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   that, like Javert in 'Les Miserables,' he was born with an instinct for a criminal, but I do not credit this particularly, as I myself could deduct that this man McAdoo had more reason than mere surliness of disposition for not wishing us to stop at the mission-house. You see, it had to be a mission; it was either that or a fort; there was nothing there for which to trade.

"All of this had entered my mind, just as it had Lynch's; but, although apparently careless, Lynch was in reality a painstaking man.

"We had entered the stockade, an enclosure of some size, in the middle of which stood a bungalow, which had once been pretty and which was evidently far older than the structure surrounding it. There was not a soul in sight, yet one had the feeling of furtive eyes peering from behind slanted jalousies. Lynch looked about him critically.

Quite like an Australian ranch-house, is it not, Doctor?' he remarked; then turned [ 95 ]