him a shakin'.'

'My oath, won't it!' ejaculated Peterson.

Jacker was elated, and grinned far and wide.

'P'raps he'll go nippin' round, thinkin' he's chased by 'em like he did
las' Christmas holidays,' suggested the elder McKnight gleefully.

This villainous scheme was the result of the boys' extraordinary
familiarity with many phases of drunkenness. Waddy was a pastoral as well
as a mining centre, and strange ribald men came out of the bush at
intervals to 'melt' their savings at the Drovers' Arms. The Yarraman
sale-yards for cattle and sheep were near Waddy too, and brought dusty
drovers and droughty stockmen in crowds to the town ship every Tuesday.
These men were indiscreet and indiscriminate drinkers, and often a
vagrant was left behind to finish a spree that surrounded him with
unheard-of reptiles and strange kaleidoscopic animals unknown to the
zoologist. It must be admitted, too, that Joel Ham, B.A., was in a
measure responsible for the boys' unlawful knowledge. Twice at holiday
times, when he was not restricted at the Drovers' Arms, he had continued
his libations until it was necessary for his own good and the peace of
the place to tie him down in his bunk and set a guard over him; and on
one of these occasions he had created much excitement by rushing through
the township at midnight, scantily clad, under the impression that he was
being pursued by a tall dark gentleman in a red cloak and possessed of
both horns and hoofs.

It was nearly nine o'clock that night when the four conspirators met to
carry out their nefarious project. Dick was carrying a bag--in which was