And then slowly the darkness began less to roll away than to disclose itself. Black objects stood out dimly from the shade, and the line of the horizon defined itself and almost imperceptibly, so gradual was the change, grew lighter. Tones of colour appeared in the picture; the black melted into purple, so rich and deep as to seem more dense than the sombre shade it superseded. And then abruptly the scene brightened. A soft yellow glow appeared in the sky, and the inverted curve of a blood-red moon showed above the horizon. Lawless stood up, and knocking the ash from his pipe, leant with his shoulder pressed against the framework of the door, and watched the rising of the moon in silence until, like a thing released from restraining bonds, new-dipped in the life-blood of departed day, it shot up into the sky. He was not aware how long he remained thus, he was not aware that his companion had risen also and stood beside him, until he felt the touch of a hand upon his shoulder. "Grit, it's cold," a voice said, rousing him from his meditations.--"And we haven't any bedclothes." He turned his head slowly and surveyed her by the increasing light of the moon. Then he pushed her inside and shut the door. "We'll take a mattress off one of the beds," he said, "and sleep in front of the fire..." The next day Lawless announced his intention of going into town in quest of a further supply of comforts. Tottie suggested accompanying him, but he negatived the idea. "I want your mount for a pack-horse," he said. "That's all very fine," she grumbled. "What am I to do all day by myself? Think of the risk in a place like this... The white woman and the black man, you know." He laughed grimly. "You have a revolver. I'd back you against any nigger that happened along." He rode away in the morning sunshine with the second horse on a lead. For the first mile the woman accompanied him, walking beside him with her hand on his stirrup. Once or twice she looked up at him as he sat, a straight soldierly figure, in the saddle, with the strong stern face shaded by the wide-brimmed hat, and the keen sombre eyes fixed steadily ahead, and in her own eyes shone the light of loyal affection and admiration which so often appeared in them when they rested on him unseen. "Bring some sort of a newspaper back with you, Grit," she begged. "It'll help to keep up the fiction that we're still in the world, somehow."