by the two half castes, Pompo and Jack Nutty, and the stockman, Sam Shehan.
Never came across such fellows for sticking. They're like the what do you-call-'ems in the Greek mythology. And to see the places they went up and down, and the astonishing knack they had of disappearing over a precipice, and getting swallowed up in a gulley," Lord Waveryng said. "They seemed to know every inch of the country. I tell you what it is, I am not surprised at your failing to catch Moonlight's gang if it's made up of natives and colonials of the pattern of Mr. Sam Shehan and the half-castes."
He addressed Captain Macpherson, who had appeared almost simultaneously with the wild-horse party, only from an opposite direction. He had come from Goondi, where there had been what he called a "mining ruction."
Captain Macpherson had brought with him some police reports and subject matter for conference with his chief. The new Colonial Secretary, he informed Lord Waveryng, showed an extraordinary aptitude for the details of his department, and especially for those connected with the police force. In the matter of Moonlight, indeed, the instructions from headquarters had been unusually precise and frequent. The police had been sent hither and thither on what had turned out to be mistaken information. Anyhow, there had been two more robberies of gold escorts, and Moonlight was not yet captured. As he expatiated at dinner upon the zeal of his chief, Captain Macpherson wondered why Lord Waveryng laughed dryly, and why Blake himself seemed to see a sardonic jest where certainly none was intended. Macpherson resented, as an impertinence, Trant's somewhat Mephistophelian laugh.
"A distinct humour in the suggestion, eh?" said Lord Waveryng later, in the verandah, lighting his cigar, and looking curiously at Blake as he spoke. "Control of the police force! Seems odd, don't it?"
"Extremely odd," replied Blake, imperturbably. "I quite agree with you. There is a distinct humour in the situ-
