arently
unconscious of what was going on around her.

He had but uttered the words when she started to her feet, grasped his
arm with a vehemence utterly at variance with her previous docility, and
exclaimed,--

"You are right, Kill the monster! Kill him, for he is unfit to live.
Kill him, for he has wronged an unprotected woman, and committed
outrages that will condemn him to eternal punishment in the next world."

She released her grasp of Fred and fell to the ground, where she sat
rocking her body to and fro, uttering moans of anguish. But she no
longer shed tears, and her eyes looked wild and threatening, as though
her troubles had affected her reason.

"Who talks of killing?" cried a deep voice. "That is God's prerogative,
not man's nor vain woman's."

We started, and turning saw that the convict stockman had approached us
unawares, and was leaning on his long gun, keenly scanning the features
of the unfortunate woman.

"There are some crimes which God designs man to punish," answered Smith,
desisting from his occupation of gathering up his traps. "I think that
the scoundrels who robbed my team deserve hanging, and I don't want to
wait until they are dead to know that they are receiving punishment in
the next world."

"The world to come is one of darkness to us mortals, and who can pierce
its blackness. But God has promised light, and behold the angel of the
Lord will reveal all things, for so sayeth the Book of all books."

"I don't know what you mean," replied Smith, who had listened
attentively to the wild, rambling speech of the convict without
comprehending its import; "but this I do know, that I would mash the
heads of the bushrangers who robbed my cart, if they were within the
reach of my axe."

"Trust in God for vengeance, for to him does it belong," exclaimed the
convict, drawing a dirty looking and well-thumbed Testament from his
pocket, and turning over leaf after leaf as though seeking for a
particular chapter.

"We must get him to put up his book, or he'll read from now till
sundown," cried Smith, with visible alarm at the idea of being compelled
to listen.

"Here is an unfortunate woman that needs your assistance," said Smith,
laying a hand upon the old man's arm, and calling his attention to his
child.

"Does she need spiritual assistance, or only food for the body? Her
looks are like those of a person who has been suffering."

"She has suffered much within twenty-four hours, and he