without surprise, as one of themselves. He was sent to school because it
pleased him to go, and it kept him out of mischief, and every day he
learned over again the lessons he had learned the day before and
forgotten within an hour. His admiration for Dick Haddon was profound,
the respect and appreciation the boy of eight has for the big brother who
is twelve and smokes.

Abashed by Dick's frown, the old man devoted himself humbly to his
'piece,' and the boy gave his whole attention to the conversation. He was
eager to get an inkling of Harry's line of action. For his own part he
had thought of a desperate band, with Harry at its head and himself in a
conspicuous position, raiding the gaol at Yarraman under a hail of
bullets, and bearing off the prisoner in triumph; but experience had
taught him that the expedients of grown-up people were apt to be
disgustingly common place and ludicrously ineffective.

'If he'd an enemy,' said Harry, 'there'd be something to go on. Was there
nobody, no one at all, that he'd had any row with--nobody who hated him?'

Mrs. Haddon shook her head.

'Nobody,' she said. 'But he declared the real thieves had done it, either
to shift suspicion or to be rid of him. He thought it a disgrace that all
the men at the Stream should be marked as probable thieves because of one
or two rogues; an' he was always eager to spot the real robbers. It was
known gold-stealin' had been goin' on for some time. That's why they put
on the searcher.'

'Shine. Mightn't he have had a finger in it?'