"That's what I don't follow," one of them said. "The chap must be hiding somewhere with that white horse of his. Why not scour the range for him?"
"Brennan told me he didn't believe there was a white horse—that it was all a yarn," another exclaimed.
"Well, I saw it," Gale retorted. "I saw it on the Taloona road. I'd have gone after it only I was in a buggy and it vanished into the bush."
"Is the range the only place you'd look, Mr. Gale?" one of the men asked.
"No," Gale replied. "I'd look there first, and then I'd go the other way."
"Taloona way?"
"Well, not far off."
"That's what I think," the man went on. "Old Crotchety takes the loss of his money too quietly to please me. He's a pretty fly old chap and does not stop at a trifle to get his own back."
"Like he did when he fired you out, Davy," someone exclaimed, and there was a general laugh, for the story of how Davy had been sent about his business at a moment's notice by Dudgeon was one of the stock anecdotes of the district.
"Oh, that's as it may be," Davy retorted, "but I know too much about the old man to trust him very far."