The policeman started on a run, and was lost to sight in a cloud of dust that swept along the street.  The commissioner looked slightly perplexed and undecided.  He was evidently taken by surprise at the position which Mr. Brown had assumed.

“You cannot hope that the governor will rule contrary to my decision?” Mr. Sherwin said.

“I know that he will.  His excellency has too great an esteem for these gentlemen to allow them to languish in prison when no stronger proof than the story which a broken-down gambler can invent is urged as evidence against them.”

“Do you mean to say that the governor is acquainted with these (men, he was intending to say, but altered it) gentlemen’?”

“So well that he has granted every request that they have made; and he has even offered them commissions in the service in return for many acts of bravery which they have performed.”

Mr. Brown was right in the first instance; for the only requests that we had ever made were for the pardons of Smith and the old convict.

“Are you sure that you are not mistaken?” inquired the commissioner, with a sudden degree of interest that was quite refreshing, when contrasted with his former indifference.

“I am so sure,” Mr. Brown said, in answer to the commissioner’s question, “that three days since I saw the governor, and he inquired for these gentlemen, and sent a message that they must call and see him the first time that they visited Melbourne.”

“Have you any letters or documents to prove that his excellency regards these gentlemen with unusual interest?”

The inspector glanced towards us, in hope that we could rescue him from the position in which his assertions had placed him, but we were afraid that we could benefit him but little, as we were not in possession of an autograph letter from the governor, and what was more, had never seen one.  I suddenly recollected, however, having in my possession a copy of one of the Melbourne papers, in which our services at the great fire were mentioned in eulogistic terms; and I concluded that I would let Mr. Sherwin peruse the paragraph, in hopes that he would imagine much more than the reality.

My experiment succeeded admirably.

Mr. Sherwin eagerly perused the paragraph; and after he had concluded, folded the paper, and requested permission to speak with Mr. Brown in private for a few minutes.  Obedient to the intimation, the policemen and the rest of us fell back, and suffered the two officers to have a quiet talk.  They whispered together earnestly for a time, and then Fred and myself were summoned to the council.

“The commissioner is not disposed to press this matter,” Mr. Brown said.  “I have convinced him that you are a little different from what he supposed; and he will admit both of you to bail until such time as Mr. Critchet is able to testify, or at least until more evidence is offered than what Follet brings forward.”