Page:Outlawandlawmak00praegoog.djvu/286

274 walked to the Bean-tree, as being the nearest point of humanity. They had divided, as the sergeant had related—two going to Goondi to report, the rest, having got the Beantree settlers to provide them with horses, coming back to the Dell.

The matter was comical enough for laughter. Elsie did laugh hysterically, and was led away by Frank. Lord and Lady Waveryng were far too upset and indignant to see the ludicrous aspect of the affair. Lord Horace was wildly excited, and all for raising the district on the instant and chasing Moonlight to his lair.

There seemed nothing for him to do, however, at present, but to horse the troopers as speedily as possible, and go with them to Baròlin Gorge, to consult with Blake and Captain Macpherson. He came home late in the evening. It was Elsie who met him. She had wandered down to the Crossing in the moonlight, unable to control her impatience and anxiety. She and Ina were alone with the Waveryngs, for Frank, escorting Mrs. Allanby, had gone back to Tunimba. All day Elsie had gone about a pale ghost with frightened eyes, saying little, but starting at every sound and every footstep. She could not have defined in set form the fear that held her. All day the words she had heard at the corroboree the night before kept repeating themselves in her dazed brain. Had it been Sam Shehan who spoke? Was it Trant who had used the phrase "damned sentimentality?" And if it had not been Trant, what extraordinary coincidence that another should have employed it! And in any case, why should Trant have in the first instance said the words in relation to Blake, for that of course had been self-evident. Like balm came the thought of Trant's curious admiration for herself, and rivalry with Blake, and she remembered what Blake had said about leaving Australia and selling the Gorge. Was it not possible that he and Trant had had a difference on this point, that jealousy had inflamed Trant, and prompted the accusation of weak sentiment? It was a relief to her to dwell on this idea. She persuaded herself that it was fact.