Dutchman's Flat

Chapter One

Author's Note

DUTCHMAN'S FLAT



EVERYTHING A MAN does is indication of his character, whether he cheats at cards or takes an unfair advantage because it is legal.

This was probably more evident in the West, where a man's actions were often starkly revealed. The population was sparse, and there was, literally, no place to hide.

Occasionally I have become so involved with the characters in a story that I hesitate to let them go, and "Dutchman's Flat" was such a story. As a result I took the same basic situation and extended the story, much later, into a novel called The Key-Lock Man. In another such case the short story "War Party" became Bendigo Shafter.

Characters can become very real to their author, and often it is difficult to abandon them. One wants to know more about them, about their lives after the story in question ... read full excerpt from Dutchman's Flat ebook