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It was a hot day in mid-December, so hot that the perspiration ran in little streams down the face of Richard Merton--familiarly known among his station hands as "Old Dick"--as he sat in a canvas-back chair in the coolest corner of the verandah. He was a middle-aged man of medium height; but his corpulent form made his legs appear exceedingly short. His thin, short-clipped beard was well sprinkled with grey, though he was yet a good many shakes of the leg under forty. His eyes were deep set, bright, piercing eyes, over-shadowed by bushy brows that lent a sinister expression to his face.
Altogether Mr. Richard Merton was not endowed with a prepossessing physiognomy. And yet, though a blustering, quick-tempered man, and somewhat excitable, he was good-hearted in the main.