can set the fellow at work, and he will be able to get
information that no policeman in Ballarat could possibly obtain. He must
be supplied with a liberal amount of money, and must represent himself
as being connected with a gang of bushrangers between here and
Melbourne. I will give the 'Traps' a hint not to molest him unless he
betakes himself to roguery again, and I suppose that he will some day."

"But won't suspicion be aroused if Steel Spring is seen to enter the
store, or hold communication with us?" we asked.

"Of course it would," returned the inspector, with a smile, at our
innocence; "of all the persons in Ballarat, you must he the most
avoided, and when an interview is needed, a rendezvous must be appointed
where there is no fear of listeners. Take my word for it, in less than a
fortnight we shall have the true account of the attempted assassination,
and if Follet's companion does not leave the town, we will nab him, and
'pinch' him severely. Write to the lieutenant at once, and don't fail to
tell him that your reputation, and perhaps life, depends upon the loan
of Steel Spring."

With these parting words, the inspector left for his office, and without
delaying for a moment, I sat down, and briefly wrote an account of the
transaction in which we were involved, and stated the necessity there
was for the employment of a spy of Steel Spring's adroitness. I
succeeded in getting my note posted before the mail left Melbourne, and
soon after my return to the store, the surgeon of the police force made
his appearance, and examined the wounds of our patient with some
considerable skill, and did us the honor of saying that he could do no
more than we had already done; and John Bull like, wondered where we got
our knowledge of the art of healing. He thought that there was danger of
inflammation; and ordered a cooling draught and low diet, and then said
that he considered we were competent to attend the patient, unless he
was worse, in which case we were to send for him, and not without.

And we did attend the old gentleman; hour after hour, and night after
night, we watched by his side, barely taking rest ourselves, for fear
that he would suffer; and although he was unconscious