with the bushman's forethought, went to these, and directed one of the men to cut a quantity of the grassy tufts, which he spread in one corner of the tent that was being put up for the ladies to sleep in. Minnie Pryde's squatter had already cut and fixed the tent poles and was spreading the canvas.
The pack horse was unsaddled, and from the gaping saddlebags protruded provisions and cooking implements. The tin "billys" and pint pots and jack-shays, strung together by a saddle strap, lay on the ground. The black boys carried a dipper to the creek to be filled. As the sun sank, the stars came out all glorious in a cloudless sky, Sirius like a far-off beacon and the bright evening star and familiar constellations, with the brilliant pointers of the Southern Cross dipping below the left peak of Burrum. The men set to work to gather dead bunya cones and sticks and dry logs to make a blaze that would give all the light they needed. But Frank Hallett had brought lanterns for the ladies' tent, and it was he who, assisted by Elsie and Minnie Pryde, spread the blankets and carried in the valises and hung a red blanket for a curtain at the doorway, while Lady Waveryng and Mrs. Allanby laid the table and unpacked the provisions.
And then came the merry meal. Oh, it was merry, in spite of Elsie's sad heart and Trant's melodramatic love, and the other love that was scarcely innocent between the two who to gratify it must overleap barriers. Elsie's knowledge of this secret love drowned the sense of her own pain. But was it possible that Lord Horace could feel for any woman a serious and absorbing attachment? Was his light nature capable of any tragic emotion? If not, Mrs. Allanby 's nature certainly was. Elsie watched the two. Her brother-in-law was haggard and pale, and evidently consumed by a hidden anxiety. Lady Waveryng noticed that he was unlike himself, and asked him if anything were amiss, and if he was fretting for Ina. Lord Horace laughed, and became feverishly gay. A quarter of an hour afterwards he was plunged in thought. Mrs.
