As a disciplinarian the sergeant was horrified. He wasacquainted, however, with the facts relating to Bony’s joining the detective force of Queensland, which he did with no less a rank than that of detective-sergeant. He was badly needed in Queensland, first for his supreme tracking powers, and quickly afterwards for his bush knowledge and reasoning ability. He demanded the high rank, and his terms were granted, and within a very few years he had justified his rank and on special occasions his services were eagerly sought by and loaned to the police chiefs of other States.

One of the half-caste’s few vices was a prodigious vanity. Yet this vanity was based on concrete results. His record was something to be vain of. His particular vice, however, was sometimes a source of irritation to his chief, for unless a case possessed unusual features Bony refused to take it up. For this reason his resignation had been demanded and tendered a dozen or more times, invariably to be followed by a request to resume his position when the next baffling bush tragedy took place; whereupon his superiors were only too glad to condone his indifference to authority and red tape for the sake of his unique gifts in the clearing up of crime.

“You think, then, your commissioner will reinstate you?” Sergeant Morris countered.

“Decidedly.”Bony laughed gently. “Colonel Spender will turn blue in the face and swear worse than a bullock-driver, but I am what I am because I do not stultify my brains on ordinary police-man’s-beat cases. Now detail to me this Marks affair. I will question as you proceed, entirely forgetful of your report.”

“Very well,” Morris assented. For a few moments he was silent, whilst he drew a rough plan on the red sandy ground with a small stick. Then:

“On August seventeenth a fellow calling himself Luke Marks arrived at Mount Lion in a Chevrolet car, and put up at the only hotel in the place.