Explore "The Crooked Stick" by Rolf Boldrewood on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In another moment steps were heard on the verandah. The growling dogs, still deeply distrustful, remained in the yard. A hand tried the back-door; it yielded, but this apparently excited no suspicion. It is not the custom to lock up houses in the bush of Australia. Burglars are unknown, and bushrangers prefer to transact their business chiefly in broad daylight -- about the hour of 11 A. M. This was held to be an exceptional case.
'The storekeeper sleeps off the big room,' said some one cautiously. 'I saw him there when I was buying tobacco.'