ouse of Tibbs, a small
settler, and after wounding, compelled him, with his wife, to proceed to
the forest. The woman carried her infant: Jeffries was disturbed by its
cries; perhaps, fearful that the sound might conduct his pursuers. He
took the child from the arms of its mother and dashed out its brains
against a tree! When captured, he was taken to Launceston, where the
people, exasperated by his unusual guilt, were scarcely restrained, from
summary vengeance, by the presence of a strong guard. While in prison he
made sketches of his murders, and wrote memoirs of his life! His
countenance was an index of his character. Not so with Brady; who,
though guilty of heavy crimes, pretended to something like magnanimity:
he was drawn into the plan to escape, contrary to his own judgment, and
then said the _die_ was cast. His robberies were skilfully planned and
deliberately executed: he often restored such articles as the sufferers
specially valued. To every indictment he pleaded guilty: it was thought
in contempt of justice; but certainly in the full conviction that it was
useless to expect either mercy or acquittal.

An instance of his persevering vengeance, which rests on the authority
of a magistrate, may be worth remembering. A man, who had been a
confederate, determined to entrap him: Brady on approaching his hut felt
a presentiment of treachery; but at length was persuaded to advance. The
constables were in ambush: they fired, and both himself and his
companion were arrested. Brady, wounded, was left bound in the hut with
his betrayer, while the constables conducted his comrade to a place of
confinement. He now requested to lie on the bed, and that a kangaroo rug
might be thrown over him: this done, he disentangled his arms and asked
for water. The guard laid aside his gun to procure it; this Brady
seized, and in his turn became captor. While bound, he reproached the
man for his perfidy, who said that he could but die; and that there was
neither God nor devil! But being now in Brady's power, he fell upon his
knees, and prayed him, for _God's sake_, to spare his life. Brady
reminded him, that he had just said, "there was no God;" but added, that
the report of the gun might give warning of the state of affairs. He
bade him beware of their next meeting, and departed. Afterwards, in
company with his gang, he met this man, and holding a pistol to his
head, told him to say his prayers: the man, finding remonstrance
useless,