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The question he had to consider was who the other man was. At the back of his mind there was a lurking suspicion that the owner of Taloona might possess information on the subject if he could be induced or inveigled to reveal it. He glanced regretfully in the direction the tracks led.
I offered to go out with a dozen men and scour the range, but he wouldn't hear of it that was before he was cornered at Taloona." "Don't you worry," Brennan replied. "The sub-inspector knows what he is doing." He passed away from the group and the men turned to Gale. "That's what I don't follow," one of them said. "The chap must be hiding somewhere with that white horse of his.
"Little wonder she is a widow," he murmured to himself. "I wonder how long the late Mr. Burke managed to survive it? I hope they keep her at Taloona for a month." But she did not reach there that day. On the way she met Gale returning. "And what's the news of the poor injured creatures?" she cried as she reined in. Gale shook his head.
I wonder if he is mixed up with the Rider?" Limping along, Dudgeon made straight for Smart's cottage and knocked at the door. "I've come to see Mrs. Eustace," he said gruffly when Bessie answered. "I'm sorry, sir, but Mrs. Eustace can't see anyone to-day. It's " "You go and tell her it's me, do you hear? Mr. Dudgeon of Taloona. I'll come in and sit down till she's ready."
Slowly he drew everything out of the place. All the gold taken from the bank and from Taloona lay at his feet, together with a miscellaneous collection of jewellery wrapped up in a small square of canvas. But there was no sign either of papers or bank-notes. It was out of the question for him to attempt to remove the treasure to the bank there and then.
When they reached Taloona they found the place on fire. The sub-inspector was outside with his head smashed, and Mr. Dudgeon, with a bullet through him and his hands handcuffed behind his back, lying on the floor of the hut. They saw the glare of the fire through the trees and only galloped up just in time to get the old man out. He's in a bad way, Conlon said, and so is the sub-inspector."
As he drove along the lonely bush track which led to Taloona, his mind drifted across the years to the time when first he had come to the district, to the time when Kitty Lambton stood for him for all that was noble and generous and pure in life; when he was content to work the livelong day with a light heart and happy mind, satisfied with the reward of her presence when his day's work was done.
"I'd look there first, and then I'd go the other way." "Taloona way?" "Well, not far off." "That's what I think," the man went on. "Old Crotchety takes the loss of his money too quietly to please me. He's a pretty fly old chap and does not stop at a trifle to get his own back."
He closed the door and walked across to the table by the side of which she was standing. "Mrs. Eustace," he began, but before he could say more she interrupted him. "You have something unpleasant to say. What is it? At least be frank. Whatever it is I am prepared to hear it." He took the letter from his pocket. "This came into my possession the night we were at Taloona," he said slowly.
"I would not like them to think I took you away, Bessie." "I'm not the Bank's servant; I'm yours. Shall I help you get the furniture ready now?" "No, not just at once. I am going out to Taloona to help the doctor nurse Mr. Dudgeon. I only want to take enough with me for a few days. Mr. Gale will arrange for removing the rest, but I would like you to see they are all taken."
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