those same dark hours of this eventful night were also the slowest and the dreariest on record in the mind of naomi pryse. she too had waited for the moon. at sundown she had stabled her horse, and left it with a fine feed of chaff and oats as priming for the further work she had in view. this done, she had consented, under protest, to eat something herself; but had jumped up early to fill with her own hands a water-bag and a flask of which she could have no need for hours. it made no matter. she must be up and doing this or that; it was intolerable sitting still even to eat and drink. besides, how could she eat, how could she drink, when he who should have shared her meal was perhaps perishing of hunger and thirst in top scrubby? it was much more comforting to cut substantial slices of mutton and bread, to put them up in a neat packet, and to set this in readiness alongside the flask and the water-bag. then came the trouble. there was nothing more to be done.
it was barely eight o'clock, and no moon for two hours and a half.
naomi went round to the back veranda, picked up the book she had been reading the day before, and marched about with it under her arm. she had not the heart to sit down and read. her restless feet took her many times to the kitchen and mrs. potter, who shook her good gray head and remonstrated with increasing candor and asperity.
"go to look for him?" she cried at last. "when the time comes for that, you'll be too dead tired to sit in your saddle, miss. if you start before the moon's well up, there'll be no telling a hoof-mark from a foot-print without getting off every time. you've said so yourself, miss naomi. then why not go straight to your bed and lie down for two or three hours? i'll bring you a cup of tea at half-past eleven, and you can be away by twelve."
naomi sighed.
"it is so long to wait—doing nothing! he may be dying, poor fellow; and yet what can one do in the dark?"
"lie down and rest," said mrs. potter, dryly.
"well, i will try, but not on my bed—on the sitting-room sofa, i think. will you light the lamp there, please? and bring the tea at eleven; i'll start at half-past."
naomi took a short stroll among the darkling pines—the way that she had taken the piano-tuner in the first moments of their swift friendship—the way that he had taken alone last night. she reached the sitting-room with moist, wistful eyes, which startled themselves as she confronted the mirror over the chimney-piece whereon stood the lamp. she stood for a little, however, looking at herself—steadfastly—inquisitively—as though to search out the secrets of her own heart. she gave it up in the end, and turned wearily away. what was the use of peering into her own heart now, when so often aforetime she had seemed to know it, and had not? there was no use; and as it happened, no need. for the first thing her eyes fell upon,[pg 197] as she turned, was the pile of music lying yet where engelhardt had placed it, on the stool. the next was his little inscription on the uppermost song. she knelt to read it again; when she had done so the two uncertain, left-handed, pencilled lines were wet and blotched with her tears, and she rose up knowing what she had never known before.
at eleven-thirty—she had set her heart upon that extra half hour if let alone—mrs. potter rattled the tea-tray against the sitting-room door and entered next moment. she found her mistress on the sofa certainly, but lying on her back and staring straight at the ceiling. her face was very white and still, but she moved it a little as the door opened. she had not slept? not a wink. her book was lying in her lap; it had never been opened. mrs. potter was not slow to exhibit her disappointment, not to say her disgust. but naomi sprang up with every sign of energy, and finished her tea in five minutes. in ten she had her horse saddled. in twelve she had cantered back to the veranda, and was receiving from mrs. potter the water-bag, the flask, and the packet of bread and meat.
"have his room nice and ready for him," said the girl, excitedly, "and the kettle boiling, so that we may both have breakfast the instant we get in. it will be a pretty early breakfast, you'll see! do you think you can do without sleep as long as i can?"
"well, i know i sha'n't lie down while you're gone, miss."
"then i'll be tremendously quick, i will indeed. i only wish i'd started long ago. the moon is splendid now. you can see miles——"
"then look there, miss naomi!"
"where?"
"past the stables—across the paddock—toward the fence."
naomi looked. a black figure was running toward them in the moonlight.
"who can it be, mrs. potter? not mr. engelhardt——"
"who else?"
"but he is reeling and staggering! could it be some drunken roustabout? and yet that's just his height—it must be—it is—thank god!"
her curiosity first, and then her amazement, kept naomi seated immovable in her saddle. she wondered later why she had not cantered to meet him. she did not stir even when his stertorous breathing came painfully to her ears. it was only when the quivering, spent, and speechless young man threw his arms across the withers of her horse, and his white face fell forward upon the mane, that naomi silently detached the water-bag which she had strapped to her saddle, and held it to his lips with a trembling hand. at first he shook his head. then he raised his wild eyes to hers with a piteously anxious expression.
"you have heard—that they are coming?"
"no—who?"
"you have heard, or why are you on horseback?"
"to look for you. i was on the point of starting. i made sure you must be bushed."
"i was. but i got to a camp. they looked after me; i am all right. and now they are coming in here—they're probably on their way!" each little sentence came in a fresh gasp from his parched throat.
"but who?"
"those two tramps who came the other day, and simons, the ringer of the shed. villains—villains every one!"
"ah! and what do they want?"
"can't you guess? the silver! the silver! that fat brute who insulted you so, who do you suppose he is? tigerskin's[pg 200] mate—just out of prison—the man whose finger your father shot off ten years ago! you remember how he kept his hands in his pockets the other day? well, that was the reason. now there isn't a moment to lose. i listened to their plans. half an hour ago—or it may be an hour—they lay down for a spell. they were drunk, but not very. they only meant to rest for a bit; then they're coming straight here. they left me tied up—they were going to bring me with them—i'll tell you afterward how i got loose. i daren't stop a moment, even to cut adrift their horses. i just bolted for the moon—i'd heard them say the station lay due east—and here i am. thank god i've found you up and mounted! it couldn't have been better; it's providential. now you mustn't get off at all; you must just ride right on to the shed."
"must i?" said naomi, with a tight lip and a keen eye, but a touch of the old banter in her tone.
"we could follow on foot. meanwhile you would rouse them out at the shed——"
"and my silver?"
engelhardt was silent. the girl leant forward in her saddle, and laid a hand upon his shoulder.
"no, no, mr. engelhardt! captains don't quit their ships in such a hurry as all that. i'm captain here, and i'll stick to mine. it isn't only the silver. still my father smelt powder for that silver, and the least i can do is to follow his lead."
she slid to the ground as she spoke.
"you will barricade yourself in the store?" said engelhardt.
"exactly. it was fixed up for this very kind of thing, after the first fuss with tigerskin. they'll never get in."
"and you mean to stick to your guns inside?"
"to such as i have—most certainly."
"then i mean to stick to you."
"very well."
"but think—think before it's too late! they are devils, miss pryse—beasts! i have seen them and heard them. better a hundred times be dead than at their mercy. for god's sake, take the horse before they are upon us!"
"i stop here," said naomi, decidedly.
"yet mrs. potter and i could hold the store as easily as you could. they shall not get your silver while i'm alive."
"my mind is made up," said the girl, in a voice which silenced his remonstrances; "but i agree with you that somebody ought to start off for the shed. i think that you should, mr. engelhardt, if you feel equal to it."
"equal to it! it's so likely i would ride off and leave two women to the mercy of those brutes! if it really must be so, then i think the sooner we all three get into the store——"
it was mrs. potter who here put in her amazing word. while the young people stood and argued, her eyes had travelled over every point of the saddled horse. and now she proposed that she should be the one to ride to the shed for help.
"you!" the two cried in one breath, as they gazed at her ample figure.
"and why not?" said the hardy woman. "wasn't i born and bred in the bush? couldn't i ride—bareback, too—before either of you was born? i'm not so light as i used to be, and i haven't the nerve either; but what i have is all there in the hour of need, miss naomi. let me go now. i'm ready this minute."
naomi had seemed lost in thought.
"very well!" cried she, whipping her eyes from the ground. "but you don't know the way to the shed, and i must make[pg 203] your directions pretty plain. run to the back of the kitchen, mr. engelhardt, you'll see a lot of clothes-props. bring as many as you can to the store veranda."
engelhardt darted off upon his errand. already they had wasted too many minutes in words. his brain was ablaze with lurid visions of the loathsome crew in top scrubby; of the murderous irruption imminent at any moment; of the unspeakable treatment to be suffered at those blood-stained hands—not only by himself—that mattered little—but by a woman—by naomi of all women in the world. god help them both if the gang arrived before they were safe inside the store! but until the worst happened she need not know, nor should she guess, how bad that worst might be. poor rowntree's fate, and even his own ill-usage by those masterless men, were things which engelhardt was not the man to tell to women in the hour of alarm. he was clear enough as to that; and having done up to this point all that a man could do, he jumped at the simple task imposed by naomi, and threw himself into it with immense vigor and a lightened heart. as he dropped his first clothes-prop in the store veranda, naomi and the housekeeper were still talking, though the latter was already huddled up in the saddle. when he got back with a second, both women were gone; with a third, naomi was unlocking the store door; with the fourth and last, she had lit a candle inside, and was sawing one of the other props in two.
"that'll do," she said, as her saw ran through the wood. "now hold this one up for me."
she pointed to another of the stout poles. she made him hold it with one end inside, and the other protruding through the opening. then she made a mark on the prop at the level of the door, sawed it through at her mark, and cut down the other two in the same fashion. in less than five minutes the four poles had become eight, which cumbered the floor within. then naomi rose from her knees, flung the saw back into the tool-box, and made a final survey with the candle. a few flakes of sawdust lay about the shallow veranda. she fetched a broom from a corner of the store and whisked them away. then she removed the key to the inside, and was about to lock the door upon herself and engelhardt when he suddenly stopped her.
"hold on!" he cried. "i want your boots."
"my boots?"
"yes, those you've got on—with the dust on 'em, just as they are. they must be left outside your door, and your door must be locked; you must keep the key."
naomi gave him a grateful, an admiring smile.
"that is a happy thought. i'll get it myself. while i'm gone you might fetch in the axe from the wood-heap; i'd almost forgotten it."
they ran off in different directions. next minute they were both back in the store, engelhardt with the axe. naomi took it from him, and set it aside without a word. her face was blanched.
"i heard something," she whispered. "i heard a cry. oh, if they've seen me!"
"we'll lock the door as quietly as possible."
this was done.
"now the props," said naomi.
engelhardt had guessed what they were for. he helped her to fix them, with one wedged between floor and counter, and the other pressing the heavy woodwork of the door. it now appeared how craftily naomi had cut her timbers. they met the door, two at the top, two at the bottom, and four about the centre. still the brave engineer was distressed.
"i meant to hammer them down," she murmured. "now i daren't."
"we'll put all our weight on them instead," said engelhardt. they did so with a will, until each prop had creaked in turn. then they listened.
"out with the light," said naomi. "there are no windows to give us away—but still!"
he blew it out. as yet his own ears had heard nothing, and he was beginning to wonder whether naomi had been deceived. they listened a little longer. then she said:
"we're provisioned for a siege. did you see the flask and things on the counter?"
"i did. how in the world did you find time to get them ready?"
"i had them ready before you came. they were for you."
the two were crouching close together between the props. it was a natural though not a necessary attitude. the moon was shining through the skylight upon one of the walls; the multifarious tins and bottles on the shelves made the most of the white light; and faint reflections reached the faces of naomi and the piano-tuner—so close to each other, so pale, so determined, and withal so wistful as their eyes met. engelhardt first looked his thanks, and then stammered them out in a broken whisper. even as he did so the girl raised a finger to her lips.
"hark! there they are."
"yes, i hear them. they won't hear us yet a bit."
"they mustn't hear us at all; but off with your boots—we may have to move about."
she had already kicked off her shoes, and now, because he had only one of his own, she pulled off his boots with her two hands.
"you should not have done that!"
"why not?"
"it's dreadful! just as though you were my servant."
"mr. engelhardt, we must be everything to each other——"
she shot up her hand and ceased. the voices without were now distinguishable.
"to-night!" he muttered, bitterly, before heeding them.
naomi, on the other hand, was at the last pitch of attention; but not to him. she inclined her head as she knelt to hear the better. the voices were approaching from one side.
"ay, that's where he dropped—just there!" said one. it was tigerskin's mate, bill.
"take the key from the door!" engelhardt whispered to naomi, who was the nearer it. they had forgotten to do this. for one wild moment the girl hesitated, then she cautiously reached out her hand and withdrew the key without a scratch.
"so this is the crib!" they heard bo's'n say.
"the same old crib," said bill. "same as it was ten years ago, only plastered up a bit. i suppose it is locked, mate?"
the handle was tried. the door shook ever so little. the two inside gazed at the props and held their breath. if one of them should be shaken down!
"ay, it's locked all right; and i reckon it's true enough about the girl sleeping with the key under her pillow, and all."
"blast your reckonings!" said bill. "make sure the key ain't in the door on t'other side."
the thimbleful of starlit sky which naomi had been watching for the last minute and a half was suddenly wiped away. she[pg 209] heard bo's'n breathing hard as he stooped and peered. the key grew colder in her hand.
"no, there ain't no key, bill."
"that's all right. they're both in their beds then, and that little suck-o'-my-thumb hasn't got here yet. when he does, god 'elp him!"
the voices were those of bill and bo's'n. for the moment these two seemed to be alone together.
"ay, ay, we'd string the beggar up fast enough another time!"
"string him up? yes, by his heels, and shoot holes through him while he dangled."
"beginning where you don't kill. holy smoke! but i wish he'd turn up now."
"so do i—the swine! but here comes the ringer. what cheer, matey?"
"it's right," said simons. "the little devil's locked her door; but there are her boots outside, same as if she was stoppin' at a blessed 'otel. a fat lot she cared whether her precious pal was bushed or whether he wasn't! we thought you was telling us lies, mother, but, by cripes, you wasn't!"
"i should think not!" said a fourth voice. "she wouldn't believe he was lost, but i knew he was; so i just saddled the[pg 210] night-horse after she was in bed and asleep, and was going straight to the shed to raise a search-party!"
the pair within were staring at each other in dumb horror. that fourth voice was but too well known to them both. it was mrs. potter's.
