“Pretty, ain’t she?” said the old woman; “a dainty mossel for any man.”
“Ay,” said Fisher quietly, “ay,” and passed on, wondering to himself, as many another man has done before him—why this girl was so priceless in his eyes—and why, seeing that she was so, he might not have her rather than this reckless outlaw, who would make her the toy of his idle hours, and when she became a burden to him throw her aside, like a worn-out horse or a dog he had no further use for.
He bit his lip and clenched his hands, and the men when he gave the orders for the night, muttered to one another that the boss meant business an’ no mistake. “Ghost or no ghost. ‘T wouldn’t be much good anybody meddlin’ wi’ the cattle now. He was mighty struck on the gal, he was—but it didn’t seem to be interfering wi’ business nohow.”
He was mighty struck on the girl, and his thoughts were so full of her that sleep seemed out of the question, so he took the first watch with Ned Kirton for his mate.
Out on the plains here, had they been quite certain of the honesty of the Durhams, one man would have been quite sufficient to mount guard, his duties being simply to ride round the cattle, and should any seem restless or inclined to roam to head them back again. Even as it was, two seemed an almost unnecessary waste of energy, more especially as the other men were camped close by, ready to spring to their feet at a moment’s call.
It was a still, hot night; the moon, though not near full, still shed a sufficient light to distinguish everything quite plainly; the men’s camp, the sleeping cattle, the hut and outbuildings a little to the left, so calm and peaceful.
Fisher, as he sat on his motionless horse, began to think one guard was more than enough, and to speculate as to whether he should not tell Kirton to go to sleep and leave the cattle to him. Sleep was not likely to come to him, he thought, with that haunting girl’s face ever before his eyes. He turned his horse so that he should not see the hut, and then found himself riding round the camp, in order to bring it into view again.
“It’s all right, boss,” said Kirton, as he passed. “Things is as quiet as quiet. Ghosts ain’t expected to walk before twelve though, are they?”
Fisher laughed. “No,” he said, “but somehow I don’t believe the ghost intends to trouble us after all. They ‘re scared at our preparations. I think one man ‘ll do after midnight.”
He rode on a little way, when suddenly something induced him to turn his head, and he saw distinctly, in the moonlight, a white figure come out of the hut and make its way quickly in the direction of the creek. It was a woman’s figure, with a kerchief across the head, but whether it was Nell or her grandmother he could not at that distance or in that light say.