ed, and was stopped so suddenly that Mrs. Palmer was sent sprawling
on to the horse's rump. She was quickly helped down, and, as soon as
she had recovered sufficient breath, she followed Black Mary into the
bedroom where young Mrs. Middleton was lying, looking very pale and
frightened. The horse which had been driven so cruelly had not done
blowing before another cart appeared, also driven very fast. It
contained old Mr. and Mrs. Middleton, who lived comfortably on a small
farm not far from Palmer's place.

As soon as he had dumped Mrs. Palmer, Dave Middleton left the cart and,
mounting a fresh horse which stood ready saddled in the yard, galloped
off through the scrub in a different direction.

Half an hour afterwards Joe Middleton came home on a horse that had been
almost ridden to death. His mother came out at the sound of his arrival,
and he anxiously asked her:

"How is she?"

"Did you find Doc. Wild?" asked the mother.

"No, confound him!" exclaimed Joe bitterly. "He promised me faithfully
to come over on Wednesday and stay until Maggie was right again. Now
he has left Dean's and gone--Lord knows where. I suppose he is drinking
again. How is Maggie?"

"It's all over now--the child is born. It's a boy; but she is very weak.
Dave got Mrs. Palmer here just in time. I had better tell you at once
that Mrs. Palmer says if we don't get a doctor here to-night poor Maggie
won't live."

"Good God! and what am I to do?" cried Joe desperately.

"Is there any other doctor within reach?"

"No; there is only the one at B----; that's forty miles away, and he is
laid up with the broken leg he got in the buggy accident. Where's Dave?"

"Gone to Black's shanty. One of Mrs. Palmer's sons thought he remembered
someone saying that Doc. Wild was there last week. That's fifteen miles
away."

"But it is our only hope," said Joe dejectedly. "I wish to God that I
had taken Maggie to some civilised place a month ago."

Doc. Wild was a well-known character among the bushmen of New South
Wales, and although the profession did not recognise him, and denounced
him as an empiric, his skill was undoubted. Bushmen had great faith in
him, and would often ride incredible distances in order to bring him
to the bedside of a sick friend. He drank fearfully, but was seldom
incapable of treating a patient; he would, however, sometimes be found
in an obstinate mood and refuse to travel to the side of a sick person,
and then the devil himself