As Esmeralda rode along between her two captors, she felt that they were ascending one of the hills, and then that they were going down on the other side. Neither of the men spoke, and at last she said:
“Will you not take this thing off my head?”
“Not yet,” growled the man on her right.
She knew that prayers and protestations would be of no avail, and said no more.
It would be vain to deny that she was frightened; but she was not overcome by terror, and she was able to reason. It occurred to her that they did not mean to kill her, or they would have shot her long before this. It was not the first time she had been in danger; for in the rough and lawless camps which first dotted the wilds of Australia, life was not held of much account, and men—and women, too—were often in peril of life and limb.
She had been reared amid scenes which would have terrified a London girl to death, and her nerve, strengthened by her rough experiences, did not desert her at this juncture. Once or twice she could even feel that she was capable of a smile, though the smile did not actually come. Very few duchesses had ridden across Australian hills with their heads muffled in a cloth and a couple of ruffians with drawn revolvers at her side. If Lilias could only see her now!
After a considerable ride, they pulled up; the man lifted her from the horse, and taking her hand, led her into a hut; Esmeralda offering no resistance, for she knew it would be worse than useless.
The man removed the cloth from her head, and, passing her hand across her eyes—for they were confused by their long blindfolding—she saw that she was in a diggers’ hut. A woman stood by a table holding a candle in her hand. Esmeralda’s heart rose as she saw her, and she looked at her with more than the usual feminine curiosity—with an anxious scrutiny. The woman was middle-aged, with a careworn face which was not altogether repellant. She glanced at Esmeralda, then looked at Simon, as if awaiting his orders.
“We’ve brought her,” said Simon, shortly. Then he turned to Esmeralda: “So long as you keep quiet and behave yourself, nobody’ll do yer any harm; I’d advise you not to make any attempt to get away.”
Esmeralda said nothing, but stood looking at the woman.