Power rode out of Surprise with the hag of reproach seated at the crupper of his horse. He would have proved poor company for a ; but fortune left him to follow the road alone, and he pushed his fagged mount to some pace, and ate up the distance to Pool.  
The evening had when he arrived on the bank of the Pool. The hour was ten o'clock. We woo sleep early at Surprise, for she proves mistress here, and Power believed himself too late. He heard the whimper of the dog, and a bark checked in the throat, and then the horse jumped under him in a difficult shy. He threw a glance into the dark for the cause, and, lo! Moll Gregory sat at the foot of a tree as still as the trunk supporting her. At once the hag of reproach left her seat. Moll rose from her waiting place and came forward with a little laugh of greeting. The jealous dark stole her from Power's eyes, but her figure defied[Pg 146] its embrace, and she came up to his horse young and careless and bewitching. He thought of a young tree starting on its journey towards the sky. He the , the horse stood still, and he fell to staring down on her. Straightway he forgot time and the ill humours of the day.
 
"You are awful late, Mister?"
 
"It's a long way from Surprise."
 
"I was near giving you up, and then, Mr. Power, you would have caught it next time we met. I'm not a girl for a fellow to say yes and no to all the day."
 
"But now I am forgiven, I must get down. What about the horse? There's not a yard round here, is there?"
 
"Dad is always talking of putting up something, but I haven't seen it yet."
 
"He is quiet enough. I'll him here. There's the saddle to come off. I won't be long."
 
When the saddle stood on end at the foot of a tree, and the bit hung loose, then Power made ready for what the hour would bring. The insects were busy, creeping down neck and ears, and crickets kept concert in all corners of the dark. It would grow no cooler until dawn, and soon afterwards the sun would start up into the sky. At a little distance, a light shone through the hessian wall of Gregory's dining-room, and[Pg 147] sometimes a voice came from there. Power felt in no mood for the inside of the place.
 
"I have been riding all day. Where shall we sit down?"
 
He was led to a seat by the tree trunk. They sat down a little apart. Branches held a latticed over them, and the lattice work let in the starlit sky. The dog mooched round as company.
 
"So you had given me up?"
 
"Yes, Mister. I'd been waiting there I forget how long. Dad and Mum started to row when we was washing up, and I flung out of the place in a temper. I set about a bit of fishing by the Pool. It isn't bad fun these nights. Sometimes you get a bonza haul. But it's awful sitting by the bank alone. I don't know what's took me lately, but I get terrible tired of things. I reckon it's since Mr. King told me of all there was to be seen away from here."
 
They sat in a lap of land on top of the bank, where it fell sharp to the water, and just now a fish leapt in the shallows.
 
"Shall we fish, Mr. Power?" she said. "The rod is down there somewhere. They were too slow when I came out, and I gave it over."
 
"We will."
 
They found a roadway down the bank. They found the rod. They sat upon the bank. She[Pg 148] put the rod over the water, and Power took a pipe from his pocket.
 
"They call you Moll, don't they? I am going to be a friend of yours. May I call you Molly? I think it prettier than Moll."
 
"Orl right, Mister. We won't quarrel over it. I reckon the mosquitoes like fishing too. Do you fish ever?"
 
"Sometimes. I shoot most when there's spare time. I like fishing though."
 
"Struth! Something's at me now. I won't yank yet. These fellers give a good bite when they mean business."
 
"Do you often come here? I've ridden by many times and watered my horse here; I've watered a good few mobs of cattle here, too. But I never knew how beautiful it was until I fished to-night."
 
"Now and again I get fair sick of Mum and Dad, and then I come and fish or take a walk along the bank. I like listening to the things that move in the dark."
 
"What do you hear?"
 
"Oh, the fishes are always jumping in the shallows, and sometimes a crocodile sticks his nose up, and times I surprise a turtle in the sands. There's plenty of kangaroos along for a drink—strike me! Hark at that fellow."
 
 
"Yes, he's noisy enough for an old man—Molly."
 
"Can't you get out 'Molly' easier? There's no call to jerk your head over it."
 
"It was not hard to say. It lies gently on the tongue. And so you make friends with the animals? If you are here in winter time you will find the fishing at dawn, and spoonbills, too, as white as snow. You have heard of snow, I suppose? It falls among the mountains down South in July and August—Molly."
 
"It don't come easy yet. I reckon Molly is no harder to say than 'My Princess.'"
 
"Does it fall as on the ear as 'My Princess?'"
 
"I like 'My Princess,' and I like Molly. I can do with two friends since I was so long without one.... Now, what are you thinking of, Mister? You sit staring at the Pool and sucking yer pipe. Why don't yer talk? You are as as the fishes what won't come at my hook."
 
"I was thinking a week or two can make a queer change in a man's fortune."
 
"It do. Luck takes a turn times when things look dreadful hopeless. Straight wire. I tell you I've watched the water o' nights, and thought about settling things up. And then, like a cow to[Pg 150] a new-dropped , you fellows came along to liven things."
 
"We came along one day and found you here, and now all the roads on Kaloona run lean to Pelican Pool. Molly, do you know all you have done? Think, Molly, a moment. Have you kind word for my friend, Mick O'Neill? Or for Mr. King driving through the heat from Surprise?"
 
"Good enough for them what they get."
 
"Don't you believe in love?"
 
"Mr. Power, you are too fond of questions. I shall be giving you the rod soon to hold. Don't you think a girl may have a bit of fun? It's awful hard when a man likes you to tell him to clear out. Wake up, Mister; you are awful dilly sometimes. What do you see in the water to stare at?"
 
"Every 'yes' spoken now will take a deal of unspeaking later on. Tell me, are you a little fond of Mick?"
 
"I reckon there's a bite. Look at the float, and the water ."
 
"That bite can wait your answer."
 
"He's a good figure of a man, isn't he?"
 
"He is."
 
"He can sit a bad horse with the next man, can't he?"
 
"He can."
 
"He's pretty slick through scrub, and isn't the last on the heels of a mob. I reckon many a girl wouldn't toss her head there."
 
"And Mr. King?"
 
"He knows how to talk to a girl; but it don't take his fat off him, do it? He's as old as Dad; but he's shook on me, and no error. He terrible in the sun, but he comes as often as he can. He told me there would be something for me in a coach or two, but I said he could keep it. First I liked a bit of attention, it had been so dull; but now I can get as good elsewhere."
 
"Send him gently about his business, then, for I think loving is easier than unloving."
 
"There's not going to be any sending about business. He can come if he wants, and he can stay away. I know how to be not at home, and he can try his hand talking to Bluey, the dog. Now, don't start preaching, Mister. You can go on sucking that pipe. I'm not at the call of every feller of fifty who gets shook on me."
 
"Your own troubles will come one day, Molly, and you will grow a little kinder because of them. The new boot is poor company for the foot, and the heart grows softer with a bit of wear and tear. And so you are ready to punish two men, and all their crime was looking overlong into your eyes. Are only your glances kind, Molly? Have the suns of twenty summers baked[Pg 152] your little heart? Haven't you a memory or two of sorrow stored away to make you softer now? No, don't ."
 
"Mr. Power, you seem interested in other people. I don't see call for you to worry what I do. I recko............