"That's all I ask. I know if you 'try' we'll get rid of this pest in skirts. Don't mince matters, Riggs. Let her have the full benefit of your grip and that will be sufficient."
Old Broadbrim cast his eyes down the ravine and seemed to measure the distance to the bottom mentally.
"Stareyes is cunning and cool. I have stood before her and seen her orbs flash like twin stars. She has one parent living, an old mother, who is either in Perth or Melbourne. She is as much a viper as her child, but never let her sting you. Take time by the forelock, Riggs."
"I'll do it, sir."
They walked back over the dusty road and separated near the ranch house.
"A hired murderer," smiled the detective when he thought of the walk to the bridge. "I must see Stareyes. I must find this girl who is doomed by Merle Macray, and she can tell me something of his past. When I kill her for him the moon will fall from the skies."
At that moment the detective happened to look across a little patch of meadow land and caught sight of a figure that flitted out of sight even as he gazed.
The girl had been found already.
Down where he saw the slight figure a few empty houses stood and he walked toward them.
They were tumble-down traps, hardly fit to house sheep in, and Old Broadbrim entered one.