ness rivalled only by the cultivation paddock at Tunimba. She was not sure that this was not a cultivation paddock. There were young oats certainly springing close to her. She seemed to be lying on the grass, and her head was resting on a roll of soft blankets. And there was a patch of Indian corn, and here was a stack of hay built against a wall. Her eyes went upward. What a high wall it was! It seemed to reach to the sky. And there were green things growing out of it, and it had a wavy outline against the blue, sharp and jagged here and there, like rocky teeth. Then her gaze came down and moved onward. There was another wall opposite, with the field between—a wall of rock all round. She was in some gigantic room without a roof, and with a floor that was like a cultivation paddock, and in the very centre of the paddock she saw a waterhole clear and darkly blue. She also saw that there were several horses grazing in the paddock—and one or two penned in a small stockyard at the further end of this natural enclosure.
Where could she be? She tried to think back. And she became conscious of a deadly nausea which made her feel like fainting, but which passed presently. She became aware also of that horrid sickly odour which clung to her. And this recalled to her the scene of the cave, and the expedition with Trant.
She staggered to her feet and turned to find Trant leaning against the wall close beside her, and watching her anxiously. He was very pale, and his face was set and determined. Elsie understood everything now. This was the meaning of his melodramatic words. This was his plot for carrying her off. To this end had he used his knowledge of this natural hiding-place, with the secret of which only the blacks were acquainted. With what devilish cleverness and apparent innocence he had carried out his purpose! She was helpless as a trapped animal. She looked wildly round. The mountain was her prison. How was she to escape; and even if she succeeded in making her escape from this prison, how find her way through the
