"It wouldn't do to prosecute him and fail, and we have no proof that he dug up the fence." "But why did he say that the sheep belonged to his brother-in-law ?" Hugh started.

"Did he say that?
Well, he--he must have wanted to make out that he did not know whose sheep they were" but he thought to himself, "Is Red Mick going to bring up that old scandal ?" Mick, as he watched them go, winked twice to himself, and then stooped and patted the head of the collie pup.

The other dogs, in answer to a silent wave of his hand, had slunk off quietly.

The riders had disappeared.

It had been a narrow escape, and Red Mick knew it; and even as things had turned out, there was still ample chance of a conviction.
On the way back to the homestead Hugh began to talk of the chance of a conviction, and the delight it would be to give Mick seven years, but his ideas were disturbed by thoughts of Mick's face as he said, "Why should I steal my brother-in-law's sheep ?" He looked at the girl alongside him, and prayed that the old story might never be resurrected..