e two stockmen, first sent off Trouton to
Boorala for a doctor, and then he, taking one of the pack-horses, made
Gerrard mount his own.

"We'll be at Kaburie as soon as the little German doctor is there," he
said, as he, Gerrard, and Kate started.

And when they reached Kaburie they found Doctor Krause, a quiet,
spectacled little man, awaiting them with Knowles the overseer.

"Will he lose his eye, Krause?" asked Fraser, after the doctor had
attended to Gerrard, and he with Kate met him in the dining-room.

"No, but his face is very much cut about, and the poor fellow may be
disfigured for life."

Kate turned away with a bursting heart, and went to her room.

CHAPTER XV

"Poor, dear, old Tommy boy!" said Westonley to his wife, as they sat at
their breakfast table some weeks after the mishap to Gerrard. The
mail had just arrived at Marumbah, and brought a letter from his
brother-in-law, and one from Fraser, His eyes glistened as he laid them
down upon the table, and looked at his wife, who, he could see, was also
visibly affected, whilst little Mary sobbed unrestrainedly.

"I wish this Mr Fraser had telegraphed to us, Edward. I would have left
Marumbah the same day, and gone to poor Tom to nurse him."

"Would you, old girl?" and the big man rose from his seat and kissed
her, his thick, heavy beard spreading out over her shoulders.

"Indeed, I would. And now it is no use my going, is it?"

"Not a bit, Lizzie. You hear what Fraser says--'He is getting on
splendidly, and the left eye is saved.' Let me read it all over again;
shall I?"

"Do," and her pale, clear-cut features flushed; "it makes me feel as if
I were there and saw the whole dreadful sight. Don't cry any more, Mary
dear. Uncle Tom is getting better."

"If Jim had been with him, it wouldn't have happened," said the child,
suppressing her sobs, and wiping her streaming eyes; "Jim would have
been sure to have seen the alligator coming before any one else, and
done something. I am quite sure that even if he met a bunyip he would
not be afraid; but would fight it."

"I'm dead certain of it, Mary," said Westonley, as he put his big hand
upon the child's head, and then taking up Fraser's letter, he again read
it aloud. It described in simple language Gerrard's desperate struggle
with the alligator, then went on about his courage and fortitude under
agonising pain, for the wounds caused by alligators' claws invariably
set up an intense and poisono