When we got to the public-house, which wasn't far off, we found that Moran and the other two had stayed there a bit till Wall and Hulbert came;then they had a drink all round and rode away.The publican said Moran was in an awful temper, and he was afraid he'd have shot somebody before the others got him started and clear of the place.
`It's a mercy you went over, Captain,' says he; `there'd have been the devil to pay else.He swore he'd burn the place down before he went from here.'
`He'll get caught one of these fine days,' says Starlight.
`There's more risk at one station than half-a-dozen road scrimmages, and that he'll find, clever as he thinks himself.'
`Where's Mr.Whitman, Jack?' says I to the landlord (he wasn't a bad sort, old Jack Jones).`What made him leave his place to the mercy of the world, in a manner of speaking?'
`Well, it was this way.He heard that all the shepherds at the lower station had cut it to the diggings, ye see; so he thought he'd make a dart up to the Castlereagh and rig'late the place a bit.He'll be back afore morning.'
`How d'ye know that?'
`Well, he's ridin' that famous roan pony o' his, and he always comes back from the station in one day, though he takes two to go;eighty-five miles every yard of it.It's a big day, but that pony's a rum un, and can jump his own height easy.He'll be welcome home to-night.'
`I daresay he will, and no wonder.The missus must ha' been awful frightened, and the young ladies too.Good-night, Jack;' and we rattled off.
It wasn't so very late after all when we got back to Jonathan's;so, as the horses wanted a bit of a rest and a feed, we roused up the girls and had supper.A very jolly one it was, my word.
They were full of curiosity, you bet, to know how we got on when they heard Moran was there and the others.So bit by bit they picked it out of us.
When they heard it all, Maddie got up and threw her arms round Jim's neck.
`I may kiss you now you're married,' she says, `and I know there's only one woman in the world for you; but you deserve one from every woman in the country for smashing that wretch Moran.
It's a pity you didn't break his neck.Never mind, old man;Miss Falkland won't forget you for that, you take my word.
I'm proud of you, that I am.'
Jim just sat there and let her talk to him.He smiled in a serious kind of way when she ran over to him first;but, instead of a good-looking girl, it might have been his grandmother for all he seemed to care.
`You're a regular old image, Jim,' says she.`I hope none of my other friends 'll get married if it knocks all the go out of them, same as it has from you.
However, you can stand up for a friend, can't you? You wouldn't see me trod upon; d'ye think you would, now? I'd stand up for you, I know, if you was bested anywhere.'
`My dear Maddie,' says Starlight, `James is in that particular stage of infatuation when a man only sees one woman in the whole world.
I envy him, I assure you.When your day comes you will understand much of what puzzles you at present.'
`I suppose so,' said Maddie, going back to her seat with a wondering, queer kind of look.`But it must be dreadful dull being shut in for weeks and weeks in one place, perhaps, and with only one man.'
`I have heard it asserted,' he says, `that a slight flavour of monotony occasionally assails the honeymoon.Variety is the salt of life, I begin to think.Some of these fine days, Maddie, we'll both get married and compare notes.'
`You'll have to look out, then,' says Bella.`All the girls about here are getting snapped up quick.There's such a lot of young bankers, Government officers, and swells of all sorts about the diggings now, not to reckon the golden-hole men, that we girls have double the pull we had before the gold.Why, there was my old schoolmate, Clara Mason, was married last week to such a fine young chap, a surveyor.
She'd only known him six weeks.'
`Well, I'll come and dance at your wedding if you'll send me an invite,'
says Starlight.
`Will you, though?' she said.`Wouldn't it be fun? Unless Sir Ferdinand was there.He's a great friend of mine, you know.'
`I'll come if his Satanic Majesty himself was present (he occasionally does attend a wedding, I've heard), and bring you a present, too, Bella;mind, it's a bargain.'
`There's my hand on it,' says she.`I wonder how you'll manage it, but I'll leave that to you.It mightn't be so long either.
And now it's time for us all to go to bed.Jim's asleep, I believe, this half hour.'