the lad, and asked who were the enemies.

"Free-selectors," said Jacko.

"I'm a free-selector," said Medlicot.

"Did not jist mean you," said Jacko.

"Jacko, you'd better hold your tongue," said Mrs. Heathcote.

"Hold my tongue! My word! Well, you go on."

Medlicot came as far as the wool-shed, and then said that he would
return. He had thoroughly enjoyed his ride. Kate Daly was bright and
pretty and winning; and in the bush, when a man has not seen a lady
perhaps for months, brightness and prettiness and winning ways have a
double charm. To ride with fair women over turf, through a forest,
with a woman who may perhaps some day be wooed, can be a matter of
indifference only to a very lethargic man. Giles Medlicot was by no
means lethargic. He owned to himself that though Heathcote was a pig-
headed ass, the ladies were very nice, and he thought that the pig-
headed ass in choosing one of them for himself had by no means taken
the nicest.

"You'll never find your way back," said Kate, "if you've not been
here before."

"I never was here before, and I suppose I must find my way back."
Then he was urged to come on and dine at Gangoil, with a promise that
Jacko should return with him in the evening. But this he would not