The particulars of the melee were never strictly inquired into by the government; for to speak plainly, those in authority did not care a straw whether Mr. Brown was justified or not in shooting down the habitues of the “Cricket;” and as our names did not appear in connection with the affair, we were not disposed to work against the best friend we had in Ballarat.  The inspector was made a lieutenant, and he deserved his promotion, but not for the part he took in the “Bloody Fight,” and he had good sense enough to know it.  From that dreadful night, Mr. Brown’s name was a terror to evil doers; and bushrangers and petty thieves gave our miners a wide berth, as sailors express it.

We changed our clothes after our return home, washed the soot and dirt from our hands and faces, and while we were thus employed a modest rap was heard at the door, and who should enter but Mr. Steel Spring, looking as important, defiant, and boastful as ever.

“I’s so glad to know that you is all right—­that you is alive and kicking, that it almost takes my breath,” the fellow said, sinking gracefully upon a vinegar barrel, and fanning his face with his hat.

“If we are alive, we have no thanks to offer you in return,” Fred muttered, rather testily.

“Vell, if here ain’t gratitude, and no mistake.  After I does all that a cove can do to find the real assassin, and makes him tell his yarn right afore ye, I’m treated—­no, I’m not treated, for I’ve bin here five minutes, and I’m not axed to drink.”

We made no response to this gentle hint, but continued our occupation.  The fellow watched us in silence, and then began again.

“I’d like to know vot more a cove could do than I’ve done?  Haven’t I hobeyed all horders that vas given?  Have I spent much dust in my vast researches; and haven’t I even had to get drunk to please ye?  And now, ven the vork is completed, I is looked at coldly!”

The hypocrite dug his knuckles into his eyes, and attempted to force a tear, but the effort was a failure; he knew it, and attempted to cover his confusion by pretending to sob bitterly.

“Hark you, Mr. Steel Spring,” Fred said, “if you can explain why you left us so suddenly, just as we wanted your services, we shall feel inclined to overlook your little faults, and reward you.”

“Is that all that you’ve got agin me?” he asked, quite cheerfully.  “Vy, I really began to think that it was something serious—­something calculated to hinjure me in the estimation of good fellows.”

“Perhaps leaving us to fight our way out of the room was not a serious matter in your estimation, but we think differently,” I replied.

“Vy, I left on purpose to save ye; and if I hadn’t have gone, vere vould you have been now?  Dead as a sheep, and no mistake.  It ain’t the one vot fights the most is the bravest, and hany military man vill tell you that.  I knew vot I’d got to do; so before the fuss began I slipped out by the underground vay, and vent in search of the police fellers, and didn’t I bring ’um up in time?  I told ’em how to get in, but I didn’t care about goin’ myself, because I knew that Lieutenant Murden would feel quite aggravated if any thing happened to me; and then the governor would never have pardoned him in permitting me to leave Melbourne.”