ctful distance.]

The fragments were showered upon our faces and shoulders, but before we
had time to consider on the matter another bottle flew past my head, and
hit our prisoner upon one of his shoulders, injuring him so severely
that he dropped to the floor as though he had been shot.

"Self-preservation is the first law of nature," cried the inspector, in
a calm tone, cocking his pistol; and when he saw an arm raised to hurl
another bottle at our heads, he fired. I saw the raised arm fall
suddenly, and I fancied that I could hear the pistol ball when it
struck, and buried itself amid bone and muscle.

"And are we to be shot down like dogs?" was the indignant question which
some one put, and a loud yell of "No," and a rush towards us, was the
response.

One ruffian struck at me, and the point of his knife entered my shirt
near the left shoulder, and inflicted a slight scratch, or wound--but
before he had time to renew the blow, which I escaped by dodging, Mr.
Brown had singled him out as a victim, and he fell, with a horrid
imprecation upon his lips, dyeing the black and soiled floor with his
blood.

Three or four pistol shots were fired, and they were barely sufficient
to keep the crowd at a distance, when I heard a movement at the
extremity of the room, and through the windows I saw the well-known blue
coats and caps, of the Ballarat police force pouring into the room.

We raised a shout of welcome, and our cheers were answered by the
gallant fellows, who kept crowding in until about thirty were drawn up
in line, with their long, heavy pistols presented, and ready for
destruction.

The ruffians were seized with a sudden panic, and would have fled, but
their retreat was cut off, and there was no chance for escape. Then our
leader, Mr. Brown, seemed endued with the importance of a dozen men.

"Down with your knives," he shouted, "or those who refuse shall rue it."

The speech was one of the most unfortunate that ever the inspector made,
for our opponents were in that peculiar state where a mild word would
have done no harm, and a cross one much injury.

The robbers were, in fact, already conquered, and a policeman might have
passed from man to man, and collected every knife and pistol that they
possessed without danger, and with but few sullen remarks; but the words
of the inspector made them think that no quarter was to be shown, and if
that was the case, they might as well sell their lives as dearly as