ourselves on our morning's work. We have at least
saved those poor ladies."

So saying, Reuben turned and, with the party, rode slowly back to
the station. On arriving there, they dismounted and unsaddled their
horses, and turned them into a paddock close to the house, to feed.
Reuben and Mr. Barker then went up to the house. The constable who
had been left behind came out.

"Well, Wilkins, how is Mr. Donald, and how are the ladies?"

"He is sensible now, sir; but I don't think there's much chance for
him."

"We ought to get a surgeon, at once," Reuben said.

"Who is the nearest, Mr. Barker?"

"The nearest is Ruskin."

"Is there no one nearer than that?" Reuben asked. "Why, he lives
about halfway between where I was sleeping last night, and my own
place. It must be seventy miles away."

"He's the nearest," Mr. Barker said; "take my word for it."

"I'll tell you what will be the best plan," Reuben's host of the
night before said. "I will ride at once to Mr. Barker's and, if he
will let me get a fresh horse there, I will gallop straight back to
my place, and will send a man off the moment I arrive there to
fetch Ruskin.

"It is only eight o'clock now. I can be home before noon, and my
man will do the next stage in a little over four hours. If he finds
Ruskin in, he can get to my place by ten o'clock at night, and can
start again at daybreak; so by eleven o'clock tomorrow he can be
here. If he isn't here by that time, it will be because he was out
when my man got there. At any rate, he is sure to start directly he
gets the message."

"That will be the best plan," Reuben agreed; "and I am sure the
ladies will be greatly obliged to you, when I tell them what you
have undertaken."

"Oh, that's nothing," the settler said. "We don't think much of a
seventy miles' ride, here."

Without any further delay, the settler saddled his horse and went
off at a gallop towards Mr. Barker's, where he was to get a fresh
mount.

"And now, how are the ladies, Wilkins?"

"They are keeping up bravely, sir. I think, as far as they are
concerned, Donald's being hit has done them good. It has given them
something to do, and they have not had time to think about what
they have gone through, and what a narrow escape they have had."

"Which room are they in, Wilkins?"

"In there to the left, sir."

"As you have seen them, Wilkins, you had better go in and tell them
that we have sent off, at once, to fetch a surgeon; and that