Round Robin Ranch was the largest and richest sheep ranch in the district.
It belonged to the woman who was known as Belle Demona and whose wealth was said to be almost marvelous.
She had come out some years before the opening of our story and had made money hand-over-fist in the new lands of Australia, and her sheep were to be seen by thousands on the grazing lands of Round Robin Ranch.
Her overseer and general agent was Merle Macray, who had come out with her and who had just come back after an absence of over six months.
No one knew where he had been, though it was said that he was in London investing some of the ranch queen's savings and attending to other business for his mistress.
There were rumors that at one time the ranch queen had led a wild life in the capitals of Europe, and even in far-off America, but no one cared to make a public declaration of this sort.
The woman would not have submitted to such reports, and she was known everywhere as a perfect shot and a creature who feared nothing, not even the plundering bands that now and then raided the rich ranches and levied tribute on their owners.
But there was one person who knew where Merle Macray had been.
Old Broadbrim carried the true secret of his long absence in his bosom, and he had followed him to the island, tracking him from the scene of crime in New York to cling for life in the pit trap of Old Danny in Melbourne.