George Woods laughed. The big, genial soul of the man looked out of his eyes.
Archie and he smiled into each other's eyes. They understood very well what lay behind Archie's words; They could not bring themselves to admit there was any danger to the sacred principle of Ridge life, that a mate stands by a mate, in letting Rouminof wander home by himself. He might be in danger if there were rats about; they would admit that. But rats, the men who sneaked into other men's mines when they were on good stuff, and took out their opal during the night, were never Ridge men. They were new-comers, outsiders, strangers on the rushes, who had not learnt or assimilated Ridge ideas.
After a few minutes George turned away. "Well, good-night, Archie," he said.
George and Watty went along the road together, and Archie walked off in the direction Michael had taken.
But Michael had not gone home. When the trees screened him from sight, he had struck out across the Ridge, then, turning back on his tracks behind the town, had made towards the Warria road. He walked, thinking hard, without noticing where he was going, his mind full of Paul, of Sophie, and of his promise.
Now that Paul had his opal, it was clear he would be able to do as he wished--leave the Ridge and take Sophie with him. For the time being at least he was out of Jun Johnson's hands--but Michael was sure he would not stay out of them if he went to Sydney. How to prevent his going--how, rather, to prevent Sophie going with him---that was Michael's problem. He did not know what he was going to do.
He had asked Sophie not to go with her father. He had told her what her mother had said, and tried to explain to her why her mother had not wanted her to go away from the Ridge, or to become a public singer. But Sophie was as excited about her future as her father was. It was natural she should be, Michael assured himself. She was young, and had heard wonderful stories of Sydney and the world beyond the Ridge. Sydney was like the town in a fairy tale to her.
It was not to be expected, Michael confessed to himself, that Sophie would choose to stay on Fallen Star Ridge. If she could only be prevailed upon to put off her departure until she was older and better able to take care of herself, he would be satisfied. If the worst came to the worst, and she went to Sydney with her father soon, Michael had decided to go with them. Peter Newton would give him a couple of pounds for his books, he believed, and he would find something to do down in Sydney. His roots were in the Ridge. Michael did not know how he was going to live away from the mines; but anything seemed better than that Sophie should be committed to what her mother had called "the treacherous whirlpool" of life in a great city, with no one but her father to look after her.