d to execution on the following morning.
Meanwhile he was to be confined in a structure set apart as a prison.

"Well, are you satisfied?" asked the captain, as he passed the
ringleader of the miners.

"I don't see the use of waiting till morning," grumbled the miner. "The
job might as well have been finished up at once."

"You can rest satisfied. The man hasn't long to live."

This proved to be the case. During the night Harry and Jack, who were
accommodated with beds in a hut near the prison, heard a noise and a
sound of men's voices, but they were too fatigued and worn-out to be
thoroughly roused. In the morning, when they left the hut, they needed
no explanation. From a lofty branch of a gum-tree a hundred yards to the
west dangled the body of the unfortunate criminal, a terrible spectacle,
contrasting painfully with the bright and cheerful morning. They learned
afterward that the prison had been guarded by a volunteer company of
miners, who detected, or feigned to detect, the prisoner in an attempt
to escape,--probably the latter,--and forcing an entrance, laid violent
hands upon him, and saved the law officers the trouble of executing
him.

The captain of police didn't learn what had happened till morning. As it
chanced, Obed Stackpole was with him when he received the information.

He took it very coolly.

"What are you goin' to do about it, captain?" asked Obed.

"Nothing."

"Do you allow such doin's here?"

"It doesn't matter much. The man was to have been executed this morning
at any rate. He only lost a few hours. It has saved us some trouble."

"Suppose he was an innocent man?"

"But he wasn't, you know. And now, Mr. Stackpole, if you will come with
me, I will see about your getting your share of the reward."

"Thank you, captain. I won't deny that it'll be particularly convenient,
seein' I'm reduced to my last cent."

The police captain exerted himself in a very friendly manner, and owing
to the absence of red tape which in an older settlement might have
occasioned delay, that same day our Yankee friend was made happy by
receiving the sum of fifty pounds.

He called the boys to him, and dividing the money, as well as he could,
into three equal parts, he offered one each to Harry and Jack.

"Now we start alike," he said. "There's nearly seventeen pounds apiece.
It seems a good deal, but it won't last long here. We must find
something to do before long."

"That's just what I want," said H