5

Chapter 5: Jed Roff

On that fatal evening Mr. Merton was seated before his desk engaged in the computation of some monetary matters, while Roff stood by holding his hat in his hand. He was a tall man, with broad, square shoulders, that gave an aspect of herculean power to his well-knit frame. He could not be called handsome though his countenance was not an unpleasant one, and his full black beard was neat and trim. He had a high, commanding forehead, fringed with hair that had a natural curl in it, and so dark and glossy as to have an oleaginous appearance. His eyes, which inclined to a greyish tint, were steady and fearless, mostly mild in their light, but at times hard and fierce. His dress was modest and unpretending, and he looked every inch a gentleman.

It was mooted about when he first came to Tipparoo that he was a man of refined tastes and good breeding, a man who had seen better days, and had been reduced by adverse circumstances to seek a livelihood among backblock stations. He took a contract to ringbark a quantity of timber at a shilling an acre on Tipparoo, at which he made sufficient money to take up a selection a few months later. That was the hypothesis; but many knew that he was only a dummy--that is, he selected the land, not for his own use and benefit as required by the Act, but in the interests of Richard Merton, and for the augmentation of that gentleman's freehold property. This was a common practice among squatters in the early days of "free selections," as evidenced by the fact of so many settlers abandoning their lands at the expiration of the required duration of residence.