It was plain that the first girl had now recovered, for she had rolled herself right out of the cave. She stared up from terrified eyes as he paused astride her a moment with her helpless friend draped over his shoulder. He gave her a fiendish grin as he stepped over her and carried the second girl deep into the cave. Stretching her out, he made sure all the thongs were secure, then returned to the first girl, chuckling as he saw she had rolled several feet farther into the scrub at the cave mouth. Grabbing a handful of her hair he jerked her head up and glared down at her as he snarled softly, “So, Nareen!”

He brought the flat of his hand with a smack across her ear that must have felt like a thunderbolt, then dropped her head to the ground. Panting wildly, she tried to spit at him. He lifted her head again and smacked her other ear. Her toes twitched, but still she tried to spit. Well pleased, he carried her back into the cave and threw her roughly down beside her still unconscious mate. With a grin that plainly said, “You won’t roll far!” he stepped from the cave and swiftly through the scrub back to the creek. Very carefully he secured the girls’ dilly-bags with the duck-eggs and other small possessions and took the fish-net up from the rock-hole, grinning when he saw that the net now contained four quite decent-sized fish. He placed everything on the big rock, then waded back in the creep to wipe out all possible traces of all three of them amongst the reeds. It was easy enough. All that needed to be done was to hide the robbed nests securely under water and straighten the few resilient reeds forced aside where the girls fell. They had almost straightened up of their own accord. Taking a careful glance round, he wiped out the last few traces about the big rock, then stepped back into the scrub.

At the cave he found that both girls, fully conscious, had rolled out of the cave mouth and even tried to wriggle into the vine-entangled scrub. Nareen stared up in defiant fear, but the other glared up with flashing eyes. He grinned, put his big foot straight across her forehead, nose, and chin. He pressed, and as her nose flattened he laughed down at the hate in her eyes. Her chest began to heave urgently for breath. He felt the twitching lips, could hear the gurgling, could feel what those sharp, strong teeth would do even to his tough foot were it not for that hateful hardwood gag. When she was choking for breath he removed his foot, grinned down at her, then casually gave Nareen a kick in the ribs.

Squatting down, he unrolled his possum-skin rug, took out his reserve of cooked meat, and divided it into three portions, one to eat now, one for his mid-sun meal, the rest to carry him on. For he must move swiftly and far now. And he must move soon. But he still must keep himself under control, must act only at the right times, then surely and definitely. For if he made a false step now his sullenly obstructing women would certainly bring disaster upon him.