n disguise, and stopped at old mother
Holey's."

A gratified expression beamed upon the inspector's face, and I doubt if
he remembered the pain with which he was afflicted, for the murder that
he had thus suddenly brought to light was one that had puzzled him for a
long time, and a reward of two hundred pounds was due to whoever
revealed the mystery. He had indulged in a little fiction to make Bill
confess the crime, and he had succeeded beyond his utmost expectations.

For a long time after Bill had revealed his knowledge of one of the most
brutal murders that ever occurred in Australia, our prisoner refused to
talk, although Mr. Brown provoked him to reveal other matters that he
was anxious of knowing.

The bushranger appeared to recollect that in a moment of passion he had
disclosed more than he should have done, and therefore refused to
converse; but at length Mr. Brown led him to talk of the days when he
was a prisoner at the hulks, and when the inspector was an overseer or
turnkey at the same institution.

"How many years have passed, Bill, since you crossed the water?"
inquired the inspector; meaning, in a polite way, to find out the exact
time he had been transported.

"It's over six, I think; let me see; it's two years next month since I
left my quarters at the hulks and started in search of fortune, and at
times a hard one it has been," returned the prisoner.

"I've no doubt of it. Had you but remained faithful and obedient, your
time would have nearly expired, now, I think," continued the inspector,
in a friendly tone; but I could see that he was only leading the
bushranger along for the purpose of extracting information.

"Yes," replied the fellow, bitterly, "my time would have arrived, and I
would have been discharged from the accursed hulks, but not by human
hands. Death would have claimed me long before this; and death would
have been preferable to the life that I led."

"But there were others who were confined with more serious charges
against them than yourself, and yet you know that many of them were
pardoned, or obtained tickets of leave, and are now doing well."

"Yes, because they became slaves to your will, and played the spy upon
those who dared to remonstrate against the food and the treatment which
they received. I was one of their victims, and well I paid for my
independence."

"You did, indeed," muttered the inspector, but Bill did not hear him.

"I went to the hulks determined to