Old Broadbrim Into the Heart of Australia / or, A Strange Bargain and Its Consequences

by St. George Rathborne

But the Yankee spotter did not witness this sight, for others came before his eyes in a short time.

The long hot day drew to a close, and yet Old Broadbrim had not caught a glimpse of Waters.

There was a vacant spot where the sheep sheds had been and he turned to one of the men for an explanation.

"She fired them," said the guard.

Old Broadbrim's look was a mute question which the man understood.

"Mistress Belle came back with a gleam of murder in her eyes, and I never saw her look that way before. She must have thought the sheds sheltered an enemy."

The detective started.

Had she finished the career of Stareyes, the fair avenger? and was the girl a charred heap of bones under the ruins of the old sheds?

Old Broadbrim did not care to ask openly for Waters, still his whole soul seemed interested in the mystery that hung over the young man's disappearance, and at last he sought out one of the guards whom he thought he could trust.