The Squatter's Ward

'The Squatter's Ward' is an adventure novel written by Edward S. Sorenson. The story unfolds on 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 gray, though he was yet a good many shakes of the leg under forty. His eyes were deep set, bright, piercing eyes, overshadowed by bushy brows that lent a sinister expression to his face.