sir; you haven't heard all. You don't know
what I have to say in attenuation of my offence."

"I mayn't have heard all, Juniper, but I've both heard and seen about
you a great deal more than I like; so let me warn you again, I must have
a plain, straightforward statement. What have you done with my money,
and how can you justify your abandoning me in my illness?"

"Ah! Mr Frank, you little know me--you little know what's in my heart.
You little know how every pulse reverberates with deepest affection.
But I'll go to the point, sir, at once;" for Frank began to exhibit
signs of impatience. "When I saw you was getting ill, sir, and not able
to care for yourself, I says to myself, `I must ride off for a doctor.
But what'll my poor master do while I'm gone? he's no power to help
himself, and if any stranger should come in--and who knows it mightn't
be one of these bushrangers!--he'd be sure to take advantage of him and
steal his money while he lay helpless.' So says I to myself again, `I
think I'll risk it. I know it'll look awkward,'--but there's nothing
like a good conscience, when you know you haven't meant to do wrong.
`I'll just take the money with me, and keep it safe for him till I get
back.' Nay, please, Mr Frank, hear me out. Well, I took the fifty
pounds, I don't deny it; it may have been an error in judgment, but
we're all of us infallible beings. I rode off to find a doctor, but no
doctor could I find; but I met a young bushman, who said he'd get some
one to look after you till I could return."

"And why didn't you return; and how came you to want two horses to fetch
the doctor with?" asked Frank impatiently.

"Ah! dear sir, don't be severe with me till you know all. I took both
the horses for the same reason that I took the money. I was afraid a
stranger might come while I was away, perhaps a bushranger, and the very
first thing he'd have laid his hands on would have been the horse."

"Well; and why didn't you come back?"

"I did try, sir, to come back, but I missed my road, and made many
fruitful efforts to regain my lost track. At last, after I'd tried, and
tried, and tried again, I gave up in despair, and I should have perished
in the scowling wilderness if I hadn't met with a party going to the
diggings. Then the thought crossed my mind, `I'll go and dig for gold;
if I succeed, I'll show my dear master that I'm no slave to Mammoth, but
I'll lay down my spoils at his feet; and if I fail, I