iend you have been to me!" she murmured.

CHAPTER XV

THE RIDER'S SCORN

Late into the night the townsfolk of Waroona stood in knots and groups
in the roadway discussing the mystery surrounding the death of Eustace.

Until the closing hour compelled the hotelkeepers to turn their
customers out, the bars were crowded and a roaring trade was done, all
the loose cash in the place passing into the tills which were full to
overflowing.

Everyone had a theory, which differed from that of everyone else, but as
one after the other told his particular views on the question and heard
them criticised and discussed, and heard also the views of others, there
was a rapid falling off in individual opinions and a tendency to
concentrate on one or two which withstood the test of criticism the
best.

On one point there was unanimity of opinion. Eustace and the man with
the yellow beard had been in league. They had robbed the bank together,
Eustace having drugged the other inmates so that there should be no
chance of the work being disturbed.

Eustace had also participated in the robbery and outrage at Taloona. He
it was, the townsmen decided, who had his face hidden by the
handkerchief mask. The indifference of his companion whether his face
was seen or not suggested to them a stranger, one who was not known in
the district, but who had come there for the purpose of carrying out the
robbery of the bank.

When the first sum of twenty-five thousand was so successfully secured,
Eustace would know that the Bank, for its own protection, would have to
hurry forward another similar sum to meet the obligation of its client.
He would know that old Dudgeon would refuse to leave it in charge of the
Bank, and would decline any police protection even if it were offered.
Therefore, the crowd argued, he and his companion had waited until they
could make a dash for that second sum.

So far the events as they knew them corroborated their views. There had
been the attack on Taloona; the second sum of money had been stolen and
the rough treatment meted out both to old Dudgeon and the sub-inspector
showed that the two outlaws were men who were prepared to play a
desperate game to preserve their liberty and booty.

It was this desperation which gave the most popular clue to the solution
of the mystery surrounding the death of Eustace.

The money, fifty thousand pounds in all, had been safely carried off to
the hiding-place the robbers h