about noon
Privately he had whispered to Tony an ugly suspicion he had -- a suspicion which did not tend for peace of mind , for it was that Murray had in some way been in league with the men who had robbed and fired the store . That was a further irritant , for Tony remembered only too clearly the state of Murray 's horse when he and Peters rode up to Marmot 's , as well as the uneasiness in Murray 's manner when they asked him who he had told of their return . Coming on the top of the other circumstances , it reduced Tony to a condition of suspecting every one and everything ; so he took the first opportunity to ride away to the Flat -- to test the greatest of the mysteries first . Riding slowly , he reached the Flat about noon , his mind brooding over the perplexities which had crowded upon him since his return to Birralong , and his spirits depressed by the mingled doubts that had come to him since he had had time to realize something of the meaning of the story he had heard . At first he had tried to dismiss it from his mind altogether , telling himself that it was only the ravings of a man delirious at the point of death . But the knowledge that the man had displayed as to incidents and interests in his life , and , above all , the significant hints Nuggan had uttered , all helped to keep his attention on it . As he approached the boundary fence of the selection where it first touched the road , he caught sight of Taylor , and coo-eed to him .