Adventure Magazine Cover — page 116: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

106 like to have this ’ere run, wouldn’t you? And you thought you could ’ave it for the asking, but you'll ’ave to buy us out and you'll ’ave to apologize to me before one —— Credion cow comes across that river. This is only a beginning é “Buy you out?” sneered Burdette. “‘T’ll drive you out!” “A’right—try!” “You’re both slightly wrong,”” murmured Rushton. “The land is good, we shall stay, we shall prosper. Ballarat needs meat. We have the bullocks, the grass, the water. I am content. For once, Mr. Burdette, you are an also-ran. If any driving is to be done you are not going to do it because if you should try—you might have a criminal action case on your hands. You want to avoid that. There’s the Travers affair 4 “The what affair?” “Travers. Do you want that brought up against your” “This is too much!” stormed Burdette. “T’ve a good mind——”’ “To go back to Credion. Times have changed, let me point out for your benefit, Mr. Burdette. I’m not keeping you, and you might care to have a look at this parch- ment before you go.”’ “You dirty blackmailer. You— are you anyhow?” “My name as I said before is Rushton. Here I am and here I shall stay. And I wouldn’t sell out to you, not for a million pounds,” “Would you give a million?” Mitcham laughed. ‘‘What’s your best offer?”’ “Pll deal with you later,’’ Burdette re- torted in a strangled voice. ‘And as for you,” he turned to Rushton, “‘if it takes every penny I have I’ll have you driven out before I’m through.” “Must you be going?” inquired Rushton. “What ’ave you got on the old man?” queried Mitcham half an hour later, still dazed by the suddenness with which nego- tiations had been broken off. ‘‘Who’s this Travers you were speaking about?” ‘Just an extra string to our bow, that’s all,” answered Rushton. ‘TI do not think very highly of your terrible Burdette. He makes a lot of noise, that’s about his limit. And he’s terrorized the countryside for thirty years! I don’t quite understand it.” “Wait till you know ’im.”’ “T am quite ready to wait.” “That’s another thing,” Mitcham went Who Adventure on suspiciously. ‘“What’s that you said about not selling out. Didn’t mean it, did you?” “Qf course I did. We can have this place paying hand over fist in no time. In a few years we can make much more than Bur- dette could afford to pay, and we'll still have the run. What more could we ask fore Forget your grudge,. Mitcham, and settle down. We’re going to do some work.” “T don’t like it,” Mitcham grumbled. “°Tain’t what we come out for. We said we'd put the screws on old John “ ‘“‘They’re on, don’t worry, and the longer we stay the tighter they are going to squeeze.” Mitcham scowled. The idea of staying so close to Burdette did not appeal to him, and now the scheme had been carried through so far he was anxious to rake in his share of the plunder and be on his way to Melbourne where the beer was good and the girls—not so good. Why should he work when there was a chance to make five hundred pounds without the least effort, for old Burdette was sure to buy them out before long. Work could wait. “Maybe you’re right,” he said dubiously, “but we ’ad an understanding and we said se ‘Dinner up!”’ called out Lund. ‘“Dinner- oh! Where are you going to build the shack, boss? On top of the hill there, by them trees?”’ zB, E-) the marshes, going slowly because — the day was hot and still, with a promise of thunder in the air. In the dis- tance the sharp, saw-toothed crests of the Stony Rises were black against the cobalt- blue of the sky. No breath of wind stirred the long grass and the cattle in little groups stood motionless in the shade of hickory- coppices scattered across the flats. Ostensibly Mitcham was boundary riding in search of a russet Devon milch cow, a pedigreed animal by the name of Ripe Autumn, a very valuable animal which had strayed away two days gone by and had not since been seen. Mitcham said so; he was in sole charge of the livestock and his trained eye already knew every one of the cows, calves, bullocks and heifers either by name or by some subtle mark or sign. On this particular occasion, however, his trained eye had strangely deceived him, MITCHAM rode along the edge of Conmicloool 1 O)