philanthropy because it was proposed to watch the doings of a
scoundrel!

"Good-morning," said Harry, turning round and leaving the office
brusquely. Medlicot followed him, but Harry went so quickly that not
another word was spoken. To him the idea of a neighbor in the bush
refusing such assistance as he had asked was as terrible as to us is
the thought of a ship at sea leaving another ship in distress. He
unhitched his horse from the fence, and galloped home as fast as the
animal would carry him.

Medlicot, when he was left alone, took two or three turns about the
mill, as though inspecting the work, but at every turn fixed his eyes
for a few moments on Noke's face. The man was standing under a huge
caldron regulating the escape of the boiling juice into the different
vats by raising and lowering a trap, and giving directions to the
Polynesians as he did so. He was evidently conscious that he was
being regarded, and, as is usual in such a condition, manifestly
failed in his struggle to appear unconscious. Medlicot acknowledged
to himself that the man could not look even him in the face. Was it
possible that he had been wrong, and that Heathcote, though he had
expressed himself badly, was entitled to some sympathy in his fear of
what might be done to him by an enemy? Medlicot also desired to be
just, being more rational, more logical, and less impulsive than the
other, being also somewhat too conscious of his own superior
intelligence. He knew that Heathcote had gone away in great dudgeon,
and he almost feared that he had been harsh and unneighborly. After a
while he stood opposite Nokes and addressed him.

"Do the squatters suffer much from fires?" he said.