her from the gully cliffs on to the boulders in its bed-only it seemed to her bewildered senses that the boulders rose towards her instead of her descending to meet them. Next she disc

eltering from the rain in the open space under the floor of the house. Th

terproof coat over her nightdress. It was not the first time by any means that, when sleeping alone, she h

ale gleams through the scudding clouds. The close heat had given place to a chill wind and the rain came down intermittently but in no volume-it

s now nibbling twigs of the creepers. But she was surprised to see only two or three goats, she had thought there must be many more. The animals were refractory, and her beatings of no avail. Now, suddenly, she was seized with

emed to bring her to herself. He appeared to have come round the back of

oats would disturb you, and I've been getting them out as

y dressed. With an effort she c

not been

'My ear, too,' he went on, 'for Harris' slumbers are neither silent nor peaceful. When he's not snoring, he groans and stirs, and the worst of it is that he's got his door wide open on to the veranda and his bed right across the wind

f shivering s

the veranda, and coming back with an opossum rug on his arm and a glass of brandy and water in hi

ing himself under stern restraint. Though where they were, the veranda running between the end of the Old Humpey and the new ho

said, trying to speak in a matter-of-fact way. 'I supose there isn'

rring from where she crouched upon the steps. When he u

in-they're soothing. And I couldn't sleep now

gate till his dark form and the piebald shapes he was driving before him were lost in the night. She knew

ithes of the native cucumber vine that grew over the Old Humpey swaying around her in the breeze. There was not a light in the place. Even moon and stars were now veiled. Her brain raced round desperate and futile schemes for eluding the vigilance of the Police Inspector. She wished now that she had thought of

rip of grass that ran at the back of the Old Humpey. But the lesser shadow moved, halted, and the

she had given her, and that the gin had halted at the casement window of Maule's bedroom. Now, Oola, wit

cker gives when he comes upon a trail. Bridget drew aside against the wall, so that Oola, again springing over the window sill, did not observe her. But Bridget saw the watch and chain with the iron key attached to it which the gin had stolen, and seized Oola's arm as

out Wombo. My word! plenty quick he YAN long-a scrub. BA-AL pollis

. 'BA-AL me tell,' whisper

umpey. Now she wriggled in the shadow of the yard railings. Now she crept stealthily past Harris' w

the rushing blood throbbing in her temples, also crept noiselessly beneath the window in the wake of Ool

ron under the gin's hand, as the padlock unclosed and the hasp dropped, then a creak of the door on its hinges, while it opened and shut behind the undulating shape in the aperture. Then a low throaty ejaculation-the black's call of warning. And now with a quickness incredible, the

fugitives would have reached the gully, and after that the gidia scrub. Then s

t five minutes had been full of alarms, and she could feel her heart thumping, so tense was the strain. She had to consider the possibility of Harris being awakened

ve been aroused, and perhaps have stirred without awakening.... But the snoring had ceased....

hat did not matter. Now she touched the door, which lay back towards her, for the blacks had not waited to close it. She pushed it very softly, hol

past Harris' windows, then pushed herself on hands and knees along the ground, squeezing her body against the palings of the yard, till she reached the Old Humpey on the opposite side. Once round that corner, she g

yard, startled her anew. She thought that she heard sounds in the wing near the hide-hou

ked towards the lagoon, but there was no sign of Maule. She felt the shivering begin again, though he

he could have got back yet to the spot where he had left her. Or he might come straight to his room and m

t had been an easy enough business, only that in clutching the window frame, the jagged end of

nd some more exact means of conveying what had happened. Premature action on his part might give the alarm. Her brain worked in flashes. She had vivid ideas, which in her fevered state she could not hold properly.

uage. At the close she begged him to act so that there should be no ground for suspicion-reminded him of his promise to go away on the morrow-said she would w

wilderedly, looking across the faint-lit yard to the dim veranda of the kitchen wing opposite, as she fought against the sick faintness that threatened to overcome her. Then she walke

dly speak for the rigor. Seeing her condition, he took her up in his arms, and carried her along the veranda towards her own room. The clasp of

Wombo out, and I locked the door of the hide-house again afterwards, and put the key back in your

at this moment I cannot think of anything or anyone but you

for a cold. I only want to get off my wet things and go

ecovered herself courageously, lighted her candles, laughed at her o

her hand r

to-m

Will! But you have promised me

h odd contrast with inevitable bush roughnesses. He noticed the silver and ivory on the dressing-table; the large silver-framed photographs-an autographed one of the Queen of Wartenburg-Molly Gaverick and Rosamond Tallant in

are leaving here with the mailman to-morrow.... Promis

that the parting will not be for long.... Yes....' as she slowly shook her head and a strange fateful l

was ghastly, her lips like burning coals. 'I can't

st there will be time

T go-Goo

ound of movements on the other side of the closed door. When all wa

uth of what Lady Bridget had told him. But she had forgotten to tell him of the note she had left also, and,