ifeless face turned up to the blue sky.

XXIII

MONKEY MACK stood for a few seconds gazing down upon the dead man,
unconscious of the fact that at the moment his shot was fired Lucy
Woodrow and Jim Done had come suddenly upon the scene around one of the
huge boulders with which the gorge was strewn. He was recalled to himself
by the exclamation of horror uttered by the girl, and discovered Jim,
revolver in hand. Turning, he fled up the right side of the gorge, where
the timber offered good cover. Jim raised his revolver, and took
deliberate aim at the flying figure, but Lucy seized his arm and bore it
down, and, clinging to him, she cried:

'No, no! for God's sake, not that!'

Jim tore himself from her with bitter words, and the next moment they saw
Macdougal riding furiously along the side of the gorge, swinging his
apparently maddened horse through the thick timber with marvellous
dexterity. Done uttered a cry, and ran for the horses, and Lucy followed
him, calling piteously. She saw Jim spring upon Wallaroo and turn his
head down the gully, and, knowing his intention, snatched the revolver
from Yarra's hand and fired at the stallion. The shot took effect in the
horse's neck, and he plunged forward, throwing Jim heavily, and, rolling
on his side, lay half submerged in the water of the creek.

Done was stunned and shaken by the fall, and it was some minutes before
he quite recovered. Then, turning upon Lucy in the blind fury that filled
his soul, he said:

'You have saved that foul murderer, and while he lives I swear I'll never
forgive you!'

She made no reply, but followed Jim to Ryder's side, trembling in every
limb, with a bursting pain at her heart and a feeling of utter desolation
upon her. Done knelt by the dead outlaw, looking into the white face, and
remembered standing as a boy gazing into another dead face wonderfully
like this, the face of his mother. He felt no sorrow; there was room in
his soul only for his black wrath. For some minutes he remained kneeling,
with set teeth, his hands clenched, his blood hot with rage. When he
arose Lucy was by his side, but her eyes were bent upon the dead man.

'You stood between me and my brother's murderer,' he said.

She looked at him vaguely, as if she had not heard aright, and passed a
faltering hand across her eyes.

'Your brother's murderer?' she said.

'The man lying there is my brother. For no crimes for no wrong against
man or woman, his life was m