sh I were
a man! I could strike you as it is! Ah, you should never have left the
Black Police. I shall not fail to let the man who befriended you know
how you have vilified him."

"You need not. I will tell him myself what I have told you. By ------ he
shall suffer for robbing me of you!" and it needed all Kate's courage to
look into his furious eyes.

"Good-night, Mr Aulain," she said, trying to speak calmly; "I do not
wish to--I hope I never may--see you again."

"No doubt," was the sneering response. "Mr Thomas Gerrard, the squatter,
is in a very different position from Randolph Aulain, the digger, with a
paltry three or four thousand pounds."

Kate set her teeth, and tried hard to choke a sob.

"My father and I thought that you were a gentleman, Mr Aulain. I see now
how very much we were mistaken. And as far as Mr Gerrard is concerned,
he will know how to deal with you. I will ask my father to write to him
to-morrow."

"Why not expedite your proposed visit to him, and tell him personally?"
said Aulain with a mocking laugh.

Kate made no answer, but walked swiftly away. Five minutes later,
Aulain, without going to the house to say good-bye to Douglas Fraser,
descended the rocky path to the main camp.

At daylight next morning, to the wonder of Sam Young and his mates, he
was missing. He had risen at dawn, caught and saddled his horses, and
gone off without a word of farewell.

CHAPTER XXVII

"Hansen's Rush" was one of the richest, noisiest, and the "rowdiest" of
all the many newly-discovered fields, and contained more of the elements
of villainy amongst its six hundred inhabitants than any other rush
in the Australian Colonies. Perhaps about two-thirds of the men were
genuine diggers, the rest were loafers, card-sharpers, horse and cattle
thieves, sly grog-sellers, and men "wanted" by the police for various
offences, from murder down to simple robbery with violence. So far,
however, the arm of the law had not yet manifested its power at
"Hansen's," although at first when the field was discovered by the
prospector after whom it was named, a solitary white trooper and one
native tracker had reached there, expecting to be reinforced. But one
day he and the aboriginal rode out of camp to visit a party of diggers,
who were working at the head of the creek, and never returned.

Months afterwards, the body of the white man was found lying near a
heap of huge boulders, and it was concluded that either the