ny. Sky and
desert, that was all, and these two Englishmen meeting, and the shadows
cast by themselves and their horses, were the only spots of shade for
miles.

"Sweet place!" said Guy Turner, looking round. "Warmish too. Wonder what
it is in the shade?"

"In the shade, man. There ain't any shade, unless you count the shadows
of our poor old mokes, and mine's so poor, I 'll bet the sun can find
his way through his ribs. I 've been in the sun since daybreak, and I
reckon it is somewhere about boiling point."

"I suppose it must be over 1600. What the dickens did you come out for?"

"Well, seeing it's been like this for the last three months, and is
likely to go on for three more, as far as I can see; it ain't much good
stopping in for the weather; besides there's this valuable estate to be
looked after. But to-day I rode over for the mails."

"What, to the head-station?"

"Lord, no! The track to Roebourne passes along about twenty miles off
over there, and I get the boss to leave my mail in a hollow tree as he
passes."

"Trusting, certainly. There 's some good about this God-forsaken
country."

Dick Stanesby, or, to give him his full name, Richard Hugh De Courcy
Stanesby, shrugged his shoulders scornfully.

"Evidently, Dick, that mail wasn't satisfactory. Has she clean forgot
you, Dick, the little white mouse of a cousin, with the pretty blue
eyes? She was mighty sweet on you, and------"

But there was a frown on Dick's usually good-tempered face. He was in no
mind to take his old chum's pleasantry kindly, and the other saw it, and
drew his own conclusions therefrom.

"Chucked him over, poor beggar, I suppose. Hang it all! Women are all
alike; once a man's down, he's forgotten," but he did not speak his
thoughts aloud. He looked away across the sweltering plain, and said
casually,

"Where do you hang out, old man?"

Stanesby pointed east in a vague sort of manner, that might indicate
South Australia, or far distant New South Wales.

"Got a shanty on the creek there," he said laconically.

"Creek, is there a creek? The place looks as if it hadn't seen water
since the beginning of the world."

"Oh, there's a creek right enough. I believe it's a big one when it
rains, but it hasn't rained since I 've been here, and there ain't much
water in it. Just a little in the hole opposite the hut. The niggers say
its permanent. Springs, or something of that sort."

"Niggers! That's what I 've come over about.