The Lost Valley

ight on top of it. After the warmth of the open beach and the glare of the white road I had recently travelled its shade looked so inviting that I limped in under the overhang of the cliff

ere wasn't too much left of my right sole. I had been crawling along the road since daylig

n my own poor prospects and I didn't quite catch what she said. On the principle that a rose by any other name would still have its thorns, I didn't ask her to repeat it. I just said, "Thank you, ma'am," in my best tramp manner and set off down the road to the sea. On the way my left boot burst and a pebble worked in through the opening and set me limping. To make matters worse the day was perhaps the hottest of all that memorable summer, and the glare from the white grit o

e limit. He was all up and down and then across. I know that doesn't quite explain what he looked like, but it's about the only way I can describe him. He was short and tubby; if he had been any shorter he would have been a human Humpty-Dumpty. He was so obviously enjoying himself and getting the best out of his gambols in the w

ring a faint resemblance to a convict's uniform, and the wide stripes of it went round and round his figure like

eputable than I really was; my suit was in the last stages of ruinous decay, while his brand-new clothes just above me would have been a gift from the gods to a man with less conscience and more figure than I possessed. He evidently presumed on the strength of my proximity that I had evil designs on his clothes, but he needn't have troubled himself. If I could judge anything from his own figure I would have been completely lost in them. I didn't l

remembered that my sole worldly wealth at the moment consisted of exactly three pennies. All the same I w

ught, and my mind strayed to the panting bulk

inea does see a bit of life-but the way that fat chap upset himself into the sand was the most wonderful piece of good fortune I ever came across. He must have missed death by a fraction of an inch. I saw him fall, heard the shot ring out and watched the sand spurt up all in the one crowded second. The next moment I was running towards him,

that I was a friend, for he yelled at me even

he shouted and gesticulate

e in which pocket to look. I plunged my hand in and drew out the sweetest little automatic it has ever been my lot to handle. As a rule I prefer a Colt-in my experience it never ja

saw instantly that that brought me right into the line of fire. It takes a long time in the telling, but, as I figured it out afterwards, f

f a fancy shot in that direction, and a second later the reply rang out. The cliff overhead shed a shower of dust on top of the pair of us, and

he fat man demande

ou, I reckon, and, anyway, it's just as much my funeral now as yours.

y weapon. I had spotted a white wrist back of a gleam of polished metal and, taking a sporting chance

st have been in excellent trim, for he shot along the heavy track as if he was running on the cinder-path, and I saw before I had gone fifty yards that I hadn't a chance in the world of catching him. Also there were half a dozen black specks of men a mile

I was so afraid that he was going to make a silly speech that I pushed his automatic into his hands and said, "You'd better take this, old man.

e coolest chap I've ever laid eyes

struggle into those clothes of yours and get home to mother, the safer you'll be. I don't obj

sorry. I'd hoped to persuade

ger of his life. I hated to have to refuse him, but I had very good reasons, which I intended to keep to myself, too, for not putting my life into danger too often. So I told him point-blank that if he wanted to hire a bodyguard he'd have to go somew

y used to reading men-I've been in places where my life depended on my ability in that direction-and w

couldn't have sprinted along the beach the way you did. I'd have wheez

like to be personal, but now you mention it,

a trifle too small for his neck, and he had to coax it a lot before he g

a question w

d I'm an explorer by inclination, gentleman by instinct, and the rolling-stone-that-gathers-no-mos

introduce myself, I suppose. I fanc

airily. "I'm not at all fussy. I'm qu

t showed he rather appreciated my cheap wit. "Bryc

retty certain to see it often if you make a p

" There had only been one man behind the rocks, and I could have sworn on a stack of Bibles that there wasn't another human being-with the sole exception of the men a mile or so along the beach-within coo-ee at the time. "You've been there before, my friend," I thought. "This isn't the first time you've flushed a chap with a bit of hardware." From what I could see

can't stop here for ever. I've got an important engagement at the next town and t

t have sprinted along that sand in record time when somebody's life was trembling in the balance, but that doesn't say you can walk fourteen miles on

t," I told him. "What

ou by me. I don't think your luck's been too good lately, but between us I fancy we can mend it. If you want to go into Geelong all you've

e only trouble is that some of your excitable friends might se

surprised if they hid behind a convenient hedge and potted us as

you've had such an exciting experience, but don't ever hin

re getting very game, tackling me in front of a third person, and I've got a funny sort of feeling that they'll catch me napping one of these days. No matter what you say or do, you can't alter the fact that you've identified yours

do you mean! Are you ru

know it, I'm not. I rather fan

ements you had to offer. What do y

t of super-butler with sudden death included amongst the risks of service, and I had no intention of mixing u

0 for three months. That's about as long as I'll require you. Afte

And, I suppose, any time I take an e

ed chee

stairs," he said. "Wh

idea where I'm going to get my next meal. All of which makes your offer doubly inviting. But I don't want to jump at it in hot blood. I want time to think it over. I want to stand off an

s can dine together," Bryce suggested. "

airer than that," I agr

paddocked down near the reserve. It's only a

and pick up the piece of wood which had so excited my curiosity earlier in the proceedings. It was s

thought, "but I'll bet all Australia to an

strain when we rounded the bluff and commenced to crawl across the intervening stretch of spinifex grass. I say "crawl" advisedly. Bryce was far too heavy to do more than lumber along and my feet were steadily getting worse. The spinifex grew knee-high and its roots extended in all directions. They were hard, knobby things that protruded through the loose sand, and every time I took my attention off the ground for an instant I stubb

car right off. It was painted a battleship grey, and if cars can have a personality, this had such another as its owner. It wasn't slim-there was nothing of the racer ab

"She's not much to look at, but she's

as quite open