All that day the stockman and the boss stood in knots beside the yards talking of the heathen blacks and preparing the white revenge of law. The boss had lost his best workman and they had heard stories of rogue black men who started on killing farm animals and even white people. No black bastard was going to do that here. The women stood on the verandah watching the men and listening to the gin keening for her lost lover. The picaninny Nargalilly howled out of misery because of the dark feelings all around her.