was like trying to stop a mail-coach going down Mount
Victoria with the brake off.

So what we saw was the wretch of a mare coming along as if the devil was
after her, and heading straight across the plain at its narrowest part;
it wasn't more than half-a-mile wide there, in fact, it was more like a
flat than a plain. The people about Boree didn't see much open country,
so they made a lot out of what they had.

The mare, like some women when they get their monkey up, was clean out
of her senses, and I don't believe anything could have held her under a
hide rope with a turn round a stockyard post. This was what she wanted,
and if it had broken her infernal neck so much the better.

Miss Falkland was sitting straight and square, with her hands down,
leaning a bit back, and doing her level best to stop the brute. Her hat
was off and her hair had fallen down and hung down her back--plenty of
it there was, too. The mare's neck was stretched straight out; her mouth
was like a deal board, I expect, by that time.

We didn't sit staring at her all the time, you bet. We could see the boy
ever so far off. We gathered up our reins and went after her, not in a
hurry, but just collecting ourselves a bit to see what would be the best
way to wheel the brute and stop her.

Jim's horse was far and away the fastest, and he let out to head the
mare off from a creek that was just in front and at the end of the
plain.

'By George!' said one of the men--a young fellow who lived near the
place--'the mare's turning off her course, and she's heading straight
for the Trooper's Downfall, where the policeman was killed. If she goes
over that, they'll be smashed up like a matchbox, horse and rider.'

'What's that?' I said, closing up alongside of him. We were all doing
our best, and were just in the line to back up Jim, who looked as if he
was overhauling the mare fast.

'Why, it's a bluff a hundred feet deep--a straight drop--and rocks at
the bottom. She's making as straight as a bee-line for it now, blast
her!'

'And Jim don't know it,' I said; 'he's closing up to her, but he doesn't
calculate to do it for a quarter of a mile more; he's letting her take
it out of herself.'

'He'll never catch her in time,' said the young chap. 'My God! it's an
awful thing, isn't it? and a fine young lady like her--so kind to us
chaps as she was.'

'I'll see if I can make Jim hear,' I said, for though I looked cool
I was as nearly mad as I could be t