“Why, you hypocritical rascal, did you not first deceive us by saying that there were no bands of bushrangers in the woods, and while we were digging did you not raise an alarm which brought upon us Nosey and all of his gang?”

“Ha, ha!” roared Steel Spring; “vot a funny man that Nosey is! so handsome, too!”

“You rascal, you will laugh differently in a few minutes.  Lieutenant, let him be tied to a tree, and give him a few dozen across his bare back.”

“No, don’t do that,” cried the fellow, in some alarm.  “I never could stand a flogging, and my proud spirit vill break if I get’s one.”

“Tie him up, Maurice,” said Murden, coolly.  “I recollect the fellow, and a bigger decoy rogue does not exist in the country.  He will lie by the rule of three, and then retract all that he has said, without the least regard for himself or others.  I have heard of him a number of times, and now think that I shall live to see him punished.”

“I ’opes you vill live a thousand years, lieutenant, but I also ’opes you’ll not joke over my misfortunes.  I’ve ’elped the gentlemen, and now I’m to be punished for it.”

“Tie him up, Maurice, and use your sword belt over his back until I tell you to stop,” repeated Murden.  “I owe him a flogging for the manner in which he sent me on a wrong scent once.”

’"On my vord ov ’onor, sir, I didn’t do so on purpose.  I afterwards found that I vas wrong, and run after you to put you right, but you’d gone, and I couldn’t find you.”

“Lies will not answer your purpose, you long-legged scamp.  I’ll flog you now, and then carry you to Melbourne in triumph.”

The fellow uttered a dozen excuses, but they did not avail him, and in spite of his resistance two or three of the men dragged him to a tree, and fastened his hands with their sword belts.  Steel Spring called on all the saints to prove that he was innocent of trickery, and when the strong arm of Maurice, wielding a stout belt, descended upon his shoulders, his entreaties were pitiful.

“That’s blow number one,” cried Murden.  “Go on, Maurice.”

“Stop—­for God’s sake, stop,” he yelled.  “I vill tell all that I know, and more too, if you will let me go.”

“Who killed and robbed those two miners on their way to Melbourne this spring?” asked the officer, motioning the policeman to suspend his punishment.

“Do you mean the two men near the muddy brook, or on the Ballarat Road?” inquired Steel Spring.

“The two last,” replied Murden.

“Vell, don’t strike, ’cos it hurts like thunder, and I don’t mind telling you all about it.  You see Nosey heard that they’d got the dust vid ’em; so I was sent to talk vid ’em and find out how much they had, and get ’em to stop in a convenient place; and then Nosey and two others comes up and pretends to be going our vay, and ven a good chance occurred the miners vere knocked in their heads, and Nosey took the dust and divided it around, but I didn’t get any.”