Page:The New Arcadia (Tucker).djvu/77

Rh a derelict chest of drawers in another, tidying articles of vertu in a third.

"Well, what do you think of the camp?" asked the doctor of Dowling as he approached. "My back's broken with stooping about in these cramped little cribs all day," and the strong man threw back his shoulders and expanded his great chest as though to get his form into shape again.

"Your men are fortunate fellows," replied Bowling. "The valley is picturesque indeed, with its lines of white amongst the green and gold. You could not have selected a better site. The land will grow anything, if it's only scratched."

"We will do more than that," said the doctor. "We shall deepen the lagoons and have a splendid natural reservoir. We can shape the creek into a canal; get our craft from the centre of the settlement on to the lake, into the Silverbourne, to the Murray, and the world."

"Have you fully considered the cost of all these works?"

"Every penny. We shall accomplish all with our own labour, which we shall merely have to feed. After six months, provisioning will cost next to nothing."

"But men will not work for their food only."

"They will for homes and lands and share in the profits."

"You have launched upon an enormous undertaking."

"Not at all. In the ordinary course I must have invested scores of thousands of pounds in the enterprise. As it is, the settlers share the risk."

"How so?"

"They advance their labour. I put my land at their disposal. If the worst comes to the worst, I have drawn no profit from land, which at the same time has been improved; they, on the other hand, have toiled to little