They had one advantage over Gavan Blake--they
knew all about Considine, which Blake did not.
On one bed lay Pinnock, who had come up to make arrangements for
carrying on the station till the will was proved. On another bed
sprawled Carew, who, by virtue of his trip out back, was looked
upon as a bit of an oracle by Poss and Binjie, who had never been
further than the mountains. Poss and Binjie had dragged an old
couch out of the next room and were stretched on that, listening
to the talk, and occasionally throwing in a word of such wisdom
as they had. Hugh sat in an armchair by the window, smoking and
dreaming.
Poss's voice cut knife-like through a cloud of tobacco smoke. He
spoke as one on the defensive.
"Well, I believe there's something in it, anyhow. Briney Donohoe
told me--"
Charlie Cordon's cold drawl interrupted the youth. "It's all rot,"
he said. "Briney Donohoe told you--what does he know about it? You
two boys and Hugh have been stuck at home here so long, you believe
anything. I tell you, they'll do nothing. It's all talk, just to
make themselves big people. They have nothing to do just now, so it
comes in handy as an excuse to ride from one selection to another
all day long and leave our gates open. We have Peggy's measure,
haven't we, Carew? That long-lost relation of yours, old Considine!"
"I wish you did have him," said the lawyer.
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