THE NOVELIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2704, 10 January 1906, Page 61

THE NOVELIST.

[All Rights Reseuved.] THE LOST EARL - - - OF ELLAN. ♦ A STORY OF AUSTRALIAN LIFE.

By HffiS CAMPBELL-PRAED.

PART I. CHAPTER IV.- IRON BARK BORE. $ the following Wednesday the letter Wolfe expected came m the Narra,wan Dag. Mr Galbraith and the men were away again at a distant part of the run, and in the natural order of things the letter would have remained until Wolfe should come in for rations, 03- till some of the stockmen took out a fres-h 'Ira ft to the aioh of weaners that was herded near the bore. However, ut lunch, Susan quietly announced to Patsy her intention of ridii.g to Iron Bark Camp that afternoon. Mrs Galbraith looked up sharply. " Tommy George can't go with you," she said. "I won't trust either of the Chinamen to get up the milkers. Last time Ah Hong haid a fall, and two of the cows got away through the sliprails into the bush." "There's Pintpot. I'll take him," returned Susan. " Pintpot "s only a pk-anicnv," objected Patsy " He's big enough to come home and tell you if Sinbad pigjumps and throws, me, which is the worst that can happen," s<.ud Susan. " I can't think vrhv Sinbad has taken U> pigjump lately," remarked Mrs Galforaith, waiving the question of larger eventualities. "But you ought to be able to sit a pigjump, Suj Oora can manage a buckjumper, " Susan laughed a little hysterically. " Oh, I can sit a pigjump, though I can't ride like Qoi\\ t You needn't be afraid,

Patsy, I shall turn up in time for dinner, and if I don't, there's a moon."

" I am not sure that your father would like you to go out to the boro by yourself with that man Wolfe there and the men herding the weaners. I'm not sure that it's proper for a girl." '■ Why, Patsy, you've told .me a dozen times how you used to do ration carrier to the shepherds and fencers when you r.-ere a girl at Woolcall Out Station."

" Yos, I did," assented Patsy. "But Wolfe isn't a fencer or a shepherd. I suppose I ought to call him Mr Wolfe, if he's really a gentleman. And I believe your father means to ask him into the parlour next time he comes."

Susan did not answer. She was already on her way to give Pintpot instructions in the usual blacks' dialect, which sounas as absurd as Chinese pidgin English. He was t<o fetch up yarraman plenty quick ; to saddle Sinbad ; to put on clean fella shirt, and to be sure and wear his trousers — for Pintpot's ideas of clothing himself were elementary and he selcV>m. wore both of the articles of attire at the same time. Then he was to strap little fella badd.leIxigs iru fnont of his own saddle, and he was to be ready to show her the way to Iron Bark Bore.

After that Susan, called up Ah Hong iind got from him two melons, some cucumbers, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and odds and ends of green stuff, which were packed in the saddle bags, with the books bhe had looked out for Wolfe that Sunday put in on the top. About 3 o'clock they &et off.

It was the Ist of February, and the weather .had been amazingly hot ; but last night a slight hailstorm had cleared the air a little, and lor this time of the year the afternoon was comparatively cool. Susan made a charming picture in her fresh Holland habit and starched frilled sun bonnet, which is the women's custo 3 mary headgear out west She rod* well, for the two girls had been trained to horseback from their cradles, but was naturally of a timid disposition. As she cantered ever tha flat she seemed a part of tha animal she sat — a high-spirited iron gre}-, with a thoroughbred strain in him. Very, different was Sinbad from Prnitpot's "ration; carrier" — the steadiest of beasts, -who; clearly disapproved of the black boy's, capeis. Pintpot looked a very imp of mischief as he sat astride the horse's broad back behind the saddle bags, his knees pressed well in, his naked feet, with spurs on them, sticking out. Luckily he was a feather weight, for he gave his horse a good deal of extra work making circuits into the bush, when he would return to Susan, with sundry pieces of information, such as "My word ! one big fellow goanna (iguana) sit down close up that feller tree; or, "Mine think it budgery sugar bag long-acreek," or with an insinuating '"Yuok-e! Yuck-e!" — the black's guttural ■ejaculation made by a click of the tongue against the palate, and a brilliant gleam of dazzling teeth — "Mithsis, suppose have-im lace after kangaroo. Lcok out! See him iiaogaroo over there?" . "No, no, Pintpot. No time to-day." "Plenty good feller soup, mithsis, that one Ah Hong make-em out of tail."

"No want-em, Pintpot."

The light of inspiration fell on Pintpot's black visage. "My word, mithsis, I believe little fella missee picaninny plenty want joey-kangaroo."

Susan shook her head severely. "Baal hunt kangaroo to-day, Pintpot. You look sharp, make track plenty quick for Iron Bark Bore."

Pintpot rode on a little way in a dejected manner. Presently he turned with another flash of white teeth.

"Mithsis, black's camp — tribe belonga me sit down close-up bore."

'•All right," said Susan, "that no business belonging to me." Pintpot was dejected again.

"Mithsis, ole fella, King Billy, he plenty sick along-a camp. That fellow gin belonging to him she come along-a head station tell Pintpot you bring medsin along-a king. Mine get-em medsin long-a Chinaman — cobbon budgery medsin — medsin make ole king all right. You let me take medsin long-a kirtg?" Susan gave the desired permission, provided that the blacks' camp was really "close-up" to the bore, and Pintpot rode on once more gleefully, disappearing for a ule and returning with a young carpet snake that he had killed and slung across tiie saddle bags. By-and-bye they got along the spurs of the range where the gum forest was thick and the iron bark trees dropped red gum like congealed blood, and theii ancient limbs were hung with hoary moss. Afterwards came gloomy gidya country, and then ironbark gum again. Susan rode on, feeling the dreamy exhilaration which always came to her in the bush. She used to fancy then that she could write splendid poetry, but the thoughts escaped her when she tried to put them into rhythm in her mind. Beside« 9 Sinbad needed a careful rein, for lie had a way of putting down his head and "propping," in preparation for a playful pigjump, which is a mild form of buckjumping, and there are not many women ■vfho can sit a- buckjnmper. Here in the lonely bush the very air teemed with life. Locusts made their metallic whirr. Theie were all kinds of strange sounds of different birds in the trees, and the grass ru&tled with the stealthy movements of reptiles. Beyond the range lay the crossing — two boggy holes, with a narrow track between, and slippery boulders above and below. After a while they came to a big flat dotted with ironbark gums and a good-sized yard roughly fenced at one end of it. In the distance Susan could see a ghostlike column of water rising to a considerable height, and from afar came the low roar of many beasts. She drew rein at a miserable little . out station — the cattle centre of that part of the run — a- slab and bark hut with bough shades front and back, a couple of boiling-doVn pots, and a fenced-in patch that had once been an attempt at a garden, for there were some self-sown pumpkin vines, a rosella bush, and a flourishing crop of weeds. Native

cucumber had grown over the bough shade, and this had evidently been watered of late, for young, succulent tendrils hung down, giving a bowery and beautiful effect. All the rest was hideous desolation. The gum trees about the hut had been rung, and stretched out gaunt, bleached arms — corpses of trees — and all around the flat, where the forest closed it in vistas of white gum trunks, like an army of snectres.

A few hundred yards from the hut, filling the air with the rushing sound of water, the tall stem of the bore uprose — a gigantic fountain, throwing out its thousands of gallons of water from the subterranean reservoir whence it came. Round it lay rudely hollowed logs and saplings that had served as scaffolding for machinery, and on the further side a deep channel had been cut which carried the water flow into a dam. Here the ground had been trodden into the semblance of a ploughed field, and there were many troughs, from which cattle were watered.

Susan wheeled round on Sinbad, and surveyed the scene, which now was apparently deserted. Pintpot, who had been reconnoitring on his own account, turned a somersault off his horse, and peered in at the open door of the hut. "'Mine think it baal that fellow Wolfe sit down along-a humpey,'' he remarked. "I gd look out track." Susan dismounted, and hanging Sinbad's bridle on the fence followed Pintpot round to the backof the hut, where, a little distance off, close to the yard-, there were some tents pitched — the camp of the men in charge of the weaners. Here was a cooking place, with a camp oven and tin billies and quart pots lying about, as well as a fryingpan, which gave out a disagreeable, smell of burned fat. Near by, a bough shade had been erected on forked gum saplings, and ' beneath it a table of slabs nailed on stumps, with a few more stumps for seats. A couple of crows flew up from the fryingpan, and a host of others cawed on the dead trees. A lame dog, licking its wounded leg, got up and barked loudly at the new comers, and Pintpot sent forth a few shrill cooees. Evidently the men were all out with the cattle, and Susan supposed that Wolfe was with them._ She turned back to the hut, and sat down on a slab settle in the bough shade verandah, while Pintpot went on cooeeing.

She had not long to wait. Two sharp cooees sounded from the bush above the low bellowing of the weaning mob, and presently a rider dashed up to the hut. It was Wolfe, in moleskin, his flannel shirt open at the neck, his face and arms caked with dust and perspiration. At the sight of Susan, surprise and pleasure shone in his eyes, and then the glad look gave place to one of embarrassment.

" Miss Galbraith," he cried, " and hurriedly dismounted. "How good of you ! But I never dreamed of such luck as seeing you here. If I had known, I should have" been better prepared to do you honour."

" I did- not know myself that I was coming till lunch time. You remember I told you I'd ride out and see -the bore some day. And I've brought you the letter you said you expected, and the books you went away last time without taking." " I — I — I didn't think you'd bother about the books then," he stammered. "It was most awfully kind of you." He had been undoing his horse's girths, and now, flinging saddle and bridle within the fence, he set the animal loose. Pintpot, at Susan's orders, had taken the other two horses to the troughs to water them. Wolfe turned to her, holding up his grimy hand," 1 in a deprecating way. " I'm not fit to speak to a lady — let aione shake hands. Some of the cattle got away, and I've been helping to round them. Do you mind if Igo and put my head into a tub of water and make myself a bit presentable? I am really ashamed to come near vooi as I a.in."

She nodded, and he vaulted the fence and disappeared at the back of the hut. As sho &at under the bough shade, she could hear through the closed doors eounds of sluicing of water and hurriedl movements. He could not have been much more than five minutes. Yet ,vhen he came back, be seemed entirely reclothed, and his hair and beard were trim. He looked more like a hero of romance than ever, and was perfectly at his ease. " I've been doing what they call in the music halls 'a quick change,' " he said, "though I'm afraid I shouldn't pass muster in a drawiug room. Miss Galbrailh, you've, got a very uncomfortable seat. I cani at anyrate m-ake it a little softer."

He bustled within, and' brought back a red blanket and an opossum nig, which he sprcid on the slabs. She remarked on the rug. " It's my reward for curing old King Billy wilh ammonia and quinine after a fJebauch of opium. What a shame it is to pell opium to the blarks ! His Majesty was in extremis a few days ago. He believes I went and pialla-ed Debil-debil on nis behalf, and they look upon me now at the camp as a superior medicine man, qualified to counteract all unholy spells. So the gratefu l queen brought me this 'possum i-ug thej-'d just finished eewjng together. Tion't be afraid to sit doirn upon the skins. I assure you they've been thoroughly purified."

She laughed and sat down again. "Here is your letter : it came in the bag this morning." "Thank you." He scrutinised the address, which was m an uneducated handwriting, and put the letter in his pocket. "I shall not read it now. It may t&ll me something pleasant, and it may bring news that would be unpleasant. T won't risk any drawback to my enjoyment of your visit. May I offer you the humble hospilality of bush tea, if you can drink bush tea?" "I like it." " What a splendid bushwoman you are !" '• Not so good as my sister," she replied. " Your sister ! Ah ! she's away, you told me."

" She's just going to England on a trip, but I don't think she cares very much about it."

" I suppose not. — if she is so good a busHwoman. She. is your only sister?" " Yes, except Patsy's — my stepmother's little girl, and the baby." " And you haven't got any brothers, except Jacky?" Susan did not answer. The liard look came into her eyes. Shte had token off her sun bonnet, and lie could see plainly die expression of her face and could admire her reddish brown hair, which was goldea in the sunlight. While he talked he moved to and fro between the hut and a sort of extension of the bough shade — a sheet of bark on four forked saplings, beneath which was the usual cooking place of the bush — a camp oven raised on two stones, and a chain and hook to hang a pot or billy from. The fire had burned' down, but it needed only a few sticks to make it blaze and the billy of water he hung over it, being thin and black from usage, was soon on the boil. Wolfe ladled in tea and brown sugar, stirred "with a bit of s f ick, took off the billy, and poured the tea from one 'quart, pot tb another to cool it.

"So you haven't got any other brothers?" he repeated thoughtlessly. " I have one," she answered in a hurt voice. "He's my twin. He's not at home ; I'-d rather not talk about -him." Shb gave Mm a syift glance .which' told him that the subject was a painful", one to .her. and without making any reply he went into the hut, whence he brought two clean pannikins and some johnny cakes on a tin plate. ."They were baked this morning. Fm not a bad hand at making damper, and it's all I've got to offer you. "We're in charge" of weanefs out here, you know ; and since you're a bushwoman you must be aware that it would be high treason to break in a cow. Butter and milk are unknown luxuries." Susan took the pannikin of smoking> black tea with sugar bubbles on the surface of the strong, sweet concoction, which she sipped slowly. " It's very good ; I think milk would spoil it." "All good bush men and women say that. Personally, of course, lam of the same opinion. By Jove ! this is refreshing after one has been rounding cattle! One good . thing about superintending a bore, Miss Galbraith, is that you've always a plentiful supply of warm water, and can make tea in a minute or two.' "Is the waterNso hot?" "One hundred and sixteen degrees Fahrenheit. It comes up from a depth of fifteen hundred or so feet." , ■ Be began. to explain to her the principle of artesian wells, which heretofore she had not found interesting. As he talked, she nibbled a johnny cake. "It's fascinating to watch that great pillar of water and to know that' ifc' comes out of a- natural 'boiler deep down in the earth," s,he' said. . " I'd like to feel how hot it is." * - ' . - • - "Would you? I don't think so. . We'll go" presently and sit alongside the troughs. But I can tell you that you wouldn*t care to do that at midday. Yoxi'd feel as if yoti . were being steamed like our plum duff on Sundays." Her eyes fell on the saddle bags. "I've brought you a melon out of the garden and a few vegetables" "That was kind and thoughtful of you. Out in camp one appreciates green stuff as highly as if one were part of a scurvystricken crew on an expedition to the North Pole — though the very notion of an Arctic winter — scurvy given in — sounds pleasant this weather." He unpacked the bags. "Two beautiful green flesh melons, cucumbers, potatoes, beans, lettuces ! This is real bounty. Thank you ever so much. • But even the joy of vegetables sinks to nothingness in comparison with the joy of books." "I thought you'd like 'Asolando.' And there's 'Peter Ibbetson.' " "With Dv Maurier's own illustrations. Oh ! good !" "And there's a story by a man called Kipling — an Indian story, that's rather creepy, but I liked it." " 'The Phantom Rickshaw.' What's it about?" "About a woman who cared for a man who got tired of her. And she died, and haunted him in her rickshaw till he went mad and died too." "It sounds uncanny. She would have been more sensible if, instead of dying and playing the ghost, she had got well and taken up with somebody else." "Oh ! . . . don'fc you believe in " "Ghosts? I'm ready to believe that 'there are more things in heaven ajid earth,' etc., if that's what you mean?" "I didn't mean that. Don't you believe in constancy?" "I believe in love," he said, decidedly — • "what I told you you had given back to me — an ideal. And an ideal generally means love." "Ah!" she murmured, and the sound was like a little catch of the breath. " But I don't know that I believe much in constancy. You see, an ideal is not exactly a fixed quantity," he said. " But I don't think I nn<lerE,t.a.ncl, cjxiite.'* "There's such a. thing as loving Love. And Love has a million million concrete embodiments."

"I shouldn't like to think that."

"Shouldn't you? It's true, though ft 1 sounds a paradox. But Love itself is $ paradox. Love is as old as the world and as young as every babe passion that n born and dies in a year or a day."

"I think there must be some loves that' do not die so quickly."

"You are right," he answered, his tone becoming suddenly grave. "There's thf love that knows itself and endures througk Life^ — and may be after it — the love thaA every man dreams of, and that very few realise."

They were both silent. Rusan looked out at the great fountain, which played on, tossing up its pillar of spray. Turning her eyes suddenly, she found his eves fixed upon her with a curious;questioning e-xprjssion in their datf depths

- ' "Shall we go now and look at the bore?" lie .asked. " She got up, and they walked together lalorig the edge of the dam. He found ncr __& seat on one of the logs and proceeded to expound the laws of hydrostatics. But ithe humid heat became oppressive. She . pould not doubt the degree of temperature lie had cited. After sitting there 20 -minutes or so, they went back to 'the ibough shade. Passing tbe open door of fche_hut, she involuntarily glanced within, and observed its scrupulous cleanliness. ■The earthen floor was swept, the bunk ttsade, though evidently robbed of its top covering which he had brought to the - settle, the plank table was scrubbed. Altogether, in spite- of its bareness, the place did not look uninviting. t She could picture him in if on &:>litary evenings. He did not^ ask her inside. They sat out under the bough shade — she on the settle, hs on a stump, sawn, off and set on end. ,They talked mostly about books and innocent-, 1 impersonal' matters. Then she remembered that it must Be getting towards sundown and that she had seven miles to Tide. { "What is the time?" she' asked. "I forgot my watch." |, He jminted to -the shadow of the fence. /'There is my sundial. It is about haif-

past; 5." ; l She got up in iaste. -"I must start at ' cnee. -Will you please call,. Pintpot. I 'don't Know where he's taken the horses." I " They're in the yard. I'll see after the black 7 boy." He .was- gone, several minutes, and she heard him oooeeing " outside. When he came back,- he said": "There's not a sign of Pintpot, as you call him. I thought- he looked an imp. It isu't at .all safe for you to ride these 'distances with only that irresponsible crear ture for an escort! You must allow me to go back with you." "Oh, but I couldn't. And I must find Pintpot." "For that I fancy we should have to go to the blacks' camp on the other side .of the scrub." "On the other side of the scrub!" she repeated in dismay. "I told Pintpot he could- go and see King Billy if the camp ■was only a little way off. He wanted to ■ give him some medicine" Wolfo laughed. "Oh, that's it. Then I vihall have alfmy work all over again, and •I shan't get another 'possum rug for jYou didn't happen to notice whether your -Chinese gardener got a little packet of garden seeds in the mail "bag to-day?" ". "Yes, he did; but what has that got lo do with it?" "My dear lady, if you'd ever been on ihe diggings you'd Jtnow how the wily Chinese evades the law. Those garden -seeds .were little pellets of opium, and ;% John -will nuke what he would call a -'velly nice proflit' out of them in the Slacks' • camp and otherwise." "I shall teil dad about it," exclaimed Susan. ' s "It wouldn't make, any difference. Poor *'3>lacks( ! . They've been doomed since* the - white man set foot in their; territory. If it isn't missionaries and grog, it's John iChinaman "and opium- Wow,- if you'll -allow me-, I'll- put my own. .saddle on Pintpot's horse, for I turned mine out, and it would take a little Tirhile to get him an again, and we'd better start as soon, as jre can." Pintpot had not appealed when Wolfe came round with the horses. He placed Susan in the saddle, tightened the girths, and examined Sinbad's bit. "I don't qu»te like you horse's he' said. "There's too much white* in it. ]Ec looks as if h© had been frightened and had got a little vice into him." "It's only lately." die answered. "I've Ridden him ever since I came home, and he's -always gone quietly except once, when he gave me a pigjump. I'm prepared for it, and can sit anything short of a genuine buck." _ But it turned out that Susan had boasted Vithout warrant, or she had not discovered £bat it was Sinbad's peculiarity to be terrified at the weird shadows cast at sundown In the bush. He jumped" about a little on j Iron: Bark Flat, then quieted down, when j „lhey got up the ridges into the timbered j .country, where the tree tops made a screen overhead, and the light was distributed ■ . indefinitely. But when at the foot of the - range they emerged into the more open plain, where there were isolated' gums, frith -disfcortei limbs, throwing grotesque juid^fearfbme images in the fading light, Siubad again showed restiveness, and Rusan, thinking he "was uneasy to get Jiome. whipped him into a canter. She xvas talking interestedly to Wolfe, and Jtad, in truth, forgotten everything in the charm of that evening ride and the pleasure of his conversation. Sinbad forged Ahead- — he had racing "blood in him — and Wolfe found considerable difficulty in keeping the old hack up to his pace. The »anter was turning into a gallop. Susan's jnta bonnet flew back, and her shapely „ head was Bare. It did not matter, for the tun had lowered to the horizon. Wolfe no •longer felt the Madonna-like impression of y her. Feminine grace and witchery were jparamonnt. And yet he rather resented lihs fact that she was now to him as an - ordinary woman. He would have preferred to reverence her, although he knew that he was dangerously near to being in iove. Susan,. Jor all-ief,. sentiment, was not subtle enough to scent the change in his feeling?" She was excited by the influences of gathering dusk, the luxurious warmth, - ithe drSamy sounds and perfumes, the pink glow the -west '-.rapidly becoming obscured by advancing darkness, the intense blue of the sky overhead, with pallid Btacs showing feiatly and a moon in the third 'quarter, wan yet«, set aloft. The wind "Smbad made in his fast stride was ' like velvet brushing her face. Strangeideas came into her mind. She thought of - •Brawnisg's "Last Ride," of Adam Lindsay Gordon's verses, of snatches from Wagner, -and wondered how the great composer , would have set the bush to music She ' gave Sinbad .the rein,_juxd being several jards in. front pi-Wolfe, turned her aead

back, laughing encouragingly to him to follow her. Before her was a dump of trees that east a T)lack blot athwart the track. Sinbad swerved to one side, his head went down, his legs drew together inward, his back humped, and before Susan or Wolfe realised what was happening, the hoi&e gave almost a buck, unseating her by its very suddenness, and she was thrown violently to the ground, whilst Sinbad bolted off into the busfe. Susan lay against a branch fallen from one of the*tre«s. She was quite still, and Wolfe thought at first her neck was broken. . , He flung himself from his horse and kneeled beside her. He saw that her fatfe in the dim light was deathly pale. Her eyes "were closed, and the lashes lay, a dark stain, on her cheek. When he lifted i her hand it was limp and nerveless. He 1 raised her tenderly on his arm, supporting | her head,, untied the strings of her sun bonnet, and loosened her habit bodice at the neck. He would have given the world for brandy or even water, but all he could "do was to chafe her hands and forehead and endeavour to ascertain as carefully as possible how far she was injured. He felt for her heartbeat, and a very slight flutter relieved his fears. But presently there came signs of returning consciousness — a deep breath, a flicker of the eyelids, and at last the opening of her eyes. She gazea up at him, bewildered, as he leaned over her. "Oh! what is it? I have had a fall, I suppose. My head feels funny." ' "You must have knocked it against that bough, and it stunned you for a minute or two. I hope there's nothing else. See if you can move." She tried to lift herself, hut went dead white and fell back against him with a sharp cry of pain. "Where are you hurt?" he cried. 'Tell me — -where do you feel any pain?" "My leg," die answered feebly. "The left one — I think it's broken." Her eyes closed again. He tore up a handful of grass and fanned her. "Try not to, faint. If I'd only got a flask of something ; but I haven't, and there's not a drop of water, near." A thought struck him. "You don't happen to have a scent bottle?" "Some eau-de-Cologne — here." She indicated an outside pocket in the breast of her bodice. He drew out a little cambric handkerchief and a tiny flat silver bottle, in which was about a teaspoonful of eau-de-Cologne. But even that was a Godsend. He dabbed a few drops on the handkerchief and moistened her lips and held the handkerchief to her nostrils. She N revived at j once. ' 'I "I'm going to feel your ankle, if you'll j let me," he' said ; "it may only be a sprain. I'm a, bit -of a doctor. Can you sit up without my holding you for a minute?" She nodded., Her cheeks were pink now. She leaned her elbow on the ground and watched him. "It's just there — about the* ankle. IJon't mind hurting me. ' I'd like to know if it's broken." He buckled his horse's bridle to a sapling, and, getting out his knife, cut Susan's stocking and removed the shoe from her foot, which was already swelling. He felt the limb very gently, and found she was right. There was a clean break at the ankle bane. "I shall not hurt you more than I can help," he said ; "but this must be put into, a splint and bandaged before I can think of moving you." She submitted gratefully. He fashioned a rough splint and contrived an effectual band"^-e by cutting off the hem of her bolland sKirt. It was true, as he had said, that he was a bit of a doctor. In his varied career he had learned enough of surgery to be equal to any such emergency. By the time he had finished it was quite dark except for the moonlight, and they bad good reason to be thankful that it was nearing its full. Susan bore the operation bravely, but the eau-de-Cologne was finished before he had ended his work, and he saw that she was in a good deal of pain. I The problem was how to get her home! It was not move than three miles to the ! head station, but Sinbad had disappeared, j and would probably have arrived there by now, riderless and' with loose bridle, and , would no doubt have occasioned serious alarm. Susan thought of this. j "Patsy will be coming out herself to look for me. Phe won't have any idea that I am in such good care, and will imagine that I am killed', and Pintpot, too. Oh! how shall I get back? I can't stand' on my foot, much less walk. And I feel sure that we were off the regular track both going and coming, and that we're on>he wrong bide of the gully now, so that even if we were to wait here, very lik«ly they wouldta't find us for evei* so* long." " T won't suggest leaving you while I go for help," he answered, "for I couldn't bring myself to do that, though T don't suppose any real harm could happen to you. And we're not going to wait- You're quite right about our being on the wrong side of the gulle3 p . But if you have courage and fortitude, I think I can manage it all light. I shall put you on my horse and hold you there while 7 walk by your side. It's lucky that the brute's quiet, though I'm afraid he's* rough. First, however, I must try and arrange some support for that poor foot."

He left her again and foraged round tall he got a couple of forked boughs curving downward. These he strapped back and front oi tlie saddle. Then, cutting greath withies of th& long-bladed grass that grows among gum tree^, he tied them to the sticks with strips torn from his handkerchief and bound the whok> round with the- thong of his stockwhip. When he had done, there was an attempt at ohe kino! of cushioned cradle in which small children are taught to ride. Stwan watched him with admiration.

" How clever you are I And, in half darkness, too! One would think you had been in the habit of conveying broken-legged women on horseback through the bujsh:" "As a matter of fact,"_ he answered, "I did once bring a maa who had been,

wounded by a machete — that's a Mexican knife, you know, and a very murderous weapon — over 36 miles of roughish country in just such a contrivance as this. But then I had a thick poncho to lay on it, and now I've only got my coat, which is but a poor thing of alpaca. Still, it's better than nothing." In spite of her protestations, he took off his coat and spread it upon th© cradle, tying it by the sleeves. " Now, the question is how can I get you on the horse so as to cause you the least pain?" he said. " I think if you'd 1 help me up, and I gave you tne right foot and leaned on your shoulder, that you could lift me all right,'" she replied He reflected, then went off and searched for another forked piece, of wood that might serve as a crutch. Helping her to rise, hfc 6aid:

" Lean on that, and give me your right foot. I must hav°. both arms free."

In this way, putting forth all his strength " and 'dexterity, he got her ,at last on the horses hack. Watching her in the moonlight, he ?ioticed that she turned white again and bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. The helpless foot dangled. In a moment he was supporting the limb upon a sort of pommel that he had constructed with wisps of the coarse grass. The old horse stow? stock still, as if he knew what was being done " Lucky that Pintpot had the packhorse, and not a young one." one remarked, with a laugh that sounded hysterical. He gathered up the reins, which be had unfastened. 4i Now," ho said, "I must keep my arm round your waist to hold you firm, and if you'll Wend a bit forward and lest your weight on my shoulder you'll find it a help in steadying yourself. Don't try and keep from singing out if the paints bad. Screaming must be a wonderful relief to a woman, who hasn't bhe safety valve of swearing, like us men." He* was purposely cheery and practical, and she understood his motive. Nevertheless, she felt him shudder at each twinge a* pain that went through her. And sfhe <»uM not help his knowing that she was suffering pretty badly, though she tried bard to be brave. The packhorse was not an easy stepper, and she was thankful for tbe strong arm that gripped her and lessened each shake the animal gave. From resting on Wolfe's shoulder, her arm stole naturally round his neck. The contact gave her a wondrous sense of security. He talked to her all the time— purposely also, she knew — and told her the story of the man in, his Mexican adventure who had been wounded by the machete; and another story as well, that sounded like a Rider Haggard novel, of burrowing for bidden treasure in- the ruins of an ancient Mayan city. Every now and then, at an involuntary gasp from her, he would break off with a little tender ejaculation, and utter some almost endearing word of pity, for which he would pull himself up, asking her to forgive tom for his presumption. , "Goddesses shouldn't come down from their pedestals nor angels drop their wings," he said, with a jerky laugh. "It's too hard on a man, and I simply can't bear to see a woman suffer."

"Miss Galbraith," he added presently, after they had gone in. silence for about a quarter of a mile, and she was sobbing almost like a hurt child. "Look here, I'm going to try something that I've done before to make people forget that they were in pain. If you feel like getting Sazed and sleepy with your head dropping down on mine, don't be frightened. Just let yourself go ; I'll hold you fast and take care of you. I'm going to say some Abracadabra — charms an old Mexican Indian taught me. They and he and I together seemed to have a peculiar effect upon highly-strung temperaments. It's a kind of half , hypnotic, half wizard business, I suppose. Anyhow, I'll concentrate my will and try it on you." He began to chant rhythmic foreign words in a curious sing-song monotone, while, taking her right hand in his left one, which at the same time held the reins, he pressed the ball of her thumb tightly against his ow,n. She was intensely conscious of Ms personality and the power of it, and seemed to see his eyes in an odd interior way, like expanding circles of light within her brain, filling it, and making her dizzy. She wondered vaguely if be were really hypnotising her, and remembered how she had seen a professional mesmerist in. Sydney make his subjects believe they were happy or miserable by merely looking at and making passes over them. But Wolfe was not making passes, and the position I , they were in prevented him from looking steadily into her eyes. She thought that it must be very difficult for him to concentrate his will on making her forget her pain whi'e he was holding her in the saddle and guiding the horse at the same time.

Well, at least he was making her feel happy — very happy — deliciously happy** She could not go on like that for ever. She was lo&ing the sense of everything but him. (She had let herself go altogether, as he had told her. Her head dropped. She -was slipping. He^ — he still held her firmly. The horse made a false, step. It jarred her. She gave a try, and clung to him closer. Then they stopped. It was all like a dream. He shifted his arm. He held her on with his left arm, and his hand on the horse's wither. And now he had vaulted behind her.

"Don't be frightened," he was saying. "Don't tremble, dear. I can hold you better like this, and we shall get on quicker. Lean back against me. Your head there, close against my cheat. Dearest! Oh! I can't help it. I love the scent of your hair. I can't help putting my lips to it. You mustn't b§ &ppy

(To be continued.

—No human head wa6 stamped on coins until after the death of Alexander the Great. Previous to. that liflie the; images uged. were deiiifSj " " ----_-