There was a sound of horse's feet now, a more definite tramp than that of the stray animal making for water. A traveller. Could it be Hallett? Elsie would not move. From where she sat she could not see him as he crossed the bridge; but she would see him when he mounted the bank, and if it were Hallett, she would give him a "Coo-ée" and surprise him. The tramp came nearer. Another odd fancy came into Elsie's mind. She remembered Hallett's rather contemptuous remark when she had described the ideal lover."A Jane Eyre-ish ideal." The tramp on the hard ground made her think of the metallic clatter of Rochester's horse rising above the murmuring of rills and whisperings of the wintry afternoon. There was no similitude between this dreamy southern afternoon and the grim frost-bound landscape of the book, but the fancy was in her mind. And there was a dog—another Gytrash—a human-looking shaggy creature with intelligent eyes and a huge mask-like head. She could see the dog as it bounded up the bank and turned back to bark. She knew the dog quite well. It was the big collie that belonged to one of the Tunimba stockmen. Of course the rider was Frank. She coo-éed. The horse was pulled back and turned on the threshold of the bridge. A mettlesome animal. She could hear it snort and quiver. Pioneer was like that. This was Pioneer's colour. She had caught a glimpse of a black hind quarter. Elsie bent forward and coo-éed again, at the same time she plucked an verhanging bottle-brush blossom of the ti-tree and flung it at the rider.
The missile did not hit its mark, but she was wholly unprepared for the effect of her heedless action. There was a plunge, a kick, a rear forward, and the horse and rider darted past, the creature swerving blindly up the bank, cannoning against a she-oak and then dashing under the low branch of a white cedar. The rider stooped to save himself, but too late. A projecting boss of the tree caught his shoulder and almost dragged him from his seat. He was a good horseman, and a man of nerve, and gripping the bridle checked the horse and dismounted. He staggered a little
