It was Kate, sure enough! How in the world did ever she get here? I knew she’d left the Turon, and that old Mullockson had dropped a lot of his money in’ a big mining company he’d helped to float, and that never turned out gold enough to pay for the quicksilver in the first crushing. We’d heard afterwards that he’d died and she’d married again; but I never expected to see her brought down so low as this—not but what we’d known many a woman that started on the diggings with silks and satins and a big house and plate-glass windows brought down to a cotton gown and a bark shanty before half-a-dozen years were over.

Jim and I both looked queer. The men began to laugh. Anyone could see we were both in a fix. Jim spoke first.

“Are you sure you’re not making a mistake, missis?” says he, looking at her very quiet-like. “Take care what you say.”

He’d better have held his tongue. I don’t know whether she really intended to give us away. I don’t think she did altogether; but with them kind of women it’s a regular toss up whether they’ll behave reasonable or not. When they’re once started,‘specially if they think they’ve not been treated on the square, they can’t stop themselves.

“Take care what I say!” she breaks out, rising her voice to a scream, and looking as if she’d jump over the bar-counter and tear the eyes out of me. “Why should I take care? It’s you, Dick Marston, you double-faced treacherous dog that you are, that’s got a thousand pounds on your head, that has cause to care, and you, Jim Marston, that’s in the same reward, and both of you know it. Not that I’ve anything against you, Jim. You’re a man, and always was. I’ll say that for you.”

“And you’re a woman,” groans out poor Jim. “That’s the reason you can’t hold your infernal tongue, I suppose.”

Kate had let the cat out of the bag now and no mistake. You should have seen the drover and his men look at us when they found they had the famous bushrangers among them that they’d all heard so much about this years past. Some looked pretty serious and some laughed. The drover spoke first.