The light falling upon her face showed traces of her excitement, and she fell to watching her companion, who went back to her work, and seemed to forget all that had passed between them.
"If he did anything for her—if he committed any crimes while he was away—they may come after him and take him from us," suddenly said the old woman, looking up.
"They shall not!" cried Stareyes. "I'll kill the hunters first!"
"That's it. He's not to escape us."
"Mother, never."
Meanwhile Merle Macray had departed from Perth.
The night was a beautiful one, and he had mounted a horse in the principal square, and, with a young man for company, was riding in a northeasterly direction from the Australian town.
His companion was younger than he, and not so good-looking.
Both were well mounted, and the horses, being fresh, bore them rapidly over the gently-undulating country, with a light breeze at their back and a good highway before them.