Bendigo Shafter
Chapter One
WHERE THE WAGONS stopped we built our homes, making the cabins tight
against the winter's coming. Here in this place we would build our
town, here we would create something new.
We would space our buildings, lay out our streets and dig wells to
provide water for our people. The idea of it filled me with a
heartwarming excitement such as I had not known before.
Was it this feeling of creating something new that held my brother
Cain to his forge throughout the long hours? He knew the steel he
turned in his hands, knew the weight of the hammer and where to
strike, knew by the glow of the iron what its temperature would be;
even the leap of the sparks had a message for his experience.
He knew when to heat and when to strike and when to dip the iron
into the water; yet when is the point at which a group of strangers
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