"Of course there is, if you go the right way about it. But can't be done by main force. Wants brains and straight going. That's what we're short of. Governor right enough, if it comes to that, but been 'had' in this last affair."
"The Waitara block?"
"Precisely. I see you're getting colonized. Remember what Bailey Junior said about Mrs. Todgers' fish?"
"'Don't eat none of it?' I remember. But how does that apply?"
"Just this much. Don't you touch an acre of that rich and well-watered area, if you get it for nothing. There'll be bloodshed over it, take my word. And carrying on Master Bailey's warning, any eating done on the premises is more likely than not to be at the expense, literally and personally, of the incautious purchaser."
"In my—I was going to say, in my opinion—but I refrain, being unable to form one. But perhaps I may go so far as to quote old colonists—that there is certain to be trouble if this so-called purchase is attempted to be carried out. At this stage could it not be prevented?"
"Most certainly it could; but when a policy has been weak up to a certain point, the responsible head is apt to square the account by being obstinate in the wrong place. That's the matter now."
"And the end?"
"God only knows. If the Government persists in pushing through this bogus sale, against the warnings of Te Rangitake—who, in addition to his being a high chief, and the largest holder in this said block, is a deuced ugly customer—I'll lay twenty to one that there'll be the devil to pay."