Heathcote was his nearest neighbor, and the only man in his own rank
of life who lived within twenty miles of him. When he had started his
enterprise he had hoped to make this man his friend, not
comprehending at first how great a cause for hostility was created by
the very purchase of the land. He had been a new-comer from the old
country, and, being alone, had desired friendship. He was Harry
Heathcote's equal in education, intelligence, and fortune, if not in
birth--which surely, in the Australian bush, need not count for much.
He had assumed, when first meeting the squatter, that good-fellowship
between them, on equal terms, would be acceptable to both; but his
overtures had been coldly received. Then he, too, had drawn himself
up, had declared that Heathcote was an ignorant ass, and had
unconsciously made up his mind to commence hostilities. It was in
this spirit that he had taken Nokes into his mill, of whose
character, had he inquired about it, he would certainly have heard no
good. He had now brought his mother to Medlicot's Mill. She and the
Gangoil ladies had met each other on neutral ground, and it was
almost necessary that they should either be friends or absolute
enemies. Mrs. Heathcote had been aware of this, and bad declared that
enmity was horrible.

"Upon my word," said Harry, "I sometimes think that friendship is
more so. I suppose I'm fitted for bush life, for I want to see no one
from year's end to year's end but my own family and my own people."
And yet this young patriarch in the wilderness was only twenty-four
years old, and had been educated at an English school!

Medlicot's cottage was about a hundred and fifty yards from the mill,
looking down upon the Mary, the banks of which at this spot were
almost precipitous. The site for the plantation had been chosen