back to her. Well, Mr. Slaney was in the coach also, and he was in a bad way too. He had got bitten by something, and was blood-poisoned, and he was going to the doctor."
"Slaney the member?"
"Yes, the member for Luya. Oh, I have been thinking of something. I'll tell you presently. I'm a wretch, but I can't help it. Who could be sorry for Mr. Slaney?"
"You don't mean?"
"Wait, wait. I must first prove to you that Moonlight is a hero. He and his Shadow—you know that's what they call the other man—sacked the mail, got Mr. Duncan's cheque, and then tied up the driver and the passengers each to a separate tree, some way off the road. You see Moonlight's only chance of cashing his cheque was by being at the Goondi Bank directly it opened, before the coach was missed, or the telegraph wires could be set working."
"I see. It struck me at first that it would have been safer to have had the cheque drawn on the Leichardt's Town Bank; but of course the other was his wisest plan. Moonlight is a shrewd fellow. Well, Miss Valliant, what is the rest of Braile's story?"
"Ah, now comes the point. Think of the daring! Moonlight meant to leave the coach and the passengers tied up till someone found them in the morning. The old German woman went on her knees to him and cried about her son. Mr. Slaney offered a cheque for £500 if only he would get the coach to Goondi. Mr. Slaney guessed that he was dying."
"Dying!"
"Wait. Moonlight refused the cheque, but said that he would take Mr. Slaney's word. Moonlight and his Shadow had an argument. The Shadow told him he was a fool. It ended in Moonlight having his way. He gave his horse to the Shadow, mounted the box, and drove the coach to within a mile of Goondi, with Mr. Slaney and the German woman, leaving all the others tied up to their respective gum-trees."
"And then?"
"Then day was breaking. Moonlight turned the coach
