nd right, urged to such a
course by an all-mastering passion, which he is incapable of resisting.

Strange was the nature of this man. He knew himself as it is given to
few weak men to know themselves. He knew that he wished to do this
thing. He knew, also, that he was doing wrong. Moreover he knew that he
wished to stand by Jacky and be true to his great affection for her. He
was under the influence of potent spirit, and yet his thoughts and
judgment were clear upon the subject. His mania had possessed him and he
would play from choice; and all the while he could hear the voice of
conscience rating him. He would have preferred to play now, but then he
remembered the quantity of spirit he had consumed. He must take no
chances. When he played Lablache he must be sober. The delay of one
night, however, he knew would bring him agonies of remorse, therefore he
would settle everything now so that in the throes of conscience he could
not refuse to play. He feared delay. He feared the vacillation which the
solitary hours of the night might bring to him. He leant forward and
thickly urged the money-lender.

"When shall it be? Quick, man, let us have no delay. The time,
Lablache--the time and place."

Lablache wheezed unctuously.

"That's the spirit I like, John," he said, fingering his watch-chain
with his fat hands. "To business. The place--er--yes." A moment's
thought whilst the rancher waited with impatience. "Ah, I know. That
implement shed on your fifty-acre pasture. Excellent. There is a living
room in it. You used to keep a man there. It is disused now. It will
suit us admirably. We can use that room. And the time--"

"To-morrow, Lablache. It must be to-morrow. I could not wait longer,"
broke in the other, in a voice husky with eagerness and liquor. "After
dark, when no one can see us going out to the shed. No one must know,
Lablache, mind--no one. Jacky will not dream of what we are doing."

"Very well. To-morrow, then. At eleven o'clock at night, John. And as
you say in the meantime--mum."

Lablache was pleased with the rancher's suggestion. It quite fell in
with his own ideas. Everything must be done quickly now. He must get
away from Foss River without delay.

"Yes--yes. Mum's the word." "Poker" John indicated his approval with an
upward leer as Lablache rose from his chair, and a grotesque pursing of
his lips and his forefinger at the side of his nose. Then he, too,
struggled to his feet, and, with unsteady