"Ah, Grainger my boy, you have been a good friend to me!"

"It's the other way about, Mallard. You were the only man in the whole
colony of Queensland who stood to me when I began to employ Chinese
labour. That ruffian, Peter Finnerty, said in the House, only two months
ago, that I deserved to be shot."

"Well, you stuck to your guns, and I to mine. Fortunately the _Champion_
is my own 'rag,' and not owned by a company. I stuck to you as a matter
of principle."

"And lost heavily by it."

"For six months or so. A lot of people withdrew their advertisements;
but they were a bit surprised when at the end of that time they came
back to me, and I refused to insert their ads. at any price. I consider
that you not only did wisely, but right, in employing the Chinamen. Are
they going on satisfactorily?"

"Very; they do work for me at twenty-five shillings a week that white
men would not do at all--no matter what you offered them: emptying
sludge-pits, building dams, etc."

"Exactly! And now all the people who rose up and howled at you for
employing Chinamen, and the _Champion_ for backing you up, are shouting
themselves hoarse in your praise. And the revival of Chinkie's Flat,
and the new rushes all round about it, have added very materially to the
wealth of this town." After a little further conversation, Grainger went
back to the Queen's Hotel, where Mallard was to call at three o'clock.

Myra Grainger, a small, slenderly-built girl of nineteen, looked up as
he entered the sitting-room.

"Any success, Ted?"

"Here, look at this advertisement. Mallard knows the place, but not the
people. He's coming here at three, and we'll all go and interview Mrs.
Trappeme--'which her real name is Trappem,' I believe."

"I shall be glad to see Mr. Mallard again. I like him--in fact, I liked
him before I ever saw him for the way in which he fought for you."

"And I'm strongly of the opinion that Mr. Thomas Mallard has a very
strong liking for Miss Myra Grainger."

"Then I like him still more for that."

Grainger patted his sister's cheek. "He is a good fellow, Myra. I think
he will ask you to marry him."

"I certainly expect it, Ted."

CHAPTER VII ~ SHEILA CAROLAN

Although Mrs. Trappeme had been so short a time in Townsville, she had
contrived to learn a very good deal, not only about people in the town
itself, but in the surrounding districts, and knew that Grainger was a
wealthy mine-owner, had a sister staying