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肩書を与える: Wilderness Trek (1944)
Author: Zane Grey
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eBook No.: 0608291h.html
Language:  English
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Wilderness Trek

by

Zane Grey

CHAPTER I

Across the blue Tasman Sea, smooth and heaving on that last day, the American adventurers 熱望して watched the Australian horizon line grow bold and rugged.

"Red, it's land--land," said Sterl, his gray 注目する，もくろむs 薄暗い from watching and remembrance of other land like that, from which he must forever be an 追放する. "The mate told me that was Sydney 長，率いるs over there."

"Shore, pard, I seen it long ago," replied Red. "This heah sea gettin' level an' that sight just about saved my life...Sterl, no more ridin' ships for Red Krehl."

"But Red, I begged you not to come," replied Hazelton.

"What 肉親，親類d of talk is thet? Do you think I'd ever let you go to hell alone? Pard, this heah Australia begins to ぼんやり現れる up kinda big, at thet. But it's English--an' whoever heerd of an English gurl lookin' at a cowboy?"

"Red, someday you'll get enough girl to do you for good and all, as I got."

"Shore I can stand a lot, Sterl...Say, if I'd had a 瓶／封じ込める on this ship I wouldn't be 近づく daid now...Sterl, let's have one orful drunk before we 追跡（する） for 職業s."

"Sounds good, but it's no sense."

"But we never had no sense nohow," 抗議するd Red. "You takin' the 非難する for thet gunplay! An' me fool enough to let you!"

This time 英貨の／純銀の Hazelton did not reprove his friend.--The pang was still there in his breast.--Nan Halbert had loved him as 井戸／弁護士席 as his cousin, Ross Haight--Ross, lovable and 甘い-tempered except in his cups, the only child of an 病んでいる father with lands and herds to bequeath--Ross, who had 発射 a man who certainly deserved it. Sterl had taken upon himself that 犯罪, which to him was not 犯罪. His family had been gone so long that he hardly remembered them, except his schoolteacher mother who had loved and taught him. There had been only Nan. And what could he have done for her, compared with what Ross could do? It all rolled 支援する in poignant memory to the scene where Ross had 直面するd him and Red that last night.

"But Sterl!" he had rung out, "Nan will believe you killed this man!...And everybody else. How can I stand that?"

"For her sake! She loves you best...Go straight, Ross...Good-by!"

And Sterl had raced away into the blackness of the Arizona night, followed by the loyal Red.

"Red, you remember the 一括 that Ross 軍隊d upon you to give me?" Hazelton said suddenly.

"Shore I remember," replied Red, looking up with 利益／興味. "I had a hunch it was money..."

"Yes--money. Ten thousand dollars!"

"宗教上の 無所属の政治家s!" ejaculated Red, astounded. "Where'd Ross get it?"

"Must have told his father. Red, I'm asking you to take half of this money and go 支援する home."

"Yeah! The hell you 空気／公表する?" retorted Red.

"Yes, pard, I'm begging you."

"An' why for?" queried Red. "'原因（となる） you don't want me with you?"

"No--no. It'd be grand to have you--but for your sake!"

"Wal, if it's for my sake don't 侮辱 me no more. Would you leave me if you was me an' I you? Honest Injun, Sterl? Wal, what's eatin' you then?"

"All 権利, I わびる. Stay with me, Red. God knows I'll need you...Boy, we're getting somewhere. Look. There's a big ship steaming along under the left 塀で囲む, from the west."

"Gosh, they shore look grand. I never seen ships atall till we got to Frisco...This Sydney must be a real man-sized burg, huh?"

"Big city, Red, and I'm going to take you out of it 'muy pronto.'"

"控訴s me, pard. But what 空気／公表する we gonna do? We don't know nuthin' but hosses, guns an' cattle."

"I read that Australia is going to be a big cattle country."

"If thet's a fact we're ridin' pretty," returned Red, with satisfaction.

They lapsed into one of their たびたび（訪れる） silences while the ship sailed on, her yards and にわか景気s creaking. Soon the mile-wide gateway to Australia 申し込む／申し出d the sailing ship a lonely 入り口. Australia's far-famed harbor opened up to Sterl's sight, a long curving bay with many 武器 cutting into the land. Miles inland, around a 幅の広い turn where ships 棒 at 錨，総合司会者, the city of Sydney stood 明らかにする／漏らすd, foreign and stately, gray-塀で囲むd, red-roofed.

While Sterl and Red packed their 捕らえる、獲得するs, the ship 緩和するd と一緒に a ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる, and tied up. From the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる, they were led into a shed, and after a 簡潔な／要約する examination were 解放する／自由な. One of the stevedores directed them to an inn, where soon they had a room.

It was 早期に in the afternoon. Krehl 投票（する）d for seeing the sights. But Sterl disapproved, for that meant looking upon drink.

"Pard, we must get our bearings and rustle for the open 範囲," he said.

その結果 they 始める，決める out to ask two cardinally important questions--where was the cattle country and how could they get there?

"Outback," replied more than one person, waving a 手渡す, that like an Indian's gesture 示す vague and remote distance. At last a big man looked them up and 負かす／撃墜する and smiled when he asked, "Yankees?"

"Yes. It must be written all over us," 認める Sterl, with an answering smile. "Are you drovers?"

"Drovers?" echoed Sterl.

"Horsemen--drivers of cattle."

"Oh! You bet. Plain Arizona and Texas cowboys. We eat up hard work. Where can we get 職業s?"

"Any 駅／配置する owner will 雇う you. But I advise you to go to Queensland. Big cattle 召集（する）ing there."

"Where and how far?" queried Sterl, 熱望して.

"Five hundred miles up the coast and inland three or four hundred more. Board the 貨物船 'Merrvvale' 負かす／撃墜する at the ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れる. Sails at six today. Brisbane is your stop. Good luck, cowboys."

Sterl led his comrade 負かす／撃墜する the waterfront to where the big 貨物船 was tied up in the 中心 of busy shipping activities and bought passage to Brisbane. Next morning they awoke to find the sea 静める, with the steamer 涙／ほころびing along not five miles out from a picturesque shoreline. And as the partners leaned over the rail of this steamer to gaze at a white-花冠d shoreline, 延長するing for leagues on leagues to north and south, at the rolling green 山の尾根s rising on and 上向き to the high 範囲s, Sterl felt that beyond these calling, 薄暗い mountains there might を待つ him the greatest adventure of his life.

"Dog-gone-it!" Red was drawling. "I wanta be mad as hell, but I jest cain't. Gosh, pard, it's grand country! I hate to knuckle to it, but even Texas cain't （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 thet!"

The sailors were friendly and talkative. On the second afternoon, the 船長／主将, a 罰金 old seadog, 招待するd them to come up on the 橋（渡しをする）. Sterl took advantage of the 適切な時期 to tell him their 計画（する）s.

"Boys, you've a 罰金 開始, if you can stand the heat, the dust, the 干ばつ, the 黒人／ボイコットs, the floods, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, besides harder work than galley slaves," he said.

"Captain, 運動ing cattle on the Texas plain wasn't just a picnic," replied Sterl.

"You'll think so after droving upcountry here."

"Boss, I reckon we've been up agin' all you said 'cept the 黒人／ボイコットs. Jest what 空気／公表する these 黒人／ボイコットs?" 問い合わせd Red, 深く，強烈に 利益／興味d.

"The natives of Australia. Aborigines."

"You mean niggers?"

"Some people call them niggers. They're not Negroes. But they are 黒人／ボイコット as coal."

"Bad 薬／医学, mebbe?" 問い合わせd Red.

"Cannibals. They eat you."

"Boss," said Red, "I've had my fill of fightin' greasers, rustlers, robbers an' redskins on the Texas 追跡するs, but gosh! all of them put together cain't be as wuss as 黒人／ボイコット men--cannibals who eat you."

"Captain," said Sterl, "you're sure putting the 勝利，勝つd up us, as you Australians say. But tell us a little about cattle, and ranches--you call them 駅／配置するs."

"I've only a general bit of knowledge," returned the 船長／主将. "There are 駅／配置するs up and 負かす／撃墜する New South むちの跡s, and eastern and central Queensland. 徐々に cattlemen are working outback. I've heard of the terrible times they had. No drovers have yet gone into the unknown 内部の--called the Never-never Land by the few explorers who did not leave their bones to be 選ぶd by the 黒人／ボイコット men."

"Pard, thet's 肉親，親類d hard to believe," said Red, shaking his 長，率いる. "No places I ever heard about was as bad as they was painted."

"You are in for an adventure at any 率," went on the 船長／主将. "There's some big movement on from Brisbane. We have consignments of flour, harness, wagons, on board that 証明する it."

The "Merryvale" ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるd at 夜明け. After breakfast Sterl and Red labored 岸に, dragging their 重荷（を負わせる）s of baggage, curious and eager as boys half their age. Brisbane did not impress them with its bigness, but it sparkled under a 有望な sun, and appeared alive and bustling.

They 設立する a hotel, and sallied 前へ／外へ on the second （競技場の）トラック一周 of their adventure. They were directed to a 商品／売買する 蓄える／店 which was filling orders for a company of drovers making ready to leave Downsville in Central Queensland for points unknown.

Sterl got 持つ／拘留する of the 経営者／支配人, a 天候-beaten man who had seen service in the open.

"Is there any chance for 職業s outback?" he said.

"Chance? Young man, they'll welcome you with open 武器. 報告（する）／憶測 is that the drovers can't find men enough to start. Bing Slyter is here with his teamsters. He's one of the drovers and he's buying 供給（する）s for the Danns. I'll find him for you."

In a moment they 直面するd a big man whose wide shoulders made his 高さ appear 穏健な. If he was an Australian cattleman, Sterl thought, he surely liked the type. Slyter had a strong 直面する cast in bronze, a square chin, and 注目する，もくろむs that pierced like daggers.

"Good day, young men," he said, in a 発言する／表明する that matched his size. "Watson here tells me you're American cowboys looking for 職業s."

"Yes, sir. I'm 英貨の／純銀の Hazelton, from Arizona, and this is Red Krehl, from Texas. I'm twenty-five, and he's a year younger. We were born to the saddle and have driven cattle all our lives. We 棒 the Chisholm 追跡する for three years. That's our 推薦."

"It's enough, after looking you over," returned Slyter, in にわか景気ing gladness. "We Australians have heard of the Chisholm 追跡する. You drove 暴徒s of cattle across Texas north to new markets in Kansas?"

"Yes, sir. Five hundred miles of hard going. Sand, bad rivers, buffalo 殺到s, electric 嵐／襲撃するs, hailstones, Indians and rustlers."

"Rustlers? We call them bushrangers. Cattle thieves just beginning to make themselves felt. I'll give you 職業s. What 給料 do you ask?"

"Whatever you want to 支払う／賃金 will 満足させる us," replied Sterl. "We want hard riding in a new country."

"Settled. If it's hard riding you want you'll get it. We drovers are 請け負うing the greatest trek in Australian history. Seven or eight thousand cattle three thousand miles across the Never-never!"

"Mr. Slyter," burst out Sterl, "such a 運動 is unheard of. Three thousand Texas longhorns made hell on earth for a dozen cowboys. But this herd--this 暴徒, as you call it--across that Never-never Land, if it's unknown and as terrible as they say...Why, man, the 運動 is impossible."

"Hazelton, we can do it, and you're going to be a 広大な／多数の／重要な help. I was discouraged before I left home. But my daughter Leslie said: 'Dad, don't give up. You'll find men!' Leslie's a grand kid."

"You're taking your family on this trek?" queried Sterl, aghast.

"Yes. And there'll be at least one other family."

"You Australians don't 欠如（する） 神経," smiled Sterl.

"Do you need money to outfit?"

"No, sir. But we need to know what to buy."

"Buy ライフル銃／探して盗むs, and all the 弾薬／武器 you can afford. テントs, 一面に覆う／毛布s, and mosquito 逮捕するs, 着せる／賦与するs, extra boots, socks, some 道具s, a 薬／医学 道具, 包帯s, gloves--a dozen pair, some 瓶／封じ込めるs of whisky, and about a トン, more or いっそう少なく, of タバコ. That goes furthest with the 黒人／ボイコットs. You needn't stint on account of room. We'll have wagons and drays."

"But, Mr. Slyter," exclaimed Sterl in amaze, "we don't want to 在庫／株 a 蓄える／店!"

"Boys," laughed the drover, "this 広大な／多数の／重要な trek will take two years. Two years droving across the Never-never Land to the Kimberleys!"

"It will be never!" cried Sterl, staggered at the 輸入する.

"Whoopee!" yelled Red.

CHAPTER 2

The 残りの人，物 of that 刺激するing day Sterl and Red spent in the big 商品／売買する 蓄える／店, making 購入（する）s for a two-year's trip beyond the frontier. 投資 in English saddles, two 罰金 English ライフル銃／探して盗むs to 補足（する） Sterl's Winchester .44 and thousands of cartridges broke the ice of old accustomed frugality, and introduced an orgy of spending.

It took a dray to 輸送（する） their outfit to the yard on the 郊外s of town, to which they had been directed. Late in the afternoon they had all their 購入（する）s stowed away in the 前線 of one of the big new wagons, with their baggage on 最高の，を越す, and the woolen 一面に覆う／毛布s spread. Before that, however, they had changed their traveling 着せる／賦与するs to the worn and comfortable garb of cowboys. Sterl had not felt so good for weeks. It was all settled. No turning 支援する! That time of 競うing tides of trouble was past. He would be happy, presently, and forget.

They had 捨てるd 知識 with one of Slyter's teamsters, a hulking, craggy-visaged chap some years their 上級の, who 発表するd that his 指名する was Roland Tewksbury Jones. Red's reaction to that cognomen was characteristic.

"Yeah? Have a cigar," he said, producing one with a grand 繁栄する. "My 扱う is Red. Seein' as how I couldn't remember yore turrible 指名する I'll call you Rol, for short. On the Texas 追跡するs I knowed a lot of Joneses, in particular Buffalo Jones, Dirty 直面する Jones and Wrong-Wheel Jones."

Roland evinced a 静める 憶測 as to what manner of man this Yankee cowboy was. He 受託するd Sterl's 招待 to have dinner with them, and 招待するd them to go to a pub for a drink. Returning to their wagon, they 設立する a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 炎ing and the other teamsters busily 負担ing the 供給（する）s. Spreading their canvas and 一面に覆う／毛布s under the wagon, as they had done thousands of times, the cowboys turned in. Sterl slept infinitely sounder out in the open, on the hard ground, than he had for two months, on soft beds. Indeed, the sun was 向こうずねing brightly when the cowboys awoke. Teamsters were 主要な horses out of the paddock; others were tying tarpaulins over the wagons. Jones 演説（する）／住所d Red: "You have time for breakfast if you move as 急速な／放蕩な as you said you did in Texas."

Returning to the outfit, Sterl saw that they were about ready to start, two teams to a wagon. He had an appreciative 注目する，もくろむ for the powerful horses. He 設立する a seat beside the driver, while Red propped himself up behind. 調査 about Mr. Slyster elicited the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that the 長，率いる drover had left at daylight in his light two-horse 装備する. Jones took up the reins and led the 行列 of drays and wagons out into the road.

Soon the town was left behind. A few farms and gardens lined the road for several miles. Then the yellow grass-中心d road led into a ジャングル of green and gold and bronze. They had ten days or more to 運動, mostly on a level road, said Jones, with good （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置s, plenty of water and grass, meat for the 殺人，大当り, mosquitoes in millions, and bad snakes.

"Bad snakes?" echoed Sterl, in 狼狽. He happened to be not over-afraid of snakes, and he had stepped on too many a rattler to jump out of his. boots, but the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） was not welcome.

"Say, Rol, I heahed you," interposed Red, who 恐れるd neither man nor beast nor savage, but was in mortal terror of snakes. "Thet's orful bad news. What 肉親，親類d of snakes?"

Sterl sensed Jones's rising to the occasion. "黒人／ボイコット and brown snakes most ありふれた, and grow to eight feet. 攻撃する，衝突する you hard and are not too poisonous. Tiger snakes mean and 積極的な. If you hear a sharp hiss turn to 石／投石する 権利 where you are. Death adders are the most dangerous. They are short, 厚い, 不振の beggers and 階級 毒（薬）. The pythons and boas are not so plentiful. But you 会合，会う them. They grow to twenty feet and can give you やめる a 抱擁する."

"Aw, is thet all?" queried Red, who evidently was impressively 脅すd, にもかかわらず his natural 懐疑心.

The 厚い golden-green grass grew as high as the 側面に位置するs of a horse; cabbage trees and a stunted brushy palm stood up conspicuously; and the gum trees, or eucalyptus, grew in profusion. 爆撃する-barked and smooth, some of them 似ているd the bronze and opal sycamores of America, and others beeches and laurels. Here and there stood up a lofty spotted gum, branchless for a hundred feet, and then spreading 広大な／多数の／重要な, curved 四肢s above the other trees to 終結させる in 罰金, thin-leaved, steely-green foliage.

As they 侵入するd inland, birds began to attract Sterl. A crow with a dismal and guttural caw took him 支援する to the creek 底（に届く）s of Texas. Another crow, 黒人／ボイコット with white spotted wings, Jones called Australia's commonest bird, the magpie. It appeared curious and friendly, and had a melodious 公式文書，認める that grew upon Sterl. It was 深い and rich--a lovely sound--cur-ra-wong--cur-ra-wong.

"See you like birds. So do I," said Jones to Sterl. "Australians せねばならない, for we have hundreds of wonderful 肉親，親類d. The lyrebird in the bush can imitate any song or sound he hears. Leslie Slyter loves them. She knows where they stay, too. Perhaps she'll take you at daybreak to hear them."

Here Red Krehl pricked up his ears to attention. Anything in the world that could be relegated in the slightest to femininity, Red clasped to his breast.

Presently the road led out of the ジャングル into a big area of ground （疑いを）晴らすd of all except the largest trees. On a knoll stood a house made of corrugated アイロンをかける. Jones called it a cattle 駅／配置する. Sterl looked for cattle in vain. Red said. "向こうずねs out like a dollar in a 霧."

Grass and 小衝突 密集して covered the undulating hills. Sterl 結論するd that Australian cattle were 平等に browsers and grazers. The road 負傷させる to and fro between the hills, keeping to a level, 結局 to enter 厚い bush again. Sterl made the 知識 of flocks of colored parrots--galahs the driver called them--that flew 速く as 弾丸s across the road; and then a flock of white cockatoos that squawked in loud 抗議する at the 侵略 of their domain. When they sailed above the wagon, wide wings spread, Sterl caught a faint tinge of yellow. When they crossed the first brook, a （疑いを）晴らす swift little stream that passed on gleaming and ちらりと見ることing under the wide-spreading foliage, a blue heron and a white crane took 板材ing flight.

They （機の）カム into a wide valley, rich in wavy grass, and studded with bunches of cattle and horses. "Ha! Some hosses," quoth Red. As Jones slowed up along a bank higher than the wagon bed, Sterl heard solid 強くたたくing thuds, then a swish of grass, and Red's stentorian, "WHOOPEE!"

He wheeled in time to see three 広大な／多数の／重要な, strange, furry animals leaping （疑いを）晴らす over the wagon. They had long ears and enormous tails. He 認めるd them in the middle of their prodigious leap, but could not remember their 指名するs. They （疑いを）晴らすd the road, to bound away as if on springs.

"Whoa!" yelled Red. "What'n'll was thet?...Did you see what I see? Lord! there ain't no such critters!"

"Kangaroos," said the teamster. "And that biggest one is an old man roo all 権利."

"Oh, what a sight!" exclaimed Sterl. "Kangaroos--of course...One of them almost red. Jones, it struck me they sprang off their tails."

"Kangaroos do use their tails. Wait till you get smacked with one."

The trio of queer beasts stopped some hundred 棒s off and sat up to gaze at the wagon.

"空気／公表する they good to eat?" queried the practical Red.

"We like kangaroo meat when we can't get beef or turkey or fowl. But that isn't often."

"What's that?" shouted Sterl, suddenly, 遠くに見つけるing a small gray animal hopping across the road.

"Wallaby. A small 種類 of kangaroo."

More 利益／興味ing miles, that seemed swift, brought them to an open flat crossed by a stream 国境d with 十分な-foliaged yellow-blossoming trees, which Jones called wattles. Jones made a 停止（させる） there to 残り／休憩（する） and water the horses, and to let the other wagons catch up. Red began to make friends with the other teamsters, always an 平易な 仕事 for the friendly, loquacious cowboy. They appeared to belong to a larger, brawnier type than the American outdoor men, and certainly were different from the lean, lithe, 狭くする-hipped cowboy. They build a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 始める，決める about making tea, "boiling the billy," Jones called it. Sterl 見本d the （水以外の）飲料 and 存在 strange even to American tea he said: "Now I savvy why you English are so strong."

"I should smile," drawled Red, making a wry 直面する. "I shore could ride days on thet drink."

Under a 抱擁する gum tree, in another green valley, on the bank of a creek, Jones drove into a （疑いを）晴らすd space and called a 停止（させる） for （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Wal, Rol, what 空気／公表する there for me an' my pard to do?" queried the genial Red.

"That depends. What can you Yankees do?" replied Jones, 簡単に, as if really asking for （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）.

Red cocked a 炎ing blue 注目する，もくろむ at the teamster and drawled: "Wal, it'd take a lot いっそう少なく time if you'd ask what we cain't do. Outside of possessin' all the cowboy traits such as ridin', ropin', shootin', we can 追跡（する）, butcher, cook, bake sourdough 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s an' cake, shoe hosses, mend saddle cinches, plait ropes, chop 支持を得ようと努めるd, build 解雇する／砲火／射撃s in wet 天候, 包帯 負傷させるs an' mend broken bones, smoke, drink, play poker, an' fight."

"You forgot one thing, I've 観察するd, Red, and that is--you can talk," replied Jones, still sober-直面するd as a 裁判官.

"Yeah?...But fun aside, what ought we do?"

"Anything you can lay a 手渡す to," answered the driver, cheerily.

One by one the other wagons rolled up. These teamsters were efficient and long used to （軍の）野営地，陣営 仕事s. The one who evidently was cook knew his 商売／仕事. "平易な when you have everything," he said to Sterl. "But when we get out on trek, with nothing but meat and tea, and damper, then no cook is good."

After supper Sterl got out his ライフル銃／探して盗む and, 負担ing it, strolled away from （軍の）野営地，陣営 along the 辛勝する／優位 of the creek. The sun was setting gold, lighting the shiny-barked gums and burnishing the long green leaves. He （機の）カム upon a 巨大（な） tree fern where high over his 長，率いる the graceful lacy leaves dropped 負かす／撃墜する. The 広大な／多数の／重要な gum was by far the most magnificent tree Sterl had ever seen. It stood over two hundred feet high, with no 支店s for half that distance; then they spread wide, as large in themselves as ordinary trees. The color was a pale green--with 一連の会議、交渉／完成する pieces of red-brown bark sloughing off.

All at once Sterl's keen 注目する，もくろむ caught the movement of something. It was a small, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, furry animal, gray in color, with blunt 長，率いる and tiny ears. It was 粘着するing to a 支店, peering comically 負かす／撃墜する at him, afraid. Then Sterl 遠くに見つけるd another one, さらに先に up, another far out on the same 支店, and at last a fourth, swinging upon a swaying tip. Sterl yelled lustily for Red and Jones.

"Look, Red! Jones, what are those queer little animals?"

"Koala 耐えるs," said the teamster, "Queensland bush is alive with them."

"Pard, pass me yore gun," said Red.

"Ump-umm, you bloodthirsty cowboy!...They look tame."

"They are tame," 再結合させるd Jones. "Friendly little fellows. Leslie has some for pets."

Night made the campfire pleasant. The teamsters, through for the day, sat around smoking and talking. Campfires in Australia seemed to have the same 元気づける, the same opal hearts and 飛行機で行くing 誘発するs, the same 製図／抽選 together of kindred spirits, that they had on the 範囲s of America. But the 広大な／多数の／重要な Southern Cross, an aloof and marvelous 星座, 証明するd to Sterl that he was an 追放する. A dismal chorus of wild barks sounded from the 不明瞭.

"Dingoes," said a teamster.

"Dingoes. Haw! Haw!" laughed Red, "Another funny one."

"Wild dogs. They 侵略（する）／超過（する） Australia. 追跡（する） in packs. When hungry, which is often, they're dangerous."

"Listen," said Sterl. "Isn't that a dismal sound? Not a yelp in it. Nor any of that long, wailing sharp cry of the coyote which we 範囲 riders love so 井戸／弁護士席."

"A little too 冷静な／正味の tonight to be bothered with mosquitoes," 発言／述べるd Jones. "We'll run into some さらに先に outback. They can bite through two pair of socks."

"Gee!" said Red. "But thet's nothin' atall, Rol. We have muskeeters in Texas--wal, I heahed about one cowboy who was alone when a flock of em' flew 負かす／撃墜する on him. Smoke an' 解雇する／砲火／射撃 didn't help 非，不，無. By golly, he had to はう under a 巡査 kettle thet the cook had. Wal, the sons-of-guns bored through the kettle. The cowboy took his gun an' rivited their 法案s on the inside. An' damn me if them skeeters didn't 飛行機で行く away with the kettle!"

Red's listeners remained mute under the 猛攻撃 of that story, no 疑問 beginning a 逆転 of serious 受託 of all the cowboy said. Sterl followed Red toward their テント.

The crackling of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 without awoke him. Dark, moving 影をつくる／尾行するs on the yellow テント 塀で囲む told that the teamsters were stirring.

He parted the テント flaps and went out to find it dark as pitch beyond the 炎ing 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, 空気／公表する 冷淡な, 星／主役にするs like 広大な／多数の／重要な white lanterns through the 支店s, active teamsters whistling as they hitched up the teams, fragrance of ham and tea wafting strong.

"Morning, Hazelton," was Jones's cheery 迎える／歓迎するing. "Was just going to yell that cowboy call, 'Come and get it!'...We'll have a good 早期に start." Sterl could not 解任する when he had 直面するd a day with such exuberance.

A long 漸進的な ascent through 厚い bush 申し込む／申し出d no 見解（をとる）, but the melodious carol of magpies, the squall of the cockatoos, the 甘い songs of thrush, were 価値（がある） the 早期に rising. Topping a long ascent Jones drove out of the bush into the open. "Kangaroo Flat," said the teamster. "Thirty miles. Good road. We'll （軍の）野営地，陣営 at the other end tonight."

"Aw, thet's 罰金...宗教上の Mackeli, pard, 空気／公表する you seein' what I see?" exclaimed Red.

Sterl was indeed, and やめる speechless. A soft 煙霧d valley, so long that the far end appeared lost in purple vagueness, stretched out beneath them, like a sea burnished with golden 解雇する／砲火／射撃. It was so fresh, so pure, so marvelously vivid in sunrise トンs! The enchanted distances struck Sterl もう一度. Australia was prodigal with its endless leagues. As the sun （機の）カム up above the low bushland a wave of 炎上 stirred the long grass and spread on and on. The 冷静な／正味の 空気／公表する blew 甘い and odorous into his 直面する, reminding him of the purple 下落する uplands of Utah.

負かす／撃墜する on a level again their 見解（をとる） was 制限するd to space 近づく at 手渡す. A 禁止（する）d of dingoes gave them a parting chorus where the bush met the flat. Rabbits began to scurry through the short gray-green grass and run ahead along the road, and they 増加するd in numbers until there appeared to be thousands.

"One of Australia's 広大な／多数の／重要な pests," said Jones.

"Yeah? Wal, in thet 事例／患者 I gotta take some pegs," replied Red, and he proceeded to raise the small caliber ライフル銃／探して盗む and to shoot at running 的s. This little ライフル銃／探して盗む and 十分な 蓄える／店 of cartridges had been gifts from Sterl. Red did not 攻撃する，衝突する any of the rabbits. Deadly with a handgun, as were so many cowboys, he 発射 only indifferently 井戸／弁護士席 with a ライフル銃／探して盗む. Sterl's unerring 目的（とする）, however, 適用するd to both 武器s.

Kangaroos made their 外見, sticking their 長，率いるs out of the grass, long ears 築く, standing at gaze watching the wagon go by, or hopping along ahead with their ぎこちない yet 平易な gait. In some places they slowed the trotting team to a walk.

The sky was dotted with waterfowl. Jones explained there were watercourses through the flat, and a small lake in the 中心, where birds congregated by the thousands. Sterl's quick 注目する，もくろむ caught a broken' column of smoke rising from the bushland in the 後部.

"By golly! Red, look at that!"

"Shore I was wonderin'. How about it, Rol?"

"黒人／ボイコット men signaling across the flat. Look over here. They know all about us twenty miles ahead. The aborigines talk with smoke."

"All the same Indian stuff," ejaculated Red.

"Stanley Dann, who's 召集（する）ing this big trek, says the abo's will be our worst 障害," volunteered Jones.

"Has Dann made a trek before?"

"No. This will be new to all the drovers."

"Do they believe there's safety in numbers?"

"That is one 推論する／理由 for the large 召集（する） of men and cattle."

"Like our wagon trains crossing the 広大な／多数の／重要な Plains. But 運動ing cattle is a different thing. The Texas 追跡する drivers 設立する out that ten or twelve cowboys and up to three thousand 長，率いる of longhorns moved faster, had より小数の 殺到s and lost より小数の cattle than a greater number."

After a short 残り／休憩（する） the cavalcade proceeded onward across the rippling sea of colored grass. Herons were not new to Sterl, but white ibis, spoonbills, egrets, jabiru, and other wading fowl afforded him 継続している wonder and 評価. The storks 特に caught his 注目する，もくろむ. Their number seemed incredible. They were mostly gray in color, 抱擁する cranelike birds, tall as a man; they had red on their 長，率いるs, and 抱擁する 法案s. Sterl 交流d places with Red, and drowsy from 過度の looking, went to sleep.

He was awakened by yells. Sitting up he 設立する Red waving wildly.

"Ostriches!...黒人／ボイコット ostriches!" yelled Red, beside himself..."Whoever'd thunk it?...Dog-gone my pictures!...Sterl, wake up. You're missin' somethin'."

Sterl did not need Red's 延長するd arm to sight a line of 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット bird creatures, long-necked and long-legged, racing across the road.

"Emu," said the teamster, laconically. "You run over them outback."

"As I'm a born sinner heah comes a bunch of hosses!" exclaimed Red, pointing. On the 範囲 Red had been 公式文書，認めるd, even の中で 強硬派-注目する，もくろむd riders and vanqueros, for his keen sight.

"Brumbies," 宣言するd トンs.

"What?--What you say?" shouted Red. "If they're not wild horses. I'll eat 'em."

"Wild, surely. But they're brumbies," said the Australian.

Red emitted a disgusted snort. "Brumbies! Who in the hell ever heahed of callin' wild hosses such an orful 指名する?"

"Red, it is a silly 指名する," 答える／応じるd Jones, with his rare grin. "I 示唆する we have an 交換 and understanding of 指名するs, so you won't have to lick me."

"Wal, I reckon I couldn't lick you, at thet," retorted Red, quick as a flash to 会合，会う friendliness. "You're an orful big chap, Rol, an' could probably （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 hell out of me pronto. So I'll take you up."

"What does pronto mean?"

"Quick. 権利 now...I heahed you say 'pad.' In my country a pad is what you put under a saddle. What is it heah?"

"A pad is a path through the bush. A 狭くする 選び出す／独身 跡をつける."

"Ahuh. But thet's a 追跡する, Rol. Say, you're gonna have fun ediccatin' us. Sterl heah had a mother who was a schoolteacher, an' he's one smart hombre."

The sun slanted toward the far horizon, the brightness changed to gold and rose. It was some time short of twilight when Jones 運ぶ／漁獲高d up at the 辛勝する／優位 of the bush, which had beckoned for so many hours. A 明らかにする 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on the bank of a 狭くする slow-moving stream attested to many campfires.

"Look!" interposed Sterl, pointing at forms across the stream. They were natives, of course, but a first actual sight was disconcerting.

"黒人／ボイコット man, with gin and lubra, and some kids," said Jones.

"宗教上の Mackeli!" ejaculated Red. "They look human--but--"

Sterl's comrade, with his usual perspicuity, had 攻撃する，衝突する it. The group of natives stood just at the 辛勝する／優位 of the bush. Sterl saw six 人物／姿／数字s out in the open, but he had a glimpse of others. The man was exceedingly tall, thin, 黒人／ボイコット as coal, almost naked. He held a spear, upright, and it stood far above his shaggy 長，率いる. A scant 耐えるd fuzzed the lower part of his 直面する. His big, bold, somber 注目する，もくろむs glared a moment, then with a long stride he went 支援する into the bush. The women ぐずぐず残るd curiously. The older, the "gin," was hideous to behold. The lubra, a young girl, appeared sturdy and voluptuous. Both were naked except for short grass skirts. The children were wholly nude. A 厳しい 発言する／表明する sent them scurrying into the bush.

"Gosh! I'd hate to 会合，会う thet long-laiged hombre in the dark," said Red.

"Hope some of them come around our campfire," 追加するd Sterl, with zest.

He had his wish. After supper, about dusk, the 黒人／ボイコット man appeared, a 非常に高い unreal 人物／姿／数字. He did not have the long spear. The cook gave him something to eat; and the native, making quick despatch of that, accosted Jones in a low 発言する／表明する.

"Him sit 負かす／撃墜する alonga 解雇する／砲火／射撃," replied Jones, pointing to Sterl.

The 黒人／ボイコット man slowly approached the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, then stood motionless on the 辛勝する／優位 of the circle of light. Presently he （機の）カム up to Sterl.

"Tobac?" he asked, in a low 深い 発言する／表明する.

"Yes," replied Sterl, and 申し込む／申し出d what he had taken the 警戒 to get from his pack. At the 交流 Sterl caught a good look at the native's 手渡すs, to find them surprisingly supple and shapely. He next caught a strong 団体／死体 odor, which was unpleasant.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する, 長，指導者," said Sterl, making appropriate 調印するs. The 黒人／ボイコット man, 倍のing his long 脚s under him, appeared to sit on them. A cigar Sterl had given him was evidently a new one on the native. But as Sterl was smoking one, he quickly caught on. Sterl, 可決する・採択するing the method cowboys always used when plains Indians visited the campfires, manifested a silent dignity. The 黒人／ボイコット man was old--no one could have told how old. There was gray in his shaggy locks, and his visage was a 地図／計画する of lines that portrayed the havoc of elemental 争い. Sterl divined thought and feeling in this savage, and he felt intensely curious.

Jones left the other teamsters, to come over and speak to the native.

"Any 黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに us?" he asked.

"Might be," was the terse reply.

"Me watchem smokes all alonga bush."

But the aborigine returned silence to that 発言／述べる. Presently he arose and stalked away in the gloom.

"Queer duck," said Red, reflectively.

"He sure 利益／興味d me," replied Sterl. "All except the smell of him. Rol, do all these 黒人／ボイコットs smell that bad?"

"Some worse, some not at all. It's something they grease themselves with."

On the fifth day, they reached the blue hills that had beckoned to Sterl. The wagon road 負傷させる into a 地域 of 非常に／多数の creeks and fertile valleys where parrots and parakeets abounded. They passed by one 駅／配置する that day and through one little sleepy hamlet of a few houses and a 蓄える／店, with 辺ぴな paddocks where Sterl 遠くに見つけるd some 罰金 horses. （軍の）野営地，陣営 that night 申し込む／申し出d a new experience to the cowboys. The cook was out of beef, and Jones took them 追跡（する）ing. They did not have to go far to find kangaroo, or shoot often. The meat had a flavour that Sterl thought would grow on him, and Red avowed it was equal to porterhouse steak or buffalo 残余.

Two noons later Jones drove out of the ジャングル to the 辛勝する／優位 of a long slope that afforded a 見解（をとる） of Slyter's valley.

"That road goes on to Downsville," said Jones, pointing, "a good few miles. This road leads to Slyter's 駅／配置する. Water and grass for a reasonable sized 暴徒 of cattle. But Bing has big ideas."

Presently Slyter's gray-塀で囲むd, tin-roofed house （機の）カム into sight, picturesquely 位置を示すd on a green （法廷の）裁判 with a background of 抱擁する eucalyptus trees, and half hidden in a bower of golden wattle. The hills on each 味方する spread wider and wider, to where the valley opened into the 範囲, and numberless cattle dotted the grassy land.

Along the brook, さらに先に 負かす／撃墜する, 明らかにする-政治家d 盗品故買者s of corrals （機の）カム into sight, and then a long, low, スピードを出す／記録につける barn, with a roof of earth and green grass and yellow flowers, instead of the ugly galvanized アイロンをかける.

"Home!" sang out Jones. "Eight days' 運動! Not so bad. If we just didn't have that impossible trek to 直面する!"

"Wal, Rollie Tewkesbury Jones!" 宣言するd Red, gayly. "You 空気／公表する human after all. Fust time I've heahed you croak."

Sterl leaped 負かす／撃墜する to stretch his cramped 脚s. Red called for him to 選ぶ out a （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置 up from the low ground a little, while he helped the teamsters unhitch. Sterl walked on, ーするつもりであるing to find a place for the テント under those yellow-blooming wattles. He heard 早い footfalls coming from somewhere. As he passed the corner of the barn, his 直面する turned the other way, trying to 位置を示す whoever was running, someone 衝突する／食い違うd violently with him, almost upsetting him.

He turned to see that this individual had been knocked almost flat. He thought that it was a boy because of the boots and blue pants. But a cloud of chestnut hair, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd aside, 公表する／暴露するd the tanned 直面する and flashing, hazel 注目する，もくろむs of a girl. She raised herself, 手渡すs propped on the ground, to lean 支援する and look up at him. 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs of red （機の）カム into her （疑いを）晴らす cheeks. Lips of the same hue curled in a smile, 公表する／暴露するing even, white teeth.

"Oh, 行方不明になる! I'm sorry," burst out Sterl, in 狼狽. "I wasn't looking...You ran plump into me."

"Rath-thur!" she replied. "Dad always said I'd run into something someday. I did...I'm Leslie."

CHAPTER 3

The girl leaped 築く, showing herself to be above medium 高さ, lithe and strong, yet with a 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd form no boy's garb could hide.

"You're Dad's Yankee cowboy--not the redheaded one?"

"I'm Sterl Hazelton," returned Sterl. "Glad to 会合，会う you, 行方不明になる Leslie."

"Thanks, I'm glad, too. Dad has been home four days, and I could hardly wait." She looked up at him with wonderful （疑いを）晴らす 注目する，もくろむs that took him in from 長，率いる to foot.

"I （機の）カム up here to find a place for our テント. All 権利 to put it there, under this tree?"

"Of course. But we have a spare room in the house."

"No, thank you. whisky and I couldn't sleep indoors."

"Let us go 負かす／撃墜する. I want to 会合，会う whisky. Did you have a good trek outback?"

"It was 簡単に 広大な／多数の／重要な. I never looked so hard and long before."

"Oh, now nice! You're going to like Australia?"

"I do already. And whisky can't hide from me how he likes it, too."

It chanced that they （機の）カム upon whisky when his 支援する was turned, as he was 解除するing 捕らえる、獲得するs out of the wagons.

"Red, a lady to 会合，会う you." Sterl saw him start, grow rigid, then slowly turn, to 公表する／暴露する a 紅潮／摘発するing, amazed 直面する. "行方不明になる Slyter, this is my pard, Red Krehl...Red, our boss's daughter, 行方不明になる Leslie."

At this juncture Slyter, stalwart and 決定的な in his 範囲 garb, stamped 負かす／撃墜する upon them. "Roland, you made a 罰金 運動. So, cowboys, here you are. Welcome to Australia's outback! We saw you coming, and I sent Leslie to 会合，会う you. How are you, and did you like the short ride out?"

"Mr. Slyter, I never had a finer ride in my life," averred Sterl.

"Boss, it shore was grand," addwhisky. "But short? Ump-umm. It was orful long. I see 権利 heah we gotta get so we can savvy each other's lingo."

"That will come in time, Krehl. I'm just 支援する from Downsville. Allan Hathaway leaves tomorrow with six drovers and a 暴徒 of fifteen hundred cattle. Woolcott has 召集（する）d twelve hundred and will follow. Stanley and Eric Dann go next day with ten drovers and thirty-five hundred 長，率いる. We are to catch up with them. Ormiston has three drovers and eight hundred 長，率いる. He wants to drove with us. I don't know Ormiston and I'm not keen about joining him. But what can I do? Stanley Dann is our leader. Our own 暴徒 is about 召集（する）d. Now all that's left to do it pack and start."

"Oh, Dad! I'm on pins and needles!" cried Leslie, jumping up and 負かす／撃墜する, and clapping her 手渡すs.

"Slyter, how many riders--drovers have you?" queried Sterl.

"Four, not counting you cowboys. Here's Leslie, who's as good as any drover. I'll 運動 our covered wagon and 法案 Williams, our cook, will 運動 one dray. Roland, you'll have the other."

"Seven riders, counting 行方不明になる Leslie," pondered Sterl.

"I see you think that's not enough," spoke up Slyster. "Hazelton, it'll have to do. I can't 雇う any more in this country."

"Boss, how about yore remuda?" interposwhisky, anxiously.

"Remuda?"

"Excoose me, boss. Thet's Texas lingo for hosses. How many hosses will you take?"

"We've 召集（する）d the best of my 在庫／株. About a hundred. The 残り／休憩（する） I've sold in Downville."

"Dad has the finest horses in Queensland," interrupted Leslie.

"井戸／弁護士席, men, I'm glad to get that off my mind," 結論するd Slyter, with a laugh. "Roland, send 法案 up to get supper. Hazelton, you boys come up when you've unpacked. Leslie, let's go 支援する to Mum."

Sterl labored up the grassy （法廷の）裁判, conscious of a queer little sensation of 楽しみ, the origin of which he thought he had better not 分析する. He dropped the 激しい canvas roll in the likeliest 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, and sat 負かす／撃墜する in the golden glow from the wattle. The adventure he had fallen upon seemed unbelievable. But here was this golden-green valley, with purple sunset-gilded 範囲s in the distance; there was bowleggwhisky staggering up the gentle slope with his 重荷（を負わせる）s. He reached Sterl, wiped the sweat from his red 直面する, and said:

"Queer 取引，協定, eh pard?"

"I should snicker to snort, as you say いつかs."

"Pard, I've a hunch these 罰金 Australian men have no idee what they're up agin'. They're takin' their familees. Leastways Slyter is, an' this Stanley Dann. One 罰金 hombre, accordin' to Jones. Takin' his only daughter, too. Beryl Dann. Wal, it'd be hard enough an' 堅い enough for us without a couple of girls...This Leslie kid. About sixteen, I'd say. But a woman, an' 十分な of all a woman has to make men trouble."

Just before dusk, they were called to supper. They entered a big plain living room, where a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすd in a rude 石／投石する fireplace, and a long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with steaming, savory foods 招待するd keen relish. Mrs. Slyter was a buxom, pleasant woman. Leslie 相続するd her 罰金 physique. However, when the girl （機の）カム in, Sterl hardly 認めるd her in a dress. Her frank, winning gaiety 相殺する the mother's silence. Red brought a smile to Mrs. Slyter's 直面する, however, by 説 that such a supper would be something to remember when he was hungry way out on the Never-never.

"Boys, in the morning first thing I want you to look over the horses," said Slyter. "After that we'll ride over to town. Dann is keen to talk with you."

"行方不明になる Leslie, what was thet you said about yore Dad's horses?" askwhisky.

"Dad 産む／飼育するs the finest 在庫／株 in Australia," she replied. "That's where his heart is. And 地雷, too. The 長，指導者 推論する／理由 Dad wants to cross the Never-never is because he has learned that in the far northwest, in the country of the Kimberley's there is a perfect 気候, grass and water beyond a drover's dreams."

"Sounds 甘い. What 空気／公表する the Kimberleys?"

"Mountain 範囲s. Stanley Dann's brother Eric has seen them. He says they are 楽園. He trekked to the Kimberleys several years ago. But that trek did not cross the Never-never."

"I savvy. Then thet three thousand mile 運動 we're undertakin' is jest a short 削減（する）?"

"It is, really. The whole idea thrills me through and through."

"Shore. I can see why for a boy. But for a girl--"

"I'm tired of that Downsville school. Then I couldn't let Mum and Dad go without me."

"Yeah? But can you ride, 行方不明になる Leslie?" went on Red, drawling, quizzically.

"Please don't call me 行方不明になる...Ride? I'll give you a go any day, Mister Cowboy."

"Please don't call me mister...'Course I wouldn't race you. No girl in the world could （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 a Texas cowboy."

"I wouldn't 危険 any guesses or wagers," said Sterl.

"You'd better not. My horses are the finest in Queensland. We'll 行方不明になる the races this 落ちる. I'm sorry about that. All the fun we ever have here is racing."

"Yore hosses. You mean yore Dad's?" 問い合わせd Red.

"No, my own. I have ten. I'm just waiting to show you!"

When the cowboys said good night and walked toward their （軍の）野営地，陣営, Red 問い合わせd: "Pard, did you look Leslie over tonight?"

"I saw her, but I didn't look twice."

"Shore a 罰金 looker in thet blue dress. She was born on a hoss all 権利. Did you notice she was a little いっそう少なく 解放する／自由な with you than with me?"

"No, pard, I didn't."

"Wal, she was. But thet isn't goin' to keep me from takin' my chance. Aw, I don't entertain no big hope of cuttin' you out. I never could 勝利，勝つ any girl when you was around."

"Red, you can have them all," 宣言するd Sterl.

At day-break they were off for the paddock, laden with saddles, bridles and 一面に覆う／毛布s. Another barn 示すd the 開始 of the level valley. Cattle were bawling, horses whistling, thrushes singing. A 激しい dew glistened upon grass and 小衝突. 負かす／撃墜する the 小道／航路, riders 機動力のある bareback were 運動ing a string of horses into a corral.

Presently Sterl and Red were perched upon the 最高の，を越す 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of the corral 盗品故買者, as they had been perhaps thousands of times on western ranches, directing keen and experienced 注目する，もくろむs at the drove of dusty, shaggy horses. They 証明するd to be fat, 十分な of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and dash, superb in every 必要物／必要条件. They （機の）カム of a rangier, heavier, more powerful 在庫／株 than the ordinary western horses, and in these particulars were markedly superior to the plains cayuse.

"Gosh-durn-it! I never seen their （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域. Did we have to come way out heah to see English 在庫／株 （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 the socks off ours?" said Red.

"But, Red, good horses have to have 速度(を上げる） and stamina," returned Sterl, weakly.

"Hell, you can see thet in every line. Hosses gotta be the same all over. We never knowed any but ornery-注目する，もくろむd, kickin', bitin' cayuses."

"Red, I remember a few that you couldn't call that. Baldy, Whiteface, 位置／汚点／見つけ出す--and you couldn't forget Dusty--that broke his heart and died on his feet for you."

"Shet up! I wasn't meanin' a hoss in at thousand. Lord, could I forget the day Dusty outrun them Comanches?"

Jones sauntered over, …を伴ってd by a brawny young man whom he introduced as Larry. "Boss's orders are for you each to 選ぶ out five horses. Hurry now!"

"Wal, Rol, they look so darn good I don't see any sense in pickin' atall. But it's fun...Sterl, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする you for first 選ぶ."

Red won, and his choice was the very 黒人／ボイコット that Sterl had 始める，決める his heart on. Still in a moment, he burst out with enthusiasm, "There's a chestnut. Gosh, what a hoss! I 選ぶ him..."

"Here's a sorrel for me. I'll 指名する him after you, Red. But I don't see a 黒人／ボイコット like that one you （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me to."

Leslie's rich contralto rang out from behind. "What's that about a 黒人／ボイコット?"

"Hello. I wondered about you," replied Sterl.

"Mawnin', Leslie," drawled Red. "I kinda like you better in them ridin' togs. Not so dangerous lookin' to a pore cowboy...Looks like you been ridin' some, at thet."

Indeed she did, thought Sterl, and could not 解任する any ranch girl who equaled her. Leather worn thin, shiny metal 刺激（する）s that showed bits of horsehair, ragged trousers stuffed in high boots, gray blouse and colorful scarf, her chestnut hair in a braid 負かす／撃墜する her 支援する--these charmed Sterl, 完全に aside from her gold-tan cheeks with their 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs of red, her curved lips, like cherries, and her flashing 注目する，もくろむs.

"Red got first 選ぶ on me," explained Sterl. "Snitched that 黒人／ボイコット."

"Not too bad, you cowboys," returned Leslie, her ちらりと見ること taking in their choice.

"You Yankees are the queerest talking people!" said Leslie when the cowboys had finished their horse-choosing contest. "But I believe you'll be good cobbers. Come now, I'll show you some real Australian horses."

Sterl had 用意が出来ている himself for a 扱う／治療する to a horse lover's 注目する，もくろむs, but when he looked through the 盗品故買者 of a corral 隣接するing the shed he could hardly credit his sight. He beheld the finest horses he had ever seen in one bunch in his whole 範囲 experience. These were not shaggy, dusty, 範囲-解放する／自由な animals, but 井戸／弁護士席-groomed, sleek and shiny thoroughbreds in the pink of 条件.

"Leslie--who takes such grand care of these horses?" gasped Sterl.

"I do--a little. But Friday does most of it. He's my 黒人／ボイコット man. Dad sent him uptown...You might say something."

"I can't, child," returned Sterl, feelingly. "Horses have been the most important things in my life. And these of yours! But are they really yours, Leslie?"

"Indeed they are. 地雷! I 港／避難所't anything else. Hardly a new dress to my 指名する. A few 調書をとる／予約するs."

"Leslie, 港／避難所't you any beaus?" asked Sterl lightly.

"I had. But Dad shut 負かす／撃墜する on them lately," replied the girl, 本気で. "Not that I cared much. Only I've been lonesome."

"Wal, young lady," drawled Red, "you ain't gonna be so lonesome 今後, if my hunch is 訂正する."

"That 黒人／ボイコット horse--" spoke up Sterl, pointing to a noble, rangy beast.

"That's King. He's five years old. Bred from Dad's 広大な／多数の／重要な dam. King has won all his races the last two years. Oh, he's swift! He threw me last race. But we won."

"So you were up on him? 井戸／弁護士席!" 再結合させるd Sterl, in wonder and 賞賛.

"Yes, I can ride him. But Dad says no more. At least not in races. He's too strong. Has a mouth like アイロンをかける. And once running against other horses, he's terrific."

"I'll have to put my 手渡すs on him," said Sterl.

"You're going to ride him, cowboy," replied the girl. "Let's go inside the paddock."

Red had またがるd the 最高の，を越す 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of the 盗品故買者, and his silence was eloquent. Leslie led the way inside. She called and whistled. All the horses threw up their 長，率いるs, and some of them started for her. Then they 軍隊／機動隊d 今後, 罰金 長，率いるs up, manes 飛行機で行くing. Still they 停止（させる）d some yards from the 盗品故買者, eager, whinnying, but not trustful of the strangers.

"Come up heah, pard," called Red. "They're skeered of you. Instinct! They know you're a hard-ridin' hombre from Arizonie."

Leslie walked away from the 盗品故買者 somewhat, and 説得するd. A spotted アイロンをかける-gray animal, clean-削減（する） in build, was the first to come to the girl.

"Jester," she called to him, and got 持つ／拘留する of his mane to lead him 支援する to the 盗品故買者. "One of my best. He's tricky--十分な of the devil, but 急速な／放蕩な, tireless...Red, would you like to have him on the trek? It would please me. I think you'd be clever enough to match him."

"Would I?--Aw, Leslie, that's too good of you. Why, he took my 注目する，もくろむ fust thing. But I oughtn't take him!"

"Done! He's yours. Get 負かす／撃墜する and make friends with him."

Red 従うd with alacrity. Sterl watched as he saw the cowboy's lean brown 手渡す, slow and sure, creep out to touch the arching, glossy neck. "Jester, you dog-done lucky hoss! Why, I'm the kindest rider that ever threw his laig over a saddle."

"King, come here," called Leslie to the magnificent 黒人／ボイコット. But it was a beautiful bay that approached at the girl's bidding. "Lady Jane, you know I'm going to ride you this morning, now don't you?" She petted the 匂いをかぐing muzzle, and laid her cheek against the 削減する 黒人／ボイコット mane. Then most of the others except King （機の）カム begging for her 好意. She introduced them to the cowboys as if they were persons of 階級--Duke, a 広大な／多数の／重要な rangy sorrel, almost red, pride and 力／強力にする in every line; Duchess, a long-tailed white 損なう, an aristocrat whose 指名する was felicitous; Lord Chester, a 削減する gray stallion, hard to overlook even in that 禁止（する）d.

The 黒人／ボイコット still hung behind; Leslie had to go for him.

Closer at 手渡す, his magnificent physical 質s appeared more striking.

"King," said Leslie, impressively, "this is an American cowboy, Sterl Hazelton, who is going to ride you--ride you, I said, you big devil--on our 広大な／多数の／重要な trek."

Sterl had 恐れるd this very thing. "Leslie, don't ask me to take him--your favorite!" he 抗議するd.

"But he's not my favorite! I don't love him--井戸／弁護士席, not so much--since he threw me. Please, Sterl!"

"I only 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be 説得するd," 再結合させるd Sterl, lamely. "Thanks, Leslie. It's just too good to be true...I had a horse once..."

"Lead him out," said Leslie, then with surprising 緩和する she leaped upon the 明らかにする 支援する of Lady Jane. Red followed with Jester, and Sterl gently 勧めるd the 黒人／ボイコット to join them.

"King, let's look each other over," said Sterl, as he let go of the mane and squared away in 前線 of the horse. King threw up his noble 長，率いる, and his 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs had a piercing curiosity. But he was not in the least afraid. Sterl put out a 確信して 手渡す to rub his nose.

"Saddle up, boys," said Leslie, slipping off. "Let's get this trip to town over. I don't mind showing you to the girls, because they'll be left behind, except Beryl Dann. And I just hate to 現在の you to her."

Sterl did not 発言する／表明する his surprise, but Red blurted out. "An' '原因（となる） why, Leslie?"

"I'll be jealous," laughed the girl, 率直に. "I'd like you both for my cavaliers. Oh, Beryl is lovely, even if she is spoiled and proud. Her father is lord of the manor, so to speak."

In short order they were 機動力のある in the unfamiliar English saddles, and ready to ride away. King pranced a little. Sterl sensed his tremendous, latent 力／強力にする.

One 支店 of the road turned 支援する past the house; the other, which Leslie took, crossed the creek and 負傷させる up the slope into the bush. Wattle trees sent a golden shade 負かす／撃墜する upon them, singing cur-ra-wongs followed them.

"Bell magpies," said Leslie. "I love them almost 同様に as the kookaburras. That reminds me. Dad won't let me take all my pets."

They 棒 on. 厚い bush began to thin out; another mile brought open country, green rolling hills and vales that looked overgrazed. Presently Sterl saw horses and cattle, and columns of smoke, and at length a big white house with 広大な／多数の／重要な tin water 戦車／タンクs under the eaves. He had not 観察するd this around Slyter's house, but he had しっかり掴むd that most of these Australian 駅／配置する owners had to catch their water in the 乾燥した，日照りの season. This was the Dann 駅／配置する, just outside of town.

"There she is--Beryl," said Leslie, and waving a gauntleted 手渡す she called. Sterl saw a fair-直面するd, fair-haired girl, distinguished by grace even in what was evidently the workaday dress of the moment.

"Pard, don't you reckon I oughta pull leather oot of heah?" said Red, in perturbation.

"I should smile you should," returned Sterl. "And me too!"

"Stand to your colors, men," retorted Leslie. Presently Sterl was doffing his sombrero, and gallantly 屈服するing to a handsome girl, some years Leslie's 上級の, whose 宙に浮く permitted graciousness, yet hid curiosity.

Sterl made a pleasant little speech and Red 削減（する） in with his southern drawn, "Wal, 行方不明になる Dann, I shore am glad to 会合，会う another Australian girl. My pard heah, Sterl an' me, have been sorta worried over this long trek an' thought of backin' out. But not no more."

Beryl Dann was neither too dignified nor too grown up not to be pleased and flattered by what Sterl divined was an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の speech to her.

As Sterl 棒 on with Leslie, he 観察するd without looking 支援する that Red did not …を伴って them.

"Did you like her?" queried Leslie, a dark flash of her hazel 注目する，もくろむs on Sterl. She was a woman; still Sterl could not 反応する to the 状況／情勢 with playful duplicity, as one impulse 誘発するd him to.

"Yes, of course," he said, 率直に. "Pretty and gracious, if a little haughty. I wonder--has she lived out here long?"

"Yes. The Danns have been here all of five years. But Beryl went to school in Sydney. She visits there often. She's lovely! All the young men 法廷，裁判所 her...Didn't you 落ちる in love with her at first sight?"

"My child, I did not."

"Don't call me child," she flashed, quickly. "I'm grown up. Old enough to get married!"

"You don't say. I wouldn't have thought it," replied Sterl teasingly.

"Yes. Dad thought so. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to give me to a 駅／配置する man over here. But I wouldn't...Red has not escaped Beryl--that's obvious. Look 支援する."

Sterl did so, to see the cowboy still leaning over his saddle gazing 負かす／撃墜する upon the fair-haired girl.

"Sterl, I like Red," went on Leslie, confidentially. "But I'd never let him see it. I don't know cowboys, of course. But I know young men who are devils after women. And he's one. I could feel it...But I guess you're different. Sterl, I'm crazy to take this trek. But I'm 脅すd. There will be twenty young men with us. I know how they can be, even trekking in to Brisbane. Eight days! My mother, Stanley Dann's sister, Beryl and I the only women!..."

"Leslie, your fathers never should take you."

"But I want to go. Beryl does, too. It means new homes, new friends, new lives...Sterl, I hope you'll be a big brother to me. Will you?"

"Thank you. I'll try," 答える／応じるd Sterl, 心から. The girl's frank wistfulness touched him 深く，強烈に. "But I'm a stranger. I might be what Red calls no good atall."

"You might be, but I don't believe it...I like you, Sterl. I'm not afraid of you. Mum says I'm a hoyden. But I'm 極度の慎重さを要する. These outback men 法廷，裁判所 you on sight--抱擁する and kiss you--or try to. Outback it's a fight for love, women, cattle--for life itself."

"Leslie, it's much like that on the western 範囲s where I come from. I understand a little how a young girl feels."

"You are going to be a 慰安, Sterl," she said, happily. "Here we are, 権利 in town. And there comes Red, putting Jester to a canter...There's where I went to school...Oh, I forgot something I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to tell you. Do you remember Dad について言及するing a drover, Ashley Ormiston?"

"Yes. He is the man Mr. Dann wants your Dad to throw in with."

"Sterl, I don't like the idea at all. Mr. Ormiston is new to Downsville. You'll 会合，会う him today, so I don't need to 述べる him. But he has been very much in 証拠 since the races. I met him that day, and to be honest I was fascinated. Sterl; he--he 侮辱d me that very first night. I've tried to 避ける him ever since."

"Have you told your father?" queried Sterl.

"I dare not," she replied, 簡単に.

At that moment Red caught up with them.

"Let's tie up here," Leslie said, 停止（させる）ing. "Now boys, you 追跡（する） up Dad. He'll be somewhere, waiting for you. Stanley Dann wants to 会合，会う you. Be good. Don't drink--or forget you're my cowboys."

They turned a corner to reach a point opposite a large 蓄える／店, in 前線 of which had collected a （人が）群がる, mostly men, all trying to get out of the way of a 衝突 of some 肉親，親類d. Then Sterl saw a white man kick an aborigine into the street. He heard a woman cry out that it was Slyter's 黒人／ボイコット man, Friday.

Sterl stepped out of the （人が）群がる and off from the pavement. Then a white man, agile and powerful, leaped into the street to kick the 黒人／ボイコット viciously, knocking him flat.

Striding over, Sterl placed a hard 手渡す against the 攻撃者 and 押すd him 支援する, far from gently.

The man straightened up. He was a dark-browed, handsome fellow of about thirty, garbed as a drover.

"What 商売／仕事--of yours?" he panted, hoarsely.

"I just thought you'd kicked that 黒人／ボイコット enough," 宣言するd Sterl, deliberately.

"Who are--you?" 需要・要求するd the other, his dark 注目する，もくろむs 燃やすing. Sterl caught a strong odor of whisky.

"No 事柄. I'm a newcomer."

"Damned, 干渉, Yankee blighter," shouted the Australian, and with a backhanded sweep he struck Sterl a blow across the mouth that staggered him.

回復するing his balance, Sterl leaped 今後, and gave his antagonist a sudden blow low 負かす／撃墜する, then swung his 権利 握りこぶし hard and 猛烈な／残忍な at those malignant 注目する，もくろむs, and felled him like a bullock under the ax.

Red lined up と一緒に his comrade. The buzzing circle （人が）群がるd into the street. Sterl, to his 狼狽, 遠くに見つけるd Leslie's pale 直面する. Then her father dragged her 支援する and strode out, …を伴ってd by a tawny-haired 巨大（な）, leonine in build and mien.

Slyter gazed at the prostrate man, who was stirring, and from him to the 黒人／ボイコット. "Friday! Who 攻撃する，衝突する you?"

"Boss, that one fella," replied the 黒人／ボイコット, and pointed to his 残虐な 攻撃者.

"Dann, it's Ash Ormiston!" ejaculated Slyter.

"I see. Looks as if a horse kicked him...Here you, what does this mean?" にわか景気d the 巨大（な）, wheeling upon Sterl.

Red 介入するd, 冷静な／正味の and 用心深い. "Watch thet hombre, pard. He might have a gun."

"Krehl!" exclaimed Slyter. "Did you slug, Ormiston?"

"No, Sterl did thet. But I'd have liked to."

"Stanley, these are my two American cowboys, Krehl and Hazelton."

"Drunk and 列／漕ぐ／騒動ing, eh?" queried Dann. Sterl 直面するd Dann, and he was not in a humor to be 懐柔的な.

"No, I'm not drunk," he rang out. "It's your country-man who is that. I （機の）カム upon him kicking this 黒人／ボイコット man, Friday. Kicking him in the 直面する and chest! I 干渉するd. He called me a damned, 干渉 Yankee blighter and 攻撃する，衝突する me. Then I soaked him."

"Friday, what you do alonga Ormiston?" asked Slyter, gruffly.

"黒人／ボイコット fella tellum bimeby," replied Friday, and stalked into the （人が）群がる, where Sterl saw Leslie try to stop him and fail.

一方／合間 Ormiston staggered to his unsteady feet, one of his 注目する，もくろむs beginning to puff.

"Where's that ---- Yankee who 攻撃する，衝突する me?" he bit out.

Dann laid a 抑制するing 手渡す on him. "Man, you're drunk."

Sterl 直面するd him. "Go for your gun if you've got one."

Ormiston violently threw Dann off.

Dann waved the （人が）群がる 支援する. "Get off the street!" he roared.

CHAPTER 4

If Ormiston had a gun 隠すd on his person, he made no move to draw it. Sterl's 手渡す dropped 支援する to his 味方する.

"I'll not 交流 発射s--with a Yankee tramp," panted Ormiston.

"No. But you're not above kicking a poor 黒人／ボイコット when he's 負かす／撃墜する," replied Sterl.

Red again slouched over to Sterl's 味方する. "Haw! Haw!" His hard, mirthless laugh rang with 軽蔑（する）. "Orful particular, ain't you, Mr. Ormiston, about who you throw a gun on? Wal, you got some sense, at thet."

"Dann, you're 治安判事 here!" shouted Ormiston. "Order these Yankees out of town."

"You're drunk, I told you," replied Dann. "You started a fight, then failed to go through with it."

"No, I didn't. I only kicked that snooping 黒人／ボイコット. This Yankee started it...I'll not engage in a gun fight with a foreign adventurer," replied Ormiston in hoarse haste.

"Mister, why don't you pull thet gun I see inside yore coat?" drawled Red.

"Dann, order these Yankees to leave," repeated Ormiston, stridently.

"No. You're making a fool of yourself," 宣言するd Dann. "Slyter has 雇うd these cowboys to help him on the trek."

"Slyter, is that true--you're taking these cowboys?"

"Yes, I've 雇うd them."

"Will you 発射する／解雇する them?"

"No, I certainly will not."

"Then I 辞退する to take my drovers and my 暴徒 of cattle on Dann's trek."

"Ormiston, I don't care a damn what you do," said Slyter.

Ormiston made a 強烈な and 熱烈な gesture, then shouldered his way through the （人が）群がる to disappear.

Slyter lost no time in getting to Sterl and Red and dragged them with him across the pavement into a 蓄える／店. Dann strode after them. And there the four men 直面するd each other.

"Gentlemen, I'm terribly sorry," began Sterl. "It's just too bad that I had to mess up your 計画（する）s at the last moment. But I couldn't stand for such dirty, low-負かす／撃墜する brutality."

"Pard," drawled Red, coolly rolling a cigarette. "If you hadn't been so damn quick I'd have 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd Ormiston myself."

Dann 一打／打撃d his golden 耐えるd with a 大規模な 手渡す, and his 侵入するing 注目する，もくろむs 熟考する／考慮するd the cowboys.

"It was unfortunate," he began, "Ormiston had been drinking. But I'll 断言する the 黒人／ボイコット 絶対 did not deserve that kicking. Friday is the best native I ever knew. He's honest, loyal, 充てるd to Leslie, who was good to his gin when she lay dying."

Red 緩和するd 今後 a step, in his slow way. "Mr. Dann, I'd like to ask you, without meanin' 罪／違反, if there ain't Englishmen heah an' there who's jest no good atall?"

Dann let out a 深い laugh that was 納得させるing. "There are, cowboy, and you can lay to that."

"Wal, I'm glad to heah you 収容する／認める it. If I ever met a low-負かす／撃墜する hombre thet Ormiston is one. Mebbe it wouldn't have been so 平易な to see through--him but for the drink. No, Ormiston is jest no good atall--an' he come damn 近づく bein' a daid one."

"Tell me, Hazelton," spoke up Dann, his amber 注目する，もくろむs 十分な of little, dancing glints, "if Ormiston had moved to draw his revolver--what would you have done?"

"I'd have killed the fool," 宣言するd Sterl.

"Indeed!--Did you see that Ormiston was 武装した?"

"No. But I knew it...Now, Slyter, I think the thing for Red and me to do is to leave town at once."

"You will do nothing of the 肉親，親類d," 再結合させるd Slyter, stoutly.

"Boys, it's not to be thought of," 追加するd Dann. "Ormiston was bluffing. He won't やめる us. Like all of us he sees a way to wealth. And we need him with us. The more drovers, the more cattle, the better our chances for success."

"Mr. Dann, I see the necessity for you. But if Red and I go--we'll 衝突／不一致 with Ormiston."

"Listen, you young gamecocks," went on Dann, persuasively. "Outback there will be too much 衝突／不一致 with the elements and the 黒人／ボイコットs for us drovers to fight の中で ourselves. We'll all be brothers before we reach the Never-never. Isn't that so, Bing?"

"It has been 証明するd by other treks," replied Slyter, 真面目に. "If you boys are 関心d about me or Leslie--just forget that and take the 危険."

"Boss, we'll never throw you 負かす／撃墜する," said Red.

"We will go," 追加するd Sterl, and his トン was a 誓約（する）. "But have you ever driven cattle into a hard wilderness, months on end, against all the hard knocks a desolate country can 取引，協定 you?"

"No, Hazelton, we have never been on a real trek," Dann replied. "But my brother Eric has. He slights the hardships either because he is callous, unfeeling, or because he doesn't want me to know. In fact, Eric has failed after several starts in Queensland."

"Do you want my advice?"

Dann nodded his leonine 長，率いる. "Indeed yes! It's too late now, even if I would 支援する out. Hazelton, perhaps Providence sent you rangemen to help us. To get 負かす／撃墜する to 根底となるs, tell us just what 肉親，親類d of 範囲 you have driven 暴徒s of cattle over--how far--what 肉親，親類d of 障害s--how you worked."

"That's 平易な, gentlemen, and you can believe what I tell you," replied Sterl. "Some years ago, just after the Civil War, Texas was 侵略（する）／超過（する） with millions of longhorn cattle. The ranchers had no home market. A rancher 指名するd Chisholm conceived the idea of 運動ing herds of cattle from southern Texas across the plains to Kansas. Chisholm started out with over three thousand 長，率いる of cattle and twelve riders. He made it--five hundred miles--in something over ninety days, losing four cowboys and two thousand 長，率いる of cattle. But he sold what was left at a 抱擁する 利益（をあげる）. His Chisholm 追跡する 就任するd 追跡する 運動ing in Texas.

"As for hardships--in that 早期に day fifty million buffalo 範囲d from the 湾 to the Dakotas. For years 殺到s of buffalo were the worst 障害s the 追跡する drivers had to 打ち勝つ. Next to that were the attacks and （警察の）手入れ，急襲s of savage Indians. There were rivers to ford, some of them big and wide, often in flood. In 乾燥した，日照りの years there were long 運動s from water to water. 雷雨s often 殺到d herds. 砂じん嵐s, sandstorms were terrible to 運動 against. In the 落ちる and winter, the Del Notre, the 氷点の 強風 that blew out of a （疑いを）晴らす sky, was something the riders hated and 恐れるd. Lastly there （機の）カム rustling--the 時代 of the cattle thieves, which is in its heyday 権利 now."

"Wonderful! Wonderful!" exclaimed Dann, his 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing. "足緒 Chisholm was a man after my heart. A savior of Texas, yes?"

"Indeed he saved Texas and built the cattle empire."

Red emitted a cloud of smoke, and drawled: "Boss, I 棒 for 足緒 once. He was a 広大な／多数の／重要な hombre. Harder than the hinges on the gates of hell! いつか I'll tell you stories about him, one thing special, his jingle-（頭が）ひょいと動く brand, thet was so famous."

"Boys, I'll enjoy your stories, when time 許すs," にわか景気d the drover. "I thank the good Lord for sending you to Australia! Hazelton, one thing more. How did you 運動 your 暴徒s?"

"We 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd them up into a 広大な／多数の／重要な triangle, with the apex pointing in the direction we had to go. 'Pointing the herd,' that was called. Two of the nerviest cowboys had the lead at the point. The 集まり of cattle would follow the leads. Two cowboys on each 味方する at the 中心 of the herd, the 残り／休憩（する） at the 幅の広い base where stragglers and 見捨てる人／脱走兵s--'drags' we called them--had to be watched and driven."

"Were you one of those cowboys who 棒 at the 長，率いる?" queried Dann.

"No, but Red was, always. I was a good 手渡す after the drags."

"Shake 手渡すs with me, cowboys," bellowed Dann. "Slyter, I'll order my drovers to start my 暴徒 tomorrow, 前向きに／確かに. I'll tell Ormiston to go or stay, as he chooses...会合，会う us soon out on the trek. Good-by."

Sterl became aware that the 蓄える／店 was 十分な of inquisitive people. He and Red were the cynosure of all 注目する，もくろむs. Red enjoyed such attention, but Sterl hated it, 特に, as had happened so often, when he had just engaged in a fight. He shivered when he thought how closely he had come to 狙撃 Ormiston. He had hoped Australia had not bred the type of bad man の中で whom he had been compelled to work.

Leslie met him outside with her 武器 十分な of 一括s. Sterl and Red 敏速に relieved her of them. After one look at Leslie's white 直面する and 注目する，もくろむs 炎ing almost 黒人／ボイコット, Sterl felt too 狼狽d to speak. She had 証言，証人／目撃するd his 遭遇（する） with Ormiston. As she walked along between him and Red, she had a 手渡す on Sterl's arm. They （機の）カム to a point opposite the horses.

"Heah we 空気／公表する, Jester, agonna make a pack hoss out of you fust thing," spoke up Red, and Sterl knew that the cowboy was talking to 緩和する the 状況／情勢.

"Leslie, have you finished your buying?" asked Sterl.

"Not やめる. But I'll not stay longer--in town," she replied in 厚い unsteady トン. She 機動力のある her horse as Sterl remembered seeing Comanches 開始する. "Let me have some of the 小包s."

手渡すing these to her, Sterl looked up into her 直面する.

"Leslie--you were there?" he asked.

"Yes. I saw it--all."

"I'm sorry. Bad luck like that always hounds me."

"Who said it was bad luck?" she retorted. "But Sterl--you jumped at that chance to 攻撃する，衝突する Ormiston--on my account?"

"井戸／弁護士席--Friday's first--and then yours. Still I'd have 干渉するd if I'd never heard of either of you. I'm built that way, Leslie."

"You're built 大いに, then...A thrill hardly does 司法（官） to what I felt--when you 攻撃する，衝突する him...But, afterward--when it looked like 狙撃--I nearly fainted."

"So that's why you're so pale?" 再結合させるd Sterl, 努力するing to speak lightly, as he 機動力のある. Red 棒 a tactful distance ahead.

"Am I pale?" she asked.

"Not so much now. But a few minutes 支援する you were white as a sheet."

"Sterl, I ran into Ormiston."

"And what did he say?"

"I don't remember everything. One thing, though, was what you called him."

"That's not calculated to make Ormiston love me any better."

"Do you think he'll make good his 脅し not to go on the trek?"

"I do not," said the girl, 前向きに／確かに. "Ash Ormiston couldn't be kept from going. I wouldn't say wholly because he's so keen after Beryl Dann and me."

"Beryl too? 井戸／弁護士席!...He's what Red would call an 企業ing スパイ／執行官."

"He's 深い, Sterl. I 不信 his 態度 toward the trek."

"Leslie, what had he against your 黒人／ボイコット man?"

"He had enough. I should have told you that...Once when Mum and Dad were in town, Ormiston 設立する me in my hammock. He made violent love to me. I was 脅すd, Sterl. He...I...I fought him--and Friday ran up with his spear. It was all I could do to keep him from 殺人，大当り Ormiston."

"Is Friday going on the trek?"

"Dad wants him. To 跡をつける lost horses. The 黒人／ボイコットs are marvelous trackers. But Friday says no. Maybe you can 説得する him, Sterl. A 黒人／ボイコット never forgets a wrong or fails to return a service."

"I sure will try. What a lot I could learn!"

They 棒 on at a canter and 停止（させる）d at the paddock. "Come up later for tea--oh, yes, and to see my pets," said Leslie, as they dismounted and gathered up her bundles.

Left to his own 装置s, Sterl went の中で his string of horses, which Roland had tethered in the shed, and while he 始める，決める about the slow and pleasing 仕事 of making friends with them, he mused over the momentous 旅行 from Brisbane. He could no more keep things from happening to him than he could stop breathing. But he 解任するd only one man, out of the many rustlers and hard characters who had crossed his 追跡する, who had 刺激するd as quick a 憎悪 in him, as had this man Ormiston. If possible, he must keep out of the man's way. Offsetting that was the 奮起させるing personality of Stanley Dann. Here was a man. And Sterl did not pass by the fair-haired Beryl, with her dark-blue 注目する，もくろむs and the proud 宙に浮く of her 長，率いる. Leslie was 控訴，上告ing in many ways, but the charm she had, which he 設立する ばく然と 甘い and disquieting, was the fact of his 明らかな 控訴，上告 of her, of which she was wholly unconscious. 井戸／弁護士席, he was in the open again, already in 接触する with raw nature, about to ride out on this incredible trek. That was all left him in life--this strenuous 活動／戦闘 of the natural man. Sterl 割引d any 継続している relation with these good white folk who needed him.

When he returned to the テント, Sterl 設立する Red sitting before the flap, profoundly thoughtful and solemn. He had not even heard Sterl's approach.

"Pard, did you heah anythin'?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

"Hear?--When?"

"Jest about a minnit ago--mebbe longer. I don't know. I'm dotty...Did I have any drinks uptown?"

"You sure didn't."

"Gosh, I'm shore I've got the willies...Sterl, I was in the テント heah, when somebody 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd out in a laugh--snortinest hosslaugh you ever heahed. 'Who'n hell's laughin' at me'?' I said, an' I was mad. Wal, pard, you never in yore life heahed such a loud brayin'-ass laugh. When the smart alec got through I come out to 破産した／（警察が）手入れする him. Seen nobody. Then I seen a big brown an' white bird, sittin' 権利 there on thet 支店. Stuck his haid on one 味方する an' looked out of his devilish 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs at me, as if to say, 'Heah's one of them Yankee blighters.'...If thet bird didn't give me thet hosslaugh, then yore pard has gone plumb stark ravin' crazy."

"Let's go up and ask Leslie."

On the way up the path under the wattles they met her. Red burst into the narrative of his perplexing experience. Leslie burst into uncontrollable mirth.

"Oh--Oh! It was--Jack," she choked out. "Jack who?"

"My pet kookaburra--Oh, Red!--my laughing jackass!"

"Wal, I figgered he was a laughin' hyena, all 権利! But thet pet kooka somethin'--thet has me （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域."

"Jack is our most famous bird. He is a 肉親，親類d of 巨大（な） kingfisher. I'm taking him on the trek, but I can't take my little 耐えるs. It breaks my heart--Come in to tea." At the door Leslie whispered to Sterl. "I didn't tell Mum about what happened uptown."

Slyter had not returned, nor did his wife 推定する／予想する him. "I'm too terribly busy to 雑談（する）," she said, after serving them, and drinking a cup of tea. "Les, I 手配中の，お尋ね者 Friday to carry things 負かす／撃墜する to the wagon. Have you seen him?"

"I'll find him, Mum."

"Mrs. Slyter," said Sterl when the party settled 負かす／撃墜する. "I'd like a look at your wagon while it's empty. We must make a boat out of it, so that it can be floated across the rivers."

"How thoughtful of you! That had not occurred to Bingham."

"We'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする up a little room in the 前線 of your wagon, behind the seat," went on Sterl. "I've done that before. A wagon can be made really comfortable, considering all your baggage..."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a discordant, concatenated, rollicking laugh from outside.

"Jack saucing other kookaburras," 宣言するd Leslie. "Come and see him."

They went outdoors. The 黒人／ボイコット man Friday stood under one of the gum trees, looking up into the 支店s, and 持つ／拘留するing out a queer stick with a white oval end. In his other 手渡す he held out a long spear.

"Friday has his wommera--the stick he uses to throw his spear," said Leslie, 厳粛に. "That doesn't look so good for Ormiston."

Just then a large brown and white bird ぱたぱたするd 負かす／撃墜する from the tree to alight on the 黒人／ボイコット's spear. "There's Jack," cried Leslie. He was a rather short bird, built ひどく 今後, with a big 長，率いる and strong 法案.

Sterl's attention 転換d to the 黒人／ボイコット man. He was 井戸／弁護士席 over six feet tall, slender, muscular, 黒人／ボイコット as ebony. He wore a 天然のまま 衣料品 around his loins. His dark visage held an inscrutable dignity.

Sterl went up to Friday, tapped him on his 深い breast and asked, "Friday no 傷つける bad?" The native understood, for he grinned and shook his 長，率いる.

"Leslie, you ask him to go with us on the trek."

"Friday, white man wantum you go with him, far, far that way," said Leslie, making a slow gesture which 示すd immeasurable distance toward the outback. Friday fastened 広大な／多数の／重要な, 黒人／ボイコット unfathomable 注目する，もくろむs upon Sterl.

"White man come from far country, away cross big water," said Sterl, pointing toward the east, and speaking as if to an Indian. "He need Friday--跡をつける horse--kill meat--fight--tell where pads go."

"黒人／ボイコット fella go alonga you," replied Friday.

Leslie clapped her 手渡すs. "Good-o! I was sure he'd go, if you asked him," she cried. "Dad will be happy!"

Red slouched over to Friday and 手渡すd him a cigar.

"You の近くに up boss?" asked the 黒人／ボイコット, looking from one to the other.

"Shore, Friday," replied Red.

"You um fadder?"

"Fadder? Hell no!...Gosh, do I look thet old? Him my brudder, Friday.

"黒人／ボイコット fella im brudder your brudder," 宣言するd Friday, loftily, and stalked away.

CHAPTER 5

It turned out that Leslie's 解放する／自由なing of her native 耐える pets was 単に a 事柄 of 説 good-by to them, for they were not 限定するd. They lived in the trees of a small eucalyptus grove 支援する of the house. Sterl enjoyed the sensation of 持つ／拘留するing some of them, of feeling their sharp, strong, abnormally large claws 粘着する to his coat. The one that pleased Sterl most was a mother that carried her baby in a pouch. The little one had his 長，率いる stuck out, and his 有望な 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs said that he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see all there was to see.

Gently but 堅固に Leslie drew the little 耐える from the pouch and placed it on the mother's 支援する, where it stuck like a burr and appeared perfectly comfortable. Sterl never saw a prettier animal sight, and said so emphatically.

"Marsupials!" said Leslie. "All sorts of them 負かす／撃墜する under, from kangaroos to a little blind mole no longer than my finger."

"井戸／弁護士席 I'm a son of a gun!" exclaimed Red. "What's a marsupial?"

This started Leslie on a lecture 関心ing Australian 哺乳動物s and birds. When she finished with marsupials, which carry their babies in a pouch, and （機の）カム to the unbelievable platypus which wears fur, suckles its young, lays eggs and has a 法案 like a duck and web feet fastened on backward, she stretched Red's credulity to the breaking point.

"How can you stand there, a 甘い pictoor of honest girlhood, and be such an orful liar? How about thet liar bird Jones said you could show us?--the wonderfulest bird in Australia!"

"Rightho! Boys, if you'll get up 早期に, I'll 約束 you shall hear a lyrebird, and maybe see one."

"It's a date, Leslie, tomorrow mawnin'. 権利 heah. Hey, pard?"

"You bet." said Sterl, "And now let's get to work making that wagon."

The wagon, which Slyter ーするつもりであるd for his womenfolk and all their personal 影響s, was big and sturdy, with wide-tired wheels, high 味方するs, and a roomy canvas 最高の，を越す stretched over hoops. Sterl 診察するd it carefully.

"How about in water an' sand?" queried Red, dubiously.

"In 深い water she'll float--when we 直す／買収する，八百長をする her. Red, dig up a couple of chisels and 大打撃を与えるs while I get something to calk these seams."

In short order they had the wagon bed so that it would not 漏れる. Then, while Red began the same 職業 on the other wagon, Sterl 充てるd himself to 直す／買収する，八百長をするing up some approach to a prairie-schooner テント dwelling. Sterl had Leslie 指定する the 捕らえる、獲得するs and trunks which would be needed en 大勝する; with these he packed the 今後 half of the wagon bed two feet 深い. Then he transformed the 後部 half into a bedroom.

Slyter arrived with the dray, and climbed off the driver's seat to begin unhitching. His 直面する was dark, his brow lined and pondering.

"Roland, pack all the flour on 最高の，を越す of this 負担 and tie on a cover," said Slyter. "Hazelton, how's the work 進歩ing?"

"We're about done. Hope nothing more （機の）カム off uptown?"

"Testy day. Just my personal 商売／仕事...You'll be 利益／興味d in this. Ormiston sobered up and tried to get 支援する into our good graces. Stanley Dann 受託するd his 陳謝s."

"Then Ormiston will go on the trek?"

"Yes. He said to tell you he had been half drunk, and would speak to you when 適切な時期 afforded. But he asked me if you cowboys had any 言及／関連s!"

"I was surprised that you did not ask for any."

"I didn't need any. Nor did Stanley Dann. Ormiston was trying to （種を）蒔く seeds of discord."

"Thank you, Slyter. I'm sure you'll never 悔いる your 親切."

"Hathaway and Woolcott left about midday," went on Slyter. "Some of their drovers were drunk. The Danns are all ready to leave at 夜明け. We'll start tomorrow いつか."

"How about waterholes?"

"No 恐れる. We've had a few good rains lately. There'll be plenty of water--maybe too much--and grass all the way out of Queensland. Stanley Dann and his brother Eric had another hot argument. Eric was one of the drovers who made that 湾 trek. He wants to stick to that 大勝する. But Stanley argues we should leave it beyond the Diamantina River and 長，率いる northwest more 直接／まっすぐに across the Never-never. I agree with him."

It was 薄暗い gray morning when, keeping their 約束／交戦 with Leslie, the Americans 機動力のある the shadowy aisle 主要な up to the house.

They 設立する her waiting with Friday. "Aren't you ashamed? You're late...Come. Don't talk. Don't make the slightest sound."

They followed Friday, a 影をつくる／尾行する in the gray gloom. The east was brightening. Presently, Friday glided noiselessly into the bush. 徐々に it grew はしけ. Soft もや hung low under the pale-trunked trees. They （機の）カム to a glade that led 負かす／撃墜する into a ravine where water tinkled. It opened out wide upon a scene of 隠すd enchantment. Small trees, pyramid 形態／調整, pointed up to the brightening sky, and shone as white as if covered by 霜. 広大な／多数の／重要な fern trees spread long, lacy, exquisite leaves from a symmetrical 長，率いる almost to the ground. 抱擁する eucalyptus sent marble-like 中心存在s aloft. Their fragrance attacked Sterl's nostrils with an 激烈な／緊急の, strangling sensation. A bell-like 公式文書，認める struck lingeringly upon his ear. Friday 停止（させる）d. As he 解除するd his 手渡す with the gesture of an Indian, Sterl heard the lovely call of a thrush 近づく at 手渡す. Leslie put her lips 権利 on Sterl's ear. "It is the lyrebird!" Then it seemed to Sterl that his tingling ears caught the songs of other birds, intermingled with that of the thrush. Suddenly a bursting cur-ra-wong, cur-ra-wong 発射 through Sterl.

Could that, too be the lyrebird? The 公式文書，認める was repeated again and again, so 十分な of wild melody that it made Sterl ache. It was followed by caw, caw, caw, the most dismal and raucous 公式文書，認める of a crow.

"Don't you understand, boys?" whispered Leslie, bending her 長，率いる between them. "The lyrebird is a mocker. He can imitate any sound."

That 甘い concatenation of さまざまな bird 公式文書，認めるs was 混乱に陥れる／中断させるd by what seemed to be the bawling of a cow.

From off in the 支持を得ようと努めるd sounded a mournful, rich 公式文書，認める, like the dong of a bell.

"Another! Oh, but we're lucky!" whispered Leslie.

Across a little leafy glade, Sterl noticed low foliage move and part to 収容する／認める a dark brown bird, half the size of a 女／おっせかい屋 turkey. It had a sleek, delicate 長，率いる. As it stepped daintily out from under the foliage, its tail, 築く and exquisite, 述べるd the perfect 形態／調整 of a lyre. Long, slender, fernlike feathers rose and spread from the two central feathers--幅の広い, dark velvety brown, 閉めだした in shiny white or gray, with graceful curling tips that 屈服するd and dipped as it passed out of sight into the bush.

"Wal," said Red, "yore lyrebird has our mockers skinned to a frazzle."

"That must mean something!" returned Leslie, giggling. "Come. We'll be late and Dad will 列／漕ぐ／騒動. Let's run."

When they went in to breakfast, Roland and Larry were leaving, sober as 裁判官s. 法案 Williams, the cook, was banging マリファナs and pans with unnecessary 軍隊. Slyter looked as if he were going to a funeral, and his wife was weeping. Leslie's smile 消えるd. She served the cowboys, who made short work of that meal.

"Boss, what's the order for today?" queried Sterl, すぐに.

"Drake's 召集（する）ing for the trek," replied Slyter, gruffly.

Leslie followed them out. "I'll catch up somewhere. I'd go with you now, but Mum...Ride King and Jester, won't you?"

Sterl 設立する difficulty in 表明するing his sympathy. The girl was 勇敢に立ち向かう, though 深く，強烈に 影響する／感情d by her mother's grief. It really was a terrible thing to do--this forsaking a comfortable home in a beautiful valley, to ride out into the unknown and forbidding wilderness.

King surprised Sterl with his 乗り気 to be saddled and bridled. He knew he was leaving the paddock, and liked it. Sterl tied on the slicker and canteen, and slipped into his worn leather chaps, conscious of a 生き返らせる of his pulse. He took up his ライフル銃／探して盗む and walked around in 前線 of the horse. "Are you gun shy, King?" The 黒人／ボイコット 明らかに knew a ライフル銃／探して盗む, and showing no 恐れる, stood without a quiver while Sterl 押すd it into the saddle sheath.

"Say, 空気／公表する you a mud 女／おっせかい屋, thet you go duckin' jest '原因（となる） I've got a gun?" Red was complaining to his horse.

In another moment they were in the unfamiliar English saddles. Joining Larry, they 棒 out into the open valley. Ahead of them, about a mile out of the 広げるing valley, a herd of grazing horses, and beyond them Slyter's cattle, 追加するd the last link to the certainty of the trek.

Waiting this 味方する of the horses were three riders, superbly 機動力のある. Their garb, and the trappings of the horses, appeared markedly different from those of the Americans. Sterl had made up his mind about these riders of Slyter's; still he gave each a keen scrutiny. Drake was middle-老年の, honest and forcible of 面, strong of build. The other two, Benson and 傷をいやす／和解させるd, were sturdy young men not out of their teens, and sat their saddles as if used to them.

"Drake, we have Slyter's orders to 報告（する）／憶測 to you," 追加するd Sterl, after the introductions.

"I've sent Monkton on ahead to let 負かす／撃墜する the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s," replied Drake. "We 盗品故買者d the valley ahead there where it 狭くするs. I'll join him. You men bring up the 後部."

"No particular 形式?"

"Just let the 暴徒 graze along at a walk. We'll keep 権利 on till Slyter 停止（させる）s us, probably at Blue Gum."

Drake said no more, and 棒 away to the left, …を伴ってd by 傷をいやす／和解させるd, while Benson trotted off to the 権利.

"Huh! Short an' 甘い. All in the day's work," complained Red.

"Red, you せねばならない be in 前線," said Sterl, "but, no 疑問, that'll come in time."

In another moment Sterl was alone. He lighted a cigarette. King pranced a little and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go. Sterl patted the arched neck, and fell at once into his old habit of talking to his horse. "King, we don't know each other yet. But if you're as good as you look, we'll be pards. Take it 平易な. I see you're too 井戸／弁護士席 trained to graze with a bridle on. You can unlearn that, King."

He was to ride across a whole unknown continent, from which 旅行, even it he 生き残るd it, he would never return. Sterl 直面するd the east. And he could not keep 支援する a 別れの（言葉，会） whisper: "Good-by, Nan...Good-by!" which seemed final and irrevocable.

When he turned again, 誘発するd by the keen King, the long line of cattle was on the move. The 広大な／多数の／重要な trek had begun. The valley was filled with a rich, 厚い, amber light. Fleecy white clouds sailed above the green line of bush. The gold of wattles and the scarlet of eucalyptus stood out vividly even in the brilliance of the sun-drenched foliage. A faint and failing column of smoke rose above the forsaken farmhouse, that seemed to have gone to sleep の中で the wattles. A ちらりと見ることing gleam of tranquil, reed-国境d pond caught Sterl's sight. All this pastoral beauty, this land of flowers and grass and blossoming trees, this land of milk and honey, was 存在 abandoned for the chimera of the 開拓する!

CHAPTER 6

First （軍の）野営地，陣営! A 抱擁する dead gum tree, bleached and gnarled, 場内取引員／株価 a sunset-紅潮／摘発するd stream; outcropping 激しく揺する and ジャングル beyond; to the 権利 小道／航路s of open country 開始 into the bush. Cattle and horses made for the creek and spread along its low bank for a mile. When they had drunk their fill some of the cattle fell to grazing, while many or them lay 負かす／撃墜する to 残り／休憩（する）. The horses, which had fed all day behind the cattle, 軍隊／機動隊d 支援する to their grazing. In Sterl's judgment both would 要求する little night guarding on such pasture as that.

He watered King, then 棒 負かす／撃墜する the creek into （軍の）野営地，陣営. Pungent 支持を得ようと努めるd smoke brought 支援する other （軍の）野営地，陣営 scenes. But no other （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置 he could remember had 所有するd such an 課すing 目印 as the 広大な／多数の／重要な dead blue gum tree. On its spreading 支店s Sterl identified herons, parrots, a 強硬派 perched on a topmost tip, kookaburras low 負かす／撃墜する. The wagons were spaced conveniently, though not の近くに together. 位置を示すing his own, Sterl dismounted to （土地などの）細長い一片 King and let him go. He was unrolling his テント when Leslie approached.

"井戸／弁護士席, so here you are? I wondered if you'd ever catch up," said Sterl.

"I hadn't the heart to leave Mum today. I...I...I would have been all 権利, but for her."

"Why you're all 権利 anyhow, Leslie. Don't look 支援する--don't think 支援する!...Our first （軍の）野営地，陣営's dandy...Where're Friday and your Dad?"

"Friday walked all the way. I 棒 a little. Mum （機の）カム out of it all at once. Dad is all fit. He and Drake just had a 減少（する） from a 瓶／封じ込める...And here come Red and Larry."

Sterl with Leslie crossed over to the 中心 of （軍の）野営地，陣営, where Friday was carrying water. Slyter, after rummaging under seat of his wagon, brought a 調書をとる／予約する to Leslie.

"Les, one of your 職業s is keeping our 定期刊行物. 記録，記録的な／記録する date, distance trekked, 天候, 出来事/事件, everything."

"Whew! what a 職業!" exclaimed Leslie. "But I'll love it...How far today?"

"A long trek. Sixteen miles?" asked Slyter, dubiously.

"And then some," interposed Sterl. "Ask Red. He's a wonderful 裁判官 of distance...Now, boss, how about night guard?"

"Three changes. Two men on for three hours each. Eight to eleven, eleven to two, two till five. Which watch would you and Krehl like?"

"The late one, boss. We're used to the 少しの small hours."

"You'll have our 黒人／ボイコット man, Friday. Hazelton, you'll find him a tower of help."

The thud of horses hoofs awoke Sterl before Larry called into the テント: "Two o'clock, boys. Roll out."

Ready to go, the cowboys 修理d to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 for the tea Larry had 注ぐd for them. It was scalding hot and strong as 酸性の. The 禁止（する）d of horses was 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd between （軍の）野営地，陣営s and the 暴徒 of cattle. They were 静かな, only a few grazing. The cattle had bedded 負かす／撃墜する.

"What'll we do, Sterl? Circle or stand guard?"

"Circle, Red, till we get the lay of the herd."

Red 棒 on into the 有望な starlight, and the 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd brought 支援する the smoke of his cigarette. Sterl turned to walk his horse in the other direction. Old sensorial habits reasserted themselves--the keen ear, the keen 注目する，もくろむ, the keen nose and the feel of 空気／公表する, 勝利，勝つd, 冷淡な. The cattle and the horses were 静かな. Strange, discordant barks of dingoes lent unreality to the wild. Wide-winged birds or 飛行機で行くing foxes passed over his 長，率いる with silky swish.

In half an hour Sterl heard Red's horse before he sighted it, a moving, ghostly white in the brilliant gloom.

"罰金 体制／機構, pard," said Red. "A lazy cowboy 職業!"

"All 井戸／弁護士席 on my 味方する. Go halfway 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and stand watch."

"空気／公表する kinda penetratin', pard. I reckon I'll mosey to an' fro," returned Red, and 棒 on.

When Sterl reached the end of a half circle, （機の）カム the 発言する／表明する of Friday, "Cheeky 黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up," he said, and 消えるd.

Sterl swept his gaze in 用心深い half circles. その上の outback, this night watch might be a perilous 義務. But nothing happened. Friday did not return, although Sterl had a feeling that the 黒人／ボイコット was の近くに. Slowly, mysteriously, the dreaming darkest hour passed.

At the first faint lighting in the east the cattle began to 動かす. Sterl circled around to 会合，会う Red. "Mawnin'," said that worthy. "J'ever see such a tame bunch of cattle? How'd you make out?"

"Just killed time. This sort of work will spoil us. It's after five. Let's ride in."

Breakfast was を待つing them. Two of the wagons were already hitched up. Leslie stood by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, drinking tea. Larry （機の）カム riding up, 主要な three saddled horses, one of which was Duchess, Leslie's favorite.

Red saw the girl swing up into her saddle with one 手渡す, and said, "Pard, I gotta 手渡す it to thet kid. If Beryl is like her, wal, it's all day with me."

When they 棒 out on fresh horses the sun had just burst over the eastern bush, and the 負かす／撃墜するs were as if aflame. Drake had the 暴徒 ready. Leslie and Larry were 運動ing the straggling horses. Red loped across the wide 側面に位置する to （問題を）取り上げる his position on the far 権利. Friday （機の）カム along with 巨大（な） strides, carrying his spears and wommera in his left 手渡す and a boomerang in the other. Leslie 棒 loping 支援する to turn on the line even with Sterl. Then the four 後部 riders, 圧力（をかける）ing 今後, drove the horses upon the heels of the cattle, and the day's 運動 was on. The bustle and hurry before the start seemed to come to an abrupt end in the slow, natural walk of grazing cattle and horses.

Three times before afternoon, Leslie 棒 over to Sterl on some pretext or other, the last of which was an 申し込む／申し出 to 株 a bit of lunch she had brought.

"No thanks, Leslie. A cowboy learns to go without. And on this trek in particular, I'm going to emulate your 黒人／ボイコット men."

"I suppose you cowboys live without fun, food or--love?" she queried, flippantly.

"We do indeed."

"Like hob you do," she flashed. "Oh, 井戸／弁護士席 maybe you do. This is the third time you've snubbed me so far today. You're an old crosspatch."

Sterl laughed, though he felt a little nettled. The girl interrupted the even, almost unconscious ebb and flow of his sensorial perceptions.

"I've been called worse than that, by sentimental young ladies," replied Sterl, satirically. "Would you 推定する／予想する me to babble poetry to you or listen to your silly chatter?"

"Oh-h!" cried Leslie, 乱暴／暴力を加えるd, reddening from neck to brow. And she wheeled her horse to lope far along the line toward Red. "That should 持つ／拘留する her awhile," murmured Sterl, 残念に. "Too bad I've got to be mean to her! But..."

Slyter 停止（させる）d for （軍の）野営地，陣営 at the foot of a 山の尾根 running out like a 刺激（する） from the rougher bushland. Manifestly a stream （機の）カム from around that 山の尾根. It was no later than midafternoon with the sun still warm. A short trek, Sterl thought. Cattle and horses made for the stream, which turned out to be a river that could not be forded with wagons at this point.

Sterl was pitching his テント when Red and Leslie 棒 in. The girl 棒 by him as if he had not been there.

Red slid out of his saddle in his old inimitable way, and with 非難する on 側面に位置する, sent his horse scampering.

"About ten miles, I'd say," he drawled. "悪賢い （軍の）野営地，陣営 an' a hefty river...Say, pard, what'n'll did you do to the kid? Leslie was all broke up."

"She bothers me, Red."

"Ahuh. I savvy. I'm 恐れるd she likes you an' hasn't no idee at all about it."

Sterl remained silent, 回転するing in his mind a 現実化 誘発するd by Red's talk--that he had felt a 際立った throb of 楽しみ. This would never do!

The cowboys finished their chores, then strolled over to Slyter. Leslie sat 近づく, 令状ing in her 定期刊行物.

On impulse, Sterl turned to the girl. "Leslie, where is Friday?" As she did not appear to hear, he asked her again. Then she looked up. "Please do not annoy me, Mr. Hazelton. I'm composing poetry," she said coldly.

CHAPTER 7

The late afternoon hour arrived at length when Slyter caught up with the Dann brothers and their partners. From here the drovers would 押し進める on together to the end.

Slyter led his 暴徒 to the left and 運ぶ／漁獲高d up on the wide curve of a stream. In the 中心, half a mile from Slyter, the Dann 野営, with its ten wagons, and drays, its canvas テントs 有望な against the green, its blue smokes and active 人物／姿／数字s, made an 課すing sight, to Sterl's 注目する，もくろむs like a plains caravan. さらに先に to the 権利 showed the （軍の）野営地，陣営 of Hathaway and Woolcott. Hundreds of horses grazed in between. Across the river 炎上d the enormous 暴徒 of cattle which the drovers had evidently thrown together--twice as much 在庫／株 as Sterl had ever seen at one time.

With Slyter's 暴徒 and remuda placed to 残り／休憩（する） and graze, the drivers made toward （軍の）野営地，陣営 by divers 大勝するs. Sterl arrived first. The 黒人／ボイコット horse, King, had 完全にするd his conquest over the cowboy. They had taken to each other. King 認めるd a gentle, 会社／堅い and 専門家 master; Sterl reluctantly 栄冠を与えるd the 黒人／ボイコット for spirit, tirelessness and 速度(を上げる）, and for remarkable 力／強力にする in the water. After a first ford over slippery 激しく揺するs Sterl had アイロンをかける shoes put on him, and that made him invincible.

While Sterl was unrolling the テント, Red and Leslie 棒 in. （危険などに）さらす and sun had given the girl a golden tan, which magnified her charm. After that 争い the second day out, she had 断固としてやる ignored Sterl.

"Pile off, Red, and go through the 動議s," called Sterl, and soon his comrade was helping, markedly reticent for him.

"井戸／弁護士席, what's on your chest?" queried Sterl.

"Wal, this nice long 平易な 運動 is over. It'll be hell from now on. Sterl, what you think?--Leslie has （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限d me to beg you to 許す her for 存在 catty."

"Yeah?--Red, you can tell Leslie to ask me herself. I was deliberately rude to her. And I'm sorry. She's worried, now that we've caught up with the big outfit."

"Shore is. An' so'm I. But once I get mad, I'll be good-o, as Leslie says."

"Rightho, as Leslie says."

Before sundown of that important day, supper had been 性質の／したい気がして of, and Slyter had stridden off to visit Dann, …を伴ってd by Drake, and calling upon Sterl and Red to follow.

"Boss, take Red, and let me stay in （軍の）野営地，陣営," 示唆するd Sterl.

"No. I may need you. Stanley will ask for you. As for Ormiston--the sooner you 会合，会う him the better. I ask you to 会合，会う him."

"Thanks, Slyter. I'll come."

"Dad, please let me come with the boys? I want to see Beryl," entreated Leslie.

"Of course, my dear. I'd forgotten you."

"Red, you run along with Leslie," put in Sterl. "I want to shave. Be with you in a jiffy."

Beside the grandest 君主 of all these eucalyptus trees, he （機の）カム upon the wagon and （軍の）野営地，陣営 of Dann's sister and his daughter Beryl. Leslie was talking excitedly with the girl, while Red stood, sombrero in 手渡す, listening. Sterl was introduced and 迎える／歓迎するd cordially. Beryl wore boy's garb, more attractive and not so worn as Leslie's.

"Doesn't it seem long since we all met, way 支援する there in Downsville?" she asked. "I nearly died of homesickness for days. But now it's not too bad. I ーするつもりである to be a drover, like Leslie."

"Wal," interposed Red, "we shore need another 追跡する driver."

"How queerly you cowboys carry your ピストルs!" exclaimed Beryl, 示すing the low-hanging sheaths, 井戸／弁護士席 負かす／撃墜する the 権利 thighs. "Dad's drovers stick them in their hip pockets, or under a belt."

"Wal, 行方不明になる Dann," drawled Red, "you see us cowboys gotta throw a gun quick いつかs, an' it needs to be handy."

"Where do you throw it?" she asked, curiously.

"Aw, at jack rabbits, or any ole varmint thet happens along."

"行方不明になる Beryl, Red is teasing you," chimed in Sterl. "To throw a gun means to jerk it out, quickly--like this."

"How strange!...Oh, so you can shoot quickly at your antagonists?"

"正確に／まさに. And the cowboy who throws his quickest has the best chance to 生き残る. Please excuse us, 行方不明になる Beryl. Our boss wants us in on the 会議／協議会 over there."

A little group of men stood in a half circle 支援する of Stanley Dann, who sat before a box doing 義務 as a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Here the cowboys met the leader's partners. Eric Dann, the younger of the two brothers, was short and 堅固に built, but rather 厳しい, dark features. Hathaway was tall and florid, 明らかに under fifty years. Woolcott appeared fully sixty, a bearded man, with 深い-始める，決める 注目する，もくろむs and 暗い／優うつな mien.

"All of you have a look at this 地図／計画する," spoke up Dann, 示すing a paper on the box. "Eric drew it from memory. And of course it isn't 正確な as to distance or points. Still, it will give you a general idea of the country at the headwaters of the rivers that run into the 湾 of Carpentaria...This line 示すs the road we're on, and which we can trek 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席. This dark line, way up in Queensland, is the Diamantina River, an important 障害. This open space 代表するs the Never-never--some two thousand miles across, perhaps. Beyond to the northwest, are the Kimberleys, our 目的地--please God! You 観察する that they run northwest...Hello, Ormiston, you're just in time to give your opinion...井戸／弁護士席, my brother wants to follow this old wagon trek beyond the headwaters of the Diamantina River and the Warburton, on north across the 湾 rivers, and then west to Wyndham and the Kimberleys. There's no telling how much さらに先に this 大勝する will be, probably a thousand miles. Too far! And just as hard; its only good feature is that it has been traveled. Striking west beyond the Diamantina to the Warburton, に引き続いて that to its headwaters, and then striking straight west again, will be a short 削減（する） and save us, Lord only knows how much! I call for a 投票（する） from each man 現在の except Drake. And I 含む these American cowboys, with your 許可, because they have had 広範囲にわたる experience in droving cattle."

The 投票（する） ended in a 行き詰まる, Slyter, Sterl and Red arraying themselves upon Stanley Dann's 味方する; the others standing by Eric. The leader showed no feeling どれでも, but Eric Dann and Ormiston argued vigorously for the longer and once-traveled 大勝する.

Sterl listened and bent piercing 注目する，もくろむs upon this quartet, and at length his deductions were （疑いを）晴らす-削減（する）, and he would have sworn by them. Eric Dann 恐れるd to take the 広大な／多数の／重要な trek into the unknown. Ormiston had some personal 推論する／理由 for standing by Eric Dann, and he had 影響（力）d Hathaway and Woolcott.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. It hangs 解雇する／砲火／射撃 for the 現在の," 結論するd Stanley Dann. "Perhaps the months to come will bring at least one of you gentlemen to 推論する／理由."

If Ormiston tried to 隠す his satisfaction he failed to hide it from Sterl.

"Hazelton," said Stanley Dann, "I'm curious to know what you think, if you'll commit yourself."

"Are there 黒人／ボイコット men all over this Never-never Land?" 反対するd Sterl.

"Yes, によれば our few explorers."

"If they can be propitiated, perhaps we could learn from them, as the pathfinders in my country have learned from the Indians."

"Good idea!" にわか景気d the leader.

"These niggers are a mean, lying, unscrupulous race," put in Ormiston, contemptuously.

"Perhaps because of the 治療 white men have given them," spoke up Slyter.

Ormiston for the moment let 井戸／弁護士席 enough alone. Sterl 遠くに見つけるd Leslie and Beryl, …を伴ってd by a frank-featured blond young 巨大（な）, 近づくing the group. He accosted Red.

"Krehl, good day. Glad to see you again," he said, agreeably, as he 延長するd a 手渡す.

"Howdy yoreself," drawled Red, with guile 会合 guile. And he shook 手渡すs.

"Sorry you are on the wrong 味方する of the 盗品故買者. But you're a stranger in Australia. I 投機・賭ける to 予報する you're too experienced an outdoor man to be long deceived by しん気楼s."

"Hell no. I cain't be deceived forever. But this heah country is so grand, I jest don't believe in your Never-never."

"It's a fact, however, and I hope you don't learn from bitter experience."

"Yeah? Wal, you're orful 肉親，親類d."

At this juncture, Leslie with her companions （機の）カム up to Slyter and Dann. Sterl knew 絶対 that Ormiston had timed for their 利益 whatever he meant to do, and he 燃やすd under his 冷静な／正味の exterior.

"Hello, Hazelton," called the drover, in pleasant and resounding トンs. "I've 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 会合，会う you again, to tell you I 悔いる the unpleasantness of our 会合 at Downsville."

"I'm sure you 悔いる it, Ormiston," replied Sterl, ignoring the proffered 手渡す, and his piercing gaze met the drover's dark, 隠すd 注目する，もくろむs.

"I didn't 悔いる it because I booted that 黒人／ボイコット," 再結合させるd Ormiston, slowly 身を引くing his 手渡す.

"That was perfectly obvious," retorted Sterl, not without contempt.

"Why do you think I 悔いる it?" flashed the drover.

"Because you ran into the wrong man and got shown up," flashed Sterl, just as quickly.

"No. I regretted it because I was drunk."

"Drunk or sober you'd be about the same, Ormiston."

Slyter had approached to within a few steps, and Dann, with the girls hanging to him, started and 狼狽d, 停止（させる）d beside him, while the others stood 支援する.

"Nonsense," burst out Ormiston. "No man is responsible when he's drunk."

"Righto. That's why you gave yourself away," retorted Sterl.

Ormiston threw up his 手渡すs with a gesture 示すing the hopelessness of placating this hard 長，率いるd American. But under the surface was a mastered fury.

"Cowboy, I approached you to 表明する my 悔いる--to わびる--to 妨げる discord!"

"If you're so keen on 妨げるing discord, why did you excite it and foment it between our leader and his other partner?" 英貨の／純銀の's トン was contemptuous. As he ended he 完全にするd his few slow steps to one 味方する. To any 西部の人／西洋人 it would have been plain that Sterl 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get Ormiston out of line with the others. But the drover did not show that he realized that.

"I'm not exciting discord," returned Ormiston, hotly. "I come from North Queensland. I know something of the 湾 country. Eric Dann is 権利 and Stanley Dann is wrong. It's the safer 大勝する."

"Ormiston, how do you know it's safer?" queried Sterl, はっきりと.

"Eric Dann knows. Hathaway and Woolcott are 納得させるd of it. That's enough."

"Not by a damn sight! Not enough for you to 分裂（する） this outfit," 宣言するd Sterl deliberately.

"You insolent, cocksure Yankee..."

"Careful!" interrupted Sterl. "Ormiston, you're not on the level. You've got something up your sleeve. You'll never get away with it."

Ormiston wheeled to the other men. "Dann, you heard him. This intolerable riffraff--this Yankee..."

"Ormiston, you started this," にわか景気d the leader, as the drover choked. "It's between you and him."

"行方不明になる Dann--I 控訴，上告 to you," went on Ormiston, his 発言する／表明する shaking. "Your father has been--taken in by this--this interloper. Won't you speak up for me?"

"Dad! It's an 乱暴／暴力を加える," cried Beryl, white of 直面する and angry of 注目する，もくろむ. "Will you 許す this 天然のまま, lowbred American to 侮辱 Ashley so vilely--to 脅す him?"

"Girl, go to your テント," ordered Dann, 厳しく. "If you must take 味方するs you should take 地雷. Go--it's no place for you!"

"But Dad!" cried the spirited girl. "It is. We're all in it!"

"Yes, and it appears I shouldn't have brought you. At least try not to make it harder."

Beryl bent a withering ちらりと見ること upon Sterl. "Mr. Cowboy, do not speak to me again."

"控訴s me 罰金, 行方不明になる Dann," replied Sterl curtly. "I'm bound to help and defend your father. Certainly not to 関心 myself with a girl who's been made a fool of by a coward and a cheat!"

行方不明になる Dann gave Sterl a stinging 非難する on his cheek. Then she drew 支援する, gasping, as if realizing to what 限界 her temper had led her. With red 燃やすing out the white of her 直面する, she ran toward her wagon. Ormiston wheeled to three waiting men, evidently his drovers, and 嵐／襲撃するd away with them, violently gesticulating.

Sterl watched them intently for a moment, then turned away toward Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営. Stanley Dann called him to wait, but Sterl hurried on. Red did not catch up with him until he had almost reached the テント. Then both discovered that Stanley Dann, Slyter and Leslie had followed them.

"Hazelton, don't run away from me when I call you," complained Dann, as he caught up.

"I'm sorry, boss. I lost my temper."

"Then you fooled me, because I thought you deliberately 招待するd a quarrel with Ormiston."

"Oh, he couldn't rouse my temper. It was 行方不明になる Beryl. I shouldn't have spoken as I did to her."

They 設立する seats on a スピードを出す／記録につける; except Leslie, who 意味ありげに stood の近くに to Sterl, her youthful 直面する 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, her hazel 注目する，もくろむs, darkly dilated, fastened upon him.

"Les, you better run over to Mum," said Slyter.

"Not much, Dad. If Beryl is going to 株 the fights, and everything else, I am too."

"Good-o, Leslie," 宣言するd Dann, heartily.

"You stay here. I'm going to need all the 選手権 possible...Hazelton, you spoke 権利 from the shoulder. Man to man! I can't understand why Ormiston stood it. What 関心s me is this. Have you any justification for the serious insinuations and open 告訴，告発s you visited upon Ormiston?"

"Boss, they're all a 事柄 of instinct. I've been years on the frontier. I have met hundreds of bad men. I have had to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う some of them, outguess them, be too quick for them--or get 発射 myself. Ormiston might have fooled me for awhile, if it had not been for the 事故 of his kicking Friday. But not for long! He's playing a 深い game--what, I can't 人物／姿／数字 out--yet."

"Hazelton, you impress me," pondered the leader. "I had only one feeling. You were …に反対するing him in my 利益／興味. It seems incredible--what you insinuated about him. Yet you might 所有する some insight 否定するd to me and my partners. This trek ぼんやり現れるs appallingly. That does not change me--脅す me in the least. But now I begin to see 対立, intrigue, perhaps treachery, 血 and death."

"Boss, you can be sure of all of them," 再結合させるd Sterl, 真面目に. "And you can be as sure that my 対立 to Ormiston is on your に代わって."

Dann nodded his shaggy golden mane like a sleepy lion.

"Krehl, suppose you give me your 見解（をとる）, unbiased by your friend's," he said, presently.

"井戸／弁護士席, boss, when Ormiston 急ぐd me like a bull, I wouldn't have 危険d my precious 権利 手渡す on his 襲う，襲って強奪する, like Sterl did. I'd jest have bored him, had a coupla drinks of red likker, an' forgot all about him. We say Ormiston is no good. You give him the 利益 of the 疑問, an' leave it to me an' Sterl to find him out."

"推論する／理由, 知能, courage," にわか景気d the drover. "These I 尊敬（する）・点 above all other 質s. You have my 同意. Go slow. Be sure. That's all I ask. Slyter, can you 追加する anything to that?"

"No, Stanley. That says all."

"Yes, and nothing shall 阻止する us...Hazelton, I was surprised and sorry indeed at the way Beryl took Ormiston's part. She is a headstrong, 熱烈な child. Beryl has been pleading with me to make the trek by way of the 湾."

Silent 受託 of that 声明 attested to its significance. Red dropped his gaze to the ground, and Sterl saw his lean brown 手渡す clutch until the knuckles shone white.

"Not that it 影響（力）s me in the least," continued Dann, rising.

Slyter arose also, shaking his 長，率いる. "As if droving a 暴徒 of eight thousand cattle wasn't enough!"

Leslie walked a few steps with him, then returned.

"Dog-gone you, cain't you leave me an' Sterl alone atall?" complained Red, but a child could see that he did not mean that.

Leslie looked from him to Sterl with troubled, 感謝する 注目する，もくろむs.

"Boys," she said, breathing hard, "if Beryl is in it, so am I. And she is! She's on Ash Ormiston's 味方する. He has been making love to her all along. Besides I know her. She had all the boys at home in love with her. She likes it. Cedric, that boy today. He （機の）カム on this trek 単独で, because of Beryl. Ormiston--Oh, he is two-直面するd! Neither her father nor my Dad can see that."

"Wal, my dear, we can see it," returned Red, persuasively. "I'm not as all-解雇する／砲火／射撃d stuck on Beryl as I was, at thet. But let's give her a chance."

"Sterl...won't you see me...later?" implored Leslie. "I know you've been angry with me for days. I deserve it. I'm sorry. I told Red to tell you I'd been a cat. Sterl, I couldn't 耐える to have you despise me longer."

"Leslie, how silly! I never despised you!" replied Sterl, with a smile. "I'll come to see you later."

A light illumined her troubled 直面する. She wheeled to bound away like a deer.

"Pard, shore you see how it is with Leslie?" queried Red.

"I'm afraid I do," reluctantly 認める Sterl.

"Red, what's Ormiston's game?"

"平易な to say, far as the girls 空気／公表する 関心d. Shore, he didn't mean marriage with her. But he might with Beryl. If Dann gets to the Kimberleys with half his cattle he'll be rich, an' richer pronto."

"It's a cinch he'll never end this trek with us."

"I've a hunch he doesn't mean to."

Sterl gave Red a searching gaze, comprehending, and indicative of 速く 回転するing thoughts. "We're up against the deepest, hardest game we ever struck. Listen, let's try a trick that has worked before. Tip off Slyter and Stanley Dann that you and I will pretend to quarrel--落ちる out--and you'll drink and hobnob with Ormiston's drivers, ーするために 秘かに調査する on Ormiston."

"Thet'll queer me with Beryl. Not thet I care about it now."

"No, it'll make a hero out of you, if through this you save her father."

"Dog-gone!" ejaculated Red, his 直面する lighting. "You always could outfigger me. Settled, pard, an' the cards 空気／公表する stacked. Tomorrow night you an' me will have a helluva fight, savvy? Only be careful where an' how you sock me."

"Righto. There's Friday. Red, I'm going to try to make that 黒人／ボイコット understand our game."

"Go ahaid. Another good idee. I'll tell Slyter, an' then talk to Leslie a bit."

Friday and Sterl stood on the brink of the river. "Friday, you sit 負かす／撃墜する alonga me," said Sterl. "Me bad here. Trouble," he went on, touching his forehead. With a 地図／計画する drawn in the sand, in the argot which Friday understood, he 始める，決める 前へ／外へ the difference of opinion regarding 大勝するs to the Kimberleys.

"Me savvy," replied the 黒人／ボイコット, and tracing the 湾-line on the sand he shook his 長，率いる 熱心に, then tracing a line along the big river and across the big land he nodded just as 熱心に.

"Good, Friday," 再結合させるd Sterl, 堅固に stirred. "You know country up alonga here?"

The aborigine shook his 長，率いる. "Might be 黒人／ボイコット fella tellum."

"Friday get 黒人／ボイコット fella tell?"

"Might be. Some 黒人／ボイコット fella good--some bad."

"Some white fella bad," went on Sterl, intensely. "Ormiston bad. Him wanta go this way. No good. Him make some white fella afraid. Savvy, Friday?"

The native nodded. He encouraged Sterl 大いに. If he understood, then it did not 事柄 that he could talk only a little.

"Ormiston bad along missy," continued Sterl. "Alonga big boss missy, too. Friday, watchum all time. Me watchum all time. Savvy, Friday?"

The aborigine nodded his 黒人／ボイコット 長，率いる 即時に, with the mien of an Indian 長，指導者 damning an enemy to 破壊. "Friday savvy. Friday watchum. Friday no afraid!"

Sterl forgot to call for Leslie, but when she stole upon him it was 確かな that she had not forgotten, and that with the moonlight on her rippling hair, and 甘い 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 直面する, she was lovely.

"I waited and waited, but you didn't come," she said, taking his arm and leaning on him.

"Leslie, the talk I just had with Friday would make anyone forget. I'm sorry."

He looked 負かす／撃墜する upon her with stirring of his pulse. In another year Leslie would be a beautiful woman, and irresistible.

"You've forgiven me?"

"Really, Leslie, I didn't have anything to 許す."

"Oh, but I think you had. I don't know what was the 事柄 with me that day. Or now, for that 事柄. Today has been a little too much for your cowgirl. Red told me about cowgirls. Oh, he's the finest, strangest boy I ever knew. I adore him, Sterl."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm not so sure I'll 許す you to adore Red," 再結合させるd Sterl. "And see here, Leslie, now that we've made up, and you're my 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 on this trek..."

"How did you guess I longed for that?" she interposed 率直に.

"I didn't. But as you seemed upset this afternoon and put such 蓄える／店 on my friendship, why I decided to sort of boss you."

"I need it. Since we got to this （軍の）野営地，陣営, and I saw Ormiston again--I'm just 脅すd out of my wits. Silly of me!"

"井戸／弁護士席, outside of Ormiston, I reckon there's plenty to be 脅すd about. Ormiston, though--you needn't 恐れる him 本人自身で, any more. Keep out of his way. Always ride within sight of us. Never lose sight of me in a jam or any 肉親，親類d. Don't go to Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営 unless with us or your dad."

"Dad would take me, and forget me. Sterl, won't you please let me be with you often like this? I couldn't have slept tonight if you hadn't."

"Yes, you can be with me all you want," 約束d Sterl, helpless in the 現在の. "But Red and I must go to bed 早期に. Remember I have to ride herd after two o'clock. That means you're 予定するd for bed 権利 now."

"Oh, you darling," she cried, happily, and kissing him soundly she ran toward her wagon.

CHAPTER 8

Slyter 手配中の，お尋ね者 to keep his 暴徒 of cattle 損なわれていない, so that it would not be lost in the larger 暴徒. It was 必然的な, Sterl told him, that sooner or later there would be only one 暴徒. All the cattle except Woolcott's were unbranded.

Stanley Dann had foreseen this contingency, and his idea was to count the 在庫／株 of each partner, as 正確に as possible, and when they arrived at their 目的地 let him take his 百分率.

Discussion of this 詳細（に述べる） was held at the end of the next day's trek, in a 広げるing part of the valley, where the stream formed a large pool. Ormiston 反対するd to the idea of 百分率; and when Stanley Dann put it to a 投票（する）, Red Krehl 味方するd with Ormiston.

"Red Krehl, I'm ashamed of you," Leslie burst out, when Red approached the Slyter campfire that night.

"You 空気／公表する. Wal, thet's turrible," drawled Red in a 発言する／表明する which would have 怒り／怒るd anyone.

"I saw you, after we 停止（させる）d today. You were with Ormiston's drovers. Very jolly! And after that 会議／協議会 at Dann's you were basking in Beryl's smiles. She has won you over for Ormiston."

"Les, you're a 甘い kid, but kinda hothaided an' dotty."

"I'm nothing of the 肉親，親類d."

"Me an' Sterl don't agree on some things."

"Oh, you've been drinking. Drink changes men. I ran from Ormiston when he'd been drinking."

"You'd better run from me, pronto, or I'll spank the daylights out of you."

"You--you!..." Leslie was too amazed and furious to find words. She looked around to see how her parents took this 罪／違反. Mrs. Slyter called for Leslie to leave the campfire. Leslie 設立する her 発言する／表明する, and her dignity. "Mr. Krehl, some things are evident, and one is that you're no gentleman. You leave my campfire, or I will!"

Red did not show up at Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営 next morning until time to 運動 the herd across the stream. The wagons crossed only 中心 深い at a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 below （軍の）野営地，陣営. But the cattle were put to the 深い water. The take-off was 法外な, and many of the steers leaped, to go under. Splashing, 割れ目ing horns, bawling, the 暴徒 swam across the river, waded out. The horses, に引き続いて in the 深い 気圧の谷 which the cattle had 削減（する） into the bank, 軍隊／機動隊d 負かす／撃墜する to take their 急落（する），激減（する）.

It was 井戸／弁護士席 Sterl had an oilskin cover over his ライフル銃／探して盗む as King went in, up to his neck. The 黒人／ボイコット loved the water. Leslie （機の）カム last. She bestrode Duke, who hated a wetting but showed that he could not be left behind. He pranced, he 後部d.

"Come on, Les," called Sterl cheerily. "Give him the steel."

"Okay," trilled the girl, spirited and sure, and Sterl smiled at the thought that she was 吸収するing American dialect. She spurred the big sorrel, and he 急落（する），激減（する）d to go （疑いを）晴らす under. She kept her seat. The sorrel （機の）カム up with a snort and swam powerfully across.

At last the sun rose high enough to be warm, and to 乾燥した，日照りの wet 衣料品s. At noon it was hot. By the almost imperceptible 増加する in 気温 and the changing nature of the verdure, Sterl became aware of the tropics. He saw strange trees and flowering shrubs along with those he already knew. No mile passed that he did not 観察する a beautifully plumaged bird that was new.

Leslie 棒 over to 申し込む／申し出 Sterl a wet 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器. She had 回復するd from her shyness, or else in the 幅の広い sunlight and 機動力のある on a horse that would jump at a touch, she had something of audacity. Presently he chased her 支援する toward her 駅／配置する. Her 注目する，もくろむs were flashing 支援する and her hat swinging.

He would play square with this kid, he thought, but he had grown more aware of her captivating charm and freshness as the nights and days passed. He had no illusion about any cowboy, even himself. Yet he was disgusted with himself for 存在 支持を得ようと努めるd so easily from a lamentable love 事件／事情／状勢. He should hate all women.

Sunset had come and passed when the main 暴徒 中止するd to move, 示すing that the drovers on the 権利 had 停止（させる）d for （軍の）野営地，陣営. Slyter loped in behind his comrades. By the wagon Red sat his horse, waiting.

"Pard," he said, low-発言する／表明するd, as Sterl 停止（させる）d の近くに, "I'll eat with thet other outfit tonight. 会合，会う you at the big campfire after supper. Spring the dodge then."

"Depends on how mean you get," replied Sterl, with a mirthless laugh. "Red, honest Injun, I don't like the dodge."

"Hell no! But, pard, it's for them, an' us too," returned Red, はっきりと. "It's our 取引，協定 an' I've stacked the cairds. Play the game, you!" And Red 棒 away at a swinging canter. 不明瞭 descended and the cook 続けざまに猛撃するd a kettle to call all to supper.

Stanley Dann's community campfire 炎d brightly in the 中心 of a circle of bronzed 直面するs. Dann had barbecued a beef. It hung 回転するing over a 炭坑，オーケストラ席 十分な of red-hot coals. Sterl appeared purposely late, his soft step inaudible as he （機の）カム up behind Ormiston to hear him say, "But Leslie, my 甘い girl, surely you cannot 持つ／拘留する that against me?"

Sterl smothered an impulse to kick the man with all his might. Probably Red's arrival, more than his 抑制, checked the precipitation of an 問題／発行する that was bound to come. There were two drovers with Red, trying to 持つ／拘留する him 支援する, as he 格闘するd good-naturedly with them, and broke out in loud, lazy 発言する／表明する: "Dog-gone-it, fellers. Lemme be. Wasser masser with you? I'm a ladies' man--I am--an' I've been some punkins in my day."

His companions let him go, and kept 支援する out of the circle of light. Sterl 神経d himself for the prearranged 分裂（する）. Red shouldered Ormiston aside, to bend over Leslie.

"Les, I been huntin' you all over this heah dog-gone （軍の）野営地，陣営," said Red, with a gallant 屈服する.

"I've been here, Red," replied Leslie, quickly, evidently glad to welcome him, drunk or sober. "Come, sit 負かす／撃墜する."

"You shore 空気／公表する my 甘い lir girl frien'," returned Red.

What his next move might have been did not transpire, for Ormiston 直面するd him belligerently. Sterl's 警報 注目する，もくろむ had caught the drover scrutinizing Red, doubtless for the gun usually in plain sight. Tonight it was absent. Ormiston 押すd Red violently. "You drunken Yankee pup! This is an Australian girl, not one of your 追跡する 淡褐色s to mouth over!"

Sterl did not 危険 Red's reaction to that. He leaped between them, 直面するing Ormiston. "Careful, you fool!" he called, piercingly. "港／避難所't you any sense? Krehl has killed men for いっそう少なく."

"He's drunk," 再結合させるd the drover. "His familiarity with Leslie is insufferable."

"Yeah, it is, and I'll 扱う him," retorted Sterl.

"Here, men," にわか景気d Dann, striding over. "Can't we have one little hour 解放する／自由な from work and fighting?"

"Boss, there'll not be any fight," returned Sterl. "And Ormiston is not to 非難する this time, for more than one of his two-直面するd 割れ目s--It's Red."

"Boss, I wasn't huntin' trouble," interposed Red, sulkily. "Shore I've had a couple drinks. But whassar masser with thet? I ain't drunk. I jest say a playful word to Leslie, an' I gets 侮辱d by Ormiston heah, an' then my pard. Dog-gone, thet's too much."

"Red, I'm disgusted with you," 宣言するd Sterl, 怒って. "This is the second time. I 警告するd you."

"What'n'll do I care? You make me sick with yore preachin'. I ain't agonna stand it no more."

"Cowboy, you'd gone to hell long ago but for me."

"Shore. But I'm on my way again. We'll all be on our way, if we stick to the big boss's idee, an' trek off into thet Never-never."

Sterl ふりをするd a man working himself into a 激怒（する）. Laying a powerful left 手渡す on Red's collar he jerked him so hard that the cowboy's 長，率いる 発射 今後 and 支援する. "Why you 二塁打-crossing lowdown greaser!" 激怒（する）d Sterl. "You fail us for a few drinks!"

"Wal, it shore looks like I got the decidin' 投票（する）," rang out the cowboy, with 納得させるing elation.

Sterl let out a 猛烈な／残忍な cry of wrath. And he knocked Red flat. にもかかわらず his 約束 not to 攻撃する，衝突する too hard, he 恐れるd he had done so.

Beryl Dann leaped up to run and 減少（する） upon her 膝s beside Red. "Oh, he's terrible 傷つける!" She ちらりと見ることd up at Sterl, 直面する and 注目する，もくろむs 炎上ing in the light. "You!--You are the discord--the villain on this trek!"

Sterl 屈服するd scornfully and left the campfire for his own テント. Lighting a cigarette Sterl settled 負かす／撃墜する to smoke and think and listen, when 早い footfalls told that someone was coming. He turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to see Leslie running out of the 不明瞭. At that moment she appeared most distractingly pretty and 望ましい.

"Can't you ever walk, like a lady should?" queried Sterl gruffly.

"I can--but not in--the dark--with Ormiston 捕まらないで," she panted.

"After you again?"

"Yes, he is. Barefaced as--as anything."

"You have encouraged him."

"I--have not!"

"Leslie, I don't believe you," returned Sterl, やめる 残酷に. Somehow that little 出来事/事件 beside Dann's campfire had roused 不当な jealousy.

A dark wave of color changed the paleness of her 直面する.

"Sterl, I lied to Mum--and Dad about Ormiston. I was 脅すd. But I'd not 嘘（をつく） to you."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席 then, I わびる!"

"Sterl, Red said something today...that I didn't know it and you didn't know it--but I--I was your girl."

"The rattlebrain! Leslie, don't let him bamboozle you."

"What's bamboozle?"

"Make a little fool of you."

"Oh! then it isn't--true?" she whispered, plaintively.

"Of course it's true, in a way, for this trek," he replied, trying to keep from putting his arm around her, rather than carefully choosing his words.

"Then I can be happy, in spite of your brutality to Red," she 再結合させるd most 真面目に, hanging to his arm and devouring his 直面する with 注目する，もくろむs of wonder and 悲しみ. "Why didn't you 攻撃する，衝突する Ormiston instead of your friend?"

"I was angry, Leslie. What happened after I left?"

"Beryl has a tender heart for anyone 傷つける. And Red was 傷つける. She bent over him and almost cried. I bent over him, too, and I could see that Red was not only 傷つける but glorying in it. Then it happened. Ormiston dragged us away. He was perfectly white in the 直面する. Why, the madman thinks he can have us both! Then poor dear Red sat up, his 手渡す to his 直面する, and said: 'Leslie, tell thet pard of 地雷 thet I'll get even for the sock he gave me.' Others were coming, so I ran off."

"Leslie," flashed Sterl, "you're no kid any more, にもかかわらず what Red says. You've got to be a woman--to use your wits to help us to be cunning. Listen, can I 信用 you?"

She looked up wonderingly. "Yes, Sterl."

"That fight with Red was all pretense. Red wasn't drunk. Our 計画（する） is for him to make it look like he's 分裂（する） with me--to hobnob with those drovers, and find out what the hombre has up his sleeve! I'm confiding in you because I won't have you believing me a brute."

"Who thought you a brute? Oh, so Red wasn't drunk? How glad I am! Will Beryl be in the secret?"

"No indeed! Only your Dad, Stanley Dann, and you."

"So that was it," mused the girl.

"That was what?"

"Beryl's sweetness toward Red. The cat! Ormiston has 新たな展開d her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his little finger, and now she thinks Red has gone over to Ormiston's 味方する."

"Righto, Leslie. Now you hide those perfectly human feelings and practice deceit yourself. Be a ninny. Be the little softy who looks up to the proud 行方不明になる Dann. But be cunning, and find out through her all that is possible about Ormiston."

"So that's my part? Ohhh! But it's for Dad, for Mum, for Mr. Dann, for you. Yes, I can do it."

"Good-o! Run! Here comes Red. From the way he walks, I'd 賭事 he's mad!"

Red stalked into the firelight, his 注目する，もくろむs like daggers, his 手渡す to his mouth. He 除去するd it to expose a swollen lip.

"Wal, you--liar!" he said. "You 約束d not to sock me hard, an' look what you did!"

"I'm sorry, pard," replied Sterl, stifling a laugh. "Honestly, I didn't mean to. When I swung, you dumbhead, you ducked into it."

"Pard, I heah somebody comin'. Let's go in our テント an' 攻撃する，衝突する the hay. Then I'll talk."

Sterl had to 緊張する his 注目する，もくろむs to make out Friday's 傾向がある form under the low-drooping wattle 支店s. Somehow he had come to に例える the 黒人／ボイコット to a 監視者. He felt how infinitely keener the aborigine was than any white man, and most likely far keener than any Indian scout he had ever known.

Thirty-one days later--によれば Leslie's 定期刊行物 on the twenty-ninth of June--after a prodigious trek through a ジャングル pass, Stanley Dann called a 停止（させる） for a 残り／休憩（する） and 修理s to 器具／備品 and drovers and 暴徒.

Ormiston, with the two partners and drovers whom he 支配するd, broke out of the pass into the open, after a three-mile trek which took more than half a day. The Danns followed on his heels. Styler's cattle and riders 設立する the grass and 小衝突 trampled, the tree ferns and sassafras knocked 負かす／撃墜する, the creek banks 削減（する） into 小道／航路s, making it an 平易な trek except for the grades.

An hour's 残り／休憩（する） on the flat of his 支援する, a bath, a shave, a change of 着せる／賦与するs, 回復するd Sterl to some 外見 of his former self. He had a short talk with Styler, cheerful and energetic again. Mrs. Styler appeared 非，不，無 the worse for the long wagon rides and the many （軍の）野営地，陣営s with their incessant 仕事s. But Leslie showed the wear of six weeks and more of hard riding.

"Howdy, ragamuffin," said Sterl, coming to her calls.

"I am, aren't I?" she replied, ruefully, 調査するing herself. "I've two other 控訴s, but I'll mend these rags and make them go as far as possible. How spic and （期間が）わたる you look! Very handsome, Sterl!"

"That goes for you, Les," he 再結合させるd, heartily. "How prettily you tan!"

"Flatterer! I've had to ride myself nearly to death to 抽出する that compliment from you. Oh, what a trek! Sterl, you must help me with my 定期刊行物."

"Sure will. Let's see." It was then that Sterl discovered they had trekked thirty-one days through these mountain 範囲s for an aggregate of only one hundred and seventy-eight miles. "Not so good."

"My 定期刊行物? You don't help me!"

"I was referring to our trek, not your 定期刊行物. It's very neat. Only there's so little. I saw Beryl's 定期刊行物 the other night. It has yours skinned to a frazzle."

"Yeah? She 令状s in the wagon. And Red helps her at night. That was another thing which made Ormiston jealous."

"井戸／弁護士席, 追加する a long footnote here. I can remember the important things. Of course you would 記録，記録的な／記録する your loss of Duchess."

"Oh, Sterl, that broke my heart."

"She'll 追跡する us, if she wasn't 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd or stolen by 黒人／ボイコットs. Put this 負かす／撃墜する. Slyter lost two horses, and some twenty-半端物 長，率いる of cattle. Bad crossing at the ford you called Wattle 早いs. Flooded a wagon there, but no 損失. Visited by only few 黒人／ボイコットs. Growing unfriendly. Mosquitoes terrible at the Forks. Big tree ferns. Grand mountain-ash trees. Bad going last few days. Short treks. Wagons need 修理s and grease. Leslie about stripped to rags and lost say five 続けざまに猛撃するs."

"Umpumm, cowboy! I don't 記録，記録的な／記録する that!"

Supper, as usual on short day treks, （機の）カム 早期に--this time, as had happened often, without Red in 出席. Members of Slyter's group were always too hungry to mind the sameness of fare. Beef, 補欠／交替の／交替するd with game, was the prime factor. Damper, tea, 乾燥した，日照りのd fruits and beans were the other 必須のs, and on occasion 法案, the cook, managed some surprising pastry. Cowboys, Sterl realized, drank too much coffee, いつかs ten cups a day. Sterl and Red had learned to like tea, but they 限定するd drinking it to two meals a day.

"We 港／避難所't talked with Stanley for ten days," said Slyter after supper, "Come along with me, Hazelton."

The Dann （軍の）野営地，陣営 was bustling. One wagon had been jacked up, while the 中心s were 存在 greased; 大打撃を与えるs rapped vigorously on another, which had been partly unpacked; テントs were in 過程 of erection; a brawny drover was splitting firewood. Red sat on the ground beside a hammock, in which Beryl lay, 令状ing in her 定期刊行物.

Dann, the blond, golden-bearded 巨大（な）, 迎える／歓迎するd Slyter and Sterl in にわか景気ing welcome.

"Heard my order that we 停止する here a week?" he queried.

"Yes. 傷をいやす／和解させるd brought it. I'm glad. A good few days will put us 権利 again. Sterl agrees."

"Just had words with Ormiston. He 同意しないs. Says one day is 残り／休憩（する） enough. I told him he had my order. He replied that he'd go on with Woolcott and Hathaway. At that I put my foot 負かす／撃墜する. He left in high dudgeon."

"Why does he try to 封鎖する everything?" Sterl queried. "Why? Any fool would know the cattle need 残り／休憩（する）. Let's ask Red." Sterl called over the happily engaged cowboy, 知らせるd him of Ormiston's defection and asked if he could throw any light on it.

"Boss, I cain't give any 推論する／理由 for Ormiston's angle, except he's a mean cuss."

"Immaterial to me whether he does or not. He'd surely wait for us to catch up."

Dann and Slyter withdrew, leaving Red, …を伴ってd by Sterl, to return to Beryl. She received Sterl with a rather distant hauteur. If anything, Beryl had 伸び（る）d on the trek, in a golden tan, in a little 負わせる, and certainly in beauty. Sterl took advantage of the moment to tell her so. Her answering 楽しみ betrayed the vain jewel of her soul. Even if she hated a man she could not help 答える／応じるing to a 尊敬の印 to her beauty.

Sterl returned to Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営, for he had an 約束／交戦 with Leslie to climb to the saddle of the 山の尾根 and 見解（をとる） the country. Letting her carry his ライフル銃／探して盗む, he 安全な・保証するd a long stout stick, and they 始める，決める out. Along their 大勝する, 膝-high grass had not been trampled, and Sterl kept an 注目する，もくろむ out for snakes. Presently a movement of grass and a sibilant hiss startled them into jumping 支援する. Then with the long stick Sterl 位置を示すd the snake. Jones had 知らせるd Sterl that this 種類 was very poisonous and during the mating season would attack a man.

"Isn't he pretty? Tan, almost gold, with dark 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. Hasn't got a triangular 形態／調整d 長，率いる as our bad snakes have."

"Step 支援する, Sterl. Let me shoot his を回避する," 需要・要求するd Leslie, who manifestly was not sentimental over snakes.

"Umpumm. What for? He might be a gentleman like our rattler, who won't strike unless you step on him."

"This tiger is no gentleman. You're very tenderhearted over snakes, aren't you?" said Leslie, with a subtlety into which Sterl thought he had better not 問い合わせ. As they surmounted the 山の尾根, they looked 負かす／撃墜する into the magnificent mountain pass through which they had come. From behind the sun shone golden and red. In places the 向こうずねing 略章 of stream 負傷させる through verdure. On the far flat, 炎上 trees were 塚s of 燃やすing foliage, and the wedge-形態／調整d sassafras trees glistened as with golden 霜. But most striking of all was a waterfall which Sterl had not seen on the way through, a lacy, downward-smoking cascade leaping 落ちる after 落ちる in golden glory from the 山腹.

"Sterl, not there--here!" cried Leslie, tugging to wheel him around. "That is pretty--reminds me of home. But this purple land we are trekking into..."

From the 高さ where they stood the glistening, grassy slope with tufts of flowers like bits of 解雇する／砲火／射撃 descended 徐々に to the （軍の）野営地，陣営, where テントs and canvas wagon 最高の，を越すs shone white, columns of blue smoke curled and 広大な／多数の／重要な gum trees towered, their smooth trunks opal-hued, up to the 巨大な spread and sweep of hoary 支店s, their leaves thin glints of green against the golden sky.

These spreading gums were like 中心存在s of a wide portal 開始 負かす／撃墜する into a softly colored vale, from which swells of land, covered with flowering trees, rose and fell away into a plain spotted with 炎上--trees and wattles, which 誘惑するd the gaze on over 木材／素質d 山の尾根s, on and on with dimming gold into the luminous purple that 強めるd and darkened until it blended with the never ending vastness.

He became aware that Leslie was 圧力（をかける）ing の近くに to his 味方する, 粘着するing to him, gazing up with darkly 向こうずねing 注目する，もくろむs.

"My Australia!" she murmured. "Isn't it glorious? Don't you love it? Aren't you glad you （機の）カム?"

"Yes, Leslie--yes," he said, his emotion 自然に 転換ing to the sense of her beauty and nearness.

"You will never leave Australia?"

"No child--never," he replied, with sadness in his 発言する／表明する.

"You are my dearest friend?"

"I hope so. I'm trying hard to be--your friend."

"And my big brother?"

Suddenly there （機の）カム a convulsion within his breast, a hot 急ぐ of 血 that 速く followed his 降伏する to her sweetness, to her 控訴，上告. "Not your big brother, Leslie!" he said, thickly, as he clasped her tight. "You're a woman--甘い. No man could resist...And you torment me." He kissed her passionately, again and again until her 冷静な／正味の quivering lips grew hot and responsive--again and again! until she lay relaxed and acquiescent on his breast.

"My God! Now I've done it," he exclaimed, remorsefully.

"Sterl!" She drew 支援する to gaze up with wondering 注目する，もくろむs and 炎上ing 直面する. Then with a cry she turned and fled 負かす／撃墜する the slope.

"Cowboy, that's what Australia had done to you," he said and bent to 選ぶ up his ライフル銃／探して盗む.

CHAPTER 9

Day after day the 広大な／多数の／重要な trek crept across the wilderness that Leslie had called the purple land. Day after day the smoke signals of the aborigines arose and drifted away over the horizon. Friday grew mysterious and reticent, answering queries with a puzzling: "Might be." Sterl, grown wise from his long experience with the American Indians, knew better than to question the 黒人／ボイコット about his people.

Stanley Dann had no 恐れる of 黒人／ボイコットs or endless trek or flood or heat or 干ばつ. As the difficulties imperceptibly 増加するd so did his 元気づける and courage and 約束. On Sundays he held a short 宗教的な service which all were importuned to …に出席する. Sterl 公式文書，認めるd, as the （一定の）期間 of the wilderness worked upon the minds of the trekkers, that the 出席 徐々に 減少（する）d. 約束 had not failed Stanley Dann, but it had lost its 持つ／拘留する on the others, who retrograded toward the 原始の.

Sterl saw all this, understood it only ばく然と. Ormiston had already succumbed to this backward step in 進化. Red would succumb to it unless a 本物の love for Beryl Dann 証明するd too strong for this life in the raw. All the drovers were 存在 影響する／感情d, and Sterl felt that not many of them would turn out gods.

Beryl 答える／応じるd slowly but surely to this 勧める. And in her, its first 影響 was a growth of her natural instinct for 取得／買収 of admirers. Every night at Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営 a half dozen or more young drovers vied with Ormiston and Red for her smiles. Red played his game 異なって from his 競争相手s. He 限定するd his 成果／努力s to serving Beryl, so that the girl seemed to rely upon him while 存在 piqued that he was not at her feet. Ormiston's inordinate jealousy grew.

Leslie, 存在 the youngest in the trek, and a girl of red 血 and spirit, traveled more 速く than the 残り／休憩（する） of them in her relegation to the physical. For weeks after that sunset hour in the gateway of the pass, she had 避けるd 存在 alone with Sterl. But her shyness 徐々に fell away from her, and as the trek went on through 厳格な，質素な days and nights of time and distance, she warmed もう一度 to him.

But Sterl had never transgressed again, as at that mad and unrestrained sunset 最高潮, though there were times when he 願望（する）d it almost 圧倒的に. にもかかわらず love had come to him once more. Yet he never let himself dwell upon a 未来. For many of Stanley Dann's 軍隊／機動隊, and very かもしれない for him, there would be 非，不，無.

"Plenty smoke," said Friday one afternoon when （軍の）野営地，陣営 had been made on a 乾燥した，日照りの stream bed, with only a few waterholes.

Sterl and Slyter, together at the campfire when Friday spoke, scanned the horizon where at the moment all was （疑いを）晴らす.

"Friday, what you mean?" queried Slyter, anxiously, "We come far." He held up three fingers. "Moons--three moons. Plenty smokes. No 黒人／ボイコット man. All same alonga tomorrow?"

"黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up. Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella. Come more. Bimeby no more smokes. Spear cattle--steal!"

"How long, Friday? When?"

"Mebbe soon--mebbe bimeby."

Slyter looked apprehensively at Sterl, and threw up his 手渡すs.

"Let's go tell Stanley."

They 設立する their leader, as had happened before, 根気よく listening to Ormiston. Sterl's keen 注目する，もくろむs 公式文書，認めるd a graying of Dann's hair over his 寺s.

Slyter broke the news. Dann 一打／打撃d his golden 耐えるd.

"At last, eh? We are 感謝する for this long 一時的休止，執行延期," he said, his 注目する，もくろむs lighting as if with good news.

"I asked Friday what to do? He said, 'Watchum の近くに up! Killum!'" 結論するd Slyter.

"井戸／弁護士席! For a 黒人／ボイコット to advise that!" exclaimed the leader, ponderingly. "But I do not advise 流血／虐殺."

"I do," 宣言するd Ormiston, bluntly. "If we don't, this nigger 暴徒 will grow beyond our 力／強力にする to 対処する with it. They will hang on our trek, spearing cattle at a distance."

Sterl wondered what was working in this man's mind to 影響（力） him thus. But it seemed wise advice. "Boss, I agree with Ormiston," he spoke up.

"What's your opinion, Slyter?" asked Dann.

"If the 黒人／ボイコットs spear our cattle and menace us, then I say kill."

Dann nodded his 抱擁する 長，率いる in sad 現実化. "We will take things as they come. 合併する all the cattle into one 暴徒..."

"I told you I'd not agree to that," interrupted Ormiston.

"Don't regard it as my order. I ask you to help me to that extent," returned the leader, with 患者 説得／派閥.

"Ormiston, listen," interposed Sterl. "I've had to do with a good many cattle 運動s, trek you call them. After a 殺到 or a flood or a terrible 嵐／襲撃する, things that are bound to happen to us, cattle can never be driven 分かれて again."

"That I do not believe."

"Yeah? All 権利," snapped Sterl, "what you believe doesn't count so damn much on this trek!"

Ormiston gazed away across the purple distance, his square jaw 始める，決める, his 注目する，もくろむs smoldering, his mien one of relentless 対立.

"Our differences are not the important 問題／発行する now," he said finally. "That is this danger of 黒人／ボイコットs." And without looking at his partners he stalked away.

"Slyter, we'll put 二塁打 guards on watch tonight. 合併する your cattle with my 暴徒," ordered Dann.

Before dusk fell this order had been carried out. Ormiston's 暴徒, 含むing Woolcott's and Hathaway's grazed across the stream bed a mile distant.

Supper at Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営 was late that night, and Red Krehl the last rider to come in. He sat cross-legged between Leslie and Sterl. His 乾燥した，日照りの, droll humor was 欠如（する）ing. It gave Sterl 関心, but Leslie betrayed no 調印する that she noticed it. However, after supper, she teased him about Beryl.

"Les, you're a 冷淡な, fishy, soulless girl, no good atall," finally 報復するd Red.

"Fishy? I don't know about that. Sterl, should I box his ears?"

"井戸／弁護士席, fishy is okay if he means angelfish."

"Red, do you mean I'm an angelfish?"

"I should snicker I don't. 支援する in Texas there's a little catfish. And can he sting?"

"Red, I'd rather have you in a fighting mood. Three times before this you've been the way you are tonight--and something has happened."

"Wal...Ormiston ordered me out of his （軍の）野営地，陣営 just before I 棒 in heah."

"What for?" asked Sterl, はっきりと.

"I ain't shore, Beryl has been kinda 甘い to me lately, in 前線 of Ormiston. It ain't foolin' me 非，不，無. But it's got him. Another thing. Her Dad makes no bones about likin' me. Ormiston hates thet. I reckon he sees I'm someone to worry about."

"You are, Red. But I've a hunch your attention to Beryl has kept you from getting a line on Ormiston."

"Mebbe it has. All the same, shore as you're 膝-high to a grasshopper, Beryl will give him away yet, or let out somethin' thet I can savvy."

"Is Beryl in love with him?" asked Sterl.

"Hell, yes," replied Red, gloomily.

"Les, what do you think?"

"Hell, yes," repeated Leslie, imitating Red's laconic disgust. "Beryl has had a lot of love 事件／事情／状勢s. But this one is worse."

"You're both wrong," 再結合させるd Sterl. "Beryl is fascinated by a no-good, snaky man. She's a natural-born flirt. But I think she has depth. Wait till she's had real hell!"

Friday ぼんやり現れるd out of the 影をつくる／尾行する. He carried his wommera and bundle of long spears. "Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up. Corroboree!"

"Listen!" cried Leslie.

On the instant a wild dog howled. It seemed a mournful and monstrous sound, accentuating the white-starred, melancholy night. Then a low, weird 詠唱するing of many savage 発言する／表明するs, almost 溺死するd by the native dogs baying the dingoes, rose high on the still 空気／公表する into a piercing wail, to die away.

"Bimeby plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella. Spear cattle--steal ebrytink," volunteered Friday.

"Will these 黒人／ボイコット men try to kill us?" queried Sterl.

"Might be, bimeby. Watchum の近くに."

Slyter （機の）カム to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, 持つ／拘留するing up a 手渡す for silence. The howling, the barking, the 詠唱するing, transcended any wild sound Sterl had ever heard. The staccato concatenated barks of coyotes, the lonely 嘆く／悼む of bloodthirsty wolves, the roo-roo-rooooo of mating buffalo, the stamping, yelling war dance of the Indians--were hardly to be compared to this Australian bushland 詠唱する. Sterl entertained a queer thought that the incalculable difference might be cannibalism.

"Cowboys, how does that strike you?" asked Slyter, grimly. "Daughter, would you like to be home again? Mum has her 手渡すs clapped over her ears."

The girl gave him a 病弱な, 勇敢に立ち向かう smile. "No. We're on the trek. We'll fight."

"Righto!" ejaculated Slyter. "Les, you have a ライフル銃／探して盗む. If you see a 黒人／ボイコット man spear a horse--kill him!"

It struck Sterl 意味ありげに that Slyter thought of his horses, not his cattle.

"Get some sleep," he 結論するd. "Don't 危険 your テント tonight. 黒人／ボイコット men seldom or ever attack before 夜明け, but sleep under your wagon."

The cowboys piled packs and bundles outside of the wheels of their wagon. Then they crept under to stretch out on their 一面に覆う／毛布s without 除去するing coat or boots. Friday lay just outside of the wheels. When they rolled out, dressed to ride, ライフル銃／探して盗むs in 手渡す, Larry was saddling horses, Drake and his three drovers drinking tea.

"How was the guard?" asked Sterl.

"暴徒 静かな. Horses 残り／休憩（する）ing. No 調印する of 黒人／ボイコットs. But we heard them on and off. Look sharp just before and at daylight."

"Boys," said Larry, when they reached the herd, "I'll drove the far end."

Sterl passed Dann's horses, patrolled by one rider, and a mile その上の 負かす／撃墜する （機の）カム upon another horseman, who turned out to be Cedric. He had been on guard for an hour and 報告（する）／憶測d all 井戸／弁護士席. Sterl 棒 支援する.

At intervals low 爆破s of the corroboree waved out across the plain. The campfires of the aborigines still 微光d. Dogs and dingoes had 中止するd their howling. Sterl 解任するd the first time he had stood guard on the Texas 範囲 when Comanches were 推定する／予想するd to （警察の）手入れ，急襲. They had done it, too, matchless and (n)艦隊／(a)素早い riders, 急襲するing 負かす／撃墜する upon the remuda to 殺到 it and 運動 off the horses, leaving one dead Indian on the ground, 犠牲者 of his ライフル銃／探して盗む. He was sixteen years old then and that was his first 血 流出／こぼすing.

Every half hour of thereabouts he 棒 支援する to have a word with Red. The only time he accosted Friday the 黒人／ボイコット held up his 手渡す, "Bimeby!"

Now the 詠唱するing of the aborigines 中止するd, and the corroboree 解雇する／砲火／射撃s 微光d fainter and fainter to die out. The cattle slept. The silence seemed uncanny. The first streaks of gray in the east 先触れ（する）d a rumble of hoofs, like distant 雷鳴. The 暴徒 of cattle belonging to Ormiston and his companions was on the run. Sterl galloped over to Red. Friday joined them.

"They're runnin', pard, but not 殺到d," said Red, his lean 長，率いる bent, his ear to the east.

"Slowing 負かす／撃墜する, Red," returned Sterl, 緊張するing his 審理，公聴会, "Friday, what happen alonga there?"

"黒人／ボイコット fella spearum cattle," was the reply.

"Not so bad, thet. But a 殺到 of this unholy 暴徒 would be orful," 宣言するd Red. "Listen, Sterl, they're rollin' again, 支援する the other way."

"Saw a gun flash!" cried Sterl, and then a dull 報告（する）／憶測 reached them.

"Wal, the ball's opened," said Red, coolly. "Take yore pardners."

Flashes and 報告（する）／憶測s （機の）カム from several points, 広範囲にわたって separated.

"Aw, hell! Our cattle are wakin' up, pard. Heah comes Larry."

The young drover （機の）カム 涙／ほころびing up, to 運ぶ／漁獲高 his 開始する 支援する の上に 事情に応じて変わる haunches. "Boys, our 暴徒--is about to--break," he panted.

"Umpumm, Larry," replied Red. "They're jest oneasy."

Sterl calculated that a thousand or more cattle were in 動議, いっそう少なく than a third of Ormiston's 暴徒. The rumble of hoofs began to 減らす in 容積／容量 as the 射撃s became desultory. But the lowing of Dann's 暴徒, the 割れ目ing of horns, 原因（となる）d Sterl 広大な／多数の／重要な 関心, in spite of Red's 保証／確信. The 中心 of 騒動 appeared to be 支援する along the 部門 from which Larry had just come.

"Sterl, I'll go with Larry," said Red, wheeling Jester. "Jest in 事例／患者. If we don't get 支援する pronto come arunnin'."

Presently, when he 停止（させる）d King to listen, Sterl 設立する that--the dull trampling from across the flat was dying out, and that the ominous restlessness of Dann's 暴徒 was doing likewise. A 早い thud of hoofs 証明するd to be Red, riding 支援する.

"Lost my matches. Gimme some," said the cowboy, as he reined in beside Sterl. Lighting a cigarette relieved Sterl. "They was movin' out up there, but 平易な to stop. This 暴徒 of Dann's fooled me. They've been so tame, you know, not atall like longhorns, thet I reckoned it'd take a hell of a lot to 殺到 them. But umpumm!--Say, I'll bet two pesos we'll be 利益／興味d in what （機の）カム off over there."

"Yes. All 静かな now, though. And it's daylight."

At sunrise they 棒 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営. Slyter listened intently to Larry's 報告（する）／憶測, which plainly relieved him.

They had just finished breakfast when Cedric dashed up to 知らせる Slyter that Dann 手配中の，お尋ね者 him and the cowboys at once.

"What has happened?" queried Slyter.

"Trouble with the 黒人／ボイコットs at Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営," replied Cedric, then loped away.

Slyter himself was the only one who showed surprise. 支配するd by Stanley Dann, he just could not believe in calamity.

"That's bad, I wonder who...Boys, come on."

"Friday, run alonga me," said Sterl to the 黒人／ボイコット.

At the larger （軍の）野営地，陣営. Stanley Dann and Eric, with Cedric and another drover, were 機動力のある, waiting for them. Beryl was watching them with big troubled 注目する，もくろむs.

"Bingham," spoke up the 巨大（な）, calmly, "Ormiston just sent word that Woolcott has been speared by the 黒人／ボイコットs."

"Woolcott! Cedric didn't tell us--I thought--Stanley, this is terrible. When--what?..."

"No other word. I daresay if Ormiston had 手配中の，お尋ね者 us he'd have said so. But by all means I should go."

"We all should go," 再結合させるd Slyter.

"Wal, I should smile," drawled Red, in a peculiar トン that only Sterl understood.

The tall Hathaway, bewhiskered now and no longer florid, met Dann's group as they reined in 近づく the wagons.

"A terrible 悲劇, Stanley," he said, huskily. "Woolcott 主張するd on doing guard 義務, in spite of Ormiston's advice. The 黒人／ボイコットs attacked at 夜明け this morning...Killed Woolcott and his horse!"

"Where is he?" asked Dann.

Hathaway led them beyond the campfire, to a quartet of men beside a wagon. Ormiston, haggard of 直面する, turned to 会合，会う the 訪問者s. Two of the group had shovels, and had evidently just dug a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

"Dann, it's a gruesome 商売／仕事 I'd hoped to spare you," said Ormiston, not without harshness. "Woolcott heard the 黒人／ボイコットs, and he went on guard. I advised him 特に to stay in. But he went--and got killed."

Woolcott lay limp as a 解雇（する）, with a spear through his middle. Only the 味方する of his gray visage was exposed, but it was enough to show the convulsions of 拷問 that had …に出席するd his death.

"Where's his horse?" asked Dann.

"Out there," replied Ormiston, with a 動議 of his 手渡す toward a low 山の尾根. "We have the saddle and bridle. This won't 延期する us, Stanley. We'll bury Woolcott, 示す his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, and catch up with you."

"Bury him without any service?"

"You needn't wait to do that. If you wish I'll read a Psalm out of his Bible, and bury it with him."

"I'd like that. We can do no いっそう少なく."

"Wait, boss," called Sterl, "I want to see just what this 黒人／ボイコット man spear work looks like." He slipped out of his saddle, and 動議d Friday to come from behind the horses.

"Me too," drawled Red, coolly, as he swung his long 脚 and stepped 負かす／撃墜する.

Sterl, stepping slowing out from the horses, made it a point to be looking at Ormiston when the drover 遠くに見つけるd Friday. Evil and 強烈な as Ormiston undoubtedly was, he was not 広大な／多数の／重要な. Sterl had seen a hundred 無法者s and rustlers who could have hidden what this man failed to hide--a (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse of 恐れる.

Friday stepped の近くに to Woolcott's prostrate 団体／死体, and with sinewy 黒人／ボイコット 手渡す, wonderful in its familiarity with that aboriginal 武器, laid 持つ／拘留する of the spear.

Ormiston burst out: "All 黒人／ボイコットs look the same to me!" And with 殺人 in his protruding 注目する，もくろむs he pulled a gun. Sterl, ready and quick as light, 発射 it out of Ormiston's 手渡す.

The horses, snorting, 急落（する），激減（する）ing, kept the riders busy for a moment. Friday 支援するd away. Sterl stepped 支援する a little, smoking gun 延長するd, lining up the shocked Ormiston with his drovers, Bedford and Jack. Red was at Sterl's 味方する. Stanley Dann bellowed an order from behind.

"Ormiston, you and I will have real trouble over Friday yet," rang out Sterl. The 弾丸 had evidently 攻撃する，衝突する the gun, to send it spinning away. Ormiston held his stung 手渡す with his left.

"Next time you throw your gun, do it at me," 追加するd Sterl, scornfully. "You'd have killed this 黒人／ボイコット man."

"Yes--I would--and I'll do it--yet," shouted Ormiston, now purple in the 直面する.

"Ormiston, you're blacker at heart than Friday is outside."

Stanley 勧めるd his big charger 近づく to the belligerents.

"What 反乱 is this?" he 需要・要求するd.

Sterl explained in few words. Ormiston 競うd that sight of the 黒人／ボイコット had 刺激するd him to frenzy.

"Let that do," にわか景気d the leader. "Isn't Woolcott's death lesson enough? We must squash this dissension の中でs us. Ormiston, I 非難する you most. 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営, all!"

Dann, with Slyter and his brother Cedric, 棒 away. "Mosey along, pard," said Red, curtly, "but don't turn yore 支援する."

Sterl had not taken two backward steps before he bumped into King. The cowboys 機動力のある and soon overtook the long-striding Friday. Slowing 負かす／撃墜する to 融通する the 黒人／ボイコット, they 棒 a beeline for their own （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Sorry, boss," said Sterl to Slyter. "I'm always 深くするing those furrows in your brow. But you must have seen that Ormiston would have 発射 Friday. Anyway you heard him say so."

"I heard," 宣言するd Slyter. "I tried to 納得させる Stanley that Ormiston has always meant to 殺人 my 黒人／ボイコット."

Leslie bounced out from somewhere. "Dad! You heard what?" she cried, flashing-注目する，もくろむd and keen, not to be 否定するd.

"Oh, Lord!" groaned her father.

"Leslie, put this 負かす／撃墜する in your little 調書をとる／予約する," said Sterl, and he made a concise 報告（する）／憶測 of the 出来事/事件.

She 炎上d even more readily than usual. "He would have 発射 Friday!" Then she swore, the first time Sterl had ever heard her use a word of the profanity so 流布している in （軍の）野営地，陣営. When her father looked shocked and helpless, Leslie went on, "The louse! The dirty low-負かす／撃墜する hombre!"

"Haw! Haw! Haw!" rang out Red's laugh. "Les, you're shore learning to talk cowboy!"

"Boss," spoke up Sterl, while he fastened the clinches on his rangy sorrel. "Red and I will start out on the trek. But after Ormiston is on the move, we'll go 支援する there with Friday to look over the ground. Red and I can read 跡をつけるs. And if it's too much for us, maybe Friday can see something. We'll catch up pronto."

A few pieces of 板材 lay scattered about Woolcott's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な: Sterl and Friday carry 石／投石するs to cover it. Then they 築くd a 一時しのぎの物，策 cross. That done, they 始める，決める out on foot, 主要な their horses. Half a mile out on the grassy flat, at the 辛勝する／優位 of rising, sandy ground, Friday 位置を示すd a dead horse.

It was a bay, lying on its 味方する, with a spear sticking up high. "Look heah," said Red, presently, pointing to a 削除する of 乾燥した，日照りのd 血 running from the ear on the under 味方する of the 長，率いる.

The 黒人／ボイコット had pulled out a long spear and was scrutinizing it.

"Boss," he said to Sterl, "killum horse like white man." And Friday made one of his impressive gestures 支援する toward Woolcott's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

"How, Friday?" queried Sterl.

The 黒人／ボイコット fitted the 血まみれの spear to his wommera, and made ready as if to throw.

"No wommera. No 黒人／ボイコット fella spearum white man! No 黒人／ボイコット fella killum horse!"

"By Gawd!" ejaculated Red, not in horror, but in 確定／確認 of something that had been sensed.

"How then?" cried Sterl.

"Spear pushum in white man. Pushum in horse. No 黒人／ボイコット fella do!" And Friday took the long spear, to 押す it deliberately into the horse.

"Heah, help me turn this hoss over," said Red. The three of them managed it, not without dint of 成果／努力. Red thrust his 明らかにする 手渡す into the 血まみれの ear. Suddenly he grew 緊張した.

"発射!" hissed the cowboy. Then again he bend over to move his 手渡す. "Got my finger in a 弾丸 穴を開ける. Somebody 押すd a gun in this hoss's ear an' 発射 him! Look heah!" As he pulled out his 手渡す there were 黒人／ボイコット stains 合併するd with 血 on his forefinger. "砕く! Burnt 砕く!"

Red wiped his 手渡す on the sand and grass, then 完全にするd the 職業 with his handkerchief. He stood up, and searching his pocket for タバコ and matches sat 負かす／撃墜する to roll a cigarette.

Sterl 演説（する）／住所d the watchful 黒人／ボイコット. "Friday, look--see 跡をつけるs--黒人／ボイコット fella 跡をつけるs all around?" Sterl himself could not see a 選び出す／独身 one except Friday's. 自然に there were boot 跡をつけるs all around, in every sandy 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Then he sat 負かす／撃墜する ひどく.

"殺人!"

"Pard, as shore as Gawd made little apples!" replied Red. "Hell, we shouldn't be surprised. We knowed it all the time--only we was afraid to think!"

Red let out as if in 救済 a long string of vile 指名するs--the worse that the western 範囲 afforded.

"Why--why?" queried Sterl, passionately.

"What the hell why?" flashed Red, getting up. "It is! We don't care why!"

"Could we 証明する 殺人 to those drovers, if we fetched them 支援する here?"

"Mebbe, if they'd come. But Dann wouldn't come. Pard, I'm afraid he's leanin' to a belief we Yankees 空気／公表する too hardhearted an' 怪しげな."

"Red, you're 人物／姿／数字ing we'd better look out for our own scalps, and let these drovers find things out?"

"I reckon I am, pard, thought I ain't had time to figger much."

"Maybe you're 権利, Red. There's Leslie to think of--and Beryl. And Ormiston's a tiger!"

"Leslie is yore 警戒／見張り, pard, an' Beryl is 地雷."

Friday interrupted to say: "Boss, no 黒人／ボイコット fella 跡をつけるs alonga here."

They followed Friday その上の into the bush, past dead campfires, 単に a few charred sticks crossed, and then to a trampled, blackened, sandy patch where a large 解雇する／砲火／射撃 had been 燃やすd. A steer's skull 示すd the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where there had been an aboriginal feast. What amazed Sterl was the completeness of it. No hide nor hoofs left!--Only a few bones divested of their 骨髄! From that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す foot 跡をつけるs of a horde of natives led on in the direction of the trek.

CHAPTER 10

That day's trek, 借りがあるing to the larger 暴徒 of cattle becoming infused with the excitement which 支配するd Ormiston's, 証明するd to be the longest so far. At （軍の）野営地，陣営, Sterl had little inclination and not much 適切な時期 to 追加する to Slyter's worries by telling him that Woolcott had been 殺人d. But Slyter confided in Sterl and Red that he had learned from the Danns of Ormiston's （人命などを）奪う，主張するing Woolcott's fifteen hundred 長，率いる of cattle for a 賭事ing 負債. Sterl was staggered, and the fluent Red for the moment （判決などを）下すd speechless.

"Hathaway 立証するd it," went on Slyter. "Told me Ormiston, Woolcott, and those drovers Bedford and Jack, 賭事d every night."

When Slyter went about his 仕事s Red （機の）カム out of his dumb 爆撃する. "Pard, thet ain't so. It's another of Ormiston's lies. Hathaway might believe it. He always went to bed with the chickens. For months, almost, either I have seen Ormiston with Beryl, or I have been with Jack an' Bedford. Cairds was never について言及するd to me an' you know I had a roll thet would have choked a cow."

That night Leslie, in 選ぶing up a bundle of firewood, neglected to put on her gloves, and was 厳しく bitten by a red-支援する spider. She made light of it, 特に after Friday returned to paste some herb concoction of his own upon the swelling 手渡す. Sterl had 設立する a better 治療（薬） for snakebite than whisky. He plied the girl with coffee, and walked her up and 負かす／撃墜する for hours, keeping her awake until she fell asleep in his 武器 from exhaustion. Then he carried her to the wagon and laid her on her bed.

Then when they called Red to ride herd, it was to discover that he was ill with 冷気／寒がらせるs and fever, the like of which had never before befallen that cowboy. But he 辞退するd to stay in bed. By breakfast time, he was so ill he could not sit his horse. Stanley Dann 宣言するd that his 病気 was 腸の and （機の）カム from something he had eaten. Red swore and asked for whisky. He traveled that day on the dray, high on 最高の，を越す of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 負担 of flour 解雇（する）s, where he went to sleep.

Leslie should not have ridden at all, but neither her father nor Sterl could dissuade her. "Shucks," she said, "I'm all 権利. I won't give in to thet pesky old red-支援する!" She was 吸収するing the cowboy vocabulary.

Sterl 棒 の近くに to her that day, during which she fell twice out of her saddle. But she did not lose her sense of humor.

"Red said I'm gonna be a 本物の cowgirl, didn't he?" she said when she slid out of her saddle the second time. "Dog-gone it, Sterl, if I 落ちる off again 扱う／治療する me to some of that--that 薬／医学 you gave me 支援する at Purple Land （軍の）野営地，陣営."

Two days of laborious travel followed. Before sunset of the first, the 探検隊／遠征隊 立ち往生させるd on the banks of a かなりの stream with 法外な banks. Even when the 暴徒, driven across in 前進する, had trampled out 天然のまま roads, it 要求するd eight horses to drag each wagon across. Leslie was still too weak to 勇敢に立ち向かう the 背信の 現在の and Sterl, 機動力のある on King, carried her across in his 武器. 中央の-現在の, she looked up and said softly:

"I'd like to ride all the 残り／休憩（する） of way like this."

"Yeah? Three thousand miles?" 答える／応じるd Sterl. And he 登録（する）d this little occurrence as one of the dangerous 出来事/事件s--if not misfortunes--that were multiplying.

A 乾燥した，日照りの （軍の）野営地，陣営 that afternoon awakened Sterl もう一度 to the alarming probability that 欠如（する） of water 長，率いるd Stanley Dann's 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 障害s to the trek. Friday 心配するd a native corroboree that night, and it was 来たるべき, with its accompaniment of dingo choruses and dog howls. Dann's order was to let the aborigines alone, unless they stole into （軍の）野営地，陣営 to attack. Morning 公表する／暴露するd no 証拠 that the 黒人／ボイコットs had killed cattle, but Slyter shrewdly 宣言するd that their leader could have 設立する out had he put Friday and the cowboys to 追跡（する）ing 跡をつけるs.

All day the smoke signals rose far ahead, the sun 燃やすd hotter, the tiny 飛行機で行くs 群れているd invisibly around the riders' and drovers' 長，率いるs. At dusk 飛行機で行くing foxes, like vampire bats, swished and whirred over the （軍の）野営地，陣営s; opposums and porcupines had to be thrust out of the way. Every piece of firewood hid a horde of ants, and as they はうd frantically away, 法案 the cook scooped them 支援する into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with a shovel.

Then there was a large insect which （機の）カム out of decayed 支持を得ようと努めるd--blue-黒人／ボイコット, over an インチ long--which was not a biter like the 猛烈な／残忍な ants, but decidedly more annoying in the vile odor it gave off when discovered. Snakes, too became more ありふれた in this bush. Sterl 遠くに見つけるd a death adder under his 解除するd foot and stepped on it before he could jump. After that he and Red did not take off their chaps at the end of the day's trek; and Sterl 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する an extra pair of his for Leslie to wear. The girl's 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の delight in them was equaled by the picturesque exaggeration of her charm.

For weeks after Woolcott's death Ormiston had kept mostly to his （軍の）野営地，陣営. He had even somewhat neglected Beryl, a circumstance Red had made the most of. Stanley Dann 発言／述べるd that Ormiston had taken the Woolcott 悲劇 very grievously. Dann had been gratified by the drover's throwing his cattle in with the main 暴徒. The 緊張するd relation was certainly no worse, if it had not grown better. But Sterl was not deceived by Ormiston. Red had abandoned his 計画（する） of intimacy with Ormiston's drovers. He 企て，努力，提案d his time. He still clung to his belief that Beryl Dann would--be instrumental in exposing Ormiston in his true colors.

One night, Red returned to （軍の）野営地，陣営 rather earlier than usual; and his look 用意が出来ている Sterl for a 公表，暴露.

"Pard, I jest happened to heah somethin'," he whispered, impressively, leaning his falcon-形態／調整d red 長，率いる to Sterl. "I was after a bucket of water for Beryl, kinda under cover of the bank where the brook was clean. Ormiston with Jack an' Bedford （機の）カム along above. I heahed low 発言する／表明するs, kinda sharp, before they got to me. Then 権利 above Ormiston spit out: 'No, I told you. Not till we get to the haidwaters of the Diamantina.'"

Sterl echoed his last four words. "Red, what do you 人物／姿／数字 from that?"

"Wal, it's plain as print so far. Whatever Ormiston has in mind it's to come off thar. I 人物／姿／数字 that those two hombres want to pull off the 取引，協定 sooner."

"You used to have brains. Cain't you help me figgerin' what the hell?"

"I'll try. Suppose I 分析する this. Then you give me your old cowboy American slant."

"Hop to it, pard."

"Ormiston wants to be a partner of Stanley Dann's after the trek. Or to get 支配（する）／統制する of a big 暴徒 of cattle, and marry Beryl. He is working his 取引，協定 so that when he 脅すs to 分裂（する） out from this 運動, Dann will give almost anything to keep him. Ormiston's drovers want a 対決 for their labors or a 速度(を上げる）-up of the break."

"You ain't calculatin', anythin' atall on our idee thet Woolcott was 殺人d?"

"That is a stickler, I 収容する／認める, but I am trying to find a more 信頼できる 動機 for those other Australians."

"Pard, listen to a little plain sense from a Texas hombre who's knowed a thousand bad eggs...Ormiston is a drover, mebbe, a cattleman, mebbe. He's after cattle, all he can steal!...It's a cinch he killed Woolcott, or had one of his outfit do it. Woolcott probably bucked. 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go 支援する to Dann. An' he got Woolcott's cattle, didn't he? The gamblin' 負債 can be 割引d. Ormiston is workin' to 説得する some of Dann's riders to 味方する with him. I know thet. They jest damn 近づく approached me! Wal, muss thet all up an' figger. Ormiston has 支配（する）／統制する of three thousand haid. He'll get 持つ／拘留する of more, by hook or crook. An' he'll 分裂（する） with Dann at the haidwaters of thet river, take Beryl with him by 説得／派閥 or 軍隊, an' light out for some place he is figgerin' on...Thet, my son, is what Old Dudley Texas says!"

"All same just another 血まみれの rustler!"

"All same jest another 血まみれの cow どろぼう, like hundreds we've knowed an' some we've hanged."

"Stanley Dann will never believe that until too late."

"Reckon not. But we might talk Slyter into findin' out he was alive...Queer dee, ain't it?"

"Queer--sure!" returned Sterl.

"Red, we can't let it go on--come to a 長，率いる."

"We jest can," retorted Red. "For the 現在の.

"Somethin' will happen one of these days, jest like thet 割れ目 of Ormiston's I heahed today, an' always there's the chance Beryl will put us wise to Ormiston. I'm layin' low, Sterl. We've been in some 堅い places. This is shore the toughest. Let's not let it get the best of us."

"Red Krehl, did I have to come way out here to Australia to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる you?" 需要・要求するd Sterl. "You sense things beyond my 力／強力にするs...But, old timer, I 断言する I'll rise to this thing as you have risen. And I'll take a long hitch in my patience."

CHAPTER 11

The trek plodded on, day after day. And more and more Sterl felt himself 支援する to the level of the unconscious savage as 代表するd so strikingly in the 黒人／ボイコット man Friday, who had mental 過程s it was true, but was almost wholly guided by his instincts and his emotions. It was a good thing, he 反映するd. It made for 生き残り. Thrown against the background of the live and inanimate 軍隊s of the earth, man had to go 支援する. He discussed his mood いつかs with his companions of his campfires. Slyter laughed, "We call it 'gone bush.' I would say it denoted weak mentality!" Leslie gave proof to his theory by flashing, "Sterl, you make me think. And I don't want to think!" Stanley Dann said, "Undoubtedly a trek like this would be a throwback for most white men; unless they 設立する their strength in God." 井戸／弁護士席, he himself had a 職業 to do--to を取り引きする Ormiston. When that was finished, he could 逆戻りする to the savage!

Stanley Dann 結局 arrived at the 結論 that any one of several streams they had crossed might have been Cooper Creek, famed in the annals of 探検. But he 認める that he had 推定する／予想するd a goodly stream of running water. Long ago, Sterl thought, Dann should have been 警告するd by a sun growing almost imperceptibly hotter that water would grow scarcer. Still, always in the blue distance, mountain 範囲s lent hope. Through this bush, the endless monotony of which wore so strangely on the trekkers that 砂漠 country would have been welcome, they never made an 普通の／平均（する） of five miles a day. 乾燥した，日照りの （軍の）野営地，陣営s occurred more and more often; two-day stays at waterholes その上の 追加するd to the 延期する.

In October the 探検隊／遠征隊 at last worked out of that "Always-always-all-same-land," as Red Krehl 指名するd it, to the 漸進的な slope of open grass 主要な 負かす／撃墜する to what appeared to be a boundless valley to the west with purple mountains to the north. Water would come 負かす／撃墜する out of them. A thread of darker green 約束d a river or stream. They were three days in reaching it--非，不，無 too soon to save the cattle.

The 暴徒 got out of 手渡す; its 急ぐ dammed the stream. Many of the cattle 溺死するd; others were 苦境に陥るd in the mud; a few were trampled to death. The horses fared 不正に, though not to the point of loss.

"Make （軍の）野営地，陣営 for days," was Stanley Dann's order, when 暴徒 and remuda had been droved out upon the green. The night watch was omitted. Horses and cattle and trekkers 残り／休憩（する）d from nightfall until sunrise.

Day 公表する／暴露するd the loveliest 場所／位置 for a （軍の）野営地，陣営, the freest from 飛行機で行くs and insects, the richest in color and music of innumerable birds, the liveliest in game that the drovers had experienced. But ill luck still dogged the trek. Next morning, Larry 報告（する）／憶測d that horses were 行方不明の from the remuda.

"Sterl," said Slyter, "I suppose that you, 存在 a cowboy, can 跡をつける a horse?"

"Used to be pretty good," said Sterl. He got his ライフル銃／探して盗む, and started.

But he only lost himself in the 深い bush, and continued to be lost for three days. Afterward, he looked 支援する on his adventure with mixed feelings of chagrin and of glory in the experience. The chagrin rose from the fact that in an obscure stretch of ジャングル he mistook the faint 跡をつけるs of a 禁止（する）d of cassowaries for those of King's shod hoofs, nor realized it until he （機の）カム upon a flock of these 広大な／多数の／重要な, whiskyard, ostrich-like birds 星／主役にするing at him with protruding, solemn 注目する，もくろむs.

The 残り／休憩（する）, he remembered afterward only in snatches.

An open space where foliage and a cascade of the stream caught an exquisite, diffused golden light breaking through blue 不和s in the green ドーム 総計費. Tiny 飛行機で行くing insects, like 誘発するs from a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, vied with wide-winged バタフライs in a fascinated ぱたぱたするing over a pool that mirrored them, and the 広大な／多数の／重要な opal-hued 支店s above, and the 網状組織 of a 抱擁する-leafed vines, and the spears of lacy foliage. Flycatchers, birds, too beautiful to be 殺害者s, were feeding upon the darting, winged insects.

A splash in a pool, and a movement of something live, distracted Sterl's attention from the tree テント he was 診察するing. He saw a strange animal slide or はう out on the bank. It had a squatty 団体／死体 that might have 似ているd a flat pig, but for the 厚い fur on its 支援する. It had a long 長，率いる, which took the 形態／調整, when Sterl 位置を示すd the 注目する，もくろむs, of an 異常な and monstrous 法案 of a duck. Sterl 星／主役にするd, 論争ing his own eyesight. But the thing was an animal and alive. It had 前線 feet with long cruel claws. Its 支援する feet and tail were hidden in the grass. All of a sudden Sterl realized that he was 星／主役にするing at the strangest creature in this strange Australia, perhaps in the world, no いっそう少なく than Leslie's much-vaunted duck-法案d platypus.

Morning after a 冷静な／正味の, wet night on the ground. Light ahead and open sky 用意が出来ている Sterl for a change in the topography of the bush. And a low hum of 落ちるing water was the 発言する／表明する of a waterfall. Out from under 巨大（な） trees he stepped to the brink of a precipice and to a blue sun-streaked abyss that brought him to a 行き詰まり.

The sun, gloriously red and 炎ing, appeared again to be in the wrong place. Sterl had to reconcile himself that this burst of morning light （機の）カム from the east. Yet no 事柄 how 不正に a man was lost he dared not 否定する the sunrise. The abyss at his feet had the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の beauty, if not the colossal dimensions, of the Arizona canyons he had known from boyhood. Up from his 権利 sounded a low, thunderous roar. By craning his neck he saw where the stream leaped off, turning from 向こうずねing green to lacy white. It fell a thousand feet, struck a ledge of broken 塀で囲む, cascaded over and through 抱擁する 激しく揺するs, to leap from a second precipice, from which purple depths no murmur arose. 塀で囲むs opposite where Sterl stood, rust-stained and lichened, dropped 負かす／撃墜する precipitously into 影をつくる／尾行する. On his own 味方する the sun tipped the ramparts with rose and gold, and 炎d the 広大な／多数の／重要な 塀で囲む halfway 負かす／撃墜する.

A bird, so beautiful in 外見 and astounding in 活動／戦闘 that it 停止（させる）d him in his 跡をつけるs. The 位置／汚点／見つけ出す was open to a little sunlight, carpeted with 罰金 brown needles like those from a pine tree. The bird 遠くに見つけるd Sterl, but that did not change its strange and playful antics. It was 有望な with many colors, not やめる so large as an American コマドリ or meadow-lark. This fairy creature of the bush skipped and hopped around so friskily that Sterl had to look sharp and long to perceive all its lovely hue; but the most pronounced was a golden yellow. There was brown, too, 示すd with white, and a lovely sheen of greenish-olive, like that on a hummingbird, and the under part appeared to be gray. Its exquisite daintiness and sprightliness gave the bird some elfin 質, some spirit of the lonely bush. It seemed to Sterl that the lovely creature's dancing movements were a sort of playing with leaves and twigs. It saw him, assuredly, out of 有望な dark 注目する，もくろむs, and was not afraid. It might have been the incarnation of joy and life in that bushland. Then again he remembered Leslie's lecture on Australian wild life. It was the golden bowerbird.

At noon of the third day, Sterl felt his 力／強力にするs 病弱なing. He needed a long 残り／休憩（する）. 集会 a 蓄える／店 of 支持を得ようと努めるd for several 解雇する／砲火／射撃s, he lay 負かす／撃墜する in an open space 近づく water and almost at once went to sleep.

He was roused by a 発言する／表明する and a 手渡す shaking his shoulder. A 黒人／ボイコット visage, beaded with sweat, bent over him.

"Friday!" cried Sterl, in a husky 発言する／表明する, and he struggled to sit up. "You 設立する--me?"

"Yes, boss. 黒人／ボイコット fella tinkit boss sit 負かす／撃墜する quick."

"No. Boss fool!"

Friday had his wommera and spears in one 手渡す, a small 捕らえる、獲得する in the other. "Meat," he said, and opened it for Sterl. Inside were 厚い （土地などの）細長い一片s of beef, cooked and salted, some hard damper, and a 量 of 乾燥した，日照りのd fruit. When had meat ever tasted so good!

"How far （軍の）野営地，陣営, Friday?" Sterl asked, between periods of mastication.

"の近くに up." And the 黒人／ボイコット made circles with his finger in the mat of brown needles, to 示す how Sterl had traveled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

"Horses の近くに up alonga water," volunteered Friday. "黒人／ボイコット fella findum." This was such a 救済 to Sterl that it assuaged his mortification.

So at ten o'clock that night Sterl limped behind Friday into sight of a welcome campfire, where Slyter and his wife, Leslie and Red and Larry, kept a 徹夜 that had only to be seen to realize their 苦悩. The moment was more poignant that Sterl would have 心配するd. Red, the sharp-eared fox, heard them coming, and as he saw them 現れる from the gloom he let out his stentorian, "Whoopee!" Slyter burst out in agitation that surprised Sterl: "It's Sterl! Bless our 黒人／ボイコット man!" Leslie flew at Sterl, met him before he reached the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, enveloped him with eager 武器, crying out indistinguishable, broken words.

CHAPTER 12

The late October 停止（させる）, after Sterl had come 安全に out of the ジャングル, seemed more than ordinarily 示すd by pleasant relations の中で the trekkers. But there was one exception. Sterl, going to the stream for a bucket of water, 遭遇（する）d Ormiston and Beryl some 棒s away from the （軍の）野営地，陣営. The girl had a 手渡す on Ormiston's shoulder, who stood leaning against the スピードを出す／記録につける and 直面するing Sterl. She had not seen the cowboy.

"Hazelton," spoke up Ormiston, "I'd never be afraid of 存在 跡をつけるd by you!"

Sterl passed on without a word, though he flashed a searching ちらりと見ること at the drover. He heard Beryl ask: "Ash, whatever made you say that?" If Ormiston replied to that query Sterl did not hear.

支援する in （軍の）野営地，陣営 Sterl 関係のある the 出来事/事件 to Red. The cowboy swore long and loud. "Thet's what's on the ----'s mind. He's gonna slope sooner or later."

"Righto. But since he's 隠しだてする and の近くに-mouthed, as we know, why did he make that 割れ目?"

"Pard, it was a slip."

"Yeah? There's going to be a 推論する／理由 for us to 跡をつける him!"

"Beryl had a 手渡す on Ormiston's shoulder," 追加するd Sterl, casually.

"Hell, thet ain't nothin'," returned the cowboy, gloomily.

"No? 井戸／弁護士席, spring it, pard!" 発射 支援する Sterl.

Red appeared bitter ashamed, but he did not 避ける Sterl's gaze. "I've seen Beryl in his 武器--an' kissin' him 支援する to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 hell."

"Where?"

"By thet big tree where you jest met him. You see since the Danns throwed together with Ormiston an' Hathaway in one （軍の）野営地，陣営, Beryl and Ormiston have been 厚い as hops. I got sore an' jealous, an' I こそこそ動くd up on them at night. An' I'm gonna keep on doin' it."

"Red, has Beryl ever kissed you?" asked Sterl, 本気で.

"Want me to kiss an' tell?"

"Nonsense! This is different. Red, has she?"

"Wal, yes, a coupla times," 認める Red. "Not the devourin' 肉親，親類d she gave Ormiston. All the same it was enough to make me leave home. Sterl, don't 非難する the girl. Hell, you know girls, an' what this wild livin' does to them. Ormiston is a handsome cuss."

"Yes. But I can't 許す Beryl," returned Sterl, with passion. "Listen, pard, I can 選ぶ a quarrel with Ormiston. Any day. It'd be a fight. And he'd be out of the way, Lord knows, that might save the Danns."

"Righto, Sterl," 再結合させるd Red, 冷静な／正味の of 発言する／表明する and dark of brow. "But shore as Gawd made little apples, if either of us bored Ormiston it'd queer us with these drovers. Let him hang himself. I'll go on spyin'. If Beryl doesn't give him away, he will himself."

Stanley Dann had decided to break （軍の）野営地，陣営 at 夜明け next day and continue the trek; and he called a 会議／協議会 at his campfire. All the 招待するd were 現在の except Larry, Cedric and Henley, the latter one of Ormiston's drovers, who were on guard with the 暴徒. Stanley Dann got up from his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a paper in his 手渡す, his eagle 注目する，もくろむs alight, his goldness, his magnificence and virility, impressively 優れた.

"井戸／弁護士席, here we are, family and partners and drovers," he began, in his rich resounding 発言する／表明する, "at this pleasant （軍の）野営地，陣営, and it is an occasion to thank God, to take 在庫／株 of the 現在の, and 新たにする hope for the 未来. We are one hundred and fifty-seven days and nearly six hundred miles on our 広大な／多数の／重要な trek. Barring the 悲劇の loss of our partner, Woolcott, we have been wonderfully blessed and guided by Providence. We have lost only fourteen horses--a remarkable showing--and two hundred 長，率いる of cattle, 含むing, of course, those we used for beef. Let me say this company 支持するs the prestige of Australians as meat eaters!"

Dann 協議するd the paper in his 手渡す, and went on: "We have 消費するd one fourth of our flour. Too much, but it cannot be put 負かす／撃墜する to extravagance or wastefulness. Tea--an 豊富 left. Also salt and sugar. One fifth of our 在庫／株 of 乾燥した，日照りのd fruits is gone, and this is our worst showing. There is a トン or more of tinned goods left. In 見解（をとる） of our good luck so far, I think it 井戸／弁護士席 to have everyone 現在の say how he feels about the trek. Now, Sister Emily, will you be the first to speak out?"

One by one all the women--行方不明になる Dann, a spinster of forty, Mrs. Slyter of the 天候-beaten 直面する, Leslie with her wonderful 注目する，もくろむs flashing, Beryl whose beauty graced the occasion--表明するd their hope for the 未来, their 決意 not to turn 支援する. The tall Hathaway had a 尊敬の印 for their leader. Slyter spoke 簡潔な／要約する, eloquent words about their 進歩 and the surety of success. Eric Dann said: "It has been far better than I believed possible. I have been wavering on my 計画（する） to stick to the old 湾 trek."

Stanley Dann let out a roar of 是認 and called lustily upon Ormiston.

"Friends, I have not yet 回復するd from the loss of our partner Woolcott," he said, in a 深い 発言する／表明する. "But still I see our marvelous success--so far. I may be hard put to make a 決定／判定勝ち（する） when we come to the headwaters of the Diamantina. Yet there should be one 発言する／表明する of 警告. It is 絶対 確かな that this incredible good luck will not last."

Red Krehl 軽く押す／注意を引くd Sterl as if to 確認する the thought that formed in Sterl's mind.

"Hazelton, you, 存在 an American 追跡する driver, long 詩（を作る）d in this 商売／仕事 of cattle and horses and men against the cruel and rugged 範囲s, you should have something unforgettable and 奮起させるing to say to us novices at the game."

"I hope I have," rang out Sterl. "Stanley Dann, you are the 広大な／多数の／重要な leader to make this 広大な／多数の／重要な trek. On to the Kimberleys! No heat, no 干ばつ, no flood, no 砂漠--no man can stop us!"

Of all those who had spoken thus far only Sterl appeared to strike 解雇する／砲火／射撃 from their leader. Then he called to Red:

"You--cowboy!"

"Dog-gone-it, boss," drawled Red, "I had a helluva nifty speech, but I've clean forgot it. I've the same hunch as my pard heah. We cain't be licked. The thing's too big. It means too much to Australia. Fork yore hosses, and ride!"

Four weeks later Sterl and Red discussing the 状況／情勢 as they 棒 herd, were divided between a 疑惑 that Ormiston plotted to go on with Eric and Hathaway, if he could engineer the 分裂（する） with Stanley, ーするために get 所有／入手 of all their 在庫／株, or 削減（する） off from all his partners and drove on alone to some unknown 目的地. The former was Red's opinion, and latter Sterl's.

All this time, they had been 横断するing an ますます 乾燥した，日照りの country with a 炎ing brassy sky by day and a pitiless, starlit sky by night. Several 一連の two--and three-day treks without water 示すd the approach to the Diamantina River. The cattle did not 苦しむ 危険に from かわき until the last arid （一定の）期間. Then with two hot 乾燥した，日照りの days and no prospect of 救済, the adventurers 直面するd their most serious predicament.

That second night all the drovers 棒 herd. Sterl had 観察するd the absence of game and bird life, always an 指示，表示する物 of the 欠如（する） of water. Friday encouraged Sterl with a 希望に満ちた, "Might be water の近くに up." But の近くに up for the 黒人／ボイコット could have a wide 範囲. A 十分な moon was rising. The cattle were restless, bawling, milling; Sterl approached Red.

"Pard, what do you say to my riding ahead on a scout? If I find anything wet around twenty miles, I'll advise Dann to trek （疑いを）晴らす through tomorrow and tomorrow night."

"Wal, it's a hell of a good idee," 宣言するd the cowboy. "Go ahaid. Thet is, if you reckon you can find yore way 支援する!"

Red had never 中止するd to 疫病／悩ます Sterl about getting lost. "Say, you could joke on your grandmother's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な!" retorted Sterl. "I've a notion to bat you one!"

"I reckon we're workin' out on a 高原," said Red, changing the 支配する. "Not one stream bed today. Rustle, pard!"

Sterl turned away toward the remuda to change horses. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to save King. The horses had been in need of water, but always after dark, when the dew was wet on the grass, they had slaked 激烈な／緊急の かわき. Sterl transferred saddle and bridle to the big rangy sorrel, an animal he had not yet been able to tire. Then he 始める，決める out, taking his direction from the Southern Cross.

Heat still radiated from the ground. But the night was pleasant. For two weeks and more the trek had been through open country. The heave of the land 示唆するd a last mighty roll toward the interminable level of the 内部の. Sterl 棒 through bleached grass, silver in the moonlight. Stunted gum trees 後部d spectral 長，率いるs; there were dark clumps of mulga scrub and 明らかにする moon-blanched spaces, across which rabbits scurried. When at length the 微光 of campfires failed to pierce the 不明瞭, Sterl 停止（させる）d his horse for a moment.

Two hours of 安定した riding brought Sterl to the 辛勝する／優位 of an escarpment which fortunately 現在のd no 法外な 減少（する） from the level. Declivities always meant difficulties for the 追跡する driver, 特に when they were not discovered until too late.

The 無効の beneath him appeared majestic in its immensity. 明らかに land and sky never met. Far below, a 向こうずねing 略章 of a river catching the moonlight, made his heart leap. This could not be sand or a （土地などの）細長い一片 of glass or 激しく揺する. It was water, and surely the long-hoped-for Diamantina River. But how far? In that rarefied atmosphere, under a 急に上がるing 十分な moon, it might be a few miles away, and it could be a 得点する／非難する／２０. But surely it was within, reach of a twenty-four-hour trek.

At daybreak, the drovers （機の）カム riding in by threes to get breakfast. Sterl lost no time in telling Slyter the good news. He and Red …を伴ってd him to Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Boss, I 棒 ahead last night. 設立する water," 発表するd Sterl, bluntly.

"You did? Good-o, Hazelton," にわか景気d Stanley Dann.

"It's a big river. Surely the Daimantina. I couldn't tell how far. Twenty miles, maybe いっそう少なく."

"Twenty miles? Two days' trek!" ejaculated Eric Dann, disheartened. "We'll have a big loss."

Ormiston 悪口を言う／悪態d roundly 明らかに venting his 激怒（する） on Sterl, as if he could be 非難するd for a 悲惨な calamity. Sterl did not deign to notice him, and 演説（する）／住所d their leader: "We can make it in one trek."

Ormiston 長，率いるd a furious 対立, in which, however, Stanley Dann did not 同意する. Sterl endeavoured to 納得させる the disgruntled and almost hopeless drovers, silencing all except Ormiston.

"You're a disorganizer," flashed Sterl, steely and 冷淡な. "You're glad of anything that 妨げるs us! You shut up, or I'll shut you up."

Ormiston took the 脅し sullenly.

"How should we make this long trek to water?" 問い合わせd Stanley Dann.

"Take it slow all day, 緩和する the 暴徒 along careful during the hottest hours. Then, after sunset 押し進める them. When the dew 落ちるs they can travel without breaking 負かす／撃墜する."

"You heard Hazelton," 雷鳴d Dann. "His 計画（する） is sound. Wagons go ahead and make （軍の）野営地，陣営! Trek through to water!"

On Sterl's return to Styler's （軍の）野営地，陣営 Red appeared supremely elated. "Pard, did you see Beryl?"

"No. Was she there?"

"Sure she was. All 注目する，もくろむs. Jest as if she never seen you before. Sterl, she'd like you if it wasn't for Ormiston. Mebbe, she does anyhow. But she's 脅すd of that geezer."

"Red, will that 対決 with him ever come?"

"It'll come! Be shore you have 注目する，もくろむs in the 支援する of yore haid."

Leslie was at her morning chore of feeding her pets. Jack, the kookaburra, was jealous of new birds and Cocky squalled from the 最高の，を越す of the wagon.

Sterl told her of his trip during the night and his 報告（する）／憶測 to Dann. "You go with the wagons," he 結論するd.

"Umpumm. I'm good for twenty-four hours."

"But I'd rather you'd take it 平易な whenever possible. You go with your Dad!"

"Are you my boss, Sterl Hazelton?" she retorted, rebelliously.

"Not yet. But considering the remote 可能性 of my becoming that--and your cantankerous disposition--don't you think it'd be a good idea to get some practice?"

Her smooth nut-brown 直面する slowly grew suffused with a coursing red 血, and her wide 注目する，もくろむs fell. She was tongue-tied. Her breast was swelling. And she fled, leaving her pets in noisy clamor.

They 棒 支援する to Dann. "Boss, something I forgot to tell you," said Sterl. "When you reach the river be sure to 運動 the cattle to either 味方する of the trek for （軍の）野営地，陣営, because this 暴徒 are liable to 殺到 when they smell water."

At sunset that day Sterl sat astride King on the 縁 of the 高原, not far from where he had seen the valley by moonlight. の近くに at 手渡す the 前線 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒 of cattle, like a dust-clouded flood, was 注ぐing wearily over the brink. As Sterl had hoped and 予報するd, they had ended the day's trek with something to spare. 負かす／撃墜する grade, in the night, with the dew 落ちるing, the beasts could plod and sway on until the scent of water energized them. And if they were at all like cattle of the western 範囲s they might 殺到. Sterl had seen ten thousand buffalo pile into a river, to 制定する a spectacle he had never forgotten. If the 暴徒 and remuda had belonged 単独で to him he could not have taken their safety and 井戸／弁護士席-存在 more to heart.

The cowboys 棒 together 負かす／撃墜する the slope as red dusk mantled the scene. Then as night fell they drifted apart, yet within calling distance. Friday for once had ridden on a wagon. Larry was ahead, at the left of the 暴徒, and Drake behind Sterl. The moon （機の）カム up to lighten the 影をつくる／尾行するs.

負かす／撃墜する grade, through 厚い grass, dew laden, the 暴徒 labored and the trekkers followed. By midnight the slope had begun to level out. Kangaroos, wallabies, rabbits, emus were roused from their beds, to scamper away. King jumped out of his 跡をつけるs more than once at the hiss of a snake. The tedium wore on Sterl. There was nothing to do but sit his saddle. King did not need direction or 勧める. He had become like a shepherd dog. Often Sterl fell asleep for a few moments. Two nights without 残り／休憩（する） or sleep reminded him of the Texas cattle 追跡する when the rivers were up.

At daybreak, Sterl 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd in his saddle, half alseep, his 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, his mind almost a blank. A yell from Red, however, the old Comanche war whoop, brought him 築く and startled. Red was waving his sombrero and pointing toward the river--nearby, 示すd by a line of 木材／素質.

"Look, pard! Leslie ridin' 負かす／撃墜する on us hell-bent for 選挙! Larry's meetin' her."

CHAPTER 13

Leslie pulled Lady Jane to a 停止（させる） beside Sterl. The horse was dripping water in little streams. Leslie was wet to her waist. Her 注目する，もくろむs glowed dark with excitement.

"Girl, you didn't swim that river for fun?" 需要・要求するd Sterl.

"Dad sent--me," panted Leslie.

"We couldn't cross. River too 深い--with 法外な banks. Dad said we'd have a 職業. Stanley Dann's orders are to 持つ／拘留する the 暴徒 on this 味方する--to drove them that way--two miles up--where the banks are not so 法外な."

"Leslie, you should have met us five miles out, at least," 再結合させるd Sterl, 本気で. "These cattle are thirsty. They're tired and cross. If they smell water..."

"When they smell it," interrupted Red. "Rustle, Sterl. We gotta be quick. Come, Larry. We'll try to turn the leaders upstream."

勧めるing King into a gallop to the 後部, Sterl, with Leslie racing beside him, yelled Dann's orders to the drovers in a 警告 発言する／表明する.

Between the larger 暴徒 and Ormiston's there were four drovers, two on each 味方する, far up the wide 小道／航路. The cattle still plodded along with 長，率いるs 負かす／撃墜する, as if every step would be their last. Sterl caught their odor. He 棒 over to the partners, with Drake and Leslie at his heels.

"We've orders from Dann. Cattle must be bunched and turned upstream. River 深い. High banks. Get your drovers out from between."

Ormiston 追加するd a dark frown to his forbidding 表現. "We don't have our 暴徒 mixing with Dann's."

"You can't help it," 宣言するd Sterl, curtly.

"That's what you say, Mr. Cowboy. We will keep them separated."

"Hathaway, you have some sense, if this man hasn't," barked Sterl. "The cattle are parched. When they smell water they can't be held or turned. They'll 殺到!"

Roland （機の）カム galloping up, red-直面するd, sweating, calling on Ormiston to drove his 暴徒 to the east.

"Mind your own 商売／仕事," shouted Ormiston.

"You will like hell!" returned Sterl. "Rollie, ride through and 警告する Dann's drovers to rustle out of there. 支援する this way!"

Sterl wheeled King and was away like the 勝利，勝つd. Leslie and Drake （機の）カム along. Halfway 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the bigger 暴徒, Sterl waved the drovers on that 味方する to ride up toward the 前線. They strung out after Drake. Soon Sterl, …を伴ってd by Leslie, （機の）カム up with Larry and Red.

"Stubborn as mules!" shouted Red.

"No wonder. But we've got to 押し進める them."

"Ormiston doesn't know cattle. He said he wouldn't let his 暴徒 mix with Dann's."

"This's gonna be about as funny as death for them drovers between!"

Sterl stood up in his stirrups to gaze across the 暴徒. "They're riding out. The last two of Ormiston's men. But that fellow up 前線..."

"We cain't wait, pard," yelled Red, pulling his gun. "Leslie, keep 支援する a little."

Then Red 棒 up to the herd, gun high over his 長，率いる, to yell and shout. Larry took his cue and followed 控訴. Cedric and Drake, with the drovers さらに先に 支援する, let loose with guns and 肺s.

The 前線 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒, like the sharp end of a wedge, roused, 肺d, 長，率いるd away from a direct line toward the river. That relieved Sterl exceedingly. The turn was not enough, but it had started. Cattle, like sheep, blindly follow the leaders. The trampling of many hoofs, the knocking of horns, the 増加する in hoarse bawling, 示すd the start of the milling that Sterl was so keen to 遂行する. Something like a 現在の ran all the way 支援する to the 後部. Then he looked ahead. They had the apex of the 暴徒 ４半期/4分の1ing away from a direct line to the river. But the river took a bend to the eastward, and looked いっそう少なく than two miles away!

Suddenly from the far 味方する of the herd sounded a trampling roar that 溺死するd yells and 射撃s. Sterl's piercing yell was a whisper in his ears. He had heard that 肉親，親類d of roar. Icy 冷気／寒がらせるs chased up his spine. Ormiston's 暴徒 was 非難する straight ahead to 会合，会う the milling 前線 of that 広大な wedge of cattle!

Then Sterl 遠くに見つけるd the one drover 罠にかける in the 速く 狭くするing space. The man saw his 危険，危なくする, but made the mistake of dashing to the fore, hoping to get out of the の近くにing gap. His 計算／見積り, however, did not 許す for the curving 前線 of the larger 暴徒, and the 速度(を上げる） of the smaller one. He was 長，率いるd off, hemmed in. A moment later there was a terrific 衝撃--a 長，率いる-on 衝突／不一致 of these two 前線s. Sterl saw the white horse and its rider go 負かす／撃墜する in a sea of horns, 長，率いるs, dust. A 動揺させるing 衝突，墜落 of Ormiston's 暴徒, 衝突する／食い違うing with Dann's all 負かす／撃墜する the line, 溺死するd the trample of hoofs. Still, only the 長，率いる of Dann's 暴徒, and the far 辛勝する／優位, appeared to be 影響する／感情d. A smashup like that did not やむを得ず mean a 殺到. Sterl thought derisively of the bull-長，率いるd Ormiston. If the 暴徒 殺到d, he was the one who would 苦しむ most. His branded cattle would be the first to 宙返り／暴落する over the river 堤防. It would serve him 権利, thought Sterl, but what a pity so many cattle must be 溺死するd and trampled!

Then it （機の）カム to him that Ormiston's 暴徒, to windward, had caught the 致命的な scent. After three days of heat and dust, without a drink, they smelled the river and were off, hell-bent. Water. If they had the scent in their 乾燥した，日照りの nostrils, Dann's herd would catch it soon.

But にもかかわらず Sterl's 準備完了 for the 必然的な shock, when Dann's 暴徒 leaped into swift 活動／戦闘 and an appalling 雷鳴 にわか景気d and the ground shook as if in 地震, he 叫び声をあげるd with all his might and never heard his own 発言する／表明する. Mushrooming yellow clouds of dust rolled 支援する over the 暴徒, moving as one animal, covering them, swallowing them up.

Sterl's quick 注目する，もくろむs were the first to see that a 刺激（する） of the herd had 発射 out below him, between him and the other riders, and swung wide in a swift, enveloping sweep. Red and Larry had gone on; but Leslie! They were cutting her off. Sterl had to get to her in quick time. With the thought, he had King racing 負かす／撃墜する the line. Lady Jane was 急速な／放蕩な, Sterl had no 恐れる that she could not outrun the wildest of cattle. But 存在 a 損なう of 広大な／多数の／重要な spirit she might 行為／法令／行動する up at the 決定的な moment.

This was the first time that Sterl had ever 延長するd King. (n)艦隊／(a)素早い? He was like the 勝利，勝つd. Fortunately Leslie saw him coming, and then saw the 刺激（する） of cattle. She did not lose her 長，率いる. Quick as a flash she jerked Lady Jane away from that frightful, oncoming 急ぐ of hoofs, 長，率いるs, horns. 急落（する），激減（する）ing under the surprise and 苦痛 of the 刺激（する）s, Lady Jane leaped like an arrow from a 屈服する.

At this juncture King caught up with her. Sterl pointed to Leslie's stirrups. She was quick to しっかり掴む his meaning--to slip her feet almost out, and ride on her toes, so that in 事例／患者 Sterl saw fit he could 解除する her out of the saddle. Sterl's terror left him. The girl could ride and she could be 信用d.

Sterl 勧めるd King to the fore again, with the 反対する of turning the leaders of that 刺激（する） to the 権利. The 黒人／ボイコット, magnificent in 活動／戦闘, drove 権利 to the 前線. A lean, rangy steer, red-注目する，もくろむd and wild, led that 反乱（を起こす）. Sterl drew and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. The 広大な／多数の／重要な steer 急落（する），激減（する）d, to 骨折って進む the earth. The others overran him, leaped and swerved. Larry and Red （機の）カム up with 炎上ing guns. The drovers behind were lost in dust. The three turned that 刺激（する） 支援する and in いっそう少なく than a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile the mutineers had joined the main 暴徒. To the left, scarcely さらに先に than that, Sterl saw the 木材／素質 belt and the 向こうずねing river. It was wide, and the opposite bank looked 法外な and high. さらに先に upstream, it appeared to slope 徐々に. As the 暴徒 was 長，率いるd quarteringly up the river there was some hope that a major 大災害 had been 回避するd. All that could かもしれない be done by Sterl and his comrades and the drovers 広範囲にわたる from behind, had been 遂行するd--and it was a good 職業 that saved thousands of cattle.

Sterl, never forgetting Leslie, gazed 支援する to 遠くに見つける her trotting Lady Jane at a goodly distance behind. Red was riding ahead toward a 山の尾根 under which the 殺到 was rolling. Sterl, and all the others, joined him on this vantage point.

Just under the 選挙立会人s swept a mighty 激流 of beef, indistinct through the streaming dust. に引き続いて that flood 今後, Sterl's sight （機の）カム to the 前線 of the 暴徒. It swept on, swallowing up the green, 長，率いるd for the bend of the river!

The 先導 rolled out of sight, to 再現する in splitting around trees, to 急落（する），激減（する） over the bank in one long cascade that 攻撃する，衝突する the water with a tremendous splash. The bank had a 減少（する） of twenty feet. There 続いて起こるd a threshing melee. The 真っ先の had no chance to rise under the shock of に引き続いて lines. But presently out of the spouting, muddy splashes 長，率いるs of swimming cattle appeared. They milled around in bewilderment while the 恐ろしい downpour of 激しい 団体／死体s continued. Some struck out for the opposite shore. The roar 少なくなるd in 容積／容量, changed into another sound--the long-drawn bawl of frenzied cattle.

The imperturbable Red was the first to 回復する. He lighted a cigarette.

"Not too bad! Gawd A'mighty shore is on Stanley Dann's 味方する! I wouldn't have given a handful of Mexican pesos for thet herd. An' la an' behold heah they 空気／公表する, most of them, swimmin' acrost, wadin' out."

"Men," ejaculated Drake, "a 橋（渡しをする） of cattle saved our 暴徒!"

"Yes! And that 橋（渡しをする） was Ormiston's! He wasn't going to let his 暴徒 mix with Dann's!"

"Haw! Haw!" rolled out Red in caustic mirth, "Wal, fellers, Ormiston's cattle got the start! An' am I tickled!"

Again Sterl 調査するd the river. "Let me have Larry, Red and Cedric. There's a good many crazy cattle swimming 石油精製. And in the middle there's an unholy mess milling around. We'll turn them upstream. Some of them are going to 溺死する, Drake. You see that. Take the 残り／休憩（する） of the men and rustle up to where the cattle can wade out."

"Fellers, I see Ormiston's outfit up there," interposed Red, pointing his cigarette. "Trailin' up his 暴徒! I'd like to heah him when he sees thet animal 橋（渡しをする） of cattle wearin' his brand."

Presently Sterl 設立する a ravine that opened at the 辛勝する／優位 of the water. "Leslie, this will be work. Won't you go 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営?"

"Of course, if you say so. But mayn't I help? Sterl, you are always trying to save me from--from everything. I want to 'take my 薬／医学,' as Red calls it."

"Righto," 宣言するd Sterl, heartily. "You've got more sense than I have. And I've more 感情 than you."

"So you say, cowboy."

They reached the river where the ravine ended level with the water. "負担 your guns, boys," advised Sterl, 控訴ing 活動／戦闘 to words. "狙撃 in 前線 of a steer or cow will save swimming your horses."

King did not need to be 勧めるd into the river, as did the other horses. Red called the 黒人／ボイコット a duck. Sterl 調査するd the wide channel where just above them thousands of cattle were swimming.

"Red, I don't like this," he called. "It's a long swim. If a horse gave out it'd be good night for the horse. Leslie, stick の近くに to me."

They 長，率いるd up the river, in the 直面する of as remarkable a conglomeration of animals as Sterl had ever seen. Yells and 発射s of their riders, soon had all the stragglers 長，率いるd in the 権利 direction. Sterl made a 迅速な judgment that there were five thousand cattle in the river. A long string were wading out above. The danger point appeared to be いっそう少なく than a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile beyond--a 集まり of cattle 新たな展開ing, 急落（する），激減（する）ing, in an intricate 絡まる.

"Sterl, look on the bank," shrieked Leslie.

Then Sterl 遠くに見つけるd Ormiston, with Hathaway and his drovers on the shore above the yellow, trampled slope which the cattle had 削減（する） through the bank. Below them stretched a long line of dead and dying cattle--the 橋（渡しをする） of death. Ormiston, on foot, 激怒（する）d to and fro, flinging his 武器, stamping. Sterl cupped his 手渡すs around his mouth and yelled in stentorian 発言する／表明する: "HEY, YOU DUMBHEAD! KILL THE DYING CATTLE!" Ormiston heard, for he roared 悪口を言う／悪態s 支援する. Some of the drovers with Ormiston 注意するd Sterl's humane suggestion, and began to shoot. Sterl made for a （土地などの）細長い一片 of sandy bank, beyond the bend and on the far 味方する. King gave a 抱擁する heave, and then appeared to breathe 普通は again. Sterl 棒 to a point even with the upper 辛勝する／優位 of the 暴徒, and 調査するd the scene. The river was 十分な of cattle so closely packed that steers and cows would 肺 up on others, and 沈む them. Across, nearer the other 味方する, Red and his two comrades had their 次第で変わる／派遣部隊 of stragglers 長，率いるd out. On second ちらりと見ること Sterl saw that the dozen or more drovers strung out behind the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒, 狙撃, yelling, making splashes, had turned the tide in that ４半期/4分の1. The 後部 and 中心 areas of cattle were 長，率いるd across, but could not make much 前進 借りがあるing to the eddying 集まり of animals in midstream.

Sterl clucked to King, and soon he was swimming gallantly to join the other horses. Red, 機動力のある on Jester, had untied his lasso. Cedric and Larry, who followed him closely, had 交流d their guns for ropes. When he reached the 中心 of the milling 暴徒, Red whirled the 宙返り飛行 around his 長，率いる, with the old, trenchant cry: "Ki-yi! Yippi-yip!" and let it 飛行機で行く to rope a big steer around the horns. Turning Jester toward the bank. Red literally dragged that steer out of the wheeling circle. It made a break. And a break like that was a 決定的な thing for a herd of 殺到d cattle. Larry and Cedric followed 控訴. Then one steer and cow and another and another got into those 開始s, until the wheel of 新たな展開ing horns and snouts broke and a stream of cattle, like oil, flowed away from the 暴徒. In いっそう少なく time than it had taken for Red and his 信奉者s to break the milling 集まり, the whole 暴徒 was on the move across the river.

Sterl experienced a 広大な 救済 when he, the last of the drovers to 開始する the far bank of the Diamantina and go through the trampled muddy belt of 小衝突 and 木材／素質, saw the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒 静かに grazing as if no untoward event had come to pass.

"This cain't be the place to ford the wagons," 観察するd Red when Sterl caught up.

"さらに先に up," returned Sterl. "I see low banks and 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s. It'll take time, but be 平易な. It's afternoon already and Dann will hardly order us to cross today."

They recrossed the river without 出来事/事件, to be met by Leslie. Stanley Dann called them over to where the leaders stood grouped. Ormiston, にもかかわらず his tan, showed an unusual pallor. Sterl felt that this queer 合成物 of fool and villain would have 非難するd the 殺到 upon his partners and their drovers, if there had been any possible excuse.

"Men, it is our first major 災害," にわか景気d Stanley Dann. "That 殺到 could not have been 避けるd. I commend you all for heroic work--Hazelton 特に, with Krehl, and Larry and Cedric. You save the main 暴徒 twice, first when you turned the 長，率いる up this way, and secondly when you got them out of that animated whirlpool. I never saw the like."

"Thanks, boss. Thet last was jest a little mill. All in the day's ride," said Red.

"Dann, we lost one man," 追加するd Sterl.

"Yes. Ormiston's drover, Henry 区. He was 警告するd. But he was overbold and befuddled. Poor fellow!"

"Who 警告するd him?" queried Sterl, bluntly.

"Why, Ormiston sent a drover, he said," returned the leader.

"Ormiston did nothing of the 肉親，親類d," 否定するd Sterl. "When we 棒 around to the 後部 of the herd, to give your orders, Ormiston grew furious. He said he wouldn't let his 暴徒 mix with yours. I told him he couldn't help it. He told me to mind my own 商売／仕事. It was Drake who sent Roland to ride between your 暴徒 and Ormiston's to 警告する the drovers to come out. Roland, 支援する me up here."

"Yes, sir. Hazelton is 権利," replied Jones, 率直に.

"Ormiston, this 報告（する）／憶測 hardly agrees with what you said," 宣言するd Dann. "If it is true, you are 責任がある 区's death."

"What do I care for these 嘘（をつく）-mongers?" 嵐／襲撃するd Ormiston, his bold 注目する，もくろむs popping. "I gave you my 見解／翻訳／版. Believe it or not!"

Roland Jones thrust 今後 a reddening visage. "See here, Mr. Ormiston, don't you call me a liar."

"Bah, you big lout! What are you going to do about it?"

"Men, the 状況／情勢 is bad enough already," said Stanley Dann, calmly. "I'll not 許す fighting. We've had a trying day, and we're upset."

They all 注意するd the 患者 leader's 知恵, except Ormiston. Not improbably he saw 適切な時期 to flay without 危険 to himself, or else at times his temper was ungovernable.

"Dann, these riffraff drovers of yours 港／避難所't a 続けざまに猛撃する to their 指名するs. They can't 支払う／賃金 for the loss of my cattle. I 需要・要求する that of you!"

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. I'll be glad to （不足などを）補う for your loss. It was my 伸び（る）. Your cattle saved 地雷," にわか景気d the leader.

Red Krehl let out a sibilant hiss. Ormiston's rolling 注目する，もくろむs lighted avariciously. Sterl interrupted his reply to Dann. He spurred King into a jump to 直面する the drover.

"Ormiston, you go to hell!" said Sterl, with a stinging 冷淡な contempt that a whole ボレー of epithets could never have equaled. For once Ormiston's ready retort failed. With a gesture to his 中尉／大尉／警部補s, Bedford and Jack, he wheeled his horse and 棒 toward （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Pard, Dann's gonna ask you to make a count of the daid cattle," whispered Red. "An' you 嘘（をつく） like a 州警察官，騎馬警官."

Sterl made no reply, though he received that suggestion most sympathetically. He turned to Leslie.

"Les, it'll be a dirty 血まみれの mess. Don't go."

"Why not, Sterl?"

"Why? Heavens, you're a girl! Not a hard, callous, 血-流出／こぼすing man, used to death!"

"Yeah?" she said, flippant on 割れ目ing ice and 公表／放送 her cowboy vocabulary, "井戸／弁護士席, I've a hunch there'll be another 血まみれの death around here pronto--and I'll be tickled pink."

Stanley Dann 棒 the hoof-torn slant of recently 骨折って進むd earth, gazing 負かす／撃墜する at the mashed 血まみれの 団体／死体s of cattle, all the grotesque horned 長，率いるs pointing to the sky, mouths open, tongues sticking out, 星／主役にするing dead 注目する，もくろむs.

"Sterl, what is your count?" he asked, tersely.

"Boss, I'd rather not say," replied Sterl, with a deprecatory spread of his 手渡すs. "I'm only fair on the count. Red has always been the most 正確な and reliable 反対する of 在庫／株 we ever had on our 範囲s."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, Red. I'm sure you could have no higher 推薦. I'll rely upon you. How many?"

"Wal, boss, I'm shore surprised," returned Red, with an 空気／公表する of perfect 誠実, "I was afeared we'd lost a damn sight more'n we really have. Thet water was shallow all along heah. I seen the cattle pitchin' up the mud. But they're layin' only about three 深い heah. Yes, sir! We're darned lucky. I been countin' all along, an' my 一致する is just three hundred an' thirteen. Preecislee. An' I'll 賭事 on thet."

"Is it possible?" にわか景気d the drover, elated. "I am poor in 計算／見積り. I thought we had lsot a thousand 長，率いる."

"No, indeedee, boss," returned Red, emphatically. "You take my 一致する. I'm kinda proud of my gift."

"Righto. It's settled. How fortunate we are, after all! I have been blessed with my 約束 in divine 指導／手引!"

CHAPTER 14

Guard 義務 was 分裂（する） that night, half the drovers riding herd from dark till midnight, and the other half from then till sunrise. It was a needless 警戒, for, as Sterl told Slyter, the cattle were almost too tired to graze.

Next morning Friday 迎える／歓迎するd Sterl with an enigmatic: "黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up."

"Bad 黒人／ボイコット fella, Friday?"

"Might be some. Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella."

"How do you know?" queried Sterl, curiously.

"Lubra tellum."

Sterl told Slyter, who burst out that it was about time. "Except once," he went on, "we've had no trouble with abo's. And we 推定する／予想するd that to be the worst of our troubles."

"All same plenty bimeby," put in Friday with his 空気／公表する of mystery.

"What're the orders, Slyter?" asked Sterl. "輸送（する） wagons over the river."

"Wal, it'll be one 甘い 職業. どの辺に?" asked Red.

"Somewhat above where we droved the 暴徒 yesterday."

"Look aheah, boss. Thet's an orful place. No ford atall. We oughta go up the river a ways. This is just a big pond. It's に向かって the end of the 乾燥した，日照りの season, and shore as shootin' this river ain't runnin'. I'll bet we could find shallow fords."

"Dann's orders, Red. And he's mad this morning."

"Mad? Good heavens! Fust time or I'll eat my sombrero. Gosh, I'm glad he's human, ain't you, Sterl? What about?"

"I'm not 確かな , but I think it's Ormiston."

"Slyter, does Dann really 推定する／予想する to get across today with this outfit?" asked Sterl, skeptically.

"By noon, he says!"

By a half hour after sunrise Dann had all the wagons packed. They started, with Slyter's remuda に引き続いて in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of Larry and the cowboys. Dann, who drove the 主要な wagon, 停止（させる）d on the bank of the river some distance above where the 殺到 had crossed the day before. He sent for Sterl, who 設立する him arguing with Eric. Ormiston stood by, taciturn and brooding.

"Hazelton," にわか景気d the leader. "This is the place where we're going to cross. Eric is against my judgment. Ormiston 断言するs he'll drove his 暴徒 支援する to this 味方する. Will you take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金?"

"Yes, sir. It can't all be done today," answered Sterl, 真面目に. "But all goods must be crossed before dark because the abo's will be here by night. It's a pack 職業. Give me twenty riders. Five changes of horses. We'll empty the wagons and drays. Each rider will carry over what he can carry 安全に and keep 乾燥した，日照りの. 準備／条項s to go first."

"Men," にわか景気d the leader, "you all heard Hazelton. Take orders from him. Let's unhitch and get at it!"

"Dann, I want a word in edgewise," 需要・要求するd Ormiston.

"Ashley, I heard you. No more! I forgot to tell you that I ordered your brand 燃やすd on three hundred 半端物 of my cattle, as soon as we cross."

Red had already made for Roland's wagon, and dismounted there to begin 荷を降ろすing. Sterl joined him. Leslie was putting her pets into cages, much to their vociferous disgust.

"Sterl, I've a hunch Stanley Dann will ride roughshod over our friend Ormiston one of these days," said the cowboy.

"You 港／避難所't a corner on all the hunches," retorted Sterl. "I had that 人物／姿／数字d long ago. Beryl now is the last connecting link."

"Bet yore life, pard. An' I'll 破産した／（警察が）手入れする thet!"

"All 権利. Go over to Beryl and tell her I sent you to pack her and her treasures across the river. Savvy?"

"Dog-gone yore pictoors!" ejaculated Red, rapturously. "I never thought of thet. Watch me!" And he strode away.

When again Sterl 遭遇（する）d Red, never had he seen that cowboy in such a 輸送（する）.

"Pard, bless yore heart. Beryl's jest about eatin' out of my 手渡す," whispered Red, huskily. "She'd been cryin'. I reckon her Dad must have hopped her. What do you think she said--'Sterl is a big help to Dad. He'd be a good sort if he wasn't hipped over thet chestnut-haired kid!' Beryl 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know how I'd get her across, an' I said I'd pack her in my 武器 if she was afraid to ride. She said thet would make her look a little coward, which she swore she was. An' she said she'd ride if I （機の）カム along の近くに to her. I reckon I'll take her and 行方不明になる Dann together."

"Righto. I'll send Friday across to watch the stuff."

In short order Sterl had twenty riders, not 含むing Leslie and himself, swimming their horses across the river with packs in 前線 and on their shoulders. Friday しっかり掴むd King's long tail and held on, to be dragged over. On the return, Sterl met Ormiston and Hathaway in midstream, and さらに先に on, the Danns.

It 要求するd twenty trips for each rider to 荷を降ろす Slyter's wagon to the extent where it would be 安全な to フェリー（で運ぶ） it across. Then ten men 解除するd the half-負担d wagon-bed off the wheels, carried it 負かす／撃墜する to the river and 始める，決める it in the water. It floated. It was a boat. It did not 漏れる. With the use of long ropes and a team of horses on the far bank the start was made. There was no 事故. The 激しい wheels, dragged along by ropes, gave a good 取引，協定 more trouble. But they were soon across and up the bank. In a few more minutes the wagon was 始める，決める up and reloaded. Leslie was as happy as her birds, and they squawked their glee.

"You were 罰金, kid," complimented Sterl. "That'll do for you. This hot sun will 乾燥した，日照りの you pronto."

"Plenty smokes, boss," said Friday, who sat in the shade whittling a new boomerang. Sterl saw them far off on the horizon.

"Watchum の近くに, Friday."

This fording 供給（する）s and 所持品 across the Diamantina began as a colorful, noisy, mirthful, splashing 行列. But by noontide the labor 中止するd to be fun. By midafternoon the riders were sagging in their saddles, soaked with sweat and water, dirty, unkempt. The other drays and wagons were not calked; they had to be fully 荷を降ろすd. That was a harder 職業. Sunset 設立する the drovers with most of their outfit on the 権利 bank of the river, but half a dozen wagons, with harness and 道具s, were still left behind.

As the cowboys 棒 herd that night, big 解雇する／砲火／射撃s 燃やすd on the other shore, and hordes of 黒人／ボイコットs 殺人d silence with their corroboree over the dead cattle.

"Gosh, what a fiesta, pard," said Red. "If them cannibals don't eat themselves to death they'll foller us till hell 凍結するs over, an' thet ain't gonna be soon in this heah hot country."

With all 手渡すs, and the partners doing their 株, the toilsome 職業 of crossing was 完全にするd by midafternoon. Ormiston, 逆転するing himself, chose to stay on Dann's 味方する of the river. The leader ordered one day's 停止（させる） in the new （軍の）野営地，陣営, to 残り／休憩（する） and 乾燥した，日照りの things out. He said to Sterl, "Hazelton, I know more about cattle 急ぐs and crossing rivers, thanks to you."

Sterl wondered why Eric Dann did not remember this river, though on his former trek he had undoubtedly crossed it--surely さらに先に up. He strolled out in the open late that day, to take a "look-see," as the Indians used to call it, and stretch his cramped and bruised 脚s. Across the river he saw hundreds of 黒人／ボイコットs, like a 群れている of ants, noisy and wild.

Sterl was impressed by the river-底（に届く） valley. にもかかわらず the heat and the 乾燥した，日照りの season, grass was abundant and luxuriant. Waterfowl swept by in flocks, and the sandbars were dotted with white and blue herons. When he went to bed, which was 早期に after dark, he heard them 飛行機で行くing 総計費, uttering dismal croaks.

Next day the sky was 黒人／ボイコット with buzzards, flocks of which spiraled 負かす／撃墜する to 株 the feast with the aborigines. Kangaroos, wallabies, emus, rabbits were more abundant than at any other （軍の）野営地，陣営 for weeks. They were tame and approached to within a few 棒s of the wagons. Parrots and cockatoos colored the gum trees along the river-banks.

At this Diamantina （軍の）野営地，陣営 Leslie 公式文書，認めるd in her 定期刊行物, "飛行機で行くs something terrible!" And so they were. Used as Sterl had gotten to the invisible little demons and the whirling dervishes, here they drove him crazy if he did not cover his 直面する. In the heat, that was vastly uncomfortable. But it was the trekkers' misfortune to 落ちる afoul of a bigger and meaner 飛行機で行く--a bold 黒人／ボイコット green-winged fellow that could bite through shirts. Red had been the first to discover this 種類, to which Slyter could not give a 指名する. Friday said: "Bite like hellum."

Off again, 概略で に引き続いて the old 追跡する of some former trek up the Diamantina. Travel was slow, but 平易な. Red had been 権利 in his opinion that the river had gone 乾燥した，日照りの. Two miles above the first （軍の）野営地，陣営 the trekkers could have crossed without wetting their feet.

Ten days along this river bed of waterholes and 乾燥した，日照りの stretches 一致するd about a hundred miles, not good going to the cowboys, but 満足な to their serene leader. The grass did not fail. In some 深い 削減（する）s verdure of 熱帯の luxuriance 示すd その上の 前進する toward eternal summer. But when the sun grew hot and the myriads of 飛行機で行くs appeared, the trek became a 事柄 of grim endurance. Sterl covered his 直面する with his scarf and let King or Sorrel or Duke or Baldy graze along behind the remuda at will. Hours on end without one word spoken! Friday stalking along carrying his 武器s, tireless on 明らかにする feet, ever watching the telltale smoke signals on the horizon! Red, 低迷d in his saddle or riding sidewise, smoking innumerable cigarettes, lost in his unthinking enchantment! The wagons rolling along, creeping like white-spotted snakes, far to the fore! The 暴徒 of cattle grazing on contentedly! The drovers, lost in habit now, nailed to their saddles, indifferent to leagues and distances!

Sterl marveled at Leslie Slyter. She 棒 with the drovers all the way. So sun-browned now that the contrast made her hair golden. She was the most wide-awake, though she いつかs took catnaps as they trekked on. How many times Sterl saw her 直面する flash in his direction! Ever she turned to him, to see if he was there, 吸収するd in her dream.

The long, hot days wore on to the solemn starry nights, packed with dread of the unknown and the possible, separated from unreality and dream by the howls of wild dogs and the strange wailing 詠唱する of the aborigines. The waterholes in the Diamantina failed 徐々に. But the myriads of birds and hordes of beasts multiplied because there were より小数の watering places for them. One night, at a （軍の）野営地，陣営 Leslie had 指名するd "Oleander," Sterl strolled with her to the bank of the river, where it was 狭くする and the bed 十分な of water. When dusk fell and the endless string of kangaroos silhouetted 黒人／ボイコット against the gold of the horizon had passed by, there began a corroboree of the aborigines on the opposite bank. It was the closest these natives had been to a （軍の）野営地，陣営. By the light of their bonfires Sterl and Leslie could see the wild 儀式.

The cat-注目する，もくろむd Red （機の）カム along the bank, walking as easily as if it had been day. He propped 負かす／撃墜する on a スピードを出す／記録につける beside them, indulged in a little cowboy persiflage, before he （機の）カム to the point. "I been spyin' as usual. Hasn't been much good lately, till tonight. But I always keep sayin' it'll come some day. An' we got nothin' but time on our 手渡すs. Gosh, Leslie, what date is it, anyhow?"

"My 定期刊行物 says December fourth."

"Jumpin' Jehosaphat!" ejaculated Red. "近づく Christmas!"

"Maybe it'll please you to know that this Christmas I can remember last Christmas--and be far happier," said Sterl.

"Please me? Wal! All I can think of now is Gawd bless Leslie!"

"Me! Why should God bless me?" 問い合わせd Leslie. Intuitively she divined that she had taken the place of another woman.

Red gave her no satisfaction. Then 本気で: "Sterl, I was snoopin' about 早期に after supper, an' I heahed Ormiston talkin' low to Bedford. 近づく as I can remember heah's their talk word for word. Ormiston first: 'Tom, I tell you I won't go any さらに先に with Dann than the forks of this river.' An' Bedford asked, 'Why not?' An' Ormiston said: 'Because I don't know the country across toward the Warburton River. It's two hundred 半端物 miles from the 長，率いる of the Diamantina through the mountains to my 駅／配置する. If the rains don't come we'll lose all my cattle.' An' Bedford said: 'Why not go on with Dann till we make sure of Hathaway's 暴徒? An' also till the rains do come?'

"'I'll have his 暴徒 an' some of Dann's--you can lay to thet,' says Ormiston.

"'In thet 事例／患者 it's all 権利. Jack an' Morse have been kickin'. They want to make sure of more cattle. They （機の）カム in on this because of a 火刑／賭ける worthwhile--somethin' thet they could end this bush-rangin' on.' Then Ormiston stopped him for 恐れる somebody was listenin'. He left, an' I seen him later with Beryl. How do you figger it?"

Sterl's speech flowed like running water. "Ormiston and his drovers have been rustling, in a two-bit way, until this Dann trek. Now they're playing for big 火刑／賭けるs. Ormiston is the boss. He fooled the Danns. His drovers are all in it, 目的（とする）ing to lead some of Dann's men to their 味方する. Old stuff. You remember how cheap, easygoing cowboys used to 落ちる. How many have we seen hanged? They 殺人d Woolcott, got his 暴徒. They have Hathaway's, and will do for him, sure as I know rustlers. Ormiston has a 範囲 somewhere over the mountains east of the 長，率いる of the Diamantina. The マリファナ will boil over up at the forks of this river. Ormiston means to get more cattle by hook or crook and then shake us. Damn it, the thing ぼんやり現れるs bad!"

"Pard, I should snicker to snort. We've never met its equal, let alone its （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域. Bet you 港／避難所't figgered Beryl. Where's she comin' in?"

"雷鳴 and 炎s! I forgot Beryl,"

"Yeah. But I 港／避難所't. An' I say she's the pivot on which this 取引，協定 turns. Ormiston's outfit 港／避難所't that hunch yet, I reckon. But we have."

"You bet. Red, that hombre will 説得する Beryl to go with him--or he'll take her anyway."

"Do you reckon he can 説得する her?"

"I hate to think so--but I do."

Red's 発言する／表明する sank to a whisper. "Hey--I see someone comin'!" He peered like a nighthawk into the gloom up the riverbank. "宗教上の Mackeli, talk about the devil! It's Beryl an' Ormiston. Let's hide. Heah, this way!"

In another moment Red had himself and comrades under the bank, where a ledge ran out a few feet, and some long plumed grasses obscured it from sight above.

A rustle of 少しのd above, a footfall, and then Beryl's rich 発言する／表明する: "Here, Ash, this is far enough. I'd like to hear the corroboree."

"Yes, you like those damned niggers. I smell cigarette smoke! Somebody has been here," （機の）カム in Ormiston's 発言する／表明する, guarded and low.

"井戸／弁護士席, they're gone. And all I smell is cooking meat."

"Hazelton has been here with that damned little baggage," growled Ormiston.

"Hazelton is no good. Like as not he's one of those American gunmen. A 殺し屋! Jack saw six notches 削減（する） on his revolver. That means the blighter has killed six men, at least. I'd be a fool to 刺激する him その上の."

"Indeed you--would be, Ash," she said. "He has made himself 価値のある. Dad has come to rely upon him."

"The Yankee is a help, I'm bound to 収容する／認める that. But, Beryl, I can't stand your 賞賛するing him. I see him watching you. He is as fascinated by your beauty as that redheaded churn of his. Their 注目する，もくろむs just gloat over you. Beryl, you are so lovely! I'm mad over you. I love you beyond 推論する／理由!"

"Oh, Ash--do you, darling?" she murmured. "Ash--you!--must not..." she remonstrated, but it was the remonstrance of love, that 招待するs rather than repels. That next 緊張した moment, with its murmurings, must have been a dreadful ordeal for Red Krehl. Sterl's heart was 激しい for his comrade.

"Ash, darling, we （機の）カム away to talk 本気で," said Beryl, evidently 回復するing composure. "I must not stay much longer. Tell me."

"Yes, we must settle it," he 再結合させるd, in a 深い low 発言する／表明する, without a trace of hesitation. "Beryl, I'm leaving this trek at the forks of this river, not many days from here."

"Ashley! Not going?--Oh!"

"No. We can't get along. Your father will never cross the Never-never! He will be lost."

"We dared that 危険," replied the girl. "Somehow Father has imbued me with his wonderful 約束. We'll 勝利，勝つ through."

"I 疑問 it. I almost know it. This 内部の outback grows impossible west of the Warburton. I'm no 開拓する--no empire 建設業者."

"Ash, I 約束d to marry you. I will. But come with us to the Kimberleys. Make a home there."

"No. You come with me. Stanley Dann will go on that 内部の trek without his brother and Hathaway and me. Beryl, come!"

"Oh-h Ash! How I would love to! But I will not betray my father. I will go on, even if they all 砂漠 him."

"They will, sooner or later."

"Never! Not Hazelton! Not that droll Red Krehl! Not Leslie, or her family. They will go. And I will go, Ash!"

Her 発言する／表明する had begun low and rich with emotion, then 集会 力／強力にする and passion, ended with the （犯罪の）一味 of a bell.

"But Beryl--you love me!" he cried huskily.

"Yes, I do. I do! But Ash, I beseech you--give up this selfish blind 目的 of yours. For my sake, Ash, 再考する!"

"Darling, I will, にもかかわらず my better judgment," Ormiston made haste to reply. Presently she was whispering brokenly, won over もう一度, if not to complaisance then surely to belief. They moved away from the スピードを出す／記録につける.

Red sat with drooping 長，率いる. He heaved a long sigh.

"Pard, in the pinch heah she saved me my belief in her 栄誉（を受ける）," he said, his 発言する／表明する trembling.

"She did, Red, she did, and I feel like a coyote--like a low-負かす／撃墜する greaser, 秘かに調査するing on her."

"Me, too. But my hunch was true. Sterl, Leslie, if it wasn't for you both, an' a hellbent somethin', I'd walk 権利 in this heah river!"

But Leslie was in no 条件 to answer. She clung to Sterl, weeping convulsively.

CHAPTER 15

On the morning of December twenty-fourth, the day before Christmas, Stanley Dann's trek toiled and limped into （軍の）野営地，陣営 at the forks of the Daimantina, there to be 立ち往生させるd until after the 雨の season.

借りがあるing to waterholes lying in 深い 削減（する）s almost inaccessible to the cattle, dragging sand and terrific heat, the last fifty miles of that trek turned out to be all but insurmountable. Smoke signals still に先行するd the drovers and aborigines still followed them.

Dann selected his 永久の （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置 on the west 味方する of the main river, above the junction of the several 支店s, which were 法外な-banked, 深い, 乾燥した，日照りの beds of 激しく揺する and sand, with waterholes 分散させるd at 広範囲にわたって separated points. The heat was 急速な／放蕩な 吸収するing the water. Animals and birds （犯罪の）一味d the pools in incredible numbers. They would be 乾燥した，日照りの in a few weeks. But below this junction the main waterhole was a mile-long, 狭くする, partly shaded pool that would last until the next 雨の season. Except in sandy patches, grass grew abundantly. Dann was 保証するd of the 枢機けい／主要な necessities for man and beast for as long a （一定の）期間 as they were compelled to wait there.

Dann 選ぶd a （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置 on the left bank, in a eucalyptus grove, standing far apart in stately aloofness. The pitching of this （軍の）野営地，陣営 登録（する）d for the trekkers an 巨大な 救済 and joy. Ormiston, however, 辞退するd to （軍の）野営地，陣営 on that 味方する of the river. He drove his cattle and Hathaway's which together 構成するd a 暴徒 of about three thousand 長，率いる, across the 乾燥した，日照りの stream beds. As a bird flew, the distance between the two （軍の）野営地，陣営s was scarcely a ４半期/4分の1 of a mile.

Sterl and Red pitched their テント in a circle of pandanus trees whose 最高の，を越すs commingled, forming a dense canopy. The 広大な／多数の／重要な seeds, somewhat 似ているing small pineapples, clustered aloft まっただ中に the foliage. Leaves covered with a ground canvas, furnished a 厚い and soft carpet for the テント. Their 逮捕するs 約束d 保護 from mosquitoes and 飛行機で行くs. But nothing could save them from the heat. They worked naked to the waist. Friday built himself a bark shack 支援する of the テント. Slyter's wagon, some fifty 棒s or more distant, was 避難所d by the largest gum. 近づく at 手渡す 法案 設立するd a comfortable cooking 部隊. The （軍の）野営地，陣営s of the Danns were lower 負かす／撃墜する, nearer the river-bank, and most picturesquely 位置を示すd の中で the gums.

Not until late in the afternoon did Sterl feel 解放する／自由な to wash up and change his wet and dirty 衣料品s. Then he turned to the never failing 黒人／ボイコット, who was always there when 手配中の，お尋ね者. "Come, Friday. Let's go look-see."

They crossed the grassy flat 支援する of （軍の）野営地，陣営, and climbed a low 山の尾根. From this point Sterl 推定する／予想するd to get in his mind's 注目する，もくろむ the lay of this upper Diamantina land. But the 炎ing sunset and the appalling grandeur of that country drove from his mind at first any thought of topography.

"Good （軍の）野営地，陣営 place, Friday?" he asked.

"Plenty 支持を得ようと努めるd, plenty water, plenty meat. All same bad," replied the 黒人／ボイコット.

"Why all same bad?"

"Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella, plenty lubra, plenty 飛行機で行く. Eatum up alive. No rain long time. Big water bimeby."

"One thing at a time, Friday. Why plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella bad?"

"Some 黒人／ボイコット fella good. No good alonga here. Eat--steal. More come all time. Eat--steal. White fella like lubra. That bad."

"What 黒人／ボイコット fella do about lubra?"

"Mebbe stickum white fella spear."

"Not so good. But I hope our friend Ormiston runs true to type, and gets speared," muttered Sterl, half to himself.

"Friday spearum imm bimeby."

The 黒人／ボイコット had said that once before, months 支援する. Gazing up at him, Sterl thought his native 同盟（する） was not one to forget.

"Friday, what you mean, no rain long time?"

"黒人／ボイコット fella tell all about," replied Friday, making one of his eloquent gestures. It seemed to 含む the sun, the land, the growths, the living things within its compass. "Why bad when rain comes bimeby? Big water. All alonga. Cattle stuck."

Sterl shaded his 注目する，もくろむs and feasted them. A sheen of gold illuminated the sky and enveloped the land. The three forks of the Diamantina, 乾燥した，日照りの watercourses, white and glaring by day, now 負傷させる away like rivers of golden 解雇する／砲火／射撃. That afterglow of sunset left the league-wide areas of green grass faintly suffused with its hue, but the river beds of 激しく揺するs and sand took on a phenomenal and supernatural intensity of color. There was a deeper tinge of gold on the canvas wagon 最高の，を越すs, the テントs; and a flock of white cockatoos, covering the 支店s of a dead gum tree, appeared transformed birds of 楽園. Below （軍の）野営地，陣営 to the 権利, where the water of the river gleamed through the trees, there was a flickering, twinkling myriad of golden facets.

"Never-never Land!" said Friday.

Red sat with his 支援する against a tree, his 手渡すs spread listlessly. The cowboy was too tired to care about anything.

"Pard, I seen you up there, like an Apache scout. Pretty nifty, huh?" he drawled, lazily.

"Red, I've no 悔いるs, any more."

"Wal! Not atall?"

"Not atall, old friend."

"Thet's dog-gone good! Neither have I, Sterl. Couldn't we jest be happy but for thet bastard?"

Leslie approached, for once not running nor even showing any of her usual energy. She had changed her rider's ragged garb for a light cotton dress. "Do you boys know what day tomorrow is?" she asked wistfully.

Sterl knew, but he remained thoughtfully silent.

"It's Christmas. I'm going over to see the Danns. Mum is there. Won't you come?"

"Les, I'm too dog-gone daid tired even to see Beryl, or to care whether it's Christmas or the Fourth, days thet used to be red letters in my life."

"Me, too, Leslie. You see, we've let 負かす／撃墜する. I did have the strength to climb the hill 支援する here. And that was all!"

When Leslie left, Sterl sat 負かす／撃墜する ひどく beside his comrade.

"Red, you remember that day in Brisbane when we spent so much money?"

"Hell, yes. But it seems years ago."

"井戸／弁護士席, I flatter myself I'm a pretty wise hombre, if I do say it myself. I bought Christmas 現在のs for you and myself. And as we heard there were to be ladies with us, I took a chance and bought some for them."

"Aw, pard!" wailed Red. "I never thought of thet. What a pore muddle-haided cowboy I am!"

"Umpumm, Red, you 港／避難所't 行方不明になるd it. I bought enough for you to give too."

"What 肉親，親類d of 現在のs?" ejaculated Red, elated.

"Candy, for one thing."

"Naw, not candy! Why, pard, you're loco. Heah we been trekkin' a thousand miles under this hot sun! Candy would melt."

"No, it's hard candy packed in tin boxes. Then I bought some pretty handkerchiefs and sewing 道具s. Lastly, two leather 事例／患者s 十分な of 洗面所 articles--you know the 肉親，親類d of things girls like. 輸入するd from England, mind you! Tomorrow morning we'll unpack the stuff and 計画（する） our surprise."

Breakfast was called at sunrise. "Dann wants us all 現在の after breakfast," 発表するd Slyter. Sterl and Red went to their テント and 再現するd, mysteriously, each carrying a canvas knapsack on his shoulder. They were the last to arrive at the Dann 野営. All of the trekking party were 現在の except Ormiston's drovers and several of Dann's. Stanley Dann stood up, bareheaded, to read a passage from the Bible. After that he 申し込む／申し出d up a general 祈り, 祝う／追悼するing the meaning of Christmas of peace on earth and good will to man, and ended with a 明確な／細部 thanksgiving to God for their good fortune.

Beryl, looking lovely in a blue gown that had evidently been donned for this occasion, was 持つ／拘留するing a little 法廷，裁判所 all her own in the shade of a tree 近づく her wagon.

"Tip off your mother an' dad to rustle over heah pronto," whispered Red to Leslie.

They approached Beryl. Cedric, Larry and the younger drovers were 申し込む／申し出ing felicitations of the day. Ormiston, shaven and in clean garb, 占領するd what looked like a 特権d place の近くに to Beryl.

Suddenly Beryl 遠くに見つけるd Sterl and Red. Her 注目する，もくろむs sparkled with delight and 予期 when the cowboys unlimbered their knapsacks, to 始める，決める them 負かす／撃墜する with a 繁栄する.

"Folks, me an' Sterl heah 空気／公表する playin' Santa Claus," drawled Red, with the smile that made him boyishly good to look at. "But he is a modest gazabo, so I have to do the 栄誉（を受ける）s."

Beryl let out a shriek of delight. Leslie, blind to the 問題／発行する until that moment, 紅潮／摘発するd with amaze and rapture. The Danns and their company looked on, smiling.

Then Red and Sterl reached into the knapsack with the 空気／公表する of magicians, to fish out a small box of cigars for Dann and his partner, some brightly wrapped gifts for 行方不明になる Dann and Mrs. Slyter.

"My word!" にわか景気d Stanley Dann. "I 港／避難所't had a good smoke for months. 井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, to think these Yankees could outdo English people in memory of Christmas!"

The 寄贈者s gave Beryl and Leslie handy little sewing 道具s which were received with 深い 評価. Then （機の）カム the two handsome leather 事例／患者s which evoked cries of delight.

"Out here in the Never-never!" exclaimed Beryl, incredulously.

"Sterl Hazelton," cried Leslie, with glad 注目する，もくろむs upon him, "when all my things are gone or worn out--Aladdin!"

"Girls, thet ain't nothin' atall," beamed Red. "Come on, pard, all together."

Then in slow 審議, purposely tantalizing to the quivering girls, each cowboy produced two boxes, one of goodly size, the other small, both wrapped in shiny paper and tied with colored 略章s.

"What in the world?" cried Beryl, her 注目する，もくろむs 向こうずねing in purple 切望.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" burst out Leslie, reaching brown 手渡すs for her boxes. "What? Oh, what?"

"Candy!" shouted Sterl, triumphantly.

"Red Krehl! You mean 甘いs? Not ever!" whispered Beryl.

Evidently Leslie had been （判決などを）下すd mute, but she bestowed upon Sterl's cheek a kiss that left no 疑問 of her unspoken delight.

Beryl 緊急発進するd up, 持つ／拘留するing all her 現在のs in her 武器.

"Leslie, you shall not outdo me in thanks," she cried, with spirit. "Red Krehl, come here! I would knight you if I were a queen. I am glad somebody remembered me on Christmas Day!" And as the whiskyard cowboy, impelled beyond his will, つまずくd to his 膝s before the girl, she 解除するd a lovely rosy 直面する and kissed him.

Sterl, ちらりと見ることing at Ormiston, saw his 直面する grow ashy and a glare of jealous hate light his 目だつ eves. Then Ormiston turned on his heel and strode away, an 築く, violent, forbidding 人物／姿／数字.

He did not return the next day or the next. Beryl palpably chafed and worried at this 証拠 of his 憤慨, but so far as Sterl could see, her pride upheld her. His 有罪の判決 was now that Ormiston, having arrived at the scene of his ーするつもりであるd 分裂（する） with Dann, had an arrow to his 屈服する besides 説得／派閥.

A different 肉親，親類d of fight had begun for Stanley Dann's trekkers; a fight not against distance and time, rough land, 背信の water, but against heat and 飛行機で行くs and, what was worst of all, the 危険，危なくする of idleness, of waiting, and of their 影響 on the mind. Each day--between the 炎ing sun and the かわき of thousands of cattle--saw the water in the long waterhole recede インチs 負かす／撃墜する the sand and 激しく揺する. One night from Ormiston's 味方する of the river 射撃s and shrill yells of aborigines startled the campers on Dann's 味方する. There was no corroboree that night.

Next morning a drover 報告（する）／憶測d to Dann that Ormiston's men had 発射 five 黒人／ボイコットs. No 推論する／理由 was given. Stanley Dann was overheard to 表明する the opinion that his surly partner had sought to 運動 thieving natives away from （軍の）野営地，陣営. But Sterl, after talking with Friday, （機の）カム to the 結論 that Ormiston 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 運動 the aborigines across the river. At any 率 that was what had happened. The several hundred 黒人／ボイコットs had congregated in a grove at the lower end of the long waterhole.

By way of 賠償 and 親切 Dann ordered 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd cattle 発射 and dragged 負かす／撃墜する to the aborigine （軍の）野営地，陣営. 黒人／ボイコットs, lubras, gins, pickaninnies 砂漠d their （軍の）野営地，陣営 while this restitution took place. But later, after Friday had visited them, they 徐々に approached nearer and nearer to Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営. Dann argued for 追求するing any course that would keep the 黒人／ボイコットs friendly and Slyter agreed with him. Friday, Sterl thought, might have 影響（力）d Dann toward this 態度, but their leader, in any 事例／患者, could be generous and 肉親，親類d. When Sterl asked Friday what he had told Dann and Slyter the 黒人／ボイコット replied:

"Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella good. Mebbe steal bimeby. No fightum."

"Wal, I'd rather stand for thet," 主張するd Red, "than rile them into slitherin' spears around."

Beryl 弱めるd in the end, and sent a 公式文書，認める by one of the drovers across the way to Ormiston, who （機の）カム to see her that evening. Thereafter he appeared at Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営 every evening. Beryl Dann would need a terrible lesson before she began to 反応する from her infatuation and then it might come too late.

The trekkers settled 負かす／撃墜する to 苦しむ and to wait. The second hour after sunset usually brought a night 微風 that gave a little welcome 一時的休止，執行延期 from the torrid heat of the day, but the hours from daylight until an hour or more after breakfast were the most supportable. Sterl made use of this time, often with Leslie or Friday. The middle of the day was intolerable in the sun and just endurable in the shade. The cattle, needing no watch then, sought the shade of the trees where they lay 負かす／撃墜する or stood 残り／休憩（する）ing. In these hours, the ever-増加するing 飛行機で行くs made 存在 井戸／弁護士席-nigh unbearable and all the trekkers kept under cover of テントs and mosquito 逮捕するs. The constant humming and buzzing outside, like that of a 広大な／多数の／重要な 蜂の巣 of bees, made this 保護 so welcome that the stifling heat was endurable.

So the days wore on endlessly, each one hotter than the last. The small waterholes 乾燥した，日照りのd up and living creatures were 扶養家族 upon the 孤独な one. No cloud appeared in the sky. At midday 激しく揺するs were so hot that they blistered a naked 手渡す, the cattle 中止するd to bawl, the birds to 叫び声をあげる, the aborigines to move about. Sterl had always thriven on hot 天候; likewise Red. They could sleep, but they would wake wringing wet and with sweat. However, when the 水銀柱，温度計 rose to a hundred and ten degrees, even the cowboys were hard put to 耐える it.

When Friday was asked if the rains were ever coming he could reply:

"Might be, bimeby!"

But the bearable hours always 新たにするd 利益／興味 in things of the moment and hope for the 未来.

Sterl never tired of the aborigines nor of his 成果／努力s to 観察する and understand them. These 黒人／ボイコットs seemed far below Friday in 開発. Friday could not 指名する their tribe, but he understood their language 井戸／弁護士席 enough to 解釈する／通訳する, and it was through him that the 予備交渉s of Stanley Dann and Sterl 中和する／阻止するd the fright and 敵意 for which Ormiston and his drovers were responsible.

Sterl learned that when a death occurred in a （軍の）野営地，陣営 of theirs, they moved away at once. They went stark naked except for a breechcloth of woven grass or hair. The men were tall, large 長，率いるs covered by a mop of 絡まるd 黒人／ボイコット hair. The 軍隊／機動隊s of マリファナ-bellied youngsters, upon 存在 approached, at first scattered like a flock of 脅すd quail. The 円熟した women, or gins were such monstrosities that Sterl had to 軍隊 himself to ちらりと見ること at them. For the most part the lubras were not good to look at. A few of them, however, were prepossessing and far from averse to making 注目する，もくろむs at the younger drovers.

The problem of the aboriginal was to eat, and he ate everything from dirt to grass and seeds and fruit to all living creatures, 含むing ants--and his own 種類. He was a hunter. He made his own 武器s, very few in number, and these he carried. Friday told Sterl that these people caught live fish under water with their 手渡すs. Sterl saw some of them, at Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営, swim under water, drag ducks 負かす／撃墜する beneath the surface. He saw them eat every last 痕跡 of a bullock, meat, entrails, and even the 粉砕するd-up bones. He 設立する lubras and children out on the plain, digging for roots, herbs, lizards, eggs, and one of their reptile 高級なs, the goanna.

One morning Red …を伴ってd Sterl and Leslie, with the inseparable Friday, on a visit to the aborigines. They （機の）カム upon two 黒人／ボイコットs, both 円熟した men, tall and lean, who fastened ghoulish 注目する，もくろむs upon Leslie's supple and brown 明らかにする 脚s, and then 転換d their 黒人／ボイコット gaze to the cowboy's red 長，率いる. One of them held a most striking posture. He stood on one long 脚, leaning on his spear, while his other 脚 was bent at 権利 angles, with his foot flat against the inside of his thigh. Yet he stood at 緩和する.

"What'n'll is the 事柄 with this gazabo?" 問い合わせd Red.

"Nothing. He's just 残り／休憩（する）ing. I see a good many 黒人／ボイコットs stand like that," replied Sterl.

The abo, evidently impressed by Red, spoke to him in his native jargon.

"Yeah?" drawled Red, and then 追加するd sonorously: "宗教上の Mackeli--Kalamazoo--Ras pa tas--Mugg's Landin'--You one-laiged 黒人／ボイコット giraffe!"

その結果 the aborigine, tremendously impressed, let out a flow of speech that in 容積／容量 certainly matched Red's.

"Ahuh? Thet didn't sound so good to me. Friday, what he say?"

Friday 示すd Krehl's red 長，率いる and replied: "Makeum fun alonga you."

"Hell he did?" roared Red. "Hey, you! I'm from Texas, an' I'm liable to shoot thet one laig out from under you."

Upon their return to the Dann 野営 Slyter called Red and Sterl to him, and 知らせるd them that Stanley Dann 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see them 敏速に.

"Now, what's up?" queried Sterl, impatiently, quick to catch Slyter's sober mood.

"I'd rather Dann told you," returned the drover. "There's been a fight, and the drovers are upset."

"Yeah? Wal, if you ask me thet ain't nothin' new these days," drawled Red, with a bite in his トン.

Slyter …を伴ってd them the few 棒s under the trees to the 有望な campfire, where Stanley stalked to and fro. He was bareheaded, in his shirt sleeves, a 深い-注目する，もくろむd 巨大（な） standing 築く under obvious 重荷（を負わせる）s. Beryl was in the background, with her aunt and Mrs. Slyter. A group of men, just 明白な 近づく one of the テントs, stood conversing in low トンs.

"You sent for us, sir," spoke up Sterl, quickly.

"Yes, I 悔いる to say. Harry Spence has been 発射. The drovers just fetched him in. He died without 回復するing consciousness."

"Spence? That is 残念な, sir, but it can hardly have anything to do with us," returned Sterl. He had not thought much of Spence, and several others of the rougher element の中で Dann's drovers.

"Only 間接に," 再結合させるd Dann, あわてて.

"Boss, who 発射 Spence?" interposed Red, coolly.

"Ormiston's drover, Bedford. Tom Bedford. He was 不正に 負傷させるd in the fight, but should 回復する."

"Wal, beggin' yore 容赦, boss, an' if you ask me, there ain't much love lost in Spence's 事例／患者, an' if Bedford croaked it'd be a damn good night's 職業," replied Red, in 冷淡な 審議.

"I'm not asking for your judgments, Krehl," said the leader, tersely.

"I'm sorry, boss, but you gotta take them jest the same."

Sterl put a placating and persuasive 手渡す on Red's shoulder. But he was glad that the cowboy had spoken out. He, too, was sick of subterfuge and concealment.

"Sir, why did you send for us?" repeated Sterl, 静かに.

"Boys, it is only that I preferred to tell you myself, rather than have you hear it from others. I want to 説得する you to see it my way. I have come to rely upon you both. I have come to have a personal regard for you. Can I exact a 約束 from you both--not to shed 血, except in some 激烈な necessity of self-弁護?"

"Yes, sir, you can from me," 宣言するd Sterl, 即時に 決起大会／結集させるing to his sympathy for this 広大な／多数の／重要な and trouble-包囲するd man. "Red, you'll 約束, too, won't you?"

"Boss," said Red, "you ain't goin' to ask me to make a 約束 like thet, an' keep it forever?"

"Krehl, don't misunderstand me," returned Dann, in haste. "I would not 推定する to have you 否定する your creed, your 栄誉（を受ける）. I beg this 約束 only for the 現在の, because I still hope we can go through this trek without more 流血／虐殺."

"Wal, boss, as I see it, you won't," flashed Red. "It wouldn't be natural. You've got some low-負かす／撃墜する hombres mixed up with you on this trek. All the same, I'll give you my 約束 thet I won't raise a 手渡す against Ormiston, or anyone, except in self-弁護--or to save somebody's life."

"Thank you, Krehl," replied Dann. "Now, for the 詳細（に述べる） that will be as 不快な／攻撃 to you as it was to me. This morning a new 次第で変わる／派遣部隊 of 黒人／ボイコットs arrived. It seems there were some 異常に comely lubras の中で them. Ormiston propitiated them with gifts--an 活動／戦闘 Slyter and I are 堅固に …に反対するd to. But Ormiston did it, and took several to work around his （軍の）野営地，陣営. Spence and Bedford quarreled over one of them. It was obvious that all the drovers had been drinking. The two men fought, with the result I told you. Ormiston sent the 報告（する）／憶測 to me. And I at once ordered him here. I took him to 仕事. We had bitter words, that might have led to worse but for Beryl. She （機の）カム between us; and in part, when Ormiston maligned you boys, she took his 味方する. She believes him. I do not."

"Thanks, boss. But 流出／こぼす it. What has Ormiston said now?" retorted Sterl, 厳しく.

"He ridiculed my 罪／違反 at the idea of his drovers making up to the lubras. And the part applicable to you is this, in his own words: 'Look at your Yankee cowboys--Hazelton, 提起する／ポーズをとるing as a gentleman, and Krehl as a comedian--to please the ladies! They go from their soft speeches to Beryl and Leslie to the embraces of these nigger lubras!'"

If Stanley Dann 推定する／予想するd the cowboys to arise in 激怒（する） to disclaim against their traducer, he reckoned without his host. Nothing Ormiston might do or say could surprise them any more.

As 運命／宿命 would have it Leslie had followed them over, and Beryl with the two older women, evidently wishing to 迎撃する her, had all come within 範囲 of Dann's 厳しい 発言する／表明する. Sterl threw up his 手渡すs. What was the use?

Red did not 防備を堅める／強化する himself with knowledge and bitterness, as Sterl had done. But his innate chivalry permitted of no intimation that these girls could believe such vile 名誉き損，中傷.

"Beryl, you needn't look so orful bad," he said, gently. "Leastways not on my account. I jest 約束d your Dad I wouldn't throw a gun on Ormiston for what he said."

"You don't 否定する it, Red Krehl?" cried Beryl, passionately, beside herself.

"What you mean--I don't 否定する?"

"Ormiston's 告訴，告発 that you cowboys go from me and Leslie--to--to those nigger lubras," rang out the 乱暴／暴力を加えるd girl. She was pale under her tan and her big 注目する，もくろむs 緊張するd with horror.

Red twitched as if he were about to draw a gun. His visage lost its ruddiness then. "My 否定する thet? Hell no! I'm a Texan, 行方不明になる Dann. You English never heahed of Texas, let alone know what a Texan stands for in regard to women. What you've got in your mind, Beryl Dann, what you think of me, is what's true of your rotten lover. An' by Gawd, someday you'll go on your 膝s to me for thet!"

The girl recoiled. She gasped. Her 注目する，もくろむs dilated. But she could not 対処する with passion and jealousy and hate--those 原始の emotions that this trek had 増加するd by leaps and bounds. She let Red stalk away without another word.

"Sterl!--Sterl!" burst out Leslie, wildly. "You 否定する--that--that--or I'll hate you!"

"Leslie, it is a 事柄 of 最高の 無関心／冷淡 to me what you believe," returned Sterl, 冷淡な and aloof. Then he 演説（する）／住所d the parents of the girls. "Dann, Slyter, and you, Mrs. Slyter, you all can't fail to see what your wilderness outback has done, to your precious offspring. Next, they'll 容赦する, in Ormiston and his bunch, the very thing they 侮辱 us with now!"

CHAPTER 16

Leslie met Sterl next morning at breakfast as if awakening from a nightmare; she appeared stunned to bewilderment that he did not notice her. Sterl felt that she, the same as Beryl, must learn her bitter lesson. Until that time she would not 存在する for him, so far as intimacy and friendly 接触する were 関心d. He was 深く，強烈に 傷つける, but not resentful. She was only a sentimental young girl, placed in a terrible 状況／情勢. Sterl felt sorry for her. Little by little his love had grown until it had almost made him forget that he was an 無法者 who, if he considered marriage, must find himself in a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 苦境. Sterl had been 傷つける before by love. He could not kill this new love but he put it aside. Krehl's love 事件／事情／状勢 with Beryl, however, had a fair chance to 生き残る, if the girl herself 証明するd strong enough to 生き残る. Sterl seemed to feel something 深い and latent in this Dann girl. She was blindly in love with this dark-browed bushranger. But when she learned the truth about Ormiston, as must 必然的に happen, it was Sterl's opinion that the girl would hate him more than she had loved him.

January 炎d to its end, but the rains did not come. They might skip a year. The heat and the 飛行機で行くs had become insupportable. Yet human life lived on, though in each and every person there were 調印するs, even in himself, 明らかにする／漏らすing to Sterl's keen 注目する，もくろむs that white people could not live there for long. The days were terrible; the sky a 広大な 巡査 ドーム の近くに to the earth; the night hot even till 夜明け. Work and meals were undertaken before sunrise and after sunset. The 暴徒 of cattle grazed slowly by night and 残り／休憩（する）d by day. The 飛行機で行くs were harder on them than the sun. Hundreds of calves were born. Stanley Dann had now more cattle than when he had left Downsville.

Bedford, 存在 a 堅い and phlegmatic man, 回復するd from his serious 負傷させる. Hathaway （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する with some 肉親，親類d of a fever which neither Ormiston nor Dann could 緩和する. Stanley Dann's sister was a woman along in years, 未使用の to life in the open, and にもかかわらず what had appeared at first a 確かな robustness she began to fail. It was mental, Sterl thought, more than physical. She 簡単に 乾燥した，日照りのd up into a 影をつくる／尾行する of her former self, and met death with a 病弱な and pathetic gladness.

Eric Dann 現在のd a problem to Sterl. The man had something on his mind, either a cowardice he could not （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域, a gnawing 不決断 about splitting with his brother, or something secret. Sterl had seen 犯罪のs not big enough to stand up under the adversity that tried men's souls; and it seemed to him there was a furtive similarity between their moods and Eric's. Ormiston had turned gaunt of visage, hollow-注目する，もくろむd. But for that 事柄, all the drovers lost flesh, 常習的な, tanned almost as 黒人／ボイコット as Friday, and if they ever smiled, Sterl did not see it. It was in Ormiston's 注目する，もくろむs, however, that the difference lay. He never met Sterl's scornful gaze. He 中止するd to eat at Dann's （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, but at sunset and dusk he haunted Beryl, and kept her up late. Beryl Dann could not lose her grace of form or beauty of profile, but she grew thin, and her large violet 注目する，もくろむs had a wild look.

Leslie bore up surprisingly 井戸／弁護士席. She lost but little 負わせる. The sun 燃やすd her very dark. She grew quieter, いっそう少なく cheerful, more considerate and helpful. She approached Sterl endlessly with subterfuges, innocent 前進するs, unthinking 期待s which were never realized and which left her pondering and sad.

Stanley Dann 証明するd to be the 広大な／多数の／重要な physical and spiritual leader Sterl had imagined he would be. He remained imperturbable, cheerful, 確信して. But he seldom talked to his brother, he never 任意に 演説（する）／住所d Ormiston, though he often （機の）カム to Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営 to smoke and talk.

Always when Sterl watched these people he ended by going 支援する to 熟考する／考慮する Friday, the aborigine, who day by day ぼんやり現れるd greater in his sight. Here was a man. His color 事柄d little. He was always on night guard with Sterl and Red. He had made their lives his life. He asked nothing for his 忠誠. Separated from them by inestimable ages, by aboriginal mystery and 不明瞭 of mind, he yet felt for them, for their 裁判，公判s and 悲しみs and terrors.

"Bimeby rain come. All good," he said, on several nights. And once, as if the question of rain was not altogether the trenchant thing, he wagged his 黒人／ボイコット 長，率いる, and gazed at Sterl, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs unfathomable, "Ormiston tinkit he get cattle, Missy Dann, eberyting. But no, boss Hazel, nebber!"

On Friday, February thirteenth, the 限界 of heat was reached--a hundred and twenty-five in the shade. In had to be the 限界 because Dann's 温度計 burst as if the 水銀柱，温度計 had boiled. Red said it was a good thing. They all had been asking how hot it was, watching the 器具, wondering how much hotter it would get. But now there would be no way to learn. The noonday sun would have 燃やすd the eyeballs sightless. Sterl and Red waded into the river a dozen times without bothering to 除去する their 衣料品s. The birds and beasts and reptiles Sterl 遭遇（する）d in his 早期に morning walk did not trouble to move out of the way. Almost he could pet the gray old kangaroos; the wild fowl つつく／ペックd at him, but did not 飛行機で行く.

Hathaway's death, coming one night when he was unattended, shocked everyone, even the cowboys, out of their 異常な unfeeling 明言する／公表するs. For days he had been delirious and 燃やすing up with fever. They buried him beside Emily Dann, and 築くd another cross. Stanley Dann, in his 滞るing 祈り, committed his soul to 残り／休憩（する） and freedom from the 疫病／悩ます of unsatisfied life.

Sterl wondered if the leader was breaking. But that very night, when Ormiston, who had not …に出席するd the funeral, 現在のd himself at Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営, professing grief for the loss of his friend, the leader 配達するd himself of a 重要な speech.

"Ormiston," he にわか景気d in his sonorous 発言する／表明する, "you need not demean yourself to tell me that you won Hathaway's cattle at cards, or that he さもなければ 借りがあるd you money."

That staggered the bushranger for a moment, perhaps because both the cowboys and Beryl were 現在の. His dark gaze, scarcely 隠すing malignance, would have 警告するd a man いっそう少なく noble than Stanley Dann. He dropped his 長，率いる and went his way.

"Dad!" exclaimed Beryl, petulantly. "Anyone would think you 疑問d Hathaway 借りがあるd Ash money. I knew it ages ago."

"Yes, daughter, anyone who hadn't a mind would think that," returned her father, and left her. The cowboy sat 星／主役にするing into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, 耐えるing its smoke to insure a 救済 from the pest of mosquitoes that had been recently 追加するd to the tribulations of the forks.

Sterl 回転するd Dann's caustic speech in his mind. Their leader was not so guileless after all. He was 単に greater than most men! When would this 巨大（な） stamp upon the viper?

いつか during that night Sterl opened his 注目する，もくろむs, wide awake 即時に. It was pitch dark, stifling hot, still as the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, yet in a flash his consciousness told him that he had been awakened by something unusual. にもかかわらず the heat and his own 燃やすing sweat, a queer little 冷気／寒がらせる ran over him.

Suddenly the painful silence broke in a long low rolling rumble. 雷鳴! Was he dreaming? It sounded again, like the distant roar of 殺到ing buffalo. Yes, it was 雷鳴!

Sterl sat up. His heart 強くたたくd audibly. He had a 乾燥した，日照りの mouth and a constriction in his throat.

"Red--Red!" he panted, huskily.

"Hell, pard. I heahed it!"

There （機の）カム Friday's 発言する／表明する.

"Boss, bimeby rain!"

They pulled on their boots, はうd from under their mosquito 逮捕するs, and out of the テント. There was starlight enough to see Friday's tall 黒人／ボイコット image, the pale wagons, the spectral trees. The 空気／公表する was 蒸し暑い, oppressive, 激しい, yet strangely different. Then a ゆらめく of 雷 ran along the eastern horizon. How exceedingly beautiful, beneficent, 圧倒的な! With bated breath Sterl waited for the 雷鳴, to 保証する himself, to enable him to 裁判官 how far distant. Would it never come? That 嵐／襲撃する was far away.

"How far--when?" Sterl asked Friday. "Rain mebbe soon--mebbe no!"

Slyter （機の）カム stamping from the direction of his wagon. Leslie's rich, glad 発言する／表明する rang out. Stanley Dann にわか景気d to his brother. The drovers were calling one to another. Across the river lights flashed at Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営. They had all heard. They were all astir.

Slyter's thought was for his horses. Dann にわか景気d to his drovers that 雷鳴 and 雷, after so long a 日照り続き, might 殺到 the 暴徒. In short order all were 機動力のある and on guard.

But that 嵐／襲撃する passed by to the southward. Soon, however, the disappointed trekkers thrilled to more 雷鳴. In 予定 course that 嵐／襲撃する, too, passed by the forks, but closer, heavier, longer.

But just the same the sun rose fiery red--molten steel. The birds and wild fowl （機の）カム in to water. The slopes and flats were 黒人／ボイコット with kangaroos and wallabies. Again the heat 炎d 負かす／撃墜する; again the 内部の horde of whirling, humming, biting, bloodsucking 飛行機で行くs settled 負かす／撃墜する around man and beast.

After breakfast Stanley Dann called all his trekkers to his （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Friends, countrymen, my brother, my daughter," he にわか景気d, "my 祈りs have been answered. The wet season is at 手渡す. We are saved, and we 解除する up our 発言する／表明するs in thanksgiving to Him, in Whom we have never lost 約束. When the rains 中止する, or when it has rained enough to fill the rivers and creeks, we shall proceed on our trek. But with this change: we will go by the 湾 大勝する, and on to Darwin, and from there to the Kimberleys. A year longer--but that is better than to divide our party, our cattle, our strength, our harmony. Ormiston, you who have been even more stubborn than my brother in 拒絶 to cross the Never-never, you can rejoice now that I have changed my mind."

A loud hurrah from a half dozen lusty-throated drovers broke up the silence に引き続いて Dann's 演説（する）／住所. The leader waited, 自然に 心配するing a 返答 from Ormiston. But 非，不，無 （機の）カム. The drover turned away his dark 直面する. Beryl dropped her 長，率いる as if stupefied and made for her wagon. Eric Dann, however, received the news with a blank visage, then a 徐々に breaking 表現 which Sterl interposed as びっくり仰天.

Leslie, in the 強調する／ストレス of the hour, forgot the estrangement she had 原因（となる）d between herself and Sterl and met him with 注目する，もくろむs darkly excited, to しっかり掴む his arm with the old familiar intimacy.

"Oh, Sterl! I'm glad--glad in a way. But I did want to cross the Never-never. Didn't you?"

The answer that sprang to Sterl's lips was both cruel and 侮辱ing, but somehow he could not 持つ／拘留する 支援する the words: "Yes," he said caustically, "I sure hate the idea of having to spend a year longer in the society of two shallow, mindless girls like you and Beryl."

Her 直面する 燃やすd red, her 注目する，もくろむs 炎d, and there was little 疑問 that but for Red's 介入 she would have struck him. He went on his way, 深く，強烈に 乱すd by the 遭遇（する）. Red caught up with him.

"Say, pard, the kid would have smacked the daylights out of you but for me," he said.

"That didn't escape me, Red."

"I left her cryin'. That was a mean 肉親，親類d of speech you gave her, Sterl."

"Agree with you," Sterl snapped. Then after a pause, "Did you look at Beryl?"

"Shore. Beryl was surprised. Mebbe she's not so strong for them noble idees of bein' true to her Dad. Mebbe she's been talked into elopin' with Ormiston."

"Ah, I had that thought, too. I hoped I was wrong. Red, Eric Dann was sunk at his brother's 決定／判定勝ち（する）. Sunk!"

"He oughta be overjoyed. If he ain't--why ain't he? He always struck me as kinda phony--weak or somethin'. Gosh, ain't it hot again? Thet 誤った alarm last night made us 推定する／予想する this gosh-awful sun wouldn't 向こうずね no more."

"But the 空気／公表する feels different."

There was an infinitesimal 湿度 in the atmosphere that morning. That afternoon white clouds, like ships at sea, sailed over the 範囲s to the northeast. They were good to see. Before they crossed the zenith the heat had dissipated them. The sunset was ruddy, dusky, smoky. The cattle lowed. There was an uneasy activity の中で the birds and kangaroos. Friday talked to the old men の中で the aborigines, and returned uncommunicative.

After supper, Sterl was reading by firelight when Red 軽く押す／注意を引くd him. In the gloaming distance--Ormiston and Beryl!

"Watch awhile, pard. It won't be long now!" said Red, getting up to glide off like an Indian.

Out of the corner of his eve Sterl watched Leslie, and knew she would approach him. At last she did.

"Red has followed them--Ormiston and Beryl. What's he going to do? Kill that blighter?"

Sterl did not answer.

"Eric Dann has got the willies, whatever Red means by them," went on Leslie, restlessly, 辛勝する／優位ing closer. "And he was drinking whisky. In this heat!"

"How do you know?"

"I saw him. I smelled it. Sterl, the rains will come?"

"Friday says bimeby. Mebbe soon. Mebbe no."

"I thought I'd die last night, hoping, waiting. It'll never rain. We'll all 乾燥した，日照りの up and blow away."

Leslie （機の）カム closer, and suddenly, desperate, sat 負かす／撃墜する beside Sterl.

"You hateful, callous, unforgiving cowboy!" she whispered, huskily.

"Leslie, how very unflattering!" he 再結合させるd, mildly.

"I hate you!" she burst out.

"That is only natural, Leslie. Your are a headstrong child."

"Headstrong, yes, but I'm not even a girl any more. I'm old. I'll be like these gins, presently."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席, then, you're old. What of it?"

"Oh, I don't care. Nobody cares. You don't. I--I wish I'd thrown myself away on Ormiston."

"Yeah? Is it too late?"

"Don't be a damn fool," she flashed. "It's bad enough for you to be a monster of 無関心／冷淡. A man of 激しく揺する! I'm sick. I'm wild. I'm 脅すd. I'm 十分な of--of--"

"You must be 十分な of tea, darling," interposed Sterl, lightly.

"Sterl Hazelton, don't you dare call me that--that--when you're making fun of me. I'm so 哀れな. And it's not all about myself."

"Who then?"

"Beryl. She's strange. She was lovely to me for awhile. Now she's changed. She's--numb. Sterl, you must do something, or she'll go away with him!"

"Les, hadn't you better go to bed?" he queried, gently.

"Yes. I'm weak as a cat and wet as water. But before I go I want to tell you something I heard Mum say to Dad. Mum said: 'I see Hazelton doesn't go to the lubras any more.' And Dad replied: 'I hadn't noticed. But it's 非，不，無 of your 商売／仕事, woman.' Then Mum snapped: 'Bingham Slyter, I didn't 持つ／拘留する it against Sterl. I'd do it myself, if I were a man! In this horrible 穴を開ける, where God only knows what keeps us from going mad!'"

"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席!" ejaculated Sterl, taken aback, and flustered. "Then what did your dad say?"

"He swore terribly at Mum."

Sterl relaxed into the flimsy 保護 of silence. All these good people might be forgiven for anything. It was a diabolical maelstrom--this trek.

"That--苦しめるd me--Sterl," went on Leslie, falteringly. "I'm as crazy as Mum, or any of them. I--I lied when I said I hated you. It 傷つける me that about you--and the lubras. But I 許す you. I--I don't care. There! I've told you. Maybe now I can sleep."

She ran off sobbing. It was 井戸／弁護士席, he 反映するd, that she did. A 肉親，親類d word, a tender touch from him at that 決定的な moment would have brought the distracted girl into his 武器. There could never be anything between them. He could keep the secret that had made him a man without a country.

Sterl sat there a long time. The 解雇する／砲火／射撃 died 負かす／撃墜する and Friday crossed a couple of sticks over the ashes. Mosquitoes began to snarl. Red returned, dragged his feet, his gait like that of a whipped cur. A furious 炎上 of passion waved over Sterl. That this cowboy, as keen as flint, a man who had laughed and drawled in the very 直面する of death--that he should はう 支援する to the firelight, ashamed and abased, 鎮圧するd at the 証拠不十分 or perfidy of a girl, was too 反乱ing to withstand. Sterl leaped up muttering, "I won't 耐える it!" Then a 深い low roll of 雷鳴 brought him to himself.

CHAPTER 17

雷鳴! 深い, 爆発させるing, long-rolling! Krehl approached the 燃やすd-out campfire, his 長，率いる 解除するing like that of a listening deer. Again the heart-shaking rumble!

"You heah, pard?" he queried.

"You bet. Deeper, heavier tonight, Red."

Friday ぼんやり現れるd out of nowhere, soft-stepping, 黒人／ボイコット as the night. He 補充するd the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with two sticks laid crosswise, squatted 負かす／撃墜する, 残り／休憩（する）d his 武器s, and became a statue like 黒人／ボイコット marble. Friday could sleep in any position, at any time. Sterl had caught him asleep standing on one 脚, like a sandhill crane.

支援する inside the テント, pulling off his boots, Sterl said, "What kicked you in the middle, pard?"

Red heaved a sigh. "Somethin' wuss tonight, Sterl. I had my gun out to kill Ormiston when that first clap of 雷鳴 fetched me to my senses."

Sterl 悪口を言う／悪態d his friend lustily. It silenced Red and relieved his own overwrought feelings. Then he stretched out on the hot 一面に覆う／毛布s to 残り／休憩（する） if not to sleep. As on the night before, this 雷鳴ing forerunner of the season's 嵐／襲撃するs passed by the forks, にわか景気ing on, rolling on to rumble and mutter and die away in the distance. Day broke. And when the sun rose, 解雇する／砲火／射撃 again 所有するd the sky and earth.

At breakfast Larry told how three 雷雨s had passed by about midnight; the last had gone to the west of the forks.

"We'll get socked 権利 in the 注目する，もくろむ tonight," he said, cheerfully.

"Folks, am I gettin' balmy or is it hot sooner an' wusser than yestiddy mawnin'?" 問い合わせd Red.

Slyter interposed to 知らせる them that the last day of a hot （一定の）期間 was the hottest. The 気温 this day would 最高の，を越す one hundred and thirty degrees. If the forks had been a dusty place, with hot 強風s blowing, life would have been impossible.

"As long as your 直面する is wet, you're all 権利," he said. "But if it gets 乾燥した，日照りの and hot, look out. Keep in the shade with a pail of water and bathe your 長，率いる."

When Sterl followed Red to their テント, Friday pointed to Eric Dann crossing the main fork of the 乾燥した，日照りの river bed toward Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営. Sterl got his field glass from under a flap of the テント.

"From what I heard last night," said Red. "He's carryin' a message from the big boss. He's gonna 説得する Ormiston to 運動 his herd 支援する on this 味方する, before the river rises. Haw! Haw! Like hell--"

"Here by this スピードを出す／記録につける," interrupted Sterl. "Nobody can see us." He adjusted the glass. At first ちらりと見ること he saw that Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営 was a busy place considering the torrid heat. Drovers naked to the waist were carrying things from one wagon to another. Ormiston paced under a 避難所 of palm and pandanus leaves. His 権利-手渡す man, Bedford, sat on the ground mending harness. They saw Eric Dann plodding up the sand of the river slope, and their 発言／述べるs must surely have fitted their malevolent looks. But in a moment more the drover was again the smiling Ormiston, 迎える／歓迎するing his 訪問者 agreeably. They talked, and Sterl did not need to hear them to know that Eric Dann ever 配達するd his brother's message.

"Lemme have a look, you hawg," spoke up Red. He glued his 注目する，もくろむs to the glass and remained rigid for a long time.

"Wal, thet's over, whatever it was," he said, presently. "Dann is comin' 支援する. He's carryin' the world on his shoulders, if I know a sucker when I see one. He doesn't know Ormiston is goin' to 二塁打-cross him, any more than does Stanley Dann. Gosh, I can hardly wait to bore thet beady-注目する，もくろむd bastard! There he goes, 支援する to thet wagon they're packin'."

His ice-blue 注目する，もくろむs glinted as he 直面するd Sterl. "All over but the rain--an' the shootin,' pard," he rang out.

"井戸／弁護士席, dammit, suppose we go over there and do the 狙撃 before it rains," snapped Sterl.

"Now! There ain't no good 動機 yet thet'd go far with--Stanley Dann. We gotta have thet. What we been waitin' for all these months? Use yore haid, pard."

"Red, oughtn't we tell Stanley?"

"Hell no! Not before, an' 廃虚 our chance to bore that hombre. Afterward we won't have to talk. Ormiston will （警察の）手入れ，急襲 the boss's 暴徒 an' remuda, shore as yore born."

"Okay then. But where does Beryl come in?"

"Pard, thet stumps me, too. Beryl thinks Ormiston will take the 湾 road, now thet Stanley has given in. But Ormiston isn't takin' it, as we know. An' I'm about shore there's no hope of Ormiston persuadin' Beryl to elope. He ain't the 肉親，親類d of a man who'd 危険 much for a woman. Shore you've seen how Beryl has failed lately. She'd be a 重荷（を負わせる）. What he wants 空気／公表する hosses an' cattle."

"Red, you're overshooting here," 宣言するd Sterl. "Beryl's physical 条件 wouldn't 阻止する him one 選び出す／独身 whit, if he wants her. He has to travel with wagons. She can be packed like a 捕らえる、獲得する of flour. If she dies on the way, what the hell?"

"Wal," 削減（する） in Red, wearily, "let's wait for the show-負かす／撃墜する. It's a cinch Ormiston will try to steal some of Dann's hosses an' cattle. Mebbe some of Slyter's too. But if he's as pore a bushranger as he is everythin' else, why, hell, it'll make us laugh!"

Stanley Dann sent orders by Cedric for all to 嘘（をつく） 静かな that day, 保護するd from the direct rays of the sun. Before that, the cattle had strung out in the shade of the trees along the river-banks. Kangaroos kept to the 小衝突. The whirling hordes of 飛行機で行くs were out 早期に, but they soon 消えるd. The sun was too hot for them. The younger 黒人／ボイコットs stayed in or by the water; the older ones did not move from their 避難所s.

Sterl and Red 設立する the inside of the テント unendurable. Almost naked they lay under their wagon on the grass. Friday lay in the shade of a big gum tree. That was the only time Sterl ever saw him incapacitated. He, too, although as perfect an engine to resist the elements as 進化 had ever turned out, had to fight for his life.

The sun 始める，決める at last. That awful odor of the 爆破 furnace の近くにd. In the west colossal thunderhead clouds ぼんやり現れるd halfway to the zenith. Low 負かす／撃墜する over the horizon their base was a dusky purple, but as they 大波d and mushroomed 上向き, the darker hues changed to rose and gold, and their 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 最高の，を越すs were pearl white.

Friday appeared stalking under the gum trees. He （機の）カム 直接／まっすぐに to them.

"Howdy," he said, using the cowboy 迎える／歓迎するing Sterl had taught him. And …を伴ってing it was a transfiguration in the 黒人／ボイコット visage that Sterl 認めるd as Friday's exceedingly rare smile.

"Boss, rain come," he said, as if he were a 長，指導者 演説（する）／住所ing a multitude of aborigines.

"Bimeby?" asked Sterl, huskily.

"Alonga soon night. Rain like hell."

A call to supper 混乱に陥れる／中断させるd this conversation. While the cowboys 軍隊d themselves to partake of the eternal damper, meat and tea, the magnificent panorama of 中心存在d cloud 野外劇／豪華な行列 解除するd perceptibly higher. The bases の近くにd the gaps between and turned to inky 黒人／ボイコット. The purple 深くするd and encroached upon the gold, blotting it out until the sculptured, scalloped 栄冠を与えるs lost their pearl and white. Slyter heard the good news and ran across the way to tell the Danns. Red whooped and hobbled after him, evidently to 知らせる Beryl.

"I'm going to ride herd tonight," 発表するd Leslie, brightly, approaching Sterl.

Her 直面する showed the havoc of these torrid weeks いっそう少なく than that of anyone else, Sterl 観察するd, but the change was enough to give him a pang.

"Yeah? You look like it," he 再結合させるd, dubiously.

"How do I look?" she retorted, あわてて.

"Terrible."

"So do you. If I look terrible you should see Beryl! What do you mean by terrible?"

"注目する，もくろむs hollow, lines you didn't use to have."

"Oh, Sterl! Am I pretty no longer?"

"You couldn't help 存在 pretty, Leslie!" replied Sterl, 産する／生じるing as always to the 控訴，上告 which destroyed his relentlessness.

"Then I'm not to ride herd with you tonight?"

"I didn't say so."

"But you're my boss.

"Long ago, Leslie, before this trek had made me old and you a little savage--then I called myself your boss. But no more!"

"What if I am a little savage?" she asked, wistfully.

Red and Slyter returned from the Dann （軍の）野営地，陣営, and Slyter said: "Saddle up, all 手渡すs. Stanley wants the 暴徒 driven into that 水盤／入り江 out there, and surrounded."

Sterl went on with Red. The afterglow of sunset shone over the land. The 広大な 集まり of 合併するing clouds shut out the northeast. The two seemed to be in 衝突.

"I seen Beryl," Red was 説, his 発言する／表明する 深い with 苦痛. "She lay on her bed under the wagon. When I called she didn't answer. I stepped up on the wheel, so I could look 負かす／撃墜する at her. I spoke an' she whispered, 'Bury me out on--the 孤独な prairie!' You know I used to sing thet to her--before Ormiston...Sterl, could Beryl Dann look at me like thet, smile like thet, say thet to me if she meant to run off with this 黒人／ボイコット-直面するd rustler?"

"Red, give me something 平易な," replied Sterl, grimly. "支援する home I'd 断言する to God she couldn't. But out here, after what we've gone through, I say hell yes, she could! Take your 選ぶ."

"Pard, if you was me, would you watch Beryl's wagon tonight, instead of guardin' herd?"

"No!--Red, you might kill Ormiston, and kill him too soon. Let these Danns find out what we know. Then you can break loose an' I'll be with you. Man alive, she can't get away--Ormiston can't get away--not with her or his stolen cattle or his life. If he took Beryl on horseback we'd run him 負かす／撃墜する. Red, old man, come to your senses!"

"Thanks, pard. Reckon I--I was kinda queer. Mebbe the heat--Heah's the hosses."

"What'll you ride?" asked Sterl, as he, looked the remuda over. King whinnied and thudded toward him.

"Leslie's Duke. He's a big water dog. An' mebbe there'll be a flood. Them clouds all same Red River color, pard."

機動力のある, the cowboys 長，率いるd for the grassy 水盤／入り江 already half covered with cattle. Slyter, 続けざまに猛撃するing along to join the cowboys, 表明するd 苦悩 for his horses. Red said he was sure that they would stand, unless run 負かす／撃墜する by a 脅すd 暴徒. The 危険，危なくする lay with the cattle.

Stanley Dann 棒 around the 暴徒, 運ぶ／漁獲高ing up last where Sterl and Red had been joined by Larry and Roland. "駅／配置する yourselves at 正規の／正選手 intervals. Concentrate on the river and （軍の）野営地，陣営 味方するs," said Dann. "Probably the 暴徒 won't 急ぐ. If they do, keep out of their way. They won't run far. From the looks of it we are in for a real 嵐／襲撃する."

"Let's stick pretty の近くに together," 示唆するd Sterl to Red.

"You can't lose me, pard!"

"The 空気／公表する's stirring. Smells dusty!"

"But it's them low clouds thet 持つ／拘留するs the 嵐／襲撃する. Gosh, but they're 黒人／ボイコット!"

Then the first 深い, 爆発させるing 雷鳴 rolled toward the waiting drovers. The tired, heat-dulled cattle gave no 調印する of uneasiness.

"Bet you they won't 殺到," called Red, some yards to Sterl's 権利.

"They're English cattle. They can't be 脅すd, maybe," returned Sterl, jocularly.

雷鳴 にわか景気d over the battlements of the 範囲s north and east. Flashes of 雷 ゆらめくd from behind them. Puffs of moving 空気／公表する struck Sterl in the 直面する, hot like the breath of 解雇する／砲火／射撃. The lacy foliage of the eucalyptus trees began to 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする against a sky still （疑いを）晴らす. 激しい thunderclaps turned Sterl's gaze 支援する to the 嵐／襲撃する. The 前線 of it had rolled over the 範囲s.

"Whoopee!" yelled Red. "She's acomin', an' a humdinger!"

A hot 強風 struck Sterl. He turned his 支援する, and felt that he was shriveling up like leather in a 炎上. The gum trees bent away from its 軍隊; streaks of dusty light sped along the ground; the afterglow faded into a gloaming that was a moving curtain before the 勝利，勝つd. Leaves and grass and bits of bark whipped by, and King's mane and tail stood straight out.

All at once Sterl's senses awoke to a startling fact. The hot furnace 爆破 had gone on the 勝利，勝つd! The 空気／公表する was 冷静な／正味の--damp! Red's wild yell （機の）カム, splitting Sterl's ear. And with it a roar, 安定した, 伸び（る）ing, tremendous--the roar of rain.

The 棺／かげり bore 負かす／撃墜する upon them, steel-gray in the 炎s of white 解雇する／砲火／射撃, to swallow up earth and night and 雷 and 雷鳴. He could not see a 手渡す before his 直面する. But how he reveled in that drenching!

It swallowed up time, too, and he almost forgot the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒 of cattle. But to think of them was futile. Sterl shut his 注目する，もくろむs, bent his 長，率いる, and thanked heaven for every 減少（する） of that endless 激流. Stanley Dann's 約束 and 祈りs were 正当化するd; the trek was saved! Then a rough 手渡す on his shoulder roused him. He opened his 注目する，もくろむs. The 雷 flashes were far to the west, and the 雷鳴 rolled with them. The rain was 注ぐing 負かす／撃墜する, but not in a solid sheet. He could see indistinctly.

"Pard!" yelled Red, の近くに to his ear. "殺到! Feel the ground shakin'!"

CHAPTER 18

"Let's find the break!" shouted Red. "You ride 支援する. I'll ride ahaid."

Turned away from the pelting rain, Sterl could distinguish the darker line of cattle against the white grass. They were not moving on this 味方する. He 棒 今後 and checked King to listen again. There was a decided roar of hoofs, but it was 少なくなるing in 容積／容量.

He pulled King to a walk. Perhaps a 刺激（する） of cattle had broken out of the main 暴徒. Then, in a なぎ of the 激しい downpour he caught 射撃s! Turning to peer 支援する he saw 薄暗い flashes far across the herd. Dann's drovers on that 味方する were trying to 持つ／拘留する the 暴徒.

Presently Sterl made out the dark 形態／調整 of a horseman. Riding の近くに he shouted and got an answer. It was Roland.

"They're 静かな here," yelled the drover. "They'll 持つ／拘留する now. If they were going to 急ぐ over there, it's strange they didn't when the 嵐／襲撃する was worst."

"Strange at that," replied Sterl. "Where's your next guard?"

"Not far along. Drake. He told me Slyter was fussing about his horses."

"Small wonder. I'll ride 支援する to Red."

The rain still 注ぐd 負かす／撃墜する, with intermittent heavier bursts. He had sent Friday 支援する to the （軍の）野営地，陣営 before the break of the 嵐／襲撃する, and he did not feel sure just where he and Red had parted. He 停止（させる）d and on the last stop 設立する the cattle jostling and 圧力（をかける）ing one another. The roar seemed to have grown louder. In the gray gloom the 暴徒 moved and swayed as if from irresistible 圧力 at its 中心.

Sterl trotted King a hundred yards さらに先に around the herd. Two riders 現れるd from the impenetrable 黒人／ボイコット.

"Heah you 空気／公表する," shouted Red, as the three met.

"All jake 負かす／撃墜する the line on this 味方する," 報告（する）／憶測d Sterl.

Larry told him that Dann's drovers on that 味方する of the herd were all gone.

"Cattle rarin' to slope around there," interposed Red. "It ain't 安全な, but we might stop a 殺到."

"But those guards will be 支援する unless..."

Red interrupted: "Like hell they will! Pard, we had it figgered. Some of them drovers, in cahoots with Ormiston, have 削減（する） out a bunch of cattle. It wasn't no 殺到. But there will be one if we don't watch out. Let's mosey."

The three riders loped their 開始するs through the 運動ing rain and 攻撃するing grass.

"Ride up an' 負かす／撃墜する heah," shouted Red. "炎 away with yore guns. If there's a break anywhere, run for yore lives."

They separated. Sterl 棒 支援する 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing, along the way they had come. の近くに to the herd he felt their 不安 and heard their bawling. Along Sterl's line of 進歩 the restive cattle finally settled 負かす／撃墜する and stood. But in the other direction Red and Larry were 遭遇（する）ing extreme difficulty. Sterl joined them at the 決定的な point. For a few moments it seemed vain to 試みる／企てる 封鎖するing the cattle. But the intrepid riders, at the expense of 事実上 all their 弾薬／武器, finally held the animals in check. The excited fringe of the 暴徒 静かなd 負かす／撃墜する.

"Jest luck!" panted Red, as the three reined to together.

"Boys," said Larry, "I'll tell the Danns who saved their 暴徒. New work to me, and my heart was in my throat half the time...Where are those drovers?"

"Haw! Haw! Yes, shore, where in the hell 空気／公表する they? Heah! Listen... What's thet roar?"

"My God, they're on the rampage again!"

"No, boys," yelled Red. "Thet's not cattle! I know thet noise! It's the river!"

Sterl marveled that he had not been as quick as Red to 認める that 安定した, 増加するing roar. All in a flash he was 支援する along the Cimarron, the Purgatory, the Red, the Brazos--all those western rivers that he had known and 戦う／戦いd in flood.

"Fellers, thet big 乾燥した，日照りの wash has been raisin' all the time. This is flood!"

"Red, we'd better pull leather out of here."

"I should smile. It's good the （軍の）野営地，陣営 is on thet high （法廷の）裁判...Gosh, do you heah her comin'?"

A seething, 衝突，墜落ing, bumping roar bore 負かす／撃墜する from the 黒人／ボイコット night. The riders loped their horses toward higher ground. They 遭遇（する）d a two-foot 塀で囲む of water 急ぐing in at that end. Somewhere above the 水盤／入り江 an 洪水 from a 支流 had met the main flood 長，率いる on. They waded their horses through to the rising slope.

Gray 夜明け broke. The rain had 中止するd except for a 霧雨, but the 曇った sky 予報するd continuous downpour. The 暴徒 of cattle stood 長，率いるs 負かす／撃墜する, 膝-深い in the 洪水. The stream that had half filled the 水盤／入り江 had dwindled to a 略章. Across the 水盤／入り江 and the flat beyond, the mainstream raced 十分な from bank to bank. Green trees and スピードを出す／記録につけるs floated 速く by. In the middle of the river 抱擁する waves curled up to break 支援する upon themselves.

"Red, give us a count," said Sterl, grimly.

"塀で囲む, I was jest about to," replied the cowboy. "About four thousand haid there now. Ormiston an' his bushrangers have sloped with half of our cattle!"

"Bushrangers!" yelled Larry. "Good grief!"

"Shore, bushrangers! Let's go to （軍の）野営地，陣営. All the 残り／休憩（する） of the drovers have rid in for tea, or they're 溺死するd--or gone."

Friday met them and took Sterl's horse. The aborigine's blank visage and his silence were ominous. 法案 had a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 going, with tea brewing. No womenfolk were in sight. Over at Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営 there was いっそう少なく activity, but a group of drovers stood as if stunned.

Slyter paced to and fro like a maniac 限定するd in a 独房. Some of Leslie's race horses were gone, 含むing Lady Jane and Jester.

"What the hell you beefin' about, boss?" queried Red, curtly. "Thet ain't nothin' atall. Wait till you get the 負担."

Sterl, still silent, hurried to change into 乾燥した，日照りの 着せる／賦与するs, refill his belt with cartridges, and get out his ライフル銃／探して盗む. He made sure that the oilskin cover was tight. Red 悪口を言う／悪態d Slyter through his teeth. "What you think, Sterl? Thet hossmad geezer doesn't even know about the loss of the cattle. An' damn little he'd care if he did. It's a cinch Ormiston stole those race hosses."

"Rustler!" rasped Sterl. "We've got a 職業. And my God, am I ready for it!"

They hurried out to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and ate standing, 注目する，もくろむs 警報, thinking hard. Larry （機の）カム running whiskyardly on his 屈服する-脚s. His 直面する was gray, and his 注目する，もくろむs popped.

"Hey, wait a minnit, you!" ordered Red, はっきりと. "Get yore breath, Slyter, come heah."

The drover, 暗い／優うつな-直面するd and disheveled, stamped to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, almost belligerently.

"How many hosses missin'?" asked Red. "Five! Leslie's! We can't 跡をつける those racers, not after this deluge. And I'll lose them. It'll about kill Leslie."

"Yore hosses were stole, Slyter."

"Who--Who?" gasped Slyter, staggered. "By thet bushranger you an' Dann have been harborin'."

Sterl broke his silence. "Keep it from Leslie, boss, if you can. 法案, rustle me some meat and bread."

"Wal, Larry, if you can talk now come out with it," said Red.

"Two thousand 長，率いる and five drovers gone! Eric Dann gone! Beryl gone!"

"Ahuh. How about Ormiston's wagons?"

"Gone too, so Drake said. 暴徒 not in sight."

"Come, Friday," called Sterl.

They hurried toward Dann's （軍の）野営地，陣営, followed by the others. The leader turned from the group of drovers.

"Bad doing, boss," said Sterl. "What's your angle?"

"There was a 急ぐ during the 嵐／襲撃する. My drovers followed, but they are not in sight. Eric and Beryl must have crossed to Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営 last night and been stormbound."

"How do you account for five of Slyter's thoroughbreds 存在 gone?"

"That is more news to me. They must have run away in the 嵐／襲撃する."

"Mr. Dann, it is our opinion that they were stolen," returned Sterl, bluntly.

Dann took that as Sterl imagined he would have taken a blow in the 直面する--without the bat of an eyelash. "Stolen? Preposterous! What 黒人／ボイコット would steal horses when there are cattle to eat?"

Red Krehl had listened attentively to this interview, while his blue 注目する，もくろむs, （疑いを）晴らす and piercing, covered the （軍の）野営地，陣営. They flashed 支援する to 直す／買収する，八百長をする upon the leader.

"Dann, I'm orful sorry I have to 傷つける yore feeling's," he bit out, 冷静な／正味の and bitter. "You been too friendly with a bushranger who turns out to be a slicker hombre than we savvied. 指名する of Ormiston, which I reckon ain't his real 指名する by a damn sight. He stole Slyter's racers. He corrupted yore drovers an' （警察の）手入れ，急襲d yore 暴徒. He made a sucker out of yore weak-minded brother. He..."

"You blasphemous Yankee lout--to whom not even 血 関係 is sacred!" にわか景気d the leader.

"Save yore 勝利，勝つd, boss," snapped Red. "I'm pretty ---- riled myself! Mebbe it might help for you to see thet your brother's wagon is gone."

It was indeed. Only his dray was there, its cover dripping with rain. But that 発見 did not by any means 納得させる Stanley Dann.

"Dann, there's a lot to tell when I got time," went on Red. "I heahed Ormiston say he was a bushranger. An' Jack an' thet hombre Bedford were his 権利-手渡す men. I knowed they all were rustlers before I'd been a month on this trek. Sterl, heah, knowed it, too."

"疑惑 I don't listen to," 雷鳴d Dann. "If you had facts why didn't you produce them?"

"Hellsfire, Dann! No man could tell you some things! But you gotta heah this. Ormiston is gone! An' yore daughter went with him,--an' so help me Gawd I still reckon it was by 軍隊!"

"Proofs, man proofs!" 激怒（する）d the 巨大（な）.

"Come on out along the river," retorted Krehl. He 機動力のある in one long step. "Come, pard, fetch the 黒人／ボイコット man. Drake, Slyter, all of you get in on this."

Across the river, under the trees, Sterl 遠くに見つけるd one wagon, from the blackened and 取り去る／解体するd 最高の，を越す of which thin smoke rose aloft in spite of the 霧雨. Pieces of canvas lapping from 支店s, boxes and bales littered around attested to a あわてて abandoned （軍の）野営地，陣営. Sterl did not even look for cattle.

A mile up the river Red 停止（させる）d his horse to wait for the others to come up. At this point there was a break in the 国境 of trees. Above, a constriction in the river bed 示すd the rough 中心 of the 現在の.

As Sterl and the others reined in to line up 支援する of the cowboy, he swept a 猛烈な／残忍な 手渡す at a 深い, miry 気圧の谷 newly 削減（する） in the bank. It 延長するd fully a hundred yards up the river. A big herd of cattle, 密集して packed, had been run along this course, to go over the bank. Across the flood the opposite bank was sloping, and the 中心 of its sandy incline showed a 深い, 幅の広い 追跡する of 跡をつけるs. A novice at the cowboy game could have read that tale. Someone had 掴むd a timely period during the 嵐／襲撃する to 削減（する） out a couple of thousand 長，率いる, and cross them before the flood rose.

"Mr. Dann," spoke up Drake, hollow-発言する／表明するd. "I never 信用d Ormiston and his drovers. They weren't friendly with us. They had a 始める，決める 計画（する）, and it must have worked out as they plotted it."

All 注目する，もくろむs turned to Stanley Dann. "It could have been a 急ぐ," he にわか景気d, "a 急ぐ in the 嵐／襲撃する! My drovers are with them."

"You shore die hard," drawled Red, halfway between 賞賛 and contempt. "I gotta 手渡す it to you for thet! Only look heah--負かす／撃墜する the 跡をつける aways. There's a daid hoss, an' a daid drover. I've a hunch it's Cedric."

Red dismounted beside the 傾向がある drover. He did not 認める the horse, but he knew that wavy, tawny hair, even though it was sodden with 血 and sand.

"Pard, it's Cedric, all 権利, pore 勇敢に立ち向かう devil," said Red, as he knelt beside the 傾向がある 人物／姿／数字. "Herd ran him 負かす／撃墜する. Trampled to a 低俗雑誌, all except his haid. Look aheah!--So help me Gawd!--Sterl, heah's a 弾丸 穴を開ける!"

Sterl knelt to 立証する Red's diagnosis. He saw plainly the 穴を開ける in the 支援する of the young drover's 長，率いる: His passion 燃やすd out the nausea 原因（となる）d by the 恐ろしい remains of the 罰金 boy. Then he 遠くに見つけるd the butt of a revolver almost 隠すd under Cedric's 味方する. He pulled it out, shook off the sand, opened the 議会. Six empty cartridge 爆撃するs dropped out.

At this juncture the others, surrounding Dann, arrived.

"Aye, Cedric it is, poor boy!" burst out Dann, his sonorous 発言する／表明する 十分な of grief. "The 暴徒 急ぐd over him. He died on guard!"

"Dann, a blind man could see thet," drawled Red, whose habit was to grow cooler and deadlier as a hard 状況／情勢 tensely worked to its の近くに. "It's a cinch Cedric died on guard. But he was 発射 in the 支援する of his haid--殺人d--before the herd run over him."

"Dann, it's true," put in Sterl, 厳しく. "There's the 弾丸 穴を開ける."

"Larry, you 診察する thet 穴を開ける," 示唆するd Red, as he arose, drew out a scarf and wiped his gory 手渡すs. "I don't want no one heah to take my word. Nor Sterl's."

Larry, Drake and Slyter in turn minutely 熟考する／考慮するd the 負傷させる in Cedric's skull, and solemnly agreed. Stanley Dann, with corded brow and clouded 注目する，もくろむs, listened to them; but he 持続するd that it must have been an 事故, that Cedric and the other drovers had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing to 持つ／拘留する the cattle 支援する, that in the blackness of the 嵐／襲撃する anything could have happened.

Red Krehl 注目する，もくろむd the leader with amazing 寛容 and 尊敬（する）・点 for that hard cowboy to 展示（する） at a hard time.

"Dann, from yore 味方する of thet 盗品故買者 thet is good figgerin'," he said. "But I know Ormiston either 発射 Cedric or put somebody up to it. Let's don't argue any more. We're wastin' time, an' we'll know for shore pronto."

"Men, fetch shovels and a ground-cloth," ordered Dann. "We'll bury poor Cedric here on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す of his 勇敢に立ち向かう stand. Keep it from the women!"

A shrill aboriginal yell startled the group. Friday appeared on the highest part of the bank, gesticulating violently.

"What the hell?" muttered Red. Then he 機動力のある a fraction of a second behind Sterl. They raced for the 黒人／ボイコット man, the drovers 続けざまに猛撃するing behind.

With a long arm and a spear Friday pointed across the river. Sterl 位置を示すd an 反対する はうing 負かす／撃墜する a slight sandy slope.

"Man! White fella! Boss's brudder!" called Friday, 劇的な.

Sterl wiped his 注目する，もくろむs with 安定した 手渡す.

"Look, pard. Make sure," he said, coolly. His faculties were 速く settling for 活動／戦闘.

"Friday's 権利," 宣言するd Red. "It's Eric Dann. Bad 傷つける from the way he moves!"

The man across the river flopped 負かす／撃墜する a sandy slope, はうd, got to his 膝s to wave weakly.

"Ormiston has done for him," said Red.

"Red, （土地などの）細長い一片 King's saddle," flashed Sterl, leaping 負かす／撃墜する to sit flat, and 涙／ほころび off 刺激（する）s and boots. "I can land here, somewhere if you rope me."

"I could rope yore cigarette. Rustle."

"Hazelton, what do you ーするつもりである doing?" にわか景気d Stanley Dann.

Sterl had no time for the leader then. Leaping upon King he 掴むd the bridle and wheeled the 黒人／ボイコット up the river. At a hard gallop he covered the few hundred yards of open bank and 運ぶ／漁獲高d up. The flood here （機の）カム 渦巻くing to the 辛勝する／優位 of the bank. The muddy 激流 appeared crisscrossed with 破片, スピードを出す／記録につけるs and 小衝突.

King champed his bit and snorted. He knew what he was in for and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go at it. The drovers, led by Red, arrived at this juncture.

Stanley Dann 雷鳴d, "Hazelton, don't throw your life away. This is 自殺!"

"Now!" pealed out Red Krehl, who had been watching the 現在の for a 都合のよい moment.

Sterl 解放（する）d his 緊張する on the bridle and 強くたたくd King hard in the 側面に位置するs. The 黒人／ボイコット sprang into 活動／戦闘 and took off in three jumps. As they 攻撃する，衝突する the 現在の Sterl turned King 石油精製, ４半期/4分の1ing for a point far 負かす／撃墜する on the opposite shore. Again and again, the （激しい）反発 of the waves 衝突，墜落d over the 長，率いるs of horse and rider. They were strangled, 潜水するd, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd. スピードを出す／記録につけるs grazed them, a 抱擁する piece of drift rolled over them, a 広大な／多数の／重要な gum tree bore 負かす／撃墜する on them, upending now its blunt trunk and now its roots. But just as it was about to 落ちる, the roots caught momentarily on the river 底（に届く） and the stouthearted King swam on. Two hundred yards of this, and King struck the 底（に届く）. With a tremendous heave and snort, he waded out.

When King 現れるd from the river to shake himself like a 抱擁する dog, Sterl did not at once see the 負傷させるd man. Red's piercing yell and outstretched arm gave him a 手がかり（を与える）, and presently he saw Dann sprawled upon the sand. Sterl dismounted and ran to him.

Eric Dann lay flat on his 支援する, 武器 wide, 注目する，もくろむs open. That part of his 直面する not covered with dirt and 血 was ashen white and clammy. His hair, matted with 血, failed to hide a 負傷させる--probably from a blow with the バーレル／樽 of a gun, Sterl 反映するd.

"Dann, you've been beaten up," cried Sterl, anxiously. "Have you been 発射, too?"

"Not that--I know of," replied Dann, in faint, hoarse トンs. "Must have--been unconscious some time."

"Ormiston's work?"

"Yes, Bedford, too--始める，決める upon me."

"When?"

"About daylight."

解除するing the drover to his feet, Sterl 設立する that he could not walk even when supported. So Sterl heaved him up to またがる the horse, and 持つ／拘留するing him there 勧めるd King up the river. The bed of this fork of the river 広げるd upstream, with a 対応して flatter bank. Sterl turned to look across. Red sat his horse in the middle of the open space where the cattle had run. He waved his lasso. 調査するing the scene, Sterl knew that King could cross again, if there was no 事故. He waded the 黒人／ボイコット into the shallow water up to his haunches.

"Slide off, Eric. I don't want 二塁打 負わせる on the horse. I'll drag you."

"Can you?"

"If you 溺死する, so will I," said Sterl. "But we'll make it. All in a day's work."

He helped Eric to slide off feet first, then took 持つ／拘留する of his shirt high up in 前線. He had to keep Dann's 長，率いる out of the water when that was possible. Even with good fortune and 管理／経営 it would be 潜水するd to the 窒息させるing 限界. Then he watched the river for a slatch, and 勧めるd King into 深い water. 残り／休憩（する）ing Dann's 長，率いる on his 脚 he floated him along on the 石油精製 味方する of the horse. King breasted the flood, held his 黒人／ボイコット nose high, parted the 集まり of 破片, and striking the 現在の broadside on, sheered into the crested waves, magnificently powerful. The last of the 激しい driftwood, in 前線 of the open space, caught him and bore him on, 潜水するd him, almost rolled him over. Then they were in the 厚い of the 衝突，墜落ing 騒動, as wave on wave curled 支援する to bury Sterl beneath its yellow crest. For the first time he 運ぶ／漁獲高d on the bridle. King 答える／応じるd and swam out of the rough water. Eric Dann hung limp, like a 解雇（する）, in Sterl's しっかり掴む.

A （犯罪の）一味ing yell--Red was riding Duke at the water's 辛勝する／優位, swinging a 宙返り飛行 of the lasso 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his 長，率いる. They were fifty feet from the shore, drifting 速く toward the lower end of a 明らかにする place.

"He's founderin', Sterl," yelled Red, at the 最高の，を越す of his 肺s. "（警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 him on! Only a little さらに先に!"

King had spent himself. Sterl knew he never needed to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 that horse. But he bent low and 叫び声をあげるd, "You can make it. Only a little さらに先に! Oh, King!"

The gallant horse 答える／応じるd. A last violent spurt, a last 急落（する），激減（する）, his 長，率いる rose high--then the lasso whipped out and spread, to hiss and 強化する with a 割れ目 一連の会議、交渉／完成する horse and rider. Red and the drovers dragged them 岸に. Strong 手渡すs pulled Sterl and his 重荷（を負わせる） up on the bank. Red 解放（する）d Sterl from the noose.

Dann had almost 溺死するd. But rubbing and manipulating brought him to. Then a drover put a 黒人／ボイコット 瓶／封じ込める to his lips.

"Boss, he's been beaten on the 長，率いる--with a gun," said Sterl, panting for breath. "Told me Ormiston and Bedford did it--about daylight. Then they left."

"Boss, get his story," 削減（する） in Red, 冷静な／正味の and hard. "Let him talk before he croaks or goes out of his haid."

"But now that his life is saved--" remonstrated the leader.

"Hells 解雇する／砲火／射撃!" flashed the cowboy. "We're goin' after Ormiston. Hurry. Let him talk. Help us thet much."

"Eric, tell me," interposed Sterl. "It may help. When did you 運動 your wagon across to Ormiston's （軍の）野営地，陣営?"

"Last night--at dusk--before the 嵐／襲撃する broke," whispered Dann.

"What for?"

"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be--on that 味方する--to go with Ormiston."

"Did you know he didn't want you?"

"Not till daylight. Then I realized--what he was. Bushranger!--Ash Pell! That's his real 指名する. 悪名高い Queensland bushranger! We've heard of him. I heard Jack and Bedford call him by his 指名する. I 設立する out they had 急ぐd--our 暴徒--stolen our horses. I 直面するd him--then they 攻撃する，衝突する me!"

"Did you know he had Beryl there?"

"He told me. She had come willingly.--When I （機の）カム to--my senses--they were gone. I はうd 負かす／撃墜する--to the bank."

Stanley Dann swayed like a 広大な／多数の／重要な tree uprooted.

"God 許す my ignorance--my stubbornness! God 許す me for all except my 約束 in man! Shall that fail because some men are evil? Oh, my little Beryl!"

"Dann, we'll fetch her 支援する," said Sterl. "Red, see if King's all 権利."

"Me go along you," said Friday, 簡単に.

"Good.--Red, we've got some meat and bread. 乾燥した，日照りのd fruit, too. They'll get wet, but no 事柄. Dann, how many of your drovers carry ライフル銃／探して盗むs on their saddles?"

"Not one of those drovers who--who 砂漠d me--turned bushrangers--perverted by that villain's 約束s."

"Red, I remember Ormiston had ライフル銃／探して盗むs in his wagon."

"Yes. Small bore. An' he couldn't 攻撃する，衝突する a barn door!"

"Sterl, let me go," entreated Larry. "They 殺人d my friend--Let me go."

"You bet," retorted Sterl. Larry might never have ridden on a deadly chase, but he had a light in his 強硬派 注目する，もくろむs that was 十分な for Sterl.

Drake 演説（する）／住所d himself to their leader. "Mr. Dann, I couldn't let these boys go alone. What Hazelton does we can do--or try."

"Drake, you're on," rang out Sterl. "One more man. Rollie, are you game? There'll be some hard riding--and a little gunplay."

"Hazelton, I was about to ask you," returned Roland, pale and resolute.

"Here, fellows!" ejaculated Sterl, as the other drovers chimed in 熱望して. "Three men are plenty. Thanks though. You're real pards. Mr. Dann, I'd advise packing your brother 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営."

Dann gave the order to his drover. Then he 演説（する）／住所d the cowboys, not with his usual direct 保証／確信.

"If you come up with Ormiston and his drovers then--there will be 暴力／激しさ?" went on Dann, swallowing hard. He was on strange ground here.

"For cripe's sake, boss!" burst out the cowboy, "Ormiston has damn 近づく croaked yore brother! He has killed one of our drovers and corrupted a lot of yours an' （警察の）手入れ，急襲d yore cattle! An' as for Beryl--I 断言する to you it's wuss than if she did elope with him. Hell no! There won't be any 暴力／激しさ! We'll 支払う／賃金 our 尊敬（する）・点s, drink some tea with him, an'..." Here Red lost his 発言する／表明する.

"What will you do?" 雷鳴d Dann, roused by the cowboy's stinging irony.

Sterl, having got his boots and 刺激（する）s on, rose to 直面する their leader. He was 冷静な／正味の as Red had been hot.

"Dann, we will hang Ormiston if possible. But kill him in any event! And his 権利-手渡す men! Your drovers will make a run for it--which may save them. With Beryl to care for we can't chase a lot of white-肝臓d suckers all over the place. You may 推定する／予想する us 支援する with Beryl by nightfall, or tomorrow at the 最新の."

"My God! You petrify me, Hazelton. But you have never failed me. Nor has Krehl! Go! Bring 支援する Beryl. I leave the 決定／判定勝ち（する） to you!"

He stalked away, 主要な his horse.

CHAPTER 19

The five white avengers, 選ぶing a 比較して 静める stretch, swam their horses across the river. Friday crossed by 持つ／拘留するing の上に King's tail and floating behind. Ormiston, Sterl 反映するd, had probably assumed that the flooded river was an insurmountable 障壁 to 追跡. There （機の）カム a slight change in the 気温, the 冷静な／正味の 空気／公表する 穏健なing, and the 霧雨 増加するing to rain. The gray 曇った sky darkened. The water level had risen another foot. 借りがあるing to the rain, Dann's wagon had not 燃やすd up 完全に, but the canvas cover was partly destroyed, and some of the contents. Half of the 負担 had evidently been carried away. There was no 調印する of team or harness.

"Ormiston was kinda rarin' to go, huh?" drawled Red.

They 棒 out of the 木材／素質. 幅の広い wheel 跡をつけるs curved away to the east.

"Three wagons," said Red, thinking aloud. "All 負担d 激しい. Ten or twelve miles a day over this ground is about all they could do. Three drivers, which I reckon will be Ormiston, Jack, an' Bedford. They'll 運動 ahaid of the cattle."

"Righto, Red. Say they left （軍の）野営地，陣営 an hour or so after daybreak," 再結合させるd Sterl. "Anybody got the time?"

"Half after nine," replied Drake.

Sterl and his riders 始める，決める off at a lope, with the aborigine running along easily. He had a marvelous stride and he covered ground as 滑らかに as an Indian. Red followed the wheel 跡をつけるs for a mile, until they disappeared under the trampling hoofmarks of the cattle. Presently the 幅の広い, 激しい 跡をつける of the herd that had been （警察の）手入れ，急襲d across the river joined the main 暴徒.

"One of them there little 山の尾根s ahaid will...Look heah!" Red leaped out of his saddle and bent to 選ぶ up something. It was one of the handkerchiefs Red had given Beryl for Christmas. When he carefully stowed the handkerchief away inside his leather coat Sterl thought he would not have been in that bushranger's boots for anything in the whole world.

They 棒 on to where the 暴徒 跡をつける curved to the left away from the first 山の尾根. Once beyond that, the country was open bushland, grassy plains, patches of scrub, scattered gum trees with rolling country beyond.

Sterl took 公式文書，認める of their three Australian companions. Drake was the only one who was not overexcited. 存在 a 円熟した man, he had probably seen some hard days. But Larry and Rollie, stalwart young outdoor men though they were, had certainly never 発射 a man in their lives. Sterl knew how they felt. Red Krehl was always one to be 冷静な／正味の and 挑発的な in the 直面する of a fight, but now he looked 猛烈な／残忍な and relentless.

The rain had let up to a 罰金 もや when the posse climbed another rocky 辛勝する／優位. Distance, 高さs, lowlands 保存するd their gray-green monotony, but all were magnified. And in the 中心 of a long valley the 暴徒 of cattle stood out strikingly （疑いを）晴らす for so dark a day. The pursuers gazed in silence, each 占領するd with his own thoughts, until Red spoke:

"Four or five miles, mebbe. I figger they're pushin' the herd--not grazin' atall."

"I can't see any wagons," 追加するd Larry. "Too far."

Friday touched Sterl's arm. He 延長するd his bundle of long spears.

"Wagons. Alonga dere," he pointed.

"Ahuh! How far, pard?" And Sterl thought surely that was the only instance in Red Krehl's life when the Texan had called a 黒人／ボイコット man his partner.

"の近くに up," replied the 黒人／ボイコット.

"Red, the wagons are in 前線 of the cattle," interposed Sterl.

"Jest too bad. Mister Bushranger Ormiston shore figgers things good for us," returned the cowboy. Then he bent a keen calculating gaze upon the herd of cattle in its relation of 目印s on each 味方する. "Reckon there's plenty of cover all along heah to the left. Come on, fellers. It's gettin' kinda hot."

They descended the 山の尾根 on its 法外な 味方する.

Here Red told Friday to get up behind Sterl.

The 黒人／ボイコット understood, but he shook his 長，率いる.

"Come, Friday," called Sterl, and 延長するd his 手渡す. "Look out!--For cripe's sake don't stick me with your spears!" He helped the aborigine to a place astride King behind the saddle. "Hang on to me," he 結論するd.

Red led off, 長，率いるing 予定 west from that 山の尾根. They crossed the flat to find a pass between two low 山の尾根s, then turned east again. It was 厚い bushland, through which the cowboy led in a ジグザグの course. Five miles, more or いっそう少なく, of this; then he 停止（させる）d to the left of another 山の尾根.

"Reckon this heah is ahaid of the herd an' drovers. You can all wait heah while I take a look-see."

He took a slanting course up the 山の尾根. Friday had slid off King at once, and if his dark visage could have 表明するd distaste it would have done so then.

"Me tinkit hoss no good," he said.

Sterl's grimness broke at this, but the perturbed drovers did not even 割れ目 a smile.

"What will we do next?" asked Larry, his 発言する／表明する not やめる natural.

"I don't know what Red will advise. Depends on the lay of the land. But if there's any chance for a fight he'll have us in it pronto."

"We--we'll attack them?" queried Rollie. "I rather think so!"

Red appeared, riding 支援する. As he reined Duke in, as was characteristic of him, he lighted a cigarette before he spoke.

"Jest couldn't be better. Herd about a couple miles below us, の近くに to this 味方する of the valley. Bunch of hosses behind. All the six drovers ridin' behind, bunched の近くに, as if they had lots to talk about, an' they're goin' to pass いっそう少なく'n a hundred yards from a patch of 小衝突 権利 around this corner of the 山の尾根."

He paused, puffed clouds of smoke that obscured his lean, red 直面する and 解雇する／砲火／射撃-blue 注目する，もくろむs, and presently 再開するd, this time cooler and 詐欺師.

"Heah's the 取引，協定. This 体制／機構 will be duck soup. Sterl an' me, with Friday, will ride ahaid, hell-bent for 選挙, an' get in 前線 of the wagons. Drake, you take Larry an' Rollie, ride around this corner, then lead yore horses 支援する to the thicket you'll see. Keep out of sight. はう through the 小衝突 to the 辛勝する／優位, wait for the herd to pass by, an' the drovers to come up even with you, I reckon thet's about all."

"All 権利, Krehl. We'll do it," 宣言するd Drake, 堅固に. "Looks a good 取引，協定 luckier than I hoped for."

"You'll have to give us the time it takes for the herd an' drovers to come up. We gotta rustle. Let's don't argue. Sterl, what say?"

"Made to order for us," returned Sterl, darkly.

Larry burst out: "Let's not waste time. We'll do it, Krehl!"

This young man had never 発射 at more than a kangaroo. Now he realized that he was going out to shoot at his fellow men, and be 発射 at. He was trembling but 勇敢な.

"Wait!" ejaculated Rollie, hoarsely. "What will we do?"

Red 注目する，もくろむd the big drover in 最高の disdain. Then he spoke with a deadly softness. "Wal, Rollie, you might wave yore scarf an' call, 支持を得ようと努める-hoo!"

"Don't cast aspersions upon me, you cowboy blighter!" retorted Rollie, 怒って.

"Hellsfire, then! Come out of yore trance. This is a man 追跡（する）. These drovers you've hobnobbed with, mebbe, 空気／公表する murderin' 反逆者s--cattle an' hoss thieves! I've had to help hang more'n one cowboy friend that I reckoned was a clean honest chap, when he'd come to be a low-負かす／撃墜する rustler. Same, mebbe, between you boys an' Dann's drovers. It'll be 堅い. But it's gotta be done."

"Krehl, I can take orders. Stop ranting in your lingo, and give them."

"Short an' 甘い. Think of yore pard Cedric. Think of Beryl Dann, who's in Ormiston's 手渡すs. 削減（する） loose with yore ライフル銃／探して盗むs an' kill them drovers. If you cain't 負かす／撃墜する 'em pronto, fork yore hosses an' ride them 負かす／撃墜する."

"Thanks. I understand you a little better," returned Rollie, gray of 直面する.

"Sterl, I had to rake them, but I reckon now they'll give a good account of themselves," said Red, as he watched the three Australians ride away. "Rustle now. Get Friday up an' hang の上に him."

Unwilling or not the 黒人／ボイコット had to get up behind Sterl. "持つ／拘留する those spears low, like that," shouted Sterl, and he reached around with his 権利 arm to clasp Friday. "Okay, pard, see if you can run away from King."

The cowboy led off, and Sterl knew what he had 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd would be a fact--that he and Friday were in for a ride. Another hard downpour, 権利 in their 直面するs, made 正確な 見通し difficult. Red Krehl ran Duke on the open stretches, loped him through the 小衝突, jumped him over スピードを出す／記録につけるs. Friday had a 耐える clutch on Sterl, yet the 黒人／ボイコット all but fell off several times. The slapping of wet 支店s and the crackling of saplings 追加するd to the 苦痛 and 不快, if no more. Then Red pulled Duke to a slower gait and 長，率いるd to the 権利. They had come into bushland again. Red did not 停止（させる） until he got to the 辛勝する／優位 of the 木材／素質. The three wagons were in plain sight out upon the open, the first about a mile distant, and the other two さらに先に out, but still separated.

"Haidin' almost straight for us," soliloquized Red.

Friday fell off from behind Sterl, undoubtedly pretty much mauled. He rubbed his lean wet 脚s.

"Tinkit hoss bad!" he 発言／述べるd.

Then, straightening up, he took a long look at the three wagons and pointed.

"Ormiston wagon dere farder. 靴下／だますs alonga 'imm," he said.

"Thet hombre last, huh? Come on, Sterl."

Red turned 支援する into the bush, somewhat away from the course he decided the first wagon driver would take. The rain 少なくなるd again. Perhaps two miles 支援する from the open, Red 停止（させる）d.

"Far enough, I reckon, pard," he said, "now...Say, where in the hell did Friday go to?"

"I never noticed. But he won't cramp us, Red. Don't worry."

"All I'm worryin' about is thet he'll get to Ormiston before I do," ground out Red. "Hurry. What's your 計画（する）?"

"I'll ride 支援する aways. Let the first wagon go by me, onless it should happen to be Ormiston. You wait about heah someplace. An' when thet wagon comes up introduce yoreself either to Jack or Bedford...Then you better rustle 支援する after me."

"You'll time it to 会合，会う that second wagon just about when the first one gets up to me?"

"I reckon. But it's all over 'cept the 花火s."

Red 棒 off under the dripping gums, keeping to the left of the 推定する／予想するd wagon line, and soon disappeared in the gray-green bush. Sterl chose as cover some gum saplings, の近くに together and leafy enough to make a comparatively 安全な hiding place. He dismounted, and 製図／抽選 his ライフル銃／探して盗む from its saddle sheath 除去するd the oilskin cover and put it in his pocket. Then he leaned the ライフル銃／探して盗む against the largest sapling, and with a 静かなing 手渡す on King peered 支援する through the drenched bushland.

With a 緊張した wait like this, it was almost impossible not to think. He had, he 反映するd, no dislike for this 職業 and no compunction. He would not shoot from 待ち伏せ／迎撃する, although he had 報復するd upon redskins by that very 行為／法令／行動する. But here he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 直面する Jack or Bedford.

自然に, however, he had 関心 for his comrade. Sterl would have preferred to be with Red, for more than one 推論する／理由. Beryl's life might be at 火刑／賭ける. Because of that, Red could be 有能な of any 無分別な 行為／法令／行動する, even to a sacrifice of himself. Then again, Sterl 手配中の，お尋ね者 powerfully to see Ormiston 会合，会う the cowboy.

King suddenly vibrated わずかに and 発射 up his ears. He had heard something.

"静かな!" whispered Sterl, and patted the wet neck. "Want to spoil the party?"

More moments passed before Sterl's 警報 ear caught a creaking of wheels. King threw up his 長，率いる. He had been 井戸／弁護士席 trained, but not to stand still and keep silent. Sterl stepped to his 長，率いる and held him. A thud of hoofs sounded through the silent bush. At last a sight of four horses plodding along, then a canvas-topped wagon, then a burly driver, reins and whip in 手渡すs. It was Jack. A slight 冷淡な 冷気／寒がらせる quivered over Sterl. But he thought 急速な／放蕩な. He would wait until the team had come almost opposite him, then step out, 直面する Jack and 軍隊 him to draw.

A distant 射撃 rang out, spiteful, ripping asunder the bushland silence. Red's .45 Colt speaking. Almost at once a duller heavier 発射.

The drover Jack 運ぶ／漁獲高d his four horses to a dead stop, and dropped the reins. He was in the （疑いを）晴らす, with the wagon on level and 明らかにする ground. Sterl saw the man sweep out a 手渡す to しっかり掴む a ライフル銃／探して盗む, then peer all around.

At this instant King let out a loud neigh, and the other horses answered. Jack's gaze 直す／買収する，八百長をするd upon King. Quick as thought he leaped out of the wagon. As Sterl 急落（する），激減（する）d to get low 負かす／撃墜する behind a スピードを出す／記録につける the drover 解雇する／砲火／射撃d from behind the left 前線 wheel. The 弾丸 whistled closer to King than it did to Sterl. Fearful that Jack might kill the horse, Sterl took a snap 発射 at the only part of the wheel he could see--the under 縁 and a section of spokes. His 弾丸 struck with a thud, to spang away into the bush. It must have stung the drover's foot, or come too の近くに, for he leaped away to the 後部 end of the wagon. His boots were in plain sight 負かす／撃墜する between the two 権利 wheels. And Sterl's second 発射 攻撃する，衝突する one of them. The drover flopped 負かす／撃墜する like a 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd chicken, bawling frightfully, and はうd behind the only gum tree 近づく. The trunk was not 幅の広い enough wholly to 保護する his 団体／死体. But he knelt low, 危険ing that. He had Sterl 示すd but could not see him. Sterl tried a ruse as old as wars. He stuck up his sombrero. Jack 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, once and again. His second 発射 knocked Sterl's sombrero flat. Then the drover rashly stood up and stuck his ライフル銃／探して盗む, his shoulder, and half of his 長，率いる out from behind the tree. Sterl drew a careful bead on the one baleful 注目する，もくろむ 明白な, like a 穴を開ける in a mask, and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. Jack pitched to one 味方する of the tree and his ライフル銃／探して盗む flew to the other.

Sterl worked the lever of his ライフル銃／探して盗む, waited a moment, then snatched up his sombrero and leaped on King. The excited horse was hard to 持つ／拘留する. Sterl 棒 by the wagon. A ちらりと見ること at the drover lying on his 支援する, one 注目する，もくろむ blank and the other 始める，決める hideously, and Sterl took up the wheel 跡をつけるs and raced through the bushland.

It grew more open. In いっそう少なく than half a mile he sighted another wagon, standing still, the 真っ先の team of horses 急落（する），激減（する）ing. Sterl drew closer and was pulling King to a slower gait when again he heard 射撃s, and not far away. Two revolvers of different caliber! No ライフル銃／探して盗む 発射! Throwing 警告を与える to the 勝利，勝つd he struck the steel into King's 側面に位置するs. As the 黒人／ボイコット tore on at 最高の，を越す 速度(を上げる）, and reached the 主要な wagon, Sterl saw the drover Bedford hanging 長，率いる first over the 権利 wheel. His feet had caught somewhere. In the middle of his 幅の広い 支援する his gray shirt showed a 抱擁する 血まみれの patch. Red had 発射 him through from 前線 to 支援する.

The third and last wagon! It had been pulled half broadside across the line of wheel 跡をつけるs. Horses tethered to the 後部 were 急落（する），激減（する）ing. Even at that distance and through a 霧雨ing rain, Sterl 認めるd Jester.

The driver's seat was 空いている. No one in sight! But another 発射 割れ目d. The cowboy was alive! Sterl drove King 負かす／撃墜する upon the wagon with tremendous 速度(を上げる）.

Suddenly to Sterl's 権利 and ahead, he caught the gleam of something white, something red, something 黒人／ボイコット. There was a 明らかにする glade の近くに ahead--a 抱擁する gum 非常に高い over the wagon--a low 支店 広範囲にわたる 負かす／撃墜する. Through the thin foliage that white thing moved. And a woman's 叫び声をあげる, high-pitched, piercing, rent the 空気／公表する.

Sterl lay 支援する with all his might upon the bridle. King 急落（する），激減（する）d to slide on his haunches into the glade.

Red, his 寺 血まみれの, was lying in the middle of the 明らかにする 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, raised on his left 肘, his gun 延長するd, his posture unnatural. In a flash Sterl was out of his saddle.

The white thing was Beryl Dann, half nude, in the しっかり掴む of Ormiston. A 黒人／ボイコット 一面に覆う／毛布 had slipped to her 膝s. Ormiston crouched behind her, left arm around her middle. In his 権利 he had a gun leveled at Red. As he 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, the girl threw up his arm. She shrieked in terror, in fury. And she fought the drover like a panther. The red thing 近づく them was Leslie's horse Sorrel, saddled and bridled. Ormiston had tried to get away on that horse.

"Kill him--Red--Don't mind me!" panted the girl, wildly.

CHAPTER 20

Sterl leveled a cocked gun, but dared not 危険 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing. Only a 部分 of Ormiston's 団体／死体 事業／計画（する）d from behind the 猛烈に struggling girl.

She hung の上に Ormiston's rigid arm as he 解除するd her in his 成果／努力 to 提携させる his gun upon Krehl. He 解雇する／砲火／射撃d. Dust and gravel flew up into the cowboy's 直面する. Red rolled convulsively over and over, as if struck. Sterl just barely held himself 支援する from a 無分別な 猛攻撃 at the drover. But Red （機の）カム out of that roll to 嘘（をつく） flat with his gun 今後.

"Hurry, St--erl!" shrieked the girl, frantically.

Then the drover 遠くに見つけるd Sterl, and struggled to 目的（とする） at him. Sterl leaped to dive behind a 激しく揺する. On his 膝s he thrust his gun over the 最高の，を越す.

He had time to see Beryl's last frenzied struggle to destroy the bushranger's 目的（とする）. Then she 崩壊（する）d, 武器, 長，率いる and shoulders hanging 負かす／撃墜する, supported by Ormiston's clutching clasp. Ormiston's stooping 原因（となる）d him to bend his left 脚, and his 膝 became exposed. Red's gun 割れ目d. Sterl heard the 弾丸 thud into flesh. That 発射 of Red's had broken his 目的（とする）. 悪口を言う／悪態ing savagely the bushranger gathered his 軍隊s for another 試みる／企てる.

Sterl's finger quivered on the 誘発する／引き起こす, in the 行為／法令／行動する of imperiling Beryl's life to save Red's. Then behind him a strange, tussling sound checking his 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing. Whizz! A dark streak flashed across his line of 見通し, Chuck! Sterl's taut senses 登録（する）d the sickening thud of something rending flesh.

Ormiston uttered a strangling, 残忍な yell and sprang up as if galvanized. His gun went 飛行機で行くing to the ground. Beryl dropped from his 持つ／拘留する like an empty 解雇（する）. His 手渡すs went up, clutching as a 溺死するing man might at straws. An aborigine spear stuck out two feet beyond his throat. Its long end still quivered. Ormiston's 手渡す tore at it, broke the 軸 square off.

"Friday!" yelled Sterl, as he leaped from behind the 激しく揺する. "Look, Red, look! Friday has done for him!"

Red got up, 血まみれの-直面するd and grim as death. 血 flowed from a 発射 in his 長，率いる and his left shoulder. But he showed no 証拠不十分. As he strode toward the whirling Ormiston, swift footfalls thudded behind Sterl, and Friday （機の）カム leaping into the open. He held a long spear low 負かす／撃墜する.

"持つ／拘留する on, Friday!" yelled Red, 封鎖するing the aborigine. "No go with thet. You're gonna help me with a little necktie party!"

Sterl could not turn his sight from the spectacle of the doomed Ormiston. He reeled and swayed like a drunken man, his 手渡すs still 涙／ほころびing at the spearhead. A red-tinged froth 問題／発行するd from his mouth. He fell, to bound up again with marvelous vitality. Sterl ran over and kicked Ormiston's gun into the grass. And again his 誘発する／引き起こす finger 圧力（をかける）d quiveringly as the bushranger made 恐ろしい inarticulate sounds and 急落（する），激減（する）d like a 負傷させるd bull.

Red's jangling footfalls sounded behind Sterl, just as Ormiston's protruding 注目する，もくろむs fell upon Beryl. She was on her 膝s trying to pluck up the 一面に覆う／毛布 over her 明らかにする shoulders. He made at her, insane to drag even her to perdition. But before Sterl could shoot, a hissing lasso 発射 out. The noose fell over Ormiston's 長，率いる. Red gave the rope a tremendous pull. Ormiston 肺d backward, to 落ちる 直面する 上向き, his 武器 upflung, and that queer vociferation ended 突然の.

"Lend a 手渡す, Friday," shouted the cowboy. "Don't forget how this white trash 扱う／治療するd you!"

The 黒人／ボイコット leaped to Red's 援助. They dragged the bushranger under the spreading arm of the 抱擁する gum tree. The cowboy paused there to gaze 負かす／撃墜する at his 犠牲者.

"Rustler, you swing! Jest the same as any cattle どろぼう in my country! But bad as they （機の）カム, I never seen one as low 負かす／撃墜する as you!"

Red threw the 解放する／自由な end of his lasso up over a low 支店 and caught it as it fell.

"Git in an' help me, Friday! Pull, you 黒人／ボイコット man who's shore no nigger! All my life I'll love you for this day's work. Ha! There you 空気／公表する, Ormiston! Swing an' kick!"

Sterl wrenched his gaze from the gruesome spectacle and wheeled to Beryl. She was on her 膝s, the 一面に覆う／毛布 slack in her nerveless 手渡すs, her big blue 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd in horror.

"Beryl! Don't look!" cried Sterl, sheathing his gun and 急ぐing to her. "Shut your 注目する，もくろむs, Beryl. It's--all over. You're saved. And he...It's 司法（官）, no 事柄..."

But he realized that she had fainted. He carried her to the wagon, laid her in the seat out of the rain and tucked the 一面に覆う／毛布 around her 明らかにする feet. Her 注目する，もくろむs ぱたぱたするd open. "Okay now?" 問い合わせd Sterl. She nodded, "Then 嘘（をつく） here awhile until you get yourself together. No more danger." And he drew away.

A jingling step, and he turned to see Red approaching. Beyond, Friday appeared, gazing fixedly up at the limp 人物／姿／数字 in dark 救済 against the gray sky.

"の近くに shave, pard," said Red, just a little huskily, as he wiped his 血まみれの 手渡すs with his scarf, and ちらりと見ることd up to see Beryl's pale, 静かな 直面する. Sterl 示すd by a gesture that the cowboy should leave her alone.

"Gosh! I don't 解任する a closer shave!" ejaculated Red. "But wasn't Beryl the game kid? She kept him from borin' me a second time. She fainted! I'm glad she didn't see the end of it."

"But she did, Red. She did! She saw it all, believe me!"

"Aw, thet's too bad. But, pard, did you get it? Beryl had on only her nightgown. Thet hombre stole her from her bed. She didn't run off with him!"

"Yes, I savvied that, Red, and I never was any gladder in my life... But you're all 発射 up. Let me see!"

"They'd have to be a hell of a lot wuss than they 空気／公表する to croak me now. Let me tell you. When I ran 負かす／撃墜する on Bedford he saw me comin', an' he was ready for me. I bored him, but damn if he didn't 攻撃する，衝突する me heah in this shoulder. Ormiston was trying to get away with Beryl on the sorrel there when I run in on him. Beryl was fightin' him. But for her I'd shore have bored him before he got in thet first 発射. It knocked me flat. Better look these 弾丸 穴を開けるs over an' tie them up. This one on my haid 傷つけるs like hell."

Examination 公表する／暴露するd in Red's 長，率いる a groove that 削減（する） through the scalp, but had not touched the skull, and another in his left shoulder, high up. The 弾丸 had 宿泊するd just under the 肌 on the far 味方する. It would have to be 削減（する） out, but Sterl left that 操作／手術 for （軍の）野営地，陣営, and bound his scarf tightly around the 負傷させる.

"We'd better leave the other one open," he said. "Hello, what's that?"

Red rose up to listen. "Fag end of a 殺到, I'd say. Look out for Beryl. I'll 口論する人 the horses. Come, Friday."

The 黒人／ボイコット ran off under the gums to get Duke, while Sterl drew King and the sorrel 支援する away from the open. A bobbing line of cattle hove in sight 負かす／撃墜する through the 小衝突, loping along wearily.

"Wal, they might have started wild, but they're bein' chased now," said Red. "Get the ライフル銃／探して盗むs heah, pard, an' if it happens to be any of Ormiston's outfit, they'll never get nowhere."

On a 前線 so wide that Sterl could just make out the far end, a herd of cattle （機の）カム loping past, scattered and bawling, almost ready to 減少（する）.

"Coupla thousand haid, shore as you're born," said Red when they had passed. "Thet's sort of queer. I 認めるd that bull. Pard, thet was the bunch （警察の）手入れ，急襲d out of Dann's last night!"

"Might be."

"Heah comes some riders. Two! Thet's Larry's hoss. An' Rollie too. But Drake ain't with them."

From some hundred paces away the riders 遠くに見つけるd the bushranger swinging with horrible significance, and this brought them to a quick 停止（させる）. Then they 棒 slowly up, their 注目する，もくろむs gleaming, their lips tight.

"Beryl?" queried Larry, hopefully.

"She's up theah, on the seat, comin' out of a daid faint."

Larry 低迷d out of his saddle to sit 負かす／撃墜する like a man whose 脚s were wobbly. Sterl did not like the look of either of the drovers.

"Where's Drake?"

"He wouldn't shoot barefaced from 待ち伏せ／迎撃する," replied Larry, tragically. "Rol and I didn't know it though, till 権利 at the last, he ran out, yelled at Anderson and Henley. They drew their revolvers and he 発射 them both off their horses. I--I killed Buckley. Herdman and Smith had begun to shoot. It was Herdman, I think, who 攻撃する，衝突する Drake and did for him. Rol's horse was 発射 from under him. The 暴徒 急ぐd, ran us 支援する into the 小衝突. Herdman and Smith had to ride hard. But they got around them and 長，率いるd off to the east. We couldn't chase them until the cattle had run by. Then it was too late."

"Ahuh. Too bad about Drake. 空気／公表する you shore he was daid?"

"There was no 疑問 of that."

"It's orful 堅い, Larry. I reckon Sterl an' me feel for you. But the fact is, we got off lucky."

"Jack and--Bedford?"

"They （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 Ormiston to hell pretty かなりの."

"There's only one thing to do now," said Sterl. "Take Beryl 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営 pronto. You're all 発射 up, too. We've got to cross that infernal river before dark."

Stanley Dann, the Slyters, with 傷をいやす／和解させるd and Monkton, and one of Dann's drovers stood on the east bank, を待つd their 上陸, visibly laboring under extreme excitement and 恐れる.

"My--daughter?" asked Dann, almost voiceless.

"安全な," replied Sterl, not looking at him, and leaped to the ground. He waved his sombrero to Red and Larry. Then as they waded in, Sterl untied his lasso.

"Get your rope ready," he said to Rollie.

Sterl had been aware of Leslie's presence の近くに beside him and a little behind. One she touched him with a timid 手渡す, as though to see if he were really 支援する in the flesh. They were all talking except Leslie. Finally she spoke in her 深い contralto: "Sterl!...Sterl!"

Then he looked around and 負かす／撃墜する upon her, meaning to be 肉親，親類d, trying to smile as he said: "Hello, kid!" but she instinctively recoiled from his 直面する. Sterl did not marvel at that. It had happened before to girls who, approached him after a hard 職業. But however could he help it? Men had to kill other men! The wonder in him was that it made any difference in his 直面する and look.

Sterl turned to watch the swimming horses as they entered the 現在の. Sorrel, and Leslie's other horses, hesitated but finally followed. "Rollie, go below me...Everybody get 支援する so I can swing this rope."

Red and Larry were ten feet apart, 長，率いるing 平等に into the 現在の. The lean noses （機の）カム on abreast, and the shoulders of the riders rose into plain sight. The onlookers watched, 緊張した and breathless, while the horses swept 負かす／撃墜する with the 現在の, at last to (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進む out of it, and come straight for the bank. A 元気づける of 解放（する）d emotions rent the 空気／公表する. Duke, as powerful as if he had not already 成し遂げるd 奇蹟s that day, waded out in King's 跡をつけるs. To make sure, Sterl roped him and 運ぶ／漁獲高d lustily to help him 続けざまに猛撃する up the bank. Rollie helped Larry. No one thought of Leslie's four horses, now making for shore.

Stanley Dann （人が）群がるd の近くに, his bearded jaw wobbling, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器 outstretched. With one shaking 手渡す, Red 広げるd the dripping slicker over Beryl and let it 落ちる away from her white 直面する. If her 注目する，もくろむs had not been wide open, she would have looked like a 溺死するd girl.

Red 解除するd her and bent 負かす／撃墜する to 産する／生じる her to her father's eager 武器.

"Dann, heah's yore girl--安全な--an' sound," said Red, in a queer 発言する／表明する Sterl had never heard before. "An' thet lets me out!"

What did the fool cowboy mean by that speech, wondered Sterl? Red had settled some 負債 to himself, not to anyone else.

"Ormiston?" にわか景気d the drover.

"Wal, the last we seen of thet bushranger, he was dancin'. Yep, dancin' on thin 空気／公表する!" And with that, passion appeared to have spent its 軍隊s 同様に as Red's strength. "Where the hell 空気／公表する--you--pard?" he went on, in a strangely altered トン. "I--cain't--see you...Aw, I--get it...Heah's where--I cash!"

His 星／主役にするing blue 注目する，もくろむs, as blank as dead furnaces, told their own story. He swayed and fell into Sterl's 武器.

CHAPTER 21

Larry helped Sterl carry Red across to Slyter's （軍の）野営地，陣営, and into their テント. For Sterl all this slow walk was fraught with icy panic. It might 井戸／弁護士席 be that Red had been more 厳しく 負傷させるd than a superficial examination had shown. How like Red Krehl to have such a finish! The fool cowboy would have died at Beryl's feet, to give the vain beauty everlasting 悔恨 and grief.

"Get hot water--Larry," he ordered. They undressed Red, rubbed him 乾燥した，日照りの, 軍隊d whisky between his teeth. Then Sterl unbound the 負傷させるs, washed them 完全に, ruthlessly 削減（する） open the one on his 支援する, and 抽出するd the 激しい 弾丸. It had gone under his collarbone, to stop just beneath the surface. Sterl dressed the shoulder 傷害, 包帯d it, and went on with 安定したing 手渡すs to that 弾丸 groove in Red's scalp. Sterl could not be fearful over either 負傷させる. He had seen the cowboy laugh at scratches like this. But Sterl 設立する 証拠 that Red had bled 自由に all during the ride 支援する to the river. The water had washed him clean, but one of his boots was half 十分な of diluted 血. There lay the danger!

Sterl took a long pull at the flask Larry 申し込む／申し出d. It 燃やすd the coldness out of his 決定的なs. Then he rubbed himself 完全に and got into 乾燥した，日照りの 着せる／賦与するs.

"I'd feel all 権利, if only Red..." he choked over the hope. He went on. It was almost dark and the rain still fell 刻々と. Under 法案's 避難所, a 有望な 炎 gleamed with 向こうずねing rays through the rain. 法案 had steaming 大型船s upon the gridiron.

"Eat and drink, lad," said Slyter. "We have to go on, you know...How is Red?"

"Bad. Bled almost to death...But I hope--I--I believe he'll 回復する...How did the kid take the return of her horses?"

"Sterl, you wouldn't believe it--the way that girl cried over them...But it was a 決裂／故障, after all this day's 緊張する, and the tremendous 救済 of your return."

"Of course! Leslie is not one to 割れ目 easily."

"My son, I very much 恐れる Leslie is in love with you."

"Slyter, I 恐れる that, too," replied Sterl, ponderingly, a little 激しく. "I hope, though, that it isn't やめる so bad as what happened to Beryl."

"My wife says it's good. We have 信用d you, Hazelton."

"Thanks, my friend. That'll help some."

The return of Slyter's womenfolk put an end to that intimate talk. Much to Sterl's 救済. They threw off wet coats and stood before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, Leslie with her 支援する turned and her 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する.

"Leslie, how is Beryl?" asked Sterl.

"I don't know. She--she 脅すd me," replied the girl, strangely.

"How is your friend Red? He looked terribly the worse for this day's work," interrupted Mrs. Slyter.

Sterl 簡潔に told them his hopes for Red, omitting his 恐れるs. But that sharp-注目する，もくろむd psychic, Leslie, did not believe him. When Sterl looked at her she 回避するd her piercing gaze.

"Who 発射 him?" rang out Leslie, suddenly.

"Yes, you'll have to be told about it all, I suppose," returned Sterl, in sober thoughtfulness. "Bedford 発射 Red first in the shoulder--and then Ormiston nicked his 長，率いる. Not serious 負傷させるs for a cowboy. But Red lost so much 血!"

"I heard Red say to Mr. Dann--that about Ormiston dancing on thin 空気／公表する. I know...But Bedford?"

Slyter interposed: "Leslie, wait until tomorrow. Sterl is worn to a frazzle."

Sterl 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get part of it over with and he bluntly told Leslie that Red had killed Bedford.

"What did you do?" queried this incorrigible young woman, unflinchingly.

"井戸／弁護士席, I was there when it happened." That seemed to be all the satisfaction Sterl could （許可，名誉などを）与える the girl at the time.

"Thanks, Sterl. Please 許す my curiosity. But I must tell you that I asked Friday."

"Oh, no...Leslie!" exclaimed Sterl, taken aback.

"Yes. I asked him what happened to Ormiston. He said: 'Friday spearum. Red shootum. Me alonga Red hangum neck...Ormiston kick like hellum...Then imm die!'"

It was not so much Friday's graphic and raw words that shocked Sterl as the girl's betrayal of the element.

"天罰!" 追加するd Mrs. Slyter, in a moment. "He stole Beryl from her bed. I'll never 許す myself for believing she ran off with him!"

"Neither will I, Mrs. Slyter," said Sterl, in poignant 悔いる.

"I was afraid of it," put in the girl, 率直に.

"Sterl, Dann will want to see you. Let us go now, before Les and Mum 緩和する up," 示唆するd Slyter.

Glad to escape, though with a feeling for Leslie that he did not wish to 分析する, Sterl …を伴ってd the drover through the dark and rain. They 設立する Dann at his （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する under a lighted 避難所. Before him lay papers, watches, guns, money and money belts.

"Hazelton, do I need to thank you?" asked Dann, his rich 発言する／表明する 厚い.

"No, boss. All I pray for is Red's 回復."

"Please God, that wonderful cowboy lives! Slyter, our erstwhile partner had thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs, some of which I 認める as belonging to Woolcott and Hathaway and put aside for their 相続人s. I appropriated from Ormiston's money what I consider fair for my loss. Do you agree that the 残り／休憩（する） should go to the cowboys, and Larry, and Roland?"

"I do, most heartily," rang out Slyter.

"Not any for me, friends," interposed Sterl. "But I'll take it for Red. He deserves it. He 暴露するd this bushranger. He made our 計画（する） today, saved Beryl--and hanged Ormiston."

"Terrible, yet--yet...I'll want your story presently. I've heard that of Larry and Roland. Poor Drake! Too 勇敢に立ち向かう, too 無分別な! You may not know that Drake was friendly with both Anderson and Henley. That may account--what a pity he had to find them unworthy--to see them seduced by a 悪名高い bushranger--and kill them! Yet how magnificent!"

"Boss, if you don't mind, I'd like to have Ormiston's gun," said Sterl, restrainedly.

"You're welcome to it. Now for your story, Sterl."

Sterl told it as 簡潔に as possible. Dann took the narrative as one who at last understood the villainy of evil men and the righteous and terrible wrath of hard avengers.

"I'm not one to rail at the 免除 of Providence," said the leader, at length. "How singularly fortunate we have been! I've a mind to let 井戸／弁護士席 enough alone, except to try to save the 暴徒 that 急ぐd to its old grazing ground across the river."

"That can be done, Dann, as soon as the river 減少（する）s. But I think you're wise not to 試みる／企てる 召集（する）ing the cattle that 殺到d by us up there. Those two drovers will escape with one wagon and some of Ormiston's horses. Let them go, Dann. We have more cattle now than we can 扱う. And より小数の drovers!"

"Righto, Hazelton. But I'll send Larry and four men up there tomorrow, to fetch 支援する the other two wagons. Later, we'll gather in that 暴徒 which obligingly 急ぐd 支援する to us. They won't leave that 罰金 grazing over there."

Sterl and Slyter left the 長，指導者, to return to their （軍の）野営地，陣営. "He was 攻撃する，衝突する below the belt, Hazelton," said Slyter, "but never a word! I wonder what will happen next?"

"All our troubles are not over, boss. Red would say, 'Wal, the wurst is yet to come!' By the way, how is Eric Dann?"

"He'll be around in a few days. Good night. It has been a day. Never mind guard 義務 while Krehl needs attention."

Friday ぼんやり現れるd up in the dark.

"Has he been 静かな, Friday?"

"All same imm like dead. But imm strong, like 黒人／ボイコット fella. No die."

Sterl struck a match in the 不明瞭 of his テント, and lighted his candle. Indeed Red looked like a 死体, but he was breathing and his heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 刻々と. "If he only hangs on till tomorrow!" whispered Sterl, fervently, and that was indeed a 祈り. Sterl undressed, which was a 高級な that had been difficult of late; and when he was stretched out he felt as if he would never move again. His last 行為／法令／行動する was to reach for the candle and blow it out.

強調する／ストレス of emotion, no 疑問, had more to do with his prostration than the sleepless night and strenuous day. He caught himself listening for Red's breathing. But sleepy as he was, he could not arrive at the point of oblivion. That speech of the cowboy's, when he 配達するd Beryl into her father's 武器, haunted Sterl. It meant, he deduced, that Red had withstood love and shame and 侮辱 and humiliation and 拷問 for 故意の and vain Beryl Dann; in the 直面する of 対立 and antagonism he had killed Ormiston to save the girl. And that had let Red out! Yet Red was tenderhearted to a fault, and never had Sterl, in their twelve years of 追跡する 運動ing, seen him so terribly in love before...Outworn nature 征服する／打ち勝つd at last.

When Sterl awakened day had broken and the rain had 中止するd 一時的に. In the gloom he saw Red lying 正確に／まさに as he had seen him hours ago. He はうd out of bed to bend over his friend, and his 激烈な／緊急の sensibilities 登録（する）d a stronger heartbeat. But now 肺炎 must be reckoned with--a 病気 likely to fasten upon a man so 負傷させるd and exposed.

Sterl got out in time to see five horsemen across the river riding at a きびきびした trot to the east--the drovers Dann had sent after the wagons and horses, of course.

While he ate breakfast with Slyter, Mrs. Slyter approached from Beryl's wagon. Her usual brightness was 欠如（する）ing.

"Mum, you don't look 安心させるing," said Slyter, anxiously. "At midnight, Leslie said Beryl was sleeping."

"Beryl has been shocked beyond her strength--any 極度の慎重さを要する woman's strength," returned Mrs. Slyter, 厳粛に. "She's violently delirious. I 恐れる she'll go insane or die."

Leslie, pale but composed, arrived in time to hear this.

"What do you think, Sterl?" she asked.

"井戸／弁護士席, it's a 冷淡な gray 夜明け after two terrible nights with an awful day between. We can at least think 明確に. Of course I don't know what Beryl had to 耐える before we appeared on the scene, but what happened afterward was enough to 税金 any girl's strength." Here Sterl 述べるd, sparing no 詳細（に述べる）, Beryl's fight with the bushranger, to keep him from 殺人，大当り Red, and the gruesome 影響.

"Beryl was game and she went the 限界," he 追加するd. "If she had fainted when Friday speared Ormiston, it would not have been so bad for her. But she saw Ormiston 急落（する），激減（する） around, like a crazy bull...She saw--all the 残り／休憩（する）. I ran to shut out that sight. And it was only then that she fainted."

"Mercy!" gasped Mrs. Slyter.

"I'd like to have been there," 宣言するd Leslie Slyter, with an unnatural 静める that was belied by the piercing glint in her hazel 注目する，もくろむs.

"Talk sense, you wild creature!" returned her mother.

Sterl had not at all ーするつもりであるd such a 公表，暴露, and felt at a loss to understand why he had 産する／生じるd to the impulse. If it was to see Leslie's reaction, however, he had been strangely 正当化するd.

Toward what would have been sunset if there had been any sun, Sterl 認める Dann to the テント. The leader bent over the cowboy, listened to his breathing and--heart, 熟考する／考慮するd his 石／投石する-冷淡な 直面する. Then he said: "I've played many parts in my time, 含むing both Wesleyan clergyman and amateur 内科医. Be at peace, Sterl. He will live."

They went out, to be followed by Friday. Rain had 始める，決める in again, and the 空気／公表する was 蒸し暑い. Sterl sighted a large wagon, which he 認めるd as Ormiston's, rolling into the 木材／素質 toward the old （軍の）野営地，陣営 across the river. Four riders were 運動ing a bunch of horses 負かす／撃墜する to the shore. Larry led off into the river, with the four drovers behind 勧めるing and whipping the loose horses ahead of them. The flood had dropped, and neither riders nor unsaddled horses 要求するd any help at the 上陸.

"井戸／弁護士席 done, Larry," said Dann, as the young drover 棒 up to make his 報告（する）／憶測.

"We got them all, I think," was the reply. "The--the two who got away--took four teams, but only one wagon. They either buried Jack and Bedford or took them away. Ormiston's wagon had been 解雇する／砲火／射撃d, but its 負担 was so wet that it wouldn't 燃やす...We 築くd a cross over Drake's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な."

"That was 井戸／弁護士席," replied Dann, as Larry hesitated. "But what about Ormiston?"

"They left him hanging. So did we."

There was flint in Larry's 注目する，もくろむs and words. Stanley Dann, seldom at a loss for words, 設立する 非，不，無 to say here.

That night at supper there was a 解放（する） of 緊張 as to Red's 条件, but not as to Beryl's. She had fallen into a lethargy that に先行するd the 沈むing （一定の）期間 Mrs. Slyter 恐れるd. Eric Dann, too, によれば Slyter, was either a very sick man or pretended to be.

At daybreak, Red （機の）カム out of his stupor and whispered almost inaudibly for whisky.

"You son-of-a-gun!" cried Sterl in delight, as he dove for a flask. "平易な, now, old-timer!"

Red did not 注意する Sterl's advice. A tinge of color showed in his gray cheeks.

"How--long?" he asked, in a husky whisper.

"This is the third day."

"Get anythin'--支援する from?..."

"One wagon, Ormiston's, twenty 半端物 horses--and this." Here Sterl 選ぶd up Ormiston's bulky belt to 押す it in 前線 of Red. "He sure was heeled, pard. Dann took out what was 予定 him, with Woolcott's and Hathaway's money and 株 for the boys. The 残り／休憩（する） is yours. 給料 正確に，正当に earned, the boss said."

"Hell--he did...How much?"

"I only took a peep. But plenty mazuma, pard."

"I'm gonna--get drunk. Never be sober--again."

"Is that so?"

"Gimme a cigarette."

"No. But I'll see what Mrs. Slyter advises in the way of grub."

Still the sky stayed 淡褐色 and 暗い／優うつな, shedding copious rains at slowly 広げるing intervals. On the fifth day there （機の）カム a break in Red's fever and a 少なくなるing of his 苦痛. The river had fallen low enough for the drover to pack Ormiston's 供給（する）s and wagon across, piece by piece. And in the next day or so the cattle on that 味方する were to be swum across. Eric Dann was up and about, moody and strange. That day, however, showed no 改良 in Beryl's 条件. Red continued to mend. He was a 堅い as wire, young and resilient, and as soon as his 使い果たすd 血 began to 新たにする itself, his 完全にする 回復 was only a 事柄 of days. But not even of the 執拗な and sentimental Leslie did he ever ask about Beryl.

During the last few days of this period, it still rained, but far いっそう少なく frequently. The flat, dull sky broke at intervals, showing the first 不和s of blue sky for over weeks. Bird life with its color and melody 予報するd a return of good 天候; kangaroos and wallabies, emus and aboriginals appeared in 増加するing numbers. The last, Friday 主張するd, were different 黒人／ボイコット fellas from those who had （人が）群がるd at the forks before the flood. The 広大な／多数の／重要な triangle of 牧草地, which had its apex at the junction of the river forks, waved away incredibly rich with new grass. Larry and Sterl 報告（する）／憶測d that the trek could be 再開するd, rain or 向こうずね. But the 患者 Dann 一打／打撃d his golden 耐えるd and said: "We'll wait for the sun. Eric is not sure about the road. He thinks it'd be more difficult to find in wet 天候."

"Then you'll keep to this 湾 road, if we find it?" queried Sterl, 静かに.

"Yes, I shall not change my mind because Ormiston is gone."

"Mr. Dann," 投機・賭けるd Larry, with hesitation, "the creeks, waterholes, springs will be 十分な for months."

"I am aware of that. But Eric has importuned me and I have decided."

Dann might have been actuated to 延期する because that would be better for Beryl. She had come to herself, and only time and care were necessary to build up the flesh and strength she had lost.

When one night the 星／主役にするs （機の）カム out, Dann said, "That rainbow today is God's 約束. The wet season is over. Tomorrow the sun will 向こうずね. We go on and on again with our trek!"

CHAPTER 22

Sunrise next morning was a glorious burst of golden light.

The joyous welcome （許可，名誉などを）与えるd this onetime daily event seemed in 割合 to that of the Laplanders after their six months of midnight. Even Beryl Dann, from under the uprolled cover of her wagon, gazed out with sad 注目する，もくろむs gladdened. Breakfast was almost a festival. The drovers whistled while they hitched up the teams to the packed wagons; they sang as they 召集（する）d the 暴徒 for the trek.

Sterl, 機動力のある on King, and as eager as the horse, waited with Friday for the wagons to get under way. But Slyter was 拘留するd by Leslie's pets. At the last moment Cocky had betrayed that his freedom at this long （軍の）野営地，陣営 was too much for him. Leslie had not even clipped his wings. And when he flew up to join flock of screeching white cockatoos he became one too many. Laughing Jack, the tame kookaburra, also turned 反逆者. He sat on the 支店 of a dead gum with three of his 肉親，親類d, bobbed up and 負かす／撃墜する, ruffled his feathers, and laughed hoarsely at the mistress who had been so 肉親，親類d to him. Both had tasted the sweetness of freedom.

"I--I always lose everything I love," wailed Leslie, and 開始するing Lady Jane she 棒 out under the trees and did not look 支援する.

Sterl was the last to leave the forks. He was glad to go, because that was imperative, yet he felt a strong 悔いる as he 棒 over the grazed and trampled grass to his old position at the left of the 暴徒. Many cattle and horses, several wagons, fourteen dead men and one dead woman had been left behind. Only Slyter's five drovers, not 含むing him and Red, and four of Dann's remained to get the 暴徒, three hundred horses and six ひどく laden wagons across the endless leagues.

The sky was 深い azure, floating a few silver-white clouds. The sun appeared no relation to that molten 巡査 disk of a few weeks past. King's mane and smooth hide were a dead 黒人／ボイコット, yet somehow they shone. Friday, stalking beside Sterl with his spears and wommera, naked except for his loincloth, 現在のd another 肉親，親類d of 黒人／ボイコット, a glistening ebony. The 暴徒 of cattle appeared to consist of a hundred hues, yet there were really only very few. It was the variation of them that gave the living mosaic 影響. They looked as clean and 有望な as if they had been freshly scrubbed.

Compared to one of the 追跡する driver's herds in Texas, these long-horned, moss-支援するd, red-注目する，もくろむd devils that were the 禁止（する） of cowboys' lives, this herd of five thousand bulls and steers and cows and calves were tame, lazy, fat pets. The slow trek, the 脅すing 状況／情勢s and the 親切 of the drovers accounted for this.

Ahead of the leisurely moving 暴徒, the grass 似ているd that of the 広大な／多数の／重要な Plains in thickness and 高さ, but in its richness of color and multitude of flowers it could have no comparison. In the distance all around ぼんやり現れるd purple, bush-栄冠を与えるd hills, and to the north, far beyond, lilac 範囲s hung to the fleecy clouds like しん気楼s 権利 味方する up. If there could be enchantment on earth, here Sterl 棒 まっただ中に it. That he seemed not the only one under its （一定の）期間 he 証明するd by ちらりと見ることing at his companions on the trek. Every one of them 棒 alone, except Friday, who stalked lost in his own lonely, impenetrable thought. The drovers sat their horses and gazed, no 疑問, at things that were only true in dreams. Red Krehl had forgotten his cigarette. Leslie 棒 far behind, lost in, her world.

At the wattle-国境d stream beside which they （軍の）野営地，陣営d, Stanley Dann 就任するd a new 協定 whereby everything was 強固にする／合併する／制圧するd into one （軍の）野営地，陣営. The exhilaration of the morning had carried through to evening.

"Pard, it's kinda good to be alive at thet," drawled Red.

"Red, you've never fooled me about your 無関心／冷淡 to beautiful places any more than to girls," replied Sterl, satirically.

"Yeah? Wal, mebbe Les was 権利 when she said once thet I wore my heart on my sleeve."

"Red Krehl," spoke up Leslie, "if you have a heart it's an old burlap 捕らえる、獲得する stuffed with grass, and what not."

Leslie had come over to where Sterl sat 令状ing in the 定期刊行物--he had long ago relieved her of that 義務--and Red was smoking. Friday, as usual, had made a little 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"Gosh, am I thet bad?" 再結合させるd Red, mildly.

"Why wouldn't you come with me to see Beryl when I asked you before supper?"

"Wal, I reckon I didn't want to see Beryl."

"But she begged to see you. And I was embarrassed. I lied to her."

"Shore, you always was a turrible liar."

"I was not. Red, you're so queer. You never were hard before. Why, you've stood 肯定的な cruelty from that girl! Now, she needs to be 元気づけるd, fussed over--loved."

"Would you mind shettin' up, onless you want me to go out an' commune with the kangaroos?"

"You mean the abo's, Red Krehl," returned Leslie, spitefully.

"Wal, I would at thet if there was any about."

Leslie plumped 負かす／撃墜する beside Sterl and pretended to peep at the 定期刊行物, which he believed was only a ruse to get 近づく to him.

"I'm busy, Leslie. Way behind. Will you slope off to bed, or somewhere?"

"No, I won't slope off to bed--or to hell, as you hint so courteously," she retorted petulantly, but she left them.

"Pard, what'd she mean by that 割れ目 about abo's?" asked Red.

"I think it was a dirty 割れ目. But don't ever overlook this, old pard. Every dirty 割れ目 a woman makes, every terrible 失敗, like Beryl's for instance, can be 非難するd on some man."

"Aw hell! You've said thet before. It ain't so. What did you ever say or do to make Nan Halbert 二塁打-cross you, an' send us off to this turrible Australia?"

That blunt query pierced like a blade in Sterl's heart. The sudden 開始 of a 傷をいやす／和解させるd 負傷させる flayed him. Still it drove him to be honest.

"Red, I flirted with Nan's best friend--that damned little 黒人／ボイコット-注目する，もくろむd hussy who wouldn't let any man alone."

"Hell you say! You mean Flo, of course. Wal, so did I! Thet ain't nothin' atall."

"井戸／弁護士席, it was enough to make Nan furious. Then to 傷つける me she went hotfoot after Ross Haight. And there she made her terrible 失敗. It was my fault."

"But, you locoed two-直面するd Romeo, you never told me thet. You swore Nan liked Ross best."

"I lied, Red," returned Sterl, somberly, の近くにing the 定期刊行物.

"Wal, I'm a son of a sea cook!...If you'd told me thet 支援する home, Ross Haight could have gone to 刑務所，拘置所 for his little gunplay. An' we wouldn't be heah!"

"For me, Red, it is better so. Only I grieve for what I led you into."

"Funny how things （機の）カム about. But you needn't grieve too hard. I'm not sorry."

"Honest, Red?" 控訴，上告d Sterl, 真面目に.

"Honest to Gawd. This trek is 権利 負かす／撃墜する my grub-line 追跡する. 'Course I've had an orful blow in the gizzard. But if I get over it, an' we get through..."

"Red, Leslie's 傷つける that you wouldn't go with her to see Beryl. You used to be 肉親，親類d to anyone sick, even a horse."

"Mebbe I was. Mebbe I've changed a lot," 再結合させるd Red, 激しく. "I wouldn't want to see Beryl if she was like she used to be before thet hot （一定の）期間, but let alone now, after..."

"Red! You're hard," exclaimed Sterl, はっきりと.

"Shore. Harder than the hinges on the gates of hell. But if you cain't see thet I've had aplenty to make me hard, wal, you're as blind as a bat!"

"Red Krehl," flashed Sterl, "are you keeping something secret from me?"

"Hellsfire, man, you can think, cain't you?" 削減（する） out Red, with that icy 辛勝する／優位 in his 発言する／表明する. "An let's change the 支配する."

The trek fell 支援する into its old, leisurely, time effacing stride. One day was like another, though every league of that lonely land had infinite variety 同様に as endless monotony Sterl had his surfeit of loveliness. It had passed into his 存在. At last seas of green and golden grass, islands of flowers, kangaroo-dotted plains, flamboyant bush-land, myriads of birds, flocks of emus, mile-wide ponds where the 暴徒 splashed across, scattering the flocks of water fowl, winding tiny brooks and still reed-国境d streams, and always, every hour of the long day, that illusive beckoning haunting purple mountain 範囲--at last Sterl Hazelton's soul was everlastingly filled to the brim with these physical things which he divined were rewards in themselves.

Seventeen days, to where the headwaters of the middle fork sprang from the tropic verdure of the 山のふもとの丘s. "（軍の）野営地，陣営 here two days," にわか景気d Stanley Dann. "We will 残り／休憩（する） the 在庫／株, make 修理s, and scout for this 湾 road. Eric has not 設立する it yet." Leslie 指名するd the place 井戸／弁護士席-spring. It was felicitous, because the splendid 容積／容量 of water sprang as from a 井戸／弁護士席, 深い under the 影をつくる／尾行する of a bold, dark green 山のふもとの丘. 法案, with Scotty, the other cook, 用意が出来ている the best meal they could 工夫する, in 栄誉（を受ける） of Beryl Dann's first 出席 at supper for many weeks.

While they waited at their テント, Sterl had had some words with his friend.

"Pard, you will be decent to Beryl? You have not spoken to her since--since that mess!"

"Umpumm," drawled Red.

"Say, do you see that?" rang out Sterl, 延長するing a big 握りこぶし.

"Shore, I ain' blind."

"You know where it used to 傷つける you to be 攻撃する，衝突する?"

"Ahuh. My belly. An' I ain't 回復するd yet, either."

"That's dinkum. If you don't 断言する to be nice to Beryl, I'll lam into you 権利 now. And I'm not fooling."

"Yeah? Wal, I choose the wusser of two evils. I'll speak to Beryl an' be as--as nice as I can. It's gotta be done いつか, jest for 外見s. An' after all what the hell do I care?"

Then Leslie arrived; once again, after so long an interval, 覆う？ in feminine apparel, a flowered gown in which she looked 極端に pretty.

"Red, you'll--come?" she asked falteringly.

"No, Les," he said, contriving to wink at Sterl. "Umpumm, 拒む，否認する come the weasel!"

That he could jest at such a moment, certainly poignant and important to Leslie, called to all that was spirited in her.

"You ornery, bullheaded, low-負かす／撃墜する..." she burst out, choking over the last two words, which, like those 先行する, were from Red's vocabulary. Then as quickly as the ゆらめく-up of her temper, she broke into sobs.

"Aw now, Leslie, don't bawl, please," begged the cowboy, who could not 耐える to see a girl cry. "Don't you see I'm all spruced up? I'll go with you an' do the elegant."

"Hon-nest, Red? You're such a--a brute. You might be--teasing."

"No, I mean it. Thet is I'll go if you stop cryin'. Why, the idee! Spoilin' thet happy 直面する!"

Beryl rose from her father's 膝s to 迎える／歓迎する her 訪問者s. Her blue gown hung loosely upon her slender form, yet not at the expense of grace. Every 痕跡 of the golden tan had 消えるd from her 直面する, the whiteness of which accentuated the loveliness of her violet 注目する，もくろむs and fair hair. Her beauty struck Sterl with 広大な／多数の／重要な 軍隊, and suddenly he understood both Ormiston and Krehl. Leslie ran to Beryl. "Oh, it's dinkum to see you out again!"

Beryl returned her kiss and 迎える／歓迎するing, then 申し込む／申し出d her two 手渡すs to Sterl. "Now, Mr. Cowboy, what do you think of me, up and 井戸／弁護士席--and rarin' to go?"

"広大な／多数の／重要な!" 答える／応じるd Sterl, heartily, as he took her 手渡すs. "Beryl, you just look beautiful!"

But she did not even hear that last. Red had stepped out from behind Sterl, and Sterl saw with a pang what a terrible moment this was for both of them.

"Beryl--I--I'm shore dog-gone glad to see you out again," said Red, huskily, and he was both gallant and self-所有するd. One of his long strides 橋（渡しをする）d the distance between them. Her 注目する，もくろむs dilated and turned 黒人／ボイコット.

"Red--Red!" she whispered, as she put out quivering 手渡すs. They groped, 行方不明になるd his, to clutch his blouse. She fell against him with a しっかり掴む, and fainted in his 武器.

"She is not so strong as she thought," said Dann. He took her from Krehl and sat her gently 負かす／撃墜する in the one 議長，司会を務める. "Mrs. Slyter--Leslie!" he called.

Sterl could not 身を引く his gaze from Beryl's 直面する. Her 注目する，もくろむs were の近くにd, long fair 攻撃するs on her white cheeks. He turned to Red, and forgot his 関心 for Beryl in the dumb 悲惨 of his friend. Dann's hearty 発言する／表明する attested to the fact that Beryl had 回復するd consciousness.

"I fainted," she said, weakly. "How stupid! I'm all 権利 now. Why, Leslie, you are as white as a sheet."

"No wonder! Beryl, I thought you'd gone to join the angels."

"No such luck for me! Boys, come 支援する. I 約束 you I won't be such a weakling again."

Sterl, with his arm through Red's, dragged the hesitant cowboy to the small circle, of which Beryl was the 中心. She had color in her cheeks. The cowboys 設立する seats. Mrs. Slyter 主張するd that Beryl sip a cup of tea. Leslie hovered over her.

"Red, perhaps I fainted because sight of you brought you 支援する--as you looked when I last saw you--how long ago?...Ages ago?"

"I forget. It shore was an orful long time," drawled Red. "An' about thet faintin'--I knowed a girl once who could faint--or let on--whenever she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to knock the daylights out of a feller. So you see, Beryl, I been educated."

"Did that girl faint in your 武器?" asked Beryl, her speaking 注目する，もくろむs on him.

"Wal, thet was one way she had of gettin' into' em. An' once she got there, she'd come to orful quick."

Presently Beryl's nurses, にもかかわらず her 抗議するs, led her away to her wagon and bed. The look she gave Red as she bade him good night was not lost upon Sterl.

At this juncture Eric Dann entered the 避難所, 迎える／歓迎するd the cowboys and drank with Stanley. He had a livid scar on his forehead, a 示す that he would carry to his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な.

Sterl took advantage of the 適切な時期 to question him: "Dann, if I remember 正確に we lost the 湾 road halfway or more 負かす／撃墜する the Diamantina from the forks?"

"Somewhere 支援する there. It didn't 関心 me then because I 推定する／予想するd to come across it any day," returned Eric.

"We 港／避難所't crossed it. I've kept a sharp 警戒／見張り for wheel 跡をつけるs. On level ground half a dozen wagons would leave a rut that would last for years."

"Surely. We have just 行方不明になるd them, unless, of course, they have washed out."

"Did you take this 大勝する on your 支援する 跡をつける?" went on Sterl.

"Part way. I don't 解任する just where we made short 削減（する）s."

"Some of these 目印s along here, if you ever saw them, you couldn't forget."

"目印s meant very little to me."

"Hmm, it's unfortunate you did not have an instinct for such things," said Stanley. "You said you knew the way, Eric."

"I've told you a hundred times that I thought I did," replied Eric, impatiently.

Sterl made 公式文書，認める of the shifty 注目する，もくろむs and of the beads of sweat coming out on Eric's brow, under the livid scar, and his 疑わしい conjectures became 限定された 疑問s. Sterl could never swallow his relation to Ormiston.

Red 直す／買収する，八百長をするd his piercing 注目する，もくろむs upon Eric. "Dann, if you don't know this country atall you oughta tell us damn pronto."

"But I do know it, in general. I've 認めるd a good many places we passed at a distance from this trek. I'd like it understood that I'll not be put on the 証人席 by you Americans," 宣言するd Dann, with 調印するs of nervousness and heat.

"Wal, we Americans ain't puttin' you on nothin', except yore word," 再結合させるd Red, coolly. Then he asked bluntly. "Have you ever been through this Diamantina country?"

Dann made what appeared to be a powerful 成果／努力 to 支配（する）／統制する 安定性のない 神経s. にもかかわらず he did not reply to Red's query.

"Wal, heah's one you can answer, Mr. Dann, onless..." Red did not 完全にする his 疑わしい inference. "This heah 範囲 we've come to an' have seen for so many days--there's a pass in it thet nobody could 行方不明になる seein'. If yore trek or any other trek traveled north from Cooper Creek up the Diamantina, you or they'd have to go through this pass. Ain't thet figgerin' reasonable?"

"Yes, it is, Krehl. They'd have to," replied Dann, readily.

"All 権利. Then what 肉親，親類d of country will we find on the other 味方する of this 範囲?"

"It will be 事実上 the same as this."

"Thanks, Dann. We'll remember thet," returned Red, caustically. Then he 演説（する）／住所d Sterl: "Pard, do you reckon I oughta shet up now or relieve my mind to the boss?"

"By all means, Krehl," にわか景気d Stanley.

"Wal, I wouldn't 推定する to advise you heah. I'm no Australian. But I've known open wilderness country since I was 膝-high to a grasshopper. This heah country has been changin'. It's altogether different from the forks. Grass shorter an' not so rich, trees より小数の an' smaller. An' when you cross that 範囲, you'll find plenty trouble. Thet's my hunch, boss. Take it or leave it."

Turning on a jangling heel Red stalked away from the Danns with a mien that left little to the imagination. Dann, so seldom perturbed, was bewildered by what was evidently a new 面 to him.

"Incredible!" he ejaculated. "We should be still hundreds of miles from the watershed that ends its streams into the 湾. Eric, you 立証する this, do you not?"

"絶対," answered Eric Dann. "Northeast of this 範囲, when we pass it, we will reach the headwaters of the Warburton River. That runs 西方の. Beyond that we will come to the headwaters of rivers emptying into the 湾."

"That agrees with our 地図／計画する. I am sure Krehl has miscalculated. What do you think, Hazelton?"

"All I say is, I'm sorry we are not trekking west."

"If we should make a 失敗 now--and go the wrong way..." Sterl heard the leader's 発言する／表明する （犯罪の）一味 and break but he made it his 商売／仕事 to be watching Eric Dann. Either he was prejudiced against this man's vacillation and 無資格／無能力, or he saw through him with Red Krehl's lynx 注目する，もくろむs!

CHAPTER 23

Another 会議／協議会 of Stanley Dann's. A few days out of Wellspring （軍の）野営地，陣営, they had approached a break in the 山のふもとの丘s, 明らかに 主要な to the pass through the 範囲. Eric Dann 主張するd that he was sure he had been through that notch, going or coming, and so the 暴徒 was driven into its 狭くする defiles. Larry had 報告（する）／憶測d 疑わしい ground ahead; Red Krehl had climbed to a 丘の頂上 to reconnoiter. Upon his return he said to Dann in no uncertain 条件, "Cain't see far. But no country to 運動 cattle, let alone wagons!"

"No hurry, friends," Stanley told his associates. "We'll climb to look the ground over. Krehl should know where and where not to drove a 暴徒."

But Eric Dann leaped from his wagon-seat to 直面する his brother in a terrific fury.

"First it was Hazelton! Now it's Krehl--Krehl--KREHL! I'm tired of having my judgment overruled!"

"Eric, you've lost your temper," replied Stanley, 厳しく. "静める yourself. These cowboys have been a help to me, not a detriment. As others--and you--have been!"

Eric Dann's visage grew purple.

"By God, I'll turn 支援する!" he shouted.

"But that wagon and team are 地雷," 再結合させるd Stanley Dann, controlling evident heat.

"I don't care. I'll take them. I've earned them on this infernal trek!"

Red Krehl slid off his horse.

"Bah! It's a bluff, boss. He hasn't got the 神経."

"Wait, Krehl," ordered Stanley Dann. "Eric, what is it you want?"

"You brought me on this trek as partner and guide," hoarsely shouted Eric.

"Yes, I did."

"Then 持つ／拘留する to that 契約 or I'll leave you!"

"Eric, I was not aware that I had broken it. Very 井戸／弁護士席, I will 持つ／拘留する to it--come what may," returned the leader.

"It's understood that I am the guide?"

"Yes. But you must guide us. Once more, for the last time, do you know this country?"

"Yes, I do," rasped Eric, passionately, yet he gulped as if something had stuck in his throat. "In a general way, I mean. This is an enormously 広大な country..."

"Yeah, an' you know it?" interrupted Red, with stinging 軽蔑（する）.

"Yes, I know it, you--you--" burst out the goaded drover, 泡，激怒することing at the mouth.

"Dann, you're a ---- liar! Go for yore gun--if you got the guts!"

"KREHL!" 雷鳴d the leader.

"Too late, boss. Stay where you 空気／公表する. Come on, Mr. Eric Dann, throw yore gun!"

Pale-直面するd instead of red now, gasping and speechless, Eric Dann turned to spread wide his 手渡すs, 控訴，上告ing to the leader.

"Let this end here!" 命令（する）d Dann.

"All 権利, boss, it's ended," replied Red, curtly. "But I'll bet you live to see the day you wish it'd ended my way!"

And they trekked into the hills. Days without end before what seemed to be the pass; Sterl lost 跡をつける of days. By now, Slyter, （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing 負かす／撃墜する the 対立 of Eric Dann, had 主張するd that the wagons go ahead; for in places they had 現実に to improvise roads. いつかs three miles a day were good going. The cattle 設立する little grass and took to browsing. Many of them 逸脱するd. The drovers 棒 herd at night in five-hour 転換s. Slyter's second wagon, with Roland 運動ing, went over a 法外な bank. He escaped, but the horses had to be 発射. Often at night Sterl and Red could find no level place to pitch their テント. They would 減少（する） on the ground, cover their 長，率いるs against mosquitoes and sleep like スピードを出す／記録につけるs にもかかわらず. More and more, Sterl inclined to the truth of Red's caustic 予測（する）.

The nightmare days up a V-形態／調整d valley which led to the deceiving pass. And then the trek seemed 停止（させる）d for good. Eric and Larry and Slyter returned in 敗北・負かす from their scouting. But Friday, last to get 支援する, galvanized their low spirits and energies.

"Go alonga me," he said, and the 黒人／ボイコット had never failed them yet.

They hitched six horses to a wagon, and with a drover on each 味方する, pulling with a lasso, and whipping the teams, 運ぶ／漁獲高d over the "saddle" which had 封鎖するd them. It took all the 残り／休憩（する） of that day to get the other wagons over. The 暴徒 had to be left behind in the valley until the morrow.

Riding across that saddle, Sterl groaned his 失望 at the 明らかに impenetrable 迷宮／迷路 of ジャングル and 激しく揺する-ribbed 限定するs ahead. Ten miles or more of incredibly rough going stretched ahead--a distance that might 同様に have been ten times that--and then a gap and a blue 無効の. And then--another 会議／協議会.

"We will go on," 宣言するd Stanley Dann. "We can't get through," averred Slyter. "I've 行方不明になるd the--the way," 追加するd Eric Dann, falteringly.

No one paid any attention to him.

"Larry, Bligh, what do you say?" queried the leader.

They replied 事実上 in unison that it looked very bad, 井戸／弁護士席-nigh impassable. "Hazelton?" he にわか景気d.

"Boss, we can't go 支援する," said Sterl. "Krehl, what do you think?"

"Me? Wal, I ain't thinkin' atall," drawled the cowboy.

"Don't bandy ridicule with me!" roared Stanley Dann.

"All 権利, boss. Excoose me. I ain't no mule-haid. I think we must find a way out thet we cain't see from heah."

"権利! Men, look for a place where we can （軍の）野営地，陣営."

They （軍の）野営地，陣営d on the 権利 味方する of the saddle at the base of a rugged slope. Firewood and water had to be carried up, a 職業 Red and Sterl took upon themselves. There were no idle 手渡すs any more. Even Beryl helped Mrs. Slyter and 法案.

"You've only begun to 選ぶ up," said Sterl to her that evening. "Please 残り／休憩（する）."

"Sterl, I'll do my bit," replied Beryl, smiling up at him. She might not have realized that she was telling him she had begun to learn a 広大な／多数の／重要な lesson of life. How frail she looked, yet her sad 直面する seemed lovelier than ever! She had courage--that thing Sterl 尊敬（する）・点d more than all else in man or woman. If she lived she would come through this 解雇する／砲火／射撃 pure gold.

He went out along the saddle to look for Leslie. He met her climbing the slope on foot, in the 跡をつける of the wagons, lithe and supple, （疑いを）晴らす-注目する，もくろむd as a falcon, her drover's garb ragged and 国／地域d.

"Howdy, Sterl. Been worrying about me?" she panted.

"No, Les. Only King and the remuda."

"King, Jester, Duke, Lady Jane, all tiptop. Sorrel is lame. Count is fagged out. Sterl, will we ever, ever get through this pass?"

"I don't know--and don't care much."

"Sterl!--that's not like you. Oh, dear boy, you're worn out!"

"Les, you and Beryl make me feel a little ashamed," replied Sterl.

"Sterl, you and Red all through this terrible year have filled my heart, and Beryl's, and Mum's with courage to carry on. Small wonder that you lag a little now! But don't fail me, Sterl. And don't let Red fail Beryl. It is he who has saved her--who is changing her very soul...Sterl, would you mind--持つ／拘留するing me a bit--as you used to?"

But Sterl 避けるd that, にもかかわらず the warmth she stirred in his heart, and made excuses, and talking kindly to her he led her to （軍の）野営地，陣営. 不明瞭 fell upon silent trekkers, some going to their beds and others about their 職業s, and all with spirits 屈服するd but not broken.

It took all the next morning to drove the 暴徒 over the "saddle." Friday had returned from a scout. To Stanley Dann he spread his wonderful, sinewy 黒人／ボイコット 手渡すs, fingers wide. "Boss, might be cattle go alonga dere," he said, and manifestly he meant they should separate and streak through さまざまな channels to whatever lay at the end of that green maze. So like a 広大な／多数の／重要な waterfall the 暴徒 注ぐd off the "saddle," to roll and clatter 負かす／撃墜する, to disappear almost at will in the ジャングル.

Then began the feverish and ceaseless labor of fourteen men to chop and build a road for six wagons through ten miles of wilderness ジャングル.

It dwarfed all their former labors. After five days of digging, chopping, carrying 激しく揺するs, packing 供給（する）s, wading in mud and water and grass, all the toilers except Stanley Dann and Slyter forgot about the cattle and horses. Every day Friday, whose 義務 it was to 報告（する）／憶測 on the 暴徒 would say: "Cattle along dere farder," and that day when he said: "Cattle gone!" not one of the trekkers betrayed 苦悩. It was now a 戦う／戦い for their lives.

In daylight, the 飛行機で行くs were almost as 猛烈な／残忍な as at the forks, and at night the mosquitoes were so 厚い and bloodthirsty that they would have killed an unprotected man. The second cook 事実上 died on his feet, sticking it out with fever and dysentery, and then 崩壊（する）ing. Monkton was bitten by a death adder and for days his life was despaired of.

In the middle of that ジャングル Eric Dann made a startling 提案.

"We should abandon the wagons and pack out!"

Stanley Dann, 国／地域d and sweaty and bedraggled, gazed at this 血 肉親，親類 of his with 広大な／多数の／重要な, amber 注目する，もくろむs that had not lost their magnificent light.

"What about the women?" he asked.

"They can ride horseback. I asked Beryl. She said she could," returned Eric, 熱望して.

"We are two thousand miles from anywhere. Beryl would die."

"If she gave out--we could carry her!" exclaimed this 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の man.

The 巨大（な） shook his shaggy golden 長，率いる, wearily, as if it was useless to listen to his brother.

"We can't get through," bawled Eric Dann, his 発言する／表明する rising. "I climbed up to see. We're not halfway! Man, would you sacrifice us all for your worthless daughter?"

Red Krehl leaped upon Dann and felled him. He would have kicked the man, too, but for a sharp cry. Beryl and Leslie had heard and seen. But it could not silence him.

"Dann, I'm gonna kill this brother of yores yet," 激しく 予報するd the cowboy.

"Red, don't kill Uncle Eric. Not for me!" cried Beryl, passionately. "I'm not 価値（がある） it. I was a fool. I was vain, brazen, mad! But Uncle Eric only knows the half. I planned with Ash Ormiston--that he should seem to steal me from my bed. He meant to kill anyone who …に反対するd him--特に to kill Uncle Eric, with whom he had plotted. I agreed to go with him, to save Uncle Eric's life, to save Dad from 廃虚, if not worse. But Ormiston betrayed me. He stole Dad's cattle. He would have 殺人d Uncle Eric but for me. He--He..."

She broke 負かす／撃墜する then. Leslie led her away from the stunned group of men. Eric Dann slunk away under the trees. Of all 現在の, Sterl thought, his friend Red seemed the most staggered by Beryl's 発覚. It was not in his 事例／患者, as in that of the others, that Beryl's 参加 in Ormiston's 陰謀（を企てる） had come to light. Red had known that! He had kept it secret even from Sterl. But now he knew why the girl had betrayed him and her father and all of them.

After what seemed a long silence Stanley Dann said: "Men, we are 存在 sorely tried, but let us not lose our 約束 in God and in each other. Krehl, I thank you, but I 同意しない, with my daughter. She is 価値（がある）--all she 宣言するd she was not."

"Wal, boss, if you ask me, I kinda reckon so myself," returned Red Krehl, ponderingly.

"All of you 支援する to work. We are goin' through!" にわか景気d the leader.

Sterl bent for his shovel and whispered to his friend: "Pard, now my 職業 is to keep you from 存在 発射 in the 支援する!"

Before many more hours passed that break in their toil, with its resurgence of なぎd passions, was forgotten in sheer physical exhaustion.

But at last, and when the trekkers were sunk to their lowest ebb, Friday 設立する a gateway for them out into the open. They 直面するd vastly different country from that which Eric Dann had pictured to them. A few miles below a gentle green slope, out upon a velvet green 負かす／撃墜する, Stanley Dann's 暴徒 of cattle grazed in a 広大な／多数の／重要な colorful patch. Beyond them spread endless other 負かす／撃墜するs dotted with clumps of pandanuses and palms, streaked by 黒人／ボイコット fringes of trees, bisected from league to league by 向こうずねing threads of water, and 国境d by limitless purple horizon. They were all so overjoyed to get （疑いを）晴らす of that awful ジャングル that no one of them asked audibly where they were. Only Sterl thought of what Eric Dann had sworn--that the country beyond the 範囲 would be the same as that at the headwaters of the Diamantina.

CHAPTER 24

Days of leisurely and comfortable going now, over level 負かす／撃墜するs with grass and water abundant but firewood so 不十分な that whenever they 設立する any deadwood 法案 collected it for the next （軍の）野営地，陣営. But one jarring fact--in a week's trekking they reached a point opposite the flattening out of that 範囲 whose crossing had cost them so many 供給（する）s, so much toil and life. By a week's detour, they could have gone 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it. Six weeks more than lost!

Late one afternoon, the 黒人／ボイコット, ragged line that had 徐々に grown for days turned out to be a good-sized river. It flowed north. It 現在のd a problem, not only to cross, but because the water, flowing the wrong way, upset their 計算／見積りs. The Warburton, for which Dann thought he was trekking, would have flowed 予定 west. によれば the leader's rude 地図／計画する, when they crossed it they would be 長，率いるd north to a point between the Never-never Land and the 湾 and would cross the headwaters of all the streams flowing into the 湾. At Dann's 会議／協議会, the first for a long time, Eric Dann 主張するd 前向きに／確かに. "This is the Flinders River. Probably we are two or three hundred miles from the 湾."

"Flinders River? 湾?" echoed Stanley, aghast. "That means salt water, crocodiles and cannibal abo's!"

"Gosh!" ejaculated Red Krehl. "Boss, of course, hunches mean nothin' atall to you. But let's follow 地雷 an' rustle 支援する の上に 乾燥した，日照りの land."

Any suggestion of the cowboy's was to Eric Dann like a red 旗 to a bull.

"Stanley, it's along the fringe of the Never-never that bad 黒人／ボイコットs are to be 遭遇（する）d," he said, impressively.

"How do you know that?" 需要・要求するd the leader intensely.

"I know it," returned Eric, stubbornly. "What is your 客観的な?"

"Southeast of Port Darwin," answered the brother, glibly, "there are fertile 範囲s. We can choose to stop there, if you like, and send in to Darwin for 供給（する）s. I think you will decide for this 場所／位置 instead of the Kimberleys."

"Yes, true enough," mused the leader. "We have that （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from more than one reliable source. I could always move on to the Kimberleys. Eric, you have made mistakes--this last one, terrible! But in your heart are you speaking honestly?"

Before that 厳しい and just leader, the 強硬派-注目する，もくろむd cowboys, and the 疑わしい Slyter with his drovers, Eric Dann solemnly 主張するd his truth. What--Sterl wondered--was his game?

The river, which Leslie called the Muddy, appeared to be fresh water, though it had a weedy taste, and the middle channel had to be swum. Neither 事故 nor 傷害 示すd the crossing of the wagons and the herd, though it took four days of 執拗な labor.

Leslie and Beryl, with Friday, had been left for the last. Stanley Dann sent the cowboys Larry and Rollie 支援する for them.

"Where's a horse for me to ride?" 需要・要求するd Beryl, as the bedraggled riders waded their horses out to the bank.

"Boss's order is for us to pack you over," replied Larry, uneasily.

To Sterl's surprise, and certainly to Red's, Beryl acquiesced without その上の 発言／述べる.

"Red, I'd feel safer with you on Duke. He's so big," said Beryl, casually. "Besides you have carried me already."

Sterl leaped off to help Beryl up in 前線 of Red. Red put his left arm around her, and Beryl put her 権利 arm around his neck. Anyway Sterl looked at the position it was an embrace, 気が進まない on Red's part, subtly willing on Beryl's. She laid her 長，率いる 支援する and looked up at him.

"Red, it won't take long," said Sterl, in cheery significance. But he did not mean to trip across.

"I don't care how long it takes--if only..." murmured Beryl, with a hint of her old audacity.

Red's reaction was as natural as his 誠実 was hidden. "Slope along, Duke," he drawled. "選ぶ out that 深い 穴を開ける, 落ちる in, an' never come up!"

Red entered the river with Larry の近くに on one 味方する and Rollie on the other. Leslie waited for Sterl, who watched the trio ahead for a moment before he started. Then he became aware of Leslie's poignant joy at sight of Beryl in the cowboy's 武器.

"Oh, Sterl! Isn't love wonderful?" she sighed, dreamily.

"It must be. I can't speak from personal experience, as evidently you can. But real love must be wonderful."

"That's true, you devil!" flashed Leslie, 混乱に陥れる／中断させるd from her 甘い trance, and 棒 ahead of him, splashing the water in 広大な／多数の／重要な sheets.

Sterl idled along, 反映するing sadly that this little byplay had been the first pleasantry, the first 少なくなるing of the raw 緊張, for many a week.

Dann's caravan covered in five days some fifty miles of green 負かす／撃墜するs, not one long or short stretch 異なるing noticeably from any other. Its beauty 棺／かげりd, its sameness irritated the 神経s; its monotony grew unbearable.

But on that fifth day darker and 明らかに, higher ground broke the level horizon. Two more days' travel 証明するd that it consisted of low 山の尾根s and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する areas covered with dense but scrubby 木材／素質. No blue 山のふもとの丘s, however, ぼんやり現れるd above the wandering 黒人／ボイコット line of scrub. And the day （機の）カム when Sterl, gazing backward, could no longer see the shadowy, purple 範囲s. They kept on to the northwest, traveling by compass.

"Slyter," said Sterl, at Blue Grass （軍の）野営地，陣営, "if we are trekking through this country to get to the headwaters of the Warburton--it's all 権利. But if we're trekking deeper into these 負かす／撃墜するs..."

"Red says if we follow this four-flusher Eric Dann much さらに先に we'll be lost."

"We're the same as lost now, Sterl. But I won't nag Stanley any more. He's 始める，決める. We're going through, he 断言するs. Says to remember the bad times before--how we always （機の）カム out."

Days and days and days! And dark 冷静な／正味の dewy nights, when the 星／主役にするs 炎d white, the bitterns にわか景気d from the reed-国境d lakes and streams, and the フクロウs hooted dismally in the pandanus scrub! The moon 急に上がるd in the sky, blanching the endless 負かす／撃墜するs. 孤独 統治するd. Sterl fought a feeling that they had reached the end of the world. Insupportably slowly the trek went on into this forbidding land of grass.

They （機の）カム at length into a stranger, blacker, wilder country.

The dense growth of bush denoted a river--a river somewhere beyond the dark fringe of 巨大（な） ash trees and bloodwoods and enormous trees with 多重の trunks grotesque and gnarled. They （軍の）野営地，陣営d where a 抱擁する wide-spreading banyan afforded a 厚い green canopy for the whole caravan. A boiling spring of 甘い water ran away from the bank of bushland, forming a little stream that meandered away toward a pale lake, 黒人／ボイコット and white with waterfowl. Kookaburras flew under the trees, perched on 支店s to watch the 侵入者s, but they were silent. And that strange feature alone 影響する／感情d the morbid trekkers. The sun slanted in what appeared the wrong direction. Sterl was 完全に turned around. Red wearily said he did not give a damn and that he wished what was going to happen would come pronto.

Friday appeared at suppertime. There was that in his mien to induce awe. All the trekkers mutely interrogated him; then the leader asked, "What 売春婦, Friday?"

"Plenty bad 黒人／ボイコット fella along dere. Big ribber. Plenty croc. Plenty salt."

They were 鎮圧するd. Stanley Dann sat with his 肘s on his 膝s, his 幅の広い 手渡すs over his golden 耐えるd. The corded veins stood out upon his bronzed brow.

"Lost!" he ejaculated, in a hollow 発言する／表明する. "Hundreds of miles out of our way."

"Salt water!" burst out Slyter, appalled.

"It must be the Flinders River," croaked Eric Dann.

"Wha-at?" roared the 巨大（な）. "によれば you we crossed the Flinders weeks 支援する!"

"But afterward I remembered it was not. This is the Flinders. 近づく its source. Once across we will find higher ground."

He seemed so 解雇する／砲火／射撃d with 奮起させるd certainty that most of his listeners, しっかり掴むing at straws, felt a 再開 of hope. But Red and Sterl 注目する，もくろむd him with 疑惑.

The sun rose on the wrong 味方する.

"Spread along the river to find a place to cross," ordered Stanley Dann to his drovers.

Below （軍の）野営地，陣営 some distance, Sterl, Red and Larry 設立する an 開始 in the bush where the 暴徒 could be driven to the river, and where a road could be opened for the wagons.

"Look dere," called Friday, who strode beside Sterl, and he pointed to smoke signals rising beyond the break in the bush. "Imm 黒人／ボイコット fella know."

They 棒 through the 開始, with Friday in the lead, 脅すing the tiger snakes out of his path with his long spear, and presently 現れるd upon the low bank of a wide river. Slopes of yellow mud ran a hundred yards out to 会合，会う the turgid channel of about the same width, and the opposite slope ran up to the bush.

"Tide running out. Swift too," 観察するd Larry.

"Gosh, you mean this heah is tidewater?" queried Red.

"It must be. Friday said it was salt water."

"Friday, go alonga see how 深い mud," said Sterl.

Ankle-深い the 黒人／ボイコット waded some 棒s out, and then began to 沈む in deeper and deeper until he was over his 膝s.

"Even with the tide in 十分な the 暴徒 would have to wade a bit, at least の近くに to shore," 観察するd Larry, 本気で. "And the wagons. What a 職業 to cross them here!"

"Righto. But it can be done," averred Red.

"We'd 削減（する） 政治家s and 小衝突 to make a road. Thet channel buffaloes me, though. What say, Sterl?"

"Boys, without the menace of crocodiles, which Friday について言及するd, we'd have a 殺人，大当り 職業 here. Larry, how big do these 湾 crocodiles grow?"

"Up to twenty-five feet, I've heard. They can break a man's 脚 with one whack of their tails."

"Red, how will we get the girls across?"

"Aw, thet's a slicker. I was thinkin' about it. If we only had a boat! Mebbe we could build a raft. In a pinch we might use the bed of our wagon. But I wonder--should we go across?"

They 棒 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営. The other drovers who had 範囲d still さらに先に up the river 報告（する）／憶測d no practical crossing.

"Boss, there's a ford below. But it looks awful 堅い," said Sterl.

"Mr. Dann, cain't we get out of tacklin' this heah river?" queried Red, anxiously.

"Krehl," returned the 長，指導者, 根気よく, "as we cannot go 支援する we must cross."

"Hell no! We can go 支援する aways, an' thet'd save an orful 職業, a lot of cattle, an' somebody's life shore as Gawd made little apples! Dann, yore a cattleman as big as all this heah outdoors. But a 乾燥した，日照りの land drover."

But Eric Dann's 異常な and malignant obsession again protruded its hydra 長，率いる.

"Krehl is afraid," he shouted, hoarsely. "Once and for all, I 需要・要求する to be heard! No foreigner is going to upset my 計画（する）s--to make me ridiculous."

"Brother," 再結合させるd the leader, "I ask you once more--do you know what you're doing when you advise us to cross this river?"

"Yes, I know. I know too that Krehl is afraid. Ask him yourself. I'll ask him! See here, cowboy, are you man enough to 自白する the truth--that you are afraid?"

Red Krehl gave the drover a long, uncomprehending gaze. Dann was indeed a new one for the Texan. Then he spoke: "Hell yes. I shore am afraid of this river, the crocs an' the abo's. But I reckon I oughta be more afraid of you, Mr. Dann. Because you're a queer mixture of fool, liar an' crook."

Sterl 抑制するd himself until this argument ended, then he 演説（する）／住所d the leader.

"Dann, I want you to know--and to remember--that I 堅固に advise against the 試みる／企てる to cross this river here."

"Sorry, Hazelton. But we cross!"

But the river and the tide had something to say about that, and when they were 権利, as 近づく as the drovers thought they could be, then the cattle had the last word. This 暴徒 had been extraordinarily docile and easily managed, as the cowboys knew cattle. Many of the calves and cows that had distinguishing 示すs or habits that brought them into the daily notice, had become veritable pets. Toward the end of that day, however, they manifested 証拠s of a contrary disposition. About midafternoon Friday 報告（する）／憶測d that they stopped grazing and became uneasy. Slyter went out to 観察する for himself. Upon his return he 発表するd: "For some 推論する／理由 or other they dislike this place."

"Then, we may be in for a night of it. I wouldn't care to try to stop a 急ぐ in this bush."

"Might be smellum crocs," said Friday.

飛行機で行くing foxes had appeared during the afternoon, 広大な／多数の／重要な, wide-winged, grotesque bats, swishing out of the 小衝突 over the cattle, and their number 増加するd toward sunset.

"Shore, it's them dinged bats thet have the herd buffaloed, an' they're gonna get us, too," said Red Krehl.

Here was one （軍の）野営地，陣営 where a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 did not 炎上 brightly, cheerily. The 支持を得ようと努めるd 燃やすd as if it were wet, and the smoke was acrid. Night settled 負かす／撃墜する 黒人／ボイコット, with the 星／主役にするs obscured by the foliage on three 味方するs.

Supper had been eaten and five drovers had ridden out on guard when all left in （軍の）野営地，陣営 were startled by a weird, droning sound off in the bush, 明らかに across the river.

"黒人／ボイコット fella corroboree. Imm no good," said Friday, his long 黒人／ボイコット arm aloft.

Suddenly--a trampling roar of hoofs. The cowboys were as quick to leap up as Larry and Rollie. Slyter （機の）カム thudding from his wagon. Eric Dann 解除するd a pale and haggard 直面する. "A 急ぐ!" cried Stanley Dann.

"Aw, I knowed it," said Red, grimly. "Come, Sterl. Let's rustle our hosses."

"Wait, you cowboys," ordered Dann. "Some of us must guard （軍の）野営地，陣営. Larry, Roland. Call Benson and join the drovers out there."

Slyter made off with the hurrying drovers, shouting something about his horses. Friday, at the 辛勝する／優位 of the circle of light, turned to the others and yelled, "Tinkit 暴徒 run alonga here!"

"My God!" にわか景気d Stanley Dann.

"Stand ready all! If the 暴徒 comes this way, take to the trees!"

The 増加するing roar, the 地震ing ground, held all those listeners fraught with suspense and panic for an endless moment.

"殺到'll 行方不明になる us!" yelled Red Krehl. Then Friday stooped to make violent 動議s with his 権利 arm, 示すing that the herd was 急ぐing in the direction of the river. Gun-発射s banged faintly above the din.

"All 権利! We're 安全な!" yelled Sterl, and then felt himself 下落する under the 解放（する） of 緊張. It had been a few moments of terrible 不確定.

Then a 衝突，墜落ing augmented the trampling roar. The 殺到, now evidently pointed up the river, had run into the bush. The noise lasted for minutes before it began to 少なくなる in 容積／容量.

"Providence saved us again," rang out Stanley Dann, in 巨大な 救済. "But this 急ぐ will be bad for the 暴徒."

"Dog-gone bad for the drovers, too, I'd say," 宣言するd Red.

"You may 井戸／弁護士席 think so. But usually a 暴徒 does not 急ぐ long. I am 希望に満ちた."

"They might 殺到 into the river," interposed Sterl.

Eric Dann sat 負かす／撃墜する again and bent his gaze upon the ruddy 解雇する／砲火／射撃 embers. It was necessary to sit の近くに to the heat and smoke to be even reasonably 安全な from mosquitoes. Eric Dann, however, sat 支援する in the 影をつくる／尾行する. Not improbably he had too much on his mind to feel bites. Presently Slyter returned to （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Horses all 権利," he was 説 to Dann as they approached the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "The 急ぐ was bad. But half the 暴徒 were not 影響する／感情d."

"That was strange. Usually, cattle follow the leaders, like sheep. Uncanny sort of a place."

"Righto. I jolly 井戸／弁護士席 wish we were out of it. Hello, Mum. You and Les should be in bed."

"I see ourselves, with the 暴徒 脅すing to run us 負かす／撃墜する. And Stanley calling us to climb trees!" retorted his good wife. "But we'll go now."

"Beryl, that would be a good idea for you," said her father.

"I'm afraid to go to bed," replied the girl, petulantly.

"Me too," 追加するd Leslie. "These sneaky, furry bats give me the creeps. I just 設立する one in our wagon. Ugh!"

"井戸／弁護士席, as long as Sterl and Red have to sit up, I suppose it's all 権利 for you girls. But it's not a very cheerful place for 法廷，裁判所ing."

Beryl let out a scornful little laugh. "法廷，裁判所ing! Whom on earth with?"

"いつか 支援する it was 王族 condescending. Now it's how the mighty have fallen!" returned Mrs. Slyter, subtly, and left them.

"Leslie, whatever did your mother mean by that cryptic speech?" asked Beryl, annoyed.

"Oh, Mum's got 軟化するing of the brain," returned Leslie, and she dropped 負かす／撃墜する on the スピードを出す／記録につける very の近くに to Sterl. Red, who sat across the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 from them, looked up at Beryl, who was standing.

"Say, all you women have softenin' of the brain," he drawled.

"Yeah?" queried Leslie.

"Is that so, Mr. Krehl?" 追加するd Beryl.

"Yes, it's so. Take that 割れ目 of Leslie's mother, for instance. Les's Ma an' you girls 空気／公表する of one mind, I reckon. The idee is to collar a man, any man 一時的に, till you 会合，会う up with one you 目的（とする） to corral for keeps."

"That is true, Red. Disgustingly true," 認める Beryl, suddenly frank and earnest. "But Les and I are not to 非難する for 存在 born women."

"I reckon not, Beryl," returned Red, conciliated by her 誠実.

"Go on, Red. You were going to say something," went on Beryl.

"I was," 再結合させるd the cowboy. "It seemed to me 肉親，親類d of farfetched an' silly--thet sentimental yearnin' of yores, if it was thet. Heah we 空気／公表する lost in this Gawd-forsaken land. Aw, I know Eric there 断言するs we ain't lost, but thet doesn't fool me, an' this 穴を開ける is as spooky an' 汚い a place as I ever （軍の）野営地，陣営d. It's more. It's a darned dangerous one. We jest escaped somethin' 堅い. An' thet's why I jest wondered at you womenfolks, feelin' thet soft, 甘い mushy 感情 in the 直面する of hell."

"Red Krehl, that's the wonder of it--that we can feel and need such things at such a time," returned Beryl, eloquently. "I left such things behind, to come with my father. I could have gone to live in Sydney. But I （機の）カム with Dad. And you've seen something of what I've 苦しむd. This hard experience has not wholly destroyed my sensitivities, my former habits. I can see why Sterl thinks we're going bush. I can see that we'll turn into abo's, if we're stuck here forever. But just now, I'm a 二重の nature. By day I'm 勇敢な, by night I'm 臆病な／卑劣な. I can't sleep. I'm afraid of noises. I 嘘（をつく） with the 冷淡な 冷気／寒がらせるs creeping over me. I can't forget what--what has already happened to me. Red Krehl, you said you wonder at me. But I say it's a wonder you cannot see how I'd welcome any 親切, any attention, any affection, to keep me from thinking!"

It was a long speech, though quickly spoken, one that Sterl took to his heart in shame and self-reproach. He was intensely curious to see how Red would take it, and somehow he had 約束 in the cowboy's greatness of soul.

"Come heah, girl," said Red, gently, and held out his 手渡す. Beryl stepped to him and leaned, as if compelled. He drew her to a place beside him on the 狭くする pack, and he put his arm around her to draw her の近くに. "I'm sorry I made all them hard 割れ目s about this place. Only I'm glad, '原因（となる） I understand you better. But Beryl, I reckon you can't figger me out. When all was goin' 罰金 支援する on this trek you gave me some pretty bad times. So, even if I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be 甘い an' soft about you, which I shore don't after the way you 扱う／治療するd me, I couldn't be on account of what this damn trek has done to me. I've saved yore life a coupla times, an' I reckon I'll have to do thet a heap more. If I wasn't a hard-ridin, hard-shootin' cowboy, a 殺し屋, grim an' mean, I couldn't do thet much for you. Thet せねばならない make you see me （疑いを）晴らす."

"Oh, Red," Beryl cried, poignantly, "I don't want you any different!"

The thud of hoofs 混乱に陥れる／中断させるd this scene, and Larry 棒 up. Friday （機の）カム running to throw 小衝突 upon the 炎.

"Larry, you're all 血まみれの!" exclaimed Sterl.

"No, Just ran--into a 行き詰まり，妨げる," panted the drover. "Let me--sit 負かす／撃墜する."

Dann arrived to bend over Larry. "Bad scalp 削減（する）. Girls, fetch water and linen. Larry, are you all 権利?"

"Yes, sir--except played out."

"Where are the other drovers?"

"支援する with what--was left of the 暴徒. That 急ぐ got--away, sir."

"How many?"

"Benson said one-third of the 暴徒. They 急ぐd into the bush. They were a crazy lot of cattle. They 衝突，墜落d through the bush--some into the river. So we yelled to come together--then 棒 支援する. That 暴徒 will work out of the bush by morning."

一方／合間 Dann had unwound the scarf from Larry's 長，率いる and began to dress the 負傷させる. Slyter told the girls to go to bed, and this time they obeyed. Red was sent off to take Larry's place with the drovers and Sterl ordered to stay in （軍の）野営地，陣営.

When toward 夜明け Red and Rollie （機の）カム in, relieved by two of Dann's drovers, Sterl lay 負かす／撃墜する beside Red. The sun was up when Friday called them.

"Where 黒人／ボイコット fella, Friday?"

"Alonga dere. No good. Hidum about. Watchum white man."

"Sterl, these abo's up heah 'pear to be a different 産む／飼育する. All same Comanche Injuns," said Red.

They 設立する the drovers straggling in. Benson 報告（する）／憶測d two-thirds of the 暴徒 損なわれていない. Their ragged garb, scratched 手渡すs, bruised 直面するs gave 証拠 of their strenuous 成果／努力 to 長，率いる that 急ぐ.

"We stopped it, five miles west," 報告（する）／憶測d Bligh, wearily. "They're out in the open, not many on their feet. Dehorned, 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd, snagged--a sorry mess!"

Friday appeared, carrying a kangaroo that he had speared.

"Plenty roo," he said. "Ribber 十分な up. Plenty croc."

"Friday, see any 黒人／ボイコットs?" asked Sterl.

"黒人／ボイコット fella imm conga bush. Bimeby."

"Men, eat and drink all you can 持つ／拘留する," said Stanley Dann. "We'll leave those cattle that started the 急ぐ last night until the last. If they scatter, we'll abandon them. Our 暴徒 has been too large. We'll break （軍の）野営地，陣営 now. Move all the wagons and horses to the open break in the bush below. Then drove the main 暴徒 closer. Two guards on and off for two hours. We'll ford the river with the wagons, divide our party and （軍の）野営地，陣営 on both 味方するs until the last 職業, which will be to drove the 暴徒 across."

It was a bold and 熟達した 計画（する）, Sterl 譲歩するd. The 死刑執行 remained to be an inspiration of genius and a heroic 職業. They 機動力のある and 棒 away.

The river! The drovers, even their leader, had only to go within sight of that reed-国境d, mud-sloped yellow 渦巻くing tide to be 直面するd by seeming impossibilities.

"Friday, where are the crocodiles?" にわか景気d Dann.

"Alonga dere," replied the 黒人／ボイコット, his spear 示すing the river and the 利ざやs of reeds.

"Slyter, do they hide in the grass?"

"Yes, indeed. These big crocs live on animals. This water is brackish. Kangaroos, wild, cattle, brumbies would drink it. I've been told how the crocs 嘘（をつく） in wait and with one 攻撃する of their tails knock a large animal or an aborigine into the water."

"They may not be plentiful. But all of you use your 注目する，もくろむs. Have your guns ready. Slyter, you will 運動 your wagon in first. Send a drover ahead to 実験（する） the 底（に届く）. Make haste, while the tide is in."

They all watched 傷をいやす／和解させるd wade his sturdy horse into the river. After perhaps a hundred steps, he returned to say: "Mud 底（に届く）. Soft. But not quicksand. If you keep your horse moving you can make it."

"What will a 激しい wagon do?" queried Slyter, dubiously.

"It'll stick, but not 沈む," 宣言するd Dann. "We have 激しい ropes and strong horses. We can pull out." In a moment more Slyter, …を伴ってd by Dann and six drovers, had driven his big teams into the river.

Slyter had not got やめる so far out as 傷をいやす／和解させるd had waded when the wheels stuck. Two drovers leaped out of their saddles to unhitch the teams. Bligh and Hood dragged the teams out. Rollie, with a 捕らえる、獲得する in 前線 of him and a 割れ目ing stockwhip in 手渡す, kept abreast of the teams. Soon they were swimming. Four drovers followed carrying packs. Slyter stood up in his wagon, ライフル銃／探して盗む in 手渡す, watching vigilantly.

"Crocs over dere all alonga," cried Friday, pointing.

Sterl saw the reeds shake and part. "得る，とらえる your ライフル銃／探して盗む, Red," he shouted.

Suddenly on the opposite bank there was a loud 急ぐ in the reeds, then a zoom, as a 抱擁する reptile leaped off the bank and slid upon the 狭くする （土地などの）細長い一片 of mud. But it was not quick enough to escape Red's 発射.

Sterl heard the 弾丸 thud, and then the 抱擁する reptile flopped up and flashed into convulsions. Sterl let out a yell as he drew a bead upon it and pulled the 誘発する／引き起こす. The distance was nothing to a marksman. His 弾丸, too, 設立する its 示す.

Another! Four 発射s left that reptile rolling in the mud. Its 支援する seemed broken.

"Dere, alonga dere!" shrilled Friday, pointing below.

Slyter was 狙撃 at another one, smaller and nimbler. But there was another 急ぐ and zoom as a big one catapulted off the bank to 会合，会う a あられ／賞賛する of lead. 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd and slow, he はうd into the river.

Stanley Dann's horse appeared, wading out. The drovers dragged and yelled at the teams, while Rollie 割れ目d his long whip from behind. They got across at last and climbed the bank to deposit the packs and find a place to land the wagon. Then they piled into the river pell-mell, keeping の近くに together, some of them with drawn guns held high.

Slyter yelled, "Make all the commotion possible."

They crossed in short order and, 負担ing ひどく, turned 支援する in haste, crossed again. Suddenly Friday screeched out something aboriginal. Then Slyter roared unintelligibly, and began to pump lead into the water. A 強くたたくing splash followed, then a vicious churning of the surface, yellow and red mixing.

"I got him!" shouted Slyter, peering 負かす／撃墜する. "権利 on 最高の，を越す of me--longer than the wagon! Never saw him till he （機の）カム up!"

When the drovers arrived at the wagon again, Stanley Dann called out lustily: "Boys, that was splendid work. I heard your big 弾丸s 攻撃する，衝突する. It's not so bad having Yankee gunmen with us!"

During nine more trips, while the cowboys, with Slyter, Larry and the 黒人／ボイコット kept 徹夜 from several points, nothing untoward happened. Dann, with three of the drovers, then remained on the far 味方する with the teams 支援するd out into the shallow water, while the other three, dragging 取り組む and ropes, swam their horses 支援する to make 急速な／放蕩な to the wagon.

Bligh slid off his horse, and waist-深い groped about with his feet to find the wagon tongue. To watch him thus exposed made the 冷淡な sweat ooze out all over Sterl. Bligh 設立する it, and went （疑いを）晴らす under to 解除する it up. In a moment more the 激しい 取り組む was 急速な／放蕩な. He yelled and waved to Dann. The two teams sagged 負かす／撃墜する and dug in; the drovers in 前線 of the wagon laid 持つ／拘留する of the 厚い rope. Slyter 解除するd his 武器 on high, swung his ライフル銃／探して盗む, and 追加するd his yell to that of the others. A moment of 緊張する and splash--then the empty wagon lurched, moved, half floated. Slyter stood up on the driver's seat, balancing himself, still peering into the water for crocodiles. The two teams and the six 選び出す／独身 horses did not slow up until the wheels touched 底（に届く）. In a very few moments the wagon was 安全に up on the bank. にもかかわらず the crocodiles the 業績／成就 augured 井戸／弁護士席 for the success of the 操作／手術.

CHAPTER 25

All this time the tide was slowly going out. The channel 分裂（する） wide 明らかにする stretches of mud. Sterl 観察するd that a big crocodile which he had thought surely killed had disappeared from the bank opposite. The one Slyter had 発射 lay on its 支援する, clawlike feet above the shallow water.

Some of Dann's party 削減（する） 政治家s and 小衝突 to lay lengthwise on the mud over the 骨折って進むd-up 跡をつけるs of wheels and horses. 法案 始める，決める about 築くing a canvas 避難所 to work under; Sterl, Red and Friday hurried at （軍の）野営地，陣営 仕事s the crossing had 停止（させる）d. Presently Slyter and Dann's drovers, all except Roland, who had been left on the far 味方する of the river, arrived muddy and wet, noisy and 勝利を得た, 支援する in （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"Volunteer 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 運動 the small dray," called the leader.

They all 手配中の，お尋ね者 that 職業. Dann chose Benson, the eldest. Six men 削減（する） brushy trees while two riders snaked these 負かす／撃墜する to the river. Dann and Slyter built the corduroy road. Eric Dann lent a 手渡す, like one in a trance. Friday pointed to aborigine smoke signals far 支援する in the bush, and shook his shaggy 長，率いる.

Many energetic 手渡すs made short work of the road on the （軍の）野営地，陣営 味方する of the river. It was 重要な that Slyter covered his dead crocodile with 小衝突. Then Benson drove the one-team off the bank. The 小衝突 road upheld both horses and wheels as long as they moved. But it stuck in the channel and, before it crossed, the drovers had to 荷を降ろす it and carry its contents to the far bank. By this time the afternoon was far spent, and 法案 had supper ready. Benson volunteered to pack supper across to Roland and Bligh, left on guard, and remain over there with them.

The drovers, bedraggled, slimy from the river mud, ate like wolves, but were too tired to talk. Sterl and Red went out on 義務 with the 暴徒.

Again the night was silent, except for the bark of dingoes and the silken swish of 飛行機で行くing foxes. But the 暴徒 appeared to be 解放する／自由な from the 恐れるs of the night before. Sterl and Red kept together, and after a few hours, one of them watched while the other slept. But Sterl, in his wakeful intervals, could not rid himself of 疑惑s. His mind conjured up fateful events for which there seemed no 推論する／理由.

At last the 夜明け （機の）カム, from gray to daylight, and then a ruddiness in the east. He awakened Red from his hard bed on the grass. They 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd up the remuda, and changed their 開始するs for King and Duke.

"Red, it's dirty 商売／仕事 to 危険 Leslie's horses in that river," said Sterl, as they 棒 campward.

"Wal, I was thinkin' thet same. We won't do it, 'cept to cross them. We'll fork two of these 草案 hosses. But, 宗教上の Mackeli, they cain't keep one of them crocs away! I 断言する, pard, I never had my gizzard 凍結する like it does at thet thought."

"神経 and luck, Red!"

"Them drovers shore had it yestiddy." Breakfast was over at sunrise, Friday approached the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to get his fare.

"Crocs alonga eberywhere," he 発表するd.

That silenced the trekkers like a clap of 雷鳴. Slyter, the cowboys, and the drovers followed the striding Dann out to 見解（をとる） the stream. A dead steer floated by in 中央の-channel, gripped by several crocodiles. 石油精製 a cow or steer had 立ち往生させるd in the shallow water. Around it ugly snouts and notched tails showed above the muddy water. Upstream on the far 味方する a third cow, stuck in the mud, was surrounded by the reptiles.

Larry explained, "Night before last a number of cattle 急ぐd into the river. We heard them bawling and 急落（する），激減（する）ing."

Slyter said, "血 scent in the river will have every croc for miles 負かす／撃墜する upon us."

"It may not be so bad as it looks," replied the leader with his usual 楽観主義. "Let's cross 法案's dray at once. Tell 法案 to keep out food and tea for today and tomorrow. One of you to put tucker on the dray for the boys across there. A kettle of hot tea! Who'll 運動 法案's dray?"

Red Krehl elected himself for that 職業. But Dann preferred to have the cowboy on shore, ライフル銃／探して盗む in 手渡す, and selected 傷をいやす／和解させるd. He drove in until the water （機の）カム almost to the 壇・綱領・公約 of the wagon. Then the 手続き of the day before was carried out with even more celerity. It struck Sterl that in their hurry the drovers were forgetting about the crocodiles, which might have been just 同様に. The big 職業 done the drovers took time out for a cup of tea. That 必然的な 儀式 amused Sterl.

"Ormiston's wagon next," shouted Stanley Dann. "That 義務 落ちるs to Eric."

The drovers hitched two teams to this wagon, while others, at the leader's order, unpacked half of its contents. Flour in special burlap 解雇（する）s and other food 供給（する）s （機の）カム to light.

At the take-off the 主要な team 妨げるd, and upon 存在 勧めるd and whipped they 急落（する），激減（する）d, and Eric laid on the stockwhip. No 疑問 a scent of the dead crocodiles （機の）カム to them. Stanley Dann にわか景気d orders that Eric did not hear or could not obey. About a hundred steps out was as far as either of the other 乗り物s had been driven. But Eric drove until the teams 妨げるd, with the leaders 潜水するd to their shoulders. This was 極端に bad, because it was evident that they were 沈むing in the mud. Half a dozen drovers 勧めるd 急落（する），激減（する）ing horses to the 救助（する）.

At that 批判的な moment Friday let out a wild yell. Sterl saw a dead steer, surrounded by crocodiles, drifting 負かす／撃墜する upon the teams.

"支援する, 傷をいやす／和解させるd! 支援する, Hood!" shouted Sterl, at the 最高の，を越す of his 肺s. "Crocs!"

Snorting, 肺ing, the horses wheeled and sent mountains of water 飛行機で行くing. They reached the shore just as the dead steer drifted upon the teams and 宿泊するd. Stanley Dann was yelling for his brother to climb 支援する over the wagon and leap for his life. Eric might have heard, but his gaze was glued to the melee under him.

The dead steer drifted in between the two teams to 宿泊する against the wagon tongue, and the 広大な／多数の／重要な reptiles attacked the horses. The snap of 抱擁する jaws, the 割れ目 of teeth, could be heard まっただ中に the roar of water and the clamor of the drovers.

Eric pulled his gun and 発射. Not improbably he 攻撃する，衝突する the horses instead of the crocodiles. The left 前線 horse 後部d high with a crocodile hanging to its nose. Sterl sent a 弾丸 into its 長，率いる, but it did not let go. It pulled the horse under. The 権利 前線 horse was in the clutches of two crocodiles. The ライフル銃／探して盗む 割れ目d. Sterl 発射 to kill a horse if he 行方不明になるd a crocodile. The second team had been attacked by half a dozen of the leviathans.

And at that awful moment for Eric Dann, horses and wagon were pulled into 深い water. The wagon sank above its bed and floated. Eric leaped to the driver's seat and held on. As he turned to those on shore his visage appeared scarcely human. The wagon drifted 負かす／撃墜する the river.

"Fellers, fork yore hosses!" yelled Red. Leaping on Duke, his ライフル銃／探して盗む aloft, he raced into the bush 石油精製. Sterl was quick to follow, and he heard the thud and 衝突，墜落 of the drovers at his heels. When he broke out into the （疑いを）晴らす, a low bank afforded 接近 to the river, which made a bend there. He （機の）カム out at the 辛勝する／優位 of the mud. Red had Duke wading out. The wagon had 宿泊するd in shallow water. A horrible fight was going on there. Beyond it several other crocodiles were 涙／ほころびing at a horse that had been 削減（する） 流浪して. Eric Dann still clung to the driver's seat.

Stanley Dann and his 信奉者s arrived. For once, the leader's にわか景気ing 発言する／表明する was silent at a 危機.

Red threw aside his ライフル銃／探して盗む. He held his revolver in his left 手渡す and his lariat in his 権利. At that moment, a lean, 黒人／ボイコット-jawed crocodile stuck his snout and shoulders out of the water, and, reaching over the wagonbed, snapped at Eric. He 行方不明になるd by more than two feet.

The horses had 中止するd to struggle. What with the tugging and floundering of the crocodiles the wagon appeared about to 攻撃する over. It would all be over with Eric Dann if the reptiles did not 涙／ほころび the horses 解放する／自由な.

Red sent his grand horse 急落（する），激減（する）ing into the water. Duke's ears stood up, his piercing snorts made the other horses neigh wildly. Red was taking a chance that the crocodiles would be too busy to see him. When Duke was up to his 側面に位置するs and the curdled, foamy maelstrom scarcely a lasso's length distant, Red yelled piercingly, "Stand up, Eric!"

The man heard, and tried to obey. But he must have been 麻ひさせるd with horror.

"Stick our yore laig--yore arm!" shrieked Red, in a fury, and he 発射 the outside crocodile, 事情に応じて変わる into 見解（をとる）.

But Eric was beyond helping himself. Again that ugly brute 肺d out and up, his corrugated jaws wide, and as they snapped they 行方不明になるd by only a few インチs.

Then the lasso 発射 out, and the noose 割れ目d over Eric's 長，率いる and shoulders. Red whirled the big horse and spurred him shoreward. Eric was jerked off the wagon, over the very 支援するs of the threshing crocodiles. Red dragged him 解放する／自由な, through the shallow water, up on the mud. He leaped off, to run and 緩和する the noose. Eric's 長，率いる had been dragged through the mud. Stanley and two drovers 解除するd the half-dead man, and carried him 岸に. Sterl sat on his horse with his throat constricted. He had not cared much about Eric Dann, but the mad 危険 that intrepid cowboy had run!...

"He ain't--傷つける 非，不，無," Red panted, coiling the muddy rope. "I was afraid --I'd get the noose--'一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck. But it was a damn 狭くする shave! Pard, that's one hoss--in a million. By Gawd, I was 脅すd he--wouldn't do it. But he did--he did!"

They laid Eric Dann on the bank to let him 回復する. Sterl dismounted, and every time a 長，率いる or a 団体／死体 肺d up he met it with a 弾丸. But the angle was bad. Most of the 弾丸s ちらりと見ることd singingly across the river. One by one the horses were torn loose from the traces, and dragged away, until they disappeared under the 深い water.

The 激しい wagon had remained upright, with the 支援する end and wheels 潜水するd. The tide was 落ちるing.

"Miraculous, any way you look at it!" exclaimed Stanley Dann. "Red Krehl, as if my 負債 to you had not been 広大な／多数の／重要な enough!"

"Hell, boss. We've all been around yestiddy an' today, when things （機の）カム off," drawled the cowboy.

At low tide Ormiston's wagon was 運ぶ／漁獲高d out and 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営. The girls clamored for the story. Red laughed at them, but Sterl told it, not wholly without elaboration. He 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see Beryl Dann's 注目する，もくろむs betray her quick and 深遠な emotions.

"For my uncle! Red--when he hated you!"

"Beryl, all in a day's ride," drawled Red. "Now if you was only like Duke!"

"Red, I am not a horse. I am a woman," she 再結合させるd with no 返答 to his humor.

"Shore, I know thet. I mean a hoss, if he's 広大な／多数の／重要な like Duke an' cottons to a feller why he'll do anythin' for you." Red also had turned serious. "Beryl, I'd die for him, an' shore he'd die for me."

"I'd like you to feel that way for me, Red Krehl," she returned, vibrantly. "I would die for you!"

"Wal, yore wants, like yore 注目する，もくろむs an' yore heart, 空気／公表する too big for you, Beryl."

Leslie let go of Duke's neck to 直面する Red.

"Red, I give Duke to you. And you can return Jester to me," she said.

"Wal! Dog-gone-it, Les, you 攻撃する，衝突する me below the belt!"

"It'll make my happy. And Beryl too." Stanley Dann broke in upon them with his にわか景気ing order:

"削減（する） more 政治家s. We'll relay the road and cross my wagon before this day is done."

While his drovers worked like beavers, he had Beryl's bed and baggage 荷を降ろすd. Stanley drove his big wagon across. Friday sighted crocodiles, but 非，不，無 （機の）カム 近づく. 負担 and wagon were crossed in 記録，記録的な／記録する time, after which six drovers carried Beryl's 所持品 across in two trips.

The sun 始める，決める red and evilly. The trekkers ate, and tried to be oblivious of the abo signals, the uncanny bats, the howls of the dingoes and the unseen menace that hovered over this somber （軍の）野営地，陣営. Stanley Dann roused them all in the gray of 夜明け. It was wet and 冷気／寒がらせる. Dingoes bayed dismally in the bush. The cowboys 設立する two of Dann's drovers 召集（する）ing horses for the day. The cowboys bridled Duke, King and Lady Jane, and drove the 残り／休憩（する） of Leslie's horses into （軍の）野営地，陣営. Stanley Dann's hearty 発言する／表明する, his spirit, the 淡褐色 gray 夜明け lighting ruddily, the hot breakfast--all seemed to work against the gripping, somber （一定の）期間.

"Men, this is our important day," にわか景気d the leader. "Roland's wagon first. 荷を降ろす all the 激しい articles. Pack these 捕らえる、獲得するs of 乾燥した，日照りのd fruit Ormiston had--unknown to me. Slyter, will you 運動 Roland's wagon?"

"Yes," replied Slyter. "Mum, you ride with me."

"With Beryl and Leslie that will be a 負担!" said Dann.

"Dad, I won't cross in the wagon," spoke up his daughter decidedly.

Leslie interposed to say, "I'm riding Lady Jane."

The leader gazed at these 開拓する daughters with 広大な／多数の／重要な luminous 注目する，もくろむs, and made no その上の comment. He hurried the unpacking, and the hitching of two big 草案 horses to Roland's wagon. The sun （機の）カム up gloriously 有望な. When Slyter 機動力のある the high wagon seat, shouts from across the river told him that the drovers over there were ready. Roland またがるd one of the lead horses of the teams. The tide was on the make, wanting a foot in 高さ and a dozen yards up the mud bank to fill the river bed.

"Friday! Everybody watch the river for crocs," ordered the leader.

Leslie sat her horse, pale and resolute. She knew the 危険，危なくする. At this juncture Beryl 現れるd from the テント, わずかな／ほっそりした in her rider's garb. She carried a small 黒人／ボイコット 捕らえる、獲得する.

"Red, will you carry me across?" she asked, 簡単に. Her darkly dilated 注目する，もくろむs betrayed her terror.

"Shore, Beryl, but why for?" drawled the cowboy.

"I'd feel safer--and--and--"

"Wal, dog-gone! There. Put yore foot on my stirrup. Up you come! No, I cain't 持つ／拘留する you that way, Beryl. You've gotta fork Duke. Slip 負かす／撃墜する in 前線 of me. Sterl, how about slopin'?"

"Friday grins good-o," replied Sterl, grimly. "Les, keep above me の近くに. Larry, keep upstream from Red. Idea is to move pronto!"

They 急落（する），激減（する）d in, passed Slyter's teams and the drovers, reached the deeper water, breasted the channel.

"Fellers, get ready for gunplay!" shouted the 強硬派-注目する，もくろむd Red. "Shet yore 注目する，もくろむs, Beryl!"

Across the river from the reedy bank above Roland's position （機の）カム a crackling 急ぐ, a waving of reeds, then a zoom, as a big crocodile took to the water. The guns of Roland's group banged; mud splattered all around the reptile.

さらに先に upstream, muddy-支援するd crocodiles, as 抱擁する as スピードを出す／記録につけるs, piled into the river. The drovers were clamoring in fright and excitement. Slyter had driven his teams in up to their 側面に位置するs. One drover was unfastening the traces, while two others were ready to drag the teams into the channel. Sterl spared only a ちらりと見ること for them. Roland and his men （機の）カム 続けざまに猛撃するing through the shallow water. Halfway across--two-thirds! Bligh's horse was 肺ing into the channel above Larry, carrying the 取り組む and rope for the wagon.

Suddenly, almost in line with them, an open-jawed, yellow-fanged monster spread the reeds, and zoomed off the bank. Red, Sterl, Larry, Roland, were 狙撃. But the crocodile （機の）カム on, got over his depth, and disappeared.

"Watch for the wake!" called Red. "Thet feller is mean. Heah he comes! See them little knobs. That's his haid!"

Sterl 遠くに見つけるd them. He regretted having left his ライフル銃／探して盗む in the wagon.

"減少（する） behind me, Leslie," he called. "Don't 弱める. We'll get by him."

Sterl did not 解雇する／砲火／射撃 because he did not want to 運動 the brute under water again. Evidently Red had the same thought. He 長，率いるd Duke quarteringly away from the long ripple, and leaned far 今後, gun 延長するd. His left arm held the drooping girl. At the 権利 instant he spurred Duke. Just then Duke struck 底（に届く）, and 肺d. The crocodile was いっそう少なく than six feet distant when Red turned his gun loose. The 弾丸s splashed and thudded, but they did not ちらりと見ること. With a tremendous 渦巻く the reptile lurched partly out of the water, a 恐ろしい spectacle. Sterl sent two leaden slugs into it. 落ちるing 支援する, the monster began to roll over and over, his ten-foot tail （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the water into 泡，激怒すること.

Red waded Duke past the teams and waiting drovers, out の上に the bank. The drovers 元気づけるd. Ster, with Leslie behind him, followed Red up to the new （軍の）野営地，陣営. Red slid off and laid his gun on the grass. Beryl swayed, her 注目する，もくろむs tight shut.

"Beryl, come out of it," shouted Red. Her 武器 fell weakly.

"I won't--faint! I won't," she cried with passion still left in her weak 発言する／表明する.

"Who said you would?" drawled Red, as he helped her off.

Leslie dismounted and （機の）カム to Beryl. They clung together--a gesture more eloquent than any words.

"Come, pard. Let's slope out there," called Red.

When they 棒 out on the mud flat again Sterl was amazed to see Friday dragging what evidently was the monster crocodile into shallow water. A long spear sticking in the reptile spoke for itself. A splashing melee distracted Sterl. The two teams were 緊張するing on the ropes, 骨折って進むing through the mud. Between them and the wagon the drovers were yelling and 運ぶ／漁獲高ing. Sterl 観察するd that this wagon, the one in which he had calked the seams, floated almost flat. Mrs. Slyter stood behind her husband hanging on the seat while he made ready for the waiting teams. Once the wagon was in shallow water they unfastened the ropes and 取り組むs, hitched the two teams and gave Slyter the word to 運動 out.

Sterl and Red followed the muddy 行列 up the bank.

Friday said to Sterl and Slyter, "Tinkit more better boss wait alonga sun. Crocs bad!"

"We can't stop Dann now," Slyter said, grimly. "Come, all who're going 支援する."

"Wal, if you ask me we oughta 負担 our guns," drawled Red.

CHAPTER 26

Five drovers crossed the river with Sterl and Red. Dann met them like a general 迎える／歓迎するing a 勝利を得た army.

"We've time to drove Slyter's horses across, and carry these loose 供給（する）s," he said. "Tomorrow we will 召集（する） the cattle that 急ぐd and drove the 暴徒."

When next morning the drovers had the big herd lengthened out to perhaps half a mile, at a signal from Dann they opened 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with their guns and 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d. The fifty-yard wide belt of cattle 長，率いるd for the river and piled over the low bank. Across the river crocodiles basked in the sun, their odor 厚い on the 空気／公表する. The 主要な cattle took fright and 妨げるd. Then it was too late. The 押し進めるing, bawling lines behind 軍隊d them. Some of them were bogged, to be trampled under. But almost miraculously the 暴徒 were driven into the mud before they could 試みる／企てる a 急ぐ 支援する.

The point of least 抵抗 lay to the fore. The leaders had to gravitate that way. From the opposite bank crocodiles slid 負かす／撃墜する and 発射 across the mud into the shallow water. 解放（する）d from a 塀で囲む in 前線, the 集まり behind piled frantically into the river. As if by a 奇蹟, thousands of horned 長，率いるs breasted the channel. In several 位置／汚点／見つけ出す 渦巻くing, churning 戦う／戦いs 続いて起こるd, almost at once to be overridden by swimming cattle. As the 前線 line struck 底（に届く）, the stench of the crocodiles and their furious attack precipitated a 急ぐ that was obscured in 飛行機で行くing spray.

"Come on, pard!" yelled Red, from below. "We wanta be の近くに behind that 殺到 or the crocs will get us!"

All the other drovers were in the mud, some at the heels of the 暴徒, others 狙撃 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd and 粉砕するd cattle. The horse herd, driven in the wake of the 暴徒, excited by the roar, made frantic 成果／努力s to get ahead. When they 設立する 底（に届く） again, and 急落（する），激減（する）d on into shallow water, Sterl looked up.

A sea of bobbing 支援するs sloped up to a fringe of bobbing horns. The long belt of cattle was moving with amazing 速度(を上げる）. Sterl gazed 支援する. 苦境に陥るd cattle dotted the river. Squirming crocodiles attested to the trampling they had received. Only one horse was 負かす／撃墜する, and it had appeared to be struggling to rise.

"Laig broke!" yelled Red, の近くに to Sterl's ear. "Saddled too! By Gawd, pard, that's Eric Dann's hoss! An' if he ain't lyin' there on the mud, my 注目する，もくろむs 空気／公表する pore!"

Stanley Dann reached the prostrate man and horse ahead of Bligh and 傷をいやす／和解させるd. Sterl and Red got there as the drovers were dismounting, to 沈む ankle-深い in the mud.

"It's Eric!" にわか景気d the leader, as he leaned over. "Dead--or--no! He's still alive."

"Horse's 前線 脚s broken," 報告（する）／憶測d Bligh, tensely.

"Shoot it! And help me--two of you."

They 解除するd him across Bligh's saddle. How limp he hung! What a slimy, broken 難破させる of a man!

"Hazelton, you and Krehl and 傷をいやす／和解させるd follow the 暴徒," ordered the leader, 厳しく. "That 急ぐ will end soon."

From the 高さ of the bank Sterl looked over bushland and green 負かす／撃墜するs which led to higher and denser bush. In the foreground, the 暴徒 of cattle had 停止（させる）d.

"All the 殺到 is out of them," said Red.

"Crocodile 殺到. New one on us, Red," 再結合させるd Sterl.

"Cost Dann and Slyter plenty. Hundreds of cattle 負かす／撃墜する, daid an' dyin'. Sterl, about Dann's drovers--after this last shuffle, what's the 取引，協定 gonna be?"

"You mean if Eric Dann 持つ／拘留するs up the trek?"

"I shore mean that little thing."

"Damn serious, pard."

"Serious? If Bligh an' Hood an' the others stick it out, I'd say it'll be a damn sight more than any Americans would do. 'Cept a couple of dumb-haid, lovesick suckers like us!"

When the cowboys arrived, the cattle had begun to 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する, too exhausted even to bawl. The horses had scattered off to the left toward （軍の）野営地，陣営. Sterl and Red helped 召集（する） them and drove them within sight of the wagons.

"What held up Stanley Dann?" 問い合わせd Bligh, as the drovers collected again. Bligh was a young man, under thirty, gray-注目する，もくろむd and still-直面するd, a man on whom the other drovers leaned.

"Eric's 負傷させるd. 脚s broken I think," replied Sterl.

Bligh 交流d apprehensive ちらりと見ることs with his intimates. He turned 支援する to Sterl: "If the boss's brother is unable to travel, it'll precipitate a most serious 状況／情勢."

"We 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる that. Let's hope it's not so bad he cannot be moved in a wagon."

"Yes. You hope so, but you don't believe it," said Bligh, brusquely.

"Righto."

"Hazelton, we think you and Krehl are wonderful drovers, and what is more, 権利 good cobbers," said Bligh, feelingly.

"Thanks, Bligh," returned Sterl, heartily. "Red and I sure return the compliment."

"For us this trek seems to have run into a forlorn hope."

"井戸／弁護士席, Bligh, I'm bound to agree with you. But it's not a lost 原因（となる） yet."

The drover shook his shaggy 長，率いる, and ran skinned, dirty fingers through his scant 耐えるd. "Friends, it's different with you cowboys, on account of the girls--if you'll excuse my 説 so."

Neither Beryl nor Leslie put in an 外見 at supper. Dann seemed for once an unapproachable 人物／姿／数字. Slyter conversed in low トンs with his wife, and once Sterl saw him throw up his 手渡すs in a singular gesture for him. Red stayed in the テント. The seven young drovers remained in a group at the other 味方する of （軍の）野営地，陣営, where Bligh appeared to be haranguing them.

Suddenly Bligh, 主要な Derrick, Hood and 傷をいやす／和解させるd, rose and started toward Stanley Dann's 避難所. Pale にもかかわらず their tan, resolute にもかかわらず their 恐れる! It did not seem a coincidence that Beryl and Leslie appeared from nowhere; that Slyter （機の）カム out, his hair ruffled, his gaze 直す／買収する，八百長をするd; that Red 現れるd from his テント, his lean hawklike 長，率いる 均衡を保った; that Friday hove in sight, lending to the scene the stark reality of the aborigine.

Under Dann's 避難所 it was still light. Mrs. Slyter stood beside the 担架 where Eric Dann lay, his 長，率いる and shoulders propped up on pillows, fully conscious and 恐ろしい pale. His 脚s were covered with a 一面に覆う／毛布. Stanley Dann sat with 屈服するd 長，率いる. The drovers 停止（させる）d just outside of the 避難所. Bligh took a その上の step.

"Mr. Dann, is it true Eric is 負傷させるd?" burst out Bligh, as if 軍隊d.

Dann rose to his 十分な 高さ to 星／主役にする at his 訪問者s. He stalked out then like a man who 直面するd death.

"Bligh, I grieve to 知らせる you that he is," he said.

"We are--very sorry for him--and you," 再結合させるd Bligh huskily.

"I'm sure of that, Bligh."

"Will it be possible to move him? In a wagon, you know, to carry on our trek?"

"No! Even with proper setting of the bones he may be a 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なう for life. To move him now--over rough ground--would be 残忍な."

"What do you ーするつもりである to do?"

"Stay here until he is mended enough to travel."

"That would take weeks, sir. Perhaps more..."

"Yes. Weeks. There is no 代案／選択肢."

Bligh made a gesture of inexpressible 悔いる. He choked. He （疑いを）晴らすd his throat. "Mr. Dann, we--we 恐れるd this very thing...We talked it over. We can't we won't--go on with this wild-goose trek. You started all 権利. Then Ormiston and your brother...No sense in crying over 流出／こぼすd milk! We've stuck to the breaking point. We four have decided to trek 支援する home."

"Bligh--you too!" にわか景気d the leader. Sterl saw him change as if he had shriveled up inside.

"Yes, me!" rang out Bligh. "You ask too much of young men. We built our hopes on your 約束s. Hood has a wife and child. Derrick is sick of this...We are going home."

"Bligh, I have exacted too much of you all," returned Dann. "I'm sorry. If I had it to do over again...You are welcome to go, and God 速度(を上げる） you...Take two teams for Ormiston's wagon. It is half 十分な of food 供給（する）s. 法案 will give you a box of tea. And if you can 召集（する） the cattle that 急ぐd up the river--you are welcome to them."

"Boss--that is big and 罰金--of you," returned Bligh, haltingly. "Honestly, sir..."

"Don't thank me, Bligh. I am in your 負債."

Eric Dann called piercingly from under the 避難所. "Bligh--tell him-- tell him!"

"No Eric," returned Bligh, sorrowfully. "I've nothing to tell."

"Tell me what?" にわか景気d the leader, like an angry lion 誘発するd. "Bligh, what have you to tell me?"

"Nothing, sir. Eric is out of his 長，率いる."

"No, I'm not," yelled Eric, and his 試みる／企てる to 押し進める himself higher on the 担架 ended in a shriek of 苦痛. But he did sit up, and Mrs. Slyter supported him.

"Eric, what could Bligh tell me?" queried Stanley Dann, hoarsely.

There 続いて起こるd a silence that seemed insupportable to Sterl. Every moment 追加するd to the torment of coming terrible 公表，暴露s. Eric Dann must have been wrenched by physical 苦痛 and mental anguish to a point beyond 抵抗. "Stanley--we are lost!" he groaned.

"Lost?" echoed the 巨大（な）, blankly.

"Yes--yes. Lost!" cried Eric wildly. "We've been lost all the way! I didn't know this bushland...I've never been on a trek through outback Queensland!"

"慈悲の heaven!" にわか景気d the leader, his 広大な／多数の／重要な 武器 going aloft. "Your 計画（する）s? Your 保証／確信s? Your 地図／計画する!"

"Lies! All lies!" wailed Eric Dann. "I never was inland--from the coast. I met Ormiston. He talked cattle. He inflamed me about a fabulous 範囲 in the Northern 領土--west of the 湾. Gave me the 地図／計画する we've trekked by. I planned with him to 説得する you to 召集（する） a 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒 of cattle...I didn't know that he was the bushranger Pell. That 地図／計画する is 誤った. I couldn't 自白する--I couldn't--I kept on blindly...We're lost--Bligh knows that. Ormiston could not corrupt him. Yet he wouldn't betray me to you. We're lost--irretrievably lost. And I'm damned--to hell!"

Stanley Dann expelled a 広大な／多数の／重要な breath and sat 負かす／撃墜する on a pack as if his 脚s had been chopped from under him.

"Lost! Yea, God has forsaken me," he whispered.

Bligh was the first to move after a stricken silence. "Mr. Dann, you've got to hear that I didn't know all Eric 自白するd."

"Bligh, that is 平易な to believe, thank heaven," said Stanley, presently, his 発言する／表明する 伸び（る）ing timbre. "We'll thresh it all out 権利 now...Somebody light a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to 追い散らす this hateful gloom. Let me think a moment." And he paced somberly to and fro outside the 避難所. Presently Stanley Dann 直面するd them and the light; once more himself.

"Listen, all of you," he began, and again his 発言する／表明する had that wonderful 深い roll. "I cannot 砂漠 my brother. Whoever does stay here with me must carry on with the trek when we are able to continue. I have exacted too much of you all. I grieve that I have been wrong, self-中心d, 支配するing. Beryl, my daughter, will you stay?"

"Dad, I'll stay!" There was no hesitation in Beryl's reply, and to Sterl she seemed at last of her father's 血 and spirit. "Don't despair, Dad. We shall not all betray you!"

A beautiful light warmed his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な visage as he turned to Leslie. "Child, you have been 軍隊d into womanhood. I 疑問 if your parents should 影響（力） your 決定／判定勝ち（する） here."

"I would not go 支援する to marry a 王室の duke!" replied Leslie.

"Mrs. Slyter, your girl has indeed grown up on this trek," went on Dann. "But she will need a mother. Will you stay?"

"Need you ask, Stanley? I don't believe whatever lies in 蓄える／店 for us could be so bad as what we've lived through," 再結合させるd the woman, calmly.

"Slyter?"

"Stanley, I started the race and I'll make the good fight."

"Hazelton!" 需要・要求するd Dann, without a trace of 疑問. His exclamation was not a query.

"I am keen to go on," answered Sterl. "Krehl!"

The cowboy was lighting a cigarette, a little clumsily, because Beryl was hanging の上に his arm. He puffed a cloud of smoke which hid his 直面する.

"Wal, boss," he drawled, "it's shore a 広大な／多数の／重要な 特権 you've given me. Jest a chance to know an' fight for a man!"

Larry, Rollie, and Benson, almost in unison, 急いでd to 提携させる themselves under Red's 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する.

法案, the cook, stepped 今後 and unhesitatingly spoke: "Boss, I've had enough. I'm getting old. I'll go home with Bligh."

"Bingham, put it up to our 黒人／ボイコット man Friday," said Dann.

Slyter spoke 簡潔に in that jargon which the 黒人／ボイコット understood.

Friday leaned on his long spear and regarded the （衆議院の）議長s with his 抱擁する, unfathomable 注目する，もくろむs. Then he swerved them to Sterl and Red, to Beryl, to Leslie, and tapped his 幅の広い 黒人／ボイコット breast with a slender 黒人／ボイコット 手渡す: "Imm no fadder, no mudder, no brudder, no gin, no lubra," he said, in slow, laborious dignity. "Tinkit go bush alonga white fella cowboy pards!"

At another time Sterl would have shouted his gladness, but here he only hugged the 黒人／ボイコット man. And Red clapped him on the 支援する.

Suddenly a 激しい 射撃 にわか景気d hollowly under the 避難所, paralysing speech and 活動／戦闘. The odor of burnt 砕く permeated the 空気／公表する. There followed a queer, faint （電話線からの）盗聴 sound--a shuddering quiver of 手渡す or foot of a man in his death throes. Sterl had heard that too often to be deceived. Stanley Dann broke out of his rigidity to wave a shaking 手渡す, "Go in--somebody--see!" he whispered.

Benson and Bligh went slowly and hesitatingly under the 避難所. Sterl saw them over Eric Dann on the 担架. They straightened up. Bligh drew a 一面に覆う／毛布 up over the man's 直面する. That pale blot 消えるd under the dark covering. The drovers stalked out. Bligh accosted the leader in hushed 発言する／表明する: "準備する for a shock, sir."

Benson 追加するd gruffly: "He blew out his brains!"

Red Krehl was the first to speak, as he drew Beryl away from that dark 避難所. "Pard," he ejaculated, "he's paid! By Gawd, he's 発射 himself-- only good thing he's done on this trek! Squares him with me!"

CHAPTER 27

No man ever again looked upon the 直面する of Eric Dann. The agony of his last moment after the 自白 of the deceit which 急落（する），激減（する）d his brother and the drovers into 悲劇の 大災害 was cloaked in the 一面に覆う／毛布 thrown over him. An hour after the 行為 which was 広大な／多数の／重要な in 割合 to his 証拠不十分, he lay in his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な. Sterl helped dig it by the light of a たいまつ which Friday held.

They were called to a late supper. 法案, actuated by a strange 感情 at variance with his abandonment of the trek, excelled himself on this last meal. The leader did not …に出席する it.

No orders to guard the 暴徒 were 問題／発行するd that night. But Sterl heard Bligh tell his men they would 株 their last watch. The girls, wide-注目する，もくろむd and sleepless, haunted the 有望な 解雇する／砲火／射撃. They did not want to be alone. Sterl and Red sought their own テント.

"Hard lines, pard," said Red, with a sigh, as he lay 負かす／撃墜する. "It's turrible to worry over the other people. But mebbe this steel 罠（にかける） on our gizzards will 緩和する now that Eric at last made a clean 職業 of it. You never can tell about what a man will do...An' as for a woman--didn't yore heart jest flop over when Beryl answered for her dad?"

"Red, it sure did!"

"Bingham, we break （軍の）野営地，陣営 at once," said Stanley Dann as he met Slyter at breakfast. "What do you say to trekking west along this river?"

"I say good-o," replied the drover. "Why not divide the 負担 on the second dray? There's room on the wagons. That dray is worn out. Leave it here."

"I agree," returned the leader. Already the tremendous incentive of starting a new trek, in the 権利 direction, had 掴むd upon them all.

"My wife can 運動 my wagon. So can Leslie, where it's not overrough. We'll be shy of drovers, Stanley."

"Plenty bad 黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up," Friday broke in.

Rollie tramped up to 報告（する）／憶測 that the 暴徒 was still 残り／休憩（する）ing, but that the larger herd of horses had been scattered.

"We 設立する one horse speared and 削減（する） up. Abo work," 追加するd Rollie.

"Could these savages prefer horseflesh to beef?" queried Dann, incredulous.

"Some tribes do, I've been told. Bligh heard 黒人／ボイコットs 早期に this morning," 主張するd Slyter. "We cannot get away any too soon now."

Bligh and his three dissenters drove a string of horses across the river. 法案, the cook, had slipped 負かす／撃墜する the bank, under cover of the 小衝突, to またがる one of those horses. He did not say good-by nor look 支援する but followed the drovers 負かす／撃墜する the path, and into the river.

"Queer 取引，協定 that," spoke up the ever vigilant Red, who sat by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 oiling his ライフル銃／探して盗む. "Bligh was 甘い on Beryl at first. You'd reckon he'd say good-by an' good luck to her, if not the old man."

"Red, I'll bet you two-bits Bligh comes 支援する."

"Gosh, I hope he does. I jest feel sorry for him, as I shore do for the other geezers who got turribly stuck on Beryl Dann..."

"Uh--oh!" 警告するd Sterl, too late.

Beryl had passed Red, to hear the last of his scornful 発言／述べる to Sterl.

"You're sorry for whom, Red Krehl?"

"Beryl, I was sorry for Bligh," drawled Red, coolly. "Me an' Sterl 空気／公表する gamblin' on his sayin' good-by to you. I'm bettin' thet if he's smart he won't try. Sterl bets he will."

"And if Bligh's smart why won't he try to say good-by to me?" retorted Beryl.

"Wal, he'll get froze for his 苦痛s."

"He will indeed--the coward! And now what about the other geezers who're stuck on Beryl Dann?"

"Aw, just natoorally I feel sorry for them."

"Why--Why! You-all-of-a-sudden noble person!" she flashed, furiously.

"Wal, 行方不明になる Dann, it so happens thet I'm one of them unfortunate geezers who got turribly stuck on you," returned the cowboy.

All in one moment, Beryl was transformed from a 猛烈に 傷つける woman, passionately furious, to one amazed, bluntly told the truth that she had yearned for and ever 疑問d, robbed at once of all her 炎, to be left pale as pearl.

"Mr. Krehl, it's a pity--you never told me," she cried. "Perhaps the geezer who's so terrible stuck on me might have 設立する out he's not really so unfortunate, after all."

"Come out of it, kids," whispered Sterl. "Here comes Bligh, and I 勝利，勝つ the bet."

The young drover 直面するd Sterl to 除去する his sombrero and 屈服する. Water dripped off him from the waist 負かす／撃墜する.

"Beryl, I dislike to go--like this," he said huskily. "But when I （機の）カム on this trek I had hopes--of--of--of--you know what. I pray your Dad gets 安全に through--and I wish you happiness. If it is as we--we all guess, then the best man has won!"

"Oh, （頭が）ひょいと動く, how 甘い of you!" cried Beryl, radiantly, and all the pride and 軽蔑（する） of her were as if they had never been. "I'm sorry for all-- that you must go...Kiss me good-by!" And giving him her 手渡すs she leaned to him and 解除するd a scarlet 直面する. Bligh kissed her heartily, but not on the lips. Then 解放（する）ing her he turned to Sterl and Red.

"Hazelton, Krehl, it's been dinkum to know you," he said, 延長するing his 手渡す. "Good-by and good luck." Then Bligh 遠くに見つけるd Dann coming from his wagon, and strode to 迎撃する him. At that instant Red leaped like a panther. "Injuns!" he yelled. "Duck!"

Sterl ducked, his swift gaze taking the direction of Red's leveling ライフル銃／探して盗む. He was in time to see a naked savage on the 山の尾根 in the very 活動／戦闘 of throwing a spear. Then Red's ライフル銃／探して盗む 割れ目d. The abo fell 支援する out of sight on the 山の尾根.

Sterl heard, too, almost 同時に, the chucking thud of a spear entering flesh. Wheeling he saw the long 軸 quivering in the middle of Bligh's 幅の広い 支援する.

"Get 負かす／撃墜する behind something!" yelled Sterl, at the 最高の，を越す of his 肺s. And he ran for the ライフル銃／探して盗む against a wagon wheel.

"Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella--の近くに up," panted Friday, and pointed to the low rise of brushy ground just 支援する of （軍の）野営地，陣営.

Red's ライフル銃／探して盗む 割れ目d again. There was a hideous screech of agony. Dann and Slyter had taken 避難 behind Slyter's wagon. A drover was hurrying the women inside it. "嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する!" Slyter 命令（する）d. "Stanley, here's one of my ライフル銃／探して盗むs...Watch sharp! Along that bit of bush!"

Yells of alarm from the drovers across the river drew from Dann a にわか景気ing order: "Stay over there! Ride! Abo attack!"

Sterl swept his ちらりと見ること around in search of Red. It passed over Bligh, who was lying on his 味方する, in a last convulsive writhing.

"Pard," shouted Red, from behind the dray a dozen steps away, "they こそこそ動くd on us from the left. They'll work 支援する that way an' I seen Larry an' Ben riding' hell-bent for the river bank. We'll heah them open the ball pronto..."

Red's ライフル銃／探して盗む spoke ringingly. "Ha! These abo's ain't so careful as redskins."

"Where's Rollie?"

"To my 権利 heah, 支援する of the スピードを出す／記録につける. But he's only got his six-gun. Pard, put yore hat on somethin' an' stick it up, all same old times."

The ruse drew whistling spears. One struck the wagon seat; the other pierced Sterl's hat and jerked it away.

Again Red 発射. "I got that bird, pard. Seen him throw. Aw, no, these 黒人／ボイコットs cain't throw a spear atall!"

Then the drovers across the river entered the 約束／交戦, and Larry and Benson began to shoot.

"They must be slopin', pard, but I cain't see any," called Red.

The 解雇する／砲火／射撃ing 中止するd. One of the drovers across the river あられ／賞賛するd Dann: "They broke and ran. A hundred or so."

"Which way?"

"支援する over the 負かす／撃墜するs."

"You drovers get on!" yelled Dann. "（疑いを）晴らす out! Bligh's done for!"

Friday appeared, darting from tree to tree, and disappeared. Red （機の）カム running to join Sterl. "All over most before it started," he said. "Did you bore one, pard?"

"I'm afraid not. But I made one yell."

"Wal, I made up for thet. They was 広大な／多数の／重要な tall fellers, Sterl, an' not 黒人／ボイコット atall. Kinda a cross between brown an' yaller."

Presently Friday strode 支援する into （軍の）野営地，陣営, his 武器 十分な of spears and wommeras. The cowboys met him, and Slyter and Dann followed in haste. Rollie was next to arrive.

"黒人／ボイコット fella run alonga dere," said Friday. "All afraid guns. Come 支援する bimeby."

Red gazed 負かす／撃墜する at the dead drover. "My gawd, ain't thet 堅い? Jest a second quicker an' I'd saved him! I saw somethin' out the corner of my 注目する，もくろむ. Too late!"

"Bligh stepped in 前線 of me in time to save my life," rolled Dann, tragically. "That 黒人／ボイコット was after me! Friday, will those abo's 跡をつける us?" queried Dann.

"Might be. Pretty cheeky."

"Pack! Hazelton, you and Krehl go with Larry and Benson. Drove the 暴徒 up the river. We'll follow behind the horses. Slyter, you and Friday help me bury this poor fellow."

Riding out with the drovers, the cowboys had a look at the dead aborigines. The savage who had 殺人d Bligh lay in the grass on the open 山の尾根 where Red had 遠くに見つけるd him. The abo did not 似ている Friday in any particular. He was taller, more slender, more marvelously formed. The color appeared to be a cast between brown and red. His visage was brutish and wild, scarcely human. Red was wrathful over the 罰金 horse the abo's had 虐殺（する）d and 削減（する） up. "Hossmeat eaters! When there was live beef an' daid beef for the takin'!"

The 暴徒 had moved upriver of its own volition. The drovers caught up in short order. The ground on this 味方する of the river made better going than that on the other. The surface was hard and level, the grass luxuriant, and clumps of brushland 広げるd away to the north. The sky was 黒人／ボイコット with circling, dropping birds of prey. The large gum trees were white with birds. Ahead of the 暴徒, kangaroos dotted the rippling 負かす／撃墜するs.

Friday, trotting along beside Sterl's horse, spears and wommera in 手渡す, often gazed 支援する over his shoulder. It was not possible to believe they had seen the last of this strange and warlike tribe of aborigines. によれば Slyter, a daylight attack was 極端に rare. The earliest 夜明け hour had always been the most 都合のよい for the 黒人／ボイコットs to attack and perhaps the worst for the drovers, since tired guards are likely to 落ちる asleep.

Toward sundown Slyter left his wife to 運動 his wagon and 開始するing a horse 棒 ahead, 明白に to 選ぶ a （軍の）野営地，陣営 場所／位置. Besides grass, water and firewood, there was now imperative need of a （軍の）野営地，陣営 which the aborigines could not approach under cover. Sunset had come when Slyter finally called a 停止（させる）. Three gum trees 示すd the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Off toward the river a hundred 棒s grew a dense copse fringed by 孤立するd bushes. The 残り／休憩（する） was level, grassy 負かす／撃墜するs.

"今後 everyone does two men's work," にわか景気d Dann. "Mrs. Slyter and the girls take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of rations and cooking. We men will 供給（する） firewood, and wash dishes."

"It's important to sleep away from the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and the wagons," 主張するd Slyter. "Keep a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすing all night. 黒人／ボイコットs often spear men while they are asleep."

"Old stuff for me an' Sterl, boss," drawled Red. "We're used to sleepin' with one 注目する，もくろむ open. An' heah--why we can heah a grasshopper scratch his nose!"

But 非，不，無 of the trekkers laughed any more, nor smiled.

The cowboys helped Dann and Slyter carry ground cloths, 一面に覆う／毛布s and 逮捕するs over to the fringe of 小衝突 近づく the copse. That appeared to be an impenetrable 厄介な ブレーキ, a 都合のよい place, thought Sterl. Beds were laid under the 小衝突. The three women were to sleep between Dann and Slyter. The greedy mosquitoes had become a 第２位 裁判，公判.

The men returned to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

"It will be 有望な moonlight presently," Dann said. "That's in our 好意, Benson, take Larry and Roland on guard. I needn't tell you to be vigilant. Stay off your horses unless there's a 急ぐ, or something unusual. Come in after midnight to wake Hazelton and Krehl."

"Hazelton, where will you sleep?" asked Benson.

"What do you say, Red?" returned Sterl.

"Somewhere pretty の近くに to these trees, on the 味方する away from the open. We'll heah you when you call."

When a gentle 手渡す fell on his shoulder and Friday's 発言する／表明する followed, Sterl felt that he had not had his 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd longer than a moment.

"All 井戸／弁護士席, Friday?" he asked.

"Eberytink good. But bimeby bad," replied the 黒人／ボイコット.

Red had sat up putting on the coat he has used for a pillow. Everything was wet with dew. The moon had 急に上がるd beyond the zenith and 炎d 負かす／撃墜する with supernatural whiteness. The 負かす／撃墜するs 似ているd a 雪の降る，雪の多い 範囲. A 恐ろしい stillness 統治するd over the wilderness. Even the mosquitoes had gone.

At the campfire the three drovers whom they were to relieve sat drinking tea.

"How was tricks, Ben?" asked Red.

"暴徒 bedded 負かす／撃墜する. Horses 静かな. Not a move. Not a sound."

The 暴徒 was like a checkerboard on the silvery 負かす／撃墜するs. They passed the two herds of horses, the larger of which, Dann's, were grouped between the cattle and the （軍の）野営地，陣営.

Red chose a position 近づく a 選び出す／独身 tree on that 味方する from which they could see both the 暴徒 and the remuda. They remained on foot. Friday made off into the ghostly brightness, returned to squat under the tree. His silence seemed encouraging.

"Let's take turns dozin'," 示唆するd Red, and proceeded to put that idea into 死刑執行.

Sterl 示すd a 漸進的な slanting of the moon and a 減らすing of the radiance. He fell into half slumber. When he awakened the moon was far 負かす／撃墜する and weird. The hour before 夜明け was の近くに at 手渡す.

"Pard, there's no change in the herd, but Dann's horses have worked off a bit, an' Slyter's 空気／公表する almost in （軍の）野営地，陣営," said Red.

"Ssh!" hissed the 黒人／ボイコット. If he had heard anything he did not 示す what or whence. ライフル銃／探して盗むs in 手渡すs, the cowboys stood motionlessly in the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the tree. Several times Friday laid his ear to the ground, an 活動／戦闘 remarkably 類似の to that of Indian scouts they had worked with. The gray gloom made the campfire fade into a ghostly flicker.

"Smellum 黒人／ボイコット fella!" whispered Friday suddenly. Like a hound, his keenest sense was in his nose. An aboriginal himself, he smelled the approach of his 種類 on the 負かす／撃墜するs.

"What do?" whispered Sterl, hoarsely, leaning to Friday's ear.

"Tinkit more better alonga here."

"Pard, I cain't smell a damn thing," whispered Red.

"I'm glad I cain't. If we could--these abo's would be の近くに...Red, it's far worse to stand than a Comanche stalk."

"Sssh!" The 黒人／ボイコット 追加するd a 手渡す to his 警告を与える. Again the cowboys became statues.

"Obber dere," whispered Friday. And to Sterl's 広大な／多数の／重要な 救済 he pointed away from （軍の）野営地，陣営. But though Sterl 緊張するd his ears to the extent of 苦痛 he could not hear a sound.

Suddenly the speaking and 悪意のある silence broke to a thud of hoofs. Sterl jerked up as if galvanized.

"Skeered hoss. But not bad. Reckon he got a scent, like Friday," whispered Red.

Another little run of hoofs on soft ground!

"I heahed a hoss wicker," whispered Red, intensely. Friday held up his 手渡す. Events were about to break, and Sterl 迎える／歓迎するd the fact with a 解放（する） of 緊張.

Whang! On the still 空気／公表する sped a strange sound, familiar, though Sterl could not identify it. 即時に there followed the peculiar thud of ミサイル entering flesh! It could not have been a 弾丸, for no 報告（する）／憶測 followed. Hard on that sound （機の）カム the shrill, horrid unearthly 叫び声をあげる of a horse in mortal agony. A 続けざまに猛撃するing of hoofs--and a 激しい 団体／死体 thudding the ground. The herd took fright, snorting and whistling.

"You savvy wommera?" asked Friday, in a whisper.

"I shore did. An' you bet I shivered in my boots," replied Red.

Then the strange sound, almost a twang, became （疑いを）晴らす to Sterl's mind.

"黒人／ボイコット fella spearum hoss," 追加するd Friday.

Red broke into 悪口を言う／悪態s. "They're cuttin' up one of our hosses...I can heah the 引き裂く of hide! Let's こそこそ動く over an' shoot the gizzards out of them!"

CHAPTER 28

Sterl gave grim acquiescence to Red's bold suggestion. But Friday whispered: "More better 黒人／ボイコット fella go alonga bush corroboree."

"Pard, he 会談 sense," said Red. "It's better we let the abo's gorge themselves on horse meat, than for us to run the littlest 危険."

"Righto, Red. But it galls me," 再結合させるd Sterl, and lapsed into silence again. New, faint sounds reached their ears--what must have been a rending of bones. Splashing sounds 後継するd; then the keenest listening was in vain. At daylight Red said he would ride out and see what 調印するs the marauding abo's might have left. Sterl returned to （軍の）野営地，陣営.

All the men were up and Slyter was helping his wife get breakfast. His 注目する，もくろむs questioned Sterl in mute 苦悩. But upon 審理，公聴会 Sterl's 報告（する）／憶測 he was far from mute. Dann, too, ground his teeth.

"We could spare a bullock, but a good horse--"

"Boss," said Red, as he 棒 into （軍の）野営地，陣営, "I 設立する where them abo's had killed an' butchered yore boss. Nary hide nor hair nor hoof left! Must have been a hundred abo's in the outfit!"

For ten nights that 禁止（する）d of aboriginals, 増強するd at every （軍の）野営地，陣営, hung on the 跡をつけるs of the trekkers. Nothing was ever seen of them but their haunting smoke 魔法. The silence, the mystery, the 必然的な attack on the horses in the gray 夜明け, wore ますます upon the drovers. The savages never killed a beef. The horrible 恐れる they impressed upon the 追求するd was that when they tired of horseflesh they would try to 得る human flesh. For Slyter averred that they were cannibals. Friday, when anyone について言及するd this 悲惨な 可能性, looked blank.

Now the trekkers approached the end of the 負かす／撃墜するs. The river had 減らすd to a creek. Day by day the patches and fringes of bush had encroached more upon the green, 向こうずねing monotony. Vague blue tracery of higher ground hung over the horizon. The waterfowl, except for cranes and egrets, had given way to a variable and colorful parrot life.

"Makes no difference if we do pass the happy huntin' ground of this 産む／飼育する of abo's," said Red, one night. "We'll only run into more. This heah bunch has got me buffaloed. You cain't see them. A coupla more hosses butchered will put me on the warpath, boss or no boss! I figger that killin' some of them would stop their doggin' us. Thet used to be the 事例／患者 with the plains redskins."

As the bush encroached more upon the 負かす／撃墜するs, corroborees were held nightly by the aborigines. The wild revels and the weird chantings 殺人d sleep for the trekkers. Always over them hovered the evil portent of what the cannibals had been known to do in the remote Australian wilderness.

One gray morning 夜明けd with bad news for the Slyters. Leslie's thoroughbred, a gray roan stallion of 広大な／多数の／重要な 約束, which the girl called Lord Chester, was 行方不明の from the 禁止（する）d. Red ran across the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where he had been killed and butchered. Upon their return to （軍の）野営地，陣営, Leslie was waiting in 苦しめる.

"Les, we cain't find him," 自白するd Red. "An' I jest reckon he's gone the way of so many of Dann's hosses." She broke 負かす／撃墜する and wept 激しく.

"Say, cain't you take yore 薬／医学?" queried Red, always 傾向がある to hide his softer 味方する under a cloak of bitterness or 軽蔑（する）. "This heah trek ain't no circus parade. What's another hoss, even if he is one of yore thoroughbreds?"

"Red Krehl!" she cried in 熱烈な amaze at his 明らかな callousness. "I've lost horses--But Chester!--It's too much--I loved him--almost as I do--Jane."

"Shore you did. I felt thet way once over a hoss. It's 堅い. But don't be a baby."

"Baby? I'm no baby, Red Krehl! It's Dann and Dad--and you--all of you who've lost your 神経! If you and Sterl--and Larry and Rol--if you had any man in you--you'd kill these abo's!"

The girl's passion, her rich 発言する／表明する stinging with 軽蔑（する）, appeared to 攻撃する the cowboy.

"By gosh, Leslie," he replied. "I shore deserved thet. No excuse for me, or any of us, onless we're jest plain worn to a frazzle."

"Red Krehl, what do you mean by that speech?" 需要・要求するd Beryl.

"Never mind what I meant. Leslie 攻撃する，衝突する me one below the belt."

"That is no 推論する／理由 for you to concoct some 血 報復 of 復讐. Leslie is a grand girl. She has 証明するd that to me. But she's like you--a savage. She forgets."

"Yeah? Forgets what?" drawled the cowboy.

"That her loss was only a horse. If you and Sterl and Larry and Rollie should be killed or 不正に 負傷させるd--our trek is doomed."

"Beryl," returned Red, "you're smarter than any of us. But Leslie's ravin' is more sense that yore 知能. It's a hard nut to 割れ目..."

A hundred times that day Sterl saw Red turn in his saddle to look for the smoke signals of the aboriginals rising above the bush horizon to the north. Toward noon of that day they 消えるd. But that night in （軍の）野営地，陣営, when Larry, Rollie and Benson were about to go on guard, Friday held up his 手渡す. "Corroboree!" They listened. From the 不明瞭 wailed a 詠唱する as of lost souls.

"How far away, Friday?" asked Red, tersely.

"の近くに up."

"How many?"

"Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella. No gin. No lubra."

Red swept a blue-解雇する／砲火／射撃 ちらりと見ること all around to see that he would not be overheard by the women. "Fellers, it's a hunch. 得る，とらえる yore ライフル銃／探して盗むs an' extra cartridges. We'll give these abo's a mess of lead."

Friday led the way beyond （軍の）野営地，陣営. As they 近づくd the bush the 詠唱する swelled to a pitch 示すing many 発言する／表明するs. Soon, dark, dancing forms grotesquely crossed the firelight. Friday led a ジグザグの way through the bush and 小衝突.

They were 停止（させる）d by a stream or pond.

"About as far as we can get," whispered Red. "Let's take a peep. Careful now!"

Silently the five rose from behind the fringe of 小衝突, to peer over the 最高の，を越す. Sterl was surprised to see a wide stretch of water, mirroring three 解雇する／砲火／射撃s and fantastic 人物／姿／数字s of abo's dancing in strange gyrations. The distance was about a hundred yards.

"Plenty 黒人／ボイコット fella," whispered Friday, in 緊張した excitement. "Big corroboree! 十分な debbil along hoss meat! Bimeby bad!"

"I should snicker to snort," whispered Red. "Mebbe he means thet horseflesh has gone stale. They want long-pig! Let's でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる it thet way."

"It's a cinch they'll roast us next!" said Sterl.

"All 権利," whispered Red, tensely. "Make shore of yore first 発射. Then empty yore ライフル銃／探して盗むs pronto, reload, an' slope. Pard Sterl, forget yore Injun-lovin' 証拠不十分, an' shoot like you could if one of us was in there roastin' on the coals."

They cocked and raised their ライフル銃／探して盗むs. Sterl drew 負かす／撃墜する upon a dense group of dark 人物／姿／数字s, 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd together, swaying in unison.

"One--two--three--shoot!" hissed Red.

The ライフル銃／探して盗むs 割れ目d. Pandemonium broke loose. The abo's knocked against each other in their mad 急ぐ. And a merciless 解雇する／砲火／射撃 注ぐd into them. When Sterl paused to reload he peered through the smoke. Red was still 狙撃. From the circle of light, gliding 黒人／ボイコット forms 消えるd. But around the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s lay 傾向がある abo's and many writhing, and shrieking.

"Slope--fellers," ordered Red, huskily, and then turned away on the run. At length the cowboys 停止（させる）d from exhaustion.

"Reckon we're out of--reach of--them spears," he gasped. "I ain't used --to runnin'--Wal, did it work?"

"Work? It was a--大虐殺," 宣言するd Benson, in hoarse, broken accents.

"Let's rustle--for （軍の）野営地，陣営," 追加するd Red. "They'll all be--脅すd stiff."

His premonition had ample vindication. When Red called out, they all appeared from under the wagon.

"What the hell?" にわか景気d Dann, as he stalked out, ライフル銃／探して盗む in 手渡す.

"Were you attacked?" queried Slyter, はっきりと.

Beryl ran straight into Red, to throw her 武器 around him, then 沈む limply upon his breast. She was beyond thinking of what her 活動／戦闘s betrayed.

"Boss," he said, "we went after them. It jest had to be done."

"井戸／弁護士席--what happened?" 需要・要求するd the leader, his breath whistling.

"We 爆破d hell out of them," 宣言するd Benson. "And it was a good thing."

"Hazelton, are you dumb?" queried Slyter, testily.

"卸売 殺人, boss," replied Sterl. "But 正当と認められる. Friday intimated that we might be roasting next on their spits."

"Oh, Red!" cried Beryl. "I thought you had--broken your 約束--that you might be--"

"Umpumm, Beryl," returned Red, visibly moved, as he 解放（する）d himself and 安定したd her on her feet. "We was shore crazy, but took no chances. Beryl, you an' Leslie can feel shore thet bunch of abo's won't hound us again."

Red's 予測 turned out to be true. There were no more （警察の）手入れ，急襲s on the horses--no more smoke signals on the horizon. But days had to pass before the drovers believed in their deliverance.

They trekked off the 負かす／撃墜する into mulga and spinifex country, covered with good grass, 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 watered and dotted with dwarf gums and fig and pandanus trees. The ground was 徐々に rising. They （機の）カム next into a 地域 of anthills. Many a field of these queer earthen habitations had they passed through. But this one gave unparalleled and remarkable 証拠 of the fecundity and energy of the 支持を得ようと努めるd--and leaf-eating ants. Gray and yellow in the sunlight, they were of every size, up to the 高さ of three tall men. At night they shone ghostly in the starlight. Sterl 設立する that every dead スピードを出す／記録につける he 削減（する） into was only a 爆撃する--that the 内部の had been eaten away. And from every dead 支店 or tree 注ぐd 前へ／外へ an army of ants, furious at the 侵略 of their homes.

At last Sterl understood the 推論する／理由 for Australia's magnificent eucalyptus trees. In the ages past, nature had developed the gum tree with its many variations, all secreting eucalyptus oil, as 防御の a characteristic as the spines on a cactus.

Then they （軍の）野営地，陣営d on a 範囲 of low hills, with a water-course which gave them an 平易な grade. Followed to its source, that stream led to a divide. Water here ran toward the west. That was such a tremendous circumstance, so 重要な in its 力／強力にする to 動かす almost dead hopes, that Dann called a 停止（させる） to 残り／休憩（する）, to recuperate, to make much needed 修理s.

"It is that unknown country beyond outback Australia!" exclaimed Slyter.

Friday made a slow gesture which seemed 象徴的な of the infinite. Indeed this abyss 似ているd the 無効の of the sky. The 早期に morning was hot, （疑いを）晴らす, windless. Beneath and beyond him rolled what seemed a thousand leagues of green-patched, white-（土地などの）細長い一片d slope, 主要な 負かす／撃墜する, 負かす／撃墜する to a nothingness that seemed to flaunt a changeless inhospitality in the 直面する of man. It was the other half of the world. It dreamed and brooded under the hot sun. On and on forever it spread and sloped and waved away into infinitude.

"Never-never Land!" gasped Slyter.

"White fella go alonga dere nebber come 支援する!" said Friday.

Turning away from that spectacle, the men returned 負かす／撃墜する the hill. At （軍の）野営地，陣営 Slyter 報告（する）／憶測d 簡単に and truthfully that the trek had passed on to the 国境 of the Never-never Land. No need to repeat the aborigine's 警告.

"Good-o!" にわか景気d Stanley Dann. "The 約束d Land at last! Roll along, you trekkers!"

Midsummer caught Dann's trek out in the arid 内部の. They knew it was midsummer by the heat and 干ばつ, but in no other ways for Dann and Sterl had long since tired of 記録，記録的な／記録するing labor, 悲惨, fight and death.

They had followed a stream bed for weeks Here and there, miles apart, they 設立する （疑いを）晴らす pools in rocky places. The bleached grass had grown scant, but it was nutritious. If the cattle could drink every day or two they would 生き残る. But many of the weak dropped by the wayside. Cows with newly born calves had been driven from the waterholes; and when the calves failed the mothers 辞退するd to leave them. Some mornings the trek would be held up because of 逸脱するd horses. Some were lost. Dann would not spare the time to 跡をつける them. The heat was growing 激しい.

The trek had become almost 大混乱／混沌とした when the drovers reached a zone where 激しく揺する 形式s held a succession of pools of （疑いを）晴らす water 含むing one that 量d to a pond.

"Manna in the wilderness!" sang out Stanley Dann, joyfully. "We will （軍の）野営地，陣営 here until the rains come again!"

To the girls that meant 生き残り. To the drovers it was exceedingly joyous news. The water was a saving factor, just in the nick of time. For everywhere were 証拠s of a long 停止 of rain in these parts. In good seasons the stream must have been a fair little river, and during flood time it had spread all over the flat. Birds and animals had 明らかに 砂漠d the locality. The grass was bleached white; 工場／植物s had been 燃やすd sere by the sun; trees appeared to be withering.

Dann said philosophically to Slyter: "We have water enough and meat and salt enough to 存在する here for five years." That showed his 傾向 of thought. Sterl heard Slyter reply that the 供給（する） of water would not last half as long as that. "We'll have to build a strong 小衝突 roof over that pond, in 事例／患者 the 砂じん嵐s begin," he 追加するd.

The most welcome feature of this （軍の）野営地，陣営 was the 停止 of haste. For days and weeks and months the drovers had been working beyond their strength. Here they could （不足などを）補う for that. The horses and cattle, after a long 乾燥した，日照りの trek, would not leave this 甘い water. Very little guarding would they need.

Sterl and Red, helped by Friday, leisurely 始める，決める about selecting a 場所／位置, pitching their テント; making things comfortable for a long stay. Working at these 仕事s took up the whole first day. Everyone else had been busy likewise. At supper Sterl gazed around to 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる a homelike （軍の）野営地，陣営. But if, or when, it grew 風の強い in this open 砂漠, he imagined, they would have more to 耐える than even the scorching heat of the （軍の）野営地，陣営 al the forks.

Mrs. Slyter laid out the same old food and drink, but almost unrecognizable because of her 技術 in cooking and serving. As for Beryl and Leslie, Red summed it up: "Wal, doggone it, I reckon a cowboy could stand a grubline forever with two such pretty waitresses...Heah you 空気／公表する, girls, thin as bean 政治家s an' 燃やすd brown as autumn leaves."

"We're not as thin as bean 政治家s!" 主張するd Leslie. This epithet of Red's was not wholly true--yet how わずかな／ほっそりした and frail Beryl was, and how slender the once sturdy Leslie!

The womenfolk, having served the supper, joined the drovers at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. After Larry and Rollie （疑いを）晴らすd away and washed the dishes. The drovers sat and smoked awhile, conversing desultorily.

"No 飛行機で行くs or mosquitoes here," said Dann.

"飛行機で行くs will come bye and bye," replied Slyter.

"There'll be a good few calves dropped here."

"And colts foaled, too. But we have lost so many!"

"Boss, where do you figger we 空気／公表する?" asked Red.

"Somewhere out in the Never-never Land. Five hundred miles outback, more or いっそう少なく."

"Dann, I'll catch up with my 定期刊行物 now," interposed Sterl. "I can 解任する main events, but not dates."

"Small 事柄 now. Keep on with your 定期刊行物, if you choose. But I--I don't care to 解任する things. No one would ever believe we 耐えるd so much. And I would not want to discourage 未来 drovers."

Red puffed a cloud of smoke to hide his 直面する, while he drawled: "Girls, you're gonna be old maids shore as shore can be, if we ever get out alive."

"You bet we are, Red Krehl, if help for such calamity ever depended on Yankee blighters we know," cried Leslie, with spirit.

Beryl's 返答 was surprising and 重要な. "We are old maids now, Leslie dear," she murmured, dreamily. "I remember how I used to wonder about that. And to--to pine for a husband...But it doesn't seem to 事柄 now."

"But it would be 井戸／弁護士席 if we could!"

Stanley Dann said: "God gave us thoughts and 声の 力／強力にするs but we use them, often, uselessly and foolishly. You young people 表明する too many silly ideas...You girls are not going to be old maids, nor are you cowboys ever going to be old bachelors. We are going through."

"Shore we 空気／公表する, boss," flashed Red. "But if we all could forget--an' 直面する this hell like you--an' also be silly an' funny once in awhile, we'd go through a damn sight better!"

Dann slapped his 膝 with a 広大な／多数の／重要な 幅の広い 手渡す. "Righto! I deserve the rebuke--I am too obsessed--too self-中心d. But I do 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる what I 借りがある you all. Relax, if you can. Forget! Play jokes. Have fun! Make love, God bless you!"

As Dann stamped away, Sterl 発言／述べるd that there was gray in the gold over his 寺s--that his でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる was not so upright and magnificent as it had once been. And that saddened Sterl. How all the dead must haunt him!

The abrupt change from 過度の labor, from sleeplessness and 恐れる to 残り／休憩（する）, 緩和する, and a sense of safety, 反応するd on all the trekkers. They had one 簡潔な／要約する （一定の）期間 of exquisite tranquillity before the 無効の shut 負かす／撃墜する on them with its limitless horizon lines, its invisible 限定するs, its heat by day, its appalling 孤独 by night, its sense that this raw nature had to be fought.

Nothing happened, however, that for the time 存在 正当化するd such 要塞 of soul and 団体／死体. If the sun grew imperceptibly hotter, that could be 計器d only by the touch of 明らかにする flesh upon metal. The scarcity of living creatures of the wild grew to be an 絶対の barrenness, as far as the trekkers knew. A gum tree blossomed all scarlet one morning, and the girls 発表するd that to be Christmas Day. Sterl and Red 設立する the last of the gifts they had brought on the trek. At supper 贈呈s followed. The result was not in Sterl's or Red's 計算／見積りs. From vociferous delight Beryl fell to hysterical weeping, which even Red could not assuage. And Leslie ate so much of the stale candy that she grew ill.

One day Friday sighted smoke signals on the horizon. "黒人／ボイコット fella の近くに up!" he said.

At once the （軍の）野営地，陣営 was 急落（する），激減（する）d into despair. Dann ordered 要塞s thrown up on two 味方するs. Then Friday called the leader's attention to a strange 行列 とじ込み／提出するing in from the 砂漠. Human 存在s that did not appear human! They （機の）カム on, 停止（させる）d, 辛勝する／優位d closer and closer, 停止（させる）d again, 麻ひさせるd with 恐れる yet driven by a stronger impulse. First （機の）カム a 得点する／非難する／２０ or いっそう少なく of males, 過度に thin, gaunt, 黒人／ボイコット as ebony and 事実上 naked. They all carried spears, but appeared the opposite of formidable. The gins were monstrosities. There were only a few lubras, scarcely いっそう少なく hideous than the gins. A 軍隊／機動隊 of naked children hung 支援する behind them, wild as wild beasts, ragged of 長，率いる, マリファナ-bellied.

Friday 前進するd to 会合，会う them. Sterl heard his 発言する／表明する, 同様に as low replies. But 調印する language predominated in that 簡潔な／要約する 会議／協議会. The 黒人／ボイコット （機の）カム running 支援する.

"黒人／ボイコット fella starbbin deff," he 発表するd. "Plenty sit 負かす／撃墜する die. Tinkit good feedum."

"Oh, good indeed, Friday," にわか景気d Dann, 喜んで. "Go tell them white men friends."

"By jove!" ejaculated Slyter. "Poor 餓死するd wretches! We have 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd cattle that it will be just 同様に to 虐殺（する）."

Benson had butchered a steer that day, only a haunch had been brought to （軍の）野営地，陣営. The 残り／休憩（する） hung on a 支店 of a tree a little way from （軍の）野営地，陣営 負かす／撃墜する the river course. 長，率いる, entrails, hide and 脚s still lay on the 激しく揺するs, ready to be 燃やすd or buried. Dann 教えるd Friday to lead the aborigines to the meat. They gave the （軍の）野営地，陣営 a wide, fearful 寝台／地位. Slyter brought a small 捕らえる、獲得する of salt. Larry and Rollie built a line of 解雇する／砲火／射撃s. Sterl and Red, with the girls, went の近くに enough to see distinctly. The abo's watched the drovers with ravenous 注目する，もくろむs. Larry pointed to a knife and cleaver on a スピードを出す／記録につける. All of them 推定する／予想するd a corroboree. But this tribe of abo's had passed beyond 儀式. They did not, however, 行為／法令／行動する like a pack of wolves. One tall 黒人／ボイコット, かもしれない a leader, began to 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセス up the beef into pieces and pass them out. The abo's sat 負かす／撃墜する to devour the beef, raw. When presently the 黒人／ボイコットs attacked the entrails, Beryl and Leslie fled.

When 不明瞭 fell the little campfires flickered under the trees, and dark forms crossed them, but there was no sound, no 詠唱する. Next day discovered the fact that the abo's had devoured the entire carcass, and lay around under the trees asleep. More abo's arrived that morning as famished as the first ones.

Friday had some （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to impart that night. These aborigines had for two years of 干ばつ been a 消えるing race. The birds and beasts, the snakes and lizards, had all 出発／死d beyond the hills to a lake where this weak tribe dared not go because they would be eaten by 巨大（な） men of their own color. Friday said that the old abo's 推定する／予想するd the rains to come after a season of 勝利，勝つd and 砂じん嵐s.

The drovers took that last （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） with 狼狽, and 控訴，上告d to their 黒人／ボイコット man for some 穀物 of hope.

"Blow dust like hellum bimeby!" he ejaculated, solemnly.

Days passed, growing uncomfortably hot during the noon hours, when the trekkers kept to their 避難所s.

The aborigines turned out to be good people. Day after day the men went out to 追跡（する） game, and the gins to dig 少しのd and roots. Dann 供給（する）d them with meat and the 捨てるs from the （軍の）野営地，陣営 （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Presently it became manifest they had 回復するd and were faring 井戸／弁護士席. The 疑惑 of the drovers that they might reward good 行為s with evil 窃盗s had so far been wholly unjustified. They never （機の）カム into the 野営.

One night the sharp-注目する，もくろむd Leslie called attention to a 薄暗い circle around the moon. Next morning the sun arose 曇った, with a peculiar red 煙霧.

A light 勝利，勝つd, the very first at that （軍の）野営地，陣営 which had been 指名するd 激しく揺する Pools by Leslie, sprang up to fan the hot 直面するs of the anxious 選挙立会人s, and presently （機の）カム laden with 罰金 invisible 粒子s and a 乾燥した，日照りの, pungent odor of dust.

CHAPTER 29

"Any of you folks ever been in a dust or sandstorm?" asked Red Krehl, at breakfast.

The general experience in that line had been 消極的な, and （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） 不十分な. "Bushwhackers have told me that 砂じん嵐s in the outback were uncomfortable," vouchsafed Slyter.

"Wal, I'd say they'd be hell on wheels. This heah country is open, flat an' 乾燥した，日照りの for a thousand miles."

"Are they たびたび（訪れる） on your western 範囲s?" queried Dann.

From the cowboys there followed a long dissertation, with anecdotes, on the dust and sandstorms which, in season, were the 禁止（する） of cattle 運動s in their own American 南西.

"Boys, I've never heard that we had anything 類似の to your 嵐／襲撃するs here in Australia," said Dann, when they had finished.

"Wal, boss, I'll bet you two-bits--one （頭が）ひょいと動く--you have wuss than ours," drawled Red.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席. We are forewarned. By all means let us 防備を堅める／強化する ourselves. We have already roofed the 激しく揺する pool. What else?"

Without more ado Sterl and Red put into 死刑執行 a 計画（する） they had 以前 decided upon. They emptied their テント and repitched it on the 物陰／風下 味方する of Slyter's big wagon. Then while they were covering the wheels as a windbreak, Beryl and Leslie approached, very curious.

"Red, why this noble look on your sweaty brow?" asked Beryl.

"Don't be funny, Beryl Dann. This heah is one hell of a sacrifice. Dig up all yore belongin's an' yore beds, an' put them in this テント."

"Why?" queried Beryl, incredulously.

"'原因（となる） you're gonna bunk in heah an' stay in heah till this comin' 砂じん嵐 is over."

"Yeah? Who says so?"

"I do. An', young woman, when I'm mad I'm やめる 有能な of usin' 軍隊."

"I'll just love that. But it's one of your bluffs."

Beryl stood before Red in her わずかな／ほっそりした boy's garb, 手渡すs on her hips, her fair 長，率いる to one 味方する, her purple 注目する，もくろむs 十分な of 反抗 and something else, fascinating as it was unfathomable.

"I'll muss yore nice 着せる／賦与するs all up," 主張するd Red. "But they gotta go in this テント an' so do you."

"Red Krehl, you are a tyrant. I'm trained to be meek and submissive, but I'm not your slave yet!"

"You bet you're not an' you never will be," said Red, hot instead of 冷静な／正味の. "You meek an' submissive?--My Gawd!"

"Red, I could be both," she returned, sweetly.

"Yeah? Wal, it jest wouldn't be natural. Beryl, listen heah." Red evidently had 反応するd to this 状況／情勢 with an inspiration. "I'm doin' this for yore sake. Yore 直面する, Beryl--thet lovely gold 肌 of yores, smooth as satin, an' jest lovely. A 乾燥した，日照りの 砂じん嵐 will shrivel it up into wrinkles! You girls will have to stay in heah while the dust blows. All day long! At night it usually 静かなs 負かす／撃墜する--at least where I come from...Please now, Beryl."

"All for my good looks!" murmured Beryl, with 広大な／多数の／重要な, 疑わしい 注目する，もくろむs upon him. "Red, I'm afraid I don't care so much about them as I used to."

"But I care," 再結合させるd Red.

"Then I'll obey you," she said. "You are very 甘い to me. And I'm a cat!"

The cowboys helped the girls move their beds, 一面に覆う／毛布s, and 激しい pieces into the テント. For their own 保護, they packed their 所持品 under the wagon, then 倍のd and tied canvas all around it, and 負わせるd 負かす／撃墜する the 辛勝する／優位s. They advised the drovers to do likewise which advice was followed. Sterl, going to the 激しく揺する pool for water, saw that the abo's were 築くing little windbreaks and 避難所s.

There seemed to be 罰金 invisible 解雇する／砲火／射撃 embers in a 勝利，勝つd that had perceptibly 強化するd. Transparent smoke appeared to be rising up over the sun. A 乾燥した，日照りの, acrid odor, a fragrance of eucalyptus and a pungence of dust, seemed to stick in the nostrils.

"There she comes, pard, rollin' along," drawled the Texan, pointing northeast, over the low ground where the bleached stream bed meandered.

At first, Sterl saw a rolling, 宙返り／暴落するing, mushrooming cloud, rather white than gray in color, moving toward them over the land. With incredible 速度(を上げる） it blotted out the sun, spread gloom over the earth, bore 負かす／撃墜する in convolutions. Like smoke expelled with tremendous 軍隊 the 前線 bellied and bulged and 大波d, whirling upon itself and threw out 広大な／多数の／重要な 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 集まりs of white streaked by yellow, like colossal roses.

They ran 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営, aware of 厚い streams of dust racing ahead of them. They wet two sheets and fastened one over the door of the girls' テント.

"空気／公表する you in there, girls?" shouted Red.

"Yes, our lords and masters, we're here. What's that roar?" replied Beryl.

"It's a 嵐／襲撃する, an' a humdinger. Don't forget when the dust seeps in bad to breathe through wet silk handkerchiefs. If you 港／避難所't handkerchiefs use some of them folderol silk things of Beryl's thet I seen once."

"井戸／弁護士席! You hear that, Leslie? Red Krehl, I'll wager you have seen a good 取引，協定 that you shouldn't have."

"Shore, Beryl. Turrible bad for me, too. Adios now, for I have no idee how long."

Sterl's last glimpse, as he はうd under the wagon, was the striated, bulging 前線 of the dust cloud, almost upon them.

"And now to wait it out," he said, with a sigh as he lay 負かす／撃墜する on his bed. "We have a lot to be thankful for. Suppose we were out in it?"

"Suppose thet 暴徒 急ぐs? There wouldn't be no sense in goin' out to stop them."

They settled 負かす／撃墜する to 耐える. It was pretty hot inside. After awhile invisible dust 侵入するd the pores and 割れ目s in the canvas. Red had covered his 直面する with a wet scarf, and Sterl followed 控訴. After sunset the 勝利，勝つd なぎd. The cowboys went out. An opaque gloom cloaked the scene. The dust was settling. The drovers were astir; the Slyters getting supper.

By evening the 空気／公表する had （疑いを）晴らすd a good 取引，協定 and 冷静な／正味のd off. After supper, Sterl and Red went out with the drovers to look for the horses and cattle. They had not 逸脱するd, but Dann ordered guard 義務 that night in three 転換s. When they returned, Friday sat by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with a meat bone in one 手渡す and a piece of damper in the other.

"How long 嵐／襲撃する last?" asked Red.

"Old 黒人／ボイコット fella say bery long."

"Friday, I wish the hell you'd be wrong once in awhile," complained Red.

"Bimeby," said the 黒人／ボイコット.

Sterl kept a smooth-barked piece of eucalyptus in his テント, and for every day that the dust blew and the heat grew more 激しい he 削減（する） a notch. And then one day he forgot, and another he did not care, and after that he thought it was no use to keep 跡をつける of anything because everybody was going to be smothered.

Yet they still carried on. Just when one of the trekkers was going to give up trying to breathe the 勝利，勝つd would なぎ for a night. Every morsel they ate gritted on the teeth. The drovers nightly circled the 暴徒 and horses; and butchered a bullock now and then for themselves and the abo's. Fortunately their drinking water remained pure and 冷静な／正味の, which was the one factor that kept them from utter despair.

Leslie, 存在 the youngest, and singularly 抵抗力のある in spirit, stood the ordeal longest before beginning to go downhill. But Beryl seemed to be dying. On （疑いを）晴らす nights they carried her out of the テント, and laid her on a 担架. At last only Red could get her to eat. Sterl considered it marvelous that she had not passed away long ago. But how tenaciously she had clung to love and life! Red had become silent, grim, in his grief over Beryl.

One night, after a scorching day that had been only 断続的に 風の強い, the 空気／公表する （疑いを）晴らすd enough to let a 病弱な spectral moon 向こうずね 負かす／撃墜する upon the （軍の）野営地，陣営. There was a difference in the atmosphere which Sterl imagined to be only another lying しん気楼 of his brain. Friday pointed up at the strange moon with its almost indistinguishable （犯罪の）一味, and said: "Bimeby!"

In the pale moonlight Beryl lay on her 担架, a 影をつくる／尾行する of her old self, her dark little 直面する lighted by luminous lovely 注目する，もくろむs that must have seen into the infinite. She was conscious. Dann, in his indestructible 約束, knelt beside her to pray. Red sat at her 長，率いる while the others moved to and fro silently, like ghosts.

"Red--don't take it--so hard," whispered Beryl, almost inaudibly.

"Beryl--don't give up--don't fade away!" implored Red, huskily.

"Red--you'd never--marry me--because of..."

"No! But not because of thet...I'm not good enough to wipe yore feet!"

"You are as 広大な／多数の／重要な--as my Dad."

Sterl led the weeping Leslie away. He could 耐える no more himself. Red would keep 徹夜 beside Beryl until she breathed her last. He had no feeling left when he put the 粘着するing Leslie from him and slunk 支援する to his 刑務所，拘置所 under the wagon, to はう in like an animal that hid in the thicket to die. And he fell asleep.

He awoke in the night. The moan of 勝利，勝つd, the rustle of leaves, the swish of 支店s were strangely absent. The stillness, the blackness, were like death.

Then he heard a faint almost imperceptible pattering upon the canvas. Oh! That lying trick of his fantasy! That phantom memory of 追跡する nights on the home 範囲s, when he lay snug under canvas to hear the patter of sleet, or snow, or rain! He had dreamed of it, here in this accursed Never-never Land!

But he heard the jingle of 刺激（する）s outside, and the soft pad of Friday's 明らかにする feet.

"Pard!--Pard! Wake--up!"

That was Red's 発言する／表明する, broken, sobbing.

"I'm awake, old-timer," replied Sterl.

"It's rainin'--pard!--Beryl's gonna live!"

For nineteen days it rained--at first, 刻々と. Before half that time was over the 乾燥した，日照りの stream bed was a little river running 速く. After the steadiest downpour had 中止するd, the rains continued part of every day and every night. On the morning of the twentieth day since the 砂じん嵐, the drovers arose to 迎える／歓迎する the sun again, and a gloriously changed land.

"On with the trek!" にわか景気d Stanley Dann.

He gave the aborigines a bullock, and steel 器具／実施するs that could be spared. When the trek moved out of 激しく揺する Pools these 黒人／ボイコット people, no longer scarecrows, lined up stolidly to watch the white men pass out of their lives. But it was impossible not to believe them 感謝する.

The grass waved green and abundant, 膝-high to a horse; flowers born of the rain bloomed everywhere; gum trees burst into scarlet 炎上, and the wattles turned gold; kangaroos and emus appeared in 軍隊／機動隊s upon the plain. Water lay in league-wide lakes, with the luxuriant grass standing fresh and succulent out of it. Streams ran bankfull and （疑いを）晴らす, with flowers and 旗s bending over the water.

The Never-never Land stretched out on all 味方するs, boundlessly. It was level brushland, barren in 乾燥した，日照りの seasons, rich now after the rains. Eternal spring might have dwelt there.

CHAPTER 30

Only the 黒人／ボイコット man Friday could tell how the trekkers ever reached the oasis from the （軍の）野営地，陣営 where Beryl （機の）カム so 近づく dying in the 砂じん嵐 and his 限られた／立憲的な vocabulary did not 許す of 詳細（に述べる）d description.

"Many moons," repeated the 黒人／ボイコット perplexedly. "Come alonga dere." And he pointed east and drew a line on the ground, very long, very 不規律な.

"No 黒人／ボイコット fella, no kangaroo, no goanna. This fella country no good. Plenty sun. Hot like hell. White fella tinkit he die. Boss an' Redhead fightum. Cattle no drink, 落ちる 負かす／撃墜する. Plenty hosses go. White fella sit 負かす／撃墜する. No water. Friday find water. One day two day along dis. Imm waterbag. Go 支援する. Makeum come."

That was a long dissertation for the 黒人／ボイコット. Sterl pieced it together and filled in the interstices. His mind seemed to be a labyrinthine maze of vague pictures and sensations made up of hot sun and arid wastes, of wheels rolling, rolling, rolling on, of （軍の）野営地，陣営s all the same, of ghostly しん気楼s, the infernal monotony of distances, and finally fading 直面するs, fading 発言する／表明するs, fading images, a horrible 燃やすing かわき and a mania for water.

He had come to his senses in a stream of （疑いを）晴らす, 冷静な／正味の running water. Gray 石／投石する ledges towered to the blue sky. There were green grass, 十分な-foliaged trees blossoming gold, and birds in noisy flocks. Once more the melodious cur-ra-wong of the magpie pealed in his dulled ears.

"God and our 黒人／ボイコット man have 配達するd us once more. Let us pray instead of think what has passed," said Stanley Dann, through 厚い, 分裂（する） lips from which the 血 ran. All seemed said in that.

As 広大な／多数の／重要な a 奇蹟 as the lucky 星／主役にする that had guided the trekkers here was their 回復 through 甘い fresh 冷静な／正味の water. Even its music seemed 傷をいやす／和解させるing. It gurgled and 泡d from under the ledges to 部隊 and form a goodly stream that sang away through the trees to the west. That was the birth of a river which ran toward the Indian Ocean. For Sterl, and surely all of them, it was the rebirth of hope, of life, of the sense of beauty. On the second morning Leslie staggered up to gaze about, thin as a wafer. She cried: "Oh, how lovely! 楽園 Oasis!"

Beryl could not walk unaided, but she 株d Leslie's joy. How frail a 団体／死体 now housed this chastened soul! Hammocks were strung for them in the shade, and they lay 支援する on pillows, wide-注目する，もくろむd.

Wild berries and fruit, fresh meat and fish, bread from the last 解雇（する） of flour, 追加するd their wholesome nourishment to the 魔法 of the 甘い 水晶 water.

"Let me stay here forever," pleaded Beryl. And Leslie 追加するd: "Oh, Sterl, let us never leave!"

One morning Friday sought out Sterl. "Boss, come alonga me."

"What see, Friday?" queried Sterl.

The 黒人／ボイコット tapped his 幅の広い breast with his virile 手渡す. "黒人／ボイコット fella tinkit see Kimberleys!"

"My--God!" gasped Sterl, suddenly pierced through with vibrating thrills. "Take me!"

They 規模d a gray escarpment. Far across a warm and colorful plain an upflung 範囲 rolled and 大波d along the western horizon.

Turning toward （軍の）野営地，陣営 and looking 負かす／撃墜する, Sterl cupped his 手渡すs and loosed a stentorian yell that pealed in echo from hill to hill. He waved his sombrero. The girls waved something white in return. Then Sterl ran 負かす／撃墜する the hill, distancing the barefooted 黒人／ボイコット.

Leslie ran to 会合，会う him, her heart in her 注目する，もくろむs. But Sterl saved his speech for that gaunt, golden-bearded leader. The moment was so 広大な／多数の／重要な that he heard his 発言する／表明する as a whisper.

"Sir--I 報告（する）／憶測--I sighted--the Kimberleys!"

Ten days 負かす／撃墜する the stream from that unforgettable 楽園 Oasis the trek （機の）カム out of a brushland into more open plains where 激しく揺するs and trees and washes were remarkable for their scarcity. The trekkers had been 減ずるd to a ration of meat and salt with one cup of tea, and one of stewed fruit each day. They throve and gathered strength upon it, but Sterl felt 確かな that the reaction （機の）カム as much from the ぼんやり現れるing purple 範囲, beckoning them on. Twenty-two hundred strong, the 暴徒 had 改善するd since they struck good water, and every day calves were born, 同様に as colts. No smoke signals on the horizon!

One day Sterl 残り／休憩（する）d a lame foot by leaving his saddle for Slyter's driver seat. Slyter's good wife lay alseep 支援する under the canvas, her worn 直面する betraying the trouble that her will and spirit had hidden while she was awake. Sterl talked to Slyter about the Kimberleys, the finding of suitable 駅／配置するs, the settling, all of which led up to what was in his mind--the 未来.

"Slyter, would it 利益／興味 you to learn something about me?" asked Sterl.

"Indeed it would, if you wish to tell," returned the drover.

"Thanks boss. It's only that I'd feel freer--and happier if you knew," 再結合させるd Sterl, and told Slyter why he and Red had come to Australia.

"And we'll never go 支援する," he 結論するd.

"After this awful trek, you can't still like Australia!"

"I'm mad about it, Slyter!"

"You tell me your story because of Leslie?"

"Yes, mostly. But if there had been no Leslie, probably I'd have told you anyhow."

"She loves you."

"Yes. And I love her, too. Only I have never told her that--nor the story you've just heard."

"Sterl, I could ask little more of the 未来 than to give my daughter to such a man as you, or Krehl. We have been through the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 together...As for you, young man, Australia will take you to its heart, and the past will be as if it had never been."

"I'm happy and fortunate to be able to cast my lot with you!"

"Righto! And here comes sharp-注目する，もくろむd Leslie. Sterl, I think I'll get off and またがる a horse for awhile. You 運動 and talk to Leslie."

Almost before the 激しい-footed drover was on the ground, Leslie was out of her saddle to throw him her bridle reins.

"How jolly!" she cried in gay 発言する／表明する, as she leaped to a seat beside Sterl. "Months, isn't it, Sterl, since I 棒 beside you like this?"

"Years, I think."

"Oh, that long agony!--But I'm forgetting it. Sterl, what were you talking to Dad about? Both of you so serious!"

"I was telling him what made me an outcast--drove me to Australia."

"Outcast? Oh, Sterl! I always wondered. Red, too, was so strange. But I don't care what you've ever been in the past. It's what you are that--that made me..."

When she choked up, Sterl repeated the story of his life and its fatality.

"How terrible! Sterl, was--was Nan very pretty? Did you love her very much?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Love is a terrible thing!"

"Les, that gives me an idee, as Red says. Let's get the best of this old terrible love."

"Sterl, it can't be done. I know."

"Les, it can. Listen. You get 持つ／拘留する of Red the very first chance--tonight in （軍の）野営地，陣営. Tell him that Beryl is dying of love of him--that she dreams of him--babbles in her sleep--that she can't live without him...And anything more you can （不足などを）補う!"

"Sterl Hazelton, I wouldn't have to 嘘（をつく）. That is all 絶対 true," returned Leslie.

"You don't say? That bad? Then all the better. Leslie, I'll tell Beryl what a 明言する／公表する Red is in over her."

"Is it true? Does Red care that much?" queried Leslie.

"Yes. I don't think it's possible to 誇張する Red's love for that girl. But he feels he is a no-good cowboy, as he calls it."

"You bet I'll help!" she flashed. "But--but who is going to--to tell you--about me?"

"Oh, that? 井戸／弁護士席, darling, if you think it's necessary you can tell me yourself."

She fell against him, quivering, her eyelids の近くにd. He wrapped his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her and drew her の近くに. At this juncture Mrs. Slyter's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム to them wildly.

"I've been listening to some very 利益／興味ing conversation."

"Oh--Mum!" 滞るd Leslie, aghast, starting up.

But Sterl held her all the closer. Presently he said: "井戸／弁護士席, then--Mum-- we have your blessing, or you would have interrupted long ago."

Sterl had contrived to get Red and the girls for a walk along the stream, and there at a murmuring waterfall, he led Beryl away from their companions.

"I'm terribly fond of you, Beryl."

"I am of you, too, Sterl. But you--and Red will be leaving us to become wanderers again--捜し出すing adventure. I wish I were a man."

"Who told you we'd be doing that?"

"Red."

They paused beside a 激しく揺する, upon which Sterl 解除するd Beryl to a seat, and he leaned against it to 直面する her.

"So that geezer has been 傷つけるing you again? Dog-gone him! Beryl, I'm going to 二塁打-cross him, give him away."

"You mean betray him?--Don't Sterl!"

"Ummpumm. We're not--leaving," he said. "I wouldn't leave Leslie and..."

"Oh, Sterl! Then--then--"

"Yes, then! And Red would never leave me. For why?"

Here Sterl 関係のある for the third time that day the story of his 追放する.

"How very wonderful of Red! Sterl, this Aussie lass will make up for all you've lost."

"Beryl, I'd be happier than I ever was if you and Red..."

"If only he could see!" she interrupted, passionately. "If only he could 許す and forget Ormiston--what I--what--he..."

Sterl しっかり掴むd her わずかな／ほっそりした shoulders and drew her 負かす／撃墜する until her 直面する was の近くに.

"Hush! Don't say that--don't ever think of that again!" he said, 厳しく. "That is 絶対 the only 障害 between you. The jealous fool in his bad hours thinks you 悔いる...I won't say it, Beryl Dann. And for Red's sake and yours and ours, Les's and 地雷, forget. Forget! Because Red Krehl worships you. Don't grieve another 選び出す／独身 hour. Don't believe in his 無関心／冷淡. Break 負かす／撃墜する his armor. Oh, child, a woman can, you know. Why--why Beryl..."

She slid off the 激しく揺する into his 武器, blind, weeping, torn asunder, her slender 手渡すs clutching him. "No--more," she sobbed. "You break--my heart--with joy. I--I had--despaired. Twice I have--nearly died. I knew--the next time...But this--this will save me."

Day after day the purple 範囲 ぼんやり現れるd closer. The scouts saw at last that the stream they had followed for so long was presently going to join a river. That green and gold line disappeared 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the northern end of the 範囲. And the next day the leader of the drovers, for once actuated by haste, made for the junction. Blue smoke rose about the big trees. It must come from aboriginals, but it was not 敵意を持った.

"Boss, I ben tinkit no 黒人／ボイコット fella," said Friday to Sterl. Sterl 棒 ahead to tell Dann.

"Aye, my boy, I guessed that," he cried. "We have fought the good fight. With His 指導／手引! Look around you, Sterl--richest, finest land I ever saw! Ha! A road--a ford!" and Dann pointed. He had indeed come to a road that sloped 負かす／撃墜する under the 巨大（な） trees to the shallow stream. His 信奉者s all saw, but 非，不，無 could believe his 注目する，もくろむs.

Three white men （機の）カム out into the open, 停止（させる）ing to 星／主役にする. They pointed. They gesticulated. They saw Dann's wagons, the women on the drivers' seats, the 機動力のある drovers, the big 禁止（する）d of horses, the 広大な／多数の／重要な 暴徒 and ran to 会合，会う the trekkers. Dann 停止（させる）d his four horses, and Slyter stopped beside him. The 機動力のある drovers lined up, a lean ragged 乗組員, with Leslie 目だつ の中で them, unmistakably a girl, bronzed and beautiful.

"Good day, cobbers!" called Dann.

"Who may you be?" replied one of the three, a stalwart man with clean-shaven, rugged 直面する and keen, intelligent 注目する，もくろむs.

"Are those mountains the Kimberleys?" asked Dann, intensely.

"Yes. The eastern Kimberleys. Drover, you can't be Stanley Dann?"

"It really seems I can't be. But I am!" 宣言するd Dann.

"広大な／多数の／重要な Scott! Dann was lost two years and more ago, （許可，名誉などを）与えるing to 報告（する）／憶測s at Darwin. It has taken you two years and five months to get here!"

"But death visited and dogged our trek, 式のs!" said Dann. "We trekked almost to the 湾 and then across the Never-never Land. And we lost several drovers, five thousand 長，率いる of cattle, and a hundred horses on the way."

"My word! What 広大な／多数の／重要な news for western Australia! I see you have a 暴徒 of cattle left. I'm glad to be the first to tell you good news."

"Good news?" にわか景気d Dann, in echo.

"井戸／弁護士席, rather. Dann, cattle are 価値（がある） unheard-of prices. Horses the same. 推論する／理由 is that gold has been discovered in the Kimberleys!"

"GOLD!"

"Yes, gold! There's been a 急ぐ-in for months. 地雷s south of here. Trekkers coming in from Perth and Fremantle. 植民／開拓者s by ship to Darwin and Wyndham. I have been freighting 供給（する）s in to the gold fields. My 指名する is Horton."

"Do you hear, all?" にわか景気d Dann. "The beginning of the empire I 想像するd."

"We all hear, Stanley, and our hearts are 十分な," replied Slyter.

"What river is this?" queried Dann, shaking off his bedazzlement, to point to the 向こうずねing water through the trees.

"That is the Ord. You have come 負かす／撃墜する the Elivre," replied Horton. "Dennison Plains are in sight to the south. The finest country, the finest grazing for 在庫／株 in the world!"

"Aye, friend. It looks so. But this road? Where does it lead and how far?"

"Follows the Ord to the seaport. Wyndham, a good few miles いっそう少なく than two hundred. You are in the nick of time, Dann. The 政府 will sell this land to you so cheap it is unbelievable!"

"Ha! This land?" called Dann, his 発言する／表明する rolling, "Dann's 駅／配置する! This will be our 範囲!"

"Stanley, we must send at once for 供給（する）s," said Slyter, rousing.

"Horton, do we look like 餓死するing trekkers?"

"Indeed you do. I never saw such a 頂点（に達する）-直面するd, ragamuffin lot of drovers. Or ladies so charming にもかかわらず all!"

"They have lived for days now wholly on meat."

"許す me, Dann, for not thinking of that! Sam, run and boil the billy. Dann, I can let you have tea, fruit, sugar, tinned milk..."

"Enough, man! Do not 圧倒する us! Slyter, what shall we do next--that is, after that cup of tea?"

"Stanley, we should thank heaven, pitch （軍の）野営地，陣営, and 計画（する） to send both wagons to Wyndham for 供給（する）s."

"Wal, 空気／公表する you gonna ask us to get 負かす／撃墜する an' come in?" drawled Red. "I reckon I can stand tea."

"American!" called out Horton, with twinkling 注目する，もくろむs.

"Savvied again. The 指名する is Krehl. An' heah's my pard, Hazelton."

After supper, Beryl and Leslie went into 会議／協議会 over the innumerable things they 手配中の，お尋ね者 bought. Sterl and Red sat beside a box and racked their brains to think of necessities to 購入（する） from town.

"Strange, Red, just think!" ejaculated Sterl. "We don't really need anything. We have lost the sense of need."

"Yeah! How about toothbrushes, 砕く, soap, towels, iodine, glycerine, 徹底的に捜すs, shears to 削減（する） hair--an' socks?"

"On account of the girls we must get over all these savage habits, I suppose...Have you made up your mind about Beryl?" Sterl asked, 回避するing his 注目する，もくろむs.

"Pard, she cares more about me than I deserve--than I ever had a girl care for me before. An' lately, I don't know how long long. She's been different. All that 悲惨 gone! She's forgot Ormiston an' every damn bit of thet--thet...An's she's been happy. Jest the sweetest, softest, lovingest, most unselfish creature under the sun! An' I'd be loco if I didn't see it's because of me--that she takes it for 認めるd..."

"I should think you'd be the happiest man in the world," 宣言するd Sterl, feelingly. "I am."

"I reckon I'd be too, if I'd jest give up."

"Red! Then 権利 this minute--do it!"

"宗教上の Mackeli! Don't knock me 負かす／撃墜する. All 権利, old pard, I knuckle. I show yellow! But there's a queer 新たな展開 in my mind. She always got the best of me. If I could jest think up one more way to get the best of her before, or mebbe better when I tell her how I want her--then I'd match you for who's the luckiest an' happiest man." He changed the 支配する 突然の. "Have you looked over this 範囲? Grandest I ever seen! Wal, think! I've got more money in my kick than I ever earned in my life. An' you had a small fortune when I see yore belt last."

"I have it all, packed in my 捕らえる、獲得する."

"Good! Wal, 有望な prospect, huh?"

By the eighth day, on which Benson and Roland were 推定する／予想するd to return with the wagons and 供給（する）s, Sterl and Red had 進歩d 井戸／弁護士席 with their cabin building. The 場所／位置 was the Ord River 味方する of the wooded point, high up on a grassy, flower-spangled bank, shaded by 広大な／多数の／重要な trees from the morning sun, and 直面するing the Kimberleys.

The cabin was to have thatched roof and 塀で囲むs, for which Friday scouted out a wide-leaved palm, perhaps a 種類 of pandanus. Slyter designed the 枠組み, which consisted of long 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 政治家s carefully fitted. Larry, who was a good carpenter, often lent a helping 手渡す. The girls, enthusiastic over its beauty, visited the 場所／位置 several times a day. Red, who was now 異常に 穏やかな and 甘い, made one characteristic 発言／述べる.

"Say, anybody would think you girls 推定する／予想するd to live over heah with us fellers!"

That sally precipitated blushes, a 大勝する, and from a little distance, very audible giggles.

"Red, that was a dig," remonstrated Sterl. "You are a mean cuss. If you would only take a 宙返り／暴落する to yourself the girls could come over here to live."

"Hell! I've shore 宙返り／暴落するd. What do you want for two-bits? Canary birds? An' why don't you figger out thet trick for me to play on Beryl? I cain't last much longer. Why, when she comes 近づく me I go plumb loco."

"Whoopee! That's talking! I've got the 取引，協定 planned!"

"Yeah?"

"It's clever. Even Dann thought so. He agreed. And he was tickled!"

"You 二塁打-crossin' two-直面するd Arizonie geezer!" ejaculated Red. "You told Dann before you told me?"

"Sure. I had to get his 同意. Listen, pard..."

Excited cries broke in upon their colloquy. The girls appeared off at the 辛勝する／優位 of the grove. Leslie cupped her 手渡すs to her lips and shrieked: "Boys, wagon's 支援する! Come!"

They raced like boys, to draw up abreast and panting before two bulging, canvas-covered wagons, and their excited comrades.

"Mr. Dann," Benson was 説. "Ten days going and coming. Fair to middling road. One wagon 負担d with food 供給（する）s, milk, sugar, vegetables, fruit, everything. Other 十分な of personal articles... Four freight wagons に引き続いて us with 板材, galvanized roofing, 道具s, utensils, 金物類／武器類, harness, mattresses, 中心的要素s--the biggest order ever filled in Wyndham!"

While the big wagons were 存在 unpacked, while the cowboys whooped and the girls squealed, a 安定した, voluminous stream of questions 注ぐd into the bewildered ears of Benson and Roland, who had been to town, to a seaport, who had heard news of the world, and of the old home.

Gold had indeed been discovered in the south and west of the Kimberleys. Ships and prospectors, sheepmen and drovers, trekkers and adventurers were coming north from Perth and Fremantle and points far to the south. Ships plied 定期的に to Darwin. Stanley Dann's trek across the Never-never Land was the wonder of two busy seaports.

There were letters for all the company except Sterl and Red. Somehow that silenced the drawling Red and struck a pang to Sterl's heart. Stanley Dann read aloud in his にわか景気ing 発言する／表明する a communication from 傷をいやす／和解させるd. He had got out 安全に with his comrades and the 暴徒 of cattle Dann had given them. They worked out toward the coast into 罰金 grazing country where he and his partners 設立するd a 駅／配置する. Ormiston's three escaping bushrangers had been 殺人d by aborigines. A 噂する that Dann's trekkers had 死なせる／死ぬd on the Never-never had に先行するd 傷をいやす／和解させるd's return to Queensland. But he never credited it and chanced a letter. The 政府 had 申し込む／申し出d to sell hundred-mile-square tracts of land in the outback for what seemed little money.

"Gosh! A hundred-mile-square ranch!" drawled Red. "I reckon I gotta buy myself a couple of them."

They settled themselves in the pleasant shade. Mrs. Slyter and Leslie served tea. Beryl sat pensive and abstracted. On that auspicious morning, when all had been gay, Red had not deigned to give her even a smile. What a 資本／首都 actor Dann was! To all save Sterl and Red he appeared only the 広大な／多数の／重要な leader, glad and beaming.

Presently Dann produced a little 黒人／ボイコット 調書をとる／予約する, worn of 支援する and yellow of leaf. He opened it meditatively.

"Beryl, will you please come here," he said, casually. "In this new and unsettled country I think I may be useful in other ways besides 存在 a cattleman. I shall need practice to acquire a seemly dignity, and a clarity of 発言する／表明する."

He continued to 検討する，考慮する over the yellow pages. Sterl saw the big fingers quiver ever so わずかに. Beryl, used to her father's moods, （機の）カム obediently to stand before him.

"What, Dad?" she 問い合わせd, curiously.

"Sterl, come here and stand up with Beryl," he called. "No, let Krehl come. He might be more fitting."

Red strolled 今後, his 刺激（する）s jingling, his demeanour as 冷静な／正味の and nonchalant as it ever had been.

"I've 観察するd you 持つ／拘留するing my daughter's 手渡す a good few times on this trek," Dann said, mildly. "Please take her 手渡す now."

As Red reached for Beryl's 手渡す she looked up at him with a wondering smile and her color 深くするd. Then Dann stood up to 解除する his 長，率いる and expose his bronze-gold 直面する, which appeared a 深遠な mask, except for the golden 雷 in his amber 注目する，もくろむs.

"What's the idea, boss?" drawled Red.

"Yes, Dad, what is--all this?" 滞るd Beryl, 混乱させるd.

"Listen, child and you Krehl," replied Dann. "This should be fun for you, and surely for the others. Please watch me. 非難する my 大臣の manner and 発言する／表明する. Trekking does not 改善する even the civilized and necessary graces. 井戸／弁護士席, here we are..."

And in a swift resonant 発言する／表明する he ran over the 開始 passages of the marriage service. Then, more slowly and impressively, he 演説（する）／住所d Red.

"James Krehl, do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife... to have and to 持つ／拘留する...to love and to 心にいだく...until death do you part?"

"I do!" replied Red, ringingly.

The leader turned to his daughter. "Beryl Dann, do you take this man to your lawful wedded husband...to have and to 持つ／拘留する...to love, 心にいだく and obey until death do you part?"

"I--I--I do!" gasped Beryl, faintly.

Dann 追加するd sonorously: "I pronounce you man and wife. Whom God has joined together let no man put asunder!"

Beryl 星／主役にするd up at him, visibly a prey to 相反する tides of emotions. It had been a play, of course, but the mere recital of the 公約するs, the 偽造の solemnity, had torn her serenity asunder. When her father embraced her, 厚い-発言する／表明するd and loving, she appeared その上の bewildered.

"Daddy, what a--a strange thing--for you to practice that--on me!"

"Beryl, it is the most beautiful thing of the ages...Krehl, I congratulate you with all my heart. I feel that she is 安全な at last."

Sterl dragged the astounded and backward Leslie up to the couple. "Red, old pard, put it there!" he cried, wringing Red's 解放する／自由な 手渡す. "Beryl, let me be the first to kiss the bride!" Leslie could only 星／主役にする, her lips wide.

"But--but it was only a play!" flashed Beryl. Then Red kissed her lips with a passion of tenderness and 暴力／激しさ commingled.

"Wal, wife, it was about time," drawled Red.

That word unstrung Beryl. "Wife?" she echoed, almost inaudibly. "Red! You--you married me--really? Father! Have I been made a--fool of?" cried Beryl, tragically.

"My daughter, compose yourself," returned Dann. "We thought to have a little fun at your expense. I am still an 任命するd clergyman. But you are Mrs. Krehl! I'll have marriage 証明書s somewhere in my luggage!"

She swayed 支援する to Red. She could not stand without support. She 解除するd frail brown 手渡すs that could not 粘着する to Red's sleeves.

"Red!--You never asked me!"

"Wal, honey, the fact was I didn't have the 神経. So Sterl an' I went to yore Dad an' 直す／買収する，八百長をするd it up. Beryl, he's one grand guy." He snatched the swaying girl to his breast. Her eyelids had fallen.

"Beryl!" he shouted, in 恐れる and 悔恨. "Don't you dare faint! Not heah an' now of all times in our lives! I did it thet way because I've always been dyin' of love for you. Since thet--thet orful time I've been shore you cared for me, but I never 危険d you outwittin' me. I swore I'd fool you once an' go on my 膝s to you the 残り／休憩（する） of my life!"

Suddenly she was 発射 through and through with revivified life. She did not see any others there. And when she 解除するd her lips to Red's, it was something--the look of both of them then--that dimmed Sterl's 注目する，もくろむs.

"Come, Sterl and Leslie," にわか景気d Dann. "I 要求する more practice. Here, before me, and join 手渡すs. Our bride and groom there may stand as 証言，証人／目撃するs." And almost before Sterl was sensible of anything except the shy and bedazzled girl beside him, clutching his 手渡す, he was married!

Friday wrung Sterl's 手渡す. No 知能 could have 誇張するd what shone in his 注目する，もくろむs.

"Me stotum alonga you an' missy. Me be good 黒人／ボイコット fella. No home, no fadder, no mudder, no brudder, no lubra. Imm stay alonga you, boss."

Sterl and Red walked by the river alone.

"Pard, it's done," said Red. "We're Australians. Who would ever have thunk it? But it's 広大な／多数の／重要な. All this for two no-good gunslingin' cowboys!"

"Red, it is almost too wonderful to be true!"

It was as Stanley Dann had said of them all: "We have fought the good fight." In that moment Sterl saw with marvelous clarity. It had taken a far country and an incomparable adventure with hardy souls to make men out of two wild cowboys.

THE END

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