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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."
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Promise me, Harry, not to think that I don't agree with you in every thing." 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.
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