“Vel, if this isn’t a surprise may I never speak again, or make an honest living vhile in the bush.  To think that three of my old pals should turn up jist as I vanted ’um, is a vonderful thing and no mistake.  If ye axes me vat I’ll drink, I shall say rum.”

We all pretended to be pleased to see the follow, and gave him such a rough welcome as we deemed his companions would be likely to bestow, and then, to his extreme gratification, ordered the rum that he was so eager to taste.

“It’s all right,” we could hear the ruffians, by whom we were surrounded, say.  “Steel Spring knows ’um, and that’s ’nough;” and then each man applied himself with renewed energy to drinking and smoking, and laying plans for future robberies.

“I should never have known you,” Steel Spring whispered, “if you hadn’t have peached about the toggles vot you vas going to vare.  I don’t believe that your blessed mother would know you, and as for your fathers they would be puzzled at any rate.”

This was uttered in a whisper, and while the doorkeeper was gone for the rum and ale; and I suppose it was intended to be complimentary, although we didn’t look upon it in that light.

“Is he here?” I asked, glancing around the room, and endeavoring to imagine which of those present was the assassin.

“Yes, it’s all right; but I can’t point him out, ’cos it would attract attention.  Keep quiet, and drink your hale in peace.”

We were constrained to follow Steel Spring’s advice, although I promised him a kicking for his impudence.

“Jim,” cried a black bearded fellow who sat near us, and who, Mr. Brown whispered, had served six years as a convict, and who preferred Australia to the old country, “when is you going to try your hand at the trade agin?”

“Not until the brads get low, and when Dan refuses to trust me for lush and grub,” was the answer.

“Isn’t it a pity that I haven’t got the power to arrest these fellows, and hang them without a trial?  They deserve punishment, yet there is no evidence by which they can be convicted.  Your California lynch law would work wonders here in a short time.”

The inspector felt as enthusiastic as an artist in the presence of a great painting, and Steel Spring was obliged to whisper a few words of caution for fear of a discovery.

The doorkeeper brought our drink, and expressed great gratification when we asked him to take a drop at our expense; but Dan, who was watching the operation, looked much more pleased when he saw Fred display a few gold pieces, and pay for the same; and at length the reserve of the landlord wore off; and seeing that we were strangers and had money, he made an excuse to call at our table, and grunt forth a few words of welcome.

“Is you from the town or bush?” he asked, appealing to Fred as the leader, because I suppose he had on better clothes than the inspector and myself.