bathed the dying man's face,
and wet his parched lips. He appeared revived, and grateful for the
attention which I bestowed upon him, and murmured some words, the
meaning of which I did not comprehend. I thought his mind wandered, and
remained seated by his side, fanning his heated face, and listening to
his respiration, which appeared to become more difficult at every
breath.

All at once the robber chief roused himself from his lethargic state,
and carefully scanned my face with his lack-lustre eyes. I met his gaze
without flinching, and perhaps the bushranger read pity in my looks, for
he merely uttered a sigh, and I heard him moan.

"Pardon me," he hoarsely whispered, extending his hand, "I have been
harshly used during my life, and what I am the laws of England have made
me. Once I was honest, and free from sin as a child, but an unjust
accusation and an unjust conviction made me a bandit. The laws warred
against, me, and I turned on them and have vented my spite against not
only those who framed the laws, but every body who lived under them."

He paused for a moment, and I again moistened his mouth with the wine
and water. It revived him, and he continued, although in a subdued
tone,--

"I will tell you why I feel this bitter hatred for my enemies, and then
you can judge whether I am entirely in the wrong. Raise my head
slightly, for I feel that I am sinking fast."

I propped his back against some spare blankets, and heard the
bushranger's story. I thought he told me the truth at the time, and a
few subsequent inquiries convinced me that such was the fact.

"I was born in the west of England," Gulpin began, "and although you may
doubt my story when I tell you that my family is rich and honored, and
the only blot upon the name was when I was accused of crime, yet such
is the fact. I am the youngest of three sons. My brothers are in the
army, and hold commissions, and are no doubt, by this time, if alive,
high in rank and power. My wish was to enter the army also, but my
father thought he could not afford to purchase me a commission, and he
had exhausted his favor with the ministry in providing for his eldest
sons. Accordingly I was sent to a banking house in London, with which my
father had correspondence, and was admitted as a clerk.

"I knew that the business was unsuited for one of my restless
disposition, and I should have left and sought my fortune in other parts
of the world without a parent's sancti