Blake nodded.
“No, I s’pose not,” he said. “You’re too young to worry your little head about murders and suchlike. But everybody was talkin’ about the Winfield affair, so I sorter took it for granted that you’d know about it.”
“Well, I don’t,” said Norah. “What is it all about?”
“There’s not very much I can tell you about it, missy,” Blake said, scratching his head and looking down at the grave lace. “Nobody knows much about it.
“Winfield’s a little bit of a place about twenty miles from ’ere, you know—right in the bush and away from any rail or coach line. On’y a couple o’ stores, an’ a hotel, an’ a few houses. Don’t suppose many people out o’ this district ever heard of it, it’s that quiet an’ asleep.
“Well, there was two ol’ men livin’ together in a little hut a mile or so from the Winfield township. Prospectors, they said they were—an’ there was an idea that they’d done pretty well at the game, an’ had a bit of gold hidden somewhere about their camp. They kept very much to themselves, an’ never mixed with anyone—when one o’ them came into the township for stores he’d get his business done an’ clear out as quick as possible.
“Well, about a month ago two fellows called Bowen was riding along a bush track between Winfield an’ their camp when they came across one o’ the ol’ mates peggin’ along the track for all he was worth. They was surprised to see that he was carryin’ a big swag, an’ was apparently on a move.
“‘Hullo, Harris!’ they says—‘leavin’ the district?’ He was a civil spoken ol’ chap as a rule, so they was rather surprised when he on’y give a sort o’ grunt, an’ hurried on.
“They was after cattle, and pretty late the same day they found themselves near the hut where the two ol’ chaps lived, an’ as they was hungry an’ thirsty, they reckoned they’d call in an’ see if they could get a feed. So they rode up and tied their horses to a tree and walked up to the hut. No one answered their knock, so they opened the door, an’ walked in. There, lyin’ on his bunk, was ol’ Waters. They spoke to him, but he didn’t answer. You see, missy, he couldn’t, bein’ dead.”
“Dead!” said Norah, her eyes dilating.