you on a buckjumper. It's a bargain then, Lady Bridget.'

'A bargain--what?'

'You promise to pay me a visit when the Governor makes his trip north--
when he carries out his notion of establishing military patrols and a
Maxim gun or two to put down Trades-Unionism and native outrages in the
Back-Blocks?'

Lady Bridget looked at him thoughtfully. He had pulled out his tobacco
pouch and was filling a well-worn pipe. 'You won't mind my pipe, will
you--as you're a smoker yourself. Mrs Gildea likes it best--And so do
I.'

Lady Bridget sniffed his raw tobacco and made a tiny moue. 'Well, if
you prefer that--No, of course I don't mind. I see,' she went on,
'that you favour the Maxim gun idea, Mr McKeith. I understand that
you're one of the Oppressors; and you and I wouldn't agree on that
point.'

Mr McKeith returned her look, all the hardness in his face softening to
an expression of almost tender indulgence.

'We'd see about that. I might convert you--but in the Back-Blocks.'

'Or I might convert YOU.'

He shook his head, and then laughed in a shy, boyish way.

'There's no knowing what might happen--but in the Back-Blocks.'