broken the
snooding."

"Never mind, I'll fix it for you," and as his hand touched her's, a new
hope came into his life. He knew what she meant him to understand--that
she was not going to marry Aulain--and then he went on quickly.

"I gabble like an old woman, do I not, Miss Fraser? Oh, this is what I
was about to say, I believe that the Batavia River district is full of
rich reefs and alluvial gold as well, and from what I hear from Lacey,
I don't think the Gilbert will prove a permanent gold-field. Now, I will
try to persuade your father to come to my part of the country instead of
the Gilbert, which, by the time he reaches it, will probably be played
out altogether, and abandoned."

"Ah! do persuade him, Mr Gerrard; I liked the thought of our going to
the Gilbert, but I like better--oh, ever so much better--your suggestion
of the Batavia River, for there we should be near the sea; and I love
the sea and the beaches. I am horribly selfish, I am afraid."

Gerrard stroked his beard meditatively. "Yes, you'll be near the sea,
Miss Fraser. But it is an awful country for a lady to live in; the fever
is very bad there, and the blacks are a continual source of danger and
trouble."

"Anything that my father can go through I can face too," she said
proudly; "and besides that I have had fever, am not afraid of blacks or
anything--except alligators," and she shuddered, as she smiled.

"Then you will be in a continual state of fear. All the rivers on the
Peninsula are alive with them, and I have lost hundreds of cattle by the
brutes." Then he laughed. "But they won't get many this year."

"How bravely he takes his misfortunes," she thought. Then she said,
"Well, I shall take good care of myself, and not cross any creeks if
the water is not clear. Now here we are at the pool. Isn't it lovely
and quiet? I do hope we shall have caught enough fish by the time father
comes."

Gerrard, as he filled his pipe, watched her smooth, slender brown hands
baiting the hook of her line with a small grasshopper, and noted the
beautiful contour of her features, and the intent expression in her
long-lashed eyes as she surveyed it. She looked up.

"Now, Mr Gerrard what _are_ you doing? Don't be so lazy. I'll have at
least three fish before you have your line ready. Oh, I do wish I were a
man!"

"Why?"

"Because then I could smoke a pipe when I am fishing. It must be
delightful! When father and Sam Young and Cockney Smith come here with