"There's the master," said Nokes. "If you've got any thing to say
about any thing, you'd better say it to him."

Harry had never before set his foot upon Medlicot's land since it had
been bought away from his own run, and had felt that he would almost
demean himself by doing so. He had often looked at the canes from
over his own fence, as he had done on the night of the rain; but he
had stood always on his own land. Now he was in the sugar-mill, never
before having seen such a building. "You've a deal of machinery here,
Mr. Medlicot," he said.

"It's a small affair, after all," said the other. "I hope to get a
good plant before I've done."

"Can I speak a word with you?"

"Certainly. Will you come into the office, or will you go across to
the house?"

Harry said that the office would do, and followed Medlicot into a
little box-like inclosure which contained a desk and two stools.

"Not much of an office, is it? What can I do for you, Mr. Heathcote?"

Then Harry began his story, which he told at considerable length. He
apologized for troubling his neighbor at all on the subject, and
endeavored to explain, somewhat awkwardly, that as Mr. Medlicot was a
new-comer, he probably might not understand the kind of treatment to
which employers in the bush were occasionally subject from their men.