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diff --git a/5642.txt b/5642.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 480cd66..0000000 --- a/5642.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4883 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Harry Heathcote of Gangoil, by Anthony -Trollope - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Harry Heathcote of Gangoil - A Tale of Australian Bush-Life - - -Author: Anthony Trollope - - - -Release Date: August 3, 2002 [eBook #5642] -[Last updated: December 7, 2020] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARRY HEATHCOTE OF GANGOIL*** - - -E-text prepared by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team - - - -HARRY HEATHCOTE OF GANGOIL - -A Tale of Australian Bush-Life. - -by - -ANTHONY TROLLOPE, - -Author of -"The Warden", "Barchester Towers," "Orley Farm," "The Small House at -Arlington", "The Eustace Diamonds," &c., &c. - -Illustrated. - - - - - - -HARRY HEATHCOTE - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -GANGOIL. - - -Just a fortnight before Christmas, 1871, a young man, twenty-four -years of age, returned home to his dinner about eight o'clock in the -evening. He was married, and with him and his wife lived his wife's -sister. At that somewhat late hour he walked in among the two young -women, and another much older woman who was preparing the table for -dinner. The wife and the wife's sister each had a child in her lap, -the elder having seen some fifteen months of its existence, and the -younger three months. "He has been out since seven, and I don't think -he's had a mouthful," the wife had just said. "Oh, Harry, you must be -half starved," she exclaimed, jumping up to greet him, and throwing -her arm round his bare neck. - -"I'm about whole melted," he said, as he kissed her. "In the name of -charity give me a nobbler. I did get a bit of damper and a pannikin -of tea up at the German's hut; but I never was so hot or so thirsty -in my life. We're going to have it in earnest this time. Old Bates -says that when the gum leaves crackle, as they do now, before -Christmas, there won't be a blade of grass by the end of February." - -"I hate Old Bates," said the wife. "He always prophesies evil, and -complains about his rations." - -"He knows more about sheep than any man this side of the Mary," said -her husband. From all this I trust the reader will understand that -the Christmas to which he is introduced is not the Christmas with -which he is intimate on this side of the equator--a Christmas of -blazing fires in-doors, and of sleet amid snow and frost outside--but -the Christmas of Australia, in which happy land the Christmas fires -are apt to be lighted--or to light themselves--when they are by no -means needed. - -The young man who had just returned home had on a flannel shirt, a -pair of mole-skin trowsers, and an old straw hat, battered nearly out -of all shape. He had no coat, no waistcoat, no braces, and nothing -round his neck. Round his waist there was a strap or belt, from the -front of which hung a small pouch, and, behind, a knife in a case. -And stuck into a loop in the belt, made for the purpose, there was a -small brier-wood pipe. As he dashed his hat off, wiped his brow, and -threw himself into a rocking-chair, he certainly was rough to look -at, but by all who understood Australian life he would have been -taken to be a gentleman. He was a young squatter, well known west of -the Mary River, in Queensland. Harry Heathcote of Gangoil, who owned -30,000 sheep of his own, was a magistrate in those parts, and able to -hold his own among his neighbors, whether rough or gentle; and some -neighbors he had, very rough, who made it almost necessary that a man -should be able to be rough also, on occasions, if he desired to live -among them without injury. Heathcote of Gangoil could do all that. -Men said of him that he was too imperious, too masterful, too much -inclined to think that all things should be made to go as he would -have them. Young as he was, he had been altogether his own master -since he was of age--and not only his own master, but the master also -of all with whom he was brought into contact from day to day. In his -life he conversed but seldom with any but those who were dependent on -him, nor had he done so for the last three years. At an age at which -young men at home are still subject to pastors and masters, he had -sprung at once into patriarchal power, and, being a man determined to -thrive, had become laborious and thoughtful beyond his years. - -Harry Heathcote had been left an orphan, with a small fortune in -money, when he was fourteen. For two years after that he had -consented to remain quietly at school, but at sixteen he declared his -purpose of emigrating. Boys less than himself in stature got above -him at school, and he had not liked it. For a twelvemonth he was -opposed by his guardian; but at the end of the year he was fitted -forth for the colony. The guardian was not sorry to be quit of him, -but prophesied that he would be home again before a year was over. -The lad had not returned, and it was now a settled conviction among -all who knew him that he would make or mar his fortune in the new -land that he had chosen. - -He was a tall, well-made young fellow, with fair hair and a -good-humored smile, but ever carrying in his countenance marks of what -his enemies called pig-headedness, his acquaintances obstinacy, and -those who loved him firmness. His acquaintances were, perhaps, right, -for he certainly was obstinate. He would take no man's advice, he -would submit himself to no man, and in the conduct of his own business -preferred to trust to his own insight than to the experience of -others. It would sometimes occur that he had to pay heavily for his -obstinacy. But, on the other hand, the lessons which he learned he -learned thoroughly. And he was kept right in his trade by his own -indefatigable industry. That trade was the growth of wool. He was a -breeder of sheep on a Queensland sheep-run, and his flocks ran far -afield over a vast territory of which he was the only lord. His house -was near the river Mary, and beyond the river his domain did not -extend; but around him on his own side of the river he could ride for -ten miles in each direction without getting off his own pastures. He -was master, as far as his mastership went, of 120,000 acres--almost -an English county--and it was the pride of his heart to put his foot -off his own territory as seldom as possible. He sent his wool -annually down to Brisbane, and received his stores, tea and sugar, -flour and brandy, boots, clothes, tobacco, etc., once or twice a year -from thence. But the traffic did not require his own presence at the -city. So self-contained was the working of the establishment that he -was never called away by his business, unless he went to see some lot -of highly bred sheep which he might feel disposed to buy; and as for -pleasure, it had come to be altogether beyond the purpose of his life -to go in quest of that. When the work of the day was over, he would -lie at his length upon rugs in the veranda, with a pipe in his mouth, -while his wife sat over him reading a play of Shakspeare or the last -novel that had come to them from England. - -He had married a fair girl, the orphan daughter of a bankrupt -squatter whom he had met in Sydney, and had brought her and her -sister into the Queensland bush with him. His wife idolized him. His -sister-in-law, Kate Daly, loved him dearly--as she had cause to do, -for he had proved himself to be a very brother to her; but she feared -him also somewhat. The people about the Mary said that she was fairer -and sweeter to look at even than the elder sister. Mrs. Heathcote was -the taller of the two, and the larger-featured. She certainly was the -higher in intellect, and the fittest to be the mistress of such an -establishment as that at Gangoil. - -When he had washed his hands and face, and had swallowed the very -copious but weak allowance of brandy-and-water which his wife mixed -for him, he took the eldest boy on his lap and fondled him. "By -George!" he said, "old fellow, you sha'n't be a squatter." - -"Why not, Harry?" asked his wife. - -"Because I don't want him to break his heart every day of his life." - -"Are you always breaking yours? I thought your heart was pretty well -hardened now." - -"When a man talks of his heart, you and Kate are thinking of loves -and doves, of course." - -"I wasn't thinking of loves and doves, Harry," said Kate. "I was -thinking how very hot it must have been to-day. We could only bear it -in the veranda by keeping the blinds always wet. I don't wonder that -you were troubled." - -"That comes from heaven or Providence, or from something that one -knows to be unassailable, and therefore one can put up with it. Even -if one gets a sun-stroke one does not complain. The sun has a right -to be there, and is no interloper, like a free-selector. I can't -understand why free-selectors and mosquitoes should have been -introduced into the arrangements of the world." - -"I s'pose the poor must live somewheres, and 'squiters too," said -Mrs. Growler, the old maid-servant, as she put a boiled leg of mutton -on the table. "Now, Mr. Harry, if you're hungered, there's something -for you to eat in spite of the free-selectors." - -"Mrs. Growler," said the master, "excuse me for saying that you jump -to conclusions." - -"My jumping is pretty well-nigh done," said the old woman. - -"By no means. I find that old people can jump quite as briskly as -young. You have rebuked me under the impression that I was grudging -something to the poor. Let me explain to you that a free-selector may -be, and very often is, a rich man. He whom I had in my mind is not a -poor man, though I won't swear but what he will be before a year is -over." - -"I know who you mean, Mr. Harry; you mean the Medlicots. A very nice -gentleman is Mr. Medlicot, and a very nice old lady is Mrs. Medlicot. -And a deal of good they're going to do, by all accounts." - -"Now, Mrs. Growler, that will do," said the wife. - -The dinner consisted of a boiled leg of mutton, a large piece of -roast beef, potatoes, onions, and an immense pot of tea. No glasses -were even put upon the table. The two ladies had dressed for dinner, -and were bright and pretty as they would have been in a country house -at home; but Harry Heathcote had sat down just as he had entered the -room. - -"I know you are tired to death," said his wife, "when I see you eat -your dinner like that." - -"It isn't being tired, Mary; I'm not particularly tired. But I must -be off again in about an hour." - -"Out again to-night?" - -"Yes, indeed." - -"On horseback?" - -"How else? Old Bates and Mickey are in their saddles still. I don't -want to have my fences burned as soon as they're put up. It's a -ticklish thing to think that a spark of fire any where about the -place might ruin me, and to know at the same time that every man -about the run and every swagsman that passes along have matches in -their pocket. There isn't a pipe lighted on Gangoil this time of the -year that mightn't make a beggar of you and me. That's another reason -why I wouldn't have the young un a squatter." - -"--I declare I think that squatters have more trouble than any people -in the world," said Kate Daly. - -"--Free-selectors have their own troubles too, Kate," said he. - -It must be explained as we go on that Heathcote felt that he had -received a great and peculiar grievance from the hands of one -Medlicot, a stranger who had lately settled near him, and that this -last remark referred to a somewhat favorable opinion which had been -expressed about this stranger by the two ladies. It was a little -unfair, as having been addressed specially to Kate, intending as it -did to imply that Kate had better consider the matter well before she -allowed her opinion of the stranger to become dangerously favorable; -for in truth she had said no more than her sister. - -"The Medlicots' troubles will never trouble me, Harry," she said. - -"I hope not, Kate; nor mine either more than we can help." - -"But they do," said Mary. "They trouble me, and her too, very much." - -"A man's back should be broad enough to bear all that for himself," -said Harry. "I get ashamed of myself when I grumble, and yet one -seems to be surly if one doesn't say what one's thinking." - -"I hope you'll always tell me what you're thinking, dear." - -"Well, I suppose I shall--till this fellow is old enough to be talked -to, and to be made to bear the burden of his father's care." - -"By that time, Harry, you will have got rich, and we shall all be in -England, sha'n't we?" - -"I don't know about being rich, but we shall have been free-selected -off Gangoil.--Now, Mrs. Growler, we've done dinner, and I'll have a -pipe before I make another start. Is Jacko in the kitchen? Send him -through to me on to the veranda." - -Gangoil was decidedly in the bush--according to common Australian -parlance, all sheep stations are in the bush, even though there -should not be a tree or shrub within sight. They who live away from -the towns live a "bush life." Small towns, as they grow up, are -called bush towns, as we talk of country towns. The "bush," indeed, -is the country generally. But the Heathcotes lived absolutely and -actually in the bush. There are Australian pastures which consist of -plains on which not a tree is to be seen for miles; but others are -forests, so far extending that their limits are almost unknown. -Gangoil was surrounded by forest, in some places so close as to be -impervious to men and almost to animals in which the undergrowth was -thick and tortuous and almost platted, through which no path could be -made without an axe, but of which the greater portions were open, -without any under-wood, between which the sheep could wander at their -will, and men could ride, with a sparse surface of coarse grass, -which after rain would be luxuriant, but in hot weather would be -scorched down to the ground. At such times--and those times were by -far the more common--a stranger would wonder where the sheep would -find their feed. Immediately round the house, or station, as it was -called, about one hundred acres had been cleared, or nearly cleared, -with a few trees left here and there for ornament or shade. Further -afield, but still round the home quarters, the trees had been -destroyed, the run of the sap having been stopped by "ringing" the -bark; but they still stood like troops of skeletons, and would stand, -very ugly to look at, till they fell, in the course of nature, by -reason of their own rottenness. There was a man always at work about -the place--Boscobel he was called--whose sole business was to destroy -the timber after this fashion, so that the air might get through to -the grasses, and that the soil might be relieved from the burden of -nurturing the forest trees. - -For miles around the domain was divided into paddocks, as they were -there called; but these were so large that a stranger might wander in -one of them for a day and never discover that he was inclosed. There -were five or six paddocks on the Gangoil run, each of which comprised -over ten thousand acres, and as all the land was undulating, and as -the timber was around you every where, one paddock was exactly like -another. The scenery in itself was fine, for the trees were often -large, and here and there rocky knolls would crop up, and there were -broken crevices in the ground; but it was all alike. A stranger would -wonder that any one straying from the house should find his way back -to it. There were sundry bush houses here and there, and the so-called -road to the coast from the wide pastoral districts further west passed -across the run; but these roads and tracks would travel hither and -thither, new tracks being opened from time to time by the heavy wool -drays and store wagons, as in wet weather the ruts on the old tracks -would become insurmountable. - -The station itself was certainly very pretty. It consisted of a -cluster of cottages, each of which possessed a ground-floor only. No -such luxury as stairs was known at Gangoil. It stood about half a -mile from the Mary River, on the edge of a creek which ran into it. -The principal edifice, that in which the Heathcotes lived, contained -only one sitting-room, and a bedroom on each side of it; but in truth -there was another room, very spacious, in which the family really -passed their time; and this was the veranda which ran along the front -and two ends of the house. It was twelve feet broad, and, of course, -of great length. Here was clustered the rocking-chairs, and sofas, -and work-tables, and very often the cradle of the family. Here stood -Mrs. Heathcote's sewing-machine, and here the master would sprawl at -his length, while his wife, or his wife's sister, read to him. It was -here, in fact, that they lived, having a parlor simply for their -meals. Behind the main edifice there stood, each apart, various -buildings, forming an irregular quadrangle. The kitchen came first, -with a small adjacent chamber in which slept the Chinese man-cook, -Sing Sing, as he had come to be called; then the cottage, consisting -also of three rooms and a small veranda, in which lived Harry's -superintendent, commonly known as Old Bates, a man who had been a -squatter once himself, and having lost his all in bad times, now -worked for a small salary. In the cottage two of the rooms were -devoted to hospitality when, as was not unusual, guests, known or -unknown, came that way; and here Harry himself would sleep, if the -entertainment of other ladies crowded the best apartments. Then at -the back of the quadrangle was the store, perhaps of all the -buildings the most important. In here was kept a kind of shop, which -was supposed, according to an obsolete rule, to be open for custom -for half a day twice a week. The exigencies of the station did not -allow of this regularity; but after some fashion the shop was -maintained. Tea was to be bought there, and sugar, tobacco, and -pickles, jam, nails, boots, hats, flannel shirrs, and mole-skin -trowsers. Any body who came might buy, but the intention was to -provide the station hands, who would otherwise have had to go or send -thirty miles for the supply of their wants. Very little money was -taken here, generally none. But the quantity of pickles, jam, and -tobacco sold was great. The men would consume large quantities of -these bush delicacies, and the cost would be deducted from their -wages. The tea and sugar, and flour also, were given out weekly, as -rations--so much a week--and meat was supplied to them after the same -fashion. For it was the duty of this young autocratic patriarch to -find provisions for all who were employed around him. For such -luxuries as jam and tobacco the men paid themselves. - -On the fourth side of the quadrangle was a rough coach-house, and -rougher stables. The carriage part of the establishment consisted of -two "buggies"--so called always in the bush--open carriages on four -wheels, one of which was intended to hold two and the other four -sitters. A Londoner looking at them would have declared them to be -hopeless ruins; but Harry Heathcote still made wonderful journeys in -them, taking care generally that the wheels were sound, and using -ropes for the repair of dilapidations. The stables were almost -unnecessary, as the horses, of which the supply at Gangoil was very -large, roamed in the horse paddock, a comparatively small inclosure -containing not above three or four hundred acres, and were driven up -as they were wanted. One horse was always kept close at home with -which to catch the others; but this horse, for handiness, was -generally hitched to a post outside the kitchen door. Harry was proud -of his horses, and was sometimes heard to say that few men in England -had a lot of thirty at hand as he had, out of which so many would be -able to carry a man eighty miles in eight hours at a moment's notice. -But his stable arrangements would not have commanded respect in the -"Shires." The animals were never groomed, never fed, and many of them -never shod. They lived upon grass, and, Harry always said, "cut their -own bread-and-butter for themselves." - -Gangoil was certainly very pretty. The veranda was covered in with -striped blinds, so that when the sun shone hot, or when the rains -fell heavily, or when the mosquitoes were more than usually -troublesome, there might be something of the protection of an -inclosed room. Up all the posts there were flowering creepers, which -covered the front with greenery even when the flowers were wanting. -From the front of the house down to the creek there was a pleasant -failing garden--heart-breaking, indeed, in regard to vegetables, for -the opossums always came first, and they who followed the opossums -got but little. But the garden gave a pleasant home-like look to the -place, and was very dear to Harry, who was, perhaps, indifferent in -regard to pease and tomatoes. Harry Heathcote was very proud of the -place, for he had made it all himself, having pulled down a wretched -barrack that he had found there. But he was far prouder of his -wool-shed, which he had also built, and which he regarded as first -and foremost among wool-sheds in those parts. By-and-by we shall be -called on to visit the wool-shed. Though Heathcote had done all this -for Gangoil, it must be understood that the vast extent of territory -over which his sheep ran was by no means his own property. He was -simply the tenant of the Crown, paying a rent computed at so much a -sheep. He had, indeed, purchased the ground on which his house stood, -but this he had done simply to guard himself against other -purchasers. These other purchasers were the bane of his existence, -the one great sorrow which, as he said, broke his heart. - -While he was speaking, a rough-looking lad, about sixteen years of -age, came through the parlor to the veranda, dressed very much like -his master, but unwashed, uncombed, and with that wild look which -falls upon those who wander about the Australian plains, living a -nomad life. This was Jacko--so called, and no one knew him by any -other name--a lad whom Heathcote had picked up about six months -since, and who had become a favorite. "The old woman says as you was -wanting me?" suggested Jacko. "Going to be fine to-night, Jacko?" - -Jacko went to the edge of the veranda and looked up to the sky. "My -word! little squall a-coming," he said. - -"I wish it would come from ten thousand buckets," said the master. - -"No buckets at all," said Jacko. "Want the horses, master?" - -"Of course. I want the horses, and I want you to come with me. There -are two horses saddled there; I'll ride Hamlet." - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -A NIGHT'S RIDE. - - -Harry jumped from the ground, kissed his wife, called her "old girl," -and told her to be happy, and got on his horse at the garden gate. -Both the ladies came off the veranda to see him start. "It's as dark -as pitch," said Kate Daly. - -"That's because you have just come out of the light." - -"But it is dark--quite dark. You won't be late, will you?" said the -wife. - -"I can't be very early, as it's near ten now. I shall be back about -twelve." So saying, he broke at once into a gallop, and vanished into -the night, his young groom scampering after him. - -"Why should he go out now?" Kate said to her sister. - -"He is afraid of fire." - -"But he can't prevent the fires by riding about in the dark. I -suppose the fires come from the heat." - -"He thinks they come from enemies, and he has heard something. One -wretched man may do so much when every thing is dried to tinder. I do -so wish it would rain." - -The night, in truth, was very dark. It was now midsummer, at which -time with us the days are so long that the coming of the one almost -catches the departure of its predecessor. But Gangoil was not far -outside the tropics, and there were no long summer nights. The heat -was intense; but there was a low soughing wind which seemed to moan -among the trees without moving them. As they crossed the little home -inclosure and the horse paddock, the track was just visible, the -trees being dead and the spaces open. About half a mile from the -house, while they were still in the horse paddock, Harry turned from -the track, and Jacko, of course, turned with him. "You can sit your -horse jumping, Jacko?" he asked. - -"My word! jump like glory," answered Jacko. He was soon tried. Harry -rode at the bush fence--which was not, indeed, much of a fence, made -of logs lengthways and crossways, about three feet and a half -high--and went over it. Jacko followed him, rushing his horse at the -leap, losing his seat and almost falling over the animal's shoulders -as he came to the ground. "My word!" said Jacko, just saving himself -by a scramble; "who ever saw the like of that?" - -"Why don't you sit in your saddle, you stupid young duffer?" - -"Sit in my saddle! Why don't he jump proper? Well, you go on. I don't -know that I'm a duffer. Duffer, indeed! My word!" Heathcote had -turned to the left, leaving the track, which was, indeed, the main -road toward the nearest town and the coast, and was now pushing on -through the forest with no pathway at all to guide him. To ordinary -eyes the attempt to steer any course would have been hopeless. But an -Australian squatter, if he have any well-grounded claim to the -character of a bushman, has eyes which are not ordinary, and he has, -probably, nurtured within himself, unconsciously, topographical -instincts which are unintelligible to the inhabitants of cities. -Harry, too, was near his own home, and went forward through the thick -gloom without a doubt, Jacko following him faithfully. In about half -an hour they came to another fence, but now it was too absolutely -dark for jumping. Harry had not seen it till he was close to it, and -then he pulled up his horse. "My word! why don't you jump away, Mr. -Harry? Who's a duffer now?" - -"Hold your tongue, or I'll put my whip across your back. Get down and -help me pull a log away. The horses couldn't see where to put their -feet." Jacko did as he was bid, and worked hard, but still grumbled -at having been called a duffer. The animals were quickly led over, -the logs were replaced, and the two were again galloping through the -forest. - -"I thought you were making for the wool-shed," said Jacko. - -"We're eight miles beyond the wool-shed," said Harry. They had now -crossed another paddock, and had come to the extreme fence on the -run. The Gangoil pastures extended much further, but in that -direction had not as yet been inclosed. Here they both got off their -horses and walked along the fence till they came to an opening, with -a slip panel, or movable bars, which had been Heathcote's intended -destination. "Hold the horses, Jacko, till I come back," he said. - -Jacko, when alone, nothing daunted by the darkness or solitude, -seated himself on the top rail, took out a pipe, and struck a match. -When the tobacco was ignited he dropped the match on the dry grass at -his feet, and a little flame instantly sprang up. The boy waited a -few seconds till the flames began to run, and then putting his feet -together on the ground stamped out the incipient fire. "My word!" -said Jacko to himself, "it's easy done, anyway." - -Harry went on to the left for about half a mile, and then stood -leaning against the fence. It was very dark, but he was now looking -over into an inclosure which had been altogether cleared of trees, -and which, as he knew well, had been cultivated and was covered with -sugar-canes. Where he stood he was not distant above a quarter of a -mile from the river, and the field before him ran down to the banks. -This was the selected land of Giles Medlicot--two years since a -portion of his own run, which had now been purchased from the -government--for the loss of which he had received and was entitled to -receive no compensation. And the matter was made worse for him by the -fact that the interloper had come between him and the river. But he -was not standing here near midnight merely to exercise his wrath by -straining his eyes through the darkness at his neighbor's crops. He -put his finger into his mouth to wet it, and then held it up that he -might discover which way the light breath of wind was coming. There -was still the low moan to be heard continually through the forest, -and yet not a leaf seemed to be moved. After a while he thought he -caught a sound, and put his ear down to the ground. He distinctly -heard a footstep, and rising up, walked quickly toward the spot -whence the noise came. - -"Who's that?" he said, as he saw the figure of a man standing on his -side of the fence, and leaning against it, with a pipe in his month. - -"Who are you?" replied the man on the fence. "My name is Medlicot." - -"Oh, Mr. Medlicot, is it?" - -"Is that Mr. Heathcote? Good-night, Mr. Heathcote. You are going -about at a late hour of the night." - -"I have to go about early and late; but I ain't later than you." - -"I'm close at home," said Medlicot. - -"I am, at any rate, on my own run," said Harry. - -"You mean to say that I am trespassing?" said the other; "because I -can very soon jump back over the fence." - -"I didn't mean that at all, Mr. Medlicot; any body is welcome on my -run, night or day, who knows how to behave himself." - -"I hope I'm included in that list." - -"Just so; of course. Considering the state that every thing is in, -and all the damage that a fire would do, I rather wish that people -would be a little more careful about smoking." - -"My canes, Mr. Heathcote, would burn quite as quickly as your grass." - -"It is not only the grass. I've a hundred miles of fencing on the -run which is as dry as tinder, not to talk of the station and the -wool-shed." - -"They sha'n't suffer from my neglect, Mr. Heathcote." - -"You have men about who mayn't be so careful. The wind, such as it -is, is coming right across from your place. If there were light -enough, I could show you three or four patches where there has been -fire within half a mile of this spot. There was a log burning there -for two or three days, not long ago, which was lighted by one of our -men." - -"That was a fortnight since. There was no heat then, and the men were -boiling their kettle. I spoke about it." - -"A log like that, Mr. Medlicot, will burn for weeks sometimes. I'll -tell you fairly what I'm afraid of. There's a man with you whom I -turned out of the shed last shearing, and I think he might put a -match down--not by accident." - -"You mean Nokes. As far as I know, he's a decent man. You wouldn't -have me not employ a man just because you had dismissed him?" - -"Certainly not; that is, I shouldn't think of dictating to you about -such a thing." - -"Well, no, Mr. Heathcote, I suppose not. Nokes has got to earn his -bread, though you did dismiss him. I don't know that he's not as -honest a man as you or I." - -"If so, there's three of us very bad; that's all, Mr. Medlicot. -Good-night; and if you'll trouble yourself to look after the ash of -your tobacco it might be the saving of me and all I have." So -saying, he turned round, and made his way back to the horses. - -Medlicot had placed himself on the fence during the interview, and he -still kept his seat. Of course he was now thinking of the man who had -just left him, whom he declared to himself to be an ignorant, -prejudiced, ill-constituted cur. "I believe in his heart he thinks -that I'm going to set fire to his run," he said, almost aloud. "And -because he grows wool he thinks himself above every body in the -colony. He occupies thousands of acres, and employs three or four -men. I till about two hundred, and maintain thirty families. But he -is such a pig that he can't understand all that; and he thinks that I -must be something low because I've bought with my own money a bit of -land which never belonged to him, and which he couldn't use." Such -was the nature of Giles Medlicot's soliloquy as he sat swinging his -legs, and still smoking his pipe, on the fence which divided his -sugar-cane from the other young man's run. - -And Harry Heathcote uttered his soliloquy also. "I wouldn't swear -that he wouldn't do it himself, after all;" meaning that he almost -suspected that Medlicot himself would be an incendiary. To him, in -his way of thinking, a man who would take advantage of the law to buy -a bit of another man's land--or become a free-selector, as the term -goes--was a public enemy, and might be presumed capable of any -iniquity. It was all very well for the girls--meaning his wife and -sister-in-law--to tell him that Medlicot had the manners of a -gentleman and had come of decent people. Women were always soft -enough to be taken by soft hands, a good-looking face, and a decent -coat. This Medlicot went about dressed like a man in the towns, -exhibiting, as Harry thought, a contemptible, unmanly finery. Of what -use was it to tell him that Medlicot was a gentleman? What Harry knew -was that since Medlicot had come he had lost his sheep, that the -heads of three or four had been found buried on Medlicot's side of -his run, and that if he dismissed "a hand," Medlicot employed him--a -proceeding which, in Harry Heathcote's aristocratic and patriarchal -views of life, was altogether ungentleman-like. How were the "hands" -to be kept in their place if one employer of labor did not back up -another? - -He had been warned to be on his guard against fire. The warnings had -hardly been implicit, but yet had come in a shape which made him -unable to ignore them. Old Bates, whom he trusted implicitly, and who -was a man of very few words, had told him to be on his guard. The -German, at whose hut he had been in the morning, Karl Bender by name, -and a servant of his own, had told him that there would be fire about -before long. - -"Why should any one want to ruin me?" Harry had asked. "Did I ever -wrong a man of a shilling?" - -The German had learned to know his young master, had made his way -through the crust of his master's character, and was prepared to be -faithful at all points--though he too could have quarreled and have -avenged himself had it not chanced that he had come to the point of -loving instead of hating his employer. - -"You like too much to be governor over all," said the German, as he -stooped over the fire in his own hut in his anxiety to boil the water -for Heathcote's tea. - -"Somebody must be governor, or every thing would go to the devil," -said Harry. - -"Dat's true--only fellows don't like be made feel it," said the -German, "Nokes, he was made feel it when you put him over de gate." - -But neither would Bates nor the German express absolute suspicion of -any man. That Medlicot's "hands" at the sugar-mill were stealing his -sheep Harry thought that he knew; but that was comparatively a small -affair, and he would not have pressed it, as he was without absolute -evidence. And even he had a feeling that it would be unwise to -increase the anger felt against himself--at any rate, during the -present heats. - -Jacko had his pipe still alight when Heathcote returned. "You young -monkey," said he, "have you been using matches?" - -"Why not, Mr. Harry? Don't the grass burn ready, Mr. Harry? My word!" -Then Jacko stooped down, lit another match, and showed Heathcote the -burned patch. - -"Was it so when we came?" Harry asked, with emotion. Jacko, still -kneeling on the ground, and holding the lighted match in his hand, -shook his head and tapped his breast, indicating that he had burned -the grass. "You dropped the match by accident?" - -"My word! no. Did it o' purpose to see. It's all just one as -gunpowder, Mr. Harry." - -Harry got on his horse without a word, and rode away through the -forest, taking a direction different from that by which he had come, -and the boy followed him. He was by no means certain that this young -fellow might not turn against him; but it had been a part of his -theory to make no difference to any man because of such fears. If he -could make the men around him respect him, then they would treat him -well; but they could never be brought to respect him by flattery. He -was very nearly right in his views of men, and would have been right -altogether could he have seen accurately what justice demanded for -others as well as for himself. As far as the intention went, he was -minded to be just to every man. - -It seemed, as they were riding, that the heat grew fiercer and -fiercer. Though there was still the same moaning sound, there was not -a breath of air. They had now got upon a track very well known to -Heathcote, which led up from the river to the wool-shed, and so on to -the station, and they had turned homeward. When they were near the -wool-shed, suddenly there fell a heavy drop or two of rain. Harry -stopped and turned his face upward, when, in a moment, the whole -heavens above them and the forest around were illumined by a flash of -lightning so near them that it made each of them start in his saddle, -and made the horses shudder in every limb. Then came the roll of -thunder immediately over their heads, and with the thunder rain so -thick and fast that Harry's "ten thousand buckets" seemed to be -emptied directly over their heads. - -"God A'mighty has put out the fires now," said Jacko. - -Harry paused for a moment, feeling the rain through to his bones--for -he had nothing on over his shirt--and rejoicing in it. "Yes," he -said; "we may go to bed for a week, and let the grass grow, and the -creeks fill, and the earth cool. Half an hour like this over the -whole run, and there won't be a dry stick on it." - -As they went on, the horses splashed through the water. It seemed as -though a deluge were falling, and that already the ground beneath -their feet were becoming a lake. - -"We might have too much of this, Jacko." - -"My word! yes." - -"I don't want to have the Mary flooded again." - -"My word! no." - -But by the time they reached the wool-shed it was over. From the -first drop to the last, there had hardly been a space of twenty -minutes. But there was a noise of waters as the little streams washed -hither and thither to their destined courses and still the horses -splashed, and still there was the feeling of an incipient deluge. -When they reached the wool-shed, Harry again got off his horse, and -Jacko, dismounting also, hitched the two animals to the post and -followed his master into the building. Harry struck a wax match, and -holding it up, strove to look round the building by the feeble light -which it shed. It was a remarkable edifice, built in the shape of a -great T, open at the sides, with a sharp-pitched timber roof covered -with felt, which came down within four feet of the ground. It was -calculated to hold about four hundred sheep at a time, and was -divided into pens of various sizes, partitioned off for various -purposes. If Harry Heathcote was sure of any thing, he was sure that -his wool-shed was the best that had ever been built in this district. - -"By Jimini! what's that?" said Jacko. - -"Did you hear any thing?" - -Jacko pointed with his finger down the centre walk of the shed, and -Harry, striking another match as he went, rushed forward. But the -match was out as soon as ignited, and gave no glimmer of light. -Nevertheless he saw, or thought that he saw, the figure of a man -escaping out of the open end of the shed. The place itself was black -as midnight, but the space beyond was clear of trees, and the -darkness outside being a few shades lighter than within the building, -allowed something of the outline of a figure to be visible. And as -the man escaped, the sounds of his footsteps were audible enough. -Harry called to him, but of course received no answer. Had he pursued -him, he would have been obliged to cross sundry rails, which would -have so delayed him as to give him no chance of success. - -"I knew there was a fellow about," he said; "one of our own men would -not have run like that." - -Jacko shook his head, but did not speak. - -"He has got in here for shelter out of the rain, but he was doing no -good about the place." - -Jacko again shook his head. - -"I wonder who he was?" - -Jacko came up and whispered in his ear, "Bill Nokes." - -"You couldn't see him." - -"Seed the drag of his leg." Now it was well known that the man Nokes -had injured some of his muscles, and habitually dragged one foot -after another. - -"I don't think you could have been sure of him by such a glimpse as -that." - -"Maybe not," said the boy, "only I'm sure as sure." - -Harry Heathcote said not another word, but getting again upon his -horse, galloped home. It was past one when he reached the station, -but the two girls were waiting up for him, and at once began to -condole with him because he was wet. "Wet!" said Harry; "if you could -only know how much I prefer things being wet to dry just at present! -But give Jacko some supper. I must keep that young fellow in good -humor if I can." - -So Jacko had half a loaf of bread, and a small pot of jam, and a -large jug of cold tea provided for him, in the enjoyment of which -luxuries he did not seem to be in the least impeded by the fact -that he was wet through to the skin. Harry Heathcote had another -nobbler--being only the second in the day--and then went to bed. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -MEDLICOT'S MILL. - - -As Harry said, they might all now lie in bed for a day or two. The -rain had set aside for the time the necessity for that urgent -watchfulness which kept all hands on the station hard at work during -the great heat. There was not, generally, much rest during the year -at Gangoil. Lambing in April and May, washing and shearing in -September, October, and November, with the fear of fires and the -necessary precautions in December and January, did not leave more -than sufficient intervals for looking after the water-dams, making -and mending fences, procuring stores, and attending to the ailments -of the flocks. No man worked harder than the young squatter. But now -there had suddenly come a day or two of rest--rest from work which -was not of itself productive, but only remedial, and which, -therefore, was not begrudged. - -But it soon was apparent that the rest could be only for a day or -two. The rain had fallen as from ten thousand buckets, but it had -fallen only for a space of minutes. On the following morning the -thirsty earth had apparently swallowed all the flood. The water in -the creek beneath the house stood two feet higher than it had done, -and Harry, when he visited the dams round the run, found that they -were fall to overflowing, and the grasses were already springing, so -quick is the all but tropical growth of the country. They might be -safe, perhaps, for eight-and-forty hours. Fire would run only when -the ground was absolutely dry, and when every twig or leaf was a -combustible. But during those eight-and-forty hours there might be -comparative ease at Gangoil. - -On the day following the night of the ride Mrs. Heathcote suggested -to her husband that she and Kate should ride over to Medlicot's Mill, -as the place was already named, and call on Mrs. Medlicot. "It isn't -Christian," she said, "for people living out in the bush as we are to -quarrel with their neighbors just because they are neighbors." - -"Neighbors!" said Harry; "I don't know any word that there's so -much humbug about. The Samaritan was the best neighbor I ever heard -of, and he lived a long way off, I take it. Anyway, he wasn't a -free-selector." - -"Harry, that's profane." - -"Every thing I say is wicked. You can go, of course, if you like it. -I don't want to quarrel with any body." - -"Quarreling is so uncomfortable," said his wife. - -"That's a matter of taste. There are people whom I find it very -comfortable to quarrel with. I shouldn't at all like not to quarrel -with the Brownbies, and I'm not at all sure it mayn't come to be the -same with Mr. Giles Medlicot." - -"The Brownbies live by sheep-stealing and horse-stealing." - -"And Medlicot means to live by employing sheep-stealers and -horse-stealers. You can go if you like it. You won't want me to go -with you. Will you have the baggy?" - -But the ladies said that they would ride. The air was cooler now than -it had been, and they would like the exercise. They would take Jacko -with them to open the slip-rails, and they would be back by seven for -dinner. So they started, taking the track by the wool-shed. The -wool-shed was about two miles from the station, and Medlicot's Mill -was seven miles farther, on the bank of the river. - -Mr. Giles Medlicot, though at Gangoil he was still spoken of as a -new-comer, had already been located for nearly two years on the land -which he had purchased immediately on his coming to the colony. He -had come out direct from England with the intention of growing sugar, -and, whether successful or not in making money, had certainly -succeeded in growing crops of sugar-canes and in erecting a mill for -crushing them. It probably takes more than two years for a man -himself to discover whether he can achieve ultimate success in such -an enterprise; and Medlicot was certainly not a man likely to talk -much to others of his private concerns. The mill had just been built, -and he had lived there himself as soon as a water-tight room had been -constructed. It was only within the last three months that he had -completed a small cottage residence, and had brought his mother to -live with him. Hitherto he had hardly made himself popular. He -was not either fish or fowl. The squatters regarded him as an -interloper, and as a man holding opinions directly averse to their -own interests--in which they were right. And the small free-selectors, -who lived on the labor of their own hands--or, as was said of many of -them, by stealing sheep and cattle--knew well that he was not of their -class. But Medlicot had gone his way steadfastly, if not happily, and -complained aloud to no one in the midst of his difficulties. He had -not, perhaps, found the Paradise which he had expected in Queensland, -but he had found that he could grow sugar; and having begun the work, -he was determined to go on with it. - -Heathcote was his nearest neighbor, and the only man in his own rank -of life who lived within twenty miles of him. When he had started his -enterprise he had hoped to make this man his friend, not -comprehending at first how great a cause for hostility was created by -the very purchase of the land. He had been a new-comer from the old -country, and, being alone, had desired friendship. He was Harry -Heathcote's equal in education, intelligence, and fortune, if not in -birth--which surely, in the Australian bush, need not count for much. -He had assumed, when first meeting the squatter, that good-fellowship -between them, on equal terms, would be acceptable to both; but his -overtures had been coldly received. Then he, too, had drawn himself -up, had declared that Heathcote was an ignorant ass, and had -unconsciously made up his mind to commence hostilities. It was in -this spirit that he had taken Nokes into his mill, of whose -character, had he inquired about it, he would certainly have heard no -good. He had now brought his mother to Medlicot's Mill. She and the -Gangoil ladies had met each other on neutral ground, and it was -almost necessary that they should either be friends or absolute -enemies. Mrs. Heathcote had been aware of this, and had declared that -enmity was horrible. - -"Upon my word," said Harry, "I sometimes think that friendship is -more so. I suppose I'm fitted for bush life, for I want to see no one -from year's end to year's end but my own family and my own people." -And yet this young patriarch in the wilderness was only twenty-four -years old, and had been educated at an English school! - -Medlicot's cottage was about a hundred and fifty yards from the mill, -looking down upon the Mary, the banks of which at this spot were -almost precipitous. The site for the plantation had been chosen -because the river afforded the means of carriage down to the sea, and -the mill had been so constructed that the sugar hogsheads could be -lowered from the buildings into the river boats. Here Mrs. Heathcote -and Kate Daly found the old lady sitting at work, all alone, in the -veranda. She was a handsome old woman, with gray hair, seventy years -of age, with wrinkled face, and a toothless mouth, but with bright -eyes, and with no signs of the infirmity of age. - -"This is gey kind of you to run so far to see an auld woman," she -said. - -Mrs. Heathcote declared that they were used to the heat, and that -after the rain the air was pleasant. - -"You're two bright lassies, and you're hearty," she said. "I'm auld, -and just out of Cumberland, and I find it's hot enough--and I'm no -guid at horseback at all. I dinna know how I'm to get aboot." - -Then Mrs. Heathcote explained that there was an excellent track for a -buggy all the way to Gangoil. - -"Giles is aye telling me that I'm to gang aboot in a bouggey, but I -dinna feel sure of thae bouggeys." - -Mrs. Heathcote, of course, praised the country carriages, and the -country roads, and the country generally. Tea was brought in, and the -old lady was delighted with her guests. Since she had been at the -mill, week had followed week, and she had seen no woman's face but -that of the uncouth girl who waited upon her. "Did ye ever see rain -like that!" she said, putting up her hands. "I thought the Lord was -sending his clouds down upon us in a lump like." Then she told them -that some of the men had declared that if it went on like that for -two hours the Mary would rise and take the cottage away. Giles, -however, had declared that to be trash, as the cottage was twenty -feet above the ordinary course of the river. - -They were just rising to take their leave, when Giles Medlicot -himself came in out of the mill. He was a man of good presence, dark, -and tall like Heathcote, but stoutly made, with a strongly marked -face, given to frowning much when he was eager; bright-eyed, with a -broad forehead--certainly a man to be observed as far as his -appearance was concerned. He was dressed much as a gentleman dresses -in the country at home, and was therefore accounted to be a fop by -Harry Heathcote, who was rarely seen abroad in other garb than that -which has been described. Harry was an aristocrat, and hated such -innovations in the bush as cloth coats and tweed trowsers and -neck-hand-kerchiefs. - -Medlicot had been full of wrath against his neighbor all the morning. -There had been a tone in Heathcote's voice when he gave his parting -warning as to the fire in Medlicot's pipe which the sugar grower had -felt to be intentionally insolent. Nothing had been said which could -be openly resented, but offense had surely been intended; and then he -had remembered that his mother had been already some months at the -mill, and that no mark of neighborly courtesy had been shown to her. -The Heathcotes had, he thought, chosen to assume themselves to be -superior to him and his, and to treat him as though he had been some -laboring man who had saved money enough to purchase a bit of land for -himself. He was, therefore, astonished to find the two young ladies -sitting with his mother on the very day after such an interview as -that of the preceding night. - -"The leddies from Gangoil, Giles, have been guid enough to ride over -and see me," said his mother. - -Medlicot, of course, shook hands with them, and expressed his sense -of their kindness, but he did it awkwardly. He soon, however, -declared his purpose of riding part of the way back with them. - -"Mr. Heathcote must have been very wet last night," he said, when -they were on horse-back, addressing himself to Kate Daly rather than -to her sister. - -"Indeed he was--wet to the skin. Were you not?" - -"I saw him at about eleven, before the rain began. I was close home, -and just escaped. He must have been under it all. Does he often go -about the run in that way at night?" - -"Only when he's afraid of fires," said Kate. - -"Is there much to be afraid of? I don't suppose that any body can be -so wicked as to wish to burn the grass." Then the ladies took upon -themselves to explain. "The fires might be caused from negligence or -trifling accidents, or might possibly come from the unaided heat of -the sun; or there might be enemies." - -"My word! yes; enemies, rather!" said Jacko, who was riding close -behind, and who had no idea of being kept out of the conversation -merely because he was a servant. Medlicot, turning round, looked at -the lad, and asked who were the enemies. - -"Free-selectors," said Jacko. - -"I'm a free-selector," said Medlicot. - -"Did not jist mean you," said Jacko. - -"Jacko, you'd better hold your tongue," said Mrs. Heathcote. - -"Hold my tongue! My word! Well, you go on." - -Medlicot came as far as the wool-shed, and then said that he would -return. He had thoroughly enjoyed his ride. Kate Daly was bright and -pretty and winning; and in the bush, when a man has not seen a lady -perhaps for months, brightness and prettiness and winning ways have a -double charm. To ride with fair women over turf, through a forest, -with a woman who may perhaps some day be wooed, can be a matter of -indifference only to a very lethargic man. Giles Medlicot was by no -means lethargic. He owned to himself that though Heathcote was a -pig-headed ass, the ladies were very nice, and he thought that the -pig-headed ass in choosing one of them for himself had by no means -taken the nicest. - -"You'll never find your way back," said Kate, "if you've not been -here before." - -"I never was here before, and I suppose I must find my way back." -Then he was urged to come on and dine at Gangoil, with a promise that -Jacko should return with him in the evening. But this he would not -do. Heathcote was a pig-headed ass, who possibly regarded him as an -incendiary simply because he had bought some land. This boy of -Heathcote's, whose services had been offered to him, had not scrupled -to tell him to his face that he was to be regarded as an enemy. Much -as he liked the company of Kate Daly, he could not go to the house of -that stupid, arrogant, pig-headed young squatter. "I'm not such a bad -bushman but what I can find my way to the river," he said. - -"Find it blindful," said Jacko, who did not relish the idea of going -back to Medlicot's Mill as guide to another man. There was a weakness -in the idea that such aid could be necessary, which was revolting to -Jacko's sense of bush independence. - -They were standing on their horses at the entrance to the wool-shed -as they discussed the point, when suddenly Harry himself appeared out -of the building. He came up and shook hands with Medlicot, with -sufficient courtesy, but hardly with cordiality, and then asked his -wife as to her ride. "We have been very jolly, haven't we, Kate? Of -course it has been hot, but every thing is not so frightfully parched -as it was before the rain. As Mr. Medlicot has come back so far with -us, we want him to come on and dine." - -"Pray do, Mr. Medlicot," said Harry. But again the tone of his voice -was not sufficiently hearty to satisfy the man who was invited. - -"Thanks, no: I think I'll hardly do that.--Good-night, Mrs. -Heathcote; good-night. Miss Daly;" and the two ladies immediately -perceived that his voice, which had hitherto been pleasant in their -ears, had ceased to be cordial. - -"I am very glad he has gone back," said Heathcote. - -"Why do you say so, Harry? You are not given to be inhospitable, and -why should you grudge me and Kate the rare pleasure of seeing a -strange face?" - -"I'll tell you why. It's not about him at this moment; but I've been -disturbed.--Jacko, go on to the station, and say we're coming. Do you -hear me? Go on at once." Then Jacko, somewhat unwillingly, galloped -off toward the house. "Get off your horses, and come in." - -He helped the two ladies from their saddles, and they all went into -the wool-shed, Harry leading the way. In one of the side pens, -immediately under the roof, there was a large heap of leaves, the -outside portion of which was at present damp, for the rain had beaten -in upon it, but which had been as dry as tinder when collected; and -there was a row or ridge of mixed brush-wood and leaves so -constructed as to form a line from the grass outside on to the heap. -"The fellow who did that was an ass," said Harry; "a greater ass than -I should have taken him to be, not to have known that if he could -have gotten the grass to burn outside, the wool-shed must have gone -without all that preparation. But there isn't much difficulty now in -seeing what the fellow has intended." - -"Was it for a fire?" asked Kate. - -"Of course it was. He wouldn't have been contented with the grass and -fences, but wanted to make sure of the shed also. He'd have come to -the house and burned us in our beds, only a fellow like that is too -much of a coward to run the risk of being seen." - -"But, Harry, why didn't he light it when he'd done it?" said Mrs. -Heathcote. - -"Because the Almighty sent the rain at the very moment," said Harry, -striking the top rail of one of the pens with his fist. "I'm not much -given to talk about Providence, but this looks like it, does it not?" - -"He might have put a match in at the moment?" - -"Rain or no rain? Yes, he might. But he was interrupted by more than -the rain. I got into the shed myself just at the moment--I and Jacko. -It was last night, when the rain was pouring. I heard the man, and -dark as was the night, I saw his figure as he fled away." - -"You didn't know him?" said Miss Daly. - -"But that boy, who has the eyes of a cat, he knew him." - -"Jacko?" - -"Jacko knew him by his gait. I should have hardly wanted any one to -tell me who it was. I could have named the man at once, but for the -fear of doing an injustice." - -"And who was it?" - -"Our friend Medlicot's prime favorite and new factotum, Mr. William -Nokes. Mr. William Nokes is the gentleman who intends to burn us all -out of house and home, and Mr. Medlicot is the gentleman whose -pleasure it is to keep Mr. Nokes in the neighborhood." - -The two women stood awe-struck for a moment, but a sense of justice -prevailed upon the wife to speak. "That may be all true," she said. -"Perhaps it is as you say about that man. But you would not therefore -think that Mr. Medlicot knows any thing about it?" - -"It would be impossible," said Kate. - -"I have not accused him," said Harry; "but he knows that the man was -dismissed, and yet keeps him about the place. Of course he is -responsible." - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -HARRY HEATHCOTE'S APPEAL. - - -For the first mile between the wool-shed and the house Heathcote and -the two ladies rode without saying a word. There was something so -terrible in the reality of the danger which encompassed them that -they hardly felt inclined to discuss it. Harry's dislike to Medlicot -was quite a thing apart. That some one had intended to burn down the -wool-shed, and had made preparation for doing so, was as apparent to -the women as to him. And the man who had been balked by a shower of -rain in his first attempt might soon find an opportunity for a -second. Harry was well aware that even Jacko's assertion could not be -taken as evidence against the man whom he suspected. In all -probability no further attempt would be made upon the wool-shed; but -a fire on some distant part of the run would be much more injurious -to him than the mere burning of a building. The fire that might ruin -him would be one which should get ahead before it was seen, and scour -across the ground, consuming the grass down to the very roots over -thousands of acres, and destroying fencing over many miles. Such -fires pass on, leaving the standing trees unscathed, avoiding even -the scrub, which is too moist with the sap of life for consumption, -but licking up with fearful rapidity every thing that the sun has -dried. He could watch the wool-shed and house, but with no possible -care could he so watch the whole run as to justify him in feeling -security. There need be no preparation of leaves. A match thrown -loosely on the ground would do it. And in regard to a match so -thrown, it would be impossible to prove a guilty intention. - -"Ought we not to have dispersed the heap?" said Mrs. Heathcote at -last. The minds of all of them were full of the matter, but these -were the first words spoken. - -"I'll leave it as it is," said Harry, giving no reason for his -decision. He was too full of thought, too heavily laden with anxiety, -to speak much. "Come, let's get on; you'll want your dinner, and it's -getting dark." So they cantered on, and got off their horses at the -gate, without another word. And not another word was spoken on the -subject that night. Harry was very silent, walking up and down the -veranda with his pipe in his mouth--not lying on the ground in idle -enjoyment--and there was no reading. The two sisters looked at him -from time to time with wistful, anxious-eyes, half afraid to disturb -him by speech. - -As for him, he felt that the weight was all on his own shoulders. He -had worked hard, and was on the way to be rich. I do not know that he -thought much about money, but he thought very much of success. And he -was by nature anxious, sanguine, and impulsive. There might be before -him, within the next week, such desolation as would break his heart. -He knew men who had been ruined, and had borne their ruin almost -without a wail--who had seemed contented to descend to security and -mere absence from want. There was his own superintendent, Old Bates, -who, though he grumbled at every thing else, never bewailed his own -fate. But he knew of himself that any such blow would nearly kill -him--such a blow, that is, as might drive him from Gangoil, and force -him to be the servant instead of the master of men. Not to be master -of all around him seemed to him to be misery. The merchants at -Brisbane who took his wool and supplied him with stores had advanced -money when he first bought his run, and he still owed them some -thousands of pounds. The injury which a great fire would do him would -bring him to such a condition that the merchants would demand to have -their money repaid. He understood it all, and knew well that it was -after this fashion that many a squatter before him had been ruined. - -"Speak a word to me about it," his wife said to him, imploringly, -when they were alone together that night. - -"My darling, if there were a word to say, I would say it. I must be -on the watch, and do the best I can. At present the earth is too damp -for mischief." - -"Oh that it would rain again!" - -"There will be heat enough before the summer is over; we need not -doubt that. But I will tell you of every thing as we go on. I will -endeavor to have the man watched. God bless you! Go to sleep, and try -to get it out of your thoughts." - -On the following morning he breakfasted early, and mounted his horse -without saying a word as to the purport of his journey. This was in -accordance with the habit of his life, and would not excite -observation; but there was something in his manner which made both -the ladies feel that he was intent on some special object. When he -intended simply to ride round his fences or to visit the hut of some -distant servant, a few minutes signified nothing. He would stand -under the veranda and talk, and the women would endeavor to keep him -from the saddle. But now there was no loitering, and but little -talking. He said a word to Jacko, who brought the horse for him, and -then started at a gallop toward the wool-shed. - -He did not stop a moment at the shed, not even entering it to see -whether the heap of leaves had been displaced during the night, but -went on straight to Medlicot's Mill. He rode the nine miles in an -hour, and at once entered the building in which the canes were -crushed. The first man he met was Nokes, who acted as overseer, -having a gang of Polynesian laborers under him--sleek, swarthy -fellows from the South Sea Islands, with linen trowsers on and -nothing else--who crept silently among the vats and machinery, -shifting the sugar as it was made. - -"Well, Nokes," said Harry, "how are you getting on? Is Mr. Medlicot -here?" - -Nokes was a big fellow, with a broad, solid face, which would not -have condemned him among physiognomists but for a bad eye, which -could not look you in the face. He had been a boundary rider for -Heathcote, and on an occasion had been impertinent, refusing to leave -the yard behind the house unless something was done which those about -the place refused to do for him. During the discussion Harry had come -in. The man had been drinking, and was still insolent, and Harry had -ejected him violently, thrusting him over a gate. The man had -returned the next morning, and had then been sent about his business. -He had been employed at Medlicot's Mill, but from the day of his -dismissal to this he and Harry had never met each other face to face. - -"I'm pretty well, thank ye, Mr. Heathcote. I hope you're the same, -and the ladies. The master's about somewhere, I take it.--Picky, go -and find the master." Picky was one of the Polynesians, who at once -started on his errand. - -"Have you been over to Gangoil since you left it?" said Harry, -looking the man full in the face. - -"Not I, Mr. Heathcote. I never go where I've had words. And, to tell -you the truth, sugar is better than sheep. I'm very comfortable here, -and I never liked your work." - -"You haven't been at the wool-shed?" - -"What, the Gangoil shed! What the blazes 'd I go there for? It's a -matter of ten miles from here." - -"Seven, Nokes." - -"Seven, is it? It is a longish seven miles, Mr. Heathcote. How could -I get that distance? I ain't so good at walking as I was before I was -hurt. You should have remembered that, Mr. Heathcote, when you laid -hands on me the other day." - -"You're not much the worse for what I did; nor yet for the accident, -I take it. At any rate, you've not been at Gangoil wool-shed?" - -"No, I've not," said the man, roughly. "What the mischief should I be -doing at your shed at night-time?" - -"I said nothing about night-time." - -"I'm here all day, ain't I? If you're going to palm off any story -against me, Mr. Heathcote, you'll find yourself in the wrong box. -What I does I does on the square." - -Heathcote was now quite sure that Jacko had been right. He had not -doubted much before, but now he did not doubt at all but that the man -with whom he was speaking was the wretch who was endeavoring to ruin -him. And he felt certain, also, that Jacko was true to him. He knew, -too, that he had plainly declared his suspicion to the man himself. -But he had resolved upon doing this. He could in no way assist -himself in circumventing the man's villainy by keeping his suspense -to himself. The man might be frightened, and in spite of all that had -passed between him and Medlicot, he still thought it possible that he -might induce the sugar grower to co-operate with him in driving Nokes -from the neighborhood. He had spent the night in thinking over it -all, and this was the resolution to which he had come. - -"There's the master," said Nokes. "If you've got any thing to say -about any thing, you'd better say it to him." - -Harry had never before set his foot upon Medlicot's land since it had -been bought away from his own run, and had felt that he would almost -demean himself by doing so. He had often looked at the canes from -over his own fence, as he had done on the night of the rain; but he -had stood always on his own land. Now he was in the sugar-mill, never -before having seen such a building. "You've a deal of machinery here, -Mr. Medlicot," he said. - -"It's a small affair, after all," said the other. "I hope to get a -good plant before I've done." - -"Can I speak a word with you?" - -"Certainly. Will you come into the office, or will you go across to -the house?" - -Harry said that the office would do, and followed Medlicot into a -little box-like inclosure which contained a desk and two stools. - -"Not much of an office, is it? What can I do for you, Mr. Heathcote?" - -Then Harry began his story, which he told at considerable length. He -apologized for troubling his neighbor at all on the subject, and -endeavored to explain, somewhat awkwardly, that as Mr. Medlicot was a -new-comer, he probably might not understand the kind of treatment to -which employers in the bush were occasionally subject from their men. -On this matter he said much, which, had he been a better tactician, -he might probably have left unspoken. He then went on to the story of -his own quarrel with Nokes, who had, in truth, been grossly impudent -to the women about the house, but who had been punished by instant -and violent dismissal from his employment. It was evidently Harry's -idea that a man who had so sinned against his master should be -allowed to find no other master--at any rate in that district; an -idea with which the other man, who had lately come out from the old -country, did not at all sympathize. - -"Do you want me to dismiss him?" said Medlicot, in a tone which -implied that that would be the last thing he would think of doing. - -"You haven't heard me yet." Then Harry went on and told of the fires -in the heat of summer, and of their terrible effects--of the easy -manner of revenge which they supplied to angry, unscrupulous men, and -of his own fears at the present moment. - -"I can believe it all," said Medlicot, "and am very sorry that it -should be so. But I can not see the justice of punishing a man on the -merest, vaguest suspicion. Your only ground for imputing this crime -to him is that your own conduct to him may have given him a motive." - -Harry had schooled himself vigorously during the ride as to his own -demeanor, and had resolved that he would be cool. "I was going on to -tell you," he said, "what occurred that night after I saw you up by -the fence." Then he described how he and his boy had entered the -shed, and had both seen and heard a man as he escaped from it; how -the boy had at once declared that the man was Nokes; how the -following day he had discovered the leaves, which Nokes no doubt had -deposited there just before the rain, intending to burn the place at -once; and how Nokes's manner to him within the last half hour had -corroborated his suspicions. - -"Is he the boy you call Jacko?" - -"That's the name he goes by." - -"You don't know his real name?" - -"I have never heard any other name." - -"Nor any thing about him?" Harry owned, in answer to half a dozen -such questions, that Jacko had come to Gangoil about six months -ago--he did not know whence--had been kept for a week's job, and had -then been allowed to remain about the place without any regular -wages. "You admit it was quite dark," continued Medlicot. - -Harry did not at all like the cross-examination, and his resolution -to be cool was quickly fading. "I told you that I saw myself the -figure of a man." - -"But that you barely saw a figure. You did not form any opinion of -your own as to the man's identity." - -Harry Heathcote was as honest as the sun. Much as he disliked being -cross-examined, he found himself compelled not only to say the exact -truth, but the whole truth. "Certainly not. I barely saw a glimpse of -a figure, and, till I spoke to Nokes just now, I almost doubted -whether the lad could have distinguished him. I am sure he was right -now." - -"Really, Mr. Heathcote, I can't go along with you. You are accusing a -man of committing an offense, which I believe is capital, on the -evidence of a boy of whom you know nothing, who may have his own -reasons for spiting the man, and whom you yourself did not believe -till you had looked this man in the face. I think you allow yourself -to be guided too much by your own power of intuition." - -"No, I don't," said Harry, who hated his neighbor's methodical -argument. - -"At any rate, I can't consent to take a man's bread out of his mouth, -and to send him away tainted as he would be with this suspicion, -either because Jacko thought that he saw him in the dark, or -because--" - -"I have never asked you to send him away." - -"What is it you want, then?" - -"I want to have him watched, so that he may feel that if he attempts -to destroy my property his guilt will be detected." - -"Who is to watch him?" - -"He is in your employment." - -"He lives in the hut down beyond the gate. Am I to keep a sentry -there all night, and every night?" - -"I will pay for it." - -"No, Mr. Heathcote. I don't pretend to know this country yet, but -I'll encourage no such espionage as that. At any rate, it is not -English. I dare say the man misbehaved himself in your employment. -You say he was drunk. I do not doubt it. But he is not a drunkard, -for he never drinks here. A man is not to starve forever because he -once got drunk and was impertinent. Nor is he to have a spy at his -heels because a boy whom nobody knows chooses to denounce him. I am -sorry that you should be in trouble, but I do not know that I can -help you." - -Harry's passion was now very high, and his resolution to be cool was -almost thrown to the winds. Medlicot had said many things which were -odious to him. In the first place, there had been a tone of -insufferable superiority, so Harry thought, and that, too, when he -himself had divested himself of all the superiority naturally -attached to his position, and had frankly appealed to Medlicot as a -neighbor. And then this new-fangled sugar grower had told him that he -was not English, and had said grand words, and had altogether made -himself objectionable. What did this man know of the Australian bush, -that he should dare to talk of this or that as being wrong because it -was un-English! In England there were police to guard men's property. -Here, out in the Australian forests, a man must guard his own, or -lose it. But perhaps it was the indifference to the ruin of the women -belonging to him that Harry Heathcote felt the strongest. The -stranger cared nothing for the utter desolation which one -unscrupulous ruffian might produce, felt no horror at the idea of a -vast devastating fire, but could be indignant in his mock -philanthropy because it was proposed to watch the doings of a -scoundrel! - -"Good-morning," said Harry, turning round and leaving the office -brusquely. Medlicot followed him, but Harry went so quickly that not -another word was spoken. To him the idea of a neighbor in the bush -refusing such assistance as he had asked was as terrible as to us is -the thought of a ship at sea leaving another ship in distress. He -unhitched his horse from the fence, and galloped home as fast as the -animal would carry him. - -Medlicot, when he was left alone, took two or three turns about the -mill, as though inspecting the work, but at every turn fixed his eyes -for a few moments on Noke's face. The man was standing under a huge -caldron regulating the escape of the boiling juice into the different -vats by raising and lowering a trap, and giving directions to the -Polynesians as he did so. He was evidently conscious that he was -being regarded, and, as is usual in such a condition, manifestly -failed in his struggle to appear unconscious. Medlicot acknowledged -to himself that the man could not look even him in the face. Was it -possible that he had been wrong, and that Heathcote, though he had -expressed himself badly, was entitled to some sympathy in his fear of -what might be done to him by an enemy? Medlicot also desired to be -just, being more rational, more logical, and less impulsive than the -other, being also somewhat too conscious of his own superior -intelligence. He knew that Heathcote had gone away in great dudgeon, -and he almost feared that he had been harsh and unneighborly. After a -while he stood opposite Nokes and addressed him. - -"Do the squatters suffer much from fires?" he said. - -"Heathcote has been talking to you about that," said the man. - -"Can't you say Mr. Heathcote when you speak of a gentleman whose -bread you have eaten?" - -"Mr. Heathcote, if you like it. We ain't particular to a shade out -here as you are at home. He has been telling you about fires, has -he?" - -"Well, he has." - -"And talking of me, I suppose?" - -"You were talking of having a turn at mining some day. How would it -be with you if you were to be off to Gympie?" - -"You mean to say I'm to go, Mr. Medlicot?" - -"I don't say that at all." - -"Look here, Mr. Medlicot. My going or staying won't make any -difference to Heathcote. There's a lot of 'em about here hates him -that much that he is never to be allowed to rest in peace. I tell you -that fairly. It ain't any thing as I shall do. Them's not my ways, -Mr. Medlicot. But he has enemies here as'll never let him rest." - -"Who are they?" - -"Pretty nigh every body round. He has carried himself that high they -won't stand him. Who's Heathcote?" - -"Name some who are his enemies." - -"There's the Brownbies." - -"Oh, the Brownbies. Well, it's a bad thing to have enemies." After -that he left the sugar-house and went across to the cottage. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -BOSCOBEL. - - -Two days and two nights passed without fear of fire, and then Harry -Heathcote was again on the alert. The earth was parched as though no -drop of rain had fallen. The fences were dry as tinder, and the -ground was strewed with broken atoms of timber from the trees, each -of which a spark would ignite. Two nights Harry slept in his bed, but -on the third he was on horseback about the run, watching, thinking, -endeavoring to make provision, directing others, and hoping to make -it believed that his eyes were every where. In this way an entire -week was passed, and now it wanted but four days to Christmas. He -would come home to breakfast about seven in the morning, very tired, -but never owning that he was tired, and then sleep heavily for an -hour or two in a chair. After that he would go out again on the run, -would sleep perhaps for another hour after dinner, and then would -start for his night's patrol. During this week he saw nothing of -Medlicot, and never mentioned his name but once. On that occasion his -wife told him that during his absence Medlicot had been at the -station. - -"What brought him here?" Harry asked, fiercely. - -Mrs. Heathcote explained that he had called in a friendly way, and -had said that if there were any fear of fire he would be happy -himself to lend assistance. - -Then the young squatter forgot himself in his wrath. "Confound his -hypocrisy!" said Harry, aloud. "I don't think he's a hypocrite," said -the wife. - -"I'm sure he's not," said Kate Daly. - -Not a word more was spoken, and Harry immediately left the house. The -two women did not as usual go to the gate to see him mount his horse, -not refraining from doing so in any anger, or as wishing to exhibit -displeasure at Harry's violence, but because they were afraid of him. -They had found themselves compelled to differ from him, but were -oppressed at finding themselves in opposition to him. - -The feeling that his wife should in any way take part against him -added greatly to Heathcote's trouble. It produced in his mind a -terrible feeling of loneliness in his sorrow. He bore a brave outside -to all his men, and to any stranger whom in these days he met about -the run--to his wife and sister also, and to the old woman at home. -He forced upon them all an idea that he was not only autocratic, but -self-sufficient also--that he wanted neither help nor sympathy. He -never cried out in his pain, being heartily ashamed even of the -appeal which he had made to Medlicot. He spoke aloud and laughed with -the men, and never acknowledged that his trials were almost too much -for him. But he was painfully conscious of his own weakness. He -sometimes felt, when alone in the bush, that he would fain get off -his horse, and lie upon the ground and weep till he slept. It was not -that he trusted no one. He suspected no one with a positive -suspicion, except Nokes, and Medlicot as the supporter of Nokes. But -he had no one with whom he could converse freely--none whom he had -not been accustomed to treat as the mere ministers of his will--except -his wife and his wife's sister; and now he was disjoined from them -by their sympathy with Medlicot! He had chosen to manage every -thing himself without contradiction and almost without counsel; but, -like other such imperious masters, he now found that when trouble -came the privilege of dictatorship brought with it an almost -unsupportable burden. - -Old Bates was an excellent man, of whose fidelity the young squatter -was quite assured. No one understood foot-rot better than Old Bates, -or was less sparing of himself in curing it. He was a second mother -to all the lambs, and when shearing came watched with the eyes of -Argus to see that the sheep were not wounded by the shearers, or the -wool left on their backs. But he had no conversation, none of that -imagination which in such a time as this might have assisted in -devising safeguards, and but little enthusiasm. Shepherds, so called, -Harry kept none upon the run; and would have felt himself insulted -had any one suggested that he was so backward in his ways as to -employ men of that denomination. He had fenced his run, and dispensed -with shepherds and shepherding as old-fashioned and unprofitable. He -had two mounted men, whom he called boundary riders, one an Irishman -and the other a German--and them he trusted fully, the German -altogether, and the Irishman equally as regarded his honesty. But he -could not explain to them the thoughts that loaded his brain. He -could instigate them to eagerness; but he could not condescend to -tell Karl Bender, the German, that if his fences were destroyed -neither his means nor his credit would be sufficient to put them up -again, and that if the scanty herbage were burned off any large -proportion of his run, he must sell his flocks at a great sacrifice. -Nor could he explain to Mickey O'Dowd, the Irishman, that his peace -of mind was destroyed by his fear of one man. He had to bear it all -alone. And there was heavy on him also the great misery of feeling -that every thing might depend on own exertions, and that yet he did -not know how or where to exert himself. When he had ridden about all -night and discovered nothing, he might just as well have been in bed. -And he was continually riding about all night and discovering -nothing. - -After leaving the station on the evening of the day on which he had -expressed himself to the women so vehemently respecting Medlicot, he -met Bates coming home from his day's work. It was then past eight -o'clock, and the old man was sitting wearily on his horse, with his -head low down between his shoulders, and the reins hardly held within -his grasp. - -"You're late, Mr. Bates," said Harry; "you take too much out of -yourself this hot weather." - -"I've got to move slower, Mr. Heathcote, as I grow older. That's -about it. And the beast I'm on is not much good." Now Mr. Bates was -always complaining of his horse, and yet was allowed to choose any on -the run for his own use. - -"If you don't like him, why don't you take another?" - -"There ain't much difference in 'em, Mr. Heathcote. Better the devil -you know than the devil you don't. It's getting uncommon close -shaving for them wethers in the new paddock. They're down upon the -roots pretty well already." - -"There's grass along the bush on the north side." - -"They won't go there; it's rank and sour. They won't feed up there as -long as they can live lower down and nearer the water. Weather like -this, they'd sooner die near the water than travel to fill their -bellies. It's about the hottest day we've had, and the nights a'most -hotter. Are you going to be out, Mr. Heathcote?" - -"I think so." - -"What's the good of it, Mr. Heathcote? There is no use in it. Lord -love you, what can yon do? You can't be every side at once." - -"Fire can only travel with the wind, Mr. Bates." - -"And there isn't any wind, and so there can't be any fire. I never -did think, and I don't think now, there ever was any use in a man -fashing himself as you fash yourself. You can't alter things, Mr. -Heathcote." - -"But that's just what I can do--what a man has to do. If a match were -thrown there at your feet, and the grass was aflame, couldn't you -alter that by putting your foot on it? If you find a ewe on her back, -can't you alter that by putting her on her legs?" - -"Yes, I can do that, I suppose." - -"What does a man live for except to alter things? When a man clears -the forest and sows corn, does he not alter things?" - -"That's not your line, Mr. Heathcote," said the cunning old man. - -"If I send wool to market, I alter things." - -"You'll excuse me, Mr. Heathcote. Of course I'm old, but I just give -you my experience." - -"I'm much obliged to you; though we can't always agree, you know. -Good-night. Go in and say a word to my wife, and tell them you saw me -all right." - -"I'll have a crack with 'em, Mr. Heathcote, before I turn in." - -"And tell Mary I sent my love." - -"I will, Mr. Heathcote; I will." - -He was thinking always of his wife during his solitary rides, and of -her fear and deep anxiety. It was for her sake and for the children -that he was so care-worn, not for his own. Had he been alone in the -world he would not have fretted himself in this fashion because of -the malice of any man. But how would it be with her should he be -forced to move her from Gangoil? And yet, with all his love, they had -parted almost in anger. Surely she would understand the tenderness of -the message he had just sent her. - -Of a sudden, as he was riding, he stopped his horse and listened -attentively. From a great distance there fell upon his accustomed ear -a sound which he recognized, though he was aware that the place from -whence it came was at least two miles distant. It was the thud of an -axe against a tree. He listened still, and was sure that it was so, -and turned at once toward the sound, though in doing so he left his -course at a right angle. He had been going directly away from the -river, with his back to the wool-shed; but now he changed his -course, riding in the direction of the spot at which Jacko had nearly -fallen in jumping over the fence. As he continued on, the sounds -became plainer, till at last, reining in his horse, he could see the -form of the woodman, who was still at work ringing the trees. This -was a job which the man did by contract, receiving so much an acre -for the depopulation of the timber. It was now bright moonlight, -almost as clear as day--a very different night, indeed, from that on -which the rain had come--and Harry could see at a glance that it was -the man called Boscobel still at work. Now there were, as he thought, -very good reasons why Boscobel at the present moment should not be so -employed. Boscobel was receiving wages for work of another kind. - -"Bos," said the squatter, riding up, and addressing the man by the -customary abbreviation of his nickname, "I thought you were watching -at Brownbie's boundary?" Boscobel lowered his axe, and stood for a -while contemplating the proposition made to him. "You are drawing -three shillings a night for watching; isn't that so?" - -"Yes, that's so. Anyways, I shall draw it." - -"Then why ain't you watching?" - -"There's nothing to watch that I knows on--not just now." - -"Then why should I pay you for it? I'm to pay you for ringing these -trees, ain't I?" - -"Certainly, Mr. Heathcote." - -"Then you're to make double use of your time, and sell it twice over, -are you? Don't try to look like a fool, as though you didn't -understand. You know that what you're doing isn't honest." - -"Nobody ever said as I wasn't honest before." - -"I tell you so now. You're robbing me of the time you've sold to me, -and for which I'm to pay you." - -"There ain't nothing to watch while the wind's as it is now, and that -chap ain't any where about to-night." - -"What chap?" - -"Oh, I know. I'm all right. What's the use of dawdling about up there -in the broad moonlight, and the wind like this?" - -"That's for me to judge. If you engage to do my work and take my -money, you're swindling me when you go about another job as you are -now. You needn't scratch your head. You understand it all as well as -I do." - -"I never was told I swindled before, and I ain't a-going to put up -with it. You may ring your own trees, and watch your own fences, and -the whole place may be burned for me. I ain't a-going to do another -turn in Gangoil. Swindle, indeed!" So Boscobel shouldered his axe, -and marched off through the forest, visible in the moonlight till the -trees hid him. - -There was another enemy made! He had never felt quite sure of this -man, but had been glad to have him about the place as being -thoroughly efficient in his own business. It was only during the last -ten days that he had agreed to pay him for night-watching, leaving -the man to do as much additional day-work as he pleased--for which, -of course, he would be paid at the regular contract price. There was -a double purpose intended in this watching--as was well understood by -all the hands employed: first, that of preventing incendiary fire by -the mere presence of the watchers; and secondly, that of being at -hand to extinguish fire in case of need. Now a man ringing trees five -or six miles away from the beat on which he was stationed could not -serve either of these purposes. Boscobel therefore had been -fraudulently at work for his own dishonest purposes, and knew well -that his employment was of that nature. All this was quite clear to -Heathcote; and it was clear to him, also, that when he detected fraud -he was bound to expose it. Had the man acknowledged his fault and -been submissive, there would have been an end of the matter. -Heathcote would have said no word about it to any one, and would not -have stopped a farthing from the week's unearned wages. That he had -to encounter a certain amount of ill usage from the rough men about -him, and to forgive it, he could understand; but it could not be his -duty, either as a man or a master, to pass over dishonesty without -noticing it. No; that he would not do, though Gangoil should burn -from end to end. He did not much mind being robbed. He knew that to a -certain extent he must endure to be cheated. He would endure it. But -he would never teach his men to think that he passed over such -matters because he was afraid of them, or that dishonesty on their -part was indifferent to him. - -But now he had made another enemy--an enemy of a man who had declared -to him that he knew the movements of "that chap," meaning Nokes! How -hard the world was! It seemed that all around were trouble to him. He -turned his horse back, and made again for the spot which was his -original destination. As he cantered on among the trees, twisting -here and there, and regulating his way by the stars, he asked himself -whether it would not be better for him to go home and lay himself -down by his wife and sleep, and await the worst that these men could -do to him. This idea was so strong upon him that at one spot he made -his horse stop till he had thought it all out. No one encouraged him -in his work. Every one about the place, friend or foe, Bates, his -wife, Medlicot, and this Boscobel, spoke to him as though he were -fussy and fidgety in his anxiety. "If fires must come, they will -come; and if they are not to come, you are simply losing your labor." -This was the upshot of all they said to him. Why should he be wiser -than they? If the ruin came, let it come. Old Bates had been ruined, -but still had enough to eat and drink, and clothes to wear, and did -not work half as hard as his employer. He thought that if he could -only find some one person who would sympathize with him and support -him, he would not mind. But the mental loneliness of his position -almost broke his heart. - -Then there came across his mind the dim remembrance of certain old -school words, and he touched his horse with his spur and hurried -onward: "Let there be no steps backward." A thought as to the -manliness of persevering, of the want of manliness in yielding to -depression, came to his rescue. Let him, at any rate, have the -comfort of thinking that he had done his best according to his -lights. After some dim fashion, he did come to recognize it as a fact -that nothing could really support him but self-approbation. Though he -fell from his horse in utter weariness, he would persevere. - -As the night wore on he came to the German's hut, and finding it -empty, as he expected, rode on to the outside fence of his run. When -he reached this he got off his horse, and taking a key out of his -pocket, whistled upon it loudly. A few minutes afterward the German -came up to him. - -"There's been no one about, I suppose?" he asked. - -"Not a one," said the man. - -"You've been across on Brownbie's run?" - -"We're on it now, Mr. 'Eathcote." They were both on the side of the -fence away from Gangoil station. - -"I don't know how that is, Karl. I think Gangoil goes a quarter of a -mile beyond this. But we did not quite strike the boundary when we -put up the fence." - -"Brownbie's cattle is allays here, Mr. 'Eathcote, and is knocking -down the fence every day. Brownbie is a rascal, and 'is cattle as bad -as 'isself." - -"Never mind that, Karl, now. When we've got through the heats, we'll -put a mile or two of better fencing along here. You know Boscobel?" - -"In course I know Bos." - -"What sort of a fellow is he?" Then Harry told his German dependent -exactly what had taken place between him and the other man. - -"He's in and in wid all them young Brownbies," said Karl. - -"The Brownbies are a bad lot, but I don't think they'd do any thing -of this kind," said Harry, whose mind was still dwelling on the -dangers of fire. - -"They likes muttons, Mr. 'Eathcote." - -"I suppose they do take a sheep or two now and then. They wouldn't do -worse than that, would they?" - -"Not'ing too 'ot for 'em; not'ing too 'eavy," said Karl, smoking his -pipe. "The vind, vat there is, comes just here, Mr. 'Eathcote." And -the man lifted up his arm, and pointed across in the direction of -Brownbie's run. - -"And you don't think much of Boscobel?" - -Karl Bender shook his head. - -"He was always well treated here," said Harry, "and has had plenty of -work, and earned large wages. The man will be a fool to quarrel with -me." - -Karl again shook his head. With Karl Bender, Harry was quite sure of -his man, but not on that account need he be quite sure of the -correctness of the man's opinion. - -Thence he went on till he met his other lieutenant, O'Dowd, and so, -having completed his work, he made his way home, reaching the station -at sunrise. - -"Did Bates tell you he'd met me?" he asked his wife. - -"Yes, Harry; kiss me, Harry. I was so glad you sent a word. Promise -me, Harry, not to think that I don't agree with you in every thing." - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -THE BROWNBIES OF BOOLABONG. - - -Old Brownbie, as he was usually called, was a squatter also, but a -squatter of a class very different from that to which Heathcote -belonged. He had begun his life in the colonies a little under a -cloud, having been sent out from home after the perpetration of some -peccadillo of which the law had disapproved. - -In colonial phrase, he was a "lag"--having been transported; but this -was many years ago, when he was quite young; and he had now been a -free man for more than thirty years. It must be owned on his behalf -that he had worked hard, had endeavored to rise, and had risen. But -there still stuck to him the savor of his old life. Every one knew -that he had been a convict; and even had he become a man of high -principle--a condition which he certainly never achieved--he could -hardly have escaped altogether from the thralldom of his degradation. -He had been a butcher, a drover, part owner of stock, and had at last -become possessed of a share of a cattle-run, and then of the entire -property, such as it was. He had four or five sons, uneducated, -ill-conditioned, drunken fellows, who had all their father's faults -without his energy, some of whom had been in prison, and all of whom -were known as pests to the colony. Their place was called Boolabong, -and was a cattle-run, as distinguished from a sheep-run; but it was a -poor place, was sometimes altogether unstocked, and was supposed to -be not unfrequently used as a receptable for stolen cattle. - -The tricks which the Brownbies played with cattle were notorious -throughout Queensland and New South Wales, and by a certain class of -men were much admired. They would drive a few head of cattle, perhaps -forty or fifty, for miles around the country, across one station and -another, traveling many hundreds of miles, and here and there, as -they passed along, they would sweep into their own herd the bullocks -of the victims whose lands they passed. If detected on the spot, they -gave up their prey. They were in the right in moving their own -cattle, and were not responsible for the erratic tendencies of other -animals. If successful, they either sold their stolen beasts to -butchers on the road, or got them home to Boolabong. There were -dangers, of course, and occasional penalties. But there was much -success. It was supposed, also, that though they did not own sheep, -they preferred mutton for their daily uses, and that they supplied -themselves at a very cheap rate. - -It may be imagined how such a family would be hated by the -respectable squatters on whom they preyed. Still there were men, old -stagers, who had know Moreton Bay before it was a colony--in the old -days when convicts were common--who almost regarded the Brownbies as -a part of the common order of things, and who were indisposed to -persecute them. Men must live; and what were a few sheep? Of some -such it might be said, that though they were above the arts by which -the Brownbies lived, they were not very scrupulous themselves; and it -perhaps served them to have within their ken neighbours whose -morality was lower even than their own. But to such a one as Harry -Heathcote the Brownbies were utterly abominable. He was for the law -and justice at any cost. To his thinking, the Colonial Government was -grossly at fault, because it did not weed out and extirpate not only -the identical Brownbies, but all Brownbieism wherever it might be -found. A dishonest workman was a great evil, but, to his thinking, a -dishonest man in the position of master was the incarnation of evil. -As to the difficulties of evidence, and obstacles of that nature, -Harry Heathcote knew nothing. The Brownbies were rascals, and should -therefore be exterminated. - -And the Brownbies knew well the estimation in which their neighbour -held them. Harry had made himself altogether disagreeable to them. -They were squatters as well as he--or at least so they termed -themselves; and though they would not have expected to be admitted to -home intimacies, they thought that when they were met out-of-doors or -in public places, they should be treated with some respect. On such -occasions Harry treated them as though they were dirt beneath his -feet. The Brownbies would be found, whenever a little money came -among them, at the public billiard-rooms and race-courses within one -hundred and fifty miles of Boolabong. At such places Harry Heathcote -was never seen. It would have been as easy to seduce the Bishop of -Brisbane into a bet as Harry Heathcote. He had never even drank a -nobbler with one of the Brownbies. To their thinking, he was a proud, -stuck-up, unsocial young cub, whom to rob was a pleasure, and to ruin -would be a delight. - -The old man at Boolabong was now almost obsolete. Property, that he -could keep in his grasp, there was in truth none. He was the tenant -of the run under the Crown, and his sons would not turn him out of -the house. The cattle, when there were cattle, belonged to them. They -were in no respect subject to his orders, and he would have had a bad -life among them were it not that they quarreled among themselves, and -that in such quarrels he could belong to one party or to the other. -The house itself was a wretched place--out of order, with doors and -windows and floors shattered, broken, and decayed. There were none of -womankind belonging to the family, and in such a house a decent -woman-servant would have been out of her place. Sometimes there was -one hag there and sometimes another, and sometimes feminine aid less -respectable than that of the hags. There had been six sons. One had -disappeared utterly, so that nothing was known of him. One had been -absolutely expelled by the brethren, and was now a vagabond in the -country, turning up now and then at Boolabong and demanding food. Of -the whole lot Georgie Brownbie, the vagabond, was the worst. The -eldest son was at this time in prison at Brisbane, having on some -late occasion been less successful than usual in regard to some -acquired bullocks. The three youngest were at home--Jerry, Jack, and -Joe. Tom, who was in prison, was the only stanch friend to the -father, who consequently at this time was in a more than usually -depressed condition. - -Christmas-day would fall on a Tuesday, and on the Monday before it -Jerry Brownbie, the eldest of those now at home, was sitting, with a -pipe in his mouth, on a broken-down stool on the broken-down veranda -of the house, and the old man was seated on a stuffy, worn-out sofa -with three legs, which was propped against the wall of the house, and -had not been moved for years. Old Brownbie was a man of gigantic -frame, and had possessed immense personal power--a man, too, of will -and energy; but he was now worn out and dropsical, and could not move -beyond the confines of the home station. The veranda was attached to -a big room which ran nearly the whole length of the house, and which -was now used for all purposes. There was an exterior kitchen, in -which certain processes were carried on--such as salting stolen -mutton and boiling huge masses of meat, when such work was needed. -But the cookery was generally done in the big room. And here also two -or three of the sons slept on beds made upon stretchers along the -wall. They were not probably very particular as to which owned each -bed, enjoying a fraternal communism in that respect. At the end of -this chamber the old man had a room of his own. Boolabong was -certainly a miserable place; and yet, such as it was, it was -frequented by many guests. The vagabondism of the colonies is -proverbial. Vagabonds are taken in almost every where throughout the -bush. But the welcome given to them varies. Sometimes they are made -to work before they are fed--to their infinite disgust. But no such -cruelty was exercised at Boolabong. Boolabong was a very Paradise for -vagabonds. There was always flour and meat to be had, generally -tobacco, and sometimes even the luxury of a nobbler. The Brownbies -were wise enough to have learned that it was necessary for their very -existence that they should have friends in the land. On the Sunday -the father and Jerry Brownbie were sitting out in the veranda at -about noon, and the other two sons, Jack and Joe, were lying asleep -on the beds within. - -The heat of the day was intense. There was a wind blowing, but it was -that which is called there the hot wind, which comes dry, scorching, -sometimes almost intolerable, over the burning central plain of the -country. No one can understand without feeling it how much a wind can -add to the sufferings inflicted by heat. The old man had on a dirty, -wretched remnant of a dressing-gown, but Jerry was clothed simply in -trowsers and an old shirt. Only that the mosquitoes would have flayed -him, he would have dispensed probably with these. He had been -quarreling with his father respecting a certain horse which he had -sold, of the price of which the father demanded a share. Jerry had -unblushingly declared that he himself had "shaken" the horse--Anglice, -had stolen him--twelve months since on Darnley Downs, and was -therefore clearly entitled to the entire plunder. The father -had rejoined with animation that unless "half a quid"--or ten -shillings--were given him as his contribution to the keep of the -animal, he would inform against his son to the squatter on the Darnley -Downs, and had shown him that he knew the very run from which the -horse had been taken. Then the sons within had interfered from their -beds, swearing that their father was the noisiest old "cuss" unhung, -they having had their necessary slumbers disturbed. - -At this moment the debate was interrupted by the appearance of a man -outside the veranda. "Well, Mr. Jerry, how goes it?" asked the -stranger. "What, Bos, is that you? What brings you up to Boolabong? I -thought you was ringing trees for that young scut at Gangoil? I'll be -even with him some of these days! He had the impudence to send a man -of his up here last week looking for sheep-skins." - -"He wasn't that soft, Mr. Jerry, was he? Well, I've dropped working -for him.--How are you, Mr. Brownbie? I hope I see you finely, Sir. -It's stiffish sort of weather, Mr. Brownbie, ain't it, Sir?" - -The old man grunted out some reply, and then asked Boscobel what he -wanted. - -"I'll just hang about for the day, Mr. Brownbie, and get a little -grub. You never begrudged a working-man that yet." - -Old Brownbie again grunted, but said no word of welcome. That, -however, was to be taken for granted, without much expression of -opinion. - -"No, Mr. Jerry," continued Boscobel, "I've done with that fellow." - -"And so has Nokes done with him." - -"Nokes is at work on Medlicot's Mill. That sugar business wouldn't -suit me." - -"An axe in your hand is what you're fit for, Bos." - -"There's a many things I can turn my hand to, Mr. Jerry. You couldn't -give a fellow such a thing as a nobbler, Mr. Jerry, could you? I'd -offer money for it, only I know it would be taken amiss. It's that -hot that a fellow's very in'ards get parched up." - -Upon this Jerry slowly rose, and going to a cupboard, brought forth a -modicum of spirits, which he called Battle-Axe, but which was -supposed to be brandy. This Boscobel swallowed at a gulp, and then -washed it down with a little water. - -"Come, Jerry," said the old man, somewhat relenting in his wrath, -"you might as well give us a drop, as it's going about." The two -brothers, who had now been thoroughly aroused from their sleep, and -who had heard the enticing sound of the spirit bottle, joined the -party, and so they drank all round. - -"Heathcote's in an awful state about them fires, ain't he?" asked -Jerry. - -Boscobel, who had squatted down on the veranda, and was now lighting -his pipe, bobbed his head. - -"I wish he was clean burned out--over head and ears," said Jerry. - -Boscobel bobbed his head again, sucking with great energy at the -closely staffed pipe. - -"If he treated me like he does you fellows," continued Jerry, "he -shouldn't have a yard of fencing or a blade of grass left--nor a ewe, -nor a lamb, nor a hogget. I do hate fellows who come here and want to -be better than any one about 'em--young chaps especially. Sending up -here to look for sheep-skins, cuss his impudence! I sent that German -fellow of his away with a flea in his ear." - -"Karl Bender?" - -"It's some such name as that." - -"He's all in all with the young squire," said Boscobel. "And there's -a chap there called Jacko--he's another. He gets 'em down there to -Gangoil, and the ladies talks to 'em, and then they'd go through fire -and water for him. There's Mickey--he's another, jist the same way. I -don't like them ways, myself." - -"Too much of master and man about it, ain't there, Bos?" - -"Just that, Mr. Jerry. That ain't my idea of a free country. I can -work as well as another, but I ain't going to be told that I'm a -swindler because I'm making the most of my time." - -"He turned Nokes out by the scruff of his neck?" said Jerry. Boscobel -again bobbed his head. "I didn't think Nokes was the sort of fellow -to stand that." - -"No more he ain't," said Boscobel. - -"Heathcote's a good plucked un all the same," said Joe. - -"It's like you to speak up for such a fellow is that," said Jerry. - -"I say he's a good plucked un. I'm not standing up for him. Nokes is -half a stone heavier than him, and ought to have knocked him over. -That's what you'd've done, wouldn't you, Bos? I know I would." - -"He'd 've had my axe at his head," said Boscobel. - -"We all know Joe's game to the backbone," said Jerry. - -"I'm game enough for you, anyway," said the brother. "And you can try -it out any time you like." - -"That's right; fight like dogs, do," said the old man. - -The quarrel at this point was interrupted by the arrival of another -man, who crept up round the corner on to the veranda exactly as -Boscobel had done. This was Nokes, of whom they had that moment been -speaking. There was silence for a few moments among them, as though -they feared that he might have heard them, and Nokes stood hanging -his head as though half ashamed of himself. Then they gave him the -same kind of greeting as the other men had received. Nobody told him -that he was welcome, but the spirit jar was again brought into use, -Jerry measuring out the liquor, and it was understood that Nokes was -to stay there and get his food. He too gave some account of himself, -which was supposed to suffice, but which they all knew to be false. -It was Sunday, and they were off work at the sugar-mill. He had come -across Gangoil run, intending to take back with him things of his own -which he had left as Bender's hut, and having come so far, had -thought that he would come on and get his dinner at Boolabong. As -this was being told, a good deal was said of Harry Heathcote. Nokes -declared that he had come right across Gangoil, and explained that he -would not have been at all sorry to meet Master Heathcote in the -bush. Master Heathcote had had his own way up at the station when he -was backed by a lot of his own hands; but a good time was coming, -perhaps. Then Nokes gave it to be understood very plainly that it was -the settled practice of his life to give Harry Heathcote a thrashing. -During all this there was an immense amount of bad language, and a -large portion of the art which in the colony is called "blowing." -Jerry, Boscobel, and Nokes all boasted, each that on the first -occasion he would give Harry Heathcote such a beating that a whole -bone should hardly be left in the man's skin. - -"There isn't one of you man enough to touch him," said Joe, who was -known as the freest fighter of the Brownbie family. - -"And you'd eat him, I suppose," said Jerry. - -"He's not likely to come in my way," said Joe; "but if he does, he'll -get as good as he brings. That's all." - -This was unpleasant to the visitors, who, of course, felt themselves -to be snubbed. Boscobel affected to hear the slight put upon his -courage with good humor, but Nokes laid himself down in a corner and -sulked. They were soon all asleep, and remained dozing, snoring, -changing their uncomfortable positions, and cursing the mosquitoes, -till about four in the afternoon, when Boscobel got up, shook -himself, and made some observation about "grub." The meal of the day -was then prepared. A certain quantity of flour and raw meat, ample -for their immediate wants, was given to the two strangers, with which -they retired into the outer kitchen, prepared it for themselves, and -there ate their dinner, and each of the brothers did the same for -himself in the big room--Joe, the fighting brother, providing for his -father's wants as well as his own. One of them had half a leg of cold -mutton, so that he was saved the trouble of cooking, but he did not -offer to share this comfort with the others. An enormous kettle of -tea was made, and that was common among them. While this was being -consumed, Boscobel put his head into the room, and suggested that he -and his mate wanted a drink. Whereupon Jerry, without a word, pointed -to the kettle, and Boscobel was allowed to fill two pannikins. Such -was the welcome which was always accorded to strangers in Boolabong. - -After their meal the men came back on to the veranda, and there were -more smoking and sleeping, more boasting and snarling. Different -allusions were made to the spirit jar, especially by the old man; but -they were made in vain. The "Battle-Axe" was Jerry's own property, -and he felt that he had already been almost foolishly liberal. But he -had an object in view. He was quite sure that Boscobel and Nokes had -not come to Boolabong on the same Sunday by any chance coincidence. -The men had something to propose, and in their own way they would -make the proposition before they left, and would make it probably to -him. Boscobel intended to sleep at Boolabong, but Nokes had explained -that it was his purpose to return that night to Medlicot's Mill. The -proposition no doubt would be made soon--a little after seven, when -the day was preparing to give way suddenly to night. Nokes first -walked off, sloping out from the veranda in a half-shy, half-cunning -manner, looking nowhither, and saying a word to no one. Quickly after -him Boscobel jumped up suddenly, hitched up his trowsers, and -followed the first man. At about a similar interval Jerry passed out -through the big room to the yard at the back, and from the yard to a -shed that was used as a shambles. Here he found the other two men, -and no doubt the proposition was made. - -"There's something up," said the old man, as soon as Jerry was gone. - -"Of course there's something up," said Joe. "Those fellows didn't -come all the way to Boolabong for nothing." - -"It's something about young Heathcote," suggested the father. - -"If it is," said Jack, "what's that to you?" - -"They'll get themselves hanged, that's all about it." - -"That be blowed," said Jack; "you go easy and hold your tongue. If -you know nothing, nobody can hurt you." - -"I know nothing," said Joe, "and don't mean. If I had scores to quit -with a fellow like Harry Heathcote, I should do it after my own -fashion. I shouldn't get Boscobel to help me, nor yet such a fellow -as Nokes. But it's no business of mine. Heathcote's made the place -too hot to hold him. That's all about it." There was no more said, -and in an hour's time Jerry returned, to the family. Neither the -father nor brother asked him any questions, nor did he volunteer any -information. - -Boolabong was about fourteen miles from Medlicot's Mill. Nokes -had walked this distance in the morning, and now retraced it at -night--not going right across Gangoil, as he had falsely boasted of -doing early in the day, but skirting it, and keeping on the outside -of the fence nearly the whole distance. At about two in the morning -he reached his cottage outside the mill on the river-bank; but he was -unable to skulk in unheard. Some dogs made a noise, and presently he -heard a voice calling him from the house. "Is that you, Nokes, at -this time of night?" asked Mr. Medlicot. Nokes grunted out some -reply, intending to avoid any further question. But his master came -up to the hut door and asked him where he had been. - -"Just amusing myself," said Nokes. - -"It's very late." - -"It's not later for me than for you, Mr. Medlicot." - -"That's true. I've just ridden home from - -"From Gangoil? I didn't know you were so friendly there, Mr. -Medlicot." - -"And where have you been?" - -"Not to Gangoil, anyway. Good-night, Mr. Medlicot." Then the man took -himself into his hut, and was safe from further questioning that -night. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -"I WISH YOU'D LIKE ME." - - -All the Saturday night Heathcote had been on the run, and he did not -return home to bed till nearly dawn on the Sunday morning. At about -noon prayers were read out on the veranda, the congregation -consisting of Mrs. Heathcote and her sister, Mrs. Growler, and Jacko. -Harry himself was rather averse to this performance, intimating that -Mrs. Growler, if she were so minded, could read the prayers for -herself in the kitchen, and that, as regarded Jacko, they would be -altogether thrown away. But his wife had made a point of maintaining -the practice, and he had of course yielded. The service was not long, -and when it was over Harry got into a chair and was soon asleep. He -had been in the saddle during sixteen hours of the previous day and -night, and was entitled to be fatigued. His wife sat beside him, -every now and again protecting him from the flies, while Kate Daly -sat by with her Bible in her hand. But she, too, from time to time, -was watching her brother-in-law. The trouble of his spirits and the -work that he felt himself bound to do touched them with a strong -feeling, and taught them to regard him for the time as a young hero. - -"How quietly he sleeps!" Kate said. "The fatigue of the last week -must have been terrible." - -"He is quite, quite knocked up," said the wife. - -"I ain't knocked up a bit," said Harry, jumping up from his chair. -"What should knock me up? I wasn't asleep, was I?" - -"Just dozing, dear." - -"Ah, well; there isn't any thing to do, and it's too hot to get out. -I wonder Old Bates didn't come in for prayers." - -"I don't think he cares much for prayers," said Mrs. Heathcote. - -"But he likes an excuse for a nobbler as well as any one. Did I tell -you that they had fires over at Jackson's yesterday--at Goolaroo?" - -"Was there any harm done?" - -"A deal of grass burned, and they had to drive the sheep, which won't -serve them this kind of weather. I don't know which I fear most--the -grass, the fences, or the sheep. As for the buildings, I don't think -they'll try that again." - -"Why not, Harry?" - -"The risk of being seen is too great. I can hardly understand that a -man like Nokes should have been such a fool as he was." - -"You think it was Nokes?" - -"Oh yes, certainly. In the first place, Jacko is as true as steel. I -don't mean to swear by the boy, though I think he is a good boy. But -I'm sure he's true in this. And then the man's manner to myself was -conclusive. I can not understand a man in Medlicot's position -supporting a fellow like that. By Heavens! it nearly drives me mad to -think of it. Thousands and thousands of pounds are at stake. All that -a man has in the world is exposed to the malice of a scoundrel like -Nokes! And then a man who calls himself a gentleman will talk about -it being un-English to look after him. He's a 'new chum;' I suppose -that's his excuse." - -"If it's a sufficient excuse, you should excuse him," said Kate, with -good feminine logic. - -"That's just like you all over. He's good-looking, and therefore it's -all right. He ought to have learned better. He ought, at any rate, to -believe that men who have been here much longer than he has must know -the ways of the country a great deal better." - -"It's Christmas-time, Harry," said his wife, "and you should endeavor -to forgive your neighbors." - -"What sort of a Christmas will it be if you and I, and these young -fellows here, and Kate, are all burned out of Gangoil? Here's -Bates.--Well, Mr. Bates, how goes it?" - -"Tremendous hot, Sir." - -"We've found that out already. You haven't heard where that fellow -Boscobel has gone?" - -"No; I haven't heard. But he'll be over with some of those Brownbie -lads. They say Georgie Brownbie's about the country somewhere. If so, -there'll be a row among 'em." - -"When thieves fall out, Mr. Bates, honest men come by their own." - -"So they say, Mr. Heathcote. All the same, I shouldn't care how far -Georgie was away from any place I had to do with." Then the young -master and his old superintendent sauntered out to his back premises -to talk about sheep and fires, and plans for putting out fires. And -no doubt Mr. Bates had the glass of brandy-and-water which he had -come to regard as one of his Sunday luxuries. From the back premises -they went down to the creek to gauge the water. Then they sauntered -on, keeping always in the shade, sitting down here to smoke, and -standing up there to discuss the pedigree of some particular ram, -till it was past six. - -"You may as well come in and dine with us, Mr. Bates," Harry -suggested, as they returned toward the station. - -Mr. Bates said that he thought that he would. As the same invitation -was given on almost every Sunday throughout the year, and was -invariably answered in the same way, there was not much excitement in -this. But Mr. Bates would not have dreamed of going in to dinner -without being asked. - -"That's Medlicot's trap," said Mr. Bates, as they entered the yard. -"I heard wheels when they were in the horse paddock." - -Harry looked at the trap, and then went quickly into the house. - -He walked with a rapid step onto the veranda, and there he found the -sugar grower and his mother. Mrs. Heathcote looked at her husband -almost timidly. She knew from the very sound of his feet that he was -perturbed in spirit. Under his own roof-tree he would certainly be -courteous; but there is a constrained courtesy very hard to be borne, -of which she knew him to be capable. He first went up to the old -lady, and to her his greeting was pleasant enough. Harry Heathcote, -though he had assumed the bush mode of dressing, still retained the -manners of a high-bred gentleman in his intercourse with women. Then, -turning sharply round, he gave his hand to Mr. Medlicot. - -"I am glad to see you at Gangoil," he said; "I was not fortunate -enough to be at home when you called the other day. Mrs. Medlicot -must have found the drive very hot, I fear." - -His wife was still looking into his face, and was reading there, as -in a book, the mingled pride and disdain with which her husband -exercising civility to his enemy. Harry's countenance wore a look not -difficult of perusal, and Medlicot could read the lines almost as -distinctly as Harry's wife. - -"I have asked Mrs. Medlicot to stay and dine with us," she said, "so -that she may have it cool for the drive back." - -"I am almost afraid of the bush at night," said the old woman. - -"You'll have a full moon," said Harry; "it will be as light as day." -So that was settled. Heathcote thought it odd that the man whom he -regarded as his enemy, whom he had left at their last meeting in -positive hostility, should consent to accept a dinner under his roof; -but that was Medlicot's affair, not his. - -They dined at seven, and after dinner strolled out into the horse -paddock, and down to the creek. As they started, the three men went -first, and the ladies followed them; but Bates soon dropped behind. -It was his rest day, and he had already moved quite as much as was -usual with him on a Sunday. - -"I think I was a little hard with you the other day," said Medlicot, -when they were alone together. - -"I suppose we hardly understand each other's ideas," said Harry. He -spoke with a constrained voice, and with an almost savage manner, -engendered by a determination to hold his own. He would forgive any -offense for which an apology was made, but no apology had been made -as yet; and, to tell the truth, he was a little afraid that if they -got into an argument on the matter Medlicot would have the best of -it. And there was, too, almost a claim to superiority in Medlicot's -use of the word "hard." When one man says that he has been hard to -another, he almost boasts that, on that occasion, he got the better -of him. - -"That's just it," said Medlicot; "we do not quite understand each -other. But we might believe in each other all the same, and then the -understanding would come. But it isn't just that which I want to say; -such talking rarely does any good." - -"What is it, then?" - -"You may perhaps be right about that man Nokes." - -"No doubt I may. I know I'm right. When I asked him whether he'd -been at my shed, what made him say that he hadn't been there at -night-time? I said nothing about night-time. But the man was there -at night-time, or he wouldn't have used the word." - -"I'm not sure that that is evidence." - -"Perhaps not in England, Mr. Medlicot, but it's good enough evidence -for the bush. And what made him pretend he didn't know the distances? -And why can't he look a man in the face? And why should the boy have -said it was he if it wasn't? Of course, if you think well of him -you're right to keep him. But you may take it as a rule out here that -when a man has been dismissed it hasn't been done for nothing. Men -treated that way should travel out of the country. It's better for -all parties. It isn't here as it is at home, where people live so -thick together that nothing is thought of a man being dismissed. I -was obliged to discharge him, and now he's my enemy." - -"A man may be your enemy without being a felon." - -"Of course he may. I'm his enemy in a way, but I wouldn't hurt a hair -of his head unjustly. When I see the attempts made to burn me out, of -course I know that an enemy has been at work." - -"Is there no one else has got a grudge against you?" - -Harry was silent for a moment. What right had this man to -cross-examine him about his enmities--the man whose own position in -the place had been one of hostility to him, whom he had almost -suspected of harboring Nokes at the mill simply because Nokes had -been dismissed from Gangoil? That suspicion was, indeed, fading away. -There was something in Medlicot's voice and manner which made it -impossible to attribute such motives to him. Nevertheless the man was -a free-selector, and had taken a bit of the Gangoil run after a -fashion which to Heathcote was objectionable politically, morally, -and socially. Let Medlicot in regard to character be what he might, -he was a free-selector, and a squatter's enemy, and had clinched his -hostility by employing a servant dismissed from the very run out of -which he had bought his land. "It is hard to say," he replied at -length, "who have grudges, as against whom, or why. I suppose I have -a great grudge against you, if the truth is to be known; but I -sha'n't burn down your mill." - -"I'm sure you won't." - -"Nor yet say worse of you behind your back than I will to your face." - -"I don't want you to think that you have occasion to speak ill of me, -either one way or the other. What I mean is this--I don't quite think -that the evidence against Nokes is strong enough to justify me in -sending him away; but I'll keep an eye on him as well as I can. It -seems that he left our place early this morning; but the men are not -supposed to be there on Sundays, and of course he does as he pleases -with himself." - -The conversation then dropped, and in a little time Harry made some -excuse for leaving them, and returned to the house alone, promising, -however, that he would not start for his night's ride till after the -party had come back to the station. "There is no hurry at all," he -said; "I shan't stir for two hours yet, but Mickey will be waiting -there for stores for himself and the German." - -"That means a nobbler for Mickey," said Kate. "Either of those men -would think it a treat to ride ten miles in and ten miles back, with -a horse-load of sugar and tea and flour, for the sake of a glass of -brandy-and-water." - -"And so would you," said Harry, "if you lived in a hut by yourself -for a fortnight, with nothing to drink but tea without milk." - -The old lady and Mrs. Heathcote were soon seated on the grass, while -Medlicot and Kate Daly roamed on together. Kate was a pretty, modest -girl, timid withal and shy, unused to society, and therefore awkward, -but with the natural instincts and aptitudes of her sex. What the -glass of brandy-and-water was to Mickey O'Dowd after a fortnight's -solitude in a bush hut, with tea, dampers, and lumps of mutton, a -young man in the guise of a gentleman was to poor Kate Daly. A -brother-in-law, let him be ever so good, is after all no better than -tea without milk. No doubt Mickey O'Dowd often thought about a -nobbler in his thirsty solitude, and so did Kate speculate on what -might possibly be the attractions of a lover. Medlicot probably -indulged in no such speculations; but the nobbler, when brought close -to his lips, was grateful to him as to others. That Kate Daly was -very pretty no man could doubt. - -"Isn't it sad that he should have to ride about all night like that?" -said Kate, to whom, as was proper, Harry Heathcote at the present -moment was of more importance than any other human being. - -"I suppose he likes it." - -"Oh no, Mr. Medlicot; how can he like it? It is not the hard work he -minds, but the constant dread of coming evil." - -"The excitement keeps him alive." - -"There's plenty on a station to keep a man alive in that way at all -times." - -"And plenty to keep ladies alive too?" - -"Oh, ladies! I don't know that ladies have any business in the bush. -Harry's trouble is all about my sister and the children and me. He -wouldn't care a straw for himself." - -"Do you think he'd be better without a wife?" - -Kate hesitated for a moment. "Well, no. I suppose it would be very -rough without Mary; and he'd be so lonely when he came in." - -"And nobody to make his tea." - -"Or to look after his things," said Kate, earnestly. "I know it was -very rough before we came here. He says that himself. There were no -regular meals, but just food in a cupboard when he chose to get it." - -"That is not comfortable, certainly." - -"Horrid, I should think. I suppose it is better for him to be -married. You've got your mother, Mr. Medlicot." - -"Yes: I've got my mother." - -"That makes a difference, does it not?" - -"A very great difference. She'll save me from having to go to a -cupboard for my bread and meat." - -"I suppose having a woman about is better for a man. They haven't got -any thing else to do, and therefore they can look to things." - -"Do you help to look to things?" - -"I suppose I do something. I often feel ashamed to think how very -little it is. As for that, I'm not wanted at all." - -"So that you're free to go elsewhere?" - -"I didn't mean that, Mr. Medlicot; only I know I'm not of much use." - -"But if you had a house of your own?" - -"Gangoil is my home just as much as it is Mary's; and I sometimes -feel that Harry is just as good to me as he is to Mary." - -"Your sister will never leave Gangoil." - -"Not unless Harry gets another station." - -"But you will have to be transplanted some day." - -Kate merely chucked up her head and pouted her lips, as though to -show that the proposition was one which did not deserve an answer. - -"You'll marry a squatter, of course, Miss Daly?" - -"I don't suppose I shall ever marry any body, Mr. Medlicot." - -"You wouldn't marry any one but a squatter? I can quite understand -that. The squatters here are what the lords and the country -gentlemen are at home." - -"I can't even picture to myself what sort of life people live at -home." Both Medlicot and Kate Daly meant England when they spoke of -home. - -"There isn't so much difference as people think. Classes hang -together just in the same way; only I think there's a little more -exclusiveness here than there was there." - -In answer to this, Kate asserted with innocent eagerness that she was -not at all exclusive, and that if ever she married any one she'd -marry the man she liked. - -"I wish you'd like me," said Medlicot. - -"That's nonsense," said Kate, in a low, timid whisper, hurrying away -to rejoin the other ladies. She could speculate on the delights of -the beverage as would Mickey O'Dowd in his hut; but when it was first -brought to her lips she could only fly away from it. In this respect -Mickey O'Dowd was the more sensible of the two. No other word was -spoken that night between them, but Kate lay awake till morning -thinking of the one word that had been spoken. But the secret was -kept sacredly within her own bosom. - -Before the Medlicots started that night the old lady made a -proposition that the Heathcotes and Miss Daly should eat the -Christmas dinner at Medlicot's Mill. Mrs. Heathcote, thinking perhaps -of her sister, thoroughly liking what she herself had seen of the -Medlicots, looked anxiously into Harry's face. If he would consent to -this, an intimacy would follow, and probably a real friendship be -made. - -"It's out of the question," he said. The very firmness, however, with -which he spoke gave a certain cordiality even to his refusal. "I must -be at home, so that the men may know where to find me till I go out -for the night." Then, after a pause, he continued, "As we can't go to -you, why should you not come to us?" - -So it was at last decided, much to Harry's own astonishment, much to -his wife's delight. Kate, therefore, when she lay awake, thinking of -the one word that had been spoken, knew that there would be an -opportunity for another word. - -Medlicot drove his mother home safely, and, after he had taken her -into the house, encountered Nokes on his return from Boolabong, as -has been told at the close of the last chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -"I DO WISH HE WOULD COME!" - - -On the Monday morning Harry came home as usual, and, as usual, went -to bed after his breakfast. "I wouldn't care about the heat if it -were not for the wind," he said to his wife, as he threw himself -down. - -"The wind carries it so, I suppose." - -"Yes; and it comes from just the wrong side--from the northwest. -There have been half a dozen fires about to-day." - -"During the night, you mean." - -"No; yesterday--Sunday. I can not make out whether they come by -themselves. They certainly are not all made by incendiaries." - -"Accidents, perhaps." - -"Well, yes. Somebody drops a match, and the sun ignites it. But the -chances are much against a fire like that spreading. Care is wanted -to make it spread. As far as I can learn, the worst fires have not -been just after midday, when, of course, the heat is greater, but in -the early night, before the dews have come. All the same, I feel that -I know nothing about it--nothing at all. Don't let me sleep long." - -In spite of this injunction, Mrs. Heathcote determined that he should -sleep all day if he would. Even the nights were fearfully hot and -sultry, and on this Monday morning he had come home much fatigued. He -would be out again at sunset, and now he should have what rest nature -would allow him. But in this resolve she was opposed by Jacko, who -came in at eleven, and requested to see the master. Jacko had been -over with the German; and, as he explained to Mrs. Heathcote, they -two had been in and out, sometimes sleeping and sometimes watching. -But now he wanted to see the master, and under no persuasion would -impart his information to the mistress. The poor wife, anxious as she -was that her husband should sleep, did not dare in these perilous -times to ignore Jacko and his information, and therefore gently woke -the sleeper. In a few minutes Jacko was standing by the young -squatter's bedside, and Harry Heathcote, quite awake, was sitting up -and listening. "George Brownbie's at Boolabong." That at first was -the gravamen of Jacko's news. - -"I know that already, Jacko." - -"My word!" exclaimed Jacko. In those parts Georgie Brownbie was -regarded almost as the Evil One himself, and Jacko, knowing what -mischief was, as it were, in the word, thought that he was entitled -to bread and jam, if not to a nobbler itself, in bringing such -tidings to Gangoil. - -"Is that all?" asked Heathcote. - -"And Bos is at Boolabong, and Bill Nokes was there all Sunday, and -Jerry Brownbie's been out with Bos and Georgie." - -"The old man wouldn't say any thing of that kind, Jacko." - -"The old man! He knows nothing about it. My word! they don't tell him -about nothing." - -"Or Tom?" - -"Tom's away in prison. They always cotches the best when they want to -send 'em to prison. If they'd lock up Jerry and Georgie and Jack! My -word! yes." - -"You think they're arranging it all at Boolabong?" - -"In course they are." - -"I don't see why Boscobel shouldn't be at Boolabong without intending -me any harm. Of course he'd go there when he left Gangoil. That's -where they all go." - -"And Bill Nokes, Mr. Harry?" - -"And Bill Nokes too. Though why he should travel so far from his work -this weather I can't say." - -"My word! no, Mr. Harry." - -"Did you see any fires about your way last night?" - -Jacko shook his head. - -"You go into the kitchen and get something to eat, and wait for me. I -shall be out before long now." - -Though Heathcote had made light of the assemblage of evil spirits at -Boolabong which had seemed so important to Jacko, he by no means did -regard the news as unessential. Of Nokes's villany he was convinced. -Of Boscobel he had imprudently made a second enemy at a most -inauspicious time. Georgie Brownbie had long been his bitter foe. He -had prosecuted and, perhaps, persecuted Georgie for various offenses; -but as Georgie was supposed to be as much at war with his own -brethren as with the rest of the world at large, Heathcote had not -thought much of that miscreant in the present emergency. But if the -miscreant were in truth at Boolabong, and if evil things were being -plotted against Gangoil, Georgie would certainly be among the -conspirators. - -Soon after noon Harry was on horseback and Jacko was at his heels. -The heat was more intense than ever. Mrs. Heathcote had twisted round -Harry's hat a long white scarf, called a puggeree, though we are by -no means sure of our spelling. Jacko had spread a very dirty fragment -of an old white handkerchief on his head, and wore his hat over it. -Mrs. Heathcote had begged Harry to take a large cotton parasol, and -he had nearly consented, being unable at last to reconcile himself to -the idea of riding with such an accoutrement even in the bush. "The -heat's a bore," he said, "but I'm not a bit afraid of it as long as I -keep moving. Yes, I'll be back to dinner, though I won't say when, -and I won't say for how long. It will be the same thing all day -to-morrow. I wish with all my heart those people were not coming." - -He rode straight away to the German's hut, which was on the -northwestern extremity of his further paddock in that direction. From -thence the western fence ran in a southerly direction, nearly -straight to the river. Beyond the fence was a strip of land, in some -parts over a mile broad, in others not much over a quarter of a mile, -which he claimed as belonging to Gangoil, but over which the -Brownbies had driven their cattle since the fence had been made, -under the pretense that the fence marked the boundary of two runs. -Against this assumption Heathcote had remonstrated frequently, had -driven the cattle back, and had exercised the ownership of a Crown -tenant in such fashion as the nature of his occupation allowed. -Beyond this strip was Boolabong; the house at Boolabong being not -above three miles distant from the fence, and not above four miles -from the German's hut. So that the Brownbies were in truth much -nearer neighbors to the German than was Heathcote and his family. But -between the German and the Brownbies there raged an internecine feud. -No doubt Harry Heathcote, in his heart, liked the German all the -better on this account; but it behooved him both as a master and a -magistrate to regard reports against Boolabong coming from the German -with something of suspicion. Now Jacko had been introduced to Gangoil -under German auspices, and had soon come to a decision that it would -be a good thing and a just to lock up all the Brownbies in the great -jail of the colony at Brisbane. He probably knew nothing of law or -justice in the abstract, but he greatly valued law when exercised -against those he hated. The western fence of which mention has been -made ran down to the Mary River, hitting it about four miles west of -Medlicot's Mill; so that there was a considerable portion of the -Gangoil run having a frontage to the water. As has been before said, -Medlicot's plantation was about fourteen miles distant from the house -at Boolabong, and the distance from the Gangoil house to that of the -Brownbies was about the same. - -The oppressiveness of the day was owing more to the hot wind than to -the sun itself. This wind, coming from the arid plains of the -interior, brought with it a dry, suffocating heat. On this occasion -it was odious to Harry Heathcote, not so much on account of its own -intrinsic abominations, as because it might cause a fire to sweep -across his run from its western boundary. Just beyond the boundary -there lay Boolabong, and there were collected his enemies. A fire -that should have passed for a mile or so across the pastures outside -and beyond his own farm would be altogether unextinguishable by the -time that it had reached his paddock. The Brownbies, as he knew well, -would care nothing for burning a patch of their own grass. Their -stock, if they had any at the present moment, were much too few in -number to be affected by such a loss. The Brownbies had not a yard of -fencing to be burned; and a fire, if once it got a hold on the edge -of their run, would pass on away from them, right across Harry's -pastures and Harry's fences. If such were the case, he would have -quite enough to do to drive his sheep from the fire, and it might be -that many of them also would perish in the flames. The catastrophe -might even be so bad, so frightful, that the shed and station and all -should go; though, in thinking of all the fires of which he had -heard, he could remember none that had spread with fatality such as -that. - -He found Karl Bender in his hut asleep. The man was soon up, -apologizing for his somnolence, and preparing tea for his master's -entertainment. "It is not Christmas like at home at all; is it, Mr. -'Eathcote? Dear, no! Them red divils is there ready to give us a -Christmas roasting." Then he told how he had boldly ridden up to -Boolabong that morning, and had seen Georgie and Boscobel with his -own eyes. When asked what they had said to him, he replied that he -did not wait till any thing had been said, but had hurried away as -fast as his horse could carry him. - -"I'll go up to Boolabong myself," said Harry. - -"My word! They'll just about knock your head off," suggested Jacko. - -Karl Bender also thought that the making of such a visit would be a -source of danger. But Heathcote explained that any personal attack -was not to be apprehended from these men. "That's not their game," he -said, arguing that men who premeditated a secret outrage would not -probably be tempted into personal violence. The horror of the -position lay in this--that though a fire should rise up almost under -the feet of men who were known to be hostile to him, and whose -characters were acknowledged to be bad, still would there be no -evidence against them. It was known to all men that, at periods of -heat such as that which was now raging, fires were common. Every day -the pastures were in flames, here, there, and every where. It was -said, indeed, that there existed no evidence of fires in the bush -till men had come with their flocks. But then there had been no -smoking, no boiling of pots, no camping out, till men had come, and -no matches. Every one around might be sure that some particular fire -had been the work of an incendiary, might be able to name the culprit -who had done the deed; and yet no jury could convict the miscreant. -Watchfulness was the best security, watchfulness day and night till -rain should come; and Heathcote calculated that it would be better -for him that his enemies should know that he was watchful. He would -go up among them and show them that he was not ashamed to speak to -them of his anxiety. They could hear nothing by his coming which they -did not already know. They were well aware that he was on the watch, -and it might be well that they should know also how close his watch -was kept. He took the German and Jacko with him, but left them with -their horses about a mile on the Boolabong side of his own fence, -nigh to the extreme boundary of the Debatable Land. They knew his -whistle, and were to ride to him at once should he call them. - -He had left the house about noon, saying that he would be home to -dinner--which, however, on such occasions, was held to be a feast -movable over a wide space of time. But on this occasion the women -expected him to come early, as it was his intention to be out again -as soon as it should be dark. Mrs. Growler was asked to have the -dinner ready at six. During the day Mrs. Heathcote was backward and -forward in the kitchen. Then was something wrong she knew, but could -not quite discern the evil. Sing Sing, the cook, was more than -ordinarily alert; but Sing Sing, the cook, was not much trusted. Mrs. -Growler was "as good as the Bank," as far as that went, having lived -with old Mr. Daly when he was prosperous; but she was apt to be -downhearted, and on the present occasion was more than usually low in -spirits. Whenever Mrs. Heathcote spoke, she wept. At six o'clock she -came into the parlor with a budget of news. Sing Sing, the cook, had -been gone for the last half hour, leaving the leg of mutton at the -fire. It soon became clear to them that he had altogether absconded. - -"Them rats always does leave a falling house," said Mrs. Growler. - -At seven o'clock the sun was down, though the gloom of the tropical -evening had not yet come. The two ladies went out to the gate, which -was but a few yards from the veranda, and there stood listening for -the sound of Harry's horse. The low moaning of the wind through the -trees could be heard, but it was so gentle, continuous, and unaltered -that it seemed to be no more than a vehicle for other sounds, and was -as death-like as silence itself. The gate of the horse paddock -through which Heathcote must pass on his way home was nearly a mile -distant; but the road there was hard, and they knew that they could -hear from there the fall of his horse's feet. There they stood from -seven to nearly eight, whispering a word now and then to each other, -listening always, but in vain. Looking away to the west every now and -then, they fancied that they could see the sky glow with flames, and -then they would tell each other that it was fancy. The evening grew -darker and still darker, but no sound was heard through the moaning -wind. From time to time Mrs. Growler came out to them, declaring her -fears in no measured terms. "Well, marm, I do declare I think we'd -better go away out of this." - -"Go away, Mrs. Growler! What nonsense! Where can we go to?" - -"The mill would be nearest, ma'am, and we should be safe there. I'm -sure Mrs. Medlicot would take us in." - -"Why should you not be safe here?" said Kate. - -"That wretched Chinese hasn't gone and left us for nothing, miss, and -what would we three lone women do here if all them Brownbies came -down upon us? Why don't master come back? He ought to come back; -oughtn't he, ma'am? He never do think what lone women are." - -Mrs. Heathcote took her husband's part very strongly, and gave Mrs. -Growler as hard a scolding as she knew how to pronounce. But her own -courage was giving way much as Mrs. Growler's had done. "We are bound -to stay here," she said; "and if the worst comes, we must bear it as -others have done before us." Then Mrs. Growler was very sulky, and, -retreating to the kitchen, sobbed there in solitude. "Oh, Kate, I do -wish he would come," said the elder sister. - -"Are you afraid?" - -"It is so desolate, and he may be so far off, and we couldn't get to -him if any thing happened, and we shouldn't know." - -Then they were again silent, and remained without exchanging more -than a word or two for nearly half an hour. They took hold of each -other, and every now and then went to the kitchen door that the old -woman might be comforted by their presence, but they had no -consolation to offer each other. The silence of the bush, and the -feeling of great distances, and the dread of calamity almost crushed -them. At last there was a distant sound of horse's feet. "I hear -him," said Mrs. Heathcote, rushing forward toward the outer gate of -the horse paddock, followed by her sister. - -Her ears were true, but she was doomed to disappointment. The -horseman was only a messenger from her husband--Mickey O'Dowd, the -Irish boundary rider. - -He had great tidings to tell, and was so long telling them that we -will not attempt to give them in his own words. The purport of his -story was as follows: Harry had been to Boolabong House, but had -found there no one but the old man. Returning home thence toward his -own fence, he had smelled the smoke of fire, and had found within a -furlong of his path a long ridge of burning grass. According to -Mickey's account, it could not have been lighted above a few minutes -before Heathcote's presence on the spot. As it was, it had got too -much ahead for him to put it out single-handed; a few yards he might -have managed, but--so Mickey said, probably exaggerating the -matter--there was half a quarter of a mile of flame. He had therefore -ridden on before the fire, had called his own two men to him, and had -at once lighted the grass himself some two hundred yards in front, -making a second fire, but so keeping it down that it should be always -under control. Before the hinder flames had caught him, Bender and -Jacko had been with him, and they had thus managed to consume the -fuel which, had it remained there, would have fed the fire which was -too strong to be mastered. By watching the extremities of the line of -fire, they overpowered it, and so the damage was for the moment at an -end. - -The method of dealing with the enemy was so well known in the bush, -and had been so often canvassed in the hearing of the two sisters, -that it was clearly intelligible to them. The evil had been met in -the proper way, and the remedy had been effective. But why did not -Harry come home? - -Mickey O'Dowd, after his fashion, explained that too. The ladies were -not to wait dinner. The master felt himself obliged to remain out at -night, and had gotten food at the German's hut. He, Mickey, was -commissioned to return with a flask full of brandy, as it would be -necessary that Harry, with all the men whom he could trust, should be -"on the rampage" all night. This small body was to consist of Harry -himself, of the German, of Jacko, and, according to the story as at -present told, especially of Mickey O'Dowd. Much as she would have -wished to have kept the man at the station for protection, she did -not think of disobeying her husband's orders. So Mickey was fed, and -then sent back with the flask--with tidings also as to the desertion -of that wretched cook, Sing Sing. - -"I shall sit here all night," said Mrs. Heathcote to her sister. "As -things are, I shall not think of going to bed." - -Kate declared that she would also sit in the veranda all night; and, -as a matter of course, they were joined by Mrs. Growler. They had -been so seated about an hour when Kate Daly declared that the heavens -were on fire. The two young women jumped up, flew to the gate, and -found that the whole western horizon was lurid with a dark red light. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE BUSH FIGHT. - - -Harry Heathcote had on this occasion entertained no doubt whatever -that the fire had been intentional and premeditated. A lighted torch -must have been dragged along the grass, so as to ignite a line many -yards long all at the same time. He had been luckily near enough to -the spot to see almost the commencement of the burning, and was -therefore aware of its form and circumstances. He almost wondered -that he had not seen the figure of the man who had drawn the torch, -or at any rate heard his steps. Pursuit would have been out of the -question, as his work was wanted at the moment to extinguish the -flames. The miscreant probably had remembered this, and had known -that he might escape stealthily without the noise of a rapid retreat. - -When the work was over, when he had put out the fire he had himself -lighted, and had exterminated the lingering remnants of that which -had been intended to destroy him, he stood still a while almost in -despair. His condition seemed to be hopeless. What could he do -against such a band of enemies, knowing as he did that, had he been -backed even by a score of trusty followers, one foe might still -suffice to ruin him? At the present moment he was very hot with the -work he had done, as were also Jacko and the German. O'Dowd had also -come up as they were completing their work. Their mode of -extinguishing the flames had been to beat them down with branches of -gum-tree loaded with leaves. By sweeping these along the burning -ground the low flames would be scattered and expelled. But the work -was very hard and hot. The boughs they used were heavy, and the air -around them, sultry enough from its own properties, was made almost -unbearable by the added heat of the fires. - -The work had been so far done, but it might be begun again at any -moment, either near or at a distance. No doubt the attempt would be -made elsewhere along the boundary between Gangoil and Boolabong--was -very probably being made at this moment. The two men whom he could -trust and Jacko were now with him. They were wiping their brows with -their arms and panting with their work. - -He first resolved on sending Mickey O'Dowd to the house. The distance -was great, and the man's assistance might be essential. But he could -not bear to leave his wife without news from him. Then, after -considering a while, he made up his mind to go back toward his own -fence, making his way as he went southerly down toward the river. -They who were determined to injure him would, he thought, repeat -their attempt in that direction. He hardly said a word to his two -followers, but rode at a foot-pace to the spot at his fence which he -had selected as the site of his bivouac for the night. - -"It won't be very cheery, Bender," he said to the German; "but we -shall have to make a night of it till they disturb us again." - -The German made a motion with his arms intended to signify his utter -indifference. One place was the same as another to him. Jacko uttered -his usual ejaculation, and then, having hitched his horse to the -fence, threw himself on his back upon the grass. - -No doubt they all slept, but they slept as watchers sleep, with one -eye open. It was Harry who first saw the light which a few minutes -later made itself visible to the ladies at the home station. "Karl," -he exclaimed, jumping up, "they're at it again--look there." - -In less than half a minute, and without speaking another word, they -were all on their horses and riding in the direction of the light. It -came from a part of the Boolabong run somewhat nearer to the river -than the place at which they had stationed themselves, where the -strip of ground between Harry's fence and the acknowledged boundary -of Brownbie's run was the narrowest. As they approached the fire, -they became aware that it had been lighted on Boolabong. On this -occasion Harry did not ride on up to the flames, knowing that the use -or loss of a few minutes might save or destroy his property. He -hardly spoke a word as he proceeded on his business, feeling that -they upon whom he had to depend were sufficiently instructed, if only -they would be sufficiently energetic. - -"Keep it well under, but let it run," was all he said, as, lighting a -dried bush with a match, he ran the fire along the ground in front of -the coming flames. - -A stranger seeing it all would have felt sure that the remedy would -have been as bad as the disease, for the fire which Harry himself -made every now and again seemed to get the better of those who were -endeavoring to control it. There might perhaps be a quarter of a mile -between the front of the advancing fire and the line at which Harry -had commenced to destroy the food which would have fed the coming -flames. He himself, as quickly as he lighted the grass, which in -itself was the work but of a moment, would strain himself to the -utmost at the much harder task of controlling his own fire, so that -it should not run away from him, and get, as it were, out of his -hands, and be as bad to him as that which he was thus seeking to -circumvent. The German and Jacko worked like heroes, probably with -intense enjoyment of the excitement, and, after a while, found a -fourth figure among the flames, for Mickey had now returned. - -"You saw them," Harry said, panting with his work. - -"They's all right," said Mickey, flopping away with a great bough; -"but that tarnation Chinese has gone off." - -"My word! Sing Sing. Find him at Boolabong," said Jacko. - -The German, whose gum-tree bough was a very big one, and whose every -thought was intent on letting the fire run while he still held it in -hand, had not breath for a syllable. - -But the back fire was extending itself, so as to get round them. -Every now and then Harry extended his own line, moving always forward -toward Gangoil as he did so, though he and his men were always on -Brownbie's territory. He had no doubt but that where he could succeed -in destroying the grass for a breadth of forty or fifty yards he -would starve out the inimical flames. The trees and bushes without -the herbage would not enable it to travel a yard. Wherever the grass -was burned down black to the soil, the fire would stop. But should -they, who were at work, once allow themselves to be outflanked, their -exertions would be all in vain. And then those wretches might light a -dozen fires. The work was so hard, so hot, and often so hopeless, -that the unhappy young squatter was more than once tempted to bid his -men desist and to return to his homestead. The flames would not -follow him there. He could, at any rate, make that safe. And then, -when he had repudiated this feeling as unworthy of him, he began to -consider within himself whether he would not do better for his -property by taking his men with him on to his run, and endeavoring to -drive his sheep out of danger. But as he thought of all this, he -still worked, still fired the grass, and still controlled the flames. -Presently he became aware of what seemed to him at first to be a -third fire. Through the trees, in the direction of the river, he -could see the glimmering of low flames and the figures of men. But it -was soon apparent to him that these men were working in his cause, -and that they, too, were burning the grass that would have fed the -advancing flames. At first he could not spare the minute which would -be necessary to find out who was his friend, but, as they drew -nearer, he knew the man. It was the sugar planter from the mill and -with him his foreman. - -"We've been doing our best," said Medlicot, "but we've been terribly -afraid that the fire would slip away from us." - -"It's the only thing," said Harry, too much excited at the moment to -ask questions as to the cause of Medlicot's presence so far from his -home at that time of the evening. "It's getting round us, I'm afraid, -all the same." - -"I don't know but it is. It's almost impossible to distinguish. How -hot the fire makes it!" - -"Hot, indeed!" said Harry. "It's killing work for men, and then all -for no good! To think that men, creatures that call themselves men, -should do such a thing as this! It breaks one's heart." He had paused -as he spoke, leaning on the great battered bough which he held, but -in an instant was at work with it again. "Do you stay here, Mr. -Medlicot, with the men, and I'll go on beyond where you began. If I -find the fire growing down, I'll shout, and they can come to me." So -saying, he rushed on with a lighted bush torch in his band. - -Suddenly he found himself confronted in the bush by a man on -horseback, whom he at once recognized as Georgie Brownbie. He forgot -for a moment where he was and began to question the reprobate as to -his presence at that spot. - -"That's like your impudence," said Georgie. "You're not only -trespassing, but you're destroying our property willfully, and you -ask me what business I have here. You're a nice sort of young man." - -Harry, checked for a moment by the remembrance that he was in truth -upon Boolabong run, did not at once answer. - -"Put that bush down, and don't burn our grass," continued Georgie, -"or you shall have to answer for it. What right have you to fire our -grass?" - -"Who fired it first?" - -"It lighted itself. That's no rule why you should light it more. You -give over, or I punch your head for you." - -Harry's men and Medlicot were advancing toward him, trampling out -their own embers as they came; and Georgie Brownbie, who was alone, -when he saw that there were four or five men against him, turned -round and rode back. - -"Did you ever see impudence like that?" said Harry. "He's probably -the very man who set the match, and yet he comes and brazens it out -with me." - -"I don't think he's the man who set the match," said Medlicot, -quietly; "at any rate there was another." - -"Who was it?" - -"My man, Nokes. I saw him with the torch in his hand." - -"Heaven and earth!" - -"Yes, Mr. Heathcote. I saw him put it down. You were about right, you -see, and I was about wrong." - -Harry had not a word to say, unless it were tell the man that he -loved him for the frankness of his confession. But the moment was -hardly auspicious for such a declaration. There was no excuse for -them to pause in their work, for the fire was still crackling at -their back, and they did no more than pause. - -"Ah!" said Harry, "there it goes; we shall be done at last." For he -saw that he was being outflanked by the advancing flames. But still -they worked, drawing lines of fire here and there, and still they -hoped that there might be ground for hope. Nokes had been seen; but, -pregnant as the theme might be with words, it was almost impossible -to talk. Questions could not be asked and answered without stopping -in their toil. There were questions which Harry longed to ask. Could -Medlicot swear to the man? Did the man know that he had been seen? If -he knew that he had been watched while he lit the grass, he would -soon be far away from Medlicot's Mill and Gangoil. Harry felt that it -would be a consolation to him in his trouble if he could get hold of -this man, and keep him, and prosecute him--and have him hung. Even in -the tumult of the moment he was able to reflect about it, and to -think that he remembered that the crime of arson was capital in the -colony of Queensland. He had endeavored to be good to the men with -whom he had dealings. He had not stinted their food, or cut them -short in their wages, or been hard in exacting work from them. And -this was his return! Ideas as to the excellence of absolute dominion -and power flitted across his brain--such power as Abraham, no doubt, -exercised. In Abraham's time the people were submissive, and the -world was happy. Harry Heathcote, at least, had never heard that it -was not happy. But as he thought of all this he worked away with his -bush and his matches, extinguishing the flames here and lighting them -there, striving to make a cordon of black bare ground between -Boolabong and Gangoil. Surely Abraham had never been called on to -work like this! - -He and his men were in a line covering something above a quarter of a -mile of ground, of which line he was himself the nearest to the -river, and Medlicot and his foreman the farthest from it. The German -and O'Dowd were in the middle, and Jacko was working with his master. -If Harry had just cause for anger and sorrow in regard to Nokes and -Boscobel, he certainly had equal cause to be proud of the stanchness -of his remaining satellites. The men worked with a will, as though -the whole run had been the personal property of each of them. Nokes -and Boscobel would probably have done the same had the fires come -before they had quarreled with their master. It is a small and narrow -point that turns the rushing train to the right or to the left. The -rushing man is often turned off by a point as small and narrow. - -"My word!" said Jacko, on a sudden, "here they are, all o' -horseback!" And as he spoke, there was the sound of half a dozen -horsemen galloping up to them through the bush. "Why, there's Bos, -his own self," said Jacko. - -The two leading men were Joe and Jerry Brownbie, who, for this night -only, had composed their quarrels, and close to them was Boscobel. -There were others behind, also mounted--Jack Brownbie and Georgie, -and Nokes himself; but they, though their figures were seen, could -not be distinguished in the gloom of the night. Nor, indeed, did -Harry at first discern of how many the party consisted. It seemed -that there was a whole troop of horsemen, whose purpose it was to -interrupt him in his work, so that the flames should certainly go -ahead. And it was evident that the men thought that they could do so -without subjecting themselves to legal penalties. As far as Harry -Heathcote could see, they were correct in their view. He could have -no right to burn the grass on Boolabong. He had no claim even to be -there. It was true that he could plead that he was stopping the fire -which they had purposely made; but they could prove his handiwork, -whereas it would be almost impossible that he should prove theirs. - -The whole forest was not red, but lurid, with the fires, and the air -was laden with both the smell and the heat of the conflagration. The -horsemen were dressed, as was Harry himself, in trowsers and shirts, -with old slouch hats, and each of them had a cudgel in his hand. As -they came galloping up through the trees they were as uncanny and -unwelcome a set of visitors as any man was ever called on to receive. -Harry necessarily stayed his work, and stood still to bear the brunt -of the coming attack; but Jacko went on with his employment faster -than ever, as though a troop of men in the dark were nothing to him. - -Jerry Brownbie was the first to speak. "What's this you're up to, -Heathcote? Firing our grass? It's arson. You shall swing for this." - -"I'll take my chance of that," said Harry, turning to his work again. - -"No, I'm blessed if you do. Ride over him, Bos, while I stop these -other fellows." - -The Brownbies had been aware that Harry's two boundary riders were -with him, but had not heard of the arrival of Medlicot and the other -man. Nokes was aware that some one on horseback had been near him -when he was firing the grass, but had thought that it was one of the -party from Gangoil. By the time that Jerry Brownbie had reached the -German, Medlicot was there also. - -"Who the deuce are you?" asked Jerry. - -"What business is that of yours?" said Medlicot. - -"No business of mine, and you firing our grass! I'll let you know my -business pretty quickly." - -"It's that fellow, Medlicot, from the sugar-mill," said Joe; "the man -that Nokes is with." - -"I thought you was a horse of another color," continued Jerry, who -had been given to understand that Medlicot was Heathcote's enemy. -"Anyway, I won't have my grass fired. If God A'mighty chooses to send -fires, we can't help it. But I'm not going to have incendiaries here -as well. You're a new chum, and don't understand what you're about, -but you must stop this." - -As Medlicot still went on putting out the fire, Jerry attempted to -ride him down. Medlicot caught the horse by the rein, and violently -backed the brute in among the embers. The animal plunged and reared, -getting his head loose, and at last came down, he and his rider -together. In the mean time Joe Brownbie, seeing this, rode up behind -the sugar planter, and struck him violently with his cudgel over the -shoulder. Medlicot sank nearly to the ground, but at once recovered -himself. He knew that some bone on the left side of his body was -broken; but he could still fight with his right hand, and he did -fight. - -Boscobel and Georgie Brownbie both attempted to ride over Harry -together, and might have succeeded had not Jacko ingeniously inserted -the burning branch of gum-tree with which he had been working under -the belly of the horse on which Boscobel was riding. The animal -jumped immediately from the ground, bucking into the air, and -Boscobel was thrown far over his head. Georgie Brownbie then turned -upon Jacko, but Jacko was far too nimble to be caught, and escaped -among the trees. - -For a few minutes the fight was general, but the footmen had the best -of it, in spite of the injury done to Medlicot. Jerry was bruised and -burned about the face by his fall among the ashes, and did not much -relish the work afterward. Boscobel was stunned for a few moments, -and was quite ready to retreat when he came to himself. Nokes during -the whole time did not show himself, alleging as a reason afterward -the presence of his employer Medlicot. - -"I'm blessed if your cowardice sha'n't hang you," said Joe Brownbie -to him on their way home. "Do you think we're going to fight the -battles of a fellow like you, who hasn't pluck to come forward -himself?" - -"I've as much pluck as you," answered Nokes, "and am ready to fight -you any day. But I know when a man is to come forward and when he's -not. Hang me! I'm not so near hanging as some folks at Boolabong." We -may imagine, therefore, that the night was not spent pleasantly among -the Brownbies after these adventures. - -There were, of course, very much cursing and swearing, and very many -threats, before the party from Boolabong did retreat. Their great -point was, of coarse, this--that Heathcote was willfully firing the -grass, and was, therefore, no better than an incendiary. Of course -they stoutly denied that the original fire had been intentional, and -denied as stoutly that the original fire could be stopped by fires. -But at last they went, leaving Heathcote and his party masters of the -battle-field. Jerry was taken away in a sad condition; and, in -subsequent accounts of the transaction given from Boolabong, his fall -was put forward as the reason of their flight, he having been the -general on the occasion. And Boscobel had certainly lost all stomach -for immediate fighting. Immediately behind the battle-field they come -across Nokes, and Sing Sing, the runaway cook from Gangoil. The poor -Chinaman had made the mistake of joining the party which was not -successful. - -But Harry, though the victory was with him, was hardly in a mood for -triumph. He soon found that Medlicot's collar-bone was broken, and it -would be necessary, therefore, that he should return with the wounded -man to the station. And the flames, as he feared, had altogether got -ahead of him during the fight. As far as they had gone, they had -stopped the fire, having made a black wilderness a mile and a half in -length, which, during the whole distance, ceased suddenly at the line -at which the subsidiary fire had been extinguished. But while the -attack was being made upon them the flames had crept on to the -southward, and had now got beyond their reach. It had seemed, -however, that the mass of fire which had got away from them was -small, and already the damp of the night was on the grass; and Harry -felt himself justified in hoping not that there might be no loss, but -that the loss might not be ruinous. - -Medlicot consented to be taken back to Gangoil instead of to the -mill. Perhaps he thought that Kate Daly might be a better nurse than -his mother, or that the quiet of the sheep station might be better -for him than the clatter of his own mill-wheels. It was midnight, and -they had a ride of fourteen miles, which was hard enough upon a man -with a broken collarbone. The whole party also was thoroughly -fatigued. The work they had been doing was about as hard as could -fall to a man's lot, and they had now been many hours without food. -Before they started Mickey produced his flask, the contents of which -were divided equally among them all, including Jacko. - -As they were preparing to start home Medlicot explained that it had -struck him by degrees that Heathcote might be right in regard to -Nokes, and that he had determined to watch the man himself whenever -he should leave the mill. On that Monday he had given up work -somewhat earlier than usual, saying that, as the following day was -Christmas, he should not come to the mill. From that time Medlicot -and his foreman had watched him. - -"Yes," said he, in answer to a question from Heathcote, "I can swear -that I saw him with the lighted torch in his hand, and that he placed -it among the grass. There were two others from Boolabong with him, -and they must have seen him too." - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -HARRY HEATHCOTE RETURNS IN TRIUMPH. - - -When the fight was quite over, and Heathcote's party had returned to -their horses, Medlicot for a few minutes was faint and sick, but he -revived after a while, and declared himself able to sit on his horse. -There was a difficulty in getting him up, but when there he made no -further complaint. "This," said he, as he settled himself in his -saddle, "is my first Christmas-day in Australia. I landed early in -January, and last year I was on my way home to fetch my mother." - -"It's not much like an English Christmas," said Harry. - -"Nor yet as in Hanover," said the German. - -"It's Cork you should go to, or Galway, bedad, if you want to see -Christmas kep' after the ould fashion," said Mickey. - -"I think we used to do it pretty well in Cumberland," said Medlicot. -"There are things which can't be transplanted. They may have roast -beef, and all that, but you should have cold weather to make you feel -that it is Christmas indeed." - -"We do it as well as we can," Harry pleaded. "I've seen a great -pudding come into the room all afire--just to remind one of the old -country--when it has been so hot that one could hardly bear a shirt -on one's shoulders. But yet there's something in it. One likes to -think of the old place, though one is so far away. How do you feel -now? Does the jolting hurt you much? If your horse is rough, change -with me. This fellow goes as smooth as a lady." Medlicot declared -that the pain did not trouble him much. "They'd have ridden over us, -only for you," continued Harry. - -"My word! wouldn't they?" said Jacko, who was very proud of his own -part in the battle. "I say, Mr. Medlicot, did you see Bos and his -horse part company? You did, Mr. Harry. Didn't he fly like a bird, -all in among the bushes! I owed Bos one; I did, my word! And now I've -paid him." - -"I saw it," said Harry. "He was riding at me as hard as he could -come. I can't understand Boscobel. Nokes is a sly, bad, slinking -follow, whom I never liked. But I was always good to Bos; and when he -cheated me, as he did, about his time, I never even threatened to -stop his money." - -"You told him of it too plain," said the German. - -"I did tell him--of course--as I should you. It has come to that now, -that if a man robs you--your own man--you are not to dare to tell him -of it! What would you think of me, Karl, if I were to find you out, -and was to be afraid of speaking to you, lest you should turn against -me and burn my fences?" Karl Bender shrugged his shoulders, holding -his reins up to his eyes. "I know what you ought to think! And I wish -that every man about Gangoil should be sure that I will always say -what I think right. I don't know that I ever was hard upon any man. I -try not to be." - -"Thrue for you, Mr. Harry," said the Irishman. - -"I'm not going to pick my words because men like Nokes and Boscobel -have the power of injuring me. I'm not going to truckle to rascals -because I'm afraid of them. I'd sooner be burned out of house and -home, and go and work on the wharves in Brisbane, than that." - -"My word! yes," said Jacko, "and I too." - -"If the devil is to get ahead, he must, but I won't hold a candle to -him. You fellows may tell every man about the place what I say. As -long as I'm master of Gangoil I'll be master; and when I come across -a swindle I'll tell the man who does it he's a swindler. I told Bos -to his face; but I didn't tell any body else, and I shouldn't if he'd -taken it right and mended his ways." - -They all understood him very well--the German, the Irishman, -Medlicot's foreman, Medlicot himself, and even Jacko; and though, no -doubt, there was a feeling within the hearts of the men that Harry -Heathcote was imperious, still they respected him, and they believed -him. - -"The masther should be the masther, no doubt," said the Irishman. - -"A man that is a man vill not sell hisself body and soul," said the -German, slowly. - -"Do I want dominion over your soul, Karl Bender?" asked the squatter, -with energy. "You know I don't, nor over your body, except so far as -it suits you to sell your services. What you sell you part with -readily--like a man; and it's not likely that you and I shall -quarrel. But all this row about nothing can't be very pleasant to a -man with a broken shoulder." - -"I like to hear you," said Medlicot. "I'm always a good listener when -men have something really to say." - -"Well, then, I've something to say," cried Harry. "There never was a -man came to my house whom I'd sooner see as a Christmas guest than -yourself." - -"Thankee, Sir." - -"It's more than I could have said yesterday with truth." - -"It's more than you did say." - -"Yes, by George! But you've beat me now. When you're hard pressed for -hands down yonder, you send for me, and see if I won't turn the mill -for you, or hoe canes either." - -"So 'll I; my word! yes. Just for my rations." - -They had by this time reacted the Gangoil fence, having taken the -directest route for the house. But Harry, in doing this, had not been -unmindful of the fire. Had Medlicot not been wounded, he would have -taken the party somewhat out of the way, down southward, following -the flames; but Medlicot's condition had made him feel that he would -not be justified in doing so. Now, however, it occurred to him that -he might as well ride a mile or two down the fence, and see what -injury had been done. The escort of the men would be sufficient to -take Medlicot to the station, and he would reach the place as soon as -they. If the flames were still running ahead, he knew that he could -not now stop then, but he could at least learn how the matter stood -with him. If the worst came to the worst, he would not now lose more -than three or four miles of fencing, and the grass off a corner of -his run. Nevertheless, tired as he was, he could not bear the idea of -going home without knowing the whole story. So he made his proposal. -Medlicot, of course, made no objection. Each of the men offered to go -with him, but he declined their services. "There is nothing to do," -said he, "and nobody to catch; and if the fire is burning, it must -burn." So he went alone. - -The words that he had uttered among his men had not been lightly -spoken. He had begun to perceive that life would be very hard to him -in his present position, or perhaps altogether impossible, as long as -he was at enmity with all those around him. Old squatters whom he -knew, respectable men who had been in the colony before he was born, -had advised him to be on good terms with the Brownbies. "You needn't -ask them to your house, or go to them, but just soft-sawder them when -yon meet," an old gentleman had said to him. He certainly hadn't -taken the old gentleman's advice, thinking that to "soft-sawder" so -great a reprobate as Jerry Brownbie would be holding a candle to the -devil. But his own plan had hardly answered. Well, he was sure, at -any rate, of this--that he could do no good now by endeavoring to be -civil to the Brownbies. He soon came to the place where the fire had -reached his fence, and found that it had burned its way through, and -that the flames were still continuing their onward course. The fence -to the north, or rather to the northwestward--the point whence the -wind was coming--stood firm at the spot at which the fire had struck -it. Dry as the wood was, the flames had not traveled upward against -the wind. But to the south the fire was traveling down the fence. To -stop this he rode half a mile along the burning barrier till he had -headed the flames, and then he pulled the bushes down and rolled away -the logs, so as to stop the destruction. As regarded his fence, there -was less than a mile of it destroyed, and that he could now leave in -security, as the wind was blowing away from it. As for his grass, -that must now take its chance. He could see the dark light of the low -running fire; but there was no longer a mighty blaze, and he knew -that the dew of the night was acting as his protector. The harm that -had been as yet done was trifling, if only he could protect himself -from further harm. After leaving the fire, he had still a ride of -seven or eight miles through the gloom of the forest--all alone. Not -only was he weary, but his horse was so tired that he could hardly -get him to canter for a furlong. He regretted that he had not brought -the boy with him, knowing well the service of companionship to a -tired beast. He was used to such troubles, and could always tell -himself that his back was broad enough to bear them; but his -desolation among enemies oppressed him. Medlicot, however, was no -longer an enemy. Then there came across his mind for the first time -an idea that Medlicot might marry his sister-in-law, and become his -fast friend. If he could have but one true friend, he thought that he -could bear the enmity of all the Brownbies. Hitherto he had been -entirely alone in his anxiety. It was between three and four when he -reached Gangoil, and he found that the party of horsemen had just -entered the yard before him. The sugar planter was so weak that he -could hardly get off his horse. - -The two ladies were still watching when the cavalcade arrived, though -it was then between three and four in the morning. It was Harry's -custom on such occasions to ride up to the little gate close to the -veranda, and there to hang his bridle till some one should take his -horse away; but on this occasion he and the others rode into the -yard. Seeing this, Mrs. Heathcote and her sister went through the -house, and soon learned how things were. Mr. Medlicot, from the mill, -had come with a bone broken, and it was their duty to nurse him till -a doctor could be procured from Maryborough. Now Maryborough was -thirty miles distant. Some one must be dispatched at once. Jacko -volunteered, but in such a service Jacko was hardly to be trusted. He -might fall asleep on his horse, and continue his slumbers on the -ground. Mickey and the German both offered; but the men were so -beaten by their work that Heathcote did not dare to take their offer. - -"I'll tell you what it is, Mary," he said to his wife, "there is -nothing for it but for me to go for Jackson." Jackson was the doctor. -"And I can see the police at the same time." - -"You sha'n't go, Harry. Yon are so tired already you can hardly stand -this moment." - -"Get me some strong coffee--at once. You don't know what that man has -done for us. I'll tell you all another time. I owe him more than a -ride into Maryborough. I'll make the men get Yorkie up"--Yorkie was a -favorite horse he had--"while you make the coffee; and I'll lead -Colonel"--Colonel was another horse, well esteemed at Gangoil. -"Jackson will come quicker on him than on any animal he can get at -Maryborough." And so it was arranged, in spite of the wife's tears -and entreaties. Harry had his coffee and some food, and started, with -his two horses, for the doctor. - -Nature is so good to us that we are sometimes disposed to think we -might have dispensed with art. In the bush, where doctors can not be -had, bones will set themselves; and when doctors do come, but come -slowly, the broken bones suit themselves to such tardiness. Medlicot -was brought in and put to bed. Let the reader not be shocked to hear -that Kate Daly's room was given up to him, as being best suited for a -sick man's comfort, and the two ladies took it in turn to watch him. -Mrs. Heathcote was, of course, the first, and remained with him till -dawn. Then Kate crept to the door and asked whether she should -relieve her sister. Medlicot was asleep, and it was agreed that Kate -should remain in the veranda, and look in from time to time to see -whether the wounded man required aught at her hands. She looked in -very often, and then, at last, he was awake. - -"Miss Daly," he said, "I feel so ashamed of the trouble I'm giving." - -"Don't speak of it. It is nothing. In the bush every body, of course, -does any thing for every body." When the words were spoken she felt -that they were not as complimentary as she would have wished. "You -were to have come to-day, you know, but we did not think you'd come -like this, did we?" - -"I don't know why I didn't go home instead of coming here." - -"The doctor will reach Gangoil sooner than he could the mill. You are -better here, and we will send for Mrs. Medlicot as soon as the men -have had a rest. How was it all, Mr. Medlicot? Harry says that there -was a fight, and that you came in just at the nick of time, and that -but for you all the run would have been burned." - -"Not that at all." - -"He said so; only he went off so quickly, and was so busy with -things, that we hardly understood him. Is it not dreadful that there -should be such fighting? And then these horrid fires! You were in the -middle of the fire, were you not?" It suited Kate's feelings that -Medlicot should be the hero of this occasion. - -"We were lighting them in front to put them out behind." - -"And then, while you were at work, these men from Boolabong came upon -you. Oh, Mr. Medlicot, we shall be so very, very wretched if you are -much hurt. My sister is so unhappy about it." - -"It's only my collar-bone, Miss Daly." - -"But that is so dreadful." She was still thinking of the one word he -had spoken when he had--well, not asked her for her love, but said -that which between a young man and a young woman ought to mean the -same thing. Perhaps it had meant nothing! She had heard that young -men do say things which mean nothing. But to her, living in the -solitude of Gangoil, the one word had been so much! Her heart had -melted with absolute acknowledged love when the man had been brought -through into the house with all the added attraction of a broken -bone. While her sister had watched, she had retired--to rest, as Mary -had said, but in truth to think of the chance which had brought her -in this guise into familiar contact with the man she loved. And then, -when she had crept up to take her place in watching him, she had -almost felt that shame should restrain her. But was her duty; and, of -course, a man with a collar-bone broken would not speak of love. - -"It will make your Christmas so sad for you," he said. - -"Oh, as for that, we mind nothing about it--for ourselves. We are -never very gay here." - -"But you are happy?" - -"Oh yes, quite happy, except when Harry is disturbed by these -troubles. I don't think any body has so many troubles as a squatter. -It sometimes seems that all the world is against him." - -"We shall be allies now, at any rate." - -"Oh, I do so hope we shall," said Kate, putting her hands together in -her energy, and then retreating from her energy with sad awkwardness -when she remembered the personal application of her wish. "That is, I -mean you and Harry," she added, in a whisper. - -"Why not I and others besides Harry?" - -"It is so much to him to have a real friend. Things concern us, of -course, only just as they concern him. Women are never of very much -account, I think. Harry has to do every thing, and every thing ought -to be done for him." - -"I think you spoil Harry among you." - -"Don't you say so to Mary, or she will be fierce." - -"I wonder whether I shall ever have a wife to stand up for me in that -way?" - -Kate had no answer to make, but she thought that it would be his own -fault if he did not have a wife to stand up for him thoroughly. - -"He has been very lucky in his wife." - -"I think he has, Mr. Medlicot; but you are moving about, and you -ought to lie still. There! I hear the horses; that's the doctor. I do -so hope he won't say that any thing very bad is the matter." - -She jumped up from her chair, which was close to his bed, and as she -did so just touched his hand with hers. It was involuntary on her -part, having come of instinct rather than will, and she withdrew -herself instantly. The hand she had touched belonged to the arm that -was not hurt, and he put it out after her, and caught her by the -sleeve as she was retreating. "Oh, Mr. Medlicot, you must not do -that; you will hurt yourself if you move in that way." - -And so she escaped, and left the room, and did not see him again till -the doctor had gone from Gangoil. - -The bone had been broken simply as other bones are broken; it was now -set, and the sufferer was, of course, told that he must rest. He had -suggested that he should be taken home, and the Heathcotes had -concurred with the doctor in asserting that no proposition could be -more absurd. He had intended to eat his Christmas dinner at Gangoil, -and he must now pass his entire Christmas there. - -"The sugar can go on very well for ten days," Harry had said. "I'll -go over myself and see about the men, and I'll fetch your mother -over." - -To this, however, Mrs. Heathcote had demurred successfully. "You'll -kill yourself, Harry, if you go on like this," she said. - -Bender, therefore, was sent in the buggy for the old lady, and at -last Harry Heathcote consented to go to bed. - -"My belief is, I shall sleep for a week," he said, as he turned in. -But he didn't begin his sleep quite at once. "I am very glad I went -into Maryborough," he said to his wife, rising up from his pillow. -"I've sworn an information against Nokes and two of the Brownbies, -and the police will be after them this afternoon. They won't catch -Nokes, and they can't convict the other fellows. But it will be -something to clear the country of such a fellow, and something also -to let them know that detection is possible." - -"Do sleep now, dear." she said. - -"Yes, I will; I mean to. But look here, Mary; if any of the police -should come here, mind you wake me at once. And, Mary, look here; do -you know I shouldn't be a bit surprised if that fellow was to be -making up to Kate." - -Mrs. Heathcote, with some little inward chuckle at her husband's -assumed quickness of apprehension, reminded herself that the same -idea had occurred to her some time ago. Mrs. Heathcote gave her -husband full credit for more than ordinary intelligence in reference -to affairs appertaining to the breeding of sheep and the growing of -wool, but she did not think highly of his discernment in such an -affair as this. She herself had been much quicker. When she first saw -Mr. Medlicot, she had felt it a godsend that such a man, with the -look of a gentleman, and unmarried, should come into the -neighborhood; and, in so feeling, her heart had been entirely with -her sister. For herself it mattered nothing who came or did not come, -or whether a man were a bachelor, or possessed of a wife and a dozen -children. All that a girl had a right to want was a good husband. She -was quite satisfied with her own lot in that respect, but she was -anxious enough on behalf of Kate. And when a young man did come, who -might make matters so pleasant for them, Harry quarreled with him -because he was a free-selector. "A free fiddle-stick!" she had once -said to Kate--not, however, communicating to her innocent sister the -ambition which was already filling her own bosom. "Harry does take -things up so--as though people weren't to live, some in one way and -some in another! As far as I can see, Mr. Medlicot is a very nice -fellow." Kate had remarked that he was "all very well," and nothing -more had been said. - -But Mrs. Heathcote, in spite of Harry's aversion, had formed her -little project--a project which, if then declared, would have filled -Harry with dismay. And now the young aristocrat, as he turned himself -in his bed, made the suggestion to his wife as though it were all his -own! - -"I never like to think much of these things beforehand," she said, -innocently. - -"I don't know about thinking," said Harry; "but a girl might do -worse. If it should come up, don't set yourself against it." - -"Kate, of course, will please herself," said Mrs. Heathcote. "Now do -lie down and rest yourself." - -His rest, however, was not of long duration. As he had himself -suggested, two policemen reached Gangoil at about three in the -afternoon, on their way from Maryborough to Boolabong, in order -that they might take Mr. Medlicot's deposition. After Heathcote's -departure it had occurred to Sergeant Forrest of the police--and -the suggestion, having been transferred from the sergeant to the -stipendiary magistrate, was now produced with magisterial -sanction--that, after all, there was no evidence against the -Brownbies. They had simply interfered to prevent the burning of the -grass on their own run, and who could say that they had committed any -crime by doing so? If Medlicot had seen Nokes with a lighted branch -in his hand, the matter might be different with him; and therefore -Medlicot's deposition was taken. He had sworn that he had seen Nokes -drag his lighted torch along the ground; he had also seen other -horsemen--two or three, as he thought--but could not identify them. -Jacko's deposition was also taken as to the man who had been heard and -seen in the wool-shed at night. Jacko was ready to swear point-blank -that the man was Nokes. The policemen suggested that, as the night was -dark, Jacko might as well allow a shade of doubt to appear, thinking -that the shade of doubt would add strength to the evidence. But Jacko -was not going to be taught what sort of oath he should swear. - -"My word!" he said. "Didn't I see his leg move? You go away." - -Armed with these depositions, the two constables went on to Boolabong -in search of Nokes, and of Nokes only, much to the chagrin of Harry, -who declared that the police would never really bestir themselves in -a squatter's cause. "As for Nokes, he'll be out of Queensland by this -time to-morrow." - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -SERGEANT FORREST. - - -The Brownbie party returned, after their midnight raid, in great -discomfiture to Boolabong. Their leader, Jerry, was burned about his -hands and face in a disagreeable and unsightly manner. Joe had hardly -made good that character for "fighting it out to the end" for which -he was apt to claim credit. Boscobel was altogether disconcerted by -his fall. And Nokes, who had certainly shown no aptitude for the -fray, was abused by them all as having caused their retreat by his -cowardice; while Sing Sing, the runaway cook, who knew that he had -forfeited his wages at Gangoil, was forced to turn over in his -heathenish mind the ill effects of joining the losing side. "You big -fool, Bos," he said more than once to his friend the woodsman, who -had lured him away from the comforts of Gangoil. "I'll punch your -head, John, if you don't hold your row," Boscobel would reply. But -Sing Sing went on with his reproaches, and, before they had reached -Boolabong, Boscobel had punched the Chinaman's head. - -"You're not coming in here," Jerry said to Nokes, when they reached -the yard gate. - -"Who wants to come in? I suppose you're not going to send a fellow on -without a bit of grub after such a night's work?" - -"Give him some bread and meat, Jack, and let him go on. There'll be -somebody here after him before long. He can't hurt us; but I don't -want people to think that we are so fond of him that we can't do -without harboring him here. Georgie, you'll go too, if you take my -advice. That young cur will send the police here as sure as my name -is Brownbie, and, if they once get hold of you, they'll have a great -many things to talk to you about." - -Georgie grumbled when he heard this, but he knew that the advice -given him was good, and he did not attempt to enter the house. So -Nokes and he vanished, away into the bush together--as such men do -vanish--wandering forth to live as the wild beasts live. It was still -a dark night when they went, and the remainder of the party took -themselves to their beds. - -On the following afternoon they were lying about the house, sometimes -sleeping, and sometimes waking up to smoke, when the two policemen, -who had already been at Gangoil, appeared in the yard. These men were -dressed in flat caps, with short blue jackets, hunting breeches, and -long black boots--very unlike any policemen in the old country, and -much more picturesque. They leisurely tied their horses up, as though -they had been in the habit of making weekly visits to the place, and -walked round to the veranda. - -"Well, Mr. Brownbie, and how are you?" said the sergeant to the old -man. - -The head of the family was gracious, and declared himself to be -pretty well, considering all things. He called the sergeant by his -name, and asked the men whether they'd take a bit of something to -eat. Joe also was courteous, and, after a little delay in getting a -key from his brother, brought out the jar of spirits, which, in the -bush, is regarded as the best sign known of thorough good-breeding. -The sergeant said that he didn't mind if he did; and the other man, -of course, followed his officer's example. - -So far every thing was comfortable, and the constables seemed in no -hurry to allude to disagreeable subjects. They condescended to eat a -bit of cold meat before they proceeded to business. And at last the -matter to be discussed was first introduced by one of the Brownbie -family. - -"I suppose you've heard that there was a scrimmage here last night," -said Joe. The Brownbie party present consisted of the old man, Joe -and Jack Brownbie, and Boscobel, Jerry keeping himself in the -background because of his disfigurement. The sergeant, as he -swallowed his food, acknowledged that he had heard something about -it. "And that's what brings you here," continued Joe. - -"There ain't nothing wrong here," said old Brownbie. - -"I hope not, Mr. Brownbie," said the sergeant. "I hope not. We -haven't got any thing against you, at any rate." Sergeant Forrest was -a graduate of Oxford, the son of an English clergyman, who, having -his way to make in the world, had thought that an early fortune would -be found in the colonies. He had come out, had failed, had suffered -some very hard things, and now, at the age of thirty-five, enjoyed -life thoroughly as a sergeant of the colonial police. - -"You haven't got any thing against anybody here, I should think?" -said Joe. - -"If you want to get them as begun it," said Jack, "and them as ought -to be took up, you'll go to Gangoil." - -"Hold your tongue, Jack," said his brother. "Sergeant Forrest knows -where to go better than you can tell him." - -Then the sergeant asked a string of questions as to the nature of the -fight; who had been hurt; and how badly had any body been hurt; and -what other harm had been done. The answers to all these questions -were given with a fair amount of truth, except that the little -circumstance of the origin of the fire was not explained. Both -Boscobel and Joe had seen the torch put down, but it could hardly -have been expected that they should have been explicit as to such a -detail as that. Nor did they mention the names of either their -brother George or Nokes. - -"And who was there in the matter?" asked the sergeant. - -"There was young Heathcote, and a boy he has got there, and the two -chaps as he calls boundary rulers, and Medlicot, the sugar fellow -from the mill, and a chap of Medlicot's I never set eyes on before. -They must have expected something to be up, or Heathcote would not -have been going about at night with a tribe of men like that." - -"And who were your party?" - -"Well, there were just ourselves, four of us, for Georgie was here, -and this fellow Boscobel. Georgie never stays long, and he wouldn't -be welcome if he did. He turned up just by chance like, and now he's -off again." - -"That was all, eh?" - -Of course they all knew that the sergeant knew that Nokes had been -with them. "Well, then, that wasn't all," said old Brownbie. "Bill -Nokes was here, whom Heathcote dismissed ever so long ago, and that -Chinese cook of his. He dismissed him too, I suppose. And he -dismissed Boscobel here." - -"No one can live at Gangoil any time," said Jack. "Every body knows -that. He wants to be lord a'mighty over every thing. But he ain't -going to be lord a'mighty at Boolabong." - -"And he ain't going to burn our grass either," said Joe. "It's like -his impudence coming on to our ran and burning every thing before -him. He calls hisself a magistrate, but he's not to do just as he -pleases because he's a magistrate. I suppose we can swear against him -for lighting our grass, sergeant? There isn't one of us that didn't -see him do it." - -"And where is Nokes?" asked the sergeant, paying no attention to the -application made by Mr. Brownbie, junior, for redress to himself. - -"Well," said Joe, "Nokes isn't any where about Boolabong." - -"He's away with your brother George?" - -"I shouldn't wonder," said Joe. - -"It's a serious matter lighting a fire, you know," said the sergeant. -"A man would have to swing for it." - -"Then why isn't young Heathcote to swing?" demanded Jack. - -"There is such a thing as intent, you know. When Heathcote lighted -the fire, where would the fire have gone if he hadn't kept putting it -out as fast as he kept lighting it? On to his own run, not to yours. -And where would the other fire have gone which somebody lit, and -which nobody put out, if he hadn't been there to stop it? The less -you say against Heathcote the better. So Nokes is off, is he?" - -"He ain't here, anyways," said Joe. "When the row was over, we -wouldn't let him in. We didn't want him about here." - -"I dare say not," said the sergeant. "Now let me go and see the spot -where the fight was." So the two policemen, with the two young -Brownbies, rode away, leaving Boscobel with the old man. - -"He knows every thing about it," said old Brownbie. - -"If he do," said Boscobel, "it ain't no odds." - -"Not a ha'porth of odds," said Jerry, coming out of his hiding-place. -"Who cares what he knows? A man may do what he pleases on his own -run, I suppose." - -"He mayn't light a fire as 'll spread," said the old man. - -"Bother! Who's to prove what's in a man's mind? If I'd been Nokes, -I'd have staid and seen it out. I'd never be driven about the colony -by such a fellow as Heathcote, with all the police in the world to -back him." - -Sergeant Forrest inspected the ground on which the fire had raged, -and the spot on which the men had met; but nothing came of his -inspection, and he had not expected that any thing would come of it. -He could see exactly where the fire had commenced, and could trace -the efforts that had been made to stop it. He did not in the least -doubt the way in which it had been lit. But he did very much doubt -whether a jury could find Nokes guilty, even if he could catch Nokes. -Jacko's evidence was worth nothing, and Mr. Medlicot might be easily -mistaken as to what he had seen at a distance in the middle of the -night. - -All this happened on Christmas-day. At about nine o'clock the same -evening the two constables re-appeared at Gangoil, and asked for -hospitality for the night. This was a matter of course, and also the -reproduction of the Christmas dinner. Mrs. Medlicot was now there, -and her son, with his collar-bone set, had been allowed to come out -on to the veranda. The house had already been supposed to be full, -but room, as a matter of course, was made for Sergeant Forrest and -his man. "It's a queer sort of Christmas we've all been having, Mr. -Heathcote," said the sergeant, as the remnant of a real English -plum-pudding was put between him and his man by Mrs. Growler. - -"A little hotter than it is at home, eh?" - -"Indeed it is. You must have had it hot last night, Sir." - -"Very hot, sergeant. We had to work uncommonly hard to do it as well -as we did." - -"It was not a nice Christmas game, Sir, was it?" - -"Eh, me!" said Mrs. Medlicot. "There's nae Christmas games or ony -games here at all, except just worrying and harrying, like sae many -dogs at each other's throats." - -"And you think nothing more can be done?" Harry asked. - -"I don't think we shall catch the men. When they get out backward, -it's very hard to trace them. He's got a horse of his own with him, -and he'll be beyond reach of the police by this time to-morrow. -Indeed, he's beyond their reach now. However, you'll have got rid of -him." - -"But there are others as bad as he left behind. I wouldn't trust that -fellow Boscobel a yard." - -"He won't stir, Sir. He belongs to this country, and does not want to -leave it. And when a thing has been tried like that and has failed, -the fellows don't try it again. They are cowed like by their own -failure. I don't think you need fear fire from the Boolabong side -again this summer." - -After this the sergeant and his man discreetly allowed themselves to -be put to bed in the back cottage; for in truth, when they arrived, -things had come to such a pass at Gangoil that the two additional -visitors were hardly welcome. But hospitality in the bush can be -stayed by no such considerations as that. Let their employments or -enjoyments on hand be what they may, every thing must yield to the -entertainment of strangers. The two constables were in want of their -Christmas dinner, and it was given to them with no grudging hand. - -As to Nokes, we may say that he has never since appeared in the -neighborhood of Gangoil, and that none thereabouts ever knew what was -his fate. Men such as he wander away from one colony into the next, -passing from one station to another, or sleeping on the ground, till -they become as desolate and savage as solitary animals. And at last -they die in the bush, creeping, we may suppose, into hidden nooks, as -the beasts do when the hour of death comes on them. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -CONCLUSION. - - -The constables had started from Gangoil, on their way to Boolabong, a -little after four, and from that time till he was made to get out of -bed for his dinner Harry Heathcote was allowed to sleep. He had -richly earned his rest by his work, and he lay motionless, without a -sound, in the broad daylight, with his arm under his head, dreaming, -no doubt, of some happy squatting land, in which there were no -free-selectors, no fires, no rebellious servants, no floods, no -droughts, no wild dogs to worry the lambs, no grass seeds to get -into the fleeces, and in which the price of wool stood steady at two -shillings and sixpence a pound. His wife from time to time came into -the room, shading the light from his eyes, protecting him from the -flies, and administering in her soft way to what she thought might be -his comforts. His sleep was of the kind which no light, nor even -flies, can interrupt. Once or twice she stooped down and kissed his -brow, but he was altogether unconscious of her caress. - -During this time old Mrs. Medlicot arrived; but her coming did not -awake the sleeper, though it was by no means made in silence. The old -woman sobbed and cried over her son, at the same time expressing her -thankfulness that he should have turned up in the forest so exactly -at the proper moment, evidently taking part in the conviction that -her Giles had saved Gangoil and all its sheep. And then there were -all the necessary arrangements to be made for the night, in -accordance with which almost every body had to give up his or her bed -and sleep somewhere else. But nothing disturbed Harry. For the -present he was allowed to occupy his own room, and he enjoyed the -privilege. - -Kate Daly during this time was much disturbed in mind. The reader may -remember--Kate, at any rate, remembered well--that, just as the -doctor had arrived to set his broken bone, Mr. Medlicot, disabled as -he was, had attempted to take her by the arm. He had certainly chosen -an odd time for a declaration of love, just the moment in which he -ought to have been preparing himself for the manipulation of his -fractured limb; but, unless he had meant a declaration of love, -surely he would not have seized her by the arm. It was a matter to -her of great moment. Oh, of what vital importance! The English girl -living in a town, or even in what we call the country, has no need to -think of any special man till some special man thinks of her. Men are -fairly plentiful, and if one man does not come, another will. And -there have probably been men coming and going in some sort since the -girl left her school-room and became a young lady. But in the bush -the thing is very different. It may be that there is no young man -available within fifty miles--no possible lover or future husband, -unless Heaven should interfere almost with a miracle. To those to -whom lovers are as plentiful as blackberries it may seem indelicate -to surmise that the thought of such a want should ever enter a girl's -head. I doubt whether the defined idea of any want had ever entered -poor Kate's head. But now that the possible lover was there--not only -possible, but very probable--and so eligible in many respects, living -so close, with a house over his head and a good business; and then so -handsome, and, as Kate thought, so complete a gentleman! Of course -she turned it much in her mind. She was very happy with Harry -Heathcote. There never was a brother-in-law so good! But, after all, -what is a brother-in-law, though he be the very best? Kate had -already begun to fancy that a house of her own and a husband of her -own would be essential to her happiness. But then a man can not be -expected to make an offer with a broken collar-bone--certainly can -not do so just when the doctor has arrived to set the bone. - -Late on in the day, when the doctor had gone, and Medlicot was, -according to instructions, sitting out on the veranda in an armchair, -and his mother was with him, and while Harry was sleeping as though -he never meant to be awake again, Kate managed to say a few words to -her sister. It will be understood that the ladies' hands were by no -means empty. The Christmas dinner was in course of preparation, and -Sing Sing, that villainous Chinese cook, had absconded. Mrs. Growler, -no doubt, did her best; but Mrs. Growler was old and slow, and the -house was full of guests. It was by no means an idle time; but still -Kate found an opportunity to say a word to her sister in the kitchen. - -"What do you think of him, Mary?" - -To the married sister "him" would naturally mean Harry Heathcote, of -whom, as he lay asleep, the young wife thought that he was the very -perfection of patriarchal pastoral manliness; but she knew enough of -human nature to be aware that the "him" of the moment to her sister -was no longer her own husband. "I think he has got his arm broken -fighting for Harry, and that we are bound to do the best we can for -him." - -"Oh yes; that's of course. I'm sure Harry will feel that. He used, -you know, to--to--that is, not just to like him, because he is a -free-selector." - -"They'll drop all that now. Of course they could not be expected to -know each other at the first starting. I shouldn't wonder if they -became regular friends." - -"That would be nice! After all, though you may be so happy at home, -it is better to have something like a neighbor. Don't you think so?" - -"It depends on who the neighbors are. I don't care much for the -Brownbies." - -"They are quite different, Mary." - -"I like the Medlicots very much." - -"I consider he's quite a gentleman," said Kate. - -"Of course he's a gentleman. Look here, Kate--I shall be ready to -welcome Mr. Medlicot as a brother-in-law, if things should turn out -that way." - -"I didn't mean that, Mary." - -"Did you not? Well, you can mean it if you please, as far as I am -concerned. Has he said any thing to you, dear?" - -"No." - -"Not a word?" - -"I don't know what you call a word; not a word of that kind." - -"I thought, perhaps--" - -"I think he meant it once--this morning." - -"I dare say he meant it. And if he meant it this morning, he won't -have forgotten his meaning to-morrow." - -"There's no reason why he should mean it, you know." - -"None in the least, Kate; is there?" - -"Now you're laughing at me, Mary. I never used to laugh at you when -Harry was coming. I was so glad, and I did every thing I could." - -"Yes, you went away and left us in the Botanical Gardens. I remember. -But, you see, there are no Botanical Gardens here; and the poor man -couldn't walk about if there were." - -"I wonder what Harry would say if it were to be so." - -"Of course he'd be glad--for your sake." - -"But he does so despise free-selectors! And then he used to think -that Mr. Medlicot was quite as bad as the Brownbies. I wouldn't marry -any one to be despised by you and Harry." - -"That's all gone by, my dear," said the wife, feeling that she had to -apologize for her husband's prejudices. "Of course one has to find -out what people are before one takes them to one's bosom. Mr. -Medlicot has acted in the most friendly way about these fires, and -I'm sure Harry will never despise him any more." - -"He couldn't have done more for a real brother than have his arm -broken." - -"But you must remember one thing, Kate, Mr. Medlicot is very nice, -and like a gentleman, and all that. Bat you never can be quite -certain about any man till he speaks out plainly. Don't set your -heart upon him till you are quite sure that he has set his upon you." - -"Oh no," said Kate, giving her maidenly assurance when it was so much -too late! Just at this moment Mrs. Growler came into the kitchen, and -Kate's promises and her sister's cautions were for the moment -silenced. - -"How we're to manage to get the dinner on the table, I for one don't -know at all," said Mrs. Growler. "There's Mr. Bates'll be here; that -will be six of 'em; and that Mr. Medlicot will want somebody to do -every thing for him, because he's been and got hisself smashed. And -there's the old lady has just come out from home, and is as -particular as any thing. And Mr. Harry himself never thinks of things -at all. One pair of hands, and them very old, can't do every thing -for every body." All of which was very well understood to mean -nothing at all. - -Household deficiencies--and, indeed, all deficiencies--are -considerable or insignificant in accordance with the aspirations -of those concerned. When a man has a regiment of servants in his -dining-room, with beautifully cut glass, a forest of flowers, and an -iceberg in the middle of his table if the weather be hot, his guests -will think themselves ill used and badly fed if aught in the banquet -be astray. There must not be a rose leaf ruffled; a failure in the -attendance, a falling off in a dish, or a fault in the wine is a -crime. But the same guests shall be merry as the evening is long with -a leg of mutton and whisky toddy, and will change their own plates, -and clear their own table, and think nothing wrong, if from the -beginning such has been the intention of the giver of the feast. In -spite of Mrs. Growler's prognostications, though the cook had -absconded, and the chief guest of the occasion could not cut up his -own meat, that Christmas dinner at Gangoil was eaten with great -satisfaction. - -Harry had been so far triumphant. He had stopped the fire that was -intended to ruin him, he had beaten off his enemies on their own -ground, and he was no longer oppressed by that sense of desolation -which had almost overpowered him. - -"We'll give one toast, Mrs. Medlicot," he said, when Mrs. Growler and -Kate between them had taken away the relics of the plum-pudding. "Our -friends at home!" - -The poor lady drank the toast with a sob. "That's vera weel for you, -Mr. Heathcote. You're young, and will win your way hame, and see auld -friends again, nae doubt; but I'll never see ane of them mair, except -those I have here." Nevertheless, the old lady ate her dinner and -drank her toddy, and made much of the occasion, going in and out to -her son upon the veranda. - -Soon after dinner Heathcote, as was his wont, strayed out with his -prime minister Bates to consult on the dangers which might be -supposed still to threaten his kingdom, and Mrs. Heathcote, with her -youngest boy in her lap, sat talking to Mrs. Medlicot in the parlor. -Such was not her custom in weather such as this. Kate had been sent -out on to the veranda, with special commands to attend to the wants -of the sufferer, and Mrs. Heathcote would have followed her had she -not remembered her sister's appeal, "I did every thing I could for -you." - -In those happy days Kate had been very good, and certainly deserved -requital for her services. And therefore, when the men had gone out, -Mrs. Heathcote, with her guest, remained in the warm room, and went -so far as to suggest that at that period of the day the room was -preferable to the veranda. Poor Mrs. Medlicot was new to the ways of -the bush, and fell into the trap; thus Kate Daly was left alone with -her wounded hero. - -When told to take him out his glass of wine, and when conscious that -no one followed her, she felt herself to have been guilty of some -great sin, and was almost tempted to escape. She had asked her sister -for help; and this was the help that was forth-coming--help so -palpable, so manifest, as to be almost indelicate! Would he think -that plans were being made to catch him, now that he was a captive -and impotent? The thought that it was possible that such an idea -might occur to him was terrible to her. She would rather lose him -altogether than feel the stain of such a suggestion on her own -conscience. She put the glass of wine down on the little table by his -side, and then attempted to withdraw. - -"Stay a moment with me," he said. "Where are they all?" - -"Mary and your mother are inside. Harry and Mr. Bates have gone -across to look at the horses." - -"I almost feel as though I could walk, too." - -"You must not think of it yet, Mr. Medlicot. It seems almost a wonder -that you shouldn't have to be in bed, and you with your collar-bone -broken only last night! I don't know how you can bear it as you do." - -"I shall be so glad I broke it, if one thing will come about." - -"What thing?" asked Kate, blushing. - -"Kate--may I call you Kate?" - -"I don't know," she said. - -"You know I love you, do you not? You must know it. Dearest Kate, can -you love me and be my wife?" His left arm was bound up, and was in a -sling, but he put out his right hand to take hers, if she would give -it to him. Kate Daly had never had a lover before, and felt the -occasion to be trying. She had no doubt about the matter. If it were -only proper for her to declare herself, she could swear with a safe -conscience that she loved him better than all the world. - -"Put your hand here, Kate," he said. - -As the request was not exactly for the gift of her hand, she placed -it in his. - -"May I keep it now?" - -She could only whisper something which was quite inaudible, even to -him. - -"I shall keep it, and think that you are all my own. Stoop down, -Kate, and kiss me, if you love me." - -She hesitated for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. She did -love him, and was his own; still, to stoop and kiss a man who, if -such a thing were to be allowed at all, ought certainly to kiss her! -She did not think she could do that. But then she was bound to -protect him, wounded and broken as he was, from his own imprudence; -and if she did not stoop to him, he would rise to her. She was still -in doubt, still standing with her hand in his, half bending over him, -but yet half resisting as she bent, when, all suddenly, Harry -Heathcote was on the veranda, followed by the two policemen, who had -just returned from Boolabong. She was sure that Harry had seen her, -and was by no means sure that she had been quick enough in escaping -from her lover's hand to have been unnoticed by the policemen also. -She fled away as though guilty, and could hardly recover herself -sufficiently to assist Mrs. Growler in producing the additional -dinner which was required. - -The two men were quickly sent to their rest, as has been told before; -and Harry, who had in truth seen how close to his friend his -sister-in-law had been standing, would, had it been possible, have -restored the lovers to their old positions; but they were all now on -the veranda, and it was impossible. Kate hung back, half in and half -out of the sitting-room, and old Mrs. Medlicot had seated herself -close to her son. Harry was lying at full length on a rug, and his -wife was sitting over him. Then Giles Medlicot, who was not quite -contented with the present condition of affairs, made a little -speech. - -"Mrs. Heathcote," he said, "I have asked your sister to marry me." - -"Dearie me, Giles," said Mrs. Medlicot. - -Kate remained no longer half in and half out of the parlor, but -retreated altogether and hid herself. Harry turned himself over on -the rug, and looked up at his wife, claiming infinite credit in that -he had foreseen that such a thing might happen. - -"And what answer has she given you?" said Mrs. Heathcote. - -"She hasn't given me any answer yet. I wonder what you and Heathcote -would say about it?" - -"What Kate has to say is much more important," replied the discreet -sister. - -"I should like it of all things," said Harry, jumping up. "It's -always best to be open about these things. When you first came here, -I didn't like you. You took a bit of my river frontage--not that it -does me any great harm--and then I was angry about that scoundrel -Nokes." - -"I was wrong about Nokes," said Medlicot, "and have, therefore, had -my collar-bone broken. As to the land, you'll forgive my having it if -Kate will come and live there?" - -"By George! I should think so.--Kate, why don't you come out? Come -along, my girl. Medlicot has spoken out openly, and you should answer -him in the same fashion." So saying, he dragged her forth, and I fear -that, as far as she was concerned, something of the sweetness of her -courtship was lost by the publicity with which she was forced to -confess her love. "Will you go, Kate, and make sugar down at the -mill? I have often thought how bad it would be for Mary and me when -you were taken away; but we sha'n't mind it so much if we knew that -you are to be near us." - -"Speak to him, Kate," said Mrs. Heathcote, with her arm round her -sister's waist. - -"I think she's minded to have him," said Mrs. Medlicot. - -"Tell me, Kate--shall it be so?" pleaded the lover. - -She came up to him and leaned over him, and whispered one word which -nobody else heard. But they all knew what the word was. And before -they separated for the night she was left alone with him, and he got -the kiss for which he was asking when the policemen interrupted them. - -"That's what I call a happy Christmas," said Harry, as the party -finally parted for the night. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARRY HEATHCOTE OF GANGOIL*** - - -******* This file should be named 5642.txt or 5642.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/4/5642 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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