The Lost Valley

mson glow, flooded the valleys with garish light, and even penetrated into the recesses of the nearby woodlands until the whole place seemed to blaze as with the red fire of Hell. It was no

eather could be expected. Nevertheless the air contained a hint of evil, so much so that an imaginative person would have peopled the hills with gnomes and the woods with devils. Even had fairies existed in the glade

es from the hills, and the still lifeless trees, stirring in the evening breeze, became black mocking shapes of infa

ancies of the evening. They were not laughing certainly, and when they spoke it was in whispers, but the younger man hummed a music-hall tune under his breath. There was something rakish, not to say reckless, in the way the elder sat his mount. They we

r man remarked when presently they resumed their

aking chances, man," s

that there's no

eing caught and

shed the Kellys. The country's quietened down a lot, and a 'ranger's supposed to be a thing of the past. As it is, there's nev

uldn't go carefully. You must remember that we don't know this part of the S

ut what I can't understand is why the banks should send

as clever men working that as used to be working the stages. More

he Lord," said Abel Cumsh

orted, "when we've finished the job successful

had half the country-side wondering what the deuce was up

humor. "But let's get to the business of the evening, Abel. I've got a goo

t, then," s

r, whispered in his companion's ear. As the tale pr

ou almost make me wish they do pursue us

y," the elder man warned him. "Now we can't aff

he road they both dismounted and tethered their horses to convenient trees. Then, stepping very gingerly, and taking extreme care not to leave any footprints on the dusty surface of the track, they groped about on

t," Cumshaw remarked, w

esignedly traversing the soft impressionable ground. The heavily-laden horses floundered in the soft soil, and gradually the pace dropped away from a gallop to a canter, and finally to a walk. When nearly two miles of this sort of country had been covered, the two men reined in and dismounted.

in it is that there might be some gentleman present who's dealt with cattle-duffer

The trick itself was an old one; it had its origin many years previous in Texas and Arizona when the raiding Indians made their horses walk over blankets spread on the ground in order to hide the direction of their retreat. The idea had been adopted and developed by the Australian cattle-duffers to meet the exigencies of the country th

osts of the swaying gums. Mr. Abel Cumshaw and his companion, Jack Bradby, had been brought up in the Australian bush, their nerves were as steady as a rock, and where others saw grim visions of fancy they saw only waving bushes and stripped gums. Though the present adventure was their first essay in ranging, both of them had lived by their wits, or rather by others' want of wits, for more years than were good for

would not rest content until he had located and defined it. Silently as a shadow he slipped from his saddle and dropped recumbent on the ground. With

he said la

Cumshaw replied with

the brim shrouded the uncovered portion of the face. Mr. Cumshaw, with the amazing simplicity of a conjurer, produced a pair of ugly-looking revolvers from apparent nothingness, while his companion slipped his holsters round s

plied their daily lives with interest, and nothing must have been further from their thoughts than what actually occurred. The bank that had sent them had departed from all precedent in parcelling out the gold amongst t

an that of the recognised method of forwarding by coach. The security

True, on this particular evening he had exercised a kind of maudlin caution, but the tactics of Mr. Jack Bradby were of the sort to extract valuable information in the least noti

ar resounding voice invited them to halt or take the consequences. With one accord the riders pulled up, one man swore violently, and the hand of ano

s with a precision that could not ha

Bradby pleasantly. "Just keep still. I'd hate to make

the captured ones, for they received it

oke!" he roared. "Laugh

ed in a half-h

want you to bubble like that jackass did." He indicated the giggler with one of his ugly

usiasm in their voices. Mr. Bradby, however, passed t

le-bags of yours, and I'm going to annex them. And don't any of you move a hand or foot or you'll be shot before you can sa

heir every movement. A solitary ray of moonlight, glinting for an instant on one of Cumshaw's revolvers lent color to this suggestion, so like wise men they surrendered to the inevitable and allowed the explosive Mr. Bradby to relieve them first of all of their weapons, and, when he had "drawn their teeth," as he succinctly expressed it, to rifle their saddle-bags for the little packages of gold that it was their mission to guard with their lives. Life at all times is dearer than gold, and the men rea

ded when the transfer had been completed. "

their hands, the horsemen wheeled their mounts aroun

ome of you've got real fine backs. Just you keep l

the reins Mr. Cumshaw threw him and vaulted into the saddle. As softly as two shadows t

suspecting something of what had happened, slewed his head round very cautiously.

rmore we've got no idea which way they went. The only thing we

nd very shortly he came across the tracks that the precious pair had made earlier in the evening. An exclamation from him drew the others to

them," he said. "Wh

us in," remarked anoth

o men stuck us up, we're going to look a lot of goats. I For one think we'd better keep t

attach to them, and the result was that between them a story carrying the marks of probability was

mation of the country that there were gullies, even valleys, where an army might lie hidden. So confident were the two adventurers that there was no danger of pursuit that they did not press forward at anything like a reasonabl

said, "we'd better d

queri

u don't leave anything behind. If you throw them away someone's sure to find them

A lonely prospector, a few miles to the east, saw the spark and wondered at it. He knew that no one lived in that part of