ength he mustered sufficient nerve to exclaim,--

"It is long since we have met, Mr. Brown."

"I know that, Bill; yet you have managed to keep your name alive, so
that you see I have not forgotten you."

"I never was a favorite of yours, even while at the hulks," replied the
bushranger, with a gloomy scowl.

"It was your own fault, Bill. I would have treated you in the manner
that the others were treated, had you but given me the chance. Was not
your conduct of the most stubborn and rebellious nature? Did you not
endeavor to excite to mutiny the prisoners of your ward, and when you
were detected, how could you hope for mercy at the hands of the prison
commissioners?"

"But you flogged me--flogged me until my back was marked and bruised,
and even now the scars are visible. You tied me up like a dog; you would
not hear me, although I begged with tears for death, rather than have
the cat touch my back. I then felt like a man. After the flogging I was
a brute, and ready to avenge my wrongs upon all who crossed my path."

The outlaw stopped while delivering his remarks, which were uttered with
vehement passion, and we were obliged to compel him to move on, so
carried away was he with his subject.

"The flogging which was administered to you caused you to murder a miner
and his wife, who were journeying towards Melbourne, rejoiced to think
that they were worth a few hundred pounds," continued Mr. Brown,
sarcastically.

"It's a lie," muttered the fellow, with a downcast look.

"You know that you murdered both, while sleeping. Coward that you are,
you feared to meet the miner awake."

"It's a lie.'" returned the fellow, with a glance towards the inspector
that would have annihilated him if it had been possible; "I met them
when awake, and--"

He ceased suddenly, and continued to walk forward at a rapid rate.

The inspector glanced at us in a meaning manner, as though desirous that
we should remember all that was said.

"Your brother pal, who was with you at the time, and who is now working
out a sentence on the roads, tells me that you crept up to the miner and
wife, and struck the former first; and that after the deed was
completed, you refused to share the gold dust."

"That's another lie!" cried the fellow, stamping his foot with passion;
"I gave him his share for silencing the woman, while I dealt with the
man. He knows it, and he also knows that he spent the dust in three days
at Melbourne, where we were i