een from the top of the bank,
owing to the friendly shelf, and then I saw Fred make a motion with his
arm, and almost immediately I felt that I held a corpse in my hands.
I let the body fall to the ground, and as I did so, Fred tore the
slouched hat from the wretch's head, placed it upon his own, and then
thrusting his head out so that those upon the bank could see the hat,
but not my friend's face, and assuming, as nearly as possible, the voice
of the dead, shouted:--
"Ah, Bill, come down here and see what we've got."
"Hullo!" cried Bill, "what's up? can't you tell? D---- me if I don't
believe they have found a gold mine, down there. Let's go and see,
boys."
"Now is our time," cried Fred, quietly removing the pistols which the
dead men carried in their belts. "When they have descended half way, we
must take them."
We listened attentively, and when we thought that our time had arrived,
we stepped out from our place of concealment, and before the bushrangers
could overcome their surprise at our sudden appearance, we gave the two
nearest the contents of our revolvers.
They relaxed their hold upon the bushes that grew sparsely upon the hill
side, and rolling over and over, fell into the ravine, badly wounded.
"Surrender, villains," yelled Fred, in a voice of thunder, pointing his
empty pistol at the two remaining robbers--an example that I was not
slow to follow. "Make but an attempt to use your weapons, and we'll blow
you through and through. Throw down your pistols and knives, and then
yield peaceably, or it will be worse for you."
For a moment the villains gazed at us in sullen silence, and then
reluctantly complied with our demand. With an imprecation that would
sound fearfully in print, the bushrangers commenced their descent, and
while they were doing so, we quickly exchanged our empty revolvers for
the loaded pistols, and then prepared to receive them with proper
attention.
CHAPTER XLIII.
TRIUMPHANT ENTRY INTO BALLARAT, WITH THE BUSHRANGERS.
We did not allow our attention to be drawn from the bushrangers, even
for a second, while they were descending, and the scamps knew it, for
they cowered, as though expecting to be shot every moment, and one of
them muttered something about his being honest, and never engaged in a
robbery; while one of the wounded ruffians, who was groaning piteously
in the ravine, prayed that his life might be saved, as he had many
important revelations to make,
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