e afternoon sun
began to wane, and headed due west As they rode round the side of the
largest pool, the three horses of the dead men, which were camped under
the shade of the Leichhardt trees, brushing the flies off each other's
noses with their long tails, raised their heads inquiringly as if to
say. "Are you going to leave us here?" and then sedately trotted after
them.

Gerrard turned in his saddle. "Let them follow us, if they like, Tommy.
They will be company for 'Dutchman' and 'Waterboy.' I think they'll all
turn up at the station by and by."

The unexplored country from the Waterholes to the coast was very
pleasant to see in all its diversified beauties: deep water-worn gullies
whose sides were clothed with wild fig, wattle, and cabbage palms,
opening out into fair forest country, well timbered with huge acacias
and a species of white cedar, whose pale blue flowers filled the air
with their delicious perfume. Bird life was plentiful, the chattering of
long-tailed pheasants and the call of many kinds of parrots resounding
everywhere, and filling the tree-clad gullies with melodious,
reverberating echoes.

Night came on swiftly, but a night of myriad stars in a sky of cloudless
blue; and then, fifteen miles from the Rocky Waterholes, they came to a
wide but shallow creek, whose banks were well grassed, and which offered
a tempting resting-place. Here and there were clumps, or rather groves,
of graceful pandanus palms, with long pendant leaves, rustling faintly
to the cool night breeze.

"We'll camp here till daylight, Tommy. I'm feeling a bit stiff."

As Tommy unsaddled and hobbled out the horses, Gerrard lit a fire, made
the two quart pots of tea, and he and the native had their supper. Then,
although they had seen no signs of blacks since they had left Hansen's,
they took unusual precautions to prevent being surprised, for Gerrard
especially was not in a fit condition for much exertion. Letting the
horses graze where they listed, they put out the fire, and carried their
saddles, blankets, arms, etc., out to a sandbank in the middle of the
creek, and made themselves comfortable for the night on the soft, warm
sand--too far away from either bank to fear any danger from a shower of
spears.

The night wore all too quickly away for Gerrard, for as he lay on his
blanket, gazing upward to the star-studded heavens, he forgot the pain
of his wounds in his thoughts of Kate, and he sighed contentedly. In two
weeks o