This was addressed to the two men who stood, one on each side of the condemned bushranger.
They obeyed the command of their chief and he, raising his revolver, pointed it at the breast of the unhappy offender.
There was a moment of intense excitement. Harry and Jack were spellbound. Their faces were pale, and wore an expression of horror. They were about to see a human life taken. They could hardly forbear uttering a groan.
The silence was broken by a sharp, explosive sound. The deadly weapon had done its work; but it was not the captive who had received the winged messenger of death. It was the captain himself who staggered and with one convulsive movement fell prone to the earth.
CHAPTER XIV. — ELECTION OF A NEW CAPTAIN.
The excitement among the bushrangers was intense. Simultaneously they started forward, and two of them, bending over, lifted the body of their prostrate leader. But he was already dead. The bullet had reached his heart, and probably he never knew what hurt him.
Robert Graham, the man who had caused his death, stood erect and unflinching.