em down again. At least it seems that way to me."

"That matter might be settled, I think," said Strong, dismissing it.
"What other objections have you to the agreement?"

"As an agreement I object to the whole thing, the way it's being worked.
If it were a proposal I should want to know how about the Eight Hours and
the Chinese."

"We don't wish to alter existing hours," answered Strong.

"Then why not put it down?"

"And we don't wish to encourage aliens."

"A good many pastoralists do and we are determined to try to stop them.
It looks queer to us that nothing is said about it."

"Some certainly did urge that Chinese should be allowed in tropical
Queensland but our influence is against that and we hope to restrain the
more impetuous and thus prevent friction."

Ned shrugged his shoulders without answering.

"We hope--" began Strong. Then he broke off, saying instead: "I do not
see why the men should regard the pastoralists as necessarily inimical
and as not desirous of doing what is fair."

"Look here, Mr. Strong," said Ned leaning forward, as was his habit when
in earnest. "We are beginning to understand things. We know that you
people are after profits and nothing else, that to you we are like so
many horses or sheep, only not so valuable because we're harder to break
in and our carcasses aren't worth anything. We know that you don't care a
curse whether we live or die and that you'd fill the bush with Chinese
to-morrow if you could see your way to making an extra one per cent. by
it."

"You haven't much confidence in us, at any rate," returned Strong,
coolly. "But if we look carefully after profits you must recollect that a
great deal of capital is trust funds. The widow and the orphan invest
their little fortunes in our hands. Surely you wouldn't injure them?"

"I thought we were talking straight to one another," said Ned. "You will
excuse me, Mr. Strong, for thinking that to talk 'widow and orphan' isn't
worthy of a man like you unless you've got a very small opinion of me.
When you think about our widows and orphans we'll think about your widows
and orphans. That's only clap-trap. It doesn't alter the hard fact that
you're only after profit and don't care what happens to us so long as you
get it."

The financier bit his lips, flushing. He took up a letter and glanced
over it before replying.

"Do you care what happens to us?"

"As things are, no. How can we? The worst that could happen to one