human
You mean to drive a hard bargain.
gpt
I don't call it hard.
human
All I possess is in that house. I cannot go far, as I stand; you might as well give me up at once.
gpt
I see, said Dick musingly.
human
No; you are to have an excellent chance. I have no watch on me: have you? No? Well, it can't be more than one now, or two at the latest, and they keep up these dances till dawn--or they used to. Then perhaps you had better go back to the house now. Button-hole the Colonel; tell him you have had a messenger down from town--from your agent. You can surely add a London agent to your Queensland station and your house in Sydney! Well, affairs have gone wrong on this station of yours--drought, floods--anything you like; you have received an important wire; you are advised, in fact, to start back to Queensland at once. At any rate, you must pack up your traps and leave Graysbrooke first thing in the morning. You are very sorry to be called back so suddenly--they are sorrier still to lose you; but Australia and England are so close now, you are sure to be over again some day--and all the rest of it; but you are never to go near them again. Do you agree?
gpt
What is the alternative?
human
Escape from here dressed like that if you can! You will breakfast in gaol. At best you will be hunted for a week or two, and then taken miserably--there is no bush in England; whereas I offer you freedom with one restriction.
gpt
I agree,
human
Very good. If you keep your word, Sundown the bushranger is at the bottom of the sea, for all I know; if you break it, Sundown the bushranger is a lost man. Now let us leave this place.