he two men with spots were in a state of terror that was pitiable to
see, and from outward appearances might be said to be suffering from a
very bad form of the dreaded scourge. True to the lines he had laid down
for himself, however, he said nothing to allay their fears, only looked
very grave, issued a hundred commands for safeguarding the rest of the
community, and then demanded to be taken to the other sick man, who was
lodged at Jowett's.

The prospector's quarters were not sumptuous. He was merely laid in a
shed recently tenanted by calves, and which had been hastily cleared for
his use. The man was very ill, and Mother Twiney had not exaggerated
about the gravity of his condition.

Here indeed was scope for the doctor, and instead of wearing a face of
gloom, as when he examined the men with spots, his face was bright, and
his tone so brisk and cheerful that it looked as if he were going to
enjoy the tussle that was in front of him.

"Can you pull me through, Doctor?" asked the sufferer, looking at the
doctor with lack-lustre eyes.

"I am going to try, but I don't mind admitting that I shall have my
hands full," replied the doctor, who had never been in the habit of
hiding from his patients the gravity of their condition.

"Well, if you do get me on my feet, I promise you a 10-per-cent
commission on all I can make during the next year," said the sick man,
with a sudden burst of energy, and then he called on the old woman to
witness to what he had said, after which he sank into a condition of
apathy, looking as if he might die at any moment.

Never since he was a young man and just starting in his profession had
the doctor worked harder than for the next few days. He was happier,
too, than he had been for years, and in the hush of the quiet nights,
when he watched alone by the man who was really ill, he thought of his
children and resolved that no longer would he shut them out of his heart
and out of his life just because he had been a victim to circumstances.

He was thinking of them one night, as he strode across to the shed where
the two victims from spots were beginning to recover, when suddenly he
noticed another odour on the hot air; usually it was the pungent smell
of eucalyptus leaves, but now it was the reek of burning timber that
smote upon his senses, and turning sharply in the track he saw to his
horror that there was a red glow in the sky over Jowett's. The place was
on fire.

"It will blaze l