Old Broadbrim was still on his trail.
[CHAPTER X.]
A TERRIBLE MOMENT.
"Remember, you are to come back with the truth," said Belle Demona the next day, when she bade Jem good-by on the edge of the ranch, prior to his departure for Melbourne.
Jem was serving two masters, or, to be a little more correct, one master and one mistress.
He was expected by the ranch queen to proceed to Melbourne and there look into the trap-pit underneath Old Danny's house, while Merle Macray had his promise that he would go no further than Perth, where he would sojourn a few days and then come back with a well-coined story.
Whom would he obey—master or mistress?
Merle chuckled to himself when he saw the man from London ride away, and for some time he watched him with inward satisfaction.