They did not even know there was such a
country till McMillan found it. It belonged to the blacks. There
was nobody else here when we came, and if we pay anybody it should be
the blackfellows. Besides, if I had had stock, and money enough to
take up a run, I could have had the pick of Gippsland, twenty square
miles, for ten pounds; and because I am a poor man you want me to pay
twenty pounds for occupying a few yards of sand. Where is the sense
of that, I'd like to know? If you are an honest Englishman, you
ought to be ashamed of yourself for coming here with your troopers
and carbines and pistols on such a business, sticking up a poor man
for twenty pounds in the name of the Government. Why, no bushrangers
could do worse than that."
"You are insolent, my man. If you don't pay the money at once I'll
give you just ten minutes to clear out, and then I shall order my men
to burn down your hut. You will find that you can't defy the
Government with impunity."
"Burn away, if you like, and much good may it do you." Pointing to
his whaleboat on the beach, "There's the ship I came here in from
Melbourne, and that's the ship I shall go back in, and you daren't
hinder me."
Mr. Reeve was present, watching the proceedings and listening. He
had influential friends in Sydney, had a station at Snake Ridge, a
special survey on the Tarra, and he felt that it would be advisable
to pour oil on the troubled waters.
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