ho deliberately seeks intoxication. He was more tremulous than when
Done first met him, and his face had the colour, and looked as if it
might have the consistency, of putty. The man was an instinctive hater:
he lived alone, worked alone, and desired no companionship. Previous to
the gold discoveries he had served for years in the capacity of shepherd
on one of the big Australian sheep-runs, and had lived cut off from
communion with his kind in the great lone land, absorbing into his blood
the spirit of solitude that broods in the Bush and in time robs man of
his gregarious impulses.

Jim had been in the shanty about an hour, and was standing with his back
to the counter; Stony was sitting in the corner, his hands clasped
between his knees, his eyes fixed upon the floor, unconscious of his
surroundings, when the flap of the tent was lifted, and Ryder stepped in,
running a keen, searching eye over the company. Jim saw him start as his
gaze encountered Stony. He paused for a moment, and then slipped back
into darkness, dropping the tent-door after him. Done understood his
intention. 'He will wait,' he said to himself, and determined to watch
events. Ryder had awakened in him an extraordinary interest.

Stony sat in a state of abstraction for close upon half an hour, and when
he arose and left the place Jim followed him. The night was dark, and
Stony had disappeared, but the young man walked quietly in the direction
of the hatter's camp. He could see nothing of either man, and had decided
that he was mistaken regarding Ryder's intention, when a low but
blood-chilling sound--the noise made by a man fighting against
strangulation--broke upon his ear. He had been seeking for this, but the
shock unnerved him for a moment.

XIII

PEERING through the darkness, Done discovered the shadowy figures of two
men. The figures were rigid upon the ground. There was no further sound.
The young man approached closely and stood by Ryder, dropping his hand
upon his shoulder. There was just light enough for him to see a revolver
snatched from the belt, or a movement of such suggestiveness, but he
fastened on that right arm with a grip to which it succumbed instantly.

'It is I, Jim Done!' he said.

'Save me! Save me!' cried Stony in accents of supreme terror.

'Why do you interfere?' asked Ryder with a ring of anger. 'What interest
can you have in this hound?'

'None,' replied Jim. 'I followed from the shanty, guessing something
woul