Billy the Bully would as
soon prosecute his own brother-in-law as anybody else--sooner, in
fact. So Hugh, having reached home very crest-fallen and angry,
wrote a full account of the affair in his report of the station
work, and asked whether he should lay an information.
Grant's reply was brief and to the point; he seldom wrote letters,
always telegraphing when possible. On this occasion the telegram
said, "Prosecute at once; offer reward informers;" which, leaking
out (as telegrams frequently did at the local office) put Red Mick
considerably on the qui vive. The old man actually paid him the
compliment of writing a letter about him later on, saying that it
would be a good thing to prosecute--it would give Red Mick a good
scare, even if it didn't get him into gaol. Circumstances, no doubt,
justified a prosecution, and it was hard to see bow Mick could make
a counter-move.
But that gentleman was not without resource; an anonymous letter
arrived for Hugh by the mailboy, a dirty, scrawled epistle, unsigned
and undated, running as follows:--
"Mr. Gordon i herd you was gone to summons Michael Donohoe for
sheep stealing. You better bewar there is some seen you and that
girl in the bush you will get a grate shown up and her two."
This precious epistle was signed "A Friend," and on first reading
it Hugh laughed heartily; but the more he thought it over the less
he liked it.
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