a vonderful man, and used to rob more peoples
than hany bushranger in those parts; ve shall miss him, I know ve shall
miss him; and vere shall ve find a man to take his place?"

"Do you still think of robbery?" demanded Murden, sternly.

"No, sir; I vouldn't take a shillin' from a traveller to save my life.
But ven I thinks of the times ve've had, I feels like shedding tears! A
vonderful man vas Nosey; so 'andsome, too!"

"Cease your nonsense, and answer me one or two questions," Murden said;
"the gang has plundered for months; do you know where they concealed
their money?"

"I'm blessed if I do," replied Steel Spring, with alacrity.

"Do you think that our prisoners know?"

"Veil, that feller who is looking at me so cross, as though I'd hinjured
him, could tell if he'd got a mind to," replied Steel Spring, pointing
to a robber who seemed to be regarded as a sort of leader, now that
Nosey was dead.

"Are you disposed to inform me where Nosey buried his money?" asked
Murden, appealing to the man.

"And what inducements do you hold out, if I give you the information?"
asked the robber, dryly.

"I do not promise you your life, but I think that I can get the sentence
put off a few months," the lieutenant replied.

"And you suppose that I will reveal on such conditions?" demanded the
bushranger, impudently.

"I do; you have every thing to gain, and nothing to lose."

"My life, I suppose, you call nothing; that is already forfeited, you
seem to think; but you shall find that, robber as I am, I know how to
keep a secret."

"Then you refuse to divulge?"' asked Murden.

The bushranger regarded him with a scornful air, and remained silent.
Murden grew excited, and forgot that he was only an humble instrument of
the law, and that life and death were not at his disposal after men had
surrendered.

"Throw a tackle over the branch of yonder tree," he said, pointing to a
sturdy gum tree which grew near; "we will save the courts of Melbourne
the trouble of trying the fellow."

The bushranger did not seem surprised, or appear to be affected at the
news.

Not so the policemen; they knew that their officer was exceeding his
authority, but their discipline was too good to allow them to cavil at
his orders, right or wrong.

They threw a rope over the shrub pointed out, and then making a
slip-noose, passed it around the neck of the obstinate robber. Still he
wore his scornful look, and did not even ask for mercy, whic