BALDY THOMPSON
Rough, squarish face, curly auburn wig, bushy grey eyebrows and moustache, and grizzly stubble―eyes that reminded one of Dampier the actor. He was a squatter of the old order―new chum, swagman, drover, shearer, super, pioneer, cocky, squatter, and finally bank victim. He had been through it all, and knew all about it.
He had been in Parliament, and wanted to go again; but the men mistrusted him as Thompson, M.P., though they swore by him as old Baldy Thompson the squatter. His hobby was politics, and his politics were badly boxed. When he wasn't cursing the banks and government he cursed the country. He cursed the labour leaders at intervals, and seemed to think that he could run the Unions better than they could. Also, he seemed to think that he could run Parliament better than any Premier. He was generally voted a hard case, which term is mostly used in a kindly sense out back.
He was always grumbling about the country. If a shearer or rouseabout was good at argument, and a bit of a politician, he hadn't to slave much at Thompson's shed, for Baldy would argue with him all day and pay for it.
