les, and put on a couple of their waterproof capes. The day
was a little showery. Most of the people we heard afterwards took us for
troopers from some other station on the track of bush-rangers, and not
in regular uniform. It wasn't a bad joke, though, and the police got
well chaffed about it.

We dodged down very careless like to the bank, and went in a minute or
two after Starlight. He was waiting patiently with the cheque in his
hand till some old woman got her money. She counted it, shillings,
pence, and all, and then went out. The next moment Starlight pushed his
cheque over. The clerk looks at it for a moment, and quick-like says,
'How will you have it?'

'This way,' Starlight answered, pointing his revolver at his head, 'and
don't you stir or I'll shoot you before you can raise your hand.'

The manager's room was a small den at one side. They don't allow much
room in country banks unless they make up their mind to go in for a
regular swell building. I jumped round and took charge of the young
man. Jim shut and locked the front door while Starlight knocked at the
manager's room. He came out in a hurry, expecting to see one of the
bank customers. When he saw Starlight's revolver, his face changed quick
enough, but he made a rush to his drawer where he kept his revolver, and
tried to make a fight of it, only we were too quick for him. Starlight
put the muzzle of his pistol to his forehead and swore he'd blow out his
brains there and then if he didn't stop quiet. We had to use the same
words over and over again. Jim used to grin sometimes. They generally
did the business, though, so of course he was quite helpless. We hadn't
to threaten him to find the key of the safe, because it was unlocked and
the key in it. He was just locking up his gold and the day's cash as we
came in.

We tied him and the young fellow fast, legs and arms, and laid them down
on the floor while we went through the place. There was a good lot of
gold in the safe all weighed and labelled ready for the escort, which
called there once a month. Bundles of notes, too; bags of sovereigns,
silver, and copper. The last we didn't take. But all the rest we bundled
up or put into handy boxes and bags we found there. Father had come
up by this time as close as he could to the back-yard. We carried
everything out and put them into his express-waggon; he shoved a rug
over them and drove off, quite easy and comfortable. We locked the back
door of the bank