was to come upon the attackers unawares and
either rout or put as many of them out of action as I could with the
weapons at my command.

So when I moved off again I had slackened my pace down to a stealthy
cat-like tread that took me along with an incredible absence of noise.
As I moved forward I began to turn the configuration of the place over
in my mind and wonder to what practical use I could put the fine natural
cover of the bushes. As I could see none I put the matter out of my head
and devoted all my energies to coming to immediate grips with the men
who had murdered the eternal peace of the valley.

Presently I caught sight of a little red flash from one of the
revolvers, but as I had no idea as to whose it was I held my hand and
commenced to circle round the fight. It must be remembered, in order to
gauge the seriousness of the situation, that the night was as black as
the ace of spades, and that the only guide I had was the occasional
flash from a revolver--a flash that might have come from either friend
or foe; I had nothing to tell me which. It was in this queer fashion
that I was progressing when the toe of my boot touched something soft
and alien. I slipped down by the side of it and ran my hand over it. It
was a man's body--the still warm body from which the pulsing life had
suddenly been hurled. With my experience of the other man I had handled
earlier in the night I felt for the hair, and, to my utter horror, I
clutched a crop of short, crisp curls. It was Albert Cumshaw beyond a
doubt. I did not waste a moment in useless sentimentality over the dead.
The truth flashed across my mind with the blinding clearness of
lightning. Moira was by herself, fighting like some heroic goddess
against those other bestial savages. I know it is the fashion to picture
men in such moments as going berserker, but I don't think in my case
that I have ever been so sanely clear-headed in my life. It was a
monstrous and incredible thing that this quiet little corner of the
quietest little State in Australia should be polluted by the presence of
the incarnate fiends that had murdered Bryce, that had killed Cumshaw,
and were even now seeking to send Moira to join them in the shades. A
cold, pitiless anger took possession of me, and I set about my work of
vengeance as calmly as if I were going rabbit-shooting. I knew now of a
surety that I could shoot at any man who came within range without fear
or favor.

It was then I ble