Page:Hornung - Irralies Bushranger.djvu/149

 hung the saddles over the top bar to rest his arm.

"And where have you both been ever since?" inquired Irralie, finessing still, but also interested to know.

"Aha!" said he. "I'm not sure that I shall tell you that. Yet I don't know; have you ever heard of a man they call Deaf Dawson?"

"Heard of him! Why, he drives the whim at our Seven-mile."

"Yes; but did you never hear my name coupled with his? I don't mean my real name. There's not a soul in the Colony knows that. But Stingaree?"

"Yes, I have," said Irralie. "He was said to have known you."

"To have been my mate! That's more like it. He and Howie and I once stood in together—before we were quite so well known. Now can you guess where we've been since Saturday; and who told us you were going to have all the back-blocks at the station last night; and who came in