Out on the Pampas; Or, The Young SettlersHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
General
Out on the Pampas; Or, The Young Settlers
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
Pampas (Argentina) -- Juvenile fiction
He one day, therefore, unfolded his plans to them. 'As you know, boys, I
am going to England shortly; and although I shall perhaps now and then
come over here, I shall make England my permanent home. You boys will
therefore jointly manage the estate. The income this year will reach
£1200, and would be much more did we not keep the greater portion of our
animals to increase our stock. I have now £2500 in the bank. After the
busy life I have led here, I could not remain inactive. My present
intention is to take a large farm upon a long lease with the option of
purchase. My object will be to obtain a farm of large acreage and poor
land, but improvable by better drainage and an outlay of capital. I
shall risk my £2500 in this, and also the income I draw from here for
the next two years. The profits will increase each year. I shall
therefore in two years have sunk £5000 in the farm,--a portion being
devoted to building a suitable house. You will, of course, during the
two years spend whatever money you may require; but, in fact, it is
impossible for you to spend much money here. At the end of two years I
propose that first you, Charley, as the elder, shall come home to
England for a year, and then that Hubert shall take his turn. You will
then stay a year here together, and again have each a year in England,
and so on regularly. From the end of this two years I shall draw half
the income of this estate, and you will take the other half between
you, to invest or use as you may think fit. At the end of six years I
calculate that the estate will be stocked with as many cattle and sheep
as it can support. Fifteen thousand cattle, say, and thirty thousand
sheep. You will then sell all your annual increase, and the profits will
be greater every year. At the end of ten years from this time, if, as I
think probable, you will have had enough of this life, we will sell the
estate. By that time it will be the centre of a populous district, the
land will be greatly increased in value, and will be equal to any in the
country,--so much so, indeed, that it will probably be out of the
question to find a purchaser for the whole. We could therefore break it
up to suit purchasers, dividing it into lots of one, two, three, or four
square miles, or a square league, and dividing the stock in proportion.
The house would, of course, go with the arable land and a mile or two of
pasture beyond it. My share of the yearly income I shall devote to
buying my estate. Say the price is £10,000. This I shall, with my income
from here and my income from the estate itself, probably be able to make
in ten years. The estate, with the £5000 I propose to risk in drainage,
etc., ought then to be worth £20,000. The value of this estate of fifty
thousand acres, with the flocks and herds, ought to be at least double
that amount; so that at the end of ten years I shall be a rich man. You,
with care, can certainly save £5000 each in the ten years, and will
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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