In another moment she came back with bottle and goblets and filled the latter with red wine.
"Drink with me, then. I feel like a new woman. It is accomplished! I told him that he should feel my hand, no matter where he went, and my threat has been fulfilled. You did it well, Merle. I am proud of you."
Merle Macray, looking over the brim of his goblet, saw her eyes get a merry, triumphant light, and then he downed his wine and set the glass on the onyx-topped table.
"I have secured the additional hands you need," said he. "I had some little trouble in picking them up in Perth and they will be here in a day or two."
"You got good men?"
"Yes. I left it to Jot and he will send those I did not get to see. How are the natives?"
"A little troublesome, but with the force I sent for we'll meet them triumphantly. It's not to be that I have to succumb to a lot of brigands and I will not pay tribute to their chief."
"That's right—not a pound!" cried Merle. "We will take the initiative as soon as the men arrive, and we'll show them that they can't levy tribute on Round Robin Ranch."
"Indeed we will. I am Belle Demona, or Belle, the Demon, as they shall learn, and when our men come we will show these scoundrels that we are not to be bled."
Merle drank off another glass of wine, and the woman left him alone.