HARRY HEATHCOTE OF GANGOIL  A Tale of Australian Bush-Life  By Anthony Trollope  London  Sampson Low , Marston , Low , + Searle ,  Crown Buildings , 188 , Fleet Street .  1874  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 arid 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 bad 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 .