"I'll do it, sir."
They walked back over the dusty road and separated near the ranch house.
"A hired murderer," smiled the detective when he thought of the walk to the bridge. "I must see Stareyes. I must find this girl who is doomed by Merle Macray, and she can tell me something of his past. When I kill her for him the moon will fall from the skies."
At that moment the detective happened to look across a little patch of meadow land and caught sight of a figure that flitted out of sight even as he gazed.
The girl had been found already.
Down where he saw the slight figure a few empty houses stood and he walked toward them.
They were tumble-down traps, hardly fit to house sheep in, and Old Broadbrim entered one.
His head touched the rafters of the place and he looked up to avoid them.
The next moment he started back, for overhead, half concealed by a lot of hay, lay a young girl, and her white face was turned toward his own.
Their eyes met.
He found Stareyes already, and she watched him with a strange smile at the corners of her mouth.
"How do you like it?" she asked, the smile broadening as she spoke. "It's a nice place, isn't it, but it's inhabited by demons. They call you Roland Riggs here, but you're not that person. You're a beagle, but I'll keep the secret. Ha, ha, ha! sir, you don't know Stareyes yet. You play fair with her and you're safe. Fail, and it's death—death!"
OLD BROADBRIM AND THE FAIR AVENGER.
Old Broadbrim looked again at the face in the hay, and caught a gleam of friendship in the eyes, despite the words Stareyes had just spoken.
She knew his secret.
In some manner the girl whom he had promised to remove for Merle Macray had penetrated his disguise, and the secret he had guarded so well, carrying it across the ocean, was in the hands of a creature whose whole thought was revenge.
"We can be friends, Roland Riggs," continued Stareyes. "You have just seen him—I saw both of you at the bridge—and you have given him a promise."
"You know him?"
"Who has cause to know him better?" cried Stareyes. "I've known him ever since he came out to Australia; and with her whom he serves he plays a bold hand for money."
"Tell me about him."
The face came nearer, and the next moment the girl dropped deftly from the hay and stood before the detective.
"They call me Stareyes," she went on. "I am an Australian. My father died on a ranch years ago, and my mother—about her anon, perhaps. But first tell me what fetches you out here? What made you quit your own country? What did Merle Macray do there?"
Old Broadbrim hesitated.
Should he tell this girl of the crime on Fifth Avenue?
Would it be altogether wise to acquaint her with the real secret of his mission?
"He committed a crime, didn't he, sir?" she exclaimed, laying her hand on Old Broadbrim's arm. "And you have come out to take him away from me. Why, sir, if I chose I could turn you in a moment over to death, and you would never drag him from Round Robin Ranch. You saved his life last night, and he does not dream that you did so in order to bring him some day under the halter. What if he should discover this? Why, as cool as you are and as brave, your life wouldn't be worth the sunbeams on the grass."
"Let that go, girl. It is something I know already and I fear it not."
"I like brave men. But you have not answered me. What did he do in America? She sent him away."
"Belle Demona?"
"Bella, the Demon," cried Stareyes. "She sent him off on the dark mission across the sea. But for her he would not have gone and committed the crime. I heard the bargain."
"You heard it, girl? When?"
"More than six months ago."
"Here?"
"In yonder house. I was a shadow on the porch underneath the window, and but little of the bargain escaped me. He was to avenge her."
"Who had wronged her?"
"A nabob in New York."
"How?"
"He had dashed her hopes to earth at Monaco. Ah! this woman is hatred personified. She swore revenge in the moonlit garden there. She treasured her vengeance all this time in her heart. It was years ago, when she was but a little chit with money and little reputation—the prettiest adventuress in the swim.
"He was traveling on the Continent then, and her face charmed him. But he was suddenly undeceived. He discovered that she was not the angel he deemed her, and when he found it out he turned hater and spurned her at Monaco.
"That is what made her hate him. Did she keep track of him all this time? Partly so. He eluded her and kept out of her sight, but somehow he turned up on her trail and the oath was renewed."
"And she sent Merle across the sea to kill him?"
"Did he do it?" cried Stareyes. "Did he find the doomed nabob in New York, and did he carry out his promise to Belle Demona? That's why you are here, is it? You've tracked him to the bush. You have entered the lion's den, and now you are in my hands—in mine, sir!"
Once more the face before the detective assumed a mad look, but the voice was as gentle as ever.
"Yes, sir," resumed Stareyes. "It must have been six monthsago, though, from what I have learned by playing spy here, the man who crossed her path knew long ago that he was doomed. Perhaps he treated it lightly, believing that he was safe from the hands of the adventuress he had spurned, but he fell at last by her command."
"Then," said Old Broadbrim, looking down into the girl's eyes, "why don't you let me take him?"
"What would I do for vengeance?" she cried.
"The same noose will avenge the murdered millionaire and you, too."
"No! I want to avenge myself."
"And cheat me?"
There was a smile on the detective's face, and for a moment it lingered there while Stareyes watched it intently.
"Do you know what came in the letter last night?" she suddenly asked.
"In the one the boy brought from Perth?"
"Yes."
"I do not."
"He read it alone in the room. I heard him mutter its contents, for I was his shadow even then. It told about the man who escaped from Old Danny's pit."
"Indeed?"
"It was from Danny himself. He sent the letter post-haste here to inform Merle that the detective—you, sir—was not in the well, but had eluded the old wretch of Melbourne."
"And he will look for me here, eh?"
"That's it! What made him take the lantern last night and enter the guardhouse? Why with his keen eyes did he look over the sleeping men there? He was already on the hunt!"
"I saw him."
"And escaped? What if he should discover that you are not Roland Riggs, but the hunter from across the sea? It would be death."
"I know that, girl, but I am ready to face the worst."
"Then play fair with me. If I avenge myself you need not be troubled with taking a man across the sea. Stand back, sir, and let Stareyes take care of the inmates of Ranch Robin."
Old Broadbrim was not inclined to do this.
The girl should not baffle him nor throw him for a moment off the bush trail.
"I understand. You don't intend to do it!" she cried. "You have made up your mind that I am to be brushed aside, and treated like a viper which one finds in one's path. You intend to dare me to do my worst. Beware, sir!"
Her hand fell away from Old Broadbrim's arm, and she stepped back.
"I could betray you," ventured the detective. "They want to find you and for them to discover you in the sheepsheds would be the beginning of your end."
"Go out there and betray me!" cried Stareyes. "Go out and tell the pair in this bush Eden that I am Stareyes, and that the old sheds shelter me. I am here, but I am not defenseless."
She drew from her bosom a long-bladed knife with a black ebony hilt which she gripped, and raised suddenly over her head.
"Stareyes did not come here unarmed. She is ready for the enemy. She has taken an oath that the man who spurned her, and even heaped insults upon her mother, shall die the death. All your cunning cannot save him from Stareyes' blade. We are in the play, and a human life is the stake. Go out and betray me if you care to, but remember that the lips of Stareyes can utter truths which may seal the doom of the American detective!"
It was a critical situation for the Quaker.
Stareyes was determined, and her bosom rose and fell like the ocean tide while the threat passed her lips.
Her hands seemed to lose blood, and her eyes emitted sparks of light akin to fire.
Old Broadbrim looked down into her face, and stepped back.
"You're safe," said he.
Her face did not change, but her knife was put away.
"I will not betray you, but you must not step between me and my quarry."
"I make no promises," haughtily said the girl.
The detective went to the door and looked over the landscape toward the ranch house.
Her gaze followed his and she said suddenly:
"They're in a glass house, which is liable to be shattered. Captain Blacklocks, the man who led the robbers last night, will have revenge. You didn't kill the man, though his friends dragged him away. He will come again, and some night, unless we strike soon, the ranch will crumble before the flames, and Merle and Belle Demona will end their careers in the light of the burning bush palace. These bandits of the desert are men of purpose and demons without mercy. They will avenge the battle of last night, and if they ever get hold of you as Roland Riggs, the guardsman, you will never see the flag of your land again."
Old Broadbrim held out his hand, which the girl took.
"Keep out of sight," he said. "Don't play spy too often while you're here. There are eyes about the ranch as keen as yours and you know that Demon Belle hates you like a viper."
"On that score there's no love lost," laughed the girl from Perth. "Wait till we stand face to face, as we will some day. Then you shall see this proud woman, this adventuress, cower before me and beg for mercy."
"The ranch queen? I don't know about that," smiled Old Broadbrim.
"Wait and see."
And with this the girl looked away, her face paling in the light and her lips compressed.
In another moment the detective was walking from the scene of his encounter with Stareyes.
He was known to her.
She was a strange creature and her revenge had turned her head.
He knew that he was in more danger than ever, for the girl in her eagerness to get the best of Merle and Belle Demona would be likely to precipitate matters and unmask him.
If she were out of the way all would be well, but she was now in his path and the storm was on the eve of breaking out.
Back to the ranch house went the detective.
He came face to face with the ranch queen on the porch of vines and her voice greeted him.
He entered the house at her suggestion and was waved to a seat.
"You're a brave fellow, Riggs," said she, looking at him. "I am glad you came out to us, for we are in the shadow of a great event. But I want to show you something. It will strengthen your loyalty to us."
She touched a button set in the wall, and a door opened slowly.
This disclosed a flight of steps, and the woman descended with the detective at her heels.
At the bottom of the flight she struck a match and lit a lamp.
"Look!" she said, pointing away. "Behold something worth fighting for. I feel that we can trust you, Riggs."
Old Broadbrim looked and uttered an exclamation of surprise.
BLACK GEORGE'S WARNING.
The Yankee spotter was in the treasure house of Ranch Robin.
There were shelves in the little room, the walls of which seemed to be made of iron, and the detective leaned forward and looked with all his vision.
He saw wealth everywhere.
There were sacks of coin and bars of gold.
Belle Demona stood by his side and held the light so as to let him take in all this scene.
For some time not a word was spoken.
Old Broadbrim looked around the chamber and saw that it was well guarded against attack from without.
The robbers of the desert might burn the buildings overhead, and miss the treasure which would be safe despite the flames.
"Isn't it worth fighting for?" asked Belle Demona.
The detective nodded and continued to gaze at the alluring sight.
"Would you know how much is here? I scarcely know. None of us can tell. The wealth is almost fabulous, for sheep raising in Australia is profitable, and here one turns one's money fast. But it is worth fighting for against all the ranch plunderers in the land. A part of it is yours, Riggs, if you stand by us."
Her words were in the nature of an appeal, and the detective heard her through without answering.
"You're not afraid to swear loyalty to the bitter end?" she went on. "We are one here. Our interests are the same, and we must defend the ranch to the last."
Old Broadbrim looked into her face and caught the light that filled it with eagerness.
"Merle may be in danger from another point," she resumed, coming close to him and suddenly dropping her voice. "In the first place, he has incurred the hatred of a young girl who carries a knife. Then, he recently crossed the sea to do me a service, and made enemies there. He is in danger. You must stand by Merle, Riggs."
"I understand, but if Merle made enemies across the sea they would hardly follow him to the bush."
"Ah, you don't know these trackers. You have heard, perhaps, of them, but you don't know the ferrets of London and America. They may follow him even to Ranch Robin and may make it warm for him. But we will be on the alert, and the first detective to step upon my land, dies like a dog!"
Her beautiful face came very close to Old Broadbrim's, and the detective retreated a step.
"I'll kill him on sight!" she went on, her voice becoming a hiss. "No shadower comes to Ranch Robin to pursue his calling and lives! We must stand together, Riggs. I like you for your bravery and spirit. You saved Merle's life last night, and Merle will pay you back one of these days."
"I've been paid back already; I don't want his gold. I am but a guardsman, and I'll see that he is guarded against all his foes as long as I remain here."
"That's it. No oath is needed by you, Riggs. You're worth all the gold in this chamber, and I'll see that you're rewarded. But woe to the tracker! Woe to the ferret who comes to Ranch Robin to play out his hand!"
Five minutes later the detective stood in the upper room and looked beyond the porch.
He was thinking fast.
At the first opportunity he quitted the house, and mounting his horse, rode off over the fields.
Across the bridge he rode and on beyond the sheep lands.
He wanted to be alone.
At last he sat on his steed with the landscape stretching beyond him in marvelous beauty.
A light wind, ladened with the scent of flowers, came to his nostrils, and he admired the scene for some time in utter silence.
Presently there appeared in the high grass, some distance from the spot where he had stopped, a figure that looked like a creeping Indian.
He watched it till it vanished, and then kept his gaze riveted upon the place of its disappearance.
He knew that the natives of Australia were dangerous people, that sometimes they play highwaymen with deadly effect, and now and then leave their victims lying in the sun with an arrow in their hearts.
Old Broadbrim looked keenly at the spot he had selected, and at last saw a bit of white rag floating over the grass.
It looked like a signal, and he regarded it some time in deep reflection.
What did it mean, and was it a decoy?
By and by he rode toward the object, and at last drew rein just out of arrow shot.
The little flag dropped as suddenly as it had come into view, and then a man, half-naked, zigzagged through the grass toward him.
Old Broadbrim waited, with his hand on his revolver.
In a little time the man arose and stood erect—a tall, wiry, dark-skinned native, with great black eyes and a shock of raven hair.
He sprang to where the detective was and rested his large hand on his knee.
"They come to-night, captain," he said.
"Who—the bandits?"
"Captain Blacklocks and his robbers."
"You have seen them, then? Where are they?"
"Over the hills there," was the answer. "They are getting ready for the swoop. They will burn the houses and strip the woman's treasury. You must fight for your lives."
"It is to be 'no quarter,' is it?"
"No quarter," cried the native. "That is what they say. Blacklocks was shot last night by one of the guards of the ranch, and he will have revenge. They intend to murder all on the ranch, whom they outnumber ten to one."
Old Broadbrim looked down into the man's face and asked his name.
"I am Black George," was the reply. "I overheard the robbers this morning, and I want to save the lady of the ranch. For Captain Merle I don't care so much, but for Belle Demona I would fight if I had the opportunity."
"Then come back with me and enlist with us."
"No! You will probably find me in the fight when it comes off; but I can't take service under Captain Merle."
"Why can't you?"
"I—don't—like—the man."
"Very well. We will hold the ranch to the last," said Old Broadbrim. "If Blacklocks knew this perhaps he would postpone his swoop."
"Not he! You don't know him," cried Black George. "He has sworn a great oath that by to-morrow not one of you shall be alive, and that the gold in the treasure house shall be in the pockets of his bandits."
The native cast a hasty glance over the landscape behind him and drew back.
"Get ready for the storm. It will come to-night," he finished; and in another second Old Broadbrim saw him withdraw.
Slowly the detective rode back to the ranch.
He dismounted in front of the dwelling house and stood face to face with both Merle and Belle Demona.
He delivered his information, and saw the face of Merle lose a little color, and the woman's eyes suddenly flash.
"Let them come!" she cried. "We will defend the ranch to the bitter end. With you, Riggs, and the rest of the new recruits, we will meet these nighthawks and clip their wings. But who warned us?"
"Black George."
"That rascal?" cried Merle. "Why, that's the man I caught stealing sheep last summer and had whipped on the scene of his rascality. I don't like him."
"There's no love lost between you, then," smiled Old Broadbrim. "But the bandits will attack us."
"Yes, they will come. We must prepare, and if the worst comes we will spring the mine," said the ranch queen.
As she finished she beckoned to Old Broadbrim and led him into her boudoir.
Opening a little door in the wall, she pointed to what looked like a bit of string hanging from above.
"That is the fuse," said she. "It is to be fired at the last extremity. It means death and destruction to all inside Ranch Robin at the time."
"Where is the mine?"
"Directly under us. There is powder enough to deal death to every living thing within a radius of half a mile; it will be involving friend and foe in a terrible burial. You see what chances we took when we came to this place? It was a desperate throw of the dice, but we wanted a home where we would be safe against the keen men of the trails of two worlds, and but for the robbers of the deserts we would be happy. I have had my revenge. Merle carried out my commands, and the enemy who insulted me felt the hand of the avenger."
She shut the little door in the wall and turned away.
Old Broadbrim took particular note of the situation of the secret door, and walked with Belle Demona from the room.
Merle Macray turned from the front window and caught the detective's eye.
"This way, Riggs," said he, and they stepped out upon the porch.
"Did you find her?" he asked eagerly.
Old Broadbrim kept cool and shook his head.
"I have found foot tracks near the old sheep sheds. I even entered them a while ago and looked around. She has been there, and I found a man's footprints in the dust under the old roofs."
"Oh, I went over there in hopes of finding her, and——"
"Then you must have missed her, for her tracks are strangely mixed with yours. If you had watched a little longer, Riggs, you might have got the twist on her neck. I'm going to fire the sheds at sundown. They will burn like tinder boxes, and that will deprive this fair viper of a shelter, and perhaps the coming foe of an ambush."
A shudder passed over the detective's frame at this, and he thought of the girl in the hay.
She must be warned; but how?
He knew that a match would start the old sheds like a wispof flax, and that before Stareyes could escape she would be caught by the flames and destroyed.
"Riggs, the more I look at you the more familiar grows your face," suddenly resumed the hunted man. "I once saw a man like you, but it was not in Australia. It is strange how these resemblances overtake and puzzle us. I can't account for it."
"Whom do I look like? Can't you make out, Captain Merle?"
Merle fell back a step and gazed at the detective.
He slowly shook his head.
"I can't quite make out," said he. "But if you were the man I don't want to see just now, I'd kill you in your tracks. Never mind, Riggs. You're all right, but still you look like some one I don't like. It's the way of the world, and we find it so even in the bush."
Merle laughed, and the detective, without a change of countenance, kept his nerve and looked straight into the face before him.
It seemed the shadow of death all the time.
THE TEST UNDER THE STARS.
The shades of evening deepened.
Merle Macray and Belle Demona made preparations to meet the threatened attack, and watches were placed under their own supervision.
Old Broadbrim, as Roland Riggs, the trusted man of the new recruits, was stationed in the vicinity of the sheep sheds, and this just suited him.
He could see if Merle would carry out his threat to fire them, and thus deprive Stareyes of a hiding place, and, at the same time, prevent the robbers of the ranches from using them to cover their advance.
The night that settled down over the scene was a bright starlit one.
The sheep had been corralled to prevent them from being killed by Blacklocks and his men, and the cattle had been driven to pens and secured there.
Within the walls of the ranch house stood Merle and the ranch queen.
They were alone.
"Now tell me your suspicions," said Merle, looking at the beautiful creature near the table.
"I suspect Riggs."
As the answer fell from her lips the man started, and then smiled.
"This morning you trusted him!" he cried.
"That is true, but one can change one's opinion."
"Yes, but——"
"Listen to me. Riggs is playing a double hand. I feel it. Didn't you notice while he talked last night that he avoided references to his life in America?"
"I did not."
"I showed him the treasure in order to stimulate him to stand by us, and he drank in the sight with eyes of greed."
"Which proves nothing," laughed Merle. "That treasure is enough to move the best of them."
"Besides this, he has been to the sheep sheds, and I watched him from the house to-day with the glass."
"Suspicious, eh?"
"Like all my sex!" cried Belle Demona. "I trained the glass on the sheds, and am sure I saw some one in there with him."
"Can it be?" exclaimed Merle. "I did see footprints in the dust there."
"They were his."
"Wait!" cried he, and he left the room to come back in a moment. "I remember now that he seemed to start a little when I told him about the marks in the dust. But if he is a spy he is a cool one."
"It behooves him to be cool here," was the reply. "If this man is a spy or a detective he dies to-night."
The queen of Ranch Robin stamped the floor and her eyes took on a burning light.
"It shall be found out. The test shall be made."
"How?"
"Leave that to me," said Merle. "He is near the sheep sheds. I threatened to fire them before daylight."
"Why?"
"To keep them from screening Blacklocks and his toughs. I know how to surprise Riggs."
"Don't make a mistake."
"I never do," and Merle looked away.
Down by the sheds stood the detective, acting as guard over the very man he had tracked across the sea.
The night was still.
He looked toward the sheds, and wondered if Stareyes was still there.
He wanted to tell the girl of the rancher's threat to fire her retreat, but he did not dare to quit his post.
Perhaps she had seen them station him there, and if so she might slip over to him in the darkness and give him the chance he wanted.
His back was turned toward the ranch and he did not see the figure that glided through the grass toward him.
It had the movements of a serpent and the noiselessness of a jungle tiger.
There was a belt of high grass just behind the guard and there the creeper dropped.
For half a minute all was still as before and then a name was distinctly spoken.
"Roger Reef!"
It was the name under which Old Broadbrim had crossed the sea after the murderer of Custer Kipp, the millionaire.
It fell upon the ear of the detective, but he did not start.
He merely looked toward the grass and then seemed to bend toward the spot as if to inspect it more closely.
The name was uttered again.
In another instant the detective threw his repeating rifle to his shoulder and covered the clump of grass.
"Come out!" he commanded.
Silence was the answer and the barrel seemed to reflect the light of the few stars that shone in the vault of heaven.
"Come out or die!" he said again, and the next moment a figure arose before him.
It was Merle Macray!
"What did you call me?" asked Old Broadbrim, coolly.
The other laughed.
"I called you Roger Reef just to try you," was the answer. "But you're not the man. Pardon me, Riggs, no harm done, I hope."
The stern face of the detective did not soften.
"Who is Roger Reef?" he asked.
"A man who used to look like you, but I see now that you're Riggs and no one else. All's well out here, I suppose?"
"Yes, but, Captain Merle, if I am suspected of sailing under an alias here, let me mount my horse and turn my face at once toward Perth."
Old Broadbrim handed his rifle to the rancher and started toward the house, but the hand of Merle stopped him.
"Not for the world!" cried Merle. "We can't spare a man like you just now. It's all right, Riggs. I call you by your true name, you see. It was just a little whim of mine, for I knew that if you were Roger Reef you would not stand like a post when the name was flashed behind you."
At that moment over by the sheds just a few yards away Old Broadbrim caught sight of a figure that fell back beyond the door as he looked, and the following moment Merle started toward them.
"I'll carry out my threat now," said he. "I'll fire the old sheds."
"Wait a little while," said Old Broadbrim. "Time enough yet. The robbers won't come till after midnight, if they come at all, and there's plenty of time for the fire."
"Better now than then," came back over Merle Macray's shoulder, and he sprang toward the sheds.
Old Broadbrim was powerless to detain him, and in a short time he lost sight of Merle.
Suddenly there rang out on the night air the agonized cry of some person, and as it came from the sheds, the detective sprang thither and passed the portal of the largest one.
As he entered he stumbled over a body in the doorway, and the next moment he held his little lantern over the face of Merle.
"The viper stung me!" cried Merle, looking up into the detective's face. "She was in the old nest here waiting for me and gave me the dagger. Don't let her get away, Riggs. Catchand take her to Belle Demona. Let the tigress of Ranch Robin finish her career."
The detective threw a hasty glance around but did not see Stareyes.
He picked Merle up and carried him from the sheepshed.
"Where have you been cut?" he asked.
"In the back—to death," came from the white lips. "Now, if they want me, they will have to hunt me under the sod of Australia."
"If who want you, Merle?"
"Old Broadbrim, the American ferret. But I've escaped him anyhow!"
"You're not dead yet. You'll live to help us drive off Blacklocks and his horde."
The detective now examined Merle's wound by lantern light, and said that it was not dangerous.
The blade had been turned aside by a bit of steel beneath the man's garments, and Merle was still worth a dozen dead men.
The detective helped his prey back to the house where Belle Demona's face grew white when the story of the attack became known.
"Go back to the spot, Riggs," she commanded. "Find the girl—Stareyes, and bring her to me."
Old Broadbrim turned away to obey, and at the door looked across the room at her.
"Don't hurt her—I'll do that!" roared Belle Demona. "I am mistress here and my hands can kill. Go, go, Riggs. She's of more importance to me just now than Blacklocks and his band of midnight demons. Don't let her escape."
Then, as the door closed upon Old Broadbrim she bounded to where Merle sat in an armchair, and clutched his arm.
"Did you make the test?" she asked eagerly.
"I did, and it failed."
"What did you do?"
"I called him Roger Reef when he was not prepared for the name. He never stirred."
"It was the right test. A spy would have started at his true name or the one he has sailed under. It is marvelous what nerve that man has, if he is a spy or a ferret."
"He must be plain Roland Riggs after all."
"We'll see. I'll find out for myself," and with this Belle Demona turned away.
The eyes of Merle followed her, and rested for a while on her well-formed person.
"If he is an American detective he will know something about Jason Marrow, won't he?" she suddenly asked.
"He may."
"You didn't let Jason escape with the secret, I hope?"
"Why should I?" and the face of Merle flushed. "I didn't forget for one moment why I was sent across the sea."
"There, don't go back to the commission and put everything on my shoulders," cried Belle Demona. "I'll acknowledge to you that you were sent to America by me, but you must not throw it into my teeth at every opportunity."
"You made me your tool—you sent me across the ocean to carry out your revenge."
"Of course I did. See here! if you don't like this place with the protection it affords you you can go."
Merle sprang upon his feet and looked at her with the gleam of a thug in his dark eyes.
"Beware, woman!" he cried. "Don't tempt me too far."
The hand of Belle Demona came up and paused only when it covered the door leading upon the porch.
"Don't threaten me!" she thundered. "Remember, Merle Macray, that you live only by my sufferance, and if you show your teeth in a snarl I'll send you to Perth under guard."
Her voice died away and the man in the chair was silent.
OLD BROADBRIM MAKES A BARGAIN AGAIN.
The night passed away without the expected attack on the ranch.
The secret of the attempt on Merle's life belonged to Old Broadbrim, Belle Demona and the girl who had wielded the dagger.
Stareyes had vanished, perhaps under the belief that she had finished her work and she might be well on the way to Perth ere this.
When day came the ranch looked as beautiful as ever, and the men joked with each other about the attack which did not materialize.
Old Broadbrim's brain was busy.
He knew that he was under suspicion despite the assurances to the contrary both from Merle and the ranch queen.
The test in the night had told him this and he felt that he was to be put to other tests ere long.
Perhaps Jem would come back with a report for Belle Demona, and the fact that the pit in Melbourne had been found empty, would tell Merle that he had escaped the tenth step.
Among the men who came out from Perth with him, Old Broadbrim had formed the acquaintance of one who impressed him favorably.
This was a young fellow of five-and-twenty who had served a year in the country police of England and who wanted to get back and resume his old station.
Old Broadbrim had carefully sounded him.
Dick Waters was just the man he seemed to need.
Still the detective hesitated about breaking his carefully-guarded secret to any one.
It was the day after the night of vigilance, and Old Broadbrim found Waters smoking in the little house where the recruits slept.
He was alone.
"This is beastly work!" exclaimed Waters, as the detective came in.
"You don't like it, Dick?"
"I'd sooner run poachers," cried he. "It's better work and just as good pay. As for me, I never expected to become a ranch guard when I came out and now I'm ready to throw up my commission and put off back to Perth."
Old Broadbrim came closer to the young man and looked him fairly in the eye.
"Let's go together," he said.
"Oh, you're all right here. They think the world of you since you saved Merle from the bandits; and Belle Demona is stuck on you, Riggs."
"I can't help that. It's not my style of life, anyhow."
"You know the way back to Perth, and beyond that lies Melbourne and Sydney. I am going to-night."
"Alone?"
"Yes. I haven't said a word to any of the others, and I don't intend to."
Old Broadbrim was silent.
"What do you think of Merle?" he ventured.
"He is a living secret."
"How so, Waters?"
"He's a puzzle. That man has been in some devilment across the water."
"What makes you think so?"
"He is afraid of his own shadow, and he watches the road to Perth so much."
"That proves nothing, Waters. You must have better proof than that.
"I've got it."
"In what shape?"
Waters leaned toward Old Broadbrim and his voice dropped to a whisper.
"See here, Riggs," said he, "Merle Macray has been to America. I know by some little trinkets he has lately given Belle Demona. If you could get into her private rooms——"
"You haven't been bold enough to try to get there, Waters?"
"I'm always on the adventure, and yesterday I went into the house to ask her a question, and found the door of her boudoir open. I was fool enough to cross the threshold, and there lay her jewels on the dresser."
"Well?"
"And they bore the marks of the jewelers in New York. Their name was on the jewel box—'Tiffany & Co.,' isn't it?"
"I think there is a large jewelry house in New York of that name," guardedly answered Old Broadbrim. "Well, what else, Waters? Your story is getting interesting."
"I thought I would be able to catch your ear by and by. There were jewels galore, Riggs, and all were first-class stones. They were new, the box new, and the collection nearly made my head swim. Think of a poor country constable looking at diamondsthat would have ransomed the Queen of Sheba! Never saw anything like it in all my life, and for a time I didn't know where I was."
"Belle Demona probably got the stones in London."
"I don't know; but another little thing struck me in that room."
"Well?"
"On the dresser lay a New York newspaper printed within the last month. There was a marked column, and with pardonable curiosity I leaned forward and read the article. It was startling, and sent my memory back to the recent murders in Whitechapel, though it was nothing like them."
"What was it, Waters?"
"It was an account of a murder in New York; some rich man strangled in his own house by an unknown assassin."
"Was that marked paper in Belle Demona's room?"
"There's where I saw it, sir. It went through me like a dagger, for you can imagine what I thought. There may be a reward for the arrest of that red-handed murderer, and if I could only take him I wouldn't have to play guard here."
Young Waters arose and walked the floor with some excitement.
Old Broadbrim scrutinized him carefully, and his brain seemed on fire.
Here was just the ally he needed.
But perhaps Waters was acting under instructions for the purpose of setting another death trap for him.
He knew that Waters was brave and feared nothing.
Moreover, he was active and fertile in imagination, and, if he was true, he was just the man he wanted.
"Hang it all!" suddenly cried Waters, coming back to the detective and knocking the ashes from his pipe. "Why can't I pick up this man who is wanted in New York? Look here, Riggs, why was that paper in that room? And why was it marked?"
The eyes of the two men met.
"Waters," said Old Broadbrim, slowly, "what would you do if you had a chance to take that man?"
"I'd take him or die in the attempt!"
"He might be among friends."
"That wouldn't stop me for a moment."
"Waters, there is a reward for that assassin."
The youth started and almost betrayed his eagerness.
But he checked himself and bent over the old detective's face.
"Don't fool me," he said.
"I am not fooling you. The man is still unhung."
"Where is he?"
"Listen to me, Waters."
"Go on, for God's sake!"
"First, see that we are alone."
Waters stepped to the door and, opening it carefully, looked out and came back.
"It's all right out there. No one in sight," said he. "Now go on."
"I say," resumed Old Broadbrim, "the man who killed Custer Kipp—that's the name, isn't it?—that man, I say, is still uncaught."
"Good! And we'll catch him."
"Don't be so fast. Cool down."
"I will control my nerves. Only don't keep me in suspense."
"Not for long, Waters. We can get twenty thousand dollars for the delivery of that man in New York."
It nearly took away Waters' breath, but he remained cool.
"We'll go together," he said. "We will play our hand against the accomplished rascal, and we'll go back to Perth as soon as possible, and begin the hunt for him."
"Why not begin it here?" said Old Broadbrim.
"Here—on the ranch?"
"Yes."
"You don't suspect——"
Waters stopped, for footsteps came toward the door, and his sentence was not finished.
In another moment one of the men belonging to the guard came in and looked upon a shelf for his pipe.
"It's Natty Burke, the one-armed ticket-of-leave man," whispered Waters. "He is always sneaking around when there's anything to overhear. Wait till he goes out."
Natty filled his pipe and leaned against the wall smoking in long draughts for ten minutes.
He did not appear to see Old Broadbrim and Waters, but his keen eyes had singled them out from the first.
By and by, however, Natty moved away and shut the door behind him.
"A spy!" said Waters. "That man came in here to see who was in the house, and he is a cool one. But, never mind, Riggs; go on with your story. Where is this suspected man?"
"Within reach of our hands."
"Then let's take him. Twenty thousand for his safe arrival in New York? We won't let him out of our sight a minute, Riggs. It's starting you and I in business. It'll be the making of us, and some day, perhaps, we'll be detectives."
Old Broadbrim stood up and clutched the hand of Waters, drawing him forward.
"It's a bargain, Waters," said he. "We will catch this man; we will land him in New York, eh?"
"That we will."
"Then we'll put our heads together and play out the hand right here on the ranch."
"Against whom?"
"Can't you guess, Waters?"
"My God! there is only one man I would suspect, and that is Merle Macray."
"That is the man."
Waters' eyes seemed to bulge from his head, and he fell back a step and looked at Riggs.
"If this be true, in Heaven's name who are you?" he cried.
"I am Roland Riggs."
"But you're more than just a pick-up. You've been on this man's trail."
"Never mind that. Are we united in this affair?"
Waters held out his hand.
"To the death, Riggs! But if they suspect us—if she or Merle have suspicions—we must fight for our lives."
"That's it, Waters. It is death in Australia or final success in America!"
And the hands of the two men met in a hearty grasp.
THE DOOM OF WATERS.
The compact between Old Broadbrim and Dick Waters was a secret one, and if they were not suspected they might carry out their plans against Macray and his beautiful friend.
But they were in a wild land, and also in the very shadow of discovery and death.
Belle Demona was suspicious, as the detective knew, for she was a keen, cool-headed creature, vengeful to a degree, and, with Merle to stand by her, the future did not look very promising.
Old Broadbrim recalled the pledge he had made to Nora Doon and Foster Kipp in America.
He did not forget the young girl's last present, the four-leaved clover, which he carried in his bosom.
Now and then when on guard he would take it from its hiding place and look at it.
More than once, under the stars of Australia, he had inspected the little keepsake to smile in secret over the gift and to recall the giver.
For several days after the making of the compact in the little house on the ranch, nothing occurred to break the monotony of wild life in the bush.
Blacklocks and his raiders kept aloof for some cause, and Stareyes was not apprehended.
Merle recovered rapidly from his wound, which was not a bad one, and at the end of the week he was as well as ever.
Old Broadbrim and Waters matured their plans.
They intended to abduct Merle some night and take him to Perth, where they felt the authorities would give them escort to Melbourne, in which city they would be able to fasten their grip on the murderer.
They got together and talked over their plans, Waters being fertile in imagination, and shrewd and cool.
The night for the attempt was selected.
The day destined, as they thought, to be their last one on the ranch came and found the two men ready.
Old Broadbrim stood in the rich parlor of Belle Demona, who was showing him her jewels, which she had brought from her boudoir.
The detective recalled Waters' story of the sight he had seen on the dresser when he invaded the room, and he looked at them closely.
"Merle brought them from London," said the woman. "I gave him the commission, which he executed faithfully, and he could not have made a better selection."
As she set the jewel box aside, she continued:
"You promised to tell me about your life in the States. Now is a good time for the story, Mr. Riggs."
Old Broadbrim had been expecting this, and the request did not take him by surprise.
He had made up his story, and had conned it over more than once in the silent hours of the night, in the hut and on guard.
It was well plotted and well told.
Belle Demona listened closely, and did not lose a word.
Old Broadbrim told of life in the far West, of living in Omaha and beyond, but said nothing of the Eastern cities.
"It is strange to me, Mr. Riggs, that you never visited the great cities on the eastern seaboard of the United States," said she.
"I liked the West and its free life too well."
"But there is excitement in New York; there is real life in any large city, and the free-and-easy career one can run there is equal to the one the plains afford."
"You must know something of the cities, Miss Belle?" said the detective.
"I do," was the quick confession. "I have not always lived in Australia."
"I thought you had not."
"I came out here for a change and to make money. One tires of the cities. London is full of life, and Paris and——"
She stopped as if she was treading on forbidden ground, and looked away.
The keen eyes of the detective were watching her.
"It's better out here," he said. "Here one is free and owns no master."
"But one has annoyances here. There's the girl who gives me a good deal of trouble. You didn't find her, Riggs?"
"Not yet."
"She lurks somewhere on the ranch."
"She is very cunning."
"Yes; but I'll find her. Let me find this creature, and she will have cause to remember me to the day of her death!"
As she spoke her eyes flashed and her breath seemed to come in gasps.
"Riggs, will you go to Perth for me?" she suddenly asked, lowering her voice.
"When?"
"Now! You can start at a moment's notice. The horse can be had at the door inside of five minutes, and you know the way."
Old Broadbrim hesitated.
To refuse to carry out her wishes would be to throw him under the shadow of suspicion and to go would disarrange the plans he and Waters had formed.
"It is very urgent business, and I feel that you are the man of all our guards to be trusted," continued the ranch queen. "You can ride Black Duke and he will take you safely to Perth."
"I will go."
Old Broadbrim arose and left the house.
Belle Demona said she would prepare the message to be carried, and requested him to come back within five minutes.
Five minutes!
He would have to warn Waters.
He found the young man smoking as usual in the guards' house, and broached the subject at once.
"It means something, this ride," said Waters at once. "She is playing a game."
"I believe it. I can't be back before to-morrow. We must put off the blow."
"I see no other way, but be careful. There may be underneath this mission the fatal stroke of death. She may suspect, and if she does, our plans fail."
Old Broadbrim went back to the main house and was handed a package addressed to one Thomas Sang, in Perth, the woman saying that it contained some of her jewels which were to be reset, the man addressed being a jeweler.
Old Broadbrim hid the packet in his bosom and bade Belle Demona good-by.
She followed him to the door and saw him vault into the saddle upon the black steed's back.
She stood on the porch and watched him out of sight.
The moment the horse and rider vanished she sent for Waters.
The young man put out his pipe and entered her presence.
Belle Demona, who reclined on the sofa when he came into the room, sprang up and cried:
"Now, sir, tell me all. Who is he?"
She stood there before the astonished Waters like an angel of destruction, and her eyes seemed to emit sparks of fire.
In one hand she gripped a silver-mounted revolver and the other covered Waters, whose face had turned livid.
"Tell me truth! You know him. He is not Roland Riggs. That is but a false name to hide his purpose. He is here for some terrible cause. You have talked with him. You have become as thick as two birds in the same nest. Not only this, but you have formed a compact. The truth, Waters."
She talked so fast that the young man could not catch his breath.
He looked into the depths of her eyes and saw danger, if not death, there.
Her regal figure seemed to have increased an inch in stature, and in all his life poor Waters had never seen such a picture of a fair fiend as she was.
Belle Demona took a mad step toward him.
"Silence is guilt!" she cried. "Tell me all. He is not Riggs. You must tell me or die."
"He is Riggs."
"It is false! You have seen him in secret; you have met in the guards' house and on the range; you have been seen in secret caucus under the stars and in dark places. I want all, Waters."
The young man raised his hand, and met her look calmly now.
"To me he is Riggs. That is what he told me," he said.
At once the woman caught up a bell on the table and rang it suddenly.
A door across the room opened, and three of the old guards made their appearance.
"That's the man!" cried the woman, pointing at Waters. "Seize him and take him—you know whither, men."
The trio sprang toward Waters, and his arm was beaten down and he was borne back.
"It is death to lie to me!" cried the ranch queen, stamping her foot on the carpet. "You can't do it and live. I am mistress here. I am a woman of death."
In another moment Waters had been hustled from the room and into the one beyond.
It was almost dark, but he caught sight of a flight of steps when a door was opened.
Down he was forced by his captors, and presently he stood on the ground in a place, the dimensions he could not make out on account of the gloom.
There he was flung from the men, and fell against a stone wall at the foot of which he sank half stunned.
He rallied a moment later to hear a door shut, and he knew that he was Belle Demona's prisoner.
When Old Broadbrim came back he would be entrapped, and the game would end.
Waters saw through the whole diabolical plan of the cool-headed woman of the ranch.
He arose and felt his way around the dungeon with his hands.
The door was shut and locked on the outside.
His one match which he struck on the stones, showed him a small dungeon and one strong enough to hold a dozen giants.
When "Riggs" came back, perhaps he would have a companion in the dense gloom, but he dared not think of this.
Perhaps Riggs would never come back.
For some time Waters stood against the wall, and thought with a burning brain.
Suddenly the wall behind him seemed to recede.
He felt it moving back, and all at once he seemed to fall headlong into lightless space.
Waters threw up his hands and tried to check his fall, but without success.
He landed in what appeared to be a lower cell than the first one, and when he regained his feet he heard an outburst of demon laughter.
"The liar dies! The fool finds his end in darkness!" said a mocking voice.