The Amateur Cracksman Page 4

  LE PREMIER PAS

  That night he told me the story of his earliest crime. Not since thefateful morning of the Ides of March, when he had just mentioned it asan unreported incident of a certain cricket tour, had I succeeded ingetting a word out of Raffles on the subject. It was not for want oftrying; he would shake his head, and watch his cigarette smokethoughtfully; a subtle look in his eyes, half cynical, half wistful, asthough the decent honest days that were no more had had their meritsafter all. Raffles would plan a fresh enormity, or glory in the last,with the unmitigated enthusiasm of the artist. It was impossible toimagine one throb or twitter of compunction beneath those franklyegotistic and infectious transports. And yet the ghost of a deadremorse seemed still to visit him with the memory of his first felony,so that I had given the story up long before the night of our returnfrom Milchester. Cricket, however, was in the air, and Raffles'scricket-bag back where he sometimes kept it, in the fender, with theremains of an Orient label still adhering to the leather. My eyes hadbeen on this label for some time, and I suppose his eyes had been onmine, for all at once he asked me if I still burned to hear that yarn.

  "It's no use," I replied. "You won't spin it. I must imagine it formyself."

  "How can you?"

  "Oh, I begin to know your methods."

  "You take it I went in with my eyes open, as I do now, eh?"

  "I can't imagine your doing otherwise."

  "My dear Bunny, it was the most unpremeditated thing I ever did in mylife!"

  His chair wheeled back into the books as he sprang up with suddenenergy. There was quite an indignant glitter in his eyes.

  "I can't believe that," said I craftily. "I can't pay you such a poorcompliment!"

  "Then you must be a fool--"

  He broke off, stared hard at me, and in a trice stood smiling in hisown despite.

  "Or a better knave than I thought you, Bunny, and by Jove it's theknave! Well--I suppose I'm fairly drawn; I give you best, as they sayout there. As a matter of fact I've been thinking of the thing myself;last night's racket reminds me of it in one or two respects. I tellyou what, though, this is an occasion in any case, and I'm going tocelebrate it by breaking the one good rule of my life. I'm going tohave a second drink!"

  The whiskey tinkled, the syphon fizzed, the ice plopped home; andseated there in his pyjamas, with the inevitable cigarette, Rafflestold me the story that I had given up hoping to hear. The windows werewide open; the sounds of Piccadilly floated in at first. Long beforehe finished, the last wheels had rattled, the last brawler was removed,we alone broke the quiet of the summer night.

  "... No, they do you very well, indeed. You pay for nothing but drinks,so to speak, but I'm afraid mine were of a comprehensive character. Ihad started in a hole, I ought really to have refused the invitation;then we all went to the Melbourne Cup, and I had the certain winnerthat didn't win, and that's not the only way you can play the fool inMelbourne. I wasn't the steady old stager I am now, Bunny; my analysiswas a confession in itself. But the others didn't know how hard up Iwas, and I swore they shouldn't. I tried the Jews, but they're extrafly out there. Then I thought of a kinsman of sorts, a second cousin ofmy father's whom none of us knew anything about, except that he wassupposed to be in one or other of the Colonies. If he was a rich man,well and good, I would work him; if not there would be no harm done. Itried to get on his tracks, and, as luck would have it, I succeeded (orthought I had) at the very moment when I happened to have a few days tomyself. I was cut over on the hand, just before the big Christmasmatch, and couldn't have bowled a ball if they had played me.

  "The surgeon who fixed me up happened to ask me if I was any relationof Raffles of the National Bank, and the pure luck of it almost took mybreath away. A relation who was a high official in one of the banks,who would finance me on my mere name--could anything be better? I madeup my mind that this Raffles was the man I wanted, and was awfully soldto find next moment that he wasn't a high official at all. Nor had thedoctor so much as met him, but had merely read of him in connectionwith a small sensation at the suburban branch which my namesakemanaged; an armed robber had been rather pluckily beaten off, with abullet in him, by this Raffles; and the sort of thing was so common outthere that this was the first I had heard of it! A suburban branch--myfinancier had faded into some excellent fellow with a billet to lose ifhe called his soul his own. Still a manager was a manager, and I said Iwould soon see whether this was the relative I was looking for, if hewould be good enough to give me the name of that branch.

  "'I'll do more,' says the doctor. 'I'll get you the name of the branchhe's been promoted to, for I think I heard they'd moved him up onealready.' And the next day he brought me the name of the township ofYea, some fifty miles north of Melbourne; but, with the vagueness whichcharacterized all his information, he was unable to say whether Ishould find my relative there or not.

  "'He's a single man, and his initials are W. F.,' said the doctor, whowas certain enough of the immaterial points. 'He left his old postseveral days ago, but it appears he's not due at the new one till theNew Year. No doubt he'll go before then to take things over and settlein. You might find him up there and you might not. If I were you Ishould write.'

  "'That'll lose two days,' said I, 'and more if he isn't there,' for I'dgrown quite keen on this up-country manager, and I felt that if I couldget at him while the holidays were still on, a little convivialitymight help matters considerably.

  "'Then,' said the doctor, 'I should get a quiet horse and ride. Youneedn't use that hand.'

  "'Can't I go by train?'

  "'You can and you can't. You would still have to ride. I supposeyou're a horseman?'

  "'Yes.'

  "'Then I should certainly ride all the way. It's a delightful road,through Whittlesea and over the Plenty Ranges. It'll give you someidea of the bush, Mr. Raffles, and you'll see the sources of the watersupply of this city, sir. You'll see where every drop of it comesfrom, the pure Yan Yean! I wish I had time to ride with you.'

  "'But where can I get a horse?'

  "The doctor thought a moment.

  "'I've a mare of my own that's as fat as butter for want of work,' saidhe. 'It would be a charity to me to sit on her back for a hundredmiles or so, and then I should know you'd have no temptation to usethat hand.'

  "'You're far too good!' I protested.

  "'You're A. J. Raffles,' he said.

  "And if ever there was a prettier compliment, or a finer instance ofeven Colonial hospitality, I can only say, Bunny, that I never heard ofeither."

  He sipped his whiskey, threw away the stump of his cigarette, and litanother before continuing.

  "Well, I managed to write a line to W. F. with my own hand, which, asyou will gather, was not very badly wounded; it was simply this thirdfinger that was split and in splints; and next morning the doctorpacked me off on a bovine beast that would have done for an ambulance.Half the team came up to see me start; the rest were rather sick withme for not stopping to see the match out, as if I could help them towin by watching them. They little knew the game I'd got on myself, butstill less did I know the game I was going to play.

  "It was an interesting ride enough, especially after passing the placecalled Whittlesea, a real wild township on the lower slope of theranges, where I recollect having a deadly meal of hot mutton and tea,with the thermometer at three figures in the shade. The first thirtymiles or so was a good metal road, too good to go half round the worldto ride on, but after Whittlesea it was a mere track over the ranges, atrack I often couldn't see and left entirely to the mare. Now itdipped into a gully and ran through a creek, and all the time the localcolor was inches thick; gum-trees galore and parrots all colors of therainbow. In one place a whole forest of gums had been ring-barked, andwere just as though they had been painted white, without a leaf or aliving thing for miles. And the first living thing I did meet was thesort to give you the creeps; it was a riderless horse coming full tiltthrough t
he bush, with the saddle twisted round and the stirrup-ironsringing. Without thinking, I had a shot at heading him with thedoctor's mare, and blocked him just enough to allow a man who camegalloping after to do the rest.

  "'Thank ye, mister,' growled the man, a huge chap in a red checkedshirt, with a beard like W. G. Grace, but the very devil of anexpression.

  "'Been an accident?' said I, reining up.

  "'Yes,' said he, scowling as though he defied me to ask any more.

  "'And a nasty one,' I said, 'if that's blood on the saddle!'

  "Well, Bunny, I may be a blackguard myself, but I don't think I everlooked at a fellow as that chap looked at me. But I stared him out,and forced him to admit that it was blood on the twisted saddle, andafter that he became quite tame. He told me exactly what had happened.A mate of his had been dragged under a branch, and had his nosesmashed, but that was all; had sat tight after it till he dropped fromloss of blood; another mate was with him back in the bush.

  "As I've said already, Bunny, I wasn't the old stager that I am now--inany respect--and we parted good enough friends. He asked me which wayI was going, and, when I told him, he said I should save seven miles,and get a good hour earlier to Yea, by striking off the track andmaking for a peak that we could see through the trees, and following acreek that I should see from the peak. Don't smile, Bunny! I began bysaying I was a child in those days. Of course, the short cut was thelong way round; and it was nearly dark when that unlucky mare and I sawthe single street of Yea.

  "I was looking for the bank when a fellow in a white suit ran down fromthe veranda.

  "'Mr. Raffles?' said he.

  "'Mr. Raffles,' said I, laughing as I shook his hand.

  "'You're late.'

  "'I was misdirected.'

  "'That all? I'm relieved,' he said. 'Do you know what they aresaying? There are some brand-new bushrangers on the road betweenWhittlesea and this--a second Kelly gang! They'd have caught a Tartarin you, eh?'

  "'They would in you,' I retorted, and my tu quoque shut him up andseemed to puzzle him. Yet there was much more sense in it than in hiscompliment to me, which was absolutely pointless.

  "'I'm afraid you'll find things pretty rough,' he resumed, when he hadunstrapped my valise, and handed my reins to his man. 'It's luckyyou're a bachelor like myself.'

  "I could not quite see the point of this remark either, since, had Ibeen married, I should hardly have sprung my wife upon him in thisfree-and-easy fashion. I muttered the conventional sort of thing, andthen he said I should find it all right when I settled, as though I hadcome to graze upon him for weeks! 'Well,' thought I, 'these Colonialsdo take the cake for hospitality!' And, still marvelling, I let himlead me into the private part of the bank.

  "'Dinner will be ready in a quarter of an hour,' said he as we entered.'I thought you might like a tub first, and you'll find all ready in theroom at the end of the passage. Sing out if there's anything you want.Your luggage hasn't turned up yet, by the way, but here's a letter thatcame this morning.'

  "'Not for me?'

  "'Yes; didn't you expect one?'

  "'I certainly did not!'

  "'Well, here it is.'

  "And, as he lit me to my room, I read my own superscription of theprevious day--to W. F. Raffles!

  "Bunny, you've had your wind bagged at footer, I daresay; you know whatthat's like? All I can say is that my moral wind was bagged by thatletter as I hope, old chap, I have never yet bagged yours. I couldn'tspeak. I could only stand with my own letter in my hands until he hadthe good taste to leave me by myself.

  "W. F. Raffles! We had mistaken EACH OTHER for W. F. Raffles--for thenew manager who had not yet arrived! Small wonder we had conversed atcross-purposes; the only wonder was that we had not discovered ourmutual mistake. How the other man would have laughed! But I--I couldnot laugh. By Jove, no, it was no laughing matter for me! I saw thewhole thing in a flash, without a tremor, but with the direstdepression from my own single point of view. Call it callous if youlike, Bunny, but remember that I was in much the same hole as you'vesince been in yourself, and that I had counted on this W. F. Raffleseven as you counted on A. J. I thought of the man with the W. G.beard--the riderless horse and the bloody saddle--the deliberatemisdirection that had put me off the track and out of the way--and nowthe missing manager and the report of bushrangers at this end. But Isimply don't pretend to have felt any personal pity for a man whom Ihad never seen; that kind of pity's usually cant; and besides, all minewas needed for myself.

  "I was in as big a hole as ever. What the devil was I to do? I doubtif I have sufficiently impressed upon you the absolute necessity of myreturning to Melbourne in funds. As a matter of fact it was less thenecessity than my own determination which I can truthfully ascribe asabsolute.

  "Money I would have--but how--but how? Would this stranger be open topersuasion--if I told him the truth? No; that would set us allscouring the country for the rest of the night. Why should I tell him?Suppose I left him to find out his mistake ... would anything begained? Bunny, I give you my word that I went in to dinner without adefinite intention in my head, or one premeditated lie upon my lips. Imight do the decent, natural thing, and explain matters without loss oftime; on the other hand, there was no hurry. I had not opened theletter, and could always pretend I had not noticed the initials;meanwhile something might turn up. I could wait a little and see.Tempted I already was, but as yet the temptation was vague, and itsvery vagueness made me tremble.

  "'Bad news, I'm afraid?' said the manager, when at last I sat down athis table.

  "'A mere annoyance,' I answered--I do assure you--on the spur of themoment and nothing else. But my lie was told; my position was taken;from that moment onward there was no retreat. By implication, withoutrealizing what I was doing, I had already declared myself W. F.Raffles. Therefore, W. F. Raffles I would be, in that bank, for thatnight. And the devil teach me how to use my lie!"

  Again he raised his glass to his lips--I had forgotten mine. Hiscigarette-case caught the gas-light as he handed it to me. I shook myhead without taking my eyes from his.

  "The devil played up," continued Raffles, with a laugh. "Before Itasted my soup I had decided what to do. I had determined to rob thatbank instead of going to bed, and to be back in Melbourne for breakfastif the doctor's mare could do it. I would tell the old fellow that Ihad missed my way and been bushed for hours, as I easily might havebeen, and had never got to Yea at all. At Yea, on the other hand, thepersonation and robbery would ever after be attributed to a member ofthe gang that had waylaid and murdered the new manager with that veryobject. You are acquiring some experience in such matters, Bunny. Iask you, was there ever a better get-out? Last night's was somethinglike it, only never such a certainty. And I saw it from thebeginning--saw to the end before I had finished my soup!

  "To increase my chances, the cashier, who also lived in the bank, wasaway over the holidays, had actually gone down to Melbourne to see usplay; and the man who had taken my horse also waited at table; for heand his wife were the only servants, and they slept in a separatebuilding. You may depend I ascertained this before we had finisheddinner. Indeed I was by way of asking too many questions (the mostoblique and delicate was that which elicited my host's name, Ewbank),nor was I careful enough to conceal their drift.

  "'Do you know,' said this fellow Ewbank, who was one of the downrightsort, 'if it wasn't you, I should say you were in a funk of robbers?Have you lost your nerve?'

  "'I hope not,' said I, turning jolly hot, I can tell you; 'but--well,it is not a pleasant thing to have to put a bullet through a fellow!'

  "'No?' said he, coolly. 'I should enjoy nothing better, myself;besides, yours didn't go through.'

  "'I wish it had!' I was smart enough to cry.

  "'Amen!' said he.

  "And I emptied my glass; actually I did not know whether my woundedbank-robber was in prison, dead, or at large!

  "But, now that I had had more than e
nough of it, Ewbank would come backto the subject. He admitted that the staff was small; but as forhimself, he had a loaded revolver under his pillow all night, under thecounter all day, and he was only waiting for his chance.

  "'Under the counter eh?' I was ass enough to say.

  "'Yes; so had you!'

  "He was looking at me in surprise, and something told me that to say'of course--I had forgotten!' would have been quite fatal, consideringwhat I was supposed to have done. So I looked down my nose and shookmy head.

  "'But the papers said you had!' he cried.

  "'Not under the counter," said I.

  "'But it's the regulation!'

  "For the moment, Bunny, I felt stumped, though I trust I only lookedmore superior than before, and I think I justified my look.

  "'The regulation!' I said at length, in the most offensive tone at mycommand. 'Yes, the regulation would have us all dead men! My dearsir, do you expect your bank robber to let you reach for your gun inthe place where he knows it's kept? I had mine in my pocket, and I gotmy chance by retreating from the counter with all visible reluctance.'

  "Ewbank stared at me with open eyes and a five-barred forehead, thendown came his fist on the table.

  "'By God! That was smart! Still,' he added, like a man who would notbe in the wrong, 'the papers said the other thing, you know!'

  "'Of course,' I rejoined, 'because they said what I told them. Youwouldn't have had me advertise the fact that I improved upon the bank'sregulations, would you?'

  "So that cloud rolled over, and by Jove it was a cloud with a goldenlining. Not silver--real good Australian gold! For old Ewbank hadn'tquite appreciated me till then; he was a hard nut, a much older manthan myself, and I felt pretty sure he thought me young for the place,and my supposed feat a fluke. But I never saw a man change his mindmore openly. He got out his best brandy, he made me throw away thecigar I was smoking, and opened a fresh box. He was aconvivial-looking party, with a red moustache, and a very humorous face(not unlike Tom Emmett's), and from that moment I laid myself out toattack him on his convivial flank. But he wasn't a Rosenthall, Bunny;he had a treble-seamed, hand-sewn head, and could have drunk me underthe table ten times over.

  "'All right,' I thought, 'you may go to bed sober, but you'll sleeplike a timber-yard!' And I threw half he gave me through the openwindow, when he wasn't looking.

  "But he was a good chap, Ewbank, and don't you imagine he was at allintemperate. Convivial I called him, and I only wish he had beensomething more. He did, however, become more and more genial as theevening advanced, and I had not much difficulty in getting him to showme round the bank at what was really an unearthly hour for such aproceeding. It was when he went to fetch the revolver before turningin. I kept him out of his bed another twenty minutes, and I knew everyinch of the business premises before I shook hands with Ewbank in myroom.

  "You won't guess what I did with myself for the next hour. I undressedand went to bed. The incessant strain involved in even the mostdeliberate impersonation is the most wearing thing I know; then howmuch more so when the impersonation is impromptu! There's no gettingyour eye in; the next word may bowl you out; it's batting in a badlight all through. I haven't told you of half the tight places I wasin during a conversation that ran into hours and became dangerouslyintimate towards the end. You can imagine them for yourself, and thenpicture me spread out on my bed, getting my second wind for the bigdeed of the night.

  "Once more I was in luck, for I had not been lying there long before Iheard my dear Ewbank snoring like a harmonium, and the music neverceased for a moment; it was as loud as ever when I crept out and closedmy door behind me, as regular as ever when I stopped to listen at his.And I have still to hear the concert that I shall enjoy much more. Thegood fellow snored me out of the bank, and was still snoring when Iagain stood and listened under his open window.

  "Why did I leave the bank first? To catch and saddle the mare andtether her in a clump of trees close by: to have the means of escapenice and handy before I went to work. I have often wondered at theinstinctive wisdom of the precaution; unconsciously I was acting onwhat has been one of my guiding principles ever since. Pains andpatience were required: I had to get my saddle without waking the man,and I was not used to catching horses in a horse-paddock. Then Idistrusted the poor mare, and I went back to the stables for a hatfulof oats, which I left with her in the clump, hat and all. There was adog, too, to reckon with (our very worst enemy, Bunny); but I had been'cute enough to make immense friends with him during the evening; andhe wagged his tail, not only when I came downstairs, but when Ireappeared at the back-door.

  "As the soi-disant new manager, I had been able, in the most ordinarycourse, to pump poor Ewbank about anything and everything connectedwith the working of the bank, especially in those twenty lastinvaluable minutes before turning in. And I had made a very naturalpoint of asking him where he kept, and would recommend me to keep, thekeys at night. Of course I thought he would take them with him to hisroom; but no such thing; he had a dodge worth two of that. What it wasdoesn't much matter, but no outsider would have found those keys in amonth of Sundays.

  "I, of course, had them in a few seconds, and in a few more I was inthe strong-room itself. I forgot to say that the moon had risen andwas letting quite a lot of light into the bank. I had, however,brought a bit of candle with me from my room; and in the strong-room,which was down some narrow stairs behind the counter in thebanking-chamber, I had no hesitation in lighting it. There was nowindow down there, and, though I could no longer hear old Ewbanksnoring, I had not the slightest reason to anticipate disturbance fromthat quarter. I did think of locking myself in while I was at work,but, thank goodness, the iron door had no keyhole on the inside.

  "Well, there were heaps of gold in the safe, but I only took what Ineeded and could comfortably carry, not much more than a couple ofhundred altogether. Not a note would I touch, and my native cautioncame out also in the way I divided the sovereigns between all mypockets, and packed them up so that I shouldn't be like the old womanof Banbury Cross. Well, you think me too cautious still, but I wasinsanely cautious then. And so it was that, just as I was ready to go,whereas I might have been gone ten minutes, there came a violentknocking at the outer door.

  "Bunny, it was the outer door of the banking-chamber! My candle musthave been seen! And there I stood, with the grease running hot over myfingers, in that brick grave of a strong-room!

  "There was only one thing to be done. I must trust to the soundsleeping of Ewbank upstairs, open the door myself, knock the visitordown, or shoot him with the revolver I had been new chum enough to buybefore leaving Melbourne, and make a dash for that clump of trees andthe doctor's mare. My mind was made up in an instant, and I was at thetop of the strong-room stairs, the knocking still continuing, when asecond sound drove me back. It was the sound of bare feet coming alonga corridor.

  "My narrow stair was stone, I tumbled down it with little noise, andhad only to push open the iron door, for I had left the keys in thesafe. As I did so I heard a handle turn overhead, and thanked my godsthat I had shut every single door behind me. You see, old chap, one'scaution doesn't always let one in!

  "'Who's that knocking?' said Ewbank up above.

  "I could not make out the answer, but it sounded to me like theirrelevant supplication of a spent man. What I did hear, plainly, wasthe cocking of the bank revolver before the bolts were shot back.Then, a tottering step, a hard, short, shallow breathing, and Ewbank'svoice in horror--

  "'My God! Good Lord! What's happened to you? You're bleeding like apig!'

  "'Not now,' came with a grateful sort of sigh.

  "'But you have been! What's done it?'

  "'Bushrangers.'

  "'Down the road?'

  "'This and Whittlesea--tied to tree--cock shots--left me--bleed todeath ...'"

  The weak voice failed, and the bare feet bolted. Now was my time--ifthe poor devil had fainted. But I cou
ld not be sure, and there Icrouched down below in the dark, at the half-shut iron door, not lessspellbound than imprisoned. It was just as well, for Ewbank wasn'tgone a minute.

  "'Drink this,' I heard him say, and, when the other spoke again, hisvoice was stronger.

  "'Now I begin to feel alive ...'

  "'Don't talk!'

  "'It does me good. You don't know what it was, all those miles alone,one an hour at the outside! I never thought I should come through. Youmust let me tell you--in case I don't!'

  "'Well, have another sip.'

  "'Thank you ... I said bushrangers; of course, there are no suchthings nowadays.'

  "'What were they, then?'

  "'Bank-thieves; the one that had the pot shots was the very brute Idrove out of the bank at Coburg, with a bullet in him!"'

  "I knew it!"

  "Of course you did, Bunny; so did I, down in that strong-room; but oldEwbank didn't, and I thought he was never going to speak again.

  "'You're delirious,' he says at last. 'Who in blazes do you think youare?'

  "'The new manager.'

  "'The new manager's in bed and asleep upstairs.'

  "'When did he arrive?'

  "'This evening.'

  "'Call himself Raffles?'

  "'Yes.'

  "'Well, I'm damned!' whispered the real man. 'I thought it was justrevenge, but now I see what it was. My dear sir, the man upstairs isan imposter--if he's upstairs still! He must be one of the gang. He'sgoing to rob the bank--if he hasn't done so already!'

  "'If he hasn't done so already,' muttered Ewbank after him; 'if he'supstairs still! By God, if he is, I'm sorry for him!'

  "His tone was quiet enough, but about the nastiest I ever heard. Itell you, Bunny, I was glad I'd brought that revolver. It looked asthough it must be mine against his, muzzle to muzzle.

  "'Better have a look down here, first,' said the new manager.

  "'While he gets through his window? No, no, he's not down here.'

  "'It's easy to have a look.'

  "Bunny, if you ask me what was the most thrilling moment of my infamouscareer, I say it was that moment. There I stood at the bottom of thosenarrow stone stairs, inside the strong-room, with the door a good footopen, and I didn't know whether it would creak or not. The light wascoming nearer--and I didn't know! I had to chance it. And it didn'tcreak a bit; it was far too solid and well-hung; and I couldn't havebanged it if I tried, it was too heavy; and it fitted so close that Ifelt and heard the air squeeze out in my face. Every shred of lightwent out, except the streak underneath, and it brightened. How Iblessed that door!

  "'No, he's not down THERE,' I heard, as though through cotton-wool;then the streak went out too, and in a few seconds I ventured to openonce more, and was in time to hear them creeping to my room.

  "Well, now there was not a fifth of a second to be lost; but I'm proudto say I came up those stairs on my toes and fingers, and out of thatbank (they'd gone and left the door open) just as gingerly as though mytime had been my own. I didn't even forget to put on the hat that thedoctor's mare was eating her oats out of, as well as she could with abit, or it alone would have landed me. I didn't even gallop away, butjust jogged off quietly in the thick dust at the side of the road(though I own my heart was galloping), and thanked my stars the bankwas at that end of the township, in which I really hadn't set foot.The very last thing I heard was the two managers raising Cain and thecoachman. And now, Bunny--"

  He stood up and stretched himself, with a smile that ended in a yawn.The black windows had faded through every shade of indigo; they nowframed their opposite neighbors, stark and livid in the dawn; and thegas seemed turned to nothing in the globes.

  "But that's not all?" I cried.

  "I'm sorry to say it is," said Raffles apologetically. "The thingshould have ended with an exciting chase, I know, but somehow itdidn't. I suppose they thought I had got no end of a start; then theyhad made up their minds that I belonged to the gang, which was not somany miles away; and one of them had got as much as he could carry fromthat gang as it was. But I wasn't to know all that, and I'm bound tosay that there was plenty of excitement left for me. Lord, how I madethat poor brute travel when I got among the trees! Though we must havemade it over fifty miles from Melbourne, we had done it at a snail'space; and those stolen oats had brisked the old girl up to such a pitchthat she fairly bolted when she felt her nose turned south. By Jove,it was no joke, in and out among those trees, and under branches withyour face in the mane! I told you about the forest of dead gums? Itlooked perfectly ghostly in the moonlight. And I found it as still asI had left it--so still that I pulled up there, my first halt, and laywith my ear to the ground for two or three minutes. But I heardnothing--not a thing but the mare's bellow and my own heart. I'msorry, Bunny; but if ever you write my memoirs, you won't have anydifficulty in working up that chase. Play those dead gum-trees for allthey're worth, and let the bullets fly like hail. I'll turn round inmy saddle to see Ewbank coming up hell-to-leather in his white suit,and I'll duly paint it red. Do it in the third person, and they won'tknow how it's going to end."

  "But I don't know myself," I complained. "Did the mare carry you allthe way back to Melbourne?"

  "Every rod, pole or perch! I had her well seen to at our hotel, andreturned her to the doctor in the evening. He was tremendously tickledto hear that I had been bushed; next morning he brought me the paper toshow me what I had escaped at Yea!"

  "Without suspecting anything?"

  "Ah!" said Raffles, as he put out the gas; "that's a point on whichI've never made up my mind. The mare and her color was acoincidence--luckily she was only a bay--and I fancied the condition ofthe beast must have told a tale. The doctor's manner was certainlydifferent. I'm inclined to think he suspected something, though notthe right thing. I wasn't expecting him, and I fear my appearance mayhave increased his suspicions."

  I asked him why.

  "I used to have rather a heavy moustache," said Raffles, "but I lost itthe day after I lost my innocence."