Page:Hornung - Irralies Bushranger.djvu/106

 tournament. It was in all the papers. He was bound to have a racket with him, and that trunk was the only one long enough."

Irralie said nothing; it was as though, in the face of even his self-confessed guilt, she had yet retained a sneaking regard for the one positive point made by the villain in his own favor. She looked at the prison-door. It was corrugated iron like the walls and roof, and heavily padlocked on the outside. They were standing a few yards from it, and talking in undertones. A change of subject was obtained by a request for George Young's opinion of "the real man." Given with alacrity, this was golden indeed; in fact, in her mother and the overseer Irralie had encountered the only two persons with whom the ill-mannered Englishman had made himself a favorite, though all admired him. And even the enthusiasm of George Young was tempered with one or two admissions.

"He is a masterful man, and a fine general, but certainly a cool hand. For