She dropped flat on the earth, her cloak
drawn lightly between her knees, and wriggled snake-like, as Oola had
done past Harris' windows, then pushed herself on hands and knees along
the ground, squeezing her body against the palings of the yard, till
she reached the Old Humpey on the opposite side. Once round that
corner, she got on to her feet, feeling sick and giddy but intensely
relieved. She leaned against the gum tree which had protected Oola, and
now realised that it had been raining in a driving gust and that she
was wet to the skin.

The bleating of a kid, which had been left under the house and had
found its way into the yard, startled her anew. She thought that she
heard sounds in the wing near the hide-house--steps on the veranda. Was
Harris stirring? Had he discovered the flight of his prisoner?

She waited again till all was quiet. By this time, there was a watery
radiance just overhead. She looked towards the lagoon, but there was no
sign of Maule. She felt the shivering begin again, though her head
seemed burning, and she could hardly think collectedly. Her chief idea
was to get back to bed.

But she was able to reason to herself that Maule must somehow be
informed of the escape. She did not think he could have got back yet to
the spot where he had left her. Or he might come straight to his room
and miss the key and his watch. In any case, these must be restored to
the place from which Oola had taken them.

She lifted herself to the window-sill as Oola had done, and in a moment
was inside the room. It had been an easy enough business, only that in
clutching the window frame, the jagged end of the splinter she had run
into her hand caught and tore her flesh. The room was of course empty.

She lifted a candle--which, with matches, stood on the dressing
table--and put back the watch and chain, and the key now separate from
them. That fact would show Maule that it had been tampered with. But
she must find some more exact means of conveying what had happened.
Premature action on his part might give the alarm. Her brain worked in
flashes. She had vivid ideas, which in her fevered state she could not
hold properly. She must write to Maule. A notebook that he must have
taken from his pocket lay on the table also. She tore out a
leaf--paused--She must write so that only he would understand. An
accident might happen to the paper.

There must be no definite statement to implicate him or herself. Some
words