The storm burst in the middle of the night. A rush of wind came with a high call out of the South and tore at the hessian walls of Surprise with multitudinous fingers. It fell with upraised voice upon the timbered country of Pool and swung together the heads of the trees. It leapt in rage upon the staunch homestead of Kaloona so that the timbers beneath the . There blazed through the dark a sheet of light and the ghost of day stood an instant naked and trembling. There sounded a roar of thunder. And at once the sky was torn from end to end to let down the rains.  
The waters struck the iron roofs of Surprise and Kaloona with the shock of a . They flogged the walls of the tents. They the ground, tearing the small stones from the soil. Ever and again lightning ripped in the dark and thunder in the skies. The wind came and went in giant claps.[Pg 297] The minutes wore out without any wearying of this rage.
 
A sheet of water crept about the face of the country, exploring and claiming the hollows of the land. Tiny tumbled wherever the ground was broken. Dry woke to life and swept upon the journey to the river. The grasses were beaten to the ground. The saplings and their limbs. And ever new lightnings tore the dark in pieces, and thunders cracked in the skies; even the voices of drumming waters called in the dark in answer to the shouting of the wind.
 
The storm thrust a way into the tenderer places of Surprise. It pushed through the patches in the canvas roofs, and crept through the of the walls, streaming across the floors while Mrs. , Mrs. Niven and Mrs. Bloxham, wakened from sleep, peered upon it from their beds.
 
Said Mrs. Boulder, putting a heavy hand for the matches and nudging Boulder awake. "Stow that, man, and get to it. There's something doing, I reckon."
 
Mrs. Niven, striking a match upon like scene, lifted up voice. "Are you never goin' to raise a finger to help me, but'll stay snorin' there till the place falls in atop of us? There[Pg 298] won't be a dry inch in another half hour, an' not two sticks of wood chopped, I've no doubt."
 
Over all the camp lights up behind the walls where Bullock, Bloxham and Johnson pass barefooted upon their errands.
 
At Kaloona the storm lasted through the hours of dark. The rain roared up and down the iron roofs. The lightning flamed outside the windows. The thunder in the sky. Ever and anon a hurricane of wind clapped hold of the house and shook it, or for an instant the roar of rain died, as though a sudden giant hand had plucked away the heavens. As each blaze of lightning the landscape from the dark, Power from his place by the window, and Mrs. Elliott and Maggie from the security of bed, looked upon a country over which crept a wide reach of water.
 
Power was considering bed when the storm began and set him thinking of other things. He lit a pipe and stood before the window spectator of events. He stood for a long time without turning round, but left his post presently, picked up the lamp from the table and made the way down a passage. He stopped before a door and hammered upon it until it opened. By the light of the lamp Mrs. Elliott was discovered confronting him, more ample than ever in her wide[Pg 299] nightgown. He shouted at her above the cry of the rain.
 
"How are you doing in there? Nothing coming through yet?"
 
"O.K. to date, Mr. Power. Don't you worry for us. It looks as though the whole place'll and go up in a cloud of smoke, don't it?" Mrs. Elliott beamed upon him.
 
"I'm just round the corner. Call me if you want me." He nodded good-night and the door shut. Back in the he put the lamp on the table and took a stand once more by the window.
 
He gave up all thoughts of bed. The cries of the storm and the lights blazing through the window keyed up his nerves. He became full of fancies of which Molly Gregory was the beginning and the end. He reproached himself for not remaining until the others came back. In the face of this it seemed a thing to have left the child alone. But now the others would be back, and his fancies did no good. Once more the event!
 
Then his thoughts made their way to Surprise. Was his punishment coming to an end? If he went back and asked forgiveness, would he be forgiven? Molly had told him yes. He had no right to hope for such a thing, yet Maud knew now he loved her. And in truth he loved her as he had not known how to love a woman a little while ago—loving her body, because it was her body; but counting it of small value beside the spirit. Hope was coming back to him to-night with the reviving influence of a cool wind searching the forehead of a castaway in a desert place.
 
The door by the verandah steps swung wide open. The storm swept inside the house in a greedy . The curtains at the windows were caught up in the air. The light leapt up the chimney of the lamp and went out. He was in the dark. He ran across and pushed the door to. It him on the shoulder. A glare of lightning lit up the house. He bolted the door, came back and lit the lamp, and wiped the rain off his face.
 
The endurance of this storm was . Commonly the rain was spent within an hour and a came. If this did not the river would be coming down. They were safe up here on the rise, but it was another matter with the hut on Pelican Pool. Every few years there came a flood which covered all that country. Surely Gregory could look after himself. He was a bushman even if he was a fool. What was he—Power—worrying about? He was because he was damp and circulation went down at this time and the jumping light[Pg 301] thrown by the lamp would give any man the .
 
Finally, while Power stood there at with himself, the storm ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
 
The following on the heels of the tumult brought him out of his thoughts. He left the room, pushed open the wire door, and stood upon the verandah steps. The sky was covered with clouds over all its face, causing the night to be pitch dark. The air was very cool. A light wind felt the way hither and among the nodding of the saplings; and in all places were small voices of dripping waters.
 
A frog from the direction of the river. A frog replied to it. There followed several , then many croaks. Presently in tens, presently in scores, presently in hundreds were raised the voices of the frogs. The chorus rose up everywhere. A-rrr! A-rrr! Mo-rrr-e! Mo-rrr-e! More water! More water! More water! Then the thunder began again in the South, and the lightning leapt across the dark. The second storm rolled out of the horizon and broke upon the land.
 
Later on Power found the way to bed; but he slept badly and quite soon it seemed to be morning.
 
 
Kaloona household woke up to a cheerless day. In a lull between the storms light crept into the sky. Power from his window, Mrs. Elliott and Maggie from the kitchen, stared upon a strange country. Heaven was choked with frowning clouds looking down upon a broken land. Pools of water filled the depressions. The higher country was beaten and . Many boughs had been torn from the timber by the river. The saplings piteously before the morning wind. Moisture dripped from the leaves down and down until it reached the ground. In all places tiny streams about the country. A thousand small voices of dropping waters murmured in open and hidden places. Louder than the voices of the waters rose the concert of the frogs.
 
"Meg," said Mrs. Elliott, coming into the damp kitchen first thing, "we'll be drowned yet, mark me, before this is done."
 
"It don't look too good," said Maggie.
 
"It don't. There's worse to come," went on Mrs. Elliott, taking a look into the wood box. "What's more, there wouldn't have been a dry stick in the house if that little man had had his way. I don't know what the boss keeps him for."
 
"The boss himself is got pretty cranky," said Maggie. "It's time he took a pull on himself."
 
 
"It is, Meg."
 
The storms pursued each other from dawn to the middle of the day. In the space of moments the sky would blacken, thunder would out and a of lightning split the heavens. The rain would drum again on the iron roofs. There fell when Power idled on the verandah looking over the country; but towards noon, when the sky was clear for a space, he picked the way to the stables. The ground was filled with pools of water, and the higher land was a . There was a bitterness in the air that persuaded him to keep hands in his pockets. He felt dispirited and on edge.
 
When he pushed open the stable door Scandalous was fussing round the stalls. The big black horse was in a box, and near it a horse of O'Neill's. Scandalous Jack stopped working with great readiness and shouted salutations of the day.
 
"Marnin', gov'nor, and a bad one at that! I reckon we'll be carrying our swags to Surprise this time to-morrow if things don't take a pull. Yer see I kept these two inside. They'll do better in than out, and it will be a fool's game running horses for a bit! The black feller don't look bad, do he?"
 
"He's pretty well," said Power, looking the black horse over.
 
 
"He's that!" shouted Scandalous, "and I was the man to do it. The lip that woman gives at the house would make you think there was nothing to do but run after her. I'll let her have it one day—her, and the gel too, hot and strong."
 
"Then you are a braver man than I am, Scandalous," Power said, moving on. "Keep the horses in. They may be wanted."
 
O'Neill kicked his heels in the yards at the back of the stables, pipe in mouth and an expression on his face to match the day. Power nodded.
 
"Pretty heavy fall," he said. "The river will be down by evening—and pretty big too."
 
O'Neill shook his head. "Do you reckon they are all right at the Pool? There's times the water fills that channel behind them, you know."
 
"They are right enough if Gregory knows his business. I've a mind to go across in the afternoon if the weather lifts."
 
Power glanced overhead. Another storm was spreading across the sky. He started to return to the house. The day was quickly darkening and the looked dismal beyond contemplation. Half-a-dozen unoccupied people loitered in sight, and the single patch of colour was where the gins in brilliant rags smoked in the of their hut. He[Pg 305] went indoors with the hump. Maggie was laying lunch in the dining-room. "Twelve o'clock?" he asked.
 
Maggie went out of the room. He fell into contemplation by the window until Mrs. Elliott in on a household errand and brought him to his senses.
 
"Don't moon about like that," she cried at sight of him. "Get some work to do."
 
"Find it for me," he said, turning towards her.
 
Mrs. Elliott confronted him in battle array. "Mr. Power, it's time you took a hold on yourself. This running to and fro every night in the dark isn't no good to you nor to Miss Neville, nor to me for that matter. You'll make a mess o' things soon and I'm old enough to be your mother."
 
"Perhaps the mess is made."
 
"Now, Mr. Power, I'm talking straight. Things won't be too mixed to put right if you start now. All men are the same and I know a deal about them. They can get themselves boxed up as easy as sheep in a yard, but they are not so quick at the untangling." Mrs. Elliott came closer and grew . She lifted a fat finger. "And I'll tell you something more, Mr. Power. All gels are much of a kind too. You may have a split with them, but if you go[Pg 306] back and drop the soft word into their ears you can get them kind again."
 
Maggie came in with the dishes, and a moment after the storm burst above the house.
 
The women went out of the room and he began a meal. The rain flogged the iron roof. Presently Maggie appeared to change the dishes and afterwards he was sitting before the finished meal listening to the tumult and feeling too out of temper to light a pipe. On one thing his mind was made up. He would ride to the Pool in the afternoon if he was washed off the road in the attempt. The river would come down in the evening. The family must be brought back and the world could wag its tongue. He was getting the blues for ever debating on the child's safety.
 
Without warning the rain was snatched back into the sky. The sudden silence confounded him. Then he threw back his head. Far away rose the voice of tremendous waters. One deep note without rise or fall was being played. He listened with all his might. He could not be mistaken. The river had come down.
 
He pushed back his chair and got to his feet. The verandah was a few steps away. The storm was hurrying out of the sky and the day had brightened once more. All over the country arose again the gentle cries of [Pg 307]dripping waters. He leant on the rail by the verandah steps. Now the thunder of the river was distinct, and among the trees he saw here and there widening sheets of water. He had not made a mistake.
 
His depression left him in a moment. He began to think very quickly. The river must have reached the Pool two hours ago. He had never known such a sudden flood. By this time the water would be all over that low country. The Gregorys would be without a home. What if the fellow had proved a fool and taken risks? He must satisfy himself. He must go without delay.
............