subdued throbbing that had never been there before. Not even to
Peter did she whisper her secret, but waited and listened for
Jolly Roger, and when at last she heard him and he came through
the screen of jackpines, the color in her cheeks was like the
stain of strawberries crimsoning her finger-tips. In an instant,
looking down upon her, Jolly Roger saw what Peter had not
discovered, and he stopped in his tracks, his heart thumping like
a hammer inside him. Never, even in his dreams, had the girl
looked lovelier than she did now, and never had her eyes met his
eyes as they met them today, and never had her red lips said as
much to him, without uttering a word. In the same instant he saw
the livid bruise, half hidden under her hair--and then he saw a
big bundle behind her, partly screened by a dwarfed banksian.
After that his eyes went back to the bruise.

"Jed Hawkins didn't do it," said Nada, knowing what was in his
mind. "It was Jed's woman. And you can't kill her!" she added a
little defiantly.

Jolly Roger caught the choking throb in her throat, and he knew
she was lying. But Nada thrust Peter from her lap, and stood up,
and she seemed taller and more like a woman than ever before in
her life as she faced Jolly Roger there in the tiny open, with
violets and buttercups and red strawberries in the soft grass
under their feet. And behind them, and very near, a rival to the
warbler in the meadow began singing. But Nada did not hear. The
color had rushed hot into her cheeks at first, but now it was
fading out as swiftly, and her hands trembled, clasped in front of
her. But the blue in her eyes was as steady as the blue in the sky
as she looked at Jolly Roger.