'It'll pass, mother, if she comes back to me; never unless.'

'The sins of the fathers,' sighed Mrs. Hardy as he turned from her to his
own room, like a wounded animal seeking darkness. 'The sins of the
fathers.'


CHAPTER XXIII.

NEXT morning all Waddy knew of the arrest, and it was felt that the game
was nearly played out. Dick's confession was published in the same issue
of the Yarraman Mercury and public opinion in the township had decided
against the searcher in spite of his long and faithful service as teacher
and superintendent. The murder theory was reluctantly abandoned.

Harry Hardy called at the homestead to inquire after Chris before going
to work, and was told that she was much rested but not yet up. At
dinner-time he heard that she had been driven into Yarraman by Jock
Summers to be near her father; the fact that she had left him without a
word or a line seemed to confirm his worst suspicion, and again her
words, 'I deceived them all. I lied to everybody,' returned to mock him.
Harry had no quality of patience: he was impetuous, a fighter, not a
waiter on fortune; but here was nothing to fight, and in his desperation
he did battle on the hard ground.

They had cut the dyke in the new shaft at a shallower depth than Dick's
Mount of Gold drive, and here Harry expended those turbulent emotions
that welled within him, working furiously. Whether handling pick or
shovel, toiling at the windlass, or ringing the heavy hammer on the