"I shall sit here all night," said Mrs. Heathcote to her sister. "As
things are, I shall not think of going to bed."

Kate declared that she would also sit in the veranda all night; and,
as a matter of course, they were joined by Mrs. Growler. They had
been so seated about an hour when Kate Daly declared that the heavens
were on fire. The two young women jumped up, flew to the gate, and
found that the whole western horizon was lurid with a dark red light.




CHAPTER IX.

THE BUSH FIGHT.


Harry Heathcote had on this occasion entertained no doubt whatever
that the fire had been intentional and premeditated. A lighted torch
must have been dragged along the grass, so as to ignite a line many
yards long all at the same time. He had been luckily near enough to
the spot to see almost the commencement of the burning, and was
therefore aware of its form and circumstances. He almost wondered
that he had not seen the figure of the man who had drawn the torch,
or at any rate heard his steps. Pursuit would have been out of the
question, as his work was wanted at the moment to extinguish the
flames. The miscreant probably had remembered this, and had known
that he might escape stealthily without the noise of a rapid retreat.

When the work was over, when he had put out the fire he had himself