er
was poking round some logs where they had been "burning-off". A pungent
odour came through a broken pane and turned her sick. He was burning the
hide.

Wylie did not go to bed that night; he got his breakfast before
daylight, and rode up through the frosty gap while the stars were still
out, carrying a bag of beef in front of him on the grey horse. Mary said
nothing about the previous night. Her mother wondered how much "father"
had given for the steer, and supposed he had gone into town to sell
the hide; the poor soul tried to believe that he had come by the steer
honestly. Mary fried some meat, and tried to eat it for her mother's
sake, but could manage only a few mouthfuls. Mrs. Wylie also seemed
to have lost her appetite. Jack and his brother, who had been out
all night, made a hearty breakfast. Then Jimmy started to peg out the
'possum skins, while Jack went to look for a missing pony. Mary was left
to milk all the cows, and feed the calves and pigs.

Shortly after dinner one of the children ran to the door, and cried:

"Why, mother--here's three mounted troopers comin' up the gully!"

"Oh, my God!" cried the mother, sinking back in her chair and trembling
like a leaf. The children ran and hid in the scrub. Mary stood up,
terribly calm, and waited. The eldest trooper dismounted, came to the
door, glanced suspiciously at the remains of the meal, and abruptly
asked the dreaded question:

"Mrs. Wylie, where's your husband?"

She dropped the tea-cup, from which she had pretended to be drinking
unconcernedly.

"What? Why, what do you want my husband for?" she asked in pitiful
desperation. SHE looked like the guilty party.

"Oh, you know well enough," he sneered impatiently.

Mary rose and faced him. "How dare you talk to my mother like that?" she
cried. "If my poor brother Tom was only here--you--you coward!"

The youngest trooper whispered something to his senior, and then, stung
by a sharp retort, said:

"Well, you needn't be a pig."

His two companions passed through into the spare skillion, where they
found some beef in a cask, and more already salted down under a bag on
the end of a bench; then they went out at the back and had a look at the
cow-yard. The younger trooper lingered behind.

"I'll try and get them up the gully on some excuse," he whispered to
Mary. "You plant the hide before we come back."

"It's too late. Look there!" She pointed through the doorway.

The other two were at t