THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM


To my friend Bertha Nicoll with affectionate esteem.




CHAPTER I--ADAM SALTON ARRIVES


Adam Salton sauntered into the Empire Club, Sydney, and found awaiting
him a letter from his grand-uncle. He had first heard from the old
gentleman less than a year before, when Richard Salton had claimed
kinship, stating that he had been unable to write earlier, as he had
found it very difficult to trace his grand-nephew's address. Adam was
delighted and replied cordially; he had often heard his father speak of
the older branch of the family with whom his people had long lost touch.
Some interesting correspondence had ensued. Adam eagerly opened the
letter which had only just arrived, and conveyed a cordial invitation to
stop with his grand-uncle at Lesser Hill, for as long a time as he could
spare.

"Indeed," Richard Salton went on, "I am in hopes that you will make your
permanent home here. You see, my dear boy, you and I are all that remain
of our race, and it is but fitting that you should succeed me when the
time comes. In this year of grace, 1860, I am close on eighty years of
age, and though we have been a long-lived race, the span of life cannot
be prolonged beyond reasonable bounds. I am prepared to like you, and to
make your home with me as happy as you could wish. So do come at once on