Part 31 (1/2)
”What right has he to talk--now?” she asked, with a return of the savage jealousy she had shohen, twenty years before, she thought the baby was to have been taken fro bush her with such winsoe, Tony?” she went on, resentirl, who the Flat, still upperht Marold there, and the gold was stolen We rode the thieves down One of them was badly thrown and died I stayed with him while the others went on, and he told me he knew me because I was like my--my father; and then he said he stole me as a baby and left an said there was so, and then I made up my mind to come out and ask What is the truth?”
”That's it,” Taylor said ”A chap caht and said--said he was left with you, and we took you and kept you and brought you up like our own”
Mrs Taylor, touching Tony on the arm, pointed to the vine-covered rail in the corner of the paddock
”He'd just gone,” she said sadly
”And the chap never came back and never sent a word, and it was nobody's business--so we kept you as our own,” Taylor added
”And if _that's_ why the girl----”
”There's more than that,” Tony said ”If one part of the man's yarn is true, all of it may be He said he'd killed e onas he was, and swore I'd never find her, though she was seeking forthen; I don't kno”
For a few moments there was silence between thean, and stopped
Her memory turned back to the sorrow she had knohen her firstborn went fro void came into her life and robbed it of every joy and every zest, till the as brought to her, the care of who uish she would have known had that waif not couish that other mother must have known if the story she heard were true
”I want to find her,” Tony said simply
Demonstrations of affection were unknown at Taylor's Flat--eht influence in the prosaic life of the bush; but Mrs Taylor flung her arms round Tony's neck, and held him closely to her as she kissed hiht her husband's glance, she exclaimed, ”And you would too, Bill,” as she pushed him, to hide the tears in her eyes
The sound of a horse, furiously ridden, caused them to turn towards the road just as a rider dashed up to the slip-rails
”There's a fire on Barellan run,” he shouted ”We want all the help we can get”
Without waiting for an answer he dashed off out of sight, riding as hard as his horse would go to carry the warning and call for help to fight the corass is a foot high there with no stock to keep it down It'll be over the country if they don't check it Ride for it, lad Every , and was in the saddle and off, riding hard for the scene of the conflict As he rode past selections, the old hands were already preparing to protect their holdings by firing the grass and burning it for about ten yards on either side of the boundary fences, beating the flahs when they threatened to spread too far It was a slow process and a dangerous one, for only small patches could be burned at a time, lest the small fire escaped past control and developed in an instant into a great blaze The heavy white s the figures of the beaters, half hidden by the smoke and half revealed by the line of flarass
When Tony reached the townshi+p he found it practically deserted The led to stop the spread of the fla blaze, the site of which was , and folding against the clear blue of the cloudless sky On the air a faint haze was already drifting over the town, and with it ca eucalypts
As he galloped through the bush the haze grew denser, the scent ent, the heat e of the s with it a sound, inexplicable to those who have never heard it, unforgettable to those who have--a sound of a whispering roar, impressive and yet faint, sharp and yet dull, like the far-off roll of breaking surf and the rattle of rifle-shots It told of a fire that eeping along through , flinging, dancing as it ca up its colu lines of flareat red de red, flameless till a dozen had spread in a network, laced and interlaced, in the dull buff hue of the grass, and a breath came out from the s up with a roar, and leaping, rushed like a charging host when battle-cries rend the air, devouring everything, destroying everything, in thebefore the hich sprang to life in the fury of the blaze, while sheets of fla as they wrapped round the tophs, and, while yet the stems were enshrouded in s shower, and tossed thealee
It told of scorching blasts that rushed froreen to make them ripe for the havoc that was to co hi, and he hastened forward A dozen rimed
”Back to the road,” the first one cried ”Ride back and fire the grass
It's sweeping down for ht”
”The blacks have set it going,” another yelled ”It's springing everywhere”