Don't smile, Bunny! I began by saying I was a child in those
days. Of course, the short cut was the long way round; and it
was nearly dark when that unlucky mare and I saw the single
street of Yea.
"I was looking for the bank when a fellow in a white suit ran
down from the veranda.
"'Mr. Raffles?' said he.
"'Mr. Raffles,' said I, laughing as I shook his hand.
"'You're late.'
"'I was misdirected.'
"'That all? I'm relieved,' he said. 'Do you know what they are
saying? There are some brand-new bushrangers on the road between
Whittlesea and this--a second Kelly gang! They'd have caught a
Tartar in you, eh?'
"'They would in you,' I retorted, and my tu quoque shut him up
and seemed to puzzle him. Yet there was much more sense in it
than in his compliment to me, which was absolutely pointless.
"'I'm afraid you'll find things pretty rough,' he resumed, when
he had unstrapped my valise, and handed my reins to his man.
'It's lucky you're a bachelor like myself.'
"I could not quite see the point of this remark either, since,
had I been married, I should hardly have sprung my wife upon him
in this free-and-easy fashion. I muttered the conventional sort
of thing, and then he said I should find it all right when I
settled, as though I had come to graze upon him for weeks!
'Well,' thought I, 'these Colonials do take the cake for
hospitality!' And, still marvelling, I let him lead me into the
private part of the bank.
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