west passed across the run; but these roads and tracks would travel
hither and thither, new tracks being opened from time to time by the
heavy wool drays and store wagons, as in wet weather the ruts on the
old tracks would become insurmountable.

The station itself was certainly very pretty. It consisted of a
cluster of cottages, each of which possessed a ground-floor only. No
such luxury as stairs was known at Gangoil. It stood about half a
mile from the Mary River, on the edge of a creek which ran into it.
The principal edifice, that in which the Heathcotes lived, contained
only one sitting-room, and a bedroom on each side of it; but in truth
there was another room, very spacious, in which the family really
passed their time; and this was the veranda which ran along the front
and two ends of the house. It was twelve feet broad, and, of course,
of great length. Here was clustered the rocking-chairs, and sofas,
and work-tables, and very often the cradle of the family. Here stood
Mrs. Heathcote's sewing-machine, and here the master would sprawl at
his length, while his wife, or his wife's sister, read to him. It was
here, in fact, that they lived, having a parlor simply for their
meals. Behind the main edifice there stood, each apart, various
buildings, forming an irregular quadrangle. The kitchen came first,
with a small adjacent chamber in which slept the Chinese man-cook,
Sing Sing, as he had come to be called; then the cottage, consisting
also of three rooms and a small veranda, in which lived Harry's
superintendent, commonly known as Old Bates, a man who had been a
squatter once himself, and having lost his all in bad times, now
worked for a small salary. In the cottage two of the rooms were
devoted to hospitality when, as was not unusual, guests, known or
unknown, came that way; and here Harry himself would sleep, if the
entertainment of other ladies crowded the best apartments. Then at