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little something for aiming that gun at me.’
    A snatch of a hymn came to her ears and Sarette experienced relief. All she had to do was keep them at bay until John got here. She opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream.
    Col gave a bit of a grin and punched her in the midriff. When she collapsed, gasping for breath, he threw her skirt up over her head. ‘There, that shut her mouth. Look at that sweet piece of pie. Hurry up, so I can have my slice of it.’
    Sarette kicked out with her remaining strength, only to have her legs seized and pulled apart. Someone grasped the front of her drawers and pulled. There came a clanging noise and the full weight of a man’s body dropped on her. She shuddered, pulled down her skirt and struck out with her fists. The unconscious body was dragged off her. It hit the floor with a thud.
    John handed her the rifle. ‘Keep that on him, and shoot to kill if he moves.’ Taking a rope down from a nail he tied the unconscious man’s wrists together.
    She eyed the iron skillet on the floor then gazed at the man again. ‘What are you going to do to him?’
    Sarette gasped when John told her, ‘I thought I might hang him. After that I’m going to shoot his companion. If I bury them in the bush nobody will ever know.’
    Col said, ‘Without giving us a chance? That’s murder.’
    ‘So it is. You didn’t give my niece much of a chance, did you?’ Sarette didn’t know whether John had meant what he’d said or not, until he winked at her.
    ‘We wouldn’t have killed her. Aw, come on, mister. My brother never got anywhere with her. She gave him a flirty look and he was just giving her a bit of a kiss.’
    ‘You lying scum. I’d rather kiss a dead lizard.’ She grabbed up the skillet and was about to take a swing at him when John said in a voice she didn’t care to argue with, ‘Put it down.’
    ‘We was hungry that’s all. She was scratching for gold over there. We asked for food and she gave us some. She looked so pretty and we thought she gave us the come on. Sorry if we upset her. We didn’t mean to.’
    ‘Is that true, Sarry?’
    She shook her head and said fiercely, ‘It’s true that I was scratching for gold. I thought the rain might have turned some up. They stole the food. But he tried to . . . to force me, and he punched me in the stomach, and they turned everything over and stole my twenty per cent. It’s in his pocket. It took me over eighteen months to collect it, and if I don’t get it back I’ll shoot his legs out from under him.’
    ‘He’ll give it back. Won’t you, young man?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’ The man turned out his pockets, so did his brother when he came round. Tied together by one set of joined wrists at the back and another at the front, the pair looked like a sorry sight. Tying their ankles together John took them outside and pointed them towards town. ‘Coolgardie is that way. When you scum reach there, go to Warden Finnerty’s house, tell them what you’ve done. I’ll be right behind you with my rifle in a minute or two. And if you step on my claim again you’ll be shot out of hand. Is that understood?’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ they said together, and shuffled off sideways like a couple of dancing crabs.
    ‘I doubt if we’ll see them again,’ John commented.
    ‘I thought you were going to escort them in.’
    ‘I don’t see the point. They should be able to figure out a way to get those cords off. There are a lot of people coming in now the train service is here, and it won’t be long before the adjoining land is pegged. ‘It’s nearly time we left.’
    She just laughed. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
    The next morning when the sun came up the air smelled fresh and clean. Sarry was busy cleaning up the mess. She’d been badly shaken and the innocence in her eyes had been replaced by sadness. John had heard her crying during the night, and hadn’t known how to help her.
    He’d come to a decision though. He doubted if