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diff --git a/22744.txt b/22744.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f218c17 --- /dev/null +++ b/22744.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6402 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Adventurous Seven, by Bessie Marchant, +Illustrated by W. R. S. Stott + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Adventurous Seven + Their Hazardous Undertaking + + +Author: Bessie Marchant + + + +Release Date: September 23, 2007 [eBook #22744] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 22744-h.htm or 22744-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/7/4/22744/22744-h/22744-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/7/4/22744/22744-h.zip) + + + + + +THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN + + + * * * * * * + + +By BESSIE MARCHANT + + THE YOUNGEST SISTER: A Tale of Manitoba. 5s. + + A PRINCESS OF SERVIA: A Story of To-day. 3s. 6d. + + A GIRL OF DISTINCTION: A Tale of the Karroo. 5s. + + A COUNTESS FROM CANADA: A Story of Life in the Backwoods. 5s. + + DAUGHTERS OF THE DOMINION: A Story of the Canadian Frontier. 5s. + "Related with immense spirit."--_Globe_. + + SISTERS OF SILVER CREEK: A Story of Western Canada. 5s. + "A very attractive and brightly written story."--_Daily Chronicle_. + + THE FERRY HOUSE GIRLS: An Australian Story. 3s. 6d. + "The story is told with great realistic force and + style."--_British Weekly_. + + GRETA'S DOMAIN: A Tale of Chiloe. 3s. 6d. + "Few girls but will enjoy this exciting tale."--_Academy_. + + THREE GIRLS IN MEXICO: A Story of Life in the Interior. 3s. 6d. + "The style is simple and direct, and the whole book + pleasing."--_Saturday Review_. + + A COURAGEOUS GIRL: A Story of Uruguay. 3s. 6d. + "It is a most fascinating story."--_Schoolmistress_. + + NO ORDINARY GIRL: A Story of Central America. 3s. 6d. + "The conception of the story is fresh, and deserves + praise."--_Athenaeum_. + + A GIRL OF THE FORTUNATE ISLES: A Story of New Zealand. 3s. 6d. + + A DAUGHTER OF THE RANGES: A Story of Western Canada. 3s. 6d. + + A HEROINE OF THE SEA: A Story of Vancouver Island. 3s. 6d. + + THREE GIRLS ON A RANCH: A Story of New Mexico. 2s. 6d. + + THE GIRL CAPTIVES: A Story of the Indian Frontier. 2s. 6d. + + THE BONDED THREE: A Story of Northern India. 2s. 6d. + + HOPE'S TRYST. 2s. + + LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. + + + * * * * * * + + +[Illustration: "THE DOCTOR'S CANE CAME CUTTING THROUGH THE AIR"] + + +THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN + +Their Hazardous Undertaking + +by + +BESSIE MARCHANT + +Author of "The Heroine of the Ranch" "The Loyalty of Hester Hope" +"A Princess of Servia" "The Youngest Sister" &c. + +Illustrated by W. R. S. Stott + + + + + + + +Blackie and Son Limited +London Glasgow and Bombay + + + +Contents + + Chap. Page + I. The Great Idea 9 + II. The Deputation 18 + III. The Emigrants 34 + IV. Rumple's Discovery 49 + V. The End of the Voyage 61 + VI. A Real Friend 73 + VII. The One-armed Man 88 + VIII. The Start 102 + IX. In a Strange Place 114 + X. A Fright at Night 124 + XI. Anxious Hours 136 + XII. Repairing the Damage 148 + XIII. In Sight of Hammerville 159 + XIV. The Arrival 173 + XV. A Great Shock 186 + XVI. The Next Thing To Be Done 196 + XVII. In the Thick of It 213 + XVIII. "Father, We Want You!" 225 + XIX. The News 243 + XX. How It All Ended 252 + + + + +THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN + +CHAPTER I + +The Great Idea + + +The village schoolroom was packed as full as it would hold, and the air +was so thick that, as Sylvia said, it could almost be scooped up with a +spoon. The lecturer was stout and perspiring freely, but he meant to do +his duty at all costs, and he rose to the occasion with tremendous +vigour, declaiming in really fine style: + +"It is a poor man's paradise, and there is no place on the face of this +earth to rival it. You reach it by a pleasure cruise across summer seas, +to find it has the finest scenery your eyes have ever beheld and a +climate that is not to be beaten." + +"Hear, hear!" shouted Rumple, clapping vigorously. He had led the +applause from the very beginning of the lecture, only it was a little +awkward for the lecturer that he mostly broke into the middle of a +sentence instead of waiting for a pause, as a more judicious person +might have done. + +"Encore!" yelled Billykins, forgetting for the moment that it was not a +concert, and, as the lecture had already lasted for upwards of an hour +and a half, it might have proved a little tedious to some of the +audience if it had been repeated from the very beginning. + +The rows of people sitting in the seats behind broke into a wild uproar +of stamping, thumping, and clapping which lasted for nearly five +minutes, and, of course, raised more dust to thicken the atmosphere. + +The pause gave the lecturer time to recover his breath and wipe some of +the perspiration from his face; it also made him rather cross, for he +had somehow got the idea that he was being laughed at, which was quite +wrong, because all seven of the Plumsteads, from Nealie down to Ducky, +thought that he was doing very well indeed. + +"If you don't believe what I say," concluded the lecturer, "just come +out to New South Wales and see for yourselves if I have not told you the +plain, unvarnished truth; and I repeat what I have said before, that +although it is no place for the idle rich, for the man or the woman who +wants to work it is not to be beaten." + +It was at this moment that Nealie leaned forward to whisper to Rupert, +who sat on the other side of Don and Billykins: + +"Would it not be lovely for us all to go? Just think how we could help +dear Father, and he would not be lonely any more." + +"Rather!" ejaculated Rupert, making a noise which was first cousin to a +whistle; then he passed the whisper on to Sylvia and Rumple, and that +was how the great idea started. + +When the lecture was over they all crowded forward to speak to the +lecturer, explaining in a rather incoherent fashion the reason of their +keen interest in what he had been saying, and their hard and fast +intention to emigrate as soon as possible. + +"Our father lives in New South Wales; but most likely you have met him," +said Nealie, whose knowledge of Australian geography was rather vague, +and who supposed that, as the lecturer came from Sydney, he would most +probably know everyone who lived in the country known as New South +Wales. + +"I can't remember him offhand, young lady, but perhaps if you tell me +his name I may recollect whether I have met him," said the lecturer, +smiling at her in a genial fashion. + +"He is Dr. Plumstead, and he is very clever," said Nealie, giving her +head the proud little tilt which it always took on when she spoke of her +father. She was very much of a child, despite her nineteen years, and +she never seemed able to understand that her father was not at the top +of his profession. + +"Father is very much like Rumple, only, of course, bigger," broke in +Billykins, who could never be reduced to silence for many minutes +together nor yet be thrust into the background. + +But Rumple blushed furiously at being dragged into notice in such a way, +and, turning his head abruptly, gave the lecturer no chance of comparing +his face with those of possible acquaintances on the other side of the +world. + +"Most likely I have met him. I see so many people, far too many to be +able to recall their names at will," said the lecturer; but then the +vicar came up to claim his attention and the seven could get no further +chance to talk to him. + +They set off home then; and as it was so dark, and a drizzling rain was +falling, Nealie took Ducky on her back, while Sylvia and Rumple helped +Rupert, who was lame, leaving Don and Billykins to bring up the rear. + +The nearest way was down through Boughlee Wood, but this route was not +to be thought of in the dark. It was not even wise to take the short cut +across Kennel Hill, so they tramped along the hard road, splashing +through the puddles and talking like a set of magpies about the +lecture, the lecturer, and their own determination to emigrate at once. + +"No one wants us here, and there is nothing to do except get into +mischief," said Sylvia, with a sigh. + +"Father will be glad to have us, of course, and we will make him so very +happy!" cried Nealie, and then Ducky leaned forward to kiss her on the +nose, hugging her so tightly that it was quite wonderful she was not +choked. + +"But how are we to get to Australia?" panted Rupert, who was finding the +pace rather trying. + +"We must ask Mr. Runciman to let us have the money," said Nealie. "I +should think that he would be glad to do it, for then he will get rid of +us, don't you see? And he is always grumbling about our being such a +dreadful expense." + +"Mr. Runciman is horrid!" burst out Ducky, giving Nealie another hug. "I +just hate him when he says nasty things to you, Nealie." + +"Of course we are an expense to him, especially when dear Father is not +able to send enough money to keep us, and we have all got such big +appetites," said Nealie, with a sigh. + +"I am hungry now, dreadfully hungry," put in Billykins from the rear. + +"Shall we go to see Mr. Runciman to-morrow?" asked Rumple. + +"We can't manage to get back before dark, I am afraid, and Mrs. Puffin +makes such a fuss if we are out after dark; just as if anyone would want +to run away with the seven of us," returned Nealie in a scornful tone. + +"We can go in the morning, for the vicar is going to a Diocesan +Conference, and he has given us a holiday. He told me about it +to-night," said Rupert. + +"That will be lovely. Then we will have Aunt Judith's chair for you and +Ducky, it will be just a jolly jaunt for us; only we must be at The +Paddock early, to catch Mr. Runciman before he goes out," said Nealie. + +"I would rather walk----" began Ducky, with a touch of petulance in her +voice, but Nealie stopped her quickly with a whisper: + +"You must ride, darling, or Rupert won't have the chair, and a long walk +does take it out of him so badly you know." + +"If we have the chair, Don and I will be the horses, and we will go down +Coombe Lane at a gallop," said Billykins, with a festive prance. + +"That will be perfectly lovely, only Rupert will have to hold me tightly +or I shall be tossed out at the turn, and I might damage my nose again," +replied Ducky, with a gleeful chuckle. + +By this time they had reached Beechleigh, and turning short across the +green by the pond they tramped in at the gate of the funny little house +where their great-aunt, Miss Judith Webber, had lived and died, and +which was the only home they had known since Ducky was a tiny babe. + +Mrs. Puffin, a lean little widow of mouldy aspect, opened the door to +let them in and exclaimed loudly to see how damp they were. + +"Now you will all be catching colds, and I shall have to nurse you," she +said in a woebegone tone, as she felt them all round. "If you must go +out in the wet in this fashion, why can't you take umbrellas?" + +"Because we haven't got them," answered Nealie, with a laugh. She mostly +laughed about their limitations, because it made them just a little +easier to bear. "The little boys had the last umbrella that we possess +to play at Bedouin tents with on Tuesday, and they had a sad accident +and broke three of its ribs, poor thing. But we shall not catch cold, +Mrs. Puffin, because we are all going straight to bed." + +"But I am hungry," protested Billykins. + +"I know, and so am I; but we will all have a big piece of seed cake when +we get into bed, and go to sleep to dream of big bowls of steaming +porridge with brown sugar on the top," said Nealie; and the vision +proved so alluring that all seven trooped up the dark stairs and crowded +into the small bedrooms, feeling quite cheerful in spite of tired +limbs, hunger, and the discomfort of damp clothes. + +But their voices hushed, and a wistful look crept into their faces, as +they passed the door leading into Aunt Judith's empty bedroom. The old +lady had loved them so dearly, and they had given her love for love in +unstinted measure, so that now she was dead there was an awful blank in +their hearts and their lives. + +Being very tired and very healthy, however, they went to sleep directly +they tumbled into bed; indeed Ducky could not keep awake long enough to +eat her cake, so Nealie laid it on the chair by the little girl's bed +for her to find when she opened her eyes in the morning. + +Sleep was longer in coming to Nealie than to the others. She was older +than they were, and had been mother to them so long that she was apt to +be thinking out ways and means when she ought to have been asleep. + +It would be too utterly delightful to go out to Australia and live with +her father. It was nearly seven years since she had seen him, and her +heart was always aching at the thought of his lonely exile. + +If only Mr. Runciman would consent to their going! But would he? + +"Well, it is of no use to worry and to wonder; we must just wait and +see. But I think when all seven of us go marching into that splendid +library of his at The Paddock, he will be so dismayed to see what a lot +of us there are, that he will be quite ready to take the very shortest +way of getting rid of the bother of looking after us," she said to +herself, with a soft little laugh which rippled through the dark room +and even made itself heard in the other room across the passage where +the four boys were sleeping; and Rupert, who had been having bad dreams +because his lame foot was hurting rather badly, smiled in his uneasy +slumber and straightway drifted off into a more profound repose, from +which he did not wake until the misty September dawning crept over the +wide plantations of beech and larch for which Beechleigh was famous. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Deputation + + +It was well for Nealie Plumstead that she could mostly laugh in spite of +troubles, for her life had been shadowed by a great disaster which had +brought in its turn a battalion of cares, worries, and responsibilities. + +Until she was almost twelve years old life had been one unbroken +happiness. She had been at the head of an ever-increasing nursery, and +she had governed her small kingdom to the very best of her ability. Then +had come a cloud of black trouble, the exact nature of which she did not +understand even now, only vaguely she had gathered that it was something +professional. + +Then Ducky, whose name was Hilda Grace, had been born, and the dear +mother had sunk out of life, leaving a distracted husband and seven +children to mourn their loss. + +Following this came the long journey from the busy manufacturing town, +where they had always lived, to Beechleigh and the home of Miss Judith +Webber. Dr. Plumstead had come with them to see them safely settled, but +on the day that Ducky was one month old, he had kissed them all round, +in a heartbreaking goodbye, and had set off on the voyage to Australia. + +Sometimes he used to write to Aunt Judith and send her money for the +children's keep, when he had any to send; but he almost never wrote to +his children, although they simply pelted him with letters of the most +affectionate description. + +Two years ago, however, a great weakness had fallen upon Aunt Judith; +she could write no letters nor do any business at all, and another +nephew of hers, a Mr. Runciman, undertook the administration of her +affairs. + +The seven hated him in a hearty, downright fashion, for he always made +himself as disagreeable as possible to them, and certainly seemed to +resent their existence. + +It was soon after Aunt Judith had been taken ill that a letter coming +from Australia, directed to Miss Webber, had been opened by Nealie in +all good faith, for she never supposed that her father would write +anything to her aunt that she might not read; but to her dismay she +learned that the numerous letters of the children, instead of bringing +pleasure to the heart of the exile, gave him so much pain that he +begged Miss Webber not to let them write to him, because it reminded him +too sadly of all that he had lost in the past, and was missing in the +present. It was such a sad, dreadful sort of letter that Nealie had +cried herself nearly blind over it, and then had gathered the others for +a solemn council. The elders had no secrets from the younger ones, so +Billykins and Ducky had as much to say on the subject as their seniors; +and in the end it was resolved that Nealie and Rupert should write a +letter to their father and tell him that they would worry him with no +more letters until he expressed a desire to have them. + +A year and a half had passed since that time, but although the children +watched for the mails with pathetic eagerness, there had come no letter +from their father for them. He did not write to Aunt Judith either, +after he had been told how ill she was; but he wrote to Mr. Runciman +sometimes, they knew, because Mr. Runciman had spoken of having letters +from him. + +This long silence would have made them very miserable, if it had not +been that they were so sorry for him that it never occurred to them to +be sorry for themselves. They had each other, but he was alone, and so, +of course, he was to be pitied. + +Inspired by the great idea, the seven woke in riotous spirits next +morning, which not even the near prospect of an interview with Mr. +Runciman could daunt, although he was quite sufficiently formidable at +close quarters to make any ordinary person afraid. + +Rupert and Rumple cleaned the boots, while Nealie and Sylvia got +breakfast ready, the three juniors having to make themselves useful in +any direction where help was most needed. + +They had all learned to wait on themselves during the long illness of +Aunt Judith, for Mrs. Puffin had her hands full with nursing, while +since the death of the old lady she had been in such poor health that +Nealie and Sylvia had done all the cooking and most of the housework, +with a great deal of help from the others. + +Breakfast consisted of big plates of porridge and slices of home-made +bread spread with damson jam. There were two trees in Aunt Judith's +small garden, and they had borne a record crop this year. + +There was no lingering over their food this morning, but directly the +meal was dispatched the boys washed up the breakfast crockery, while the +girls made the beds and put the rooms tidy. Then Nealie asked Mrs. +Puffin to make them a suet pudding and bake them some potatoes for +dinner, after which they brushed themselves into a fine state of +neatness, and then, bringing the bath chair from the shed, Rupert and +Ducky were packed into it and the expedition set out on the five miles' +journey to The Paddock, Smethwick, where Mr. Runciman lived. + +It was still quite early, and Mr. Runciman, having dealt with the +morning's letters, was sitting in his library looking through the daily +paper before going out to interview his steward and settling the other +business of the day, when the butler entered the room and announced: + +"The seven Misses and Masters Plumstead to see you, sir." + +"Goodness gracious, what next?" exclaimed Mr. Runciman in a tone of +positive alarm. + +"Shall I show them in, if you please, sir?" asked the butler in a +sympathetic fashion, looking as if he really felt sorry for the +perturbed gentleman. + +"All seven of them? Yes, I suppose you must, and see here, Roberts, just +ask the housekeeper to have some cakes and cocoa, or something of that +kind, ready for them to have before they go back to Beechleigh, for I +suppose that they are walking?" + +"Yes, sir; that is to say, some of them are, but the lame young +gentleman and the little girl rode down in a bath chair," replied the +butler, and then permitted himself a grin of pure amusement as he +retired from the room to usher in the visitors, for the harassed master +of the house fairly groaned at the thought of having callers arrive in +such a fashion. + +"The Misses and Masters Plumstead," announced the butler, throwing open +the door with the grand flourish which was worth at least ten pounds a +year to him in salary. + +Nealie and Ducky entered first, followed by Rupert, walking alone, then +came Sylvia and Rumple, while Don and Billykins brought up the rear. + +Mr. Runciman rose at once and came forward to greet them, trying very +hard to infuse as much cordiality as possible into his manner. + +"My dear children, what an unexpected pleasure! Why, Cornelia, you are +positively blooming, and my little friend Hilda is as charming as +always. Ah, Rupert, my boy, how goes the Latin? Nothing like the dead +languages for training the mind. Sylvia, you grow so fast that there is +no keeping up with you. Dalrymple, you will have to use the dumb-bells +more or you will positively have Donald and William beat you in the +matter of height." + +It was one of Mr. Runciman's vices in the eyes of the seven that he +would always give them the full benefit of their baptismal names, +although he knew, because they had told him so, that they simply hated +the formal mode of address, which no one used except himself. It always +had the effect of making them stiff and self-conscious; so now Rupert +limped more than usual, Sylvia dropped her gloves, which she was +carrying because they had too many holes to be wearable, and Rumple +lurched against a pile of books that lay at the edge of the table and +brought the whole lot to the floor with a crash. + +"Sorry," murmured Rumple, diving hastily to recover the volumes, and +promptly knocking his head against that of Billykins, who was also +grovelling for the same purpose, while Nealie plunged into the business +of their visit, hoping to divert the attention of the master of the +house from the awkwardness of the boys, poor things; but Sylvia giggled +in quite a disgraceful fashion, then blinked hard at a bust of Apollo +which stood on a bookshelf opposite, and tried to look as if she were +appreciating the admirable way in which it was sculptured. + +"We have come down to see you to-day to ask you if you will please send +us out to New South Wales to our father," said Nealie, holding her head +at an extremely haughty angle, just because she was so very nervous. + +"Good gracious! I wonder what you will want next?" gasped Mr. Runciman, +who had probably not been so much astonished for a very long time. + +"It would really be taking a great load of worry from you, sir," put in +Rupert eagerly, thrusting himself abreast of Nealie and leaning on his +stick while he talked. "A large family, as we are, would be a valuable +asset in a new country, while here we are only an encumbrance and a +nuisance. Besides, we should like to be with our father." + +"Quite so, quite so; but think of the expense!" murmured Mr. Runciman, +as he rubbed his hands together in a nervous manner. He said the first +thing which came into his head for the sake of gaining time. The +proposition was sufficiently staggering, but on the other hand it might +be worth consideration. + +"I am afraid that we must be a heavy expense to you now, sir, seeing +that we have to be fed and clothed," replied Rupert, with a deference +that was really soothing to Mr. Runciman, who smiled graciously and +waved his hand as much as to say that the matter was too trifling to be +considered. + +"You will let us go, won't you, air, because we want to build the +Empire?" burst out Billykins, thrusting himself in between his elders +and looking so flushed and excited that Mr. Runciman, who had no son of +his own, could not be so repressive as he felt he ought to have been. + +"Eh, what? And how do you expect you are going to set about it, young +man?" he demanded, while Billykins went suddenly red in the face, +because Sylvia had tweaked his jacket, which was the signal that he was +overstepping the mark. + +"I don't know, but I expect we will find out when we get there. Don and +I mostly find out how to do things, and Nealie says we are going to be +the business men of the family. Rupert and Rumple have got the brains, +but there is practical perseverance in us----" + +The small boy came to a sudden pause, for Sylvia, fearing what he might +say next, had dragged him into the background, leaving Nealie to speak. + +"We should be very glad to go to Australia, if you please; for now that +Aunt Judith is dead no one wants us here, and we might be a very great +comfort to our father when he got used to having us." Her voice broke a +little on the last words; she was remembering the letter which she had +so innocently opened and read, and the wonder whether he would be quite +glad to see them at first crept in to spoil her joy at the thought that +perhaps Mr. Runciman was for once going to do the thing they wanted so +badly. + +Her words brought a frown to his face, and when he spoke his voice had +an apologetic ring which sounded strangely in the ears of the seven. + +"I am sorry that you should feel that no one wants you here. Of course +Mrs. Runciman and my daughters have so many engagements that it is not +easy for them to go as far as Beechleigh very often; but we have +certainly tried to take care of you since your great-aunt passed away." + +"You have been most kind," said Nealie hastily, divining in a vague +fashion that she had somehow said something to hurt his feelings, which +was certainly outside her intentions. "But we hate to be a continual +burden upon our connections, and there seems no way in which we can earn +money here." + +"Don and I could keep pigs on the stubble fields, only Nealie won't let +us. We could earn half a crown a week at it too," burst out Billykins, +thrusting himself to the front like a jack-in-the-box and disappearing +as suddenly, being again dragged back by Sylvia. + +There was a troubled look on the face of Mr. Runciman as his gaze rested +upon Nealie, who was the living image of her dead mother. There was a +secret chamber in his heart that was tenanted by the mournful memory of +a dead love. He had loved the mother of the seven, but she had passed +him by to marry Dr. Plumstead, and so the secret chamber had held +nothing but a shrine ever since, only it made him a little kinder to the +motherless children than he otherwise might have been. + +"It would be a tremendous expense to send you all such a long distance," +he said, still speaking for the sake of gaining time, yet disposed to +regard the proposal as a really practical way in which to solve the +problem of their future. + +"It could be done for about seventy pounds, I think, if we went +steerage; and it is quite comfortable for people who do not mind +roughing it, and as we have not been used to any sort of luxury, of +course we shall not miss it," said Sylvia. + +"I could not allow you to go as steerage passengers," replied Mr. +Runciman. + +"We would much rather go as steerage passengers than not go at all," +murmured Nealie. + +"I will think about it and let you know," he said, but with so much +giving way in his tone that they burst into a chorus of imploring. + +"Please, please decide now and write to tell Father that we are coming. +We are quite ready to start by the next boat, and it is so lonely living +at Beechleigh now that Aunt Judith is dead," pleaded Nealie, silencing +the others with a wave of her hand. + +If one of the others had spoken then, Mr. Runciman would certainly have +refused, but because of her likeness to the dead he had to give way. He +reflected, too, that if he wrote the letter now it would be impossible +for him to draw back from his word, however angry his wife might be when +she heard what he had done. + +"Very well, I will write to your father to-night," he said. + +"Do not leave it until this evening; you might forget; there are so many +other things for you to remember," said Nealie softly. "If you will +write the letter now we will post it as we go through Braybrook Lees; +then it will be just in time for the outgoing mail. Tell dear Father +that we are coming by the next boat. We will be ready somehow." + +"Yes, please, please, dear Mr. Runciman, write now," said Sylvia, +leaning forward in her most engaging manner, while even Ducky smiled +upon him, clasping her hands entreatingly, just as Sylvia and Nealie +were doing. + +"Very well; but it will have to be a short letter, for the cart is +coming round in twenty minutes to take me over to Aldington," he said, +giving way before their entreaties and pulling out his watch to see what +the time was; and then he touched the bell at his side, saying to +Nealie, as Roberts appeared in answer to the summons: "My dear, if you +and the others will go into the housekeeper's room for a little +refreshment I will get the letter written, and you shall have it to take +with you; then I will write to London about your passage to-night." + +"Oh, you are a dear, a most kind dear!" burst out Sylvia, flinging her +arms round his neck and kissing him on the cheek--a liberty she had +never in her life ventured upon before, and which considerably shocked +Nealie, who was afraid it would make him angry, and was agreeably +surprised to find that he only seemed to be startled by it. + +Then they all trooped off to the housekeeper's room, where they made a +tremendous onslaught upon a big and very plummy cake; and they were +still drinking cups of steaming cocoa when Roberts appeared again, this +time bringing a letter on a silver salver, which he handed to Nealie +with a grave bow, saying that Mr. Runciman wished her to read it and +then to post it, and he would ride over to Beechleigh on the day after +to-morrow to tell them what arrangements he had been able to make for +their journey. + +"It is jolly decent of him!" muttered Rupert, who had looked over +Nealie's shoulder while she read the letter. + +"Oh, he is not half bad at the bottom, I should say!" remarked Rumple, +who was wondering if Mr. Runciman would feel flattered if he were to +make a short poem about this most gracious concession to their wishes. +The worst of it was that Mr. Runciman did not exactly lend himself to +poetry, that is, he was by no means an inspiring subject. + +The housekeeper looked on in smiling amusement at their frank criticism +of the master of the house; but she was a kindly soul, and it was only +human to feel sorry for these poor young people, whom no one seemed to +want, now that old Miss Webber was dead. There had been a good deal of +wondering comment in the servants' hall and the housekeeper's room at +The Paddock as to what would be done with the family. Everyone was +quite sure that Mrs. Runciman would never consent to receive them, even +temporarily, and it was because of her refusal to in any way recognize +their claim upon her kindness that they had been left for Mrs. Puffin to +look after since the death of their great-aunt. + +When they could eat no more cake they bade a cordial goodbye to the +housekeeper, shook hands all round with the dignified Roberts, and then +trooped off in the highest spirits, talking eagerly of the voyage and +the wonderful things they would do when they reached the other side of +the world. + +"It is almost too good to be true!" cried Sylvia, dancing along on the +tips of her toes. "Race me to the gate, Rumple, so that I may get some +of this excitement out of my brain, for I am sure that it can't be good +for me, and it will never do to fall ill at this juncture." + +"I can't run; I'm thinking," replied Rumple, with a heavy frown. He was +finding difficulties at the very outset in his poem, because of the +seeming impossibility of finding any word which would rhyme with +Runciman. + +"We will race you," shouted Don and Billykins together, and, dropping +the handle of the bath chair, they set off at full tear, while Sylvia +came helter-skelter after them, her long legs helping not a little in +overhauling the small boys, who had a distinct advantage by getting away +so smartly at the first. + +Rupert and Ducky clapped, cheered, and shouted encouragements to all the +competitors, while Nealie and Rumple hurried the chair along so that +they might view the finish from a distance; and they all were too much +engrossed to notice a discontented lady who was approaching the drive +from a side alley, and who was not a little scandalized at the noise and +commotion caused by the seven in their departure. + +The lady was Mrs. Runciman, and she walked on to the house, feeling very +much annoyed, her thin lips screwed into a disagreeable pucker and her +eyes flashing angrily. + +"I thought that I told you I did not care to have those Plumstead +children hanging about the place," she remarked in an acid tone to her +husband, whom she met in the hall as she entered by the big front door. + +"You will not see them here many more times. I am sending them out to +their father," he answered briefly, adding hastily: "I think that the +money Aunt Judith left behind her to be used for their benefit will +about cover the expense, and it will mean the solving of a good many +problems." + +"I hope it will," she said as she turned away. + +It had never occurred to her to look upon the seven in any other light +than that of a burden to be ignored, or got rid of as speedily as +possible. And because she did not like them, the children, as a matter +of course, did not like her. + +They did not particularly care for Mr. Runciman, but he at least always +treated them properly, and they guessed that he would have been kinder +still if only Mrs. Runciman had permitted it. + +But when he went back to his library, and with pencil and paper began to +estimate the probable cost of sending the seven to New South Wales, he +soon found that the little fund left by Aunt Judith would need a lot of +supplementing. + +"Ah, well, something must be done for the poor things, and if that is +what they want, they shall have it," he muttered, as he shook his head +in a thoughtful fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Emigrants + + +"Oh, Nealie, it is a most beautiful ship, and bigger than Bodstead +Church!" cried Ducky, rushing up to her eldest sister and flinging +herself into the arms held out to her. She and Sylvia had rushed below +to find their berths, while Nealie was still standing on deck by the +side of Mr. Runciman, who had himself escorted them to London to see +them safely on board the big liner which was to take them to Sydney. + +Events had marched so fast in the last fortnight that sometimes Nealie +had wondered if she were really dreaming. For the first time in her life +she was realizing what a lot of things money can do. Mr. Runciman had +told her that Aunt Judith had left a little money to be used for the +benefit of the seven. He had not told her how much it was, but had +merely said it would be enough to cover the cost of their journey, and +so they could start as soon as they pleased. And because of the fear +there was in her heart lest her father should send word they were not +to come, she had declared that she was ready to set off as soon as +berths could be secured for them. + +Perhaps Mr. Runciman was also afraid that Dr. Plumstead would cable that +they were not to come, for he certainly spared neither time nor money to +facilitate their going, using so much energy in the preparations that +his servants were about equally divided in calling him hard names for +his eagerness to rid himself of a heavy burden and in praising his +generosity in making the way so easy for the seven to go to their +father. + +Just at the last it had been quite hard to say goodbye to the old home +at Beechleigh and all the people they had known there. So standing on +the deck of the ocean-going liner Nealie was thankful that it was all +over, and that at last she was free from the necessity to say any more +goodbyes. Any more save one, that is, for there was still the farewell +to Mr. Runciman to be faced, and she was dreading this with a very real +shrinking as she stood so quietly by his side, while the others ran up +and down exploring their new quarters and exclaiming in delight at the +bustle and novelty all around them. + +"Now mind, Cornelia, if when you land at Sydney you find that you have +not sufficient money, you must not hesitate to cable to me, and I shall +be most willing to cable you back what you may require," said Mr. +Runciman impressively, and because of the kindness in his tone Nealie +forgave him calling her Cornelia. + +"Thank you very much, but I am sure that we ought not to need any more, +and I will be very, very careful not to waste our funds," she said, +smiling up at him, but her lips quivered a little in spite of her +determination to maintain a Spartan-like control of her emotions. + +"Money melts when you are travelling, and you are all such babies in the +matter of finance. Let me see what I have in my pocket," he said, +thrusting his hand in and tugging out a bulky purse from some mysterious +inner depths. "Three, five, seven, ten. Yes, I can let you have ten +pounds. Put it in your pocket and say nothing about it. If you do not +need it for your journey you can keep it as a little gift from me and +spend it for your own pleasure." + +"You are so very kind, I cannot think what we should have done without +you in getting away; you seem to have forgotten nothing, and I am sure +that Father will be most grateful to you," she said, looking at him with +so much trust and affection in her eyes that his conscience pricked him +dreadfully for what he knew to be his selfish eagerness to shift a heavy +burden on to the shoulders of someone else. + +[Illustration: SAYING GOODBYE TO MR. RUNCIMAN] + +"It is no great virtue to be kind to you, child; indeed it would be a +hard heart that would be anything else," he said in a deeply moved tone; +and because the bell began to ring then, in warning to people to leave +the ship, he took both her hands in his, and, leaning down, kissed her +on the forehead; then with a nod in the direction of the others, who at +the sound of the bell had gathered round to bid him a civil goodbye, he +disappeared down the gangway and was lost to view in the crowd. + +"The old chappy cut up quite decent at the last. I expect it was that +little poem of mine which fetched him," said Rumple, who was strutting +round like a peacock in a new suit of clothes and feeling himself +someone of importance. + +"Hush, dear, don't call him names, I do not like it," said Nealie with +gentle dignity, while she struggled with her tears. + +"Are you crying over saying goodbye to Mr. Runciman?" asked Sylvia in a +wondering tone. "I thought we all made up our minds ages ago that he was +really an unmitigated nuisance?" + +"We have had to suspend judgment a bit of late in his direction," put in +Rupert, coming to the rescue, for he guessed that Nealie did not want to +talk just then, not even in defence of Mr. Runciman. + +"I think there is more in him than we know," said Rumple in a +patronizing tone. "At any rate he had the sense to like my verses, and +that shows that he is not altogether callous; he even said that it was +clever of me to find such a nice rhyme for Runciman." + +"How does that first line go?" asked Rupert, still intent on shielding +Nealie, who had walked to the side, and, with tear-blinded eyes, was +watching the gangways being lifted. + +Rumple instantly struck an attitude, screwed his face into what he +called an intense expression, and, waving one arm like a semaphore, +declaimed in loud, clear tones: + + "Oh, Runciman, dear Runciman, + You've proved yourself a gentleman, + Both in pocket and in sense, + For your care to send us hence; + And we join in three times three, + May your shadow ne'er less be." + +"Hip, hip, hooray!" yelled Billykins, waving his cap; then Don and Ducky +cheered lustily also, and the sound of the jubilant shouting reached the +ears of Mr. Runciman as he stood on the shore and watched the big ship +glide slowly from the land. + +Nealie went down to the cabin then, meaning to have a hearty good cry by +way of relieving her feelings; but Ducky ran down with her to show her +how delightfully cosy their quarters were, and there was so much to be +seen and admired on every hand that, on second thoughts, Nealie decided +to let the crying stand over until she went to bed, by which time she +was so sleepy that she entirely forgot about it. + +By the kindness of Mr. Runciman the three girls had a four-berth cabin +to themselves; for, realizing how trying it would be for them to have a +stranger thrust in among them, he had paid the extra so that they might +be undisturbed. The four boys had also a four-berth cabin, which opened +a little farther along the lower deck; so they were all quite near +together, and speedily made themselves at home. + +Don and Billykins made up their minds to be sailors long before they +were out of the Thames, and although they changed their minds when they +got a terrific tossing in the Bay of Biscay, their bearing was strictly +nautical right through the voyage. + +Rupert and Sylvia were the only two who did not suffer from seasickness, +but, as Sylvia remarked, it was not all fun being immune, because they +had such hard work in waiting upon the others. However, the end of the +week found them all upon their feet again, and very much disposed to +enjoy the novelty of life at sea. + +Nealie and Don sang duets, to which Rupert played accompaniments on the +banjo, while Ducky and Billykins led the applause, and Sylvia posed as +audience, aping the languid, bored look of a fine lady at a concert with +such inimitable mimicry that she came in for nearly as much applause as +the proper performers from such of the other passengers as gathered +round to hear. + +Then Rumple would do his share towards entertaining the company by +declaiming his own poetry, and he was so funny to look at when he stood +on one foot, with his face screwed into puckers, and his arms waving +wildly above his head, that his performance used to evoke shouts of +laughter. + +"I can't think what makes the silly goats guffaw at such a rate when I +recite my 'Ode to a Dying Sparrow'," he said in a petulant tone to +Nealie, one day when his audience had been more than usually convulsed. +"It must be shocking bad form to double up in public as they did; a +photograph of them would have served as an up-to-date advertisement of +the latest thing in gramaphones, and when I came to that touching line, +about the poor bird sighing out its last feeble chirp ere it closed its +eyes and died, those two very fat women simply howled." + +"Dear, they could not help it, you did look so funny, and--I don't think +that dying birds sigh, at least I never heard them, and I have seen +quite a lot of Mrs. Puffin's chickens die," replied Nealie, who was +struggling with her own laughter at the remembrance of the comic +attitude which Rumple had struck. He was a queer-looking boy at the +best, and then he always went in for the most extraordinary gestures, +so it was not wonderful that people found food for mirth in watching +him. + +"I shall not go in for pathetic poetry with an audience who cannot +appreciate fine shades of feeling," he said in a disgusted fashion. "I +will just get away by myself and throw a few thoughts together which may +prove suitable to their intelligence." + +"That would be a good idea," said Nealie in a rather choky voice, and +then, when he had gone, she put her head down on her hands, laughing and +laughing, until someone touched her shoulder, to ask her in kindly pity +what she was crying for. + +That was really the last straw, and Nealie gurgled and choked as if she +were going to have a very bad fit of hysterics, which made the +sympathizer--a kind-looking elderly man--still more concerned on her +account. + +"My dear, shall I call the stewardess, or one of your friends, to help +you?" he asked, with so much anxiety on her account that Nealie was +instantly sobered, and proceeded to explain the situation. + +"You see, Rumple, that is my brother, always does take himself and his +poetry so seriously; but the worst of it is that everyone who hears him +recite his own things fancies it is the latest idea in comedy, and they +laugh accordingly." + +"And I have been watching you for the last five minutes, until I could +no longer bear to see you, as I thought, in such trouble, and that was +why I spoke to you," the gentleman said, scarcely able to make up his +mind whether he was vexed with her for having so innocently deceived +him, or whether he was only relieved to find himself mistaken. + +"You must think us all very foolish and childish, I am afraid," Nealie +murmured in apology. "But the children must have amusement, and we are +always interested in what we can each do. Some of Rumple's verses are +quite nice, although, of course, others are pure nonsense." + +"Just so, just so; young folks must have something to amuse them, and it +is very much to the credit of you all that you are so thoroughly amused +by it, and I do not remember that I have ever heard you quarrel since +you came on board," the gentleman said in a musing tone. + +"We do not quarrel," rejoined Nealie with quite crushing dignity, for +really the idea sounded almost insulting in her ears. + +"Then you as a family must be the eighth wonder of the world, I should +think, for I never heard of a family yet who did not have an occasional +row," he said in an amused tone. + +"Oh, but we are different; and besides we only have each other, and so +we cannot afford to disagree," she replied earnestly. + +"Are you orphans, and going to Australia alone?" he asked in great +surprise. + +"Oh no, we are not orphans; that is, our father is living in New South +Wales, and we are going out to him, but we have not seen him for seven +years. Indeed, Ducky, that is my youngest sister, may be said not to +have seen him at all, as she was only four weeks old when he went away; +the little boys do not remember him very well either. But Rupert, +Sylvia, and I can remember him perfectly," replied Nealie. + +"It is certain that he will not know you if he has not seen you for +seven years," said the gentleman; and then he asked, with a great deal +of interest in his tone: "and are you travelling all that distance +without a chaperon of any sort?" + +"I have my brothers, and I do not need anyone else," she answered, +looking up at him in surprise at his question. "I have always had to +take care of myself, for our great-aunt, with whom we lived, was very +old and feeble; for two years before she died she did not leave her +room, so it would not have done for me to require taking care of, seeing +that it was not possible for anyone to spare time to look after me." + +"I think that you must be a very remarkable young lady, for I thought +that all girls required someone to take care of them, unless they were +colonials that is, and you are not that," he said, in the manner of one +who seeks information. + +"No, we are only going to be," she said, with a happy little laugh, for +it was fine to have achieved one's heart's desire with so little delay +in the getting, and she was setting her face towards the new and untried +life with radiant happiness in her heart. + +"I am going to Cape Town, so I shall have to say goodbye to you when +your voyage is only half done, although it would have been a great +pleasure to me to have seen you safely ashore and in the care of your +father. Does he meet you in Sydney?" asked the gentleman, when he had +told Nealie that his name was Melrose, and that he was at the bottom as +English as she was herself. + +"I don't know; I suppose he will, for Mr. Runciman would have written to +tell him the name of the ship we were coming by," said Nealie; but now +there was a dubious note in her tone, for she was trying to remember +whether Mr. Runciman had said anything about having written to her +father. She had thought of writing herself, but had refrained from doing +it because of the feeling of hurt pride which was still strong upon her, +as it had been ever since she read the letter which was not meant for +her. + +"What will you do if he does not?" asked Mr. Melrose. + +"Oh, we shall find our way out to Hammerville! That is the name of the +place where he lives. There are seven of us, you see; it is not as if we +were just one or two," she answered brightly. + +"Hammerville? I wonder whether that is the Hammerville in the +Murrumbidgee district, where Tom Fletcher went to live?" said Mr. +Melrose in a musing fashion. "They have a little way of repeating names +in these colonial places which is rather distracting. But Fletcher told +me that the Hammerville to which he went was nearly three hundred miles +from Sydney." + +"I suppose there is a railway?" queried Nealie, knitting her brows, and +wondering how they were all to be transported for three hundred miles +across an unknown country, in the event of there being no railway by +which they could travel. + +"I suppose the rail would go a point nearer than three hundred miles, +unless indeed the place is quite at the back of beyond, as some of those +Australian towns are," replied Mr. Melrose. "But Fletcher told me that +he hired a horse and wagon and drove the whole distance, sleeping in the +wagon at night to save hotel charges." + +"Oh, what a perfectly charming thing to do!" cried Sylvia, who had come +up behind and was leaning over the back of Nealie's chair. "If Father is +not waiting to meet us when we reach Sydney, shall we hire a horse and a +wagon and drive out to Hammerville, Nealie?" + +"It would be very jolly," said Nealie, with shining eyes. "I have always +longed to go caravanning, but I expect the difficulty would be to find +anyone willing to hire a horse and wagon to entire strangers like +ourselves; and if Hammerville is so far from Sydney, Father would hardly +be known so far away, even though he is a doctor." + +"Did you say your father is a doctor?" asked Mr. Melrose, who was very +much interested in this adventurous family, who seemed so well able to +take care of themselves, and were roaming about the world without even +the pretence of a guardian to look after them. + +"Yes; he is Dr. Plumstead. Have you heard of him?" asked Sylvia, with +the happy belief in her father's greatness which was characteristic of +them all. + +"I used to know a Dr. Plumstead some years ago, but I do not expect it +was the same," said Mr. Melrose, looking as if he were going to say +something more, and then suddenly changing his mind. + +It was some days later, and they were nearing Cape Town, which was the +halfway house of their journey, when Mr. Melrose, who had been keeping +his cabin from illness, appeared again on deck, and, seeking Nealie out, +laid an addressed envelope in her hand. + +"It is the privilege of friends to help each other," he said quietly. "I +know a man in Sydney who lets horses and wagons on hire, and I have +ventured to give you a letter to him from myself, so that you may have +no difficulty in hiring a conveyance for the journey to Hammerville if +your father does not meet you." + +"How very kind you are!" exclaimed Nealie. + +He waved an impatient hand. "It is nothing, nothing. I may even be +coming to New South Wales next year, if only my health is better, and +then I shall do myself the pleasure of finding you out and renewing our +acquaintance," he said. + +"That will be very pleasant," replied Nealie, her hand closing upon the +letter. "Then we can introduce you to Father, and tell him how kind you +have been to us." + +"We shall see; but I fancy the indebtedness is on my side," he answered, +and then he turned abruptly away. + +Nealie looked at him a little wistfully. He was so very friendly and +kind up to a certain point; but when that was reached he was in the +habit of retiring into himself, and she was left out in the cold. + +"What is the matter, old girl?" asked Rupert, who came up at that +moment, and noticed the cloud on Nealie's face. + +"I was only thinking how much nicer it would be if we could know what +was in the minds of people, and whether they were really friendly all +through, or only pretending," she answered, with a sigh. + +"Rather a tall order that would be," said Rupert, laughing. "Why, all +the rogues would stand betrayed, and honest folk would get the credit of +their good intentions. The world would be turned upside down in short!" + +"I suppose it would," replied Nealie, shaking her head, and then she +laughed too. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Rumple's Discovery + + +Day after day of unbroken fine weather followed. There was the halt of +twelve hours at Cape Town, and the seven earnestly desired to be allowed +to go ashore. But the captain refused to allow them off the vessel, as +they had been placed in his charge by Mr. Runciman, and so they had to +content themselves with gazing at Table Mountain from the deck of the +ship, or rather at the tablecloth, as the brooding cloud was called, +which hid the mountain from their view. + +The shipping in the bay, and the distant glimpses of the town, gave them +plenty to look at, however; and although the little boys and Rumple were +in a state of simmering rebellion against the dictates of the kindly but +rather autocratic commander, Rupert and Nealie were so well amused that +they had no room for grumbling, while Sylvia had taken to drawing as a +pastime, and spent the hours in making an ambitious sketch of the scene. +It was a little out in drawing, naturally as she had had no lessons, and +it was difficult to determine whether the ships were sailing up Table +Mountain, or the houses taking short voyages across the bay; but she was +so thoroughly happy and satisfied with her performance that it would +have been almost cruel to have found any fault with it; and, as Rupert +said, there was the fun of finding out whether any particular object +stood for a ship, a warehouse, or a clump of trees, the fun being +increased when the artist herself was not sure on the subject. + +When they were a week out from Cape Town the weather changed and became +wet and stormy. The rolling was dreadful, and great was the groaning and +the lamentation when they were not allowed on deck for three whole days +in succession. + +The fourth day broke without wind, although the sea was still very +rough. But, having gained permission to go on deck, the three younger +boys were out, steadying themselves by anything which came handy, and +vastly enjoying the fun of seeing other people lurching about in all +sorts of funny antics, all involuntary ones of course. + +Then suddenly something happened which might easily have been a tragedy. +Rumple and Billykins were rounding the curve of one of the lower decks, +when a heavy sea struck the vessel as she pitched nose first down into a +deep valley of foam, and a stout old lady, who had been rashly trying +to ascend the stairs to the upper deck, was hit by the shower of spray +and knocked off the stairs. She must have fallen with great violence, +and would probably have been very badly hurt, had it not been for +Rumple, who ran in to her, as if she had been an extra big cricket ball +which he was trying to catch. Of course she descended upon him with an +awful smash, and nearly knocked the wind out of him, and equally of +course they both rolled over together, and were drenched by the showers +of spray. But he had broken her fall, and although she was badly shaken +there were no limbs broken, as there must have been had she fallen with +full force on to the slippery boards. A steward who was passing ran to +pick up the old lady, while a passenger sorted Rumple out from under the +old lady's skirts, and, draining some of the water out of him, held him +up so that the air might revive him. + +Meanwhile Billykins, who had been a horrified spectator of his brother's +rash heroism, and had remained speechless until Rumple was picked up, +burst into the very noisiest crying of which he was capable, and, +standing with his legs very wide apart and his mouth as far open as it +would go, howled his very loudest, the sound of his woe speedily +bringing a crowd to see what was the matter. + +"I don't think that he is very much the worse for his fall, only a +little bit dazed by having the old lady come flop down upon him; but if +he had not been there to break her fall, it is quite likely that she +would have broken her neck," said the gentleman who had picked Rumple +up, as he handed him over to the care of Nealie. + +"Poor, poor boy, how frightened he must have been when she fell upon +him!" cried Nealie, who thought that the whole affair was an accident, +and had no idea of Rumple's bravery. + +Then Billykins promptly stopped howling to explain, which he did in +jerks, being rather breathless from his vocal efforts. + +"Rumple saw her fall, and rushed in to save her. It was just splendid +heroism--the sort that gets the Victoria Cross; but so dreadful hopeless +you see, because she was so big, and she came down flop on the top of +him, and he was just--just extinguished, you know, like the candle flame +when we used to put the tin extinguishers on them when we lived at +Beechleigh." + +"I'll be all right in a minute, only my wind is gone," gasped Rumple, +who looked rather flattened, and was not at all pleased to find himself +momentarily famous. + +The old lady's daughter, a thin, angular person with a long nose, rushed +up at this juncture, and, seizing upon Rumple, hugged and kissed him in +the presence of everyone, declaring that she would always love him for +having saved her dear mother's life in such a noble fashion. + +"I am wet through, Nealie; help me to get into dry clothes," panted +Rumple, struggling to escape from this unexpected and wholly unwelcome +embrace. + +Nealie rose to the occasion, and swept him off to their own quarters, +where Rupert met them and undertook the task of getting him rubbed down +and into dry clothes as quickly as possible, while Nealie went back to +the deck for news of the old lady. + +Everyone was full of praises of Rumple's action in breaking the old +lady's fall; but Nealie was secretly uneasy as to whether he had +received more damage from the impact than had at first appeared. So, +when she had been assured that Mrs. Barrow, who apparently weighed about +fourteen stone, was only shaken, and not otherwise hurt, she hurried +back again to satisfy herself that Rumple was sound in wind and limb. + +She found Rupert hanging the wet garments up to drain, and was talking +to him about Rumple, when the door of the boys' cabin was pushed open +and they heard Rumple calling to them in a tone of such dismay that a +sudden cold shiver went all over Nealie, making her turn white to the +lips. + +"Something is wrong; come along, Nealie," said Rupert curtly, and he +turned to limp toward the door of the cabin, which stood ajar. + +But Nealie passed him with a fleet tread, and, pushing open the door, +stood on the threshold transfixed with surprise. It was not clear to her +what she expected to see, her one thought being that Rumple must +certainly have been much more hurt than they had imagined. + +What she did see was Rumple sitting on the lower berth partly dressed, +and holding a letter in his hand, a letter which had a stamp upon it +which had not been through a post office, but that even at the first +glance struck her as having a familiar look, a something she had seen +before. + +"Rumple, what is it? What is the matter, laddie?" she asked in the very +tenderest tone of which she was capable; for there was that in his face +which warned her the trouble was one of magnitude. + +"I don't expect that you will any of you ever be able to forgive me, and +I haven't a word to say in excuse, and however I came to be such a goat +I can't think," he replied in a shaken tone as he held the envelope out +for her to take. + +But even now she did not understand, and only stared at it in a stupid +fashion, then read the address aloud in a bewildered tone: + + "Dr. Plumstead, + "Hammerville, + "Clayton, + "New South Wales, + "Australia." + +"What letter is it?" asked Rupert in a shocked voice. He was standing +close to Nealie now, and looking to the full as amazed as she did +herself. + +"It is the letter that Mr. Runciman wrote to tell Father that we were to +be sent out to him," replied Rumple in a hollow tone. "Don't you +remember that we asked to be allowed to post it ourselves, just because +we were so afraid that he would forget to write it unless we waited +until it was done? And now it is just the same as if it had never been +written at all." + +Twice, three times, Nealie tried to speak, but no sound came, and she +plumped down upon the berth beside Rumple with a shocked bewilderment +upon her face which was dreadful to see. + +"Don't look like that, Nealie; buck up, old lady, we'll find a way out +of the muddle somehow," said Rupert, slapping her on the back, with a +harsh laugh that had a weird sound; it was so far removed from +merriment. + +But Nealie only shook her head, as much as to say that it was quite +beyond her power to do anything in the way of bucking up just then, and +they were all three staring at each other in dismayed silence, when +there came a rush of feet outside, and the door was flung open by Don, +who was followed by Sylvia and Ducky, while Billykins, still snorting +heavily, brought up the rear. + +"Billykins told us how brave Rumple had been in saving the life of that +fat old woman----" began Sylvia, then stopped suddenly, scared by the +look on the faces of the three; then she asked in a hushed tone: "Oh, +whatever can be the matter! Is Rumple very badly hurt?" + +"I am not hurt at all, except in my feelings," replied Rumple, who was +nursing his old jacket, as if it were a troublesome infant which he had +to put to sleep. + +"Was she horrid to you? And after you had saved her life, fourteen stone +of it?" demanded Sylvia, with a stormy note in her tone. + +"It is not the woman at all," here Rumple waved the old jacket with a +tragic air. "The fault lies with me, and you had all better know about +it at once, and if you decide to disown me for the future, I can't +complain, for I deserve to be sent to Coventry for evermore." + +"Oh, drop your figures of speech, and tell us in plain English what the +trouble is all about!" exclaimed Sylvia impatiently. "Nealie looks as +if she had seen a ghost, and Rupert is glum, so out with it, Rumple, old +boy, and own up like a man." + +"I have owned up," he answered gloomily, and again he waved the old +jacket to and fro, then hugged it closely in his arms again. "When I +changed my clothes I thought that I would put this jacket on, though it +is rather tight across the back, and I always hate wearing it for that +reason. I have not put it on since the day we all went down to the +Paddock to ask Mr. Runciman to send us to Australia. We stopped eating +cakes in the housekeeper's room, you remember, and then when he had +written the letter he sent it to us to put in the post as we came home. +It was given to me. I put it in my pocket, and here it is!" + +Sylvia gasped as if a whole bucket of water had suddenly been shot over +her from some unexpected quarter, and then she burst into a ringing +laugh, and clapped her hands. "Oh, what a joke! Then I suppose that +Father has not a notion that his family are on the way to make him +happy?" + +"That is about it, and whatever we can do to get out of the muddle is +more than I can imagine," said Rupert in a strained tone, while his face +looked pinched and worn from the burden of worry that had suddenly +descended upon him. + +"Do?" cried Sylvia. "Why, of course we shall just do as we are doing, +and go straight forward, until we reach Hammerville, when we will walk +in upon dear Father some fine evening, and announce our own arrival. +Nothing could be simpler, and we shall give him the surprise of his +life, bless his heart! There is no need to look so tragic that I can +see." + +"But we must tell the captain, and there will be a great fuss. He will +very likely keep us on board ship until Father can reach Sydney to claim +us," said Nealie in a voice of distress. + +"We won't tell the captain; he is as meddlesome as an old woman!" cried +Sylvia, who very much resented the commander's kindly meant endeavours +to take care of them. + +"He would not let us go ashore at Cape Town, and I did so want to go to +the top of Table Mountain, and see for myself what the tablecloth was +made of," said Don in an aggrieved tone. His ideas of distance were +rather vague, and he had an impression that half an hour's brisk walking +from the docks at Cape Town would have landed him on the top of the +mountain. + +"No, we won't tell the captain, we certainly won't," put in Billykins, +with a mutinous look on his chubby face. He had had his own views on the +way in which he had meant to spend the time ashore, and having one +shilling and threepence in his pocket, to spend as he chose, had laid +out a pretty full programme for the occasion. + +"We won't tell the captain; I don't like him, because he calls me Goosey +instead of Ducky," pouted the youngest of the family, who had had her +feelings very much hurt on more than one occasion, and was simply +thirsting for revenge upon the disturber of her peace. + +"Do you hear? The majority have decided on silence," said Sylvia +triumphantly, as she sat down by the side of Nealie, and slipped her arm +round her sister's waist. + +"Oh, I don't know what to do, and it was dreadful of Rumple to forget!" +cried Nealie, and at the reproach in her words Rumple fairly doubled up, +muttering, in a resigned fashion: + +"Lay it on, and spare not. There is one comfort about the beastly +business, you cannot blame me more than I blame myself." + +"It might have been worse," said Sylvia, who always championed Rumple +through thick and thin. "And of course no one expects quite so much from +a poet as from a more ordinary person. People with teeming ideas are +always rather absent-minded I find; it is one of the penalties of the +artistic temperament. I suffer from it myself, and Rumple is far +cleverer than I am." + +"I don't know about that; you have got the colour sense, even though +you don't seem to get the hang of perspective," said Rumple, looking +visibly cheered. "When I begin to sell my poems you shall have the money +to have lessons in art, old girl, for I fancy you are worth developing." + +"I hope I am," rejoined Sylvia, tossing her head with a saucy air. "But +I am afraid that the process will be rather delayed if it has to wait +until your poetry brings the money for doing it, for everyone says that +there is no money in poetry. Now, Nealie, darling, do cheer up and be +happy; poor Rumple will have no peace at all while you look like that." + +"I will try; but you must give me time. But I am so disappointed, for I +had hoped that Father would be at Sydney to meet us," answered Nealie, +with a sigh. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The End of the Voyage + + +Rumple found himself immediately popular, because of his prompt and +spirited action in doing what he could to save the old lady. But, like a +good many other people upon whom greatness descends, he had to pay a +rather heavy price for his popularity, and when it came to being kissed +by the old lady and her daughter every time they appeared on deck, he +began to ask himself savagely if it were quite worth while to be +regarded as a hero of the first class. + +Two or three days of kissing and hugging were enough for him, and then +he took to subterfuge, and whenever the old lady or her very angular but +kindly daughter hove in sight, Rumple bolted like a frightened rabbit, +taking to any sort of cover which came handy. + +The stewards, entering into the joke of the thing, co-operated with +great heartiness, and for the remainder of the voyage there was no more +elusive person on board than Rumple Plumstead; so the old lady and her +daughter were forced to lavish on the rest of the family the tenderness +they felt solely for the boy, who loathed their indiscreet petting. + +"Rupert, where is Rumple?" asked Nealie, coming on deck one afternoon a +day or two before they expected to reach Fremantle. + +"I haven't an idea. Come to think of it, I have not seen him since +breakfast. Where can the young rascal have got to?" exclaimed Rupert, +starting up in dismay. He had been so engrossed in a book all the +morning that he had taken very little notice of what was going on around +him. He had certainly had to intervene once in a spirited encounter +between Don and Billykins, who had taken to what they called wrestling, +but which in reality amounted to a lively round of punching each other +black and blue. Both small boys were considerably upset at being stopped +in this entirely novel diversion, and declared that Rupert was neither +public-spirited nor sporting to put a veto upon it; but he was firm, and +threatened to send one of them to bed if they did not desist, and so +they had been forced to find some other occupation. + +But where was Rumple? + +Enquiry elicited the alarming fact that he had not been seen at lunch, +and for a healthy boy, especially one with a Plumstead appetite, to be +absent from a meal meant that something must be very wrong indeed. + +An active search through the vessel was at once organized; but when, +after half an hour of brisk hunting, no trace of Rumple could be found, +Nealie grew seriously alarmed, a horrible dread coming into her heart +that he had in some way tumbled overboard. + +She was running along the lower deck in search of one of the officers, +to whom she might tell her fear, when she almost tumbled into the arms +of the jolly fat purser, who had been so kind to all the children during +the weeks of voyaging. + +"Oh, Mr. Bent, we have lost my brother Rumple; he has not been seen +since breakfast, and I am most dreadfully afraid that he must have +fallen overboard!" she cried, the sharp distress in her tone showing how +keen was her anxiety. + +"Tut, tut, Missy, he could not have done that in broad daylight without +someone seeing him," replied the purser, who always treated Nealie as if +she were no older than Rumple or Sylvia. + +"Are you quite sure?" she asked anxiously. + +"Quite! A big ship like this is all eyes in the daytime, you know, and +to-day there have been men at work on the railings ever since breakfast, +so there is no danger at all that anything of that sort can have +happened. But I wonder where the young rascal can be? I seem to remember +having seen him nipping round somewhere this morning. Let me see; what +could I have been doing?" and the purser screwed up his face until there +was nothing of his eyes visible. + +"Oh, please try to think where it was that you saw him, and then we may +be able to find him!" cried Nealie, clasping her hands in entreaty. + +"Let me see." The purser opened his eyes and glared about him, as if he +expected to find the record of the morning's doings chalked in big +letters somewhere on the clean deck. "First thing after breakfast there +was that affair of the linen having been miscounted. It is funny how +some folks are born without any sense of number. Then there were the +cook's lists to be gone through. I remember seeing the boy then, for he +lent me a pencil when mine broke. Now, what was I doing after that?" + +"Oh, make haste, Mr. Bent! Please make haste to remember!" pleaded +Nealie, feeling as if she would really have to take hold of this +slow-witted man, and shake the information out of him if he did not +hurry up a little. + +"I've got it!" ejaculated Mr. Bent, slapping his sides with resounding +whacks. "The next thing I did was to go down to the cold storage with +the second officer. We must have been there for nearly an hour, for I +know I was chilled through and through by the time we came up again, +and I have not seen your brother since." + +"Then I am quite sure that Rumple must be down in the cold-storage +place, and he will be frozen stiff by this time. Oh, fly, Mr. Bent, and +let him out, for think how awful his sufferings must be!" cried Nealie, +seizing the purser by the arm to drag him along. She had been down in +the cold storage herself, and shivered at the recollection of the Arctic +chill of the place, although she had been hugely interested at seeing +the stacks of frozen provisions which were there to be preserved for +daily use on the voyage. + +There was no need to tell Mr. Bent to hurry, as he strode away to his +own particular den to get the keys, and then, with Nealie running close +behind him, made his way down, down, down, until the storeroom corridor +was reached. + +The cold-storage rooms were at the far end, and when he thrust the key +into the lock, Nealie could have screamed with the anguish of her keen +apprehension. + +Mr. Bent thrust open the door, and then both of them cried out in +amazement, for the place was brilliant with electric light, and Rumple, +covered from head to foot in hoar frost, as if he had just stepped out +of the Arctic regions, was lifting boxes of butter from the shelves, +and then lifting them back again, as hard as he could work. + +"I'm about tired of this," he managed to drawl out in a would-be casual +tone, and then he suddenly collapsed in a limp heap in Nealie's arms. + +Quickly they lifted him out into the warmth of the corridor, and then +Nealie started chafing his cold hands and face, while Mr. Bent replaced +the butter boxes on the shelves, then, turning off the electric light, +came out and locked the door behind him. + +"Now I should like to know what monkey trick you were up to when you +went and got yourself locked in a place like that?" he said in an angry +tone as he bent over poor Rumple, unwinding a lot of sacking from the +boy's shoulders, and slapping him vigorously to quicken circulation. + +"Oh, you will hurt him dreadfully if you beat him like that, and I am +quite sure that he did not mean to do wrong!" burst out Nealie in +red-hot indignation, as she pushed away those vigorously slapping hands, +and gathered Rumple's cold, limp figure into a warm embrace. + +"Bless you, Missy, I was not doing it to hurt him, only to make his +blood flow quicker, and save him a bit of misery later on. If he has +been in mischief, he has had to pay quite dearly enough for it, without +any more punishment. It is lucky for him that the freezing plant is out +of order to-day, and we have only been able to keep the place just down +to freezing-point. If it had been as cold as it is sometimes, it might +have been too late to save him, poor fellow," said Mr. Bent, pushing +Nealie gently aside, and starting on his slapping with more vigour than +before. + +"I wasn't in mischief; I only bolted in there because the door was open, +and I wanted to get clear of Miss Clarke, who was being shown round the +storerooms by one of the officers," said Rumple feebly. "She always will +kiss me, don't you know, and I just can't stand it. I was crouching +behind a case of things at the farther end, when to my horror the light +went out, and a minute later, before I could yell, the door slammed. I +did yell then for all that I was worth, but I could not make anyone +hear, and it was so long before I could grope my way to the door, for I +was at the farther end, you see, and I turned silly with funk at the +first." + +"I don't wonder at that, poor darling!" murmured Nealie, lavishing +endearments on him, which he accepted all in good part, although he had +been so hotly resentful of Miss Clarke's openly expressed affection. She +was the daughter of the fat old lady, and he disliked the pair of them +so heartily that his one desire was to put as much distance as possible +between them and himself at all times and in all places. + +"Well, laddie, it is a good thing for you that you were born with your +share of common sense, for you seem to have gone the right way to work +to keep from being frozen," said Mr. Bent, as he rolled the sacking into +a bundle and tossed it into a corner; then, slipping his arm round +Rumple, lifted the boy to a standing posture. + +But he would have promptly fallen again if they had not supported him on +either side, for his feet were thoroughly chilled, and he was so tired +that he seemed to have no strength at all. + +"I was a long time finding the electric light, but when I did come upon +it, and pressed the button, I felt ever so much better," said Rumple, as +his rescuers helped him to climb the stairs. "And I knew that I must not +stand still; but there was so little room to walk about that I had to +lift cases from the shelves and put them back again. I found that great +piece of sacking, and when I had wrapped it round my shoulders I felt a +little warmer; but it was more than a little nippy, I can tell you, and +it made me think of the January mornings at Beechleigh, when the old +pump used to freeze up and we undertook to thaw it out for Mrs. Puffin +before breakfast," said Rumple wearily. + +At this moment the others, headed by Sylvia, came rushing down upon +them, and Rumple was at once overwhelmed with enquiries and +congratulations. But Nealie was so concerned at his desperate weariness +that she insisted on his going to bed at once. + +"You must have some hot soup, too, and then you will get warm quickly +and go to sleep," she said in the careful, elder-sisterly manner which +always came uppermost when any of them were in any sort of difficulty. + +"I don't want any soup or mucks of that kind, but I should be glad if I +could have a piece of dry bread or some hard biscuits, for I do not mind +admitting that I ate half a pound of butter to keep out the cold, and I +feel rather greasy inside," said Rumple, puckering his face into a +grimace as Rupert hustled him off to their cabin to put him to bed. + +"What made you do that?" demanded Rupert sternly, for this partook of +the nature of thieving, and the juniors had to be reproved for any lapse +from strict morality. + +"The Esquimaux eat blubber to keep out the cold, and as I had no +blubber, and did not like to break open one of the lard pails, I just +took the butter. Do you expect that Mr. Bent will mind?" asked Rumple +anxiously. "I have got enough money to pay for it if he gets waxy, but +of course I have had no lunch, and, seeing that the shipping company +have got to keep me, I do not see that it matters much whether I eat +half a pound of butter for my meal or whether I have two goes of meat +and three of pudding. Hullo, who is that?" + +The exclamation was caused by someone pounding on the door for +admittance, and when Rumple found that the someone was the ship's +doctor, great was his wrath at the coddling which Nealie had supposed to +be necessary for him. But the doctor roared with laughter when he heard +about the butter, and Rumple was so far mollified by his mirth as to be +beguiled into laughing also, after which he was rolled in blankets and +promptly went to sleep, not rousing again until the following morning, +when he appeared to be none the worse for his adventure among the ice. + +But someone must have dropped a hint to the indiscreet Miss Clarke and +her mother, because from that time onward they left Rumple in peace, so +far as kissing was concerned, although they seemed to be just as fond of +him as ever. + +The seven were all getting just a little bit weary of voyaging when at +length the boat entered the fine harbour of Sydney, and berthed among +the other vessels at the Circular Quay. + +Then, indeed, things became exciting, and although they knew that their +father had not had the first letter which had been sent to him, there +was still the probability that he had received a later letter from Mr. +Runciman, and that he might be among the crowd who were waiting to board +the liner when she came to her berth, beside the big vessel from +Hong-Kong. + +They were gathered in a group forward, and were eagerly scanning all +that could be seen of the shore, when one of the stewards came hurrying +up to say that a gentleman had come on board for Miss Plumstead, and was +at that moment waiting to see her in the dining saloon. + +"Oh, it must be dear Father; I am quite sure of it!" cried Nealie, and, +seizing Ducky by the hand, she hurried away down to the big dining +saloon, followed by the other five. + +Very different the big room looked to-day from the time when they had +seen it first. Then the tables were spread for a meal, and decorated +with flowers and fruit; now everything was in confusion, the tables were +bare, or heaped with the hand baggage of departing passengers, and there +was an air of desolation over all, such as is seen in a house from which +a family are flitting. + +But Nealie had no eyes for details of this sort at such a moment, as she +clattered down the steps, holding Ducky fast by the hand. When she +reached the bend, from whence she had a full view of the room, she saw a +tall, grey-haired man, very sprucely dressed, standing at the end of the +third table. + +"Oh, it is Father!" she cried, half-turning her head to let the others +know; and then, taking the last three steps at a bound, and dropping her +hold of Ducky's hand, she rushed with tumultuous haste along the end of +the room, and flinging herself upon the man, who had turned at her +approach, she cried joyfully: "Oh, my dear, dear father, how glad we are +to see you!" + +But even as her arms closed around his neck a chill doubt seized her, +and the next moment the astonished gentleman had drawn himself away from +her grasp, saying hurriedly: + +"My dear young lady, I am not your father." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Real Friend + + +"Oh, oh, I am so sorry----" began Nealie in breathless apology, but got +no further, being at that moment swept aside by Sylvia, who fairly flung +herself into the gentleman's arms, crying shrilly: + +"Daddy, my darling Daddy, I should have known you anywhere, although I +was such a tiny kiddy when you went away!" + +Again the amazed stranger tried to protest; but although his lips moved, +no sound was audible, for at this instant Don and Billykins reached him +in company, and the impact of their embrace was sufficient to +momentarily deprive him of the power of speech, while Rupert seized his +left hand, sawing it up and down like a pump handle, and Rumple patted +him on the back, leaving Ducky no chance at all saving to dance round +and round, yelling at the top of her voice. + +"It is Father, dear Father, and he does not know his little Ducky at +all!" + +"Oh, hush, hush! We have made a mistake, and it is not dear Father at +all," cried Nealie. And there was such genuine distress in her tone that +the gentleman, who had been feeling decidedly ruffled at this boisterous +onslaught, was at once sorry for her. + +"Are you Miss Plumstead, and did you expect to meet your father here?" +he asked kindly, while Sylvia slipped her arms from his neck and looked +very confused, for it is not pleasant to rush about the world hugging +the wrong people, and her blushes were a sight to see as she stammered +out an incoherent apology for her blunder. + +The boys had dropped away from him and stood in a bewildered group, +while Ducky ceased her jubilant outcry, and it was left to Nealie to +explain the situation and ask why it was that he had asked to see her. + +"My name is Wallis, of the firm of Peek & Wallis, transport agents, +Sydney," said the stranger as his hand stole up to settle his ruffled +tie, which Sylvia's greeting had half-pulled unfastened. "Mr. Melrose +sent me a cable from Cape Town, asking me to meet this boat and to be of +service to you in any way that I could. He said that he had given you a +letter of introduction to my firm. Is that so?" + +"Oh yes, and I have it here in my bag!" said Nealie, pulling open the +little bag she wore slung from her shoulder and taking from it an +envelope addressed to Messrs. Peek & Wallis. + +Mr. Wallis looked relieved at the sight of the letter, as it made the +position quite clear, despite its brevity, for it was really very short, +and ran as follows:-- + + "Kindly supply Miss Plumstead with a horse and wagon for the + journey to Hammerville, Clayton, and if she cannot pay you I will. + + "Sincerely yours, + + "Thomas Melrose." + +"But of course our father, who is a doctor at Hammerville, will send you +the money for the horse and wagon when we reach him," said Nealie, with +the proud little lift of her head which had its due effect on Mr. +Wallis, who had a great respect for most things which were straight from +England, and who had already decided that Nealie was, to use his own +expression, "no ordinary young lady". + +"Of course," echoed Mr. Wallis politely, but without anxiety. In any +case his firm would not suffer, as Mr. Melrose had undertaken to see +them paid, and so he was prepared to be very kind indeed to this family +who had made the comical mistake of supposing him to be their father. +"And now I suppose that you would like to go ashore at once and have a +look at Sydney before you start on your journey?" + +Nealie hesitated and looked at Rupert, who, however, did not seem +disposed to help her out; and so again it was she who had to do the +explaining, which was quite right and proper, seeing that she was the +eldest and had always mothered the others. + +Then, because Mr. Wallis was elderly, and looked kind now that he had +had some of the starch taken out of him by Sylvia's rapturous hugging, +she decided that it would be better to take him into confidence +concerning their dilemma. + +"You see, it is like this," she said, boldly taking the plunge. "Captain +Moore would not let us go ashore at Cape Town, because we were under his +care, and we are so afraid that he will not let us disembark until +Father comes to fetch us, and we are not at all sure that Father knows +we have come." + +"You mean that he would not know the boat was in, or that he did not +know by which boat you were to travel?" asked Mr. Wallis in perplexity; +for to him the situation was certainly novel. + +"We are not sure that he knows we are in New South Wales," said Nealie, +speaking very slowly and distinctly, under the impression that Mr. +Wallis must be either deaf or stupid, or perhaps a little of both. "Our +guardian, Mr. Runciman, wrote to tell Father that we were being sent out +here to him, and he gave us the letter to post; but by an accident it +got no farther than my second brother's pocket. He is very poetical, and +that of course makes him very absent-minded. We did not find the letter +until we were some days away from Cape Town, and then, after a +consultation, we decided that we would not cable from Perth and we would +not tell the captain, but we would give dear Father the surprise of his +life by walking in upon him one fine day." + +"I should think that it would be a surprise, and it is possible that it +may be more than a little inconvenient to him; for you see houses here +are not so commodious and roomy as houses in England, and there are +six--no, seven of you," murmured Mr. Wallis, wondering what Dr. +Plumstead would feel like when this troop of jolly, hearty young people +walked in upon him. Still, confused as he had been by the onslaught of +their riotous greeting, Mr. Wallis could not help admitting to himself +that it had been very delightful to feel the clasp of Sylvia's arms +about his neck, and he could not help wishing that he had children of +his own to love him in that tempestuous but wholly delightful fashion. + +"I expect that Father will be so charmed to see us that he will not +think anything about the inconvenience of our numbers," put in Sylvia +confidently; but a chill little wonder crept into the heart of Nealie as +to whether it might not have been better to have waited in England until +their father had said whether he really wished for them to come and join +him in this distant land. However, it was too late now for regrets of +this sort, and the only thing to be done was to go forward, and to be +happy while they could. It was this feeling which made her say to Mr. +Wallis: + +"Do you think that Captain Moore will be willing to let us go off the +ship with you? We are so very tired of being on board." + +"I should think you must be; that is how most people feel by the time +they reach Sydney. We are so far away from Europe, you see, and a long +voyage is bound to be tedious," he answered kindly; and then he told +them that he would go and interview the captain at once about the matter +of their going. Meanwhile they were to wait in the dining saloon for +him, as he would certainly not find it easy to hunt for them in the +confusion which at present reigned on board. + +"What a dear he is, bless his heart!" cried Sylvia, dancing +lightheartedly up and down between the tables; then seizing upon +Billykins for a partner she whirled round and round, while Don and Ducky +joined forces to take their share of the fun, and Rumple bobbed, bowed, +then spun round and round without any partner at all, and dancing with +more energy than discretion was constantly falling foul of the chairs, +which were screwed to the floor and swung round upon pivots. + +Only Nealie and Rupert stood apart, talking rather anxiously about the +future and wondering whether their scanty stock of money would suffice +for all the needs of the journey. Rupert had been rather lamer than +usual during the last few days, owing to an accidental slip on the +stairs. This lameness was one of the private worries of Nealie, for she +did not believe that he need be lame if only the weak foot and ankle +were properly treated. However, her father would doubtless see that the +dear eldest brother had all the care that was necessary, and so until +they reached Hammerville she would just have to leave the matter where +it was. + +Mr. Wallis, coming back from his interview with the captain, thought +that he had never seen a family more radiantly happy than this company +of boys and girls who were skipping and prancing up and down the long +room, bumping against each other in sheer gleefulness of heart. + +But at sight of him they instantly subsided into outward quiet, coming +crowding about him to know how his errand had sped. + +"The captain says that he will be very pleased to let you go ashore with +me----" began Mr. Wallis, and then found he could get no further until +the noise of a rousing three times three, led by Rumple, had died away, +for he could not make himself heard above such a noise. + +"No more cheering until Mr. Wallis has finished, please," said Nealie +firmly, as she laid her hand in a restraining fashion on the shoulder of +Rumple. + +"I was going to say," continued Mr. Wallis, "that I should have been +very delighted to have taken you out to Mosman's Bay, where my home is, +but unfortunately the house is at present shut up, as my wife is away +visiting her mother at Auckland, in New Zealand, and I am staying at my +club in the city, where no ladies are admitted; but I can put you up at +a nice quiet hotel where you will be quite comfortable; indeed I told +Captain Moore that I would do so." + +"You are most kind, and we are very grateful," said Nealie in a rather +hesitating tone. "But I am afraid that we cannot afford to stay much at +hotels, for Mr. Melrose told us they were very expensive, and if we are +not careful our money will not last us until we reach Hammerville. There +are so many of us, you see, and we all want so much to eat that our food +bills must of necessity be very expensive." + +Mr. Wallis waved his hand with a deprecating air. "Of course, of course, +and it is really a very fine thing to be hungry; I often wish that I +could get up a vigorous appetite myself, but I can't. I hope that while +you are in Sydney you will consider yourselves my guests; it will be a +very great pleasure to show you some of the sights of the city. Suppose +you stay over to-morrow--we can get a large amount of sightseeing into +that time--and then the wagon shall be ready for you to make an early +start. The captain understands that you are to be my guests, and that is +why he is willing to let you come ashore with me. Please collect the +baggage that you want to take with you, then I will give orders for the +remainder of your luggage to be sent to the hotel. We ought to get away +as quickly as we can, so that no time may be lost." + +There was no stopping the cheers this time, and Nealie put her fingers +in her ears because of the noise, but Mr. Wallis looked actually pleased +at the commotion he had evoked; and then there was a great rush for the +cabins, where each one had a bag or a bundle ready. + +"What a delightful sensation it is to find firm ground under one's +feet!" cried Nealie, as she walked with a springy step by the side of +Mr. Wallis. + +"I expect it is; but all the same you will be wise not to do too much +walking at first, for land is apt to prove very trying to the person who +has just arrived after a long voyage," replied Mr. Wallis, who had +noticed how lame Rupert was, and guessed that the boy would rather +suffer any torture than admit that walking was painful. He had his +reward in the look of dumb gratitude Rupert gave him when a roomy +carriage had been secured, and they were all packed in as tight as +sardines in a tin, with Don and Billykins sharing the driver's perch, +and making shrill comments as they went along. + +First of all they were driven to the hotel, which was a very homely sort +of place, with a motherly manageress, who would insist on kissing the +girls, although happily she stopped short at that, leaving the boys with +a mere handshake. She was English herself, so she said, and just ached +for a sight of the old country, which made her welcome so warmly +everyone who came straight from England. + +Mr. Wallis wanted them to have luncheon then, but as they all stoutly +declared that they could not touch a mouthful of food of any kind, and +as it was really early for lunch, he took them off, on a tram this time, +to see something of the city. + +He took them along George Street, which, following as it does the lines +of an old bush trail, winds and wriggles in a way that was more +suggestive of Canterbury in England than of a great colonial city. +Sometimes they rode in electric trams, sometimes they had a carriage +chartered for their use, and then again it was an omnibus which had the +honour of their patronage, and Nealie privately wondered how much it +cost Mr. Wallis to take them round that day, for he would let them pay +for nothing themselves, declaring that he would not have his privilege +as their host infringed in any way. + +They had lunch in a grand hotel in Wynyard Square, and afterwards went +to see the residence of the Governor-General; but imposing as were the +battlemented walls and magnificent staterooms, the greatness of the +place was not so impressive to the seven as was the General Post Office, +and they were made completely happy when Mr. Wallis took them right to +the top of the building, so that they might look out over the city from +the windows of the room under the clock chamber of the great tower. + +It was small wonder that they were so tired, after such a round of +sightseeing, that they had to decline Mr. Wallis's kind proposal to take +them to a dramatic entertainment, which was being given that night in +the town hall. + +Ducky, Don, and Billykins were all three so fast asleep, when they +arrived back at the hotel where they were staying, that one of the +waiters had to be called to help carry the sleepers in and up to their +bedrooms, and as they could not be roused for supper they were just left +to have their sleep out, and the four elders had cakes and coffee on the +balcony overlooking Pitt Street. + +"I wonder what dear Father is thinking about to-night," said Sylvia +dreamily, as she sat in a wicker chair, with her feet upon another, +feeling at peace with all the world. + +"Perhaps his ears are burning, and he is wondering who is talking about +him; although a man with seven children may always feel pretty certain +that one or more of the seven have got their thoughts upon him," replied +Rumple, who was nibbling the end of a stumpy pencil and lovingly +fingering a dirty little notebook. He was just then very undecided as to +whether he would write a sonnet to his father or start on a history of +Sydney. Mr. Wallis had told him so many stories of the old Botany Bay +days that he felt quite primed for a very ambitious book indeed. + +"I am wondering who is going to drive the horse," said Rupert, whose +foot was aching badly, and consequently making him feel very depressed +and unfit to cope with difficulties which might be looming in the near +distance. + +"I shall, unless you especially yearn for the business," said Nealie +quietly, and then her hand stole into his with such a complete +understanding of how he felt at that moment that he blessed her in his +heart, and said to himself that she was a brick of a girl, and that it +was worth while to be her brother. + +Somehow Nealie always understood without words when Rupert felt as if +life were something too big to be lived, and then she would fling +herself into the breach, and let him feel that she was quite ready to +hold up the heavier end of every burden. + +"The poor animal will not cherish any illusions about the charms of +running away after it has had the pleasure of dragging us and our +baggage for a few score miles. I think that we ought to have a pair," +put in Sylvia in a dreamy tone; she was getting very sleepy, only it +seemed too much trouble to go to bed just yet. + +"Oh, we cannot have two horses; think what a worry it would be!" +exclaimed Nealie. "Mr. Wallis said that one would be quite sufficient, +as we did not need to travel very fast. He said that one horse, if it +were well fed, could always draw a ton weight on a decent road, and we +should not weigh a ton, I should hope." + +"Not far short of it, by the time baggage and wagon have been weighed +in, as well as the seven of us," said Rupert, and then he called out +that Rumple was asleep. The first paragraph of the projected History of +Sydney had been too much for the aspiring young author, who was snoring +with his nose on the grubby little notebook. + +"We cannot carry him to bed, and I am afraid that the waiters will form +a very poor opinion of us if we ask them to do it, so we must wake him +if we can," said Sylvia, jumping up and starting on a vigorous shaking +of her younger brother. + +"It is of no use, dear; he will not wake up, and you and I must just +drag him into his room as best we can," said Nealie, interposing to +prevent Rumple from being shaken and bumped any more. + +"What a set of children ours are!" cried Sylvia impatiently. "If once +they drop asleep there never seems any possibility of waking them before +the next morning." + +"It is not more than a year ago that Mrs. Puffin and I carried you up to +bed one night when you had fallen asleep downstairs," replied Nealie, +with a laugh. "I remember that we stuck fast in the narrow part just +outside Aunt Judith's door, and we could not get up or down; indeed it +looked not improbable that we might have to leave you there until +morning, climbing over your sleeping form every time we wanted to pass +up or down. Then Mrs. Puffin had a happy inspiration, and, acting upon +it, we slid a sheet under you, and, Rupert coming to our help, we +dragged you up the last four steps by sheer force of arm." + +"I remember it," laughed Sylvia. "That was the time when I dreamed that +I was tobogganing down the Rocky Mountains, and when I woke up next +morning, and found how badly I was bruised, I thought that it really +must be true, and no dream at all. How shall we carry him, Nealie? Will +it be easier to join hands under him, or to haul him out feet first?" + +"Feet first, I think," she answered. "It is not safe to join hands under +sleeping persons, because you have no hand free to catch them if they +sway. If you will carry his feet, I will take his shoulders, and we will +soon have him on his bed. Then I think we had better go to bed also, for +it would be tragic if we fell asleep; we should have to stay where we +are all night, because there is no one strong enough to carry us;" and +Nealie's laugh rang out, as if she had not a care in the world, and was +promptly echoed by Rupert and Sylvia. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The One-armed Man + + +The seven had hardly finished breakfast next morning when Mr. Wallis +arrived. Surely never had an elderly gentleman taken to sightseeing with +the avidity displayed by this one, and every one of the seven Plumsteads +voted him to be "a jolly decent sort". + +His first move this morning was to take them across the harbour in a +steam ferry to a small jetty opposite the Circular Quay, where they +transhipped to a tiny tug which took them to Farm Cove, round Clark +Island, and past the other sights of that most wonderful harbour; and +all the time he told them thrilling stories of the early days of the +Colony. He told them of the voyage of Captain Phillips, who set out from +Portsmouth in May, 1787, and arrived, with eleven ships, in Botany Bay +in January, 1788, only to find that Botany Bay was by no means what it +had been represented, and, instead of the land being a series of +beautiful green meadows sloping gently up from the shore, there was +nothing but swamp and sand. + +"What an awful voyage! I don't think that we will complain about our few +weeks on board after that!" cried Sylvia, who was sitting close to Mr. +Wallis on the deck of the tug, while Rupert sat on the deck at his feet +and Rumple hovered in the background, all of them intent on getting all +the information they could about the new and wonderful country to which +they had come. + +"The voyage now is nothing but a pleasure trip compared with what it +used to be in the days of the old sailing vessels," said Mr. Wallis, who +was immensely flattered at the attention given to his stories. He had +always been very fond of telling people things, only the trouble was +that so few seemed to care for what he had to tell; but these children +simply hung on his words, and so he was inspired to do his very best to +satisfy their thirst for information. + +"Botany Bay is south of Sydney Harbour, isn't it?" asked Rumple, +producing the dirty notebook and preparing to take notes on a liberal +scale. + +"Yes, and because it is so open to the east there is no protection from +the Pacific swell. Captain Phillips saw that it would be impossible to +found a colony there, and so he set out with one of his ships to find a +better harbour farther along the coast," went on Mr. Wallis. "And it is +said that a sailor named Jackson discovered the entrance to what is now +known as Sydney Harbour, and it was named Port Jackson in honour of +him." + +"I wish that I could discover something that could be named after me," +said Rumple with a sigh. "Port Plumstead, or even Mount Plumstead, would +have an uncommonly nice sound, and I do want to be famous." + +"There is fame of a sort within the reach of everyone," answered Mr. +Wallis quietly. + +"What sort of fame?" asked Rupert quickly. He had been very silent +before, leaving it to the others to do most of the talking. + +Mr. Wallis smiled, and his middle-aged countenance took on a look of +lofty nobility as he said slowly: "We can each impress ourselves on our +fellows in such a way that so long as life lasts they must remember us +because of some act or acts for the good of suffering humanity, and +that, after all, is the fame that lasts longest and is at the same time +most worth having. We can't all be explorers, you know, for there would +not be enough bays, mountains, and that sort of thing to go round; but +there are always people in need of help, pity, and comfort." + +"I wanted to be a doctor," said Rupert in a voice that was more bitter +than he guessed. "But who ever heard of a lame doctor? Everyone would be +howling for the physician to heal himself." + +"There is no reason why you should not be a doctor that I can see: not +if you do not mind hard work that is," said Mr. Wallis. "I have known +lame doctors and hump-backed doctors too; indeed one's own disability +would serve to make one all the more keen on doing one's best for other +people. In the Colony, too, there is not the money bar that exists in +the old country, because anyone can rise from the gutter here to any +position almost that he may choose to occupy, and you are not in the +gutter by any means." + +"Not quite," replied Rupert with a laugh, and a lift of his head like +Nealie. + +The tour of the harbour took so long that they did not get back to the +city until the afternoon, and then their kind host carried them off to +tea at the Botanical Gardens, which were one of the finest sights that +any of them had seen. Ducky fairly screamed with delight at the lovely +flowers, while Don and Billykins could hardly be induced to leave the +ornamental waters where the water fowl congregated looking for food. + +Nealie and Mr. Wallis came in search of them when tea was ready, and +found them absorbed in watching a toucan from America and a rhinoceros +hornbill from Africa, which appeared to have struck up a friendship from +the fact that they were both aliens. + +"Come to tea, boys; you can inspect those creatures later if you want +to," said Mr. Wallis. + +"I say, Nealie, what does the toucan want to have such a long bill +for?" asked Billykins, slipping his arm through Nealie's as they walked +back to the tearooms together. + +"Perhaps he did not want to have a long bill, but having it must needs +make the best of it," she answered, with a laugh, then suddenly grew +grave with pity and concern as a man with his right coat sleeve pinned +across his breast passed them at the place where the path grew narrow. +They all knew that for some reason it always made her sad to see a +one-armed man, although she took no especial notice of people who had +been so unfortunate as to lose a leg. Mindful of this fact, Billykins +was trying to divert her attention by talking very fast about what he +had seen; but twisting his head round to see if the maimed stranger was +leaving the gardens or taking the other path which led by a picturesque +bridge round to the other entrance to the tearooms, he was surprised to +see him stop and speak to Mr. Wallis, who was walking behind with Don. + +"Did you see that man with one arm, who passed us just now and spoke to +me?" said Mr. Wallis, joining Nealie and walking by her side. + +"Yes, I saw him," she replied, her voice rather fainter than usual, +while some of the fine colour died out of her cheeks. + +"His is a most interesting and unusual case," went on Mr. Wallis. "He +is one of our very rich men now, and the funny part of it is that he +declares he owes all his prosperity to the loss of his limb, which, but +for a mistake of the doctor's, he need not have lost at all." + +"What do you mean?" she asked, stopping short in the path and staring at +him with parted lips, her face so ghastly white that he asked her +anxiously if she felt ill. + +"No, no, it is nothing, thank you, but I want to hear about that man. It +sounds most awfully interesting; and won't you tell me what his name +is?" she said, turning such a wistful gaze upon him, that it seemed to +him there must have been some sorrow in her life, although she laughed +in such a cheery, lighthearted way as a rule. + +"Reginald Baxter. He is English, and came out to this country about six +or seven years ago. His people are very aristocratic, but poor as church +mice, and they were so terribly upset at his disaster they practically +cast him off; but he seems to have no false pride himself and no +unnecessary notions of his own importance; but he is a veritable king of +finance----" + +"What is that?" demanded Don; but Billykins was watching Nealie with a +close scrutiny, and he had his fists clenched tightly as if he were +meditating some sort of revenge upon the innocent Mr. Wallis for the +pain he was giving her in talking about the one-armed man. + +"A king of finance is a man who has a natural gift for managing money +and making it increase. I should not wonder if you develop a cleverness +in that way yourself when you are a little older," said Mr. Wallis, who +was a keen student of human nature and had already amused himself by +mentally forecasting the future of the seven. + +"Perhaps I shall," answered Don stolidly. "Anyhow I don't mean to be +poor when I grow up, for I shall just go without things until I get a +lot of money saved, and Mr. Runciman used to say that money made money, +and if a man could save one hundred pounds the next hundred would save +itself." + +"Well done, Mr. Runciman, that is sound philosophy!" said Mr. Wallis, +and was going to expound the art of money making still further when +there came a sudden interruption from Billykins. + +"Can't you talk about something else, please? You have made Nealie cry +by going on so about that one-armed man. She never can bear to talk +about them, and you didn't see that she did not like it," he said in a +shrill and very aggrieved tone. + +"Miss Plumstead, I am truly sorry. I had no idea that I was saying +anything to pain you. Please forgive me!" said Mr. Wallis in a shocked +tone, for Nealie's face was covered with her handkerchief, and by the +heave of her shoulders it was easy to see that she was crying bitterly. + +"Oh, it is nothing, quite nothing, and I am very silly!" she said +nervously. "But somehow I never can bear to see men who have lost their +limbs. It is so sad and hopeless, because, of course, they can never be +the same again, and life must be so very sad." + +Mr. Wallis laughed in a cheerful manner. "I don't think that you would +consider Reginald Baxter a very sad man if you knew him. As I said +before, he looks upon the loss of his arm as his entrance into freedom, +and it would be hard to find a happier man, I should think. But let us +go in and find some tea, and think no more about such matters." + +Tea was such a merry function that no one had much time to notice that +there was something wrong with Nealie, although she was so very quiet +that Rupert asked her once if she did not feel well. + +"Oh yes, I am quite well, thank you; only perhaps a little tired," she +replied, smiling at him in a rather wistful fashion; and then, as Sylvia +claimed his attention, he forgot about it, and there was so much to see +and to hear, with so many details of to-morrow's journey to discuss, +that it is not wonderful he did not even remember Nealie had said she +was tired. + +Later in the evening, when they were back at the hotel, the younger +ones had gone to bed, and Mr. Wallis had gone away after bidding them a +most affectionate good night, Nealie said abruptly: "There is something +you ought to know, Rupert, that I have always hated to tell you." + +"Then don't tell it," put in Sylvia lazily. "I think that half the +misery of the world comes through having to do unpleasant things, such +as going to bed when you want to sit up, and in having to get up by +candlelight on a dark morning in winter when you would far rather take +your breakfast in bed." + +"What is it? A trouble of some sort?" asked Rupert, with a start, for he +was remembering Nealie's low spirits at teatime and wondering where the +trouble came in. + +"Yes," said Nealie shortly, and then hesitated as if not sure where to +begin. + +"Well, you can enjoy it together, if it must be told, but I am going to +bed, for it seems to me almost like a sacrilege to spoil such a +beautiful day as this has been with even a hint of anything unpleasant," +said Sylvia, getting out of her easy chair in a great hurry. Then she +said in quite a pathetic tone, as she kissed Rupert: "I wonder when we +shall have easy chairs to sit in again; don't you?" + +"I don't see that it matters very much; I am not gone on that sort of +thing myself," he replied briefly; and then he turned to Nealie, asking +in a tone of grave concern, as Sylvia hurried away to bed: "Is it +anything about Father, Nealie?" + +"Yes," she said faintly. "That is to say, it is about the trouble that +came before Ducky was born; you remember it?" + +"I never knew more about it than that he made a mistake, some medical +blunder, for which he would have to live more or less under a cloud for +the remainder of his professional life. I thought it was all that any of +us knew, and Aunt Judith hated to have it mentioned." Rupert's tone was +fairly aggressive now, for he was quite abnormally sensitive on this +subject of his father's disgrace, which had indirectly cost his mother +her life and had plunged the family into poverty, and bereft them of +their father also. + +"Mrs. Puffin told me all about it one day soon after Aunt Judith was +taken ill," said Nealie, her voice quivering now with emotion, for it +was terrible to her to have to talk of this thing which had thrown such +a shadow over their lives. + +"How did she know?" demanded Rupert hotly, thinking how hateful it was +that a servant should know more about their private skeleton than they +knew themselves. + +"Aunt Judith told her," replied Nealie; and then she burst out hotly: +"But indeed there is nothing to look so shocked about in the affair, +Rupert. If Father did make a mistake, it was not so serious as it might +have been; and I think that it was altogether wrong to hush it up as it +has been. There are some things which are all the better for being told, +and I am quite sure that this is one of them." + +"What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely. "I should think that a mistake of +that kind should be buried as deep as possible, for who would be likely +to trust a doctor who might make blunders that might cost a man his +life?" + +"It was not a life-or-death blunder in that sense, but only one of +maiming," said Nealie hastily. "Father wanted to take off a man's arm to +save his life; but the family, and I suppose the man himself, would not +hear of it, for the man was heir to someone's property, an awful pile it +was; and the someone--she was a woman--said that her money should never +go to a man who was maimed. So of course the man's family would not hear +of it, and they would not have another doctor called in either; and +things went on, the poor man getting worse and worse, until one day +Father declared that he would throw up the case, because he would not be +responsible for the man's life. Then the man said that it could be taken +off if Father liked, only it must be done without his people knowing +anything about it, which was easy enough, seeing that he was being +nursed at his lodgings. Father sent for another doctor to come and +administer the chloroform, and he performed the operation himself, as +the man was too bad to be moved eight miles to the nearest hospital. +There was a frightful week after that, when Father simply gave up +everything to pull the poor fellow through. He did it too, and the +relatives did not know until he was out of danger that the arm had been +amputated." + +"Whew, what a story!" said Rupert, mopping his forehead, on which the +perspiration stood in great beads. "I think that Father was a hero, +because he acted up to his principle--the true doctor principle--of +saving life at no matter what cost to himself. But I don't mind +admitting, now that I know the truth, that I have always been afraid of +hearing that story, because I had got the impression that there was +something really disgraceful behind." + +"Poor Father has had to suffer as bitterly as if he had made the most +ghastly blunder imaginable," said Nealie sadly. "The man's people had a +lot of influence, although they were not really wealthy, and when they +found out that the arm had been taken off they simply hounded Father +down as if he were a criminal. He was boycotted in every direction, and +in the end he had to get out of his practice in a hurry. Then Ducky was +born, and Mother died; and there would have been no home for us at all +if Aunt Judith had not opened her house to take us in." + +"Poor Father!" murmured Rupert, and then he thrust his hands deep in his +pockets, and sat staring at the floor, frowning his blackest, until, a +sudden thought striking him, he sat up straight, and asked abruptly: +"What made you dig all that up to-day, after keeping it to yourself so +long?" + +"Because I met the man whose arm Father cut off," replied Nealie +quietly. + +"You did? Where?" demanded Rupert savagely, and looking as if he would +like to go and have it out with the man there and then. + +"A one-armed man passed us in the Botanical Gardens, and Mr. Wallis told +me that a doctor had cut off his arm by mistake, and that the man's name +was Reginald Baxter; then I knew that it must be the man on whose +account Father had to suffer so badly." + +"Did he--did he look very poor?" asked Rupert in a hesitating manner; +for if the man had to lose his inheritance as a penalty for losing his +arm, it did seem as if the poor fellow should be pitied. + +"He looked as well off as other people, that is to say, he was dressed +in an ordinary way; but Mr. Wallis told me that he was one of the +richest men in the city--a king of finance, he said he was," replied +Nealie. + +Rupert gave a long whistle, and then rose to his feet, yawning widely. +"So Father didn't balk the business so badly after all!" he said, and +then went to bed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Start + + +"I say that this is just ripping!" cried Rumple joyously. + +He was sitting under the tilt of a light wagon with Rupert, the two +small boys, and Ducky, while Nealie and Sylvia occupied the post of +honour in front, and guided the steps of the big horse which was to draw +the wagon to Hammerville. + +Nealie held reins and whip in quite a professional style, and if she was +nervous she took good care to say nothing about it. She had, before +starting from the yards of Messrs. Peek & Wallis, ably demonstrated her +ability to manage a horse by unharnessing this very animal and leading +it into the stable. Then leading it out again she had harnessed it with +her own hands, backed it carefully into the shafts, and finished the +processes of hitching to in a smart and workmanlike manner. + +The others wanted to assist her; but as she had to take the +responsibility, and sign the books of the company, she preferred to do +the whole thing herself, although she promised that one or more of them +should always help her at the harnessing and unharnessing when they were +on the journey. + +"Yes, it is ripping!" echoed Sylvia. "But do you know, I was simply +shaking with nervousness when Nealie was harnessing, for I was so afraid +that she would make some awful blunder, and that they would refuse to +let us have the horse and wagon, for I knew that I could not have stood +the test as she did; and then, too, these colonial horses seem to have +such a good opinion of themselves, and they carry their heads with a +swagger that is entirely different from the meek, downtrodden air of the +Turpins, and Smilers, and Sharpers of the old country; and their names +are as bumptious as themselves. Fancy a horse being named Rockefeller! I +vote that we call the dear creature Rocky for short. What do you say?" + +"Not a bad idea!" cried Nealie, who was flushed and triumphant at having +passed the test imposed on her by Mr. Wallis before he would allow her +to take the responsibility of the horse and wagon. Rupert's lameness had +been the bar to his being in charge, and if Nealie, or, failing her, +Sylvia, had been unable to harness and unharness without danger to +themselves, then it would have been necessary to send a driver with +them, which would not merely have added to the expense, but would have +imposed a most uncomfortable restraint upon them. + +Mr. Wallis had sent a reliable man to see them clear of the city and +beyond the area of the electric trams; then, once out in the country, +and provided with a map of the route to be traversed, the driver bade +them good morning, and they were absolutely on their own. + +"I wonder how far we shall get to-night?" said Rupert, who was in charge +of the map, and had been promptly nicknamed the "route boss" by the +others. + +"We ought to get to Kesterton--Mr. Wallis said so," answered Rumple, who +had charge of the provisions, and was at that moment sitting upon the +grub box, which had been thoughtfully filled for the start by Mr. +Wallis. + +"I don't mind where we get to by night--no, I mean sundown, for that is +what Australians say--but I do hope it will soon be time to open the +grub box, for I am getting most fearfully hungry, and I expect the horse +is hungry too," said Ducky, who was in high feather this morning, and +full of the oddest little jokes, with quips and cranks of all sorts. She +had kept up a fire of small jokes with Don and Billykins ever since the +start, for she was wildly excited because she was going to see her +father, who of course could not possibly know her until he was told who +she was. + +"You can have food now, and I know there are some lovely sandwiches on +the top of the box, for I saw the woman at the shop pack them into their +place above those tins of tongue," said Nealie; "but I have had strict +orders to feed Rocky only at sunrise, noon, and sundown, and the noon +meal is to be a slight one, and I am going to obey orders." + +"How shall we get the horse and wagon back from Hammerville to Sydney? +Will it have to be put on the rail?" asked Rumple, who had not heard, or +else had forgotten, the final instructions which had been given to his +sister. + +"We have to hand it over to the nearest agent of the company, and he +lives about twenty miles from Hammerville on the nearest point of the +railway," replied Nealie. + +"Do you mean that the railway does not go nearer than twenty miles from +Hammerville?" cried Sylvia. "Why, the place must be quite at the back of +beyond!" + +"That is just about where it is, my dear; and if you thought that it was +going to be a second Sydney, why, you are in for a pretty big +disappointment, I am afraid," said Rupert, who was still poring over the +map. "Hammerville is a mining place, although it is not quite clear to +me yet what kind of mining is done there, and it seems to have sprung +into existence within the last six or seven years. This Gazetteer affair +says that it is a very healthy place, and bound to develop into a city +of the first importance; only, so far as I can see, it is not very big +yet, though doubtless it will receive a mighty impetus of growth when it +has the honour of sheltering us. Only I don't mean to stay there very +long;" and as he spoke Rupert folded up the map, putting it in his +pocket with a satisfied slap, then sat looking out between the shoulders +of Nealie and Sylvia, a happy smile curving his lips. + +Life had taken on a new aspect for him since the real truth of his +father's story had been made known to him, and already he had made up +his mind that he was going to be a doctor, if by hard work he could pass +the preliminary tests and win a scholarship that would let him climb the +ladder of learning without expense to his father. Mr. Wallis had told +him the way to set about obtaining his heart's desire, and it would not +be a little thing which would turn him back, now that he knew there had +been no real dishonour in his father's professional downfall. While the +others ate sandwiches, and chattered like magpies about what they would +do when the night camp was made, Rupert sat absorbed in day-dreams, +building castles in the air, and making up his mind as to how he would +go to work in good earnest directly Hammerville was reached. + +The horse was good and fresh, the road was plain before them, and Nealie +forged ahead so intent on her business that she paid little heed to +Rupert's silence or the noisy chatter of the others. + +The day was very hot, and they rested the horse for two hours in the +middle of the day, unharnessing the big creature, and washing his face +with as much care as if he had been a human being; then, after he had +had the regulation amount of water, he was tied to a tree and fed, after +which the seven had a merry meal from that well-filled grub box and some +tea from a real billy, which they boiled over a fire of sticks that had +been gathered by Don and Billykins. + +The suburbs of Sydney extend so far that they could not be said to be +free of them yet; there were pleasant villas with ornamental grounds and +a riotous wealth of flowers dotted here and there along the road. Great +stretches of land were under vegetable cultivation, and the seven had +been vastly interested to see Chinamen with long pigtails hanging down +their backs walking up and down between rows of potatoes, peas, and +cauliflowers, letting in water from the irrigation channels, and turning +it this way or that with the twist of a naked foot. + +The noonday halt was on a patch of ground just off the road, which +looked like private land with the fence broken down; but no one came to +complain of their resting there, while there was water and shade, and +the spot seemed to be made on purpose for their requirements. + +"What a jolly place this would have been for the night camp! I doubt if +we shall find a spot so suitable when evening comes. What a pity we +cannot stay here!" said Sylvia regretfully; the heat had made her lazy, +and it did not seem worth while to go farther and to fare worse when +they had such a lovely spot to rest in. + +"We ought to do twenty miles a day at the very least, and we have not +done more than ten as yet, so we must push on a little farther," replied +Nealie, standing up and stretching her arms above her head. Quite +privately she was saying to herself that she would love to camp just +then and there, for between sightseeing and excitement she was feeling +rather worn out. But it did not take much arithmetic to know that if +they only went ten miles in a day's journey they would be nearly a month +on the road, and at that rate their money would certainly not hold out, +for there were seven of them to feed, and even the horse would cost +money for food later on, as the animal would need corn or oatmeal to +keep it in good form for drawing the wagon. + +So she resolutely put away the temptation to camp at that most +convenient spot, and, calling Rumple to help her harness, she set about +the preparations for a start. + +The zest of travel had gone from all of them, however, and they went +forward in languid silence, while the heat and the dust seemed literally +to choke them. Then came a long hill, which appeared to stretch for +miles in front of them. + +"I am going to walk for a time," said Nealie, as she sprang down and +went to the head of the horse, and the others tumbled out also, except +Rupert and Ducky, and they trailed along in the little shade cast by the +side of the wagon, and declared that it was less tiring to walk in the +dust than to be cooped up under the tilt of the wagon. + +"We ought to be looking for a camping place soon, for of course we shall +be rather longer getting things into shape on the first night," said +Nealie, and then Rumple and Sylvia begged to be allowed to go forward +and find a place which seemed suitable for the purpose, and on their +promising not to leave the road, Nealie said they might go. + +The way still led upward, and between the trees they could still get +glimpses of the waters of the wide harbour, although a few miles farther +on the road would turn inland, and then they would have to bid goodbye +to the sea. + +Billykins trudged along by the side of Nealie, doing valiant things in +the matter of leading the horse, but Don trotted on just in front, +looking for a camping ground, which he found presently in a little +hollow by the side of the road, not far from a house, where water could +be begged for themselves, and also for the horse: a great convenience +this, because they seemed to have left the region of little roadside +streams, and they had seen no water since noon. + +"I wonder why Sylvia and Rumple do not come back. Do you think that they +can have lost their way?" Nealie asked Rupert, when he came to help her +unharness the horse, after the wagon had been drawn into position at the +side of the road. + +"If they have, they will soon find it again when they turn round to come +back," said Rupert in a casual tone; but secretly he was very much +worried because they had not come back, and would promptly have gone in +search of them if his foot had not ached so much as to make walking out +of the question. + +Don, Billykins, and Ducky worked very hard at getting supper ready, but +everyone was more or less anxious, and no one really enjoyed things, +until, just as they were going to sit down to supper without them, the +wanderers appeared. They were very tired, and dreadfully shamefaced at +having stayed away so long that all the burden of supper preparations +was thrown on the others. + +"We don't mind that; only we were so worried because you were away so +long," replied Nealie, who had been looking rather white and worn, but +who was smiling now that the worry was at an end. + +The night was delightfully fine, and they grew very merry as they sat +round the supper fire. It really seemed a shame to turn in; but, mindful +of the early start which would have to be made next morning, Nealie said +they really must go to bed. + +It was one thing to talk of turning in and quite another to do it, +however. The three girls were going to sleep on the floor of the wagon, +but when the mattress was unrolled there seemed no room at all, and so +much twisting and turning was necessary, before there was room for the +three of them to lie down, that a good part of the night was taken up in +getting comfortable; indeed they might not have been able to sleep at +all if it had not been for Sylvia's brilliant idea of lying in what she +called the head and toe position; that is to say, her head and Nealie's +feet shared the same end of the mattress, while Ducky, being so many +sizes smaller, was accommodated somewhere about the middle. + +Down below, the boys had more room and less comfort. A tarpaulin spread +over the shafts of the wagon made a sort of tent in front, there was +more sailcloth draped round the wheels and the back part of the wagon, +while a waterproof sheet spread on the ground served as a sort of floor +on which to spread two mattresses. But, as Rumple said, it was very +hard, and it was a night or two before they were really comfortable. + +The novelty of the thing kept them from complaining, however, and there +was not one of the seven who would have changed their quarters for the +most comfortable bed that was ever invented. It was great fun to lie +listening to Rocky munching alongside, and to fall asleep with the +out-of-door feeling, and the stars looking in from the rift in the +canvas covering. + +But it was still greater fun to wake next morning, to wash in a bucket, +and then to hurry round, getting breakfast in the crisp, fresh air of +the early morning. It was going to be tremendously hot later on, so +breakfast was hurried over, and the start made before the cool breeze of +the sunrising had entirely died away. + +It was the real start this morning, for the road turned inland from the +sea, and there was not one of the seven who did not feel as if they were +saying goodbye to an old friend when the last gleam of blue water was +hid from sight, and the hills, clothed with olive-green foliage, bounded +the horizon. + +[Illustration: EARLY MORNING IN CAMP] + +But it was not in their nature to be sad for very long, so ten minutes +later their laughter was ringing out once more, and they set their faces +towards the unknown with the cheerful determination to make the best of +things which always marked their doings. + +Rumple had retired to the rack at the back of the wagon, because he +wished for quiet in which to write a poem to celebrate the occasion, and +the others forgot all about him until they drew under the shade of a +grove of trees for the noonday halt, when, to their extreme +consternation, it was found that Rumple was missing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +In a Strange Place + + +Rumple opened his eyes and stared about him in amazement. He was lying +in a room which had big pink vases on the mantelpiece, a blue +firescreen, and a green paper on the walls. There was a centre table, +too, which was piled with books and strewn with photographs. There was +one--the portrait of a man--which had a silver-gilt frame, and stood in +the place of honour, and Rumple gazed at it in amazement, wondering +where he had seen it before. + +"Why, I do believe it is Mr. Melrose!" he cried in a shrill voice. + +"Better, are you, dear?" asked a voice at his side, and he twisted his +head, to see a woman, not yet middle-aged, with a kindly face which +matched her voice. + +"Have I been bad?" he asked in a wondering tone, and then, suddenly +remembering, he called out anxiously: "Why, where are the others?" + +"Who are the others, dear? You were lying alone on the road when we +found you; and when we first picked you up we thought that you were +dead," said the woman. + +"Just my luck!" cried Rumple, with a groan. "I sat at the back of the +wagon--on the rack behind, you know--so that I might have some quiet, +because I was turning out a little poem. Then I remember that I got +sleepy, and I suppose that I fell off; only I wonder that it did not +wake me up." + +"We think that you must have stunned yourself with the fall, and we +should have sent for a doctor, only he lives fifteen miles away, and we +had no horse that could do the journey just then, and we had to wait for +a few hours to see if you would be better," said the woman; and then she +asked again: "But who were you with, dear, and how was it they went on +and left you lying all alone in the road, you poor child?" + +"Why, that was because they did not know that I had fallen off, of +course," said Rumple hastily, for there was so much reproach for the +rest of the family in her tone that he was instantly on the defensive on +their behalf. + +"Then I expect that your mother will be in a fine state of mind about +you," said his hostess, who was fussing round him much after the fashion +in which a motherly hen would fuss round a brood of chickens. + +Rumple hastily explained then that he had no mother, and detailed the +journeyings of his family, while the good woman stood with her hands +uplifted in horrified amazement to think that a lot of irresponsible +children should be left to wander about the world in such an unprotected +fashion. + +"We are used to looking after ourselves, and Nealie is nearly grown up. +She does not have her hair hanging down her back now, because it makes +her look so much more responsible, now that she wears it in a bunch on +the top of her head," explained Rumple. + +"And you say that you have one of Peek & Wallis's wagons? Why, they are +most dreadful particular sort of people, and they always want money down +and no end of security besides; no blame to them either, seeing how bad +some people are about paying their just debts," said the woman, with so +much surprise in her tone that Rumple felt it necessary to explain a +little further. + +"Oh, Mr. Melrose cabled from Cape Town to Mr. Wallis, saying that he +would be security for the paying of the wagon hire. Mr. Melrose is a +gentleman whom we met on board ship, a very nice person indeed; but it +seemed so funny to see his photograph here," and Rumple waved a languid +hand towards the portrait in the silver frame. His head was aching +furiously, and he felt very weak and shaken from the fall; but he had +to make some sort of explanation about himself, and it seemed almost +like a certificate of respectability to be able to claim acquaintance +with a person whose portrait had the place of honour in the house. + +"So you know Cousin Tom, do you? I know he has been to Europe lately, +although we have not heard from him since he got back. But now that I +know where you have come from I must send off to the road and have a +notice stuck up, so that your sister may know where to find you;" and +the good woman was bustling out of the room, when Rumple stretched out +an imploring hand to stop her. + +"If you please, can't I go with the somebody, and then Nealie will not +have to worry about me, and it will save such a lot of bother?" he said, +with so much entreaty that the woman hesitated; but seeing how pale and +shaken he looked she decided that his family would have to take a little +trouble on his behalf, and said so. + +"You will have to lie still for a few hours, for you are more shaken +than you realize; but we will stick a notice up on the side of the road, +to let your people know where to find you, and then they can camp here +for the night, so as to be ready to start on again first thing to-morrow +morning," she said, and then hurried away to post a messenger off to the +main road, which was two or three miles away, while Rumple lay staring +about at his new surroundings, The ceiling and walls of the room were of +canvas, and the furniture was good of its kind, but dreadfully crowded. +There was a piano, too, but the dust lay so thickly on it that he +decided that the family were not very musical, or else that they were +too busy with other things to have much time for relaxation. There was a +deep veranda in front of the window and a lot of flowers planted in pots +and tins. Beyond the veranda he had glimpses of a gorgeous garden, with +sweetpeas, marguerites, queer-looking cactus plants, blazing-red +geraniums, and a coral tree in full bloom. + +"I wonder if Father will have a garden like this at Hammerville?" he +muttered to himself, with a keen pleasure in all the riot of blossom +that was to be seen from his sofa, and then he lay quite still trying to +make some verses about the garden, and at the same time wondering lazily +what the others were doing, until he fell asleep and did not wake until +milking time. He felt so much better then, and he was so furiously +hungry, that he decided to go on a voyage of discovery to see for +himself what the outside of his haven of refuge was like. + +The yard outside was a scene of pretty lively activity. The cows were +just being fastened for milking, that is to say they were tied by the +head, each one to her stall, and then the hind leg was strapped so that +there could be no danger of the animal kicking the pail over. + +There were several people moving about, and just at first Rumple did not +see his hostess; but presently he heard a shrill voice cry out: "Mother, +there is the little boy out and running about!" + +Rumple felt considerably ruffled by this remark, which was not strictly +true, for he was not really a little boy now, at least not compared with +Don and Billykins, and he certainly could not be accused of running +about when he was merely leaning against the garden fence and looking +into the cowyard. + +Then the elderly woman detached herself from a group of cows and came +bustling up to the fence, exclaiming at sight of him: "Well, well, you +look a sight better than before you went to sleep. How are you feeling +now, dear?" + +"I am dreadfully hungry," admitted Rumple, looking up into her kindly +face with a smile, and thinking how much better she would look if she +did her hair like Nealie, instead of dragging it into a knot at the back +of her head; but really her face was so kind that her hair did not +matter very much either way. + +"Hungry are you? That is right. Here, come into the kitchen with me and +have something to eat straight away, for we shan't have supper until the +milking is done and the creatures seen to for the night. It will take +another hour or more, and you have had no dinner." + +Rumple followed his hostess into the kitchen, which was canvas-walled +like the best parlour, but many sizes larger and so much more +comfortable that Rumple decided it looked really beautiful, while the +smell of new-baked bread and cakes made a fragrance very delightful to a +hungry boy. + +There was a wood fire smouldering on a great open fireplace, and raking +the embers open the good woman put a toasting fork into Rumple's hands +and bade him toast scones for himself. He was invited to put the butter +on for himself also, and there was milk to drink in a big mug close +beside him. So the next half-hour passed pleasantly enough. + +But when his hunger was satisfied Rumple began to worry about the others +and started for the cowyard once more in order to see if any news of the +wagon had arrived. Truth to tell, he was feeling very guilty because of +all the trouble he was giving, for he knew that Rupert and Nealie would +be very worried and anxious concerning him, and the journey would be +delayed also. + +He had discovered that the woman who had found him lying in the road and +had brought him home was a Mrs. Warner, that her husband was away from +home that day on business, and that all the people moving about the +cowyard were the sons and daughters of the house, with the exception of +an old black fellow who had only one eye. + +The milking was over and the cows had all been turned into the home +paddock for the night, but now a strange humming noise made itself heard +on the quiet air. + +"Why, what is that?" asked Rumple as one of the young Warners passed +him, bowed under the weight of two heavy pails of sour milk for the +poultry. + +"That is the separator. Do you want to see it at work?" asked the boy, +with a friendly grin. He was a few years older than Rumple and scorched +to a berry-brown by the sun. + +"What is a separator?" demanded Rumple, whose knowledge of farming was +of a rather antiquated description, Beechleigh being about twenty years +behind the times. + +"It is the thing that parts the cream from the milk. Go into the dairy +and have a look at it," said the youth, nodding his head in the +direction of a long, low shed that had been built into the side of the +hill, and which was so covered with creepers that it looked almost like +a part of the bank. + +Away went Rumple, nothing loath. Something fresh always appealed to him, +and in this new land fresh things were meeting him at every turn. + +Fascinated, he stood watching the machine, the cream pouring from one +spout and the milk from the other, while a rosy-faced Miss Warner turned +the handle, and another Miss Warner, with pale cheeks and quite a +stylish air, bustled about the dairy putting things straight for the +night. + +"If you please, have you seen or heard anything of our wagon?" asked +Rumple, when at length the separating was done for the night and both +girls were busy clearing up. + +"No, we haven't; but Bella and a friend are going to walk out to the +road after work to see if they can find out anything for you," said the +stylish sister, and Bella, the red-cheeked one, gurgled and choked with +amazing enjoyment, and said: + +"My friend indeed! La, Amy, how neatly you always put things!" + +They all went in to supper after that, but Rumple, who had eaten so many +scones and so much butter that he would not be hungry for a long time to +come, sat on the step of the veranda and stared out at the darkening +night, feeling a little homesick for the others. + +Then away in the distance he heard the slow rumble of wagon wheels, and +a moment later a clear voice rang out on the still air: + +"Steady, Rocky, steady, old fellow, or you will upset the whole show +into the ditch!" + +"It is Nealie!" yelled Rumple in an ecstasy of joy. "Mrs. Warner, our +wagon is coming, for I can hear my sister Nealie calling to the horse." + +"Now that is downright good news. Come, bustle about, girls, and get +some more supper ready, for the poor things will be nearly starved by +this time, I should think!" cried the hospitable mistress of the farm. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A Fright at Night + + +"There he is, there he is!" squealed Ducky in the shrillest of trebles +as Rumple started to run along the dusty track up which the wagon was +advancing. + +"Oh, you blessed boy, how could you have the heart to give us such a +fright?" cried Sylvia, who had been walking at the side of the wagon and +now rushed forward to fling her arms round Rumple and hug him until he +was nearly smothered. + +"I'm awfully sorry, truly I am, but I didn't know anything about it; and +I tell you I just felt bad when I woke up in Mrs. Warner's parlour and +she told me that she had picked me up in the road and thought at first +that I was dead," explained Rumple, with an air of gloomy importance; +for in spite of the sorrow he felt at having given the others so much +anxiety there was a thrill of satisfaction at having figured in such a +fashion. To be picked up for dead had a good sound with it, and might +serve as quite a big incident when he wrote the story of his life. + +"Oh, my dear, I will never let you sit upon the rack out of sight again +unless you are tied fast to the seat!" cried Nealie, who by this time +had jumped down from the wagon and was hugging him in place of Sylvia, +who had been pushed aside. + +"Or we might tie the frying pan and the tin billy round his neck, and +then there would be such a rattle when he fell that we should be sure to +hear and could pick him up at our leisure," said Rupert. There was a +quiet drawl in his tone which meant that his foot was more painful than +usual; but Nealie had been so occupied with her anxiety on Rumple's +account that she had little time for watching her eldest brother, who +never said a word about himself, however bad he might feel. + +"I shall not do such a stupid thing again of course, but it might have +been worse," said Rumple. "This is a jolly place: no end of cows, and a +real separator; you put them in at the top, the milk I mean, not the +cows, and they come out cream one side and milk the other. Mrs. Warner +is jolly too, and oh! what do you think, she is cousin to that Mr. +Melrose who left the ship at Cape Town, and sent the cable to Mr. +Wallis." + +By the time Rumple had managed so much of explanation the horse and +wagon had halted outside the cowyard, and Mrs. Warner came rushing out +to greet the arrivals. + +"I am really glad to see you; we don't get many visitors in these lonely +places, you know, and so company is always a treat. I am afraid that you +must have been rather scared when you found your brother was missing, +but when he was able to tell us how it all happened we sent off a notice +to be stuck up at the side of the road as soon as possible." + +"It was most kind of you to be so thoughtful," said Nealie. "Only the +trouble was that we had found out Rumple was missing, and we had come +back on our tracks, right past the place where the notice was posted, +and we had nearly reached the cutting where they are going to make the +railway. We halted there, because we knew that when we passed that place +before Rumple was with us, and after we had been there about half an +hour a man came riding up from the way we had come, and he asked what +was the matter that we were so down on our luck; so we told him that one +of our brothers was missing, and then he said that he had seen a notice +up at the Four-Mile Corner, that stated a boy had been found lying in +the road, and had been taken to Warner's Farm, in the Holderness Valley, +but he was not hurt." + +"I had that bit put to keep you from being scared," said Mrs. Warner, +nodding her head in a vigorous fashion. "I guessed that you would be +feeling pretty bad, and so I just told Tom to put it in big black +letters that the boy wasn't hurt." + +"It was most kind of you!" said Nealie, flushing and paling. "I do not +know how I should have had the courage to find my way up here but for +those last words, and I am so very, very grateful to you for being so +kind to Rumple." + +"Tcha!" cried Mrs. Warner, making a funny clicking noise with her +tongue. "Come in and have some supper, all of you; though where we can +put seven of you to sleep is more than I can say, for we are pretty full +with our own lot; but we will manage somehow, don't you fret." + +"Oh, but, please, we have our own supper things, and we always sleep in +the wagon; that is, we girls sleep in the wagon, and the boys have two +mattresses underneath, so we never have to trouble anyone," said Nealie +hastily. + +"What a fine idea!" cried Mrs. Warner, holding up her hands in +astonishment. "It makes you so independent of hotels and that sort of +thing; besides, these wayside houses are not many of them suitable +places for young people to stay at. But you are not going to eat your +own supper when you come to see me, not if I know it. Come along into +the kitchen, all of you, there is plenty to eat, only you have caught us +all in the rough." + +"But, please, we must look after Rocky, that is our horse, before we +have our own supper; we always do," said Nealie, feeling as if the +stormy day was going to have a peaceful ending, seeing that they were to +find a supper all ready for them, instead of having to cook it for +themselves. + +"Tom will see to your horse, and a fine creature it is too. But Peek & +Wallis always do supply good cattle; we often have their horses out +here. Tom is my eldest, and he is downright smart with horses. Tom, Tom, +come and lend a hand, will you?" + +At the sound of his mother's shout Tom came hurrying out from the back +door; but he was so dreadfully shy, when he saw Nealie and Sylvia +standing by the horse, that he was just going to make a bolt for it, and +pretend that he had business in another direction, only just then Nealie +began to unharness the animal, setting about her task with such an air +of being accustomed to it that he suddenly forgot to be awkward and +nervous, walking up to the wagon and saying, in a matter-of-fact tone: +"Here, Miss, I'll look to your animal, and give him his supper and a rub +down, while you go in with Mother and get a feed for yourself." + +"You are very kind," said Nealie, "but I will just get his supper corn +from the bottom of the wagon, because you will not know where to find +it, and Mr. Wallis said that a horse could not do heavy draught work on +grass feed." + +"I should think not," replied Tom, with such an air of knowing all about +it as made his mother glow with pleasure, for Tom's shyness was a real +trouble to her, she never having been afflicted in that way herself. +"The horse shall have a corn feed, Miss, but it will be our corn and not +yours; that will do for to-morrow or the next day." + +"Of course we don't let people feed themselves or their beasts when they +come here!" echoed Mrs. Warner, taking hold of Nealie and forcibly +leading her into the house, while the others trouped after them. + +What a crowd they made in the canvas-walled kitchen. And what a supper +they ate, sitting round the table eating scones and butter, with +delicious raspberry jam. Amy, the stylish sister, made a fresh batch of +scones, and cooked them in the oven, while the rosy-cheeked Bella went +walking with her friend, who proved to be a good-looking young farmer, +living farther up the valley. + +The girls slept in the wagon that night, but the boys carried their +mattresses into the big hay barn, because it threatened rain, and, as +Mrs. Warner said, it was much easier to keep dry than to dry up after +getting wet. + +About midnight the rain came down at a pour; it rained until morning, +when it came down faster than ever, and Mrs. Warner would not hear of +their moving on. She said that Rockefeller certainly could not drag the +wagon through the loose mud of the track, and if they got out to walk +they would all catch bad colds, entailing no end of misery and +discomfort on them all, and the only sensible thing to do was to stay in +the Holderness Valley for another day, and the weather would be sure to +be better to-morrow. + +This was such common-sense advice that Nealie was very glad to take it, +although she felt rather embarrassed, because it looked so much like +sponging on the generosity of their kind hostess. + +The younger ones were all delighted to stay, and Sylvia entered herself +at once as an apprentice to the dairy business by taking a lesson in +milking, and Mrs. Warner declared that when Bella was married to her +friend who lived higher up the valley, Sylvia could come to the farm and +fill the vacant place, earning her keep, and a good deal more besides. + +The boys turned the handle of the separator, and made themselves +generally useful. But Nealie went off in the rain with Mrs. Warner and +Tom for a ride to the butter factory with the cream from the night +before and that of the morning. + +Mrs. Warner had guessed shrewdly enough that Nealie had so much +responsibility in an ordinary way as to make the little trip to the +factory quite a holiday jaunt. + +Wrapped in a big mackintosh belonging to Amy, Nealie sat on the front +seat of the wagon, between Tom and his mother, and very much enjoying +the novelty of seeing someone else in charge of the horse and wagon. + +The factory was a series of surprises, and she came away with her head +in a whirl between cream testers, butter machinery, freezing chambers, +and the final processes of packing for market. It seemed to her that the +world was such a wonderful place, and the things done in it were so much +more wonderful still, that she must belong to the very bottom class of +ignoramuses, because she did not know how to do anything save mother her +sisters and brothers, and she did not realize that this might be the +grandest and cleverest work of all. + +All day it rained without a single stop, and far into the second night +as well. But the morning broke without a cloud, the sun shone out bright +and glorious, and all nature rejoiced because of the rain. + +A start was made directly after breakfast, all the family of Warners +crowding to the cowyard gate, to see the travellers start. + +Putting Rupert and Ducky up in the wagon to ride, the other five walked +the two miles and more to the Four-Mile Corner, because the Holderness +Valley track was so soft from the rain. Even with this lightening of the +load it was an anxious progress in places, and when they got stuck in a +hollow they had to put their shoulders to the wheel and assist strength +of collar by strength of arm. + +But Rockefeller had been well fed at the farm, and he had had a good +rest also, and, being in prime condition, made short work of the heavy +track, landing them safe and sound on the main road. + +Rumple's misadventure had let them in for quite a long delay, but it had +also secured them a shelter when they most needed it, and so, as Nealie +said, the balance was about even. + +That day's journey was without incident, and so was the next. Then came +Sunday, when they did not travel at all, but remained in camp all day, +giving themselves and the horse a rest, and singing hymns as they sat +under the trees in the shade. So far there had mostly been trees dotted +here and there by the wayside, but on Monday morning the way grew wilder +and rougher, they were getting out in the back country, and all round +there was nothing to be seen save rolling downs and broad sheep +paddocks, while the road stretched shadeless and glaring for miles on +miles before them, and every step stirred blinding clouds of dust. + +"This rather takes the gilt off the gingerbread," said Rupert, as he sat +under the wagon tilt fanning himself with his hat and choking with dust. + +Vast herds of cattle, being driven down to the coast to be turned into +chilled beef for exportation, had been passing them all day, and these +droves materially added to their sufferings because of the amount of +dust that was raised. There was danger for Rocky, too, from the long, +sharp horns of the cattle, as they pressed closely round the wagon in +passing, and as a measure of precaution Nealie turned the wagon right +round every time she saw a great drove approaching, by which means the +back of the wagon had the chief impact. + +Camping that night was not a very cheerful business. There was only a +scanty supply of water available, food supplies were also running short, +and there was a cold wind blowing, which one of the drovers had told +them was going to be a "southerly buster", only, luckily for their +present peace of mind, the seven did not as yet understand the true +significance of the term. + +The shortness of food was owing to their having expected to reach a +certain point of the journey where fresh supplies could be procured. But +they had been held up so many times that afternoon by the passing of +cattle that they were five or six miles from the place where they had +intended to stop when sundown came. + +"Never mind being short to-night; we will have a good feed when we reach +Ford to-morrow to make up for it," said Nealie cheerfully. Her money was +holding out so much better than she had expected, thanks to the kindness +of Mrs. Warner, that she was feeling quite easy in her mind about food +supplies just at present. + +"We will turn in directly we have eaten all there is for supper, before +it has time to evaporate and leave us hungry again," said Rumple, who +could always forget his woes in sleep. + +"That is a downright jolly idea!" cried Sylvia, stretching her arms +above her head in a sleepy fashion. The long days in the open air made +her most fearfully hungry and tired, while to-day had certainly been the +most fatiguing that they had had since leaving Sydney. + +They were sitting round a fire made mainly of grass, to eat their +supper, for no wood was procurable in the district in which that night's +camp was made. There were, indeed, a few stunted sandalwood bushes and +some odd clumps of spinifex; but these were so difficult to cut that +they had preferred to manage with a bundle of wood which had been +gathered some days ago and slung on to the back of the wagon for use in +an emergency like this, and when the wood had dwindled to a bank of +red-hot embers they had piled grass upon it, and so kept the fire going +while supper was in progress, because the wind was so cold. + +For the first time since they had started on their travels they were +glad to go to their rest wrapped up in rugs and coats. Even then the +boys under the wagon were so cold that Don suggested they should all lie +very close together on one mattress, while the other was used as a top +covering; and this arrangement made them so comfortable and warm that +they were all fast asleep until they were suddenly aroused by a terrific +screaming from the wagon. Then, when they started up, still drowsy with +their heavy slumber, they were promptly knocked down and trampled in the +dust. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Anxious Hours + + +"Help! Help!" shrieked Nealie. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" squealed Sylvia, while Ducky's screaming rose above the +deafening roar that was all around them. + +Rupert and Rumple fought and struggled to throw off the mattress and the +canvas and the oddments of clothing in which they were entangled. They +were choked and nearly suffocated, frightened almost out of their wits +by the crying of the girls, to which was now added the lusty howling of +Don and Billykins, who were being rolled and punched and pummelled like +their elders. + +It was Rumple who got disentangled first, and when his head was free, +and he had managed to scramble to his feet, he gave a horrified shout of +amazement; for the wagon was lying on its side, there was the sound of +galloping in his ears, and everywhere he turned there was nothing to be +seen but rushing cattle and tossing horns. + +[Illustration: "POURED PAST THE OVERTURNED WAGON"] + +They had seen so much of the fierceness of the cattle on the previous +day that in a minute his hand was on Rupert's head, and he was pressing +his brother back into the comparative shelter given by the projecting +wagon wheel. + +"Stay where you are! Don't attempt to move! It can't last much longer!" +he shouted, holding Rupert down by main force now, for those tossing +horns were such a frightful menace, and the mob of cattle pressed close +on either side as they poured past the overturned wagon in their mad +flight towards the hills. + +"Oh, Rumple, what has happened? Is it an earthquake?" cried Nealie, who +was somewhat reassured by hearing Rumple shout to Rupert. At least the +boys were all alive, though, judging by the noise Don and Billykins were +making, some of them might be rather badly damaged. + +"I don't think that it is anything except the cattle on the move, only +they are going as if they have been pretty badly scared," replied +Rumple, trying to stand up by hanging on to the wagon wheel. Then he +cried out sharply: "Look out, Nealie! Get in under the tilt quick, for +here come a fresh lot! Oh, I say, we shall all be smashed flat!" + +It really looked as if they would be flattened out, for the next lot of +cattle, charging down the steep hillside, came straight for the camp, +and but for a lucky accident would most likely have gone straight over +the wagon, which lay on its side. But one big bullock caught its long +horns in the spokes of the wheel, the next blundered on to it and forced +it to its knees, another blundered on to that, until in about a minute +and a half there was piled up a most effectual rampart of struggling +beasts, which effectually checked the onrush from behind, diverting it +to either side. + +It was to this accident that some, at least, of the seven owed their +lives, for Don and Billykins lay right in the path of the stampeding +herd, while Rupert, scrambling painfully to his feet, would most +certainly have been knocked down and trampled underfoot. + +But the noise and the confusion, the snorting, bellowing, and blowing of +all those hundreds of terrified beasts, were quite beyond description. +After the first frightened outcry Ducky lay still and shivering in the +arms of Sylvia, who was sitting on the side of the wagon tilt, amid the +ruins of crockery and the contents of the grocery box, which had been +spilled all over her. Nealie had crawled to the front opening of the +tilt, and, regardless of her possible danger, had succeeded in fishing +Don and Billykins from the debris of canvas and torn mattress under +which they were being slowly smothered, and had dragged them into the +comparative safety of the overturned wagon. Then Rupert and Rumple +struggled into the same refuge, and the seven sat close together, +wondering what was going to happen next, while the wild uproar raged on +around them, and it seemed as if the rush of cattle would never cease. + +"There must have been thousands and thousands of cattle that have gone +past," said Rupert, rubbing his lips with his hand before he ventured to +speak, because of the thick dust upon them. + +"I should think that every one of those great mobs we have been passing +all day must have turned round and bolted back by the way they came," +said Sylvia. "But what I don't understand is how it came about that the +wagon was bowled over." + +"That is my fault," groaned Nealie. "I made Rocky back it on to the +slope, because I thought that we should be more sheltered from the +terrible wind, and I knew that the boys would not be in so much danger +of a wetting if it rained. Then the cattle, charging down the side of +the hill in the dark, must have blundered up against the wagon and just +bowled it over. They are so big and clumsy, you see, and when once they +start there is no stopping them. Now, if the wagon is badly damaged, we +shall be put to no end of expense because of my carelessness." + +"But it was not carelessness if you did it for our comfort, and it is no +use thinking that the wagon is badly damaged, and getting worried about +it, until you know," said Rupert. "Of course we can't do anything +towards finding out, or putting it straight, until morning, for we might +only make matters worse, and invite more disaster still." + +"Will it be long before it is morning?" asked Billykins in a voice of +misery. "I am quite dreadfully cold, and most horribly hungry." + +"So am I, and I wish that we were back at Mrs. Warner's," said Don in a +dismal tone. + +"I don't expect that it will be very long now, and if you curl up under +this rug, if it is a rug, you may go to sleep, and then you will forget +about being hungry," said Nealie, gripping something which felt like +drapery, and dragging it towards her. + +"That is my frock!" cried Sylvia. "Creep in here, close to me, +Billykins, and then you will help to keep poor Ducky warm. There is room +for Don too. Don't sit on more of the lump sugar than you can help, as +it is very uncomfortable, I find; but if you were to eat some of the +lumps, perhaps they would warm you a little, for I have heard somewhere +that there is a great deal of warmth in sugar." + +"I have found a lump. Will you have it, Nealie?" asked Ducky, groping in +the darkness for her elder sister, and feeling that, of them all, it +was Nealie who most needed comfort just then. + +"I don't want it, thank you, dearie," answered Nealie, her anxieties +being too heavy for sugar to alleviate. + +"Here is another; and--oh, I say, I have just put my fingers into +something horribly sticky! What can it be?" and Ducky stuffed her fist +in the face of Billykins, for it was so dark that she could not see +where she was thrusting it. + +"Look out!" he exclaimed in an offended tone, then suddenly changed to a +shout of joy. "Oh, it is marmalade, and it is all over my mouth! Have +you got any more of it, Nealie?" + +"Of course. There was a pot in the grocery box, and I had forgotten +about it, or we would have had it to help out with supper, and then it +would not have been wasted in this fashion," replied Nealie, feeling +that she would like to indulge in a good cry over the ruin which had +come upon them. + +"It won't be wasted if only I can find where that pot is. Can you guide +my hand, Ducky, to find it?" asked Don eagerly. + +"It seems to be all over me--the marmalade, I mean--but I don't know +where the pot is, and I am most horribly sticky!" cried Ducky, who was a +most fastidious little maiden. + +"Where is your fist? I will suck it clean for you," volunteered Don, +with such an air of brotherly self-sacrifice that Nealie burst out +laughing, which was much better for her than the tears she longed to +shed, and which had been smarting under her eyelids only a minute +before. + +For a few minutes there was great competition between Don and Billykins +for the privilege of sucking Ducky's fists clean of marmalade, and, the +comical side of the picture presenting itself to the little girl, she +laughed as much as Nealie; then Sylvia joined in, and at length they +were all making the best of things, groping in the dark for lumps of +sugar and dabs of marmalade, until they lighted on some that had +uncomfortably mixed itself up with the pepper, when a chorus of ohs! and +ahs! sounded from the group of explorers, and everyone immediately +decided that they had had enough marmalade for the present. + +The cattle had all gone, and the night was entirely silent again, when +Rupert said anxiously: "I wonder where Rockefeller has gone? We shall be +in a pretty bad case if anything happens to the old horse." + +"I will go in search of him when morning comes; the worst that could +happen would be that he would stampede with the cattle, and we shall +have the men in charge of the droves coming past presently," said +Rumple, who had made a sort of shelter for himself and Rupert from the +wreckage of the canvas which had been draped round the wagon. + +"Perhaps the horse has not been upset at all by the panic of the cattle. +It is not as if it had been a lot of horses rushing across the +encampment in the middle of the night," said Sylvia, who had succeeded +in making Ducky so warm and comfortable that the little girl was falling +off to sleep again, although the rest of them were very wide-awake +indeed. + +"I wish that I knew what the time is, but I don't know where to find the +matches, and it is too dark to see the face of my watch," said Rupert. +He was feeling the situation rather keenly, because he could do so very +little to help the others, when, by right of his position as eldest of +the family, he ought to have done so much. + +"Don't worry about the time, dear; try to get a little sleep if you can. +You will need it so badly when the morning comes," said Nealie, moving a +little because she found that she was sitting in the frying pan, and she +remembered that it had only been rubbed with a bit of paper after being +used for frying bacon on the day before yesterday. + +"I vote that we all go to sleep, seeing that we can do no good by +keeping awake. We can't even sort up this mess of marmalade and pepper," +said Rumple, whose tongue was still on fire from the last lick of +marmalade which had been so liberally mixed with pepper. + +"Someone is coming. I wonder if it is one of the cattle men?" said +Rupert, thrusting his head farther out from the canvas and getting the +full benefit of the cold wind which came howling and moaning out of the +south. + +"There are two or three, judging by the noise. Shall we hail them, do +you think?" asked Nealie; but her voice had a nervous ring which gave +Rupert a sudden inspiration and made him say sharply: + +"No, no. If they are the cattle men they will most likely hail us, and +if they are not it may be better that they should not take any notice of +us. Lie low, all of you, and don't make a sound while they go by." + +"I am horribly afraid that I shall sneeze, for that pepper has got into +my nose!" gasped Don, then went off into a paroxysm of sneezing so +violent that Billykins gurgled with laughter, until Nealie found it +necessary to cover the pair of them with a cushion which she had found +by groping among fragments of broken cups, lumps of sugar, and debris of +all sorts. + +The riders, of which there were two or three, checked their horses to +descend the hill past the overturned wagon; but as they did not trouble +to lower their voices, every word they said was perfectly audible +through the hush of the night. + +"As neat a job of stampeding as ever I saw," said a hoarse voice. + +"We got them away so quietly too. That was a bright idea of yours, Alf, +to make friends with the watchman last night," said another, whose tones +had a boyish ring, as if he were hardly grown up as yet. + +"Alf always did understand making friends at the right time, and if I +know anything about it, there was something more than whisky in that +bottle from which you offered him a drink," said a third man, whose +voice had such a horrid ring that Nealie could not repress a shudder, +and she pressed the cushion down with a warning air upon the two boys as +the beginning of another gurgle sounded from them. + +"What is that in the hollow there?" demanded the first speaker, whom the +others had called Alf. + +"It looks like a wagon that has come to grief and been deserted," said +the third man in a casual tone, and then they put their horses to a +canter again and swept past the wagon without troubling more about it. + +"Cattle thieves!" murmured Nealie, and there was a shaky sound in her +voice which made Rupert reach up to grip her hand, as if he would give +her more courage that way. + +"What a mercy that the cattle charged down upon us and upset us in this +fashion, or we might have had something even more unpleasant to bear," +whispered Sylvia, clasping Ducky closer in her arms and feeling grateful +for what at first had seemed such an awful disaster. + +"Cattle thieves? But how will they manage to get clear away without the +proper drovers finding which way they have gone?" asked Rupert, who had +been straining his ears to discover the route taken by the men who had +just ridden past. + +"Here comes Rockefeller. I say, Nealie, let me ride a little way after +those men and find out which way they have gone? It is a bit lighter +now. I expect that the moon is getting up; there is the end of a moon +that shows somewhere near morning, I know," said Rumple, then he thrust +out his head and called softly to a shape which he had seen faintly +outlined against the dark hillside, and he was immediately answered by a +cheerful whinny, and a moment later Rockefeller shuffled up, his hobbles +not permitting much in the way of pace, although he could get about +sufficiently to feed during the night. + +"Oh no, indeed you must not! I should be so horribly frightened lest +they should shoot you or the horse!" cried poor Nealie, who had +privately made up her mind that she could never let Rumple out of her +sight again, because he was always getting into pickles. + +"I would let him go, Nealie. He may be able to track those men and save +the drovers hours of vain searching; then in return, perhaps, they will +help us right our wagon. And we shall want some help there; I can see +that plainly enough," said Rupert quietly. Then Nealie gave way at once, +as she mostly did when Rupert undertook to advise her, for he certainly +made up in wisdom what he lacked in bodily strength. + +She struggled out of the wreckage of the wagon, and, having caught +Rockefeller, no difficult task, since she never went empty handed to the +work, she hoisted Rumple on to his back, then, slipping the hobbles, saw +the two slink off in the darkness by the way the men had gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Repairing the Damage + + +When Rumple, perched on the back of Rockefeller, had crept quietly away +into the darkness, the three elders sat straining their ears into the +night for some sound that should let them know help was coming. Once or +twice they spoke to each other in whispers, but for the most part they +were quite silent. The two younger boys had drowsed off to sleep, while +Ducky lay in a profound slumber, her warm little body seeming in some +strange way to bring comfort and courage to Sylvia, in whose arms she +lay. An hour dragged away, and then, to the unspeakable joy and relief +of the watchers, a grey light stole over the hills, then broadened and +spread until it was full dawn. There was no crimson flush of sunrise +this morning, the sky was too heavy with clouds that had been blown up +from the south-east; but at least it was daylight, and the comfort of +being able to see what was going on made them all feel better. + +The children woke up then, clamorous for breakfast. Only, as provisions +were so scanty it was necessary to have a little council of ways and +means straight away. + +"We could make some porridge, for here is some corn-meal in a tin!" +cried Nealie, who had been industriously stirring among their overturned +goods and chattels since daylight came to brighten the prospect. + +"But we have no wood for a fire, and we can't make porridge without a +fire," objected Sylvia. + +"Ducky and the boys can get us some twigs and little bits of wood from +those bushes just over the hill," said Nealie. "We shall all feel better +for having something warm to eat, as the weather is so uncomfortable +this morning, and while they are looking after the fire we three can +clear the things from the wagon in readiness for having it set right way +up once more. Never, never will I be so careless again as to leave it +standing on a slope at night!" + +"I should not grieve overmuch about that if I were you, for I fancy the +wagon being on its side last night saved us from things more unpleasant +still," replied Rupert; and then Nealie shivered and said no more about +regretting her carelessness, which, after all, had not been so much +carelessness as overcarefulness, because she had been so anxious that +they should be stationed where the wind would not trouble them. + +By the time Ducky and the boys had got a fire going, and the porridge--a +kind of mush--safely on in course of preparation, the three elders had +got the wagon cleared of all it contained and were ready to do their +best to get it on its feet, or rather on its wheels again. But without +Rockefeller to help this appeared to be a task quite beyond their power +to accomplish, although they tugged and tugged with all their might. + +"Whatever shall we do?" cried Sylvia in despair. "If only Rumple would +come back with the horse we might manage it." + +"I know," said Nealie, and, struck with a sudden bright idea, she rushed +off to the heap of properties lying at a little distance, and selecting +a stout iron bar which had been used as a stay for the rack at the back +of the wagon she came running back with it. + +"What are you going to do now?" asked Rupert curiously, failing to see +what possible help the iron bar could be to them. + +"I am going to use the bar as a lever and jack the wagon up. You see, we +can lift it a little piece and poke something under; there are plenty of +big stones and boulders lying about that will do, and if we lift it a +few feet we may then be able to drag it over; at least we can try that +plan, and if it does no other good it will keep us warm, and I am most +dreadfully chilly," said Nealie, who was secretly very anxious lest +Rupert should get a chill in the cold wind, and was also weatherwise +enough to know that it might rain at any minute now. + +"The mush is ready; will you have breakfast first?" called Don, who was +cook-in-chief, while the others ran hither and thither doing his +bidding. + +"We will get the wagon up first, and then the mush will be the reward +for our exertions," replied Nealie. She was bustling about with feverish +anxiety now, for she had felt a spot of rain, and it was too dreadful to +think what might happen if a downpour began before their belongings +could be got under shelter. + +"Yes, we will get the wagon up first," echoed Rupert, for he too had +felt a spot of rain and was as anxious as Nealie to get the wagon right +way up once more. "Leave Ducky to look after the mush and do you two +come and help us here, for every ounce tells, you know." + +Don and Billykins came at a run and collected stones, which Rupert +wedged under the wheel every time Nealie and Sylvia managed to jack it a +trifle higher. But what hard work it was! The perspiration poured from +the faces of the two girls, and Rupert panted with haste and exertion as +he struggled with the stones which Don and Billykins brought in lavish +abundance. + +"Hurrah, she rises!" cried Sylvia in a jubilant tone. + +"We can pull her up now, if we are careful!" yelled Rupert, who was to +the full as much excited; and then, calling to the small boys to come +and pull, the three of them hung on to the rope, putting all their +strength into the task, while Nealie and Sylvia, chanting a funny +refrain: + + "Heave ho, my boys, heave ho, + With strength of arm, and might and main, + Heave ho, my boys, heave ho!" + +bent to the task of lifting with the iron bar. The wagon shivered and +trembled like a live thing, swayed, rocked, and finally with a jarring +crash settled on its four wheels once more, while ringing hurrahs broke +from the hard-working five, which were echoed in Ducky's shrillest +treble. + +It was at this moment that Rumple hove in sight again, clinging in a +very undignified fashion to the neck of Rockefeller, while the old horse +came on at a lumbering trot, warranted to stir up the most sluggish +liver. + +"What is all the row about?" he demanded, when Rockefeller, stopping +short with disconcerting suddenness, pitched him off anyhow on to a pile +of mattresses, tinware, and other miscellaneous properties. + +"We are so delighted to see you back, for one thing, and for another we +are rejoicing to have our house on wheels standing erect on all-fours," +said Nealie, just stopping to give him a big hug, and then, running up +to the horse, she dropped a resounding kiss on his nose, held a lump of +sugar out for the wise animal to eat, and then, slipping the hobbles +back on his legs, sent Rocky off to forage for himself. + +"We must get these things put back before we have breakfast; for it is +going to rain, and it will never do to let the bedding get wet," she +said decidedly, and, hungry though they were, they came to the task +without a murmur, only Ducky remained stationary at the fire, carefully +stirring the mush, which was slowly cooking there. + +But although everyone worked their hardest, the rain was coming down +steadily before they had done, and they were all rather damp when they +climbed into the wagon, carefully carrying the pot of mush, which was +all that could be mustered for breakfast, owing to their stock of +provisions having run out. + +"Now, Rumple, let us hear your adventures?" said Nealie, who was +reclining at ease on a rolled-up mattress at the back of the wagon, +while Rupert acted as master of the ceremonies and served out the mush +in such fragments of basins as were not too smashed up in the disaster +of the night, and on tin plates, his own portion being eaten from the +inverted lid of the one saucepan contained in the wagon outfit. + +They all made a great deal of fun of that saucepan lid, and the +favourite diversion of Sylvia and Rumple was continually to ask Rupert +to pass them something, because it was so funny to see him have to +balance his awkward plate carefully on the top of the saucepan before he +could do what was required of him. + +Then Nealie came to the rescue with her question about Rumple's +adventures, and at once the hero rose to the occasion, puffing out his +chest with such an air of unconscious importance that Sylvia at once +called him a pouter pigeon, to his great disgust; for he said it always +made him feel sick to look at those conceited birds. + +"Never mind the pigeons, they will keep; tell us what you did while you +were away," said Rupert, eating in a great hurry, so as to get done +before anyone required anything more at his hands. + +"I was precious careful when I rose the hill to lie along Rocky's neck, +so that anyone who noticed us would only think that it was a horse out +on the feed," said Rumple. "But I put the old horse along when we went +down the next slope, only I kept on the grass, for I could hear the men +ahead of me, and I did not want them to know that I was following. Then +there came a long hill and I could see them ever so far ahead of me, as +it was beginning to get light. Luckily they disappeared over the crest +of the hill before it was full daylight, or I guess that they would have +spotted me, though I was lying along the horse like a sack of meal. When +I got to the top of that hill, and it is something like a hill too, the +sort of thing that will work the starch out of poor old Rocky if we take +the wagon that way, the men had disappeared and there was no one in +sight for miles and miles. Presently I saw someone coming towards me +mounted on a jolly fine horse, and I felt quaky from my hat right down +to my boots. Then I caught a gleam of buttons, and I was sure that it +was a mounted policeman; so I cooeyed for all I was worth and he rode +up at a smart gallop to ask me if I had run away from home or what was +the matter." + +"What an impudent person!" cried Sylvia wrathfully. + +"I don't think that he meant to be impudent," said Rumple, shutting his +eyes with a languid air. "But I suppose it is not a common thing to see +a kid like me doing extraordinary things!" + +"Hear him!" cried Nealie, with derisive laughter, clicking her spoon +against her tin plate. + +"Well, I suppose that it is a little out of the ordinary for a boy of my +size to do detective work on the track of a mob like those fellows who +rode past us in the night," said Rumple, with edifying modesty. +"Anyhow, he sat up and treated me with real respect when I told him +what I was doing, and at once offered to take the job on for me; to +which, as you may guess, I hadn't the ghost of an objection. So I told +him all that we knew about them, and then I turned round and came back +while he rode off after the men." + +"But didn't you see anything of the cattle which bowled us over so +neatly last night?" asked Sylvia. + +"No, I didn't, and I can tell you it puzzled me no end, for I went miles +and miles and I did not see so much as the swish of a tail," answered +Rumple, with a dramatic flourish of the broken basin from which he had +been eating his portion of mush. + +"Mrs. Warner told me that stampeding cattle will run sometimes for many +miles without stopping, and sometimes they kill themselves by their +exertions," Nealie said as she wriggled into a more comfortable position +against the mattress. + +"It struck me as just wonderful what a lot Mrs. Warner knew about +cattle," remarked Sylvia, with a yawn. "Her knowledge made me feel quite +tired; for beyond the fact that a cow had four legs, two horns, and a +tail, I had never realized that there was anything to know about +cattle." + +"There is something to know about everything; just see what a lot Mr. +Wallis knew about horses," replied Rupert. + +"Yes, and about other things too; but I do wonder what he will say when +he hears how nearly I wrecked his beautiful wagon," said Nealie, with a +sigh, for the thought of her shortcomings worried her a good deal. + +"He won't trouble, or, if he does, he knows that Mr. Melrose will see +that everything is put straight," said Sylvia. + +"I do not like being indebted to the promiscuous charity of strangers, +and Mr. Melrose was hardly more than a stranger to us," Nealie put in a +little primly. Being the eldest, it was natural she should be a little +more conventional than the others. + +"Oh, Mr. Melrose likes being kind to people! Mrs. Warner told me so," +remarked Rumple, with the air of knowing all that there was to be known. +"He is most awfully rich, too, and he came into his money quite by a +fluke." + +"What is a fluke?" demanded Billykins, who was catching rainwater in the +tin dish in which he had been eating his breakfast, so that he could +have a wash-up after his feed. + +"A fluke is what happens," explained Rumple vaguely. "It was a fluke +that toppled our wagon over last night." + +"There was not any money in that," said Don decidedly. + +"Very much the reverse, I should say," laughed Nealie. "Think of the +broken basins, the waste of marmalade and pepper, not to say anything of +the damage to our clothes, and all the rest of it. There are flukes and +flukes, and our kind, unfortunately, was not the sort that pays. But, do +you know, I don't believe that it rains as fast as it did, and so I am +going to harness Rocky, and then we will crawl ahead for a few miles; +for if we stop here we shall starve, and I want some dinner." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +In Sight of Hammerville + + +It was the next day but one, and Rockefeller was toiling along the heavy +road outside Pomeroy, when a man in a cabbage-tree hat, red flannel +shirt, and long boots rode up to Hutton's store, which stood on the +outskirts of the town, and, seeing the van coming, dismounted, threw his +horse's bridle over the fence, and walked towards it. + +"Are you the Plumstead lot?" he asked, with a jerk of his hat towards +Nealie, which was meant for politeness and accepted in the same spirit. + +"We are," she answered, with a bow, wondering nervously if he were a +bushranger, of which she had read so much during the voyage and yet had +not set eyes on since landing. + +"Which is Dalrymple Plumstead?" demanded the red-shirted individual, +fixing a ferocious gaze on Rupert, who flushed and turned a trifle pale, +wondering what could be the matter. + +"I am Dalrymple," said Rumple, dodging round from the shady side of the +wagon, where he had been walking and trying to compose blank verse about +Australian roadside scenery, but not succeeding over-well. + +"Why, you are only a kid!" exclaimed the man in ludicrous +disappointment, falling back a step and surveying Rumple with an +expression of bewildered surprise. + +"It is a fault that will mend with time," replied Rumple, with such +crushing dignity that Sylvia, who was sitting behind Nealie in the +wagon, gurgled and choked. + +The red-shirted person threw back his head with a great burst of +laughter, then, thrusting out a brown, hairy hand, cried eagerly: "Well, +you are plucky anyhow, every ounce of you! Shake, will you? I'm +downright proud to make your acquaintance, sir, and if you have come to +these parts to settle, all I've got to say is that we are proud to have +you among us." + +This was quite too much for Sylvia, who choked so badly that Ducky +thought she had a bone in her throat, and patted her with great concern. + +But Rumple flushed up in an offended fashion, for he thought that he was +being laughed at, and it made him angry, although, as a rule, he was +remarkably even-tempered. + +"Perhaps I should understand better if you explained your business with +me," he said, puffing out his chest in what Nealie called his best +pigeon manner, and which caused her to turn her head abruptly to gaze at +the fence on the other side of the road, so that the stranger should not +see that she was laughing so much. + +"Well, I take it that you are the young gentleman that stalked the +cattle thieves out by Russell Downs, and kept them from getting clear +away with five hundred head of my cattle; and if that is not cause for +thankfulness I don't know what is," said the man, gripping Rumple hard, +and sawing away at his hand much as if it were a pump handle and the +water was hard to fetch. + +"Oh, they were your cattle that stampeded, and bowled our wagon over in +the dead of night!" exclaimed Nealie, while Rumple turned pink with +pleasure at the thought of being so much appreciated. + +"No, Miss, I should say it was the other lot, which belong to Tom Jones +of Hobson's Bottom, and if you want to make any claim for damages you +had better send it in to him, seeing that he is much better off than I +am, and his cattle are the wildest lot in the New South Wales boundary," +said the red-shirted person, with such an air of wriggling out of it +that the whole seven burst into a shout of laughter, and then promptly +apologized for their apparent rudeness. + +But he waved his hand in an airy fashion, and begged them to have their +laugh out. + +"And it does me good to see young things so lively," he exclaimed, +taking his hat right off and bowing to right and left, as if he had +received an ovation. "My name is Tim Callaghan, and I am Irish on my +father's side, though I never saw old Ireland, and am never likely to." + +"We are very pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Callaghan, and we +are quite sure that it must have been Mr. Jones's cattle that knocked +our wagon over, so we will give his address to Messrs. Peek & Wallis, if +there is any complaint of damage made to us about the wagon when it is +returned to the owners," said Nealie; and then she asked in an +interested tone; "But how did you hear anything about it? Were you +helping to drive the cattle?" + +"No; if I had been I would have taken good care that there was a better +watch set," replied Tim Callaghan. "I couldn't leave because my wife was +ill, but I heard through the police, who sent me word that I should be +fined for letting my cattle stray to the danger of other people's +property, and that I should have doubtless lost the greater part of my +mob for good and all if it had not been for a Mr. Dalrymple Plumstead, +who rode after the thieves and gave warning to the police. There is one +comfort about it, and that is that Tom Jones will be fined too, and it +will do him a world of good to be taken down a peg or two. And now what +can I do for you, ladies and gentlemen?" + +"You might tell us which is the best place in Pomeroy to buy food, for +our provision box is nearly empty, and things are so dear in these +country places," said Nealie rather wistfully, for her money was running +very low, and there was always present with her the dread that she would +not have enough to keep them going until they reached Hammerville. + +"You had better come along with me to Gil Addington's; he is about as +reasonable as anyone in Pomeroy, and we are having a deal over some pigs +that may help me to pull his prices down a bit for you, and they will +stand a little paring off at most times," said Mr. Callaghan, who was +uncommonly glad to pay his debt of gratitude in this fashion, since the +cost would fall upon someone else. + +"We ought to have some corn for Rockefeller too, if we can manage it," +said Nealie rather anxiously. She knew that it was the poorest sort of +economy to let the good horse go underfed, and ungrateful as well, +seeing what a useful beast it had been. But corn for horses was a +tremendous price in most of the little towns through which they had +passed, and food for Rockefeller had become a very big item in the +expenses. + +"Want some corn for the hoss, did you say?" demanded Mr. Callaghan in a +breezy tone. "Well, I don't know as I can't let you have half a bushel +free, gratis, and for nothing, as they say in the old country. My wagon +is in the town now, I believe, and the corn is in it safe enough, unless +someone has stolen it, which isn't likely." + +A queer, choky feeling came into the throat of Nealie as she drove Rocky +along the main street of Pomeroy, with Mr. Callaghan riding on ahead. +How kind people were to them! Of course she did not know that in common +decency Tim Callaghan should have paid Rumple fifteen shillings or a +sovereign for the service rendered in caring for the cattle, and that he +also should have paid something towards the damage sustained in the +overturning of the wagon. Ignorance was certainly bliss in her case, and +she esteemed the Irishman a benefactor indeed, when as a matter-of-fact +he was doing his level best to shuffle out of his obligations. + +However, he beat Gil Addington's prices down to a figure so low that +Nealie worried considerably as to whether she would not be a party to a +fraud if she took the goods at Mr. Callaghan's valuation, and was not +even consoled when he whispered to her in a loud aside that Gil was +quite sharp enough to make the next customer run up his profits for +him. + +Still, it was an amazing comfort to find the provision box full once +more, to know that there was enough corn to last Rocky to the end of the +journey, and to feel that she had still a little money left in her +purse. On shipboard there had seemed to be no anxieties at all, but ever +since landing she had carried a very heavy load indeed. + +There were a good many miles yet to travel, and the worst of it was +that, although they had a very good map of the route, which Mr. Wallis +had marked for them, they had several times made mistakes, and had gone +miles out of their way in consequence. And in a journey like theirs such +things tell seriously in the mileage. + +The weather had grown very hot again, and everyone, including the horse, +was feeling the effects, while Rupert and Ducky, the most delicate of +the party, were almost in a state of collapse. Rupert, according to his +wont, made no complaint at all, but Ducky, who had less self-control, +enquired fifty times a day how soon it would be before they could live +in a nice cool house again, and have beds with sheets to them. + +Sylvia did her utmost to keep these plaints from reaching the ears of +Nealie, for surely the elder sister had more than enough of worry and +care. Sylvia had never troubled herself about things of this sort in the +days at Beechleigh, when she had been as irresponsible in her way as +either Don or Billykins, but the long journey and the sense of +responsibility in being so peculiarly on their own had steadied her and +developed her character in quite a wonderful manner. + +She rigged Ducky up a little shelter at the back of the wagon, because +it was cooler there, and the dust was less. Then she would walk behind +for miles, finding all sorts of things to interest the petulant little +maiden, and beguile her from fretting, while Rupert sat on the front +seat and drove. + +By this time the boots of the most active members of the family began to +show signs of heavy wear and tear; but that really mattered very little, +as the weather was for the most part dry, and they had all a spare pair +to put on if those in active use became too aged to be worn. + +One day which followed a succession of other hot days Sylvia paused at a +little wooden house by the roadside to interview a woman who had eggs +and milk to sell. Even after the purchasing was completed she lingered +talking to the woman, while the wagon lumbered on along a winding road +that gave peeps of exquisite beauty here and there, where a river valley +opened to view. + +Presently she came running to overtake the wagon, crying, in an excited +fashion: "Nealie, Nealie, what do you think?" + +"I think a good many things when I have time, but I have not had much +lately, and so the thinking has not been done," replied Nealie, who was +riding this morning because she had stockings to darn. They washed their +stockings most nights, and hung them on the tilt of the wagon to dry in +the morning, and then it was Nealie's business to darn them, while +Rupert drove; and as so much walking induced holes and thin places in +every direction, the task was one of magnitude. + +"The woman at the house yonder told me that when we reached the top of +the next high ground we should see the smoke of the Hammerville +factories right away in the distance." + +"Hurrah!" cried Nealie, forgetting her occupation, and clapping her +hands, with the result that she stuck her needle into her finger with +such violence that it brought the tears to her eyes and made her wince. + +"And she says that last winter, when her little boy was ill, a Dr. +Plumstead came out from Hammerville to see him," chanted Sylvia, +whirling round on the tips of her toes in the dusty track, and flinging +up her hands like an Italian dancing-girl, which made Rocky snort and +plunge as if he wanted to join in the fun. + +"Steady there, steady, old fellow, we don't want you bolting at this +time of day!" called Rupert in a warning tone. "Control your +transports, Sylvia, for the sake of Rocky's nerves, or we shall have the +old fellow developing a temperature, and then what shall we do?" + +"You look as if you had a temperature yourself. Do you feel bad, +Rupert?" asked Sylvia, coming closer to the wagon, and speaking so +anxiously that Nealie glanced quickly up from her stocking-darning to +look at her brother's face. + +"Oh, I'm right enough!" he answered quietly. "I feel a bit heavy, but +that is because of the weather. I think we shall have a storm before +night." + +"Oh, I hope not!" cried Nealie in a tone of dismay. + +"It would cool the air, and that would be a blessing. Don't you think it +is very close this morning?" he asked, wiping his face with the hand +that was not occupied with the reins. + +"It is hot certainly, but so it is every day," she said, glancing up at +the sky, and feeling relieved to see that there were no storm clouds +hovering in sight. "Give me the reins, Rupert, and do you go astern and +lie down beside Ducky. You will be cooler there, and these stockings can +wait." + +"I think that it is a great mistake to mend stockings at all in weather +like this, for holes are much cooler than little lumps of darning +cotton," remarked Sylvia. + +"I don't see the use of wearing them at all. I am comfortable enough +with bare feet in my shoes, and so would you be if only you were used to +it," said Rumple, coming up with a sackful of grass for Rocky's midday +feed on his back. The younger boys took it in turns to provide Rocky's +luncheon, and to-day was Rumple's turn. + +"Sylvia and I are not boys, you see, and so the same rules do not apply +to us, for girls always have to observe the conventions," said Nealie, +with the prim little air which she sometimes put on for the sake of her +juniors. + +"What are they?" demanded Billykins, who at this moment ran up from the +other side. But Nealie was spared a lengthy explanation by the timely +arrival of Don upon the scene, calling shrilly upon the others to come +and see a snake which was swallowing a frog, and getting choked in the +process. + +"I suppose we ought to kill the snake," said Rupert wearily. "But +personally I would rather not." + +"That is how I feel; for after all we have no quarrel with the snake, +and it may be a very harmless creature after all," said Sylvia. "Don't +you remember that Mrs. Warner told us a great many people keep a snake +in their houses in preference to a cat, just to keep the mice down." + +"Well, there is no accounting for tastes," said Nealie, and then she +deftly guided Rocky on to the side of the road, drawing rein under the +drooping branches of a lightwood tree, where they could rest for two or +three hours until the fiercest heat of the day was past. + +They were not as merry as usual to-day. The heat was so great that they +all wore a more or less wilted appearance. + +Presently a breeze sprang up and moaned its way through the trees, and +Nealie decided, with nervous haste, that it was time to be moving on. +She had a great horror of thunderstorms, although she mostly kept it to +herself, and to-day she was vaguely oppressed by a brooding sense of +coming disaster, which was doubtless the effect of the electricity in +the air. + +The way at this part was very solitary. Once they passed a bark-roofed +hut standing close to the road; but when they knocked at the door they +found that no one was at home, and so went on their way, by no means +certain that they were taking the right direction, for although the +route lay clear enough before them on paper, in actual fact it was very +hard to find, especially here, where there were so many roads and +beginnings of roads that did not show upon the map. + +After some consultation they took the road which seemed the best and the +most used, and, following it, arrived in time on very high ground, from +whence they had a fine view over a great stretch of country, dotted +here and there with little townships and solitary stations, a rich and +fertile land apparently, most of it being under close cultivation. + +Thunder grumbled in the west, and the lightning played fitfully along +the distant horizon. + +"There is Hammerville!" cried Sylvia, flinging out her hand in the +direction where tall chimneys stood outlined against a copper-hued sky. + +"What a long way off!" cried Nealie, with a new note of dismay in her +voice. She had thought that it would be possible to reach the goal of +their journeying before the storm broke, but those chimneys were at +least eight or ten miles away, and Rocky was showing signs of being +nearly done up, for the hills had been heavier than usual, and the heat +had been enough to try the mettle of the strongest horse. + +"We had better camp for the night in the first convenient place, and +then to-morrow we can arrive in style," said Sylvia, who was quite pink +with excitement at the thought that when those distant chimneys were +reached she would see her father again. + +"I suppose that will be better; but, oh, I had so hoped that we should +have reached home to-night, so that Rupert would not have to sleep on +the ground any more! I am so worried about him," said Nealie, who had +jumped down from the wagon, and was standing in the road trying to make +up her mind which was the best pitch for a camp, always a time of +anxiety for her since that night when the stampeding cattle had bowled +the wagon over in their mad rush down the steep hillside. + +"Let the boys have the wagon to-night, and we will sleep underneath. I +should love it!" cried Sylvia, clapping her hands and whirling round on +the tips of her toes, bowing to an imaginary audience, then giving a +sideway skip to show the lightness of her poise. + +But at that moment there was a crackle of thunder right above their +heads, a blaze of lightning, and then a downpour of rain, as if the roll +of the thunder had opened the floodgates of the clouds. It was no longer +a question of where to camp or where to sleep. They just had to crowd +into the wagon and stay there until the tempest had spent itself. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The Arrival + + +Never had any of the seven seen a storm to equal the one that followed. +The thunder was almost incessant, while the lightning played in blue +forks and flashes round a couple of stringy barks growing by the side of +the road a little farther on, darting in and out like live things at +play, until Nealie forgot half of her fear in the fascination of +watching them. + +Ducky had crept under the roll of mattresses at the back of the wagon, +and was hiding there in the dark from the terror of the storm, while +Rupert and Rumple were doing valiant service, one at either end of the +wagon, in holding the curtains together, as the fierce wind kept ripping +them open, letting in sheets of rain upon the group cowering within. + +Rocky had been tied by his halter to the lee side of the wagon to +prevent him from wandering under the trees and courting speedy +destruction there. He stood with bent head and bunched hindquarters, as +if in stolid resignation, although Ducky cried because he was too big to +be taken into the shelter of the tilt--to be made comfortable, as she +said. It was quite in vain that Don and Billykins sought to console her +by saying that horses rather enjoyed being out in the rain. She was +quite positive that they knew nothing about it, and told them so with +brisk decision that left them without anything more to say on the +subject. But the interest of the argument had dried her tears and taken +away so much of her fear of the storm that everyone felt it was well +worth while to have roused her to such a pitch. + +It was dark before the rain ceased, and by then Rupert and Rumple were +just about wet through from their efforts at keeping the rain from the +others. There was no question of who should sleep under the wagon +to-night, for by the time sundown came they were surrounded by about two +feet of water, and although this would doubtless run off before very +long, the mud which was left behind was every bit as bad as the water +when considered in the light of a foundation for one's mattress. + +So they all sat in chilly discomfort in the wagon, making a frugal +supper from damper left over from breakfast, eked out with biscuits. +Then, leaning against each other's shoulders, they tried to forget their +discomfort in sleep. + +Nealie had insisted that Rupert and Rumple should strip off their wet +jackets and wrap themselves in blankets; but the worst of it was that +Rupert was wet below his jacket, which was thin, to suit the heat of the +day, and so, as might be expected, he took a violent chill, and as he +had been very unwell on the day before, his condition, when morning +dawned, fairly frightened Nealie. For he was blazing with fever, and +talking all sorts of nonsense about his mother and Aunt Judith. + +It was his constant harping on the people who had died which so worried +her; because, of course, she very naturally thought that he was going to +die too. + +The driving on this day was left to Sylvia and Rumple, who put +Rockefeller along at his very best pace, for they were all frightened at +Rupert's sad plight, which was to rob their arrival of all the delight +they had pictured when they should drive up to their father's house and +personally announce to him the arrival of his family. + +Don and Billykins trotted along the road by the side of Sylvia and +Rumple, all four walking to ease the load, so that the wagon might get +along faster. Ducky sat on the front seat, her small face pinched to a +wistful anxiety, while Nealie knelt at the back end of the wagon trying +to soothe Rupert, who lay on a mattress wildly declaring that he must +get up, because his mother and Aunt Judith were in trouble and calling +out to him for help. + +"Will dear Father be able to cure Rupert quick?" asked the little girl, +leaning forward to let her voice reach Sylvia, who walked on one side of +the horse while Rumple walked on the other. + +Sylvia held up her hand with a warning gesture. "Sit up, Ducky darling, +or you will be tumbling off your perch, and we do not want any more +disasters this trip if we can help it," she said, adding: "Of course +Father will be able to make Rupert well. The poor, dear boy is only +running a temperature, you know, and the shaking of the wagon aggravates +it." + +"Then it will only walk when we get home?" asked Ducky wistfully, with a +scared backward glance over her shoulder as Rupert burst into a wild +peal of laughter, and told Nealie that he had taken an engagement as a +circus rider. + +"What will only walk when we get home?" asked Rumple, who had noticed +the noise Rupert was making, and was anxious to distract the attention +of Ducky if he could. + +"Why, the temperature, of course. Didn't Sylvia say that it was running +now?" enquired Ducky innocently, and then was highly indignant with +Sylvia and Rumple because they burst into a peal of laughter. + +"What is the joke?" demanded Don, arriving alongside in a rather +breathless condition, for he had been investigating a cross track, and +then had to hurry to catch up the wagon. + +But by this time they were grave again, and, truth to tell, a little +ashamed of having laughed so much when Rupert was so ill. Then Ducky had +to be pacified, for, frightened by the nonsense her eldest brother was +talking, she had begun to cry, until Sylvia hit on the grand idea of +making her the postilion, and, helping her to scramble on to the back of +Rockefeller, let her sit there in state, pretending to drive, while the +last weary miles of the long journey slid by. + +They reached the outskirts of Hammerville in the late afternoon, and +stopped at the very first house to enquire where Dr. Plumstead lived. + +The woman who opened the door to them declared that she did not know. + +"I don't hold with doctors, and physic, and that sort of stuff, so I +don't know nothing about them," she said ungraciously, and then shut the +door in their faces. + +"Disagreeable old thing; I hope that she will be ill and want the doctor +very soon," said Billykins, shaking an indignant fist in the direction +of the closed door. + +"That is very uncharitable of you," said Sylvia, "and besides, she does +not look as if she would be at all a good paying patient, and so it +would only be a bit more drudgery for dear Father, for, of course, a +doctor must go to everyone who has need of him, whether the patient can +pay or not." + +"Then I shall not be a doctor, for I don't want to do things for people +who can't pay me," said Don; and then he ran up to a pleasant-faced +girl, who was weeding the garden of the next house, and asked her if she +could tell him where Dr. Plumstead lived. + +"Why, yes, he has got a house on the Icksted Road, that is on the Pig +Hill side of the town," she said, standing up to survey the wagon and as +many of its occupants as chanced to be visible. + +"Is it far?" demanded Don anxiously. + +"Oh, somewhere about a mile! You must turn to the left when you have +passed Dan Potter's saloon; that is right in the middle of the town, so +you can't miss it. What do you want the doctor for? Is anyone bad?" + +"We have come to live with him; we are his children, you know," +explained Don, with the engaging frankness which he could display +sometimes, although as a rule he was more reserved with strangers than +Rumple or Billykins. + +"His children? I didn't know that he had got any!" exclaimed the girl, +staring harder than ever at the wagon, although at present there was not +much to see, except Ducky perched astride on the big horse that Rumple +was leading, for Sylvia had retired under shelter of the tilt to make +some sort of a toilet in honour of reaching the end of the journey, and +Nealie was still ministering to the wants of Rupert to the best of her +ability. + +"That is not wonderful, because, you see, we have been living in +England. But I must hurry on, and I will come to see you another day. +There are seven of us, and we are just on the tiptoe of expectation +about what Father will say when he sees the lot of us," said Don, with a +friendly nod, and then trotted away in pursuit of the wagon, which had +passed on while the girl leaned against the fence and feebly gasped, as +if her astonishment were too much for her. + +Dan Potter's saloon was quite an imposing place, and very tawdry with +gilt adornments and coloured glass. They turned into a road at the left, +according to the direction given by the girl, and then followed a road +which was scarcely more than a track, and that abounded in mud puddles +of a deep and dangerous sort, where the going was so bad that Nealie was +forced to leave Rupert in the care of Sylvia, and come herself to guide +Rocky from the pitfalls of that evil place. + +There were newly finished buildings that looked as if they had been run +up in the night; there were buildings in course of erection that looked +as if they would tumble down before they were finished; and there were +other buildings in process of being planned, but of which not much was +to be seen saving a forest of scaffold poles. + +"What a big place it looks," said Nealie, as with an abrupt jerk she +pulled Rocky's head round in time to save him from pitching into an +unexpected hole that yawned in the path. "I had somehow got the idea +that it was only a little town, not much bigger than a village." + +"It is awfully ugly though," replied Rumple, wrinkling his nose with an +air of extreme dissatisfaction. "The man that built those houses at the +end of the street ought to be condemned to live opposite to them." + +"That might not be a hard sort of punishment at all," laughed Nealie; +"because, you see, if he had no eye for beauty or artistic fitness the +ugliness would not trouble him, he might even take a great deal of +satisfaction in thinking how nicely he had done them." + +"There is no accounting for tastes," grumbled Rumple, who was really +more an admirer of what was beautiful than even Sylvia, who had the +reputation of being artistic. + +Then he dashed off to ask a man if they were going right for Dr. +Plumstead's house, and, being told that it was the next small house that +stood alone, he rushed back to the wagon with his information. + +"I wonder if Father will be at home," cried Billykins, with an eager +look on his face. "May we run forward and knock at the door, Nealie?" + +"No, no; we will all go together," answered Nealie hurriedly, while a +flush rose in her cheeks, and there was a nervous look in her eyes, for +suddenly she was dreading the reception they might receive. + +How forlorn they really were, those seven whom no one seemed to really +want! And yet how kind people had been to them in all that long, long +journey from Beechleigh in England. Of course, but for that bit of +absent-mindedness on the part of Rumple, Dr. Plumstead would have known +that his children were coming, and then he could have had a welcome of a +sort ready for them. As it was, it would be the naked truth which they +would have to face, and it was the fear that perhaps he would wish they +had not come that made Nealie feel so nervous, as she led Rocky along +the few remaining yards of that very bad stretch of road leading to the +doctor's house. + +Sylvia had left Rupert for a few minutes and was hanging out of the +front of the wagon. Ducky still perched astride Rockefeller's broad +back, while the three younger boys were grouped close to Nealie, who +led the horse. + +There was a bit of rising ground before the house, and so of necessity +the pace was slow; but at last they halted, and then stood for a moment +as if uncertain what to do next. + +"Rumple, you had better knock," said Nealie in a choked tone, and then +was instantly sorry for what she had said, remembering that but for +Rumple's forgetfulness there might have been no need to knock at all. + +"Let me knock," pleaded Don, wondering why Nealie looked so pale, and +Rumple seemed so scared. + +"Yes, dear, you can knock, and Billykins will go with you," she said, +with a little gasp of relief. + +The two small boys dashed through the gate and up the path to the door. +There had once been a garden in front of the house, but it was +wilderness pure and simple now, a choked jumble of weeds, and flowers +struggling for existence in the garden beds, and a wattle bush filled +the air with a sweet perfume which always afterwards reminded Nealie of +that moment of waiting before the house. + +"There is no one at home, and the door is locked," cried Don, and then +he tried to peep in the window, but was not high enough to reach the +lowest pane. + +"I expect he has been called out to a case," said Sylvia from her perch +in front of the wagon. "Nealie, can't you send the boys to find out +where Father keeps the key? I am sure that we ought to get Rupert out of +the wagon as soon as possible, for he seems to get more ill every +minute, poor dear!" + +Ah, there was Rupert to be considered! Of choice Nealie would have +remained standing out in front of the house until her father's return, +however long she might have to wait, but Rupert must be cared for, and +because she feared that his life might hang on his having prompt +attention just now, she gave way to Sylvia's suggestion, and told Don to +run to the next house to ask where Dr. Plumstead kept his key when he +had to go away. + +Away sped Don, nothing loath, and, entering the gate of the next garden, +rushed up to the house door and knocked loudly. + +The houses in this part of Hammerville were older than those of the more +crowded streets, indeed it looked as if the place had started as a +village at the first and then on second thoughts had grown out at one +side into a busy town, while the other side remained sleepy and +village-like, each abode having its own garden and orchard in the rear. + +There was a minute of waiting, and then the door was opened to Don by a +sleepy-looking Irishwoman, garbed in a very dirty pinafore. + +"I don't want any firewood to-day at all, at all, thank you," she said +pleasantly, her kindly face expanding into a genial smile. + +"I have not brought you firewood, but I want to know where Dr. Plumstead +keeps his key when he is called away to a patient?" asked Don, lifting +his hat with so much courtesy that the good woman was tremendously +impressed. + +"He has only got one key, sir, and he always takes that with him, except +when he leaves it at home," she said, with a sudden change of manner, +because she decided that this was one of the quality, and no errand boy, +as she at first imagined. + +"Can you tell us how to get in?" asked Don rather desperately. "We are +Dr. Plumstead's children, all seven of us, and I am afraid that he was +not expecting us at this minute, so he is not at home, you see." + +"Dr. Plumstead with sivin children! The saints preserve us! What next!" +cried the woman, flinging up her hands in such profound amazement that +Don could not help laughing, she looked so funny. + +"The what next is that we want to get into the house as quickly as +possible, because Rupert, that is my eldest brother, is not well," he +explained, wondering why everyone should be so amazed because Dr. +Plumstead had children. + +"I will let you in with my key. It fits the doctor's door, which is +very convenient, because you see I do for him, and real hard work it is, +for he is a dreadful particular gentleman. But sivin children, and you +not the eldest! My word, what is the world coming to?" + +As Don could not answer this question it had to go unanswered, and +instead he waited in silence while the Irishwoman took her key from a +nail in the wall, and set off across her garden, which was only one +degree less untidy than the doctor's, to open the door for the children. + +"Why, the others are bigger than you, most of them!" she exclaimed in +still growing amazement, as she surveyed the group standing by the head +of the horse. "The saints preserve us! What is the world coming to?" + +Again Don had to let the question go unanswered, although it seemed to +him rather rude. The woman unlocked the door of the little wooden house, +which was plain and ugly, and did not even boast a veranda, then, +dropping a curtsy to Nealie, she stood back for them to enter. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A Great Shock + + +There was a whirling confusion in the mind of Nealie as she crossed the +threshold and stood in the little room which was her father's home. + +What a poor little place it was! There were only two rooms, the one upon +which the door opened, and which was evidently dining-room, kitchen, and +surgery rolled into one, and beyond this there was a bedroom, very bare +and poor, with an iron bedstead, on which was a mattress and some dark +rugs, but no sheets. + +Coming straight as she did from the almost palatial comfort of the great +liner and the luxury of the Sydney hotel, this poor hut struck a real +note of dismay in the heart of Nealie, for the place was as poor as the +poorest cottage that she had ever seen at Beechleigh or Bodstead in +England. + +But it was her father's home, and perhaps he had lived in such poverty +in order that he might have more money to send for the support of his +big family in England, and at the thought of this her heart grew +wondrously soft and pitiful, for she had no idea how very small was the +amount that her father had ever contributed to the support of his family +since disaster had fallen upon him. + +While she stood looking round, her heart growing more and more pitiful +for the father whom she had come so far to see, Sylvia came bustling +into the house and took her by the arm, giving it a gentle shake. + +"Dreaming, are you, dear? Come and help me lift Rupert out of the wagon, +and let us get him to bed as quickly as we can, for I am afraid that he +is dreadfully ill. Where are the bedrooms? Oh, what a dreadfully poky +little house it is!" and Miss Sylvia turned up the tip of her nose in +disdainful fashion. + +"Sylvia, there is only one bedroom, with one small bed in it, without +sheets. Where can we put poor Rupert?" + +"On that bed, of course; and if there are no sheets, we have some among +our luggage, for remember we brought the best of Aunt Judith's house +linen with us, and I know where it was packed. Come along, Nealie, and +let us hustle things a bit, and then we will have Rupert quite +comfortable by the time Father comes home. That dirty woman who unlocked +the door says she thinks he must have gone out Pig Hill way, wherever +that may be." + +There was no withstanding Sylvia when her mood was like this, and Nealie +knew only too well that Rupert must be attended to without delay, so she +followed her sister back to the wagon, where Rumple, Don, and Billykins +were already hard at work unpacking the baggage which had been loaded on +to the rack at the back of the wagon; and when this was all cleared away +they let the backboard down. Then, while Nealie and Sylvia stood on the +ground, Rumple and Don managed to lift Rupert into their arms, and with +much difficulty they contrived to carry him through the garden patch +into the house. + +He had left off shouting and talking now, and seemed almost in a state +of collapse, a condition that frightened Nealie far more than his +delirium had done. There was no time just at first to look in the +baggage for the sheets which had belonged to Aunt Judith, so they +straightened the rugs on the hard mattress, and laid their brother down. + +"It is a beautifully clean bed anyhow, and on the whole I think that +clean rugs are better than fusty sheets; but of course a doctor would +have his things clean," remarked Sylvia, as she patted the pillow into a +more shapely lump and laid it under the head of poor Rupert. + +"I am going to make a fire, and warm him a little milk; perhaps he will +like it better if it is warm, and he has only had cold things all day," +said Nealie, and then resolutely turned her back on the four juniors, +who were so hard at work unpacking the wagon and bringing the boxes, +bundles, and cases into the house. + +Rockefeller had been unharnessed and turned into the doctor's paddock, +which stretched away from the back of the house up to a line of hills +thickly wooded. The horse was rolling with all four legs in the air, +uttering equine squeals of delight, as if rejoicing in the fact of the +long journey being safely accomplished. Ducky, tired of helping to +unload, had perched herself on the top bar of the gate, clapping her +hands in delight at the performances of the horse, which she imagined +were being enacted solely for her benefit, and she grumbled quite +vigorously when Billykins ran out to tell her that supper was ready and +she must come in. + +"We have supper every night, but it isn't every night that Rocky will +cut capers like that," she said, with a swing of her plump little arm in +the direction of the horse, but upset her balance in the process, and +tumbled into the arms of Billykins, who proved unequal to the strain of +her sudden descent, and so they rolled over in the dust together. + +"I think that you are most astonishingly clumsy," said the small maiden, +scrambling up with an offended air, and not even saying "Thank you" to +Billykins for having been bottom dog for the moment. + +"When you want to fall off gates on to people you should choose big, fat +people, and then perhaps they wouldn't give way as I did; but you really +are fearfully heavy," answered Billykins, who was shaking the dust from +himself as a dog shakes off the water when he comes out of a pond. + +Then they took hold of each other's hands and ran back to the house, +where Rumple and Don had got supper ready in the outer room, while +Nealie and Sylvia were busy with Rupert in the bedroom. + +The luggage had all been stowed away in as shipshape a style as +possible, the wagon had been drawn in at the paddock gate, and now the +place was crammed full with the big family, who were all, with the +exception of Rupert, strung up to the highest pitch of excitement, +waiting for their father's return. + +But, having had no proper meal since breakfast, they simply could not +wait until he came before having their supper. + +Yet, despite the fact that the long journey was safely over, and they +had reached their father's house, it was not a cheerful meal. Rupert's +condition forbade any laughter or joking; besides, Nealie and Rumple +looked so fearfully nervous that it was quite impossible to be even as +lively as usual. + +Rumple's trouble was simply and solely because of that letter which he +had forgotten to post, and that had led to there being no welcome for +them when they arrived. Of course it was surprising that Mr. Runciman +had not written again; but then everyone knew that Mr. Runciman never +wrote a letter when he could possibly shirk the task, and that was why +they had been so urgent in their entreaties that he should write the +letter while they waited on that momentous occasion when they went to +see him to ask him to send them out to the land of the Southern Cross. + +"If Father is cross because he did not know that we were coming I shall +just stand up and say that it was all my fault, and that the others were +not to blame at all," said Rumple to himself, and then he mentally +rehearsed the little scene and the speech he would make until he forgot +all about his supper, and just sat by the table staring out through the +door, which had been left wide open for the sake of coolness, and the +strained look on his face made Nealie's heart ache. + +On her own part she was a prey to acute anxiety, and she was dreading +most of all the first look which would show on the face of her father +when he knew that his family had come to him. If the look were pleasure, +then everything would be possible, and nothing else would matter; but +if there were dismay or regret in his expression, she felt that she +would never be able to bear her life again. Sylvia had no such fears; +her nature was so different from Nealie's, and she rarely troubled about +things which were under the surface, and so was spared many worries and +much heartache; while Don, Billykins, and Ducky were only tired of the +long waiting until their father should come, and they were already +beginning to yawn widely because they were so sleepy. + +"Where shall we all sleep to-night, Sylvia?" demanded Ducky presently, +breaking in upon quite a lengthy silence, and voicing the very question +which was so sorely troubling Nealie at that moment, although she rose +from the table and passed into the other room, where Rupert lay, and +pretended that she had not heard the query. + +"Oh, we shall manage somehow, and there is always the wagon, you know, +if everything else fails!" said Sylvia vaguely; and then she sprang to +her feet with a sudden eager movement, for to her strained listening +there had come the sound of a horse's feet on the road, a smart trot +which slackened down by the gate outside, not as if the animal had been +pulled up, but had stopped of its own accord. + +"It is Father!" she said in a whisper, just as if the power of audible +speech had left her, and then she started for the door, followed by +Ducky and the three boys; but Nealie, busy with Rupert, had heard no +sound of arrival as yet. + +They had lighted a lamp when the sun went down, and now Sylvia stood on +the threshold, with the four younger ones crowding about her, and the +strong light showing the group up in outline, although it left the faces +indistinct. + +The horseman had stopped and dismounted; then, leaving his horse +standing where it was, he came striding along the path towards the group +at the door. + +Sylvia tried to speak, but the words would not come, as she stood with +one hand tightly pressed against her wildly beating heart. And then, as +the man halted in front of her, she saw that it was quite a young man, +and not her father at all. + +"It is only someone come for the doctor. How disappointing!" was her +unspoken comment, and she was just going to tell him that the doctor had +not come home yet, when to her amazement he asked a question in a +surprised tone. + +"May I ask why are you here?" + +"We are waiting for Father, but he has not come yet. The woman in the +next house told us that she thought he had gone out Pig Hill way, and +that he would not be long before he was back. I hope that your business +with him is not urgent?" Her voice quavered slightly in spite of her +efforts to keep it steady, for surely it would be dreadful if her father +were called away to another case when Rupert was so badly in need of +care. + +"Pardon me, but I do not seem to understand," said the man, with so much +bewilderment in his manner that Sylvia longed to laugh, but managed to +pull herself together and to maintain a decent gravity of expression. + +"We are expecting Father, that is Dr. Plumstead, home every minute, and +when he comes he will find a very great surprise in store for him," she +said, flinging up her head with a happy gesture, and now her laugh would +have its way and rang out on the hot air, being promptly echoed by the +younger ones, who stood pressed close to her on both sides. + +"But I am Dr. Plumstead, and I have just returned from a case at Pig +Hill," said the man. + +It was at this moment that Nealie came hurrying to the door, and, +sweeping the others to the right and left to make way for her, stood in +front of the man, her face white as the handkerchief she held in her +hand, while her breath came in troubled gasps as if she had been running +until she was spent. + +"Whom did you say that you were?" she demanded, her voice having a +sharp, dictatorial ring. + +The stranger, who had merely lifted his hat when he spoke to Sylvia, +swept it off his head and held it in his hand when Nealie thrust herself +to the front. + +"I am Dr. Plumstead, and this is my house," he answered. "But----" + +Nealie, however, cut into the explanation he was trying to make, and now +her bewilderment was as great as his had been at the first. + +"But Dr. Plumstead is our father, and we have come from England to live +with him," she cried, and then stood staring at the man with +ever-growing dismay. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +The Next Thing to be Done + + +The man stepped forward then and laid a kindly hand upon her arm. + +"Shall we go into the house and see if we can get to the bottom of the +mystery?" he asked in such a kind tone that poor, bewildered Nealie gave +way before it and suffered him to lead her into the house with which +they had made so free, believing it to be their father's home, while the +others trooped after them and gathered round the chair in which the man +who called himself Dr. Plumstead had seated her. + +"Nealie, Nealie, come quick, my head is on fire!" called Rupert from the +next room, his voice rising to a shriek. + +"Who is that?" exclaimed the doctor, looking, if possible, more +astonished than before. + +"It is my eldest brother. He is very ill, and when we reached here he +was so bad that we carried him in from the wagon and put him to bed; but +we did not know that we had no right here," said Nealie, her voice +quavering a little, although she held her head at its proudest angle and +tried to look as defiant as possible. + +"I will see him," said the doctor quietly, as she jumped up to go to +Rupert, and then he passed into the bedroom with her; but, finding it in +darkness, came back for the lamp, and, with a word of excuse to Sylvia +for leaving her without a light, picked it up and disappeared with it +into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. + +"Sylvia, if that is my father I don't like him at all. Why, he never +even looked at me; there might as well have been no Ducky!" cried the +poor little maiden, who keenly resented being ignored in such a fashion. + +"That is not our father at all. Why, it is only a young man; but why he +is here posing as Dr. Plumstead is more than I can imagine, and, oh! +where can our dear father be?" said Sylvia, who was on the verge of +tears, for the day had been a trying one on account of Rupert's illness, +and, as they all agreed, the home-coming was just horrid. + +"Buck up, old girl, it is never so bad that it might not be worse!" +exclaimed Rumple in a nervous tone, for well he knew that if Sylvia +broke down in miserable tears Ducky would at once join in, followed by +Billykins, who only rarely cried, but always did the thing thoroughly +when he did begin. + +"Shall we have to go somewhere else for to-night, I wonder, or what +shall we do?" Sylvia went on, drawing herself up and setting her teeth +together until she could conquer that weak desire for tears, which would +be sure to lower her dreadfully in the eyes of the boys and would do no +good at all. "The house seemed embarrassingly small at first, but now +that it is a stranger who is master, and not Father at all, why, the +whole thing is impossible." + +"We can sleep in and under the wagon, as we have done before; but Rupert +can't, so I guess that we had better wait and see what Nealie decides is +best," replied Rumple. But this was met with a whimper of protest from +Ducky, who demanded to be put to bed somewhere at once. + +"Could we not put Ducky on a mattress in the wagon, with Don and +Billykins?" suggested Sylvia. "They would be quite safe and comfortable +there, because the wagon is in enclosed ground and so close to the house +also. Then you and I can wait round here to help if we are wanted." + +"Brave old Syllie, I thought that you would find a way out of the +muddle!" cried Rumple, giving her an approving pat on the back, and then +he called to Don to come and help him carry a mattress out to the +wagon, a difficult feat in the dark, but one which was safely +accomplished after some struggles, a few bruises, and one fall that was +happily not a serious one. + +Then Sylvia carried Ducky out to the wagon and handed her up to Rumple, +who stowed her inside on the mattress, bidding the two small boys lie +down one on each side of her, and the three were sound asleep before +Sylvia and Rumple had gone back to the house. + +They were standing on the threshold of the dark little room, and +wondering what they had better do next, when the door of the sleeping +chamber opened and Nealie came out. + +"Sylvia, where are you?" she cried, with such misery in her voice that +Sylvia gave a groan of real dismay. + +"What is the matter?" asked Rumple sharply. Of course he was solely to +blame for all this wretched business, he told himself, as none of these +disasters could have happened if he had not forgotten to post that +letter. + +"Rupert is very, very ill, Dr. Plumstead says, and we must make a fire +at once and boil water for some kind of fomentations. Could you and +Rumple do that while I help the doctor in the bedroom?" + +"Of course we can. I know where the firewood is," said Rumple hastily, +heaving a sigh of satisfaction to think that there was something useful +for him to do. + +"If Rumple is going to make the water hot, can't I come into the bedroom +to help you with Rupert?" asked Sylvia, for Nealie looked thoroughly +worn out. + +"I will call you if we want more help, meanwhile you might make the poor +doctor some tea, for I do not believe he has had a real meal since +breakfast, and it is very hard for him to find his home invaded in such +a fashion. But where are the children?" asked Nealie, looking round in a +bewildered fashion. + +"We have put them to bed in the wagon; they were so very tired," +answered Sylvia. "Now I will get the doctor man such a nice supper that +he will feel he is to be congratulated on his household of visitors, +even though one of them is in possession of the only bed in the house. +Oh, Nealie, what an awful situation it is, and whatever shall we do if +we can't find dear Father?" + +"Don't, dear, I dare not think about that or anything else until Rupert +is better, and then God will show us what to do," said Nealie, putting +her hand out with such an imploring gesture that Sylvia was instantly +ashamed of herself, and set about being as cheerful as possible in order +to keep up the courage of her sister. + +"Oh, we shall get through all right of course, and after all it is just +a part of our adventures; anything is better than stagnating I think, +and we have not been in much danger of that lately!" + +Nealie went back to the bedroom, while Sylvia and Rumple did their very +best in the outer chamber, where the confusion almost defied +description. But their days of living in the wagon had fitted them for +managing comfortably where anyone else would have been bothered by the +muddle all around. + +As it was, Rumple's fire was burning in grand style, and the various +pots and kettles on the stove were beginning to show signs of being +nearly ready to boil, when the doctor came out of the inner room to get +something from the medicine cupboard in the corner. + +"Will you please sit down and take your supper, now that you are here?" +asked Sylvia rather timidly, for to her way of thinking this doctor had +a very disagreeable face; but that was, perhaps, because she was +prejudiced against him through the dreadful disappointment which had met +them at the end of their journey. + +"I do not think that I can stay for food just now; your brother needs +me," he began, in a tone which certainly was brusque, although perhaps +he did not mean it to be so. + +"Oh, please, do!" she pleaded. "Because then I shall not feel so +worried, and I am sure that Rupert will not take much harm for half an +hour, while you will feel far more fit when you have had a meal." + +"It is very kind of you to be so insistent, and I really am very +hungry," he replied, smiling broadly now, for the supper which Sylvia +had cooked for him from their own stores smelled exceedingly good, and +she was already pouring a cup of tea out for him and doing her very best +to make him feel how grateful they were to him for all his kindness to +Rupert. + +"But won't you sit down and have something to eat also?" he asked, as +she hovered about ready to anticipate his wants. + +"No, thank you, we had supper before you came, when we were waiting for +Father," she said, with a choke in her voice, which made her turn +hastily away and knock a tin pan over, so that in the sudden clatter he +might not notice how near she was to booing like a baby. + +He frowned heavily, as he wondered what the guardians of this family +could have been thinking of not to write and make sure that the father +was in a position to receive them, before sending seven irresponsible +young people halfway round the world, on the off chance of finding their +father when they reached the end of the journey. + +"It has really been very hard for you, and we must do our best to help +you out of the muddle," he said quite kindly, as he enjoyed the results +of Sylvia's handiwork and began to feel all the better for his supper. + +"Do you know where Father has gone?" she asked, putting the question +which Nealie lacked the courage to ask. + +"When Dr. Plumstead passed the practice over to me, eighteen months ago, +he said that he was going to Mostyn, and that letters from England were +to be forwarded to the Post Office there, but that nothing else was to +be sent on," the doctor answered. + +"If your name is the same as Father's, how would you know which were +your letters and which were his?" Sylvia asked in a wondering tone, for +to her it seemed of all things most strange that there should be two +doctors of one name, and that not a common one, in a small town like +Hammerville. + +"Oh, that was easy enough! I am an Australian, educated in Germany, and +I have not a single correspondent in England. But only one letter has +come for your father, and that arrived about two weeks ago, so I +forwarded it to Mostyn at once," said the doctor. + +"Where is Mostyn?" asked Sylvia. + +"It is away in the back country, about fifty miles from everywhere, I +imagine. It is a boom town; that is to say, they have found gold there +in paying quantities, and so it will grow like a mushroom until the gold +gives out, and then, unless they come across anything else of value, it +will fizzle out as rapidly as it sprang to life. It is a little way we +have of doing things in this part of the world," said the doctor as he +finished his supper, and then he asked, in a tone of grave concern: +"Pray, where can you go to sleep? There is certainly no sense in your +sitting up all night. Your sister will stay up to help me with the sick +boy, and then in the morning she will want to rest, and you must be +ready to take her place." + +"Oh, I can sit round in a chair and doze a little when I am not wanted!" +replied Sylvia in that happy-go-lucky way she had of saying things, and +which as a rule no one heeded. But the doctor frowned heavily as he +said: "That will not do at all; young people cannot get on without +proper sleep, and you must be fresh and fit to take your sister's place +in the morning, for your brother is going to want a lot of nursing to +pull him through. What have you done with the younger children?" + +"We put them to bed in the wagon. It is just outside, you know, and we +thought that they would be out of the way," answered Sylvia. + +"An excellent idea. Now suppose that you go and put yourself to bed +with them, and they will be sure to wake you bright and early in the +morning," he said, smiling now, because there really seemed a way out of +the difficulty. + +"But you will want someone to keep the fire in for you to-night," +protested Sylvia, who did not like the idea of being sent off to bed +with the children, even though she was so sleepy that she could scarcely +keep her eyes open. + +"That other brother of yours will do that for me. What is his name, by +the way?" asked the doctor, as Rumple disappeared from the room in +search of more firewood. + +"He is Dalrymple, only we always call him Rumple, because it suits him +so well and is affectionate too. But you will certainly never keep him +awake. He will mean not to go to sleep, for he is really a very good +sort, and crammed full of the best intentions, but he simply can't keep +his eyes open when he is very tired; so presently, when you least expect +it, he will just double up and fall asleep, and you will not be able to +wake him up however much you try. We Plumsteads are all like that, and +sometimes it is very awkward," said Sylvia earnestly. + +"I will risk it; only you must go to bed now," said the doctor, laughing +broadly at her description of the Plumstead weakness in the matter of +popping off to sleep at inconvenient times; and then he called to +Rumple and asked him to see his sister safely into the wagon, and to +keep an eye on it during the remainder of the night. + +Poor Rumple! He honestly meant to do just what the doctor asked of him, +for he was just as grateful as a boy could be for what was being done +for Rupert and also for the way in which the doctor was treating the +girls, so he trotted backwards and forwards for another hour, bringing +in wood, stoking the stove, making kettles boil, fetching water from a +crazy old pump in the next garden, falling over the tangled vegetation +_en route_, and getting hopelessly muddled in the darkness. Then he +suddenly became so sleepy that it seemed to him he would snore as he +walked about; his feet became heavier and heavier, until the effort to +lift them grew beyond his power. He could not see out of his eyes, and, +collapsing on to the floor between the door and the stove, he lay there, +happily unconscious of everything. + +The doctor found him on one of his journeys out to the stove for fresh +boiling water, and would certainly have thought him to be in a fit but +for Sylvia's explanation of the family peculiarity. So he only smiled to +himself, and, lifting Rumple, laid him more at ease in the farther +corner of the room, covering him over with a rug; and then he went back +to the bedroom, where Nealie was busy helping him with Rupert, and said, +in a laughing tone: "I have just picked that brother of yours up from +the floor, where he lay as fast asleep as if he were on the softest bed +that had ever been made." + +"Poor Rumple! His intentions about keeping awake are always so good that +it is very hard on him to be bowled over in such a fashion," said +Nealie, with a wan little smile, and then for a few minutes she was very +busy helping the doctor put fresh fomentations on Rupert. But when this +was finished, and the sufferer lay quiet from the comfort of it all, and +there was leisure to think of other things, Nealie spoke again: "How +soon will it be safe for me to leave Rupert?" + +The doctor looked at her in surprise; but thinking she was tired out, +and longing for sleep, he said kindly: + +"You can go off to the wagon now for a sleep if you like. I should not +have suggested your staying all night, only that I thought it would be +good for your brother to have one of his own about him; but as he seems +inclined to sleep now, it will not really matter." + +"Oh, I did not mean that I wanted to go to bed!" said Nealie quickly. +"This is not the first time I have stayed up all night. Whenever the +children have been ill I have stayed with them. Indeed I am quite used +to watching and being on guard. But I want to know how soon you think +that it will be fit for me to leave Rupert to the care of Sylvia, so +that I may go to find Father." + +"You could not go to a place like Mostyn alone, and the best way will be +for you to send and ask your father to come here for you," replied the +doctor gravely. + +But to this suggestion Nealie shook her head. "I heard what you said to +Sylvia about Father, and I have the feeling that he needs us very badly +indeed. Why did he give up the practice here?" + +Dr. Plumstead hedged this question as best he could, for he simply could +not tell this girl with the pathetic eyes that an old rumour had risen, +which made it necessary for the doctor to go farther afield, and so the +practice had been disposed of to the first person who was willing to +give a little money for it. + +But Nealie was shrewd enough to understand without telling, and, looking +the doctor straight in the face, she asked: "Was it that affair of +Father taking off the man's arm which was brought up against him?" + +"Something of the kind, I think," said the doctor reluctantly. He was +saying to himself how hard it was that this young girl should have so +many hard things to bear when she seemed just made for joy and +happiness, when, to his amazement, she broke into a low ripple of happy +laughter, and softly clapped her hands. + +"I thought it was that," she cried. "Strangely enough, since we landed +in New South Wales I have stumbled upon the very man whose arm it was +that Father took off, and someone told me that this man says it was the +greatest blessing of his life that he was thrust out into the world +maimed, to make his own way, and sink or swim as best he could. Now, +when I have found my father I am going to ask him to communicate with +this man, and to make the man set him right before the world; for why +should my dear father have to suffer so heavily for having merely done +his duty, and saved the man's life in spite of everything? It is a +doctor's duty to save life at all costs, and no consideration of any +other kind should make him do otherwise. Father was quite sure that the +man would die if his arm were not taken off, and that was why he +performed the operation in spite of the disapproval of the man's +friends." + +"It was, as you say, his duty to do his best for his patient, and it is +hard lines that he should have to suffer for just having done his duty," +said the doctor. "But why can you not put this in a letter, and let me +send it to Mostyn for you the first thing in the morning?" + +"Because I am afraid that Father would not read it," admitted Nealie, +first flushing and then paling, as she looked up at the doctor with her +fearless gaze. "I think that Father is so beaten by everything that he +has had to bear that he just feels as if he will give up and not trouble +about anything more. So that to know all his big family have suddenly +been dumped upon him will be a sort of a shock; but if I am there to +assure him that we shall be more help than hindrance he may feel better +about it all. Of course there are a lot of us, and we have fearfully big +appetites too, except Rupert, but there are so many ways of earning +one's living here that I think we shall soon be able to support +ourselves, that is, Sylvia, Rupert, and I, for of course the others will +have to go to school." + +"You are very courageous, and I think perhaps you are right in wanting +to go to your father, and if you will leave it to me I will see what +arrangements I can make for your journey," said the doctor, and Nealie +thanked him, feeling that bad as things were they might easily have been +worse if they had not found a friend like her father's successor, who by +such a strange coincidence bore the same name. + +Rupert had experienced such relief from the fomentations that he lay in +a quiet sleep, and Nealie, with her head on the pillow at his side, +slumbered also; but the doctor had gone to the outer room, and was very +busy looking up his case book and trying to make up his mind whether he +dared leave his patients long enough to go with Nealie to find her +father. + +His private fear was that when she reached Mostyn she would find that +her father had gone somewhere else. Doctors in mining camps were apt to +be nomadic creatures, that is, they had to go to their patients, and it +was no use to stay where the people were all well, when perhaps at some +place fifty or a hundred miles distant men and women might be dying like +flies from some contagious disease with never a doctor to help them. It +was life at its roughest and wildest in that back country, and he could +not let Nealie venture alone in her youth and ignorance where so many +perils might beset her path. + +Day was beginning to dawn when he heard Rupert speaking, and then with a +tap at the door he entered to see how it fared with his patient. + +"I am better, thank you, and I am very much obliged to you for all that +you have done for me," said Rupert weakly. + +"Ah, I think that you will do now, by the look of you," said the doctor +in a cheerful tone. "And now, with your consent, I am going to take your +sister to hunt up your father, for I don't feel equal to all seven of +you singlehanded," and he burst into a hearty laugh at his own small +joke. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +In the Thick of It + + +A hundred miles or more from Mostyn, right out on the sandy plains, +beyond the gap in the mountains which they called the Devil's Bridge, +there had been a gold find. A gold prospector had been found lying in +the mulga scrub with a big nugget in his hand, while his swag, when +unrolled, had shown a whole handful of lesser nuggets. + +The poor wretch had found gold, but had died of thirst, and those who +found him came perilously near to sharing the same fate, so keenly +anxious were they to make the dead yield up the knowledge of his find, +by tracing his poor wandering footprints round and round and in and out +among the hillocks of sand, the clumps of spinifex, and the mulga scrub. + +But one man, more human than the rest, elected to dig a grave where the +dead might rest secure from the ravages of the wandering dingo, and +although the others laughed at him, calling him names, and going away +leaving him to do his work of mercy alone, he stuck grimly at his task, +probing down between the roots of the mulga bushes to make a hollow deep +enough to form a decent resting place for the nameless dead. + +He was quite alone now, save for the quiet figure on the ground and a +hoodie crow which was perched on a swaying branch at a little distance, +watching the living and the dead with anxious beady eyes. + +Down under the top layer of sand the ground was stony, and the man who +dug was weak from long tramping in search of the gold he could not find. +Of choice he would have gone away and left the still figure where he had +found it, but it might be that some day he too would lie like this, with +staring eyes that could not see the sun, and then, surely, it would be +good if some kind hand would make a hole in the hot, dry ground, where +his body might lie at rest until the day of days, when the dead shall +rise and the earth and the ocean give back that which they have taken. + +What was that? + +The prospector's shovel struck something hard, something which was so +much heavier than ordinary stone, and that had a peculiar ring when +struck by the shovel. + +He leaned forward then, and picked it up, casting a scared look round, +fearful lest any of his chums had repented and come back to help him. +But no, he was alone, save for the dead; even the hoodie crow had flown +away because it did not seem of any use waiting any longer, and instinct +had told the creature that a horse was dying by a dried-out water-hole +some two miles away. + +The man dug another hole after that, at some little distance, and, +dragging the body there, gave it decent burial, even kneeling with +clasped hands and closed eyes for a few minutes when his task was done, +trying to remember "Our Father", which was the prayer he had learned at +his mother's knee many years before. It was the only prayer that +occurred to him then, and it was not so inappropriate as it seemed. Then +he went back to the first hole that he had dug, and, carefully filling +it in, made a little cross of plaited sticks, which he planted at the +head of the grave that held no dead. + +"I guess that will about do," he muttered to himself, and then, with a +final look round, he picked up his swag, and, hoisting it to his back, +set his face towards the hills and civilization once more. Tucked away +in his belt he carried fragments of the stone he had taken from that +first grave he had started to dig, and he meant to raise money on his +expectations, then come back with horses and tools to dig up the +fortune upon which he had stumbled when performing that act of mercy to +the nameless dead. + +He was worn out and half-starved; he had been so near to despair, too, +that this tremendous find proved too much for him, and when three days +later he staggered into the main street of Latimer, which was a township +some fifty miles from Mostyn, he was too ill to tell anyone of what he +had found, or even to get the help for himself that he so sorely needed. + +Most likely he would have lain on a dirty bed at the one hotel until he +died, and so the secret of that empty grave on the sandy plain would +have never been revealed; but it so fell out that two other men in the +township were ill with a mysterious disease which looked so much like +smallpox that a doctor was sent for in all haste because of the danger +to other people. + +The nearest medical man lived at Mostyn, and he had not been there long, +and was indeed on the point of going somewhere else, because the people +of Mostyn seemed to have no use for doctors, and only died of drinking +bad whisky. + +With so little chance of work the doctor was in a fair way of being +starved out; so when the call came for him to go to Latimer, eager +though he was for work, he had to admit that he had no horse to ride and +no money with which to hire one. + +But when men are desperate enough to ride fifty miles on the off chance +of finding a doctor it is not likely that a trifle of this kind will +turn them from their purpose. A horse for the doctor was quickly +forthcoming, and he rode out of Mostyn in the company of his escort, +just as the cart which was bringing the weekly mail entered the town. + +"Would you like to wait and claim your mail, doctor?" asked the man who +rode on his right hand. + +"No, thanks; I do not expect any letters," replied the man of medicine, +and a pang stole into his heart as he thought of the big family of seven +motherless children in far-away England, whom he had virtually cast off, +just because he was writing himself down a failure, and would not be an +object of pity to his friends and relations. + +If only he had known it, there was a letter for him by that mail, a +letter which had come from England, written by Mr. Runciman, and posted +on the very day the children sailed for Sydney. The writer confessed +that he ought to have followed his first letter with a second long +before this; perhaps he ought to have waited until a letter came from +Dr. Plumstead before letting the children start, but there had been so +many difficulties in the way of taking care of them in England, and so +on, and so on, which in plain English meant that as Mrs. Runciman was +not willing to have them under her roof, the harassed guardian had not +known what to do with them. + +But it was a long time before that letter really reached the hands for +which it was intended, and then it was Nealie who handed it to her +father, and at his request read it to him. + +It was a horrible journey for the doctor and his escort. The demon +drought was stalking through the land, there were wicked little +whirlwinds to raise the sand and fling it in blinding showers on to the +unlucky travellers, water-holes had dried to mud puddles, and the broad +lagoons, beloved of waterfowl, were thickets of wilted reeds, with never +a trace of moisture to be found anywhere. + +The travellers pressed on as fast as they could go, for who could tell +what grim tragedies were taking place in Latimer since the two had +ridden forth to find a doctor? There were stories of whole townships +having been wiped out in ten days or a fortnight by smallpox, when no +doctor had been forthcoming to tend the patients and insist on isolation +and sanitation, with all the other precautions that belong to law and +order. + +"There are only eight hundred people all told in Latimer, and we may +easily find half of them dead," said one man, with a pant of hurry in +his voice, as the tired horses toiled up the last long hill into +Latimer. + +"But how many sick did you say there were when you left the town on the +day before yesterday?" asked the doctor, who privately believed the men +to be panic-stricken. + +"There were two that had spots, and then there was that prospector who +came in from the track across the sandy plain. He dropped like a felled +ox in front of Jowett's saloon, and so they took him in there, because +Jowett had a bed to spare and there was not another in the township," +said the other man, who was tall and gaunt, and only about half as +frightened as his companion, who was a small fat man with a tendency to +profuse perspiration. + +"Had he--this prospector, I mean--any spots on him also?" asked the +doctor, frowning heavily. He had had more than one fight with smallpox +in mining camps, and he knew by sad experience that the terror was worse +to combat than the disease. + +"I don't know. Folks were too scared to look, I fancy; but old Mother +Twiney, who doesn't seem to be afraid of anything, said that she would +see that he had food and drink until we got back, and Jowett will let +the man have houseroom, for the simple reason that he is afraid to turn +him out," returned the tall man. + +Fully half the population of Latimer gathered to welcome the doctor when +at last he rode up to the open space in front of Jowett's saloon, and +half of these demanded that their tongues should be looked at and their +pulses felt without delay. + +But the doctor had always been impatient of shams; indeed more than one +candid friend had told him that in this matter he had done himself much +harm from a professional point of view, as a doctor who wants to get on +can do it most quickly by trading upon the fears of the foolish. + +Pushing the candidates for examination to right and left as he went, he +sternly demanded to be taken at once to the sick--those who had the +dreaded spots most fully developed--and, as he was not a man to be +gainsaid or put aside, old Mother Twiney was at once pushed forward to +take him to the patients. + +Snuffy and dirty though the old crone was, there was a gleam of true +kindliness in her eyes hidden away behind bushy grey eyelashes, and she +hobbled off in a great hurry to a wooden building standing remote from +the houses, and which had formerly been used as a store for mining +plant. + +"Are all the patients here?" asked the doctor, as he followed her across +the parched and dusty grass. + +"All but the man who was taken into Jowett's, your honour," she +answered; then, sidling a little closer to him, she said in an +undertone: "It is not smallpox at all; I am quite sure of it. Why, the +two men are not even ill, only nearly scared to death." + +"Then why was I sent for such a long way, and for nothing too?" he asked +angrily, knowing well that his fee would be according to the need there +was for his services. + +"Hush!" breathed the old woman, and now there was keen anxiety in her +manner. "Whatever you do, don't let anyone know for a few days that it +is not smallpox. These men are not ill, and the spots are only a sort of +heat rash, I think, but the poor fellow at Jowett's is real bad, and he +would have died if he could not have had a doctor. He may even die now, +in spite of all you can do. I knew that no one in the town would send +for a doctor to come so far on account of a man who was ill from a +complaint that was not infectious, so when I saw the other two with the +spots, I just made the most of it, and because all the well people were +afraid that they would catch the disease, there was no time lost in +sending for you. Now you must just put them into strict quarantine, and +make as much fuss as possible; then they will let you stay here long +enough to pull the poor fellow round who is lying at Jowett's, and they +will pay you according to the trouble you put them to," said the old +woman, with a sagacious nod of her head. + +The doctor frowned, but there was sound reason in her arguments, and he +decided to see all the patients before committing himself to any course +of action concerning them. + +The two men with spots were in a state of terror that was pitiable to +see, and from outward appearances might be said to be suffering from a +very bad form of the dreaded scourge. True to the lines he had laid down +for himself, however, he said nothing to allay their fears, only looked +very grave, issued a hundred commands for safeguarding the rest of the +community, and then demanded to be taken to the other sick man, who was +lodged at Jowett's. + +The prospector's quarters were not sumptuous. He was merely laid in a +shed recently tenanted by calves, and which had been hastily cleared for +his use. The man was very ill, and Mother Twiney had not exaggerated +about the gravity of his condition. + +Here indeed was scope for the doctor, and instead of wearing a face of +gloom, as when he examined the men with spots, his face was bright, and +his tone so brisk and cheerful that it looked as if he were going to +enjoy the tussle that was in front of him. + +"Can you pull me through, Doctor?" asked the sufferer, looking at the +doctor with lack-lustre eyes. + +"I am going to try, but I don't mind admitting that I shall have my +hands full," replied the doctor, who had never been in the habit of +hiding from his patients the gravity of their condition. + +"Well, if you do get me on my feet, I promise you a 10-per-cent +commission on all I can make during the next year," said the sick man, +with a sudden burst of energy, and then he called on the old woman to +witness to what he had said, after which he sank into a condition of +apathy, looking as if he might die at any moment. + +Never since he was a young man and just starting in his profession had +the doctor worked harder than for the next few days. He was happier, +too, than he had been for years, and in the hush of the quiet nights, +when he watched alone by the man who was really ill, he thought of his +children and resolved that no longer would he shut them out of his heart +and out of his life just because he had been a victim to circumstances. + +He was thinking of them one night, as he strode across to the shed where +the two victims from spots were beginning to recover, when suddenly he +noticed another odour on the hot air; usually it was the pungent smell +of eucalyptus leaves, but now it was the reek of burning timber that +smote upon his senses, and turning sharply in the track he saw to his +horror that there was a red glow in the sky over Jowett's. The place was +on fire. + +"It will blaze like matches," he groaned, and then turned to run, +thinking of his patient. + +But, despite his haste, the flames were shooting out through the holes +in the roof of the shed where the sick man lay, by the time the doctor +turned the corner by the store. + +He tried to shout a warning, and to call for help, but it was as if his +voice had dried up in his throat. + +No one else appeared aware of the danger. The place seemed solitary and +silent, save for the hiss and crackle of the fire. + +Then he heard a cry for help. It came from the inside of the shed, and +dashing forward, regardless of his own danger, he groped his way in +through smoke and flame, then, seizing the sick man, turned to carry him +out to safety, but even in that moment was stricken to the ground with +the burden he bore, and pinned there by a fall of roofing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"Father, We Want You!" + + +Rupert was so much better when he woke from his long sleep that the +doctor told Nealie she might be quite easy to leave him to the care of +Sylvia on the following day and go in search of her father if she +wished. + +"You will be able to look after him too, will you not?" asked Nealie +wistfully, for in her heart she rather doubted Sylvia's nursing skill. + +"No, I am coming with you," he answered, looking at her with a smile. + +Nealie flushed hotly and burst into vigorous protest. "Please, please do +not take so much trouble for me; and besides, think of your patients, +and what you may lose by being away." + +He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Doctors have very hard times in +the back blocks, Miss Plumstead. Those who are really ill cannot as a +rule afford to pay for medical skill, and everyone is too busy to have +time for imaginary complaints. I have no patients at the moment that I +cannot leave, except the man who lives out in the direction of Pig +Hill, and I thought that I would ride over there this afternoon, and +then we would start at dawn to-morrow morning. You don't ride, do you?" + +"Not much, and I am sure that I could not sit on Rockefeller, because he +is so clumsy," said Nealie. + +"Then I will borrow Jim Brown's two-wheeled cart; but I think that we +shall have to take your horse, because mine is rather worn. The track +out to Pig Hill is a heavy one, and I have been there every day of +late," said the doctor, and then he hurried away to see his patients in +the town, while Nealie did her best to arrange for leaving the others +for a few days. + +There was one thing which Nealie had to do that she could not speak of +to the doctor, who had been so truly good to them. Her money was +exhausted save for a few shillings, and, being face to face with +destitution, and not sure of finding her father even when she reached +Mostyn, she must have money from somewhere. + +In her extremity she thought of Mr. Runciman, and although it would take +most of her remaining shillings to cable to him, she had determined to +do it. + +When Dr. Plumstead had started for Pig Hill she found her way to the +telegraph office and dispatched her pitiful request. + +"Please send us some money, we have not found Father here. + + "Cornelia Plumstead." + +But cables are expensive things, and when she came to send it she found +that she would not have enough money for the whole, and had to shorten +it, so that when it actually went it was more a demand than a plea: + +"Send us money; Father not here." + +"And if he does not send it, whatever shall we do?" cried Sylvia, who +had to be told, if only for the sake of sobering her and making her more +keenly alive to the responsibilities of the situation. + +"He will send it, I am quite sure," replied Nealie, with a beautiful +faith in Mr. Runciman's real goodness of heart that was justified in due +course by the arrival of a cablegram authorizing her to draw fifty +pounds from the Hammerville bank as she needed it. + +But she had to start off in the grey dawn of the next morning, in +company with the usurping Dr. Plumstead--as Sylvia would persist in +calling him--without knowing that her need was to be met in this +generous manner. It was perhaps the very darkest hour in her life, and +her face was drawn and pinched with the weight of her care as she lifted +it to the cold grey of the sky when she mounted into the high +two-wheeled cart which the doctor had borrowed for the journey. But even +as she looked, all the grey was flushed with rose colour from the rising +sun, and the sight brought back her courage with a rush, so that she was +able to turn and smile at the little group gathered at the door of the +doctor's house to see her drive away. + +"Mind you take good care of Rupert, Sylvia," she called, feeling that +her next sister was really not old enough for such a heavy +responsibility; only, as there was no one else to take it, of course +Sylvia would have to do her best. + +"I will see that she looks after him properly," said Rumple, with a wag +of his head, at which the doctor laughed; for when sleep seized upon +Rumple he was of little use in looking after other people. + +Don and Billykins flung up their caps and shouted hurrah as Rockefeller +moved off, and Ducky joined in with her shrill treble, so that Nealie +felt they were doing their very best to keep her spirits up at the +moment of parting, and she could not let them think their efforts were +wasted in the least; therefore she waved her hand and tried to appear as +free from care as the rest of them. + +After the heavy wagon, Rockefeller made short work of the light-weight +cart, and went along at such a tremendous pace that Nealie would +certainly have been afraid if anyone but Dr. Plumstead had been driving. +His treatment of Rupert, however, had inspired her with such confidence +in him that she sat smiling and untroubled while the big, clumsy, +vanhorse cut capers in the road, and then danced on all-fours because a +small boy rushed out of one of the little wooden houses on the other +side of the town and blew a blast on a bugle right under the horse's +nose. + +"It really looks as if the creature had not had enough work for the last +three or four weeks," said the doctor, with a laugh, as he proceeded to +get pace out of Rocky in preference to pranks. + +"It is a very good horse and has done us good service," said Nealie, in +a rather breathless fashion, as a sudden swerve on the part of Rocky +sent her flying against the doctor, and then, as she settled back into +her own corner and clutched at the side of the cart to keep from being +tossed out, she went on in an anxious tone: "I wonder what Mr. Wallis +will say to our keeping Rocky to go this journey instead of at once +handing him over to the nearest agent of the firm?" + +"If he is the wise and just man that I take him to be he will say that +you have done quite right," replied the doctor. "You have not reached +your father yet, and you must have the horse for this extra journey, +don't you see?" + +Nealie shook her head as if in doubt about this sort of reasoning, and +then she sat silent for so long that the doctor might have believed her +to be asleep, if he had not seen that her gaze was fixed on the +landscape. + +The district outside Hammerville on the Mostyn track was at first mainly +composed of rich pasture, mostly settled by dairy farmers, although +farther away on the higher ground it was sheep farming that was most in +evidence. + +Twenty miles out of Hammerville the road had dwindled to a grassy track, +and as they were now on the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River the +country grew very wild and mountainous, the track cut through forests +which the doctor told Nealie had only been half-explored, and the +hilltops were so solitary that it did not seem as if there were any +people in the world at all. + +But it was a well-watered country, and on every side there were brawling +little streams rushing down precipitous heights or scurrying away +through woody valleys, as if anxious to find the very nearest way to the +sea. + +By the time the hottest part of the day had arrived Rockefeller had done +half the journey to Mostyn, and driving up to a lone house the doctor +was so fortunate as to find a woman living there, to whose care he +confided Nealie for a few hours' rest and refreshment while he took a +siesta lying on the ground under the cart, which had been drawn close +under the shade of the willows fringing the river at this part. + +It was sundown before they reached Mostyn, and then it was only to be +met with disappointment, for the doctor had been sent for to cope with +an outbreak of smallpox at Latimer. + +"That settles it!" exclaimed the doctor. "I shall drive you back to +Hammerville to-morrow morning, for certainly I cannot take you to a +disease-stricken town, and equally I cannot leave you here." + +"I shall not go back until I have found Father," said Nealie, smiling up +at him in a way that somehow robbed her words of their mutinous flavour. +"And there is no need to worry about the danger of taking me to a +smallpox place, because I had the complaint when I was a little girl, +before I was old enough to remember, so there is no danger for me." + +The doctor was very hard to convince on this score, and was even +inclined to throw doubt on her statement, and to declare that she must +be mistaken, as it was so extremely unlikely that a child in her +position would contract the disease. + +Nealie met all his arguments in silence until he came to his doubts +about her really having had the disease, and then she quietly rolled up +the left sleeve of her thin blouse and showed him two distinct marks on +the soft flesh above the elbow, which any doctor must know were pock +marks. + +"I must go until I find my father, and if you will not take me I must go +alone," she said, when he left off arguing because he had no more to +say; but her gaze was very wistful, for Mostyn was so much rougher than +Hammerville that her heart sank very low as she thought of how rough +Latimer might be. + +"If you must go I must certainly go too, for I cannot let you out of my +care in places like this," he said in a tone as decided as her own. + +For that one night she was lodged with a good woman who cleaned the +church and school, and who kept her awake for half the night telling her +gruesome stories of happenings in disease-stricken towns, such as +Latimer was at that moment supposed to be. But if she thought to +frighten Nealie into consenting to go back to Hammerville without +finding her father she made a very great mistake indeed. + +Bad as had been the journey of the doctor and his escort when he rode +from Mostyn to Latimer through the fierce heat, the experiences of young +Dr. Plumstead and Nealie were still worse. Rockefeller had lost the +fine vigour displayed on the first part of the journey, and went at a +slow trot, hanging his head and stumbling so often that Dr. Plumstead +was forced into a pretty liberal use of the whip to keep the creature on +his feet at all. + +There was a strong wind blowing to-day, but luckily it came from behind, +and so Nealie opened a big umbrella, which kept off some of the dust and +also acted as a sail and helped them along. Sun, wind, and dust seemed +to bring on a sort of fever in Nealie; her hands burned like coals of +fire, she had a lightheaded sensation, and saw so many visions during +the last miles of that trying journey that she could never after +determine which was real and which was fancy of all the incidents and +happenings of that long, weary day. + +"Hullo, look at that smoke yonder; is it a bush fire, I wonder, or is it +possible they have been having a big blaze at Latimer?" said the doctor, +pointing with his whip to the crest of a long hill up which the track +wound its dusty way. + +"Are we near to Latimer?" asked Nealie in a languid tone. + +"I think we ought to be by this time, unless we have come wrong. But +what a hill! I fancy Rockefeller expects me to walk up here," said the +doctor, who was secretly very anxious concerning that smoke which was +hanging in a cloud about the crest of the hill. + +"Shall I walk too?" she asked, wondering whether the act of walking +would tend to steady her wavering fancies, and to stop that horrible +tendency to light-headedness which bothered her so badly. + +"I think not; you must be quite tired enough without adding to your +fatigue by scrambling along this dusty track. Hullo!" + +Nealie saw a sudden swerve on the part of Rocky, then the doctor's cane +came cutting through the air, and there was a great wriggling and +commotion on the dusty ground; but the doctor was so busy soothing the +horse that he did not even answer when she called out to know what was +the matter. + +"Was it a snake?" she asked, as the cart was dragged forward at a jerk, +and Rocky, prancing along on two legs, snorting and plunging, took all +the doctor's skill to keep him from bolting in sheer fright. + +"Yes; and I am very glad that you were not walking, for they are not +pleasant creatures to meet," replied the doctor, thinking how fortunate +it was that he happened to be on foot at the moment, and with a stick in +his hand, for the snake was of a very deadly kind, and the horse would +have stood no chance at all against the poison of its forked tongue. + +Nealie shivered and sat suddenly straight up; it seemed as if the +little shock had restored her in some strange way. The fiercest heat of +the sun was past, and the raging of that terrible wind had dropped to a +gentle breeze which blew cool and refreshing from another quarter. +Indeed she would have felt quite cheerful had it not been for the menace +of that smoke haze lying in a cloud along the line of the hills. + +Another half-hour and they were crossing the top of the ridge, while +Latimer, most snugly placed, lay on the slope of the other side. But at +first sight of the town both Nealie and the doctor had burst into +exclamations of horror, for it looked as if it had been burned out. A +cloud of smoke from the ruined houses hung thickly over the place, and +Rockefeller, with a horse's objection to facing fire, turned about on +the track and showed so much disposition to go back by the way he had +come that the doctor had to get down again and lead the scared creature. + +Presently they saw a man just ahead of them, the first human being they +had glimpsed for hours, and calling to him the doctor asked what had +happened. + +"It has been a fire," said the man, which, considering the smoke rising +in all directions from the ruins, was rather an unnecessary explanation. + +"So I see; but what started it?" asked the doctor. + +"No one will admit knowing much about that," replied the man grimly, +"but we have our thoughts all the same. We have got smallpox in the +town, you know, and one case was lodged in Jowett's hotel. The doctor +that we fetched from Mostyn said pretty decidedly that the one at +Jowett's was certainly not smallpox whatever the other two might be, but +some people won't be convinced, try how you will. So when the doctor's +back was turned it is supposed that someone, either by accident or +design, set the place on fire where the sick man was lying. In a drought +such as we are having now you may guess how the place burned. The doctor +happened to catch sight of it starting; but though he ran at the top of +his speed, all that he could do was to get there in time to see the +place one mass of fire, and he might easily have been forgiven if he had +turned his back on it then. He is made of brave stuff, though, and they +said he dashed straight into that blazing place, and, with the flames +and smoke all around him, he brought his patient out in the nick of +time, for the whole show collapsed just as he got to the doorway, the +sheets of red-hot corrugated roofing fell down upon him, and he was so +badly burned that someone will have to go and find a doctor to cure up +the one we've got, for I'm thinking that Latimer won't let a hero of +that sort die without making an attempt to save him." + +"I am a doctor; I can look after him. Just lead on, and show me where he +is, will you, please?" said young Dr. Plumstead brusquely. He would +have spared Nealie the ugly story if he could, but on the whole it was +good for her to hear that her father had played the part of a hero. If +he had only known it, the hearing was good for him too, for he had been +very ready to despise the man who had given up his practice in +Hammerville and rushed away because he had not the moral courage to live +down a scandal. He had despised Nealie's father, too, because of his +treatment of his children, and altogether had decided that the poor man +was very much of a detrimental, so that this story of heroism had a +mighty effect on him as he walked by the side of the loquacious person +who had first given them the news; while Nealie sat perched up in the +cart behind, straining her ears to catch what they were saying, and +feeling so thankful that she had insisted on coming all the way that she +could have shouted with joyfulness in spite of her anxiety. + +The man told Dr. Plumstead that the fire had spread from building to +building with such awful rapidity that it had been as much as anyone +could do to get the people out of their houses, so many of them having +gone to bed when the outbreak started. + +"What about the smallpox patients?" asked the doctor. + +"We have looked everywhere, but can't find a trace of them, and we +should have thought that they had lost their lives in the fire, only the +building where they lay was not touched, and they had not merely +disappeared, but they had taken their clothes with them, and as much +else as they could lay hands on," replied the man, and the doctor was so +tickled that he burst out laughing at the story. + +"It does not look as if the outbreak of smallpox could have been very +serious," he remarked. + +"Just what everyone is saying, and the boys are downright mad with old +Mother Twiney because the old woman could not tell whether it was really +smallpox or not; but, as I said, you could not expect an ignorant woman +to know a disease of that sort, and we had better have a scare that +ended in smoke than let the real thing gain ground without our taking +any steps to stamp it out," said the man, and then he turned off short +between two heaps of smoking ruins, and the doctor led Rocky, snuffing +and snorting, past the smouldering fire to the cool shadow of the forest +beyond. + +"The doctor and his patient are in that hut yonder. It is where the +smallpox patients were lying; but there was no other place, and so we +had to put them there," said the man; and the doctor, turning round, +said to Nealie: + +"You had better get down now and wait here by the horse while I go and +have a look at your father. Oh yes, I will come back for you in a few +minutes, and then I shall be able to arrange with this good man about +somewhere to shelter you for the night. I dare say the accommodation +will not be very grand, seeing the condition of things here." + +"I don't mind about accommodation, but I do want to go to my father," +said Nealie, her voice breaking in a sob as she scrambled down from the +cart, ignoring the hand her companion stretched out to help her, and +then she stood beside Rocky leaning her head against his side, while her +heart beat so furiously that it seemed to her the man who told them the +news, and was still lingering near, must hear it thumping away against +her side. + +Would Dr. Plumstead never come? How could he be so cruel as to keep her +waiting so long? + +"Ah, what news have you for me?" she asked, as the doctor emerged from +the hut with a quick step and a very grave face indeed. + +"Nothing very good, I fear," he said quietly, and then turned to the man +and asked him to see that the horse was fed and cared for without delay. + +"Tell me, please, is Father very bad? I can bear anything better than +suspense," she said, keeping her voice steady by a great effort. + +"I think you can, and you have already proved yourself a girl of +mettle; but you will want all your courage now, for I fear that you have +found your father only to bid him goodbye," replied the doctor; and then +he caught her by the arm and held her fast while the first dizziness of +the shock was upon her. + +"I am all right now," she said, moving forward in the direction of the +door, and he walked beside her, still holding her arm, as if he doubted +her strength to stand alone. + +There was an old woman, very snuffy and dirty to look at, but with a +face of genuine kindness, who came forward to meet her, and, leading her +past the first bed, where a man was lying who had a much-bandaged head, +she took her to another bed in the far corner, whispering: "That is your +pa, Miss dear, and you had better speak to him quick, for we think that +he is going fast, poor brave gentleman!" + +Going fast, and she had only just found him! + +Nealie gave a frightened gasp, and crept closer, falling on her knees by +the bed, and trembling so that she could hardly clasp the fingers of the +uninjured hand which lay outside the thin coverlet. + +"Father, dear Father, I am Nealie, your own daughter, and I have come +all the way from England to find you, and to help make home again! Oh, +you cannot go away and leave me now!" she wailed in passionate protest +against his dying. + +"Hush, Missy dear, it may scare him if you speak so loud!" said the old +woman in a warning tone, for Nealie's voice had unconsciously risen +almost to a scream. + +The heavy eyelids opened, and the eyes looked straight into Nealie's +face with blank amazement in their gaze. + +"Who are you?" he asked, his voice so faint that it was hardly more than +a whisper. + +"I am your child, dear Father; I am Nealie! We have come to Hammerville +to live with you. You should have had a letter weeks ago to warn you +that we were all coming, only it was forgotten to be posted," she said, +being determined to take half the blame of that omission on her own +shoulders, for surely it was as much her fault as Rumple's, seeing that +she had never thought to remind him of the letter or to ask if it had +been safely posted. + +"All seven of you?" he asked, and now there was a shocked expression in +his face which cut Nealie to the heart; only, for once, she was quite +mistaken as to its cause, and the shocked look did not mean that he was +angry with them for coming, but was solely because of what their plight +would be if he slipped out of life just then. + +"Yes, we are all here," she admitted, feeling more guilty than in all +her life before; and then, almost against her will, her voice rose +again in a passionate plea to him to get better. "Dear Father, do try +and get better, for we all want you so badly!" + +"I will try. All seven of you! I can't go and leave you yet!" he +exclaimed, with so much more strength in his tone that Nealie was amazed +at the change. + +At that moment young Dr. Plumstead, who had come close to the bed, +touched her on the shoulder, saying quietly: "Go and sit on that bench +just outside the door until I call you in again. You have done him good +already, and perhaps now we may pull him through, if God wills; but Mrs. +Twiney is going to help me dress his wounds properly now, and then +perhaps he will be more comfortable." + +And Nealie went obediently to sit on the bench outside the door, where +the air was heavy with the tarry smell of burning pine and the strong +eucalyptus odours; then, clasping her hands, she prayed fervently that +her father might be restored to health, so that they might let him know +how much they loved him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +The News + + +"Four days since Dr. Plumstead and Nealie went away, and never a word to +say what has happened!" cried Sylvia as she came into Rupert's room to +see how he had slept. + +"I expect they have eloped," remarked Don calmly, as he sat up on his +mattress and yawned widely, stretching first one leg and then another, +in order to get them properly awake, as he said; for, being at the +bottom, his legs always woke up last, according to his ideas. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Sylvia, with a frown. She was feeling +tremendously grown-up in these days, and did not permit overmuch levity +on the part of her juniors. + +"Isn't that what people do when they want to get married?" asked +Billykins, who was also just awake, and put his question while Don was +struggling to find a definition of the word. + +"But Nealie does not want to marry that usurping doctor who has taken +dear Father's place!" cried Sylvia hotly, the colour flaming over face +and neck at the bare idea of such a thing. + +"I expect they will want to marry each other. Mrs. Brown said so," +returned Billykins; and then he and Don trotted off to wash in the horse +trough outside the stable door, where they had found they could get +quite a decent bath without much trouble; and Sylvia bent her energies +to waking Rumple, who, being a genius, was always so unwilling to get up +in the mornings. + +"Perhaps we shall get some news to-day," said Rupert, who, because he +was feeling stronger, was very much more hopeful than he had been. + +"I don't know what will happen to the doctor's patients if he doesn't +soon come back," Sylvia went on in a dissatisfied tone. "You see, they +are all getting better without medicine; and it is so very bad for the +practice, for if once people get the idea in their heads that they can +do without doctors it is so hard to get them back to thinking they must +call one in every time their little fingers ache." + +"A fresh crop of patients will turn up when the doctor comes home, I +expect. Anyhow, I should not worry about it, for perhaps these people +would not have paid the bills, and so in reality it is money saved," +Rupert said drowsily; and then he stretched his limbs in a luxurious +fashion, and dropped into another doze, while Sylvia went back to the +other room to start breakfast preparations. She and Ducky slept in the +sitting-room now, while the four boys had the bedroom. They had taken +complete possession of the doctor's house, and felt so much at home in +it that it was a little difficult to imagine how he would find room for +himself when he came back. + +Rumple, indeed, had suggested that the doctor might occupy the wagon; +but as Rupert had pointed out that the wagon would have to be yielded up +to the agent when Rockefeller came back from Mostyn, the only thing was +to get the stable ready for use in an emergency. + +On this morning, when breakfast was over, the three younger boys and +Ducky went off to finish their task of turning the stable inside out. +This, was the third day they had been at work on it, and the place was +looking quite clean and respectable, thanks to their very hard work. +They had even ejected the carpet snake that lived there and killed the +mice which levied toll on the doctor's cornbin; but the snake, like +other ejected persons, was continually harking back to its old quarters, +and so this morning, when Ducky rushed into the stable, the first thing +which met her gaze was Slippy, the snake, curled up in a heap just +inside the door, and of course there was promptly a fuss, for not all +the arguments of the others about the absolute harmlessness of Slippy +could convince Ducky that the creature was anything but a most dangerous +foe. + +She had rushed into the house and demanded the united efforts of Rupert +and Sylvia to console her, and then was going back to the stable to +insist on Slippy being again ejected, when she saw a wagon drawn by a +fast pair of horses approaching at a rapid rate, and, having noticed +with her sharp little eyes that the man sitting by the driver had only +one arm, the empty coat sleeve being pinned across his chest in true +warrior style, she rushed back into the house, crying shrilly: "Sylvia, +Sylvia, the doctor has got a new patient coming! He has had his arm torn +off in a dreadful accident, and has come to have it put on again!" + +"Oh, Rupert, whatever shall we do? The poor fellow may die before help +comes to him, and all through our fault in sending Dr. Plumstead to take +care of Nealie!" cried Sylvia, turning white to the lips at the thought +of the horrors which were about to be thrust upon her. + +Rupert stood up and gripped her hand reassuringly. + +"Don't worry, old girl; just cut off into the bedroom and hide there +until I am through with the business. I am not a doctor, but I know a +good deal, and I think I can bandage the arm so that the man won't die. +Anyhow, I will have a good try." + +Sylvia made a bolt for the bedroom, and, casting herself on Rupert's +bed, rolled her head in a blanket, and, stuffing her fingers in her +ears, remained quaking and shivering until there was a determined clutch +on the blanket, and Ducky squealed in her ears: "Sylvia, Sylvia, Mr. +Wallis has come to take Rockefeller and the wagon home; only Rocky isn't +here to be took, and he--that is, Mr. Wallis--has brought the man with +him what made Father so poor; and now we are going to be well off again, +and Father won't be under a cloud any more. Isn't it splendiferous? Just +scrumptious, I call it! Oh my, but your hair is a sight! You will have +to do it with Rupert's comb, and that has lost half its teeth!" and +Ducky whirled round in an ecstasy of excitement, while Sylvia hastily +made her long mane presentable, and then went out to speak to Mr. +Wallis, quaking a little, truth to tell, from the wonder as to whether +he would be angry to find that they had sent Rocky off upon another long +journey which was certainly not in the contract. + +But one look at Rupert's face assured her that she had nothing to be +afraid of on that score, for he was looking simply radiant as he stood +in earnest talk with a man who had only one arm. + +"Why, I do believe that it is the very individual who upset poor Nealie +so badly that day when we went to the botanical gardens in Sydney!" she +exclaimed; and then she went forward, to be warmly greeted by Mr. +Wallis, who claimed to be an old friend, and who at once introduced her +to Mr. Reginald Baxter, the gentleman who had only one arm. + +Sylvia, knowing so little of her father's professional disgrace, which, +indeed, should not have been disgrace at all, seeing that he had only +done his duty, was not so much interested in this meeting as Rupert, and +turned again to Mr. Wallis, anxious to get it made quite clear to that +gentleman that it was through no fault of theirs that Rocky had not been +handed over to the agent long before this. + +"It was so terrible for us all to arrive here, as we did, with Rupert +ill, and to take possession of what we thought was our father's house, +only to find that it belonged to another man of the same name," she +said, pouring out her words in a breathless hurry. "It seems a pity to +me that doctors should be allowed to have the same name; only I suppose +it can't be helped. Anyhow, it was very bad for all of us, but it was +especially dreadful for poor Nealie, because, you see, she is grown up, +and so the conventions had to be considered. Then he--the usurping +doctor, that is--would go with her to take care of her when she went to +find Father; and that was awkward too, and a little unnecessary as +well, for Nealie is so well able to take care of herself. But they have +not come back, and we have not heard anything from them, and we are +afraid that the practice will go all to pieces if the doctor does not +soon come back to nurse it a little." + +"The practice will not suffer very much, I hope," said Mr. Wallis +soothingly. "But I do not think you quite understand, Miss Sylvia, what +good things are happening, or are going to happen, to your father. Mr. +Baxter, who has come with me to-day, has had a long letter from your +friend Mr. Melrose, who, you may remember, left the ship at Cape Town. +It seems that when the rich relative of Mr. Baxter disinherited him, +because, owing to his arm having been amputated, he was maimed, she left +her money to Mr. Melrose, who really needed it much more. But Mr. +Melrose did not know that your father had had to suffer so badly in the +matter, and when he gathered some idea of it through meeting you on +board ship, he at once wrote to Mr. Baxter calling for his co-operation +in setting your father straight with the world again, and it is in order +to see how this can best be done that Mr. Baxter has travelled from +Sydney with me." + +"What a wonderful story! Why, it sounds like a fairy tale. But does not +Mr. Baxter hate my father for having been the means of making him poor?" +asked Sylvia wistfully. + +"No indeed! Mr. Baxter realizes that it was being thrust out upon the +world which really gave him his chance, and so he is in a way as +grateful to your father as Mr. Melrose; and between the two of them they +will clear the way to a greater prosperity, I hope," replied Mr. Wallis +kindly. + +"Here comes Dr. Plumstead, but Nealie is not with him!" yelled +Billykins, rushing up from a short journey to the next house, where he +had been to see if the woman who did for the doctor would undertake to +provide luncheon for the two gentlemen. + +Dr. Plumstead was riding a horse that was certainly not Rockefeller, for +it was a miserable wry-necked screw, with nothing but pace to recommend +it, and a temper so vicious that it just stood and kicked, from sheer +delight at being disagreeable, when the doctor hastily dismounted and +came forward to explain his solitary return. + +"Your father is a hero; but, like other brave men, he has to pay the +price of his heroism in suffering," said the doctor to Rupert, and then +he told them all how the other Dr. Plumstead had risked his life to pull +the sick man from the burning shed, and that Nealie was staying to nurse +him back to health again, she, in her turn, being taken care of by +Mother Twiney, who was really a good soul at the bottom, although a +little lacking in matters of personal cleanliness. + +"Your sister was in great trouble about you all; but I said that Rupert +and I could manage to take care of you for a few days or even weeks +until she is able to come back and look after you," said the doctor, +linking Rupert with himself in the matter of responsibility in a way +that made the boy flush with pleasure, although Sylvia wrinkled her nose +with a fine disdain. + +"I am quite equal to taking care of myself, and of Ducky too," she said +loftily. "But of course it will be convenient to have someone to keep +the boys in order." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +How It All Ended + + +In reality it was the prospector whose life Dr. Plumstead had saved at +the risk of his own, who did most towards setting the father of the +seven on his feet again and righting him in the eyes of the world, which +is so quick to approve the successful man. + +A word which the young doctor dropped in the ear of Mr. Reginald Baxter +sent that gentleman and Mr. Wallis posthaste to Latimer, where they held +private conferences with the now convalescent prospector, and the result +of it all was that a company was promptly formed for the developing of a +gold claim staked out round the grave which the prospector in mercy had +begun to dig for the unknown dead. So rich did this prove to be that +when the prospector kept his word, and paid over the proportion of his +earnings which he had promised to the doctor, there was no more worry +about ways and means for Nealie, who was now her father's right hand, as +she had been his devoted nurse when he was recovering from his burns. + +[Illustration: "GAVE THEM BOTH HIS BLESSING"] + +For a little while they all went to live at Latimer, in a brand-new +wooden house which was made of pine trees and was fragrant of the forest +in every room. But the first break in the family came when Rupert and +Rumple went to Sydney to be educated. + +Thanks to the skill of his father and the other Dr. Plumstead, Rupert +had quite recovered from his lameness, and although he might never be +quite so nimble as his younger brothers, he was no longer lame, and that +was such a comfort to him that he seemed to expand into quite a +different creature. + +But, as Sylvia remarked to Rupert on the day before he and Rumple were +to start for Sydney, they were going to have trouble with that other Dr. +Plumstead, who, not content with having the same name as the rest of +them, had shown a great desire to be still closer linked to them by +becoming a relation. + +"It is so stupid of him to want to marry Nealie," she said plaintively. +"Because I know very well that if she says yes, then I shall have to +keep house for Father, and mother the rest of you, which will certainly +spell ruin to my chance of an artistic career, and I am beginning to +paint in quite an intelligent fashion." + +"There is room for improvement," scoffed Rumple, who chanced to overhear +what she said. "Don't you remember your picture of Kaffir kraals that +Mr. Melrose took for mushrooms in a meadow? It will not do for you to +indulge in swelled head as yet." + +"I think that on the whole the mistake was rather in the nature of a +compliment," said Sylvia, with a ripple of laughter. "For doubtless in +the first place the Kaffirs took the patterns of their huts from some +sort of fungi, and so there you are." + +"Well, anyhow, Dr. Plumstead is a rattling good sort--for witness how +cheerfully he put up with all of us that time we took possession of his +house--and if he wants to marry Nealie I don't see what is to prevent it +myself," said Rumple; but Rupert only made a grimace, which was his way +of saying that he would just as soon have the question of marriage put +further off into the future. + +"If the man wants a wife, why can't he wait until Ducky is old enough?" +went on Sylvia, in the tone of one who has a grievance. + +"Why Ducky? You might aspire to the position yourself, for you are +awfully nice looking!" cried Rumple, putting an affectionate arm round +Sylvia and giving her a mighty hug. + +"Oh, I am not going to waste my talents in such a fashion! I feel as if +I had been born to greatness, and I shall achieve it some day I am sure; +only it will put the clock back for a few years if I have to +concentrate on breakfasts, dinners, and household things generally," +said Sylvia, with a sigh, and then the talk came to an abrupt end, for +Don rushed in to say that Billykins was all smashed up from a fall down +a ladder at the mines, and of course there was instant confusion. + +But Billykins seemed to have a charmed life, for although he was brought +home in the ambulance, and groaned as loudly as a whole hospital full of +patients, when his father came to make an examination of his hurts they +turned out to be only a few surface scratches and a bruise or two. + +"Why, I made sure that I had got a broken leg!" exclaimed Billykins, +standing straight up on both feet and looking the picture of +disappointment. "Are you sure there are no bones broken, Father?" + +"Quite sure, my son," said Dr. Plumstead, with a laugh of relief, for he +had supposed there must have been some more serious injury considering +how far the boy had fallen. "But if you feel dissatisfied with my +examination, here comes the other doctor, and you can ask him to +overhaul you." + +"Oh, he does not care for anything but Nealie!" said Billykins in a tone +of deep disgust. "I expect that you will have to let them get married, +Father, if it is only to stop him coming over here so often; for his +patients in Hammerville will be calling in another doctor very soon if +he neglects them so shamefully. Why, this is the second time in a month +that he has been here." + +"Yes, I expect that will be the best way," said his father quietly, and +then he went out to greet the other doctor; and that same evening, when +the sun went down in splendour over beyond the sandy plain where the +gold reef lay, Nealie's father put her hand in that of the other Dr. +Plumstead and gave them both his blessing. + +Then the crimson faded through gold to grey in the sky above the sandy +plain, and the shadows of night dropped down on the grave of the +nameless stranger under the mulga scrub; but in Latimer the streets and +shops were brightly lighted, and all the busy life of getting and having +went on, as it had done in the haunts of men since the world began. + + + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTUROUS SEVEN*** + + +******* This file should be named 22744.txt or 22744.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/7/4/22744 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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