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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4050-0.txt b/4050-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..984ee24 --- /dev/null +++ b/4050-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8146 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce + +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: Mates at Billabong + +Author: Mary Grant Bruce + +Posting Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #4050] +Release Date: May, 2003 +First Posted: October 21, 2001 +[Last updated: June 5, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +MATES AT BILLABONG. + + +by + +Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I NORAH'S HOME + CHAPTER II TOGETHER + CHAPTER III BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION + CHAPTER IV CUTTING OUT + CHAPTER V TWO POINTS OF VIEW + CHAPTER VI COMING HOME + CHAPTER VII JIM UNPACKS + CHAPTER VIII A THUNDERSTORM + CHAPTER IX THE BILLABONG DANCE + CHAPTER X CHRISTMAS + CHAPTER XI "LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" + CHAPTER XII OF POULTRY + CHAPTER XIII STATION DOINGS + CHAPTER XIV CUNJEE v. MULGOA + CHAPTER XV THE RIDE HOME + CHAPTER XVI A CHILD'S PONY + CHAPTER XVII ON THE HILLSIDE + CHAPTER XVIII BROTHER AND SISTER + CHAPTER XIX THE LONG QUEST + CHAPTER XX MATES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +NORAH'S HOME + + The grey old dwelling, rambling and wide, + With the homestead paddocks on either side, + And the deep verandahs and porches tall + Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Billabong homestead lay calm and peaceful in the slanting rays of the +sun that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden in +the surrounding trees--pine and box and mighty blue gums towering above +the tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of the +Virginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls. +If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under the +touch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern bay +window to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but from +the paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and the +mellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance of +rippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon--too +lazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the reed-fringed water. +Towards it a flight of black swans winged slowly, with outstretched +necks, across a sky of perfect blue. Their leader's note floated down, +as if in answer to the magpies that carolled in the pine trees by the +stables. The sound seemed to hang in the still air. + +Beyond the tennis-court, in the farther recesses of the garden, a +hammock swung between two grevillea trees, whose orange flowers made a +gay canopy overhead; and in the hammock Norah swayed gently, and +knitted, and pondered. The shining needles flashed in and out of the +dark blue silk sock. Outsiders--mothers of prim daughters, whom Norah +pictured as finding their wildest excitement in "patting a doll"--were +wont to deplore that the only daughter of David Linton of Billabong was +brought up in an eccentric fashion, less girl than boy; but outsiders +are apt to cherish delusions, and Norah was not without her share of +gentle accomplishments. Knitting was one; the sock grew quickly in the +capable brown fingers that could grip a stock-whip as easily as they +handled the needles. All the while, she was listening. + +About her the coo of invisible doves fell gently, mingling with the +happy droning of bees in the overhead blossoms. Somewhere, not far off, +a sheep bell tinkled monotonously, the only outside sound in the +afternoon stillness. It was very peaceful. To Norah, who knew that the +world held no place like Billabong, it only lacked one person for the +final seal of perfection. + +"Wish Dad would come," she said aloud, puckering her brow over a knot +in the silk. "He's late--and it is jolly dull without him." The knot +came free, and the needles raced as though making up for lost time. + +Two dogs lay on the grass: a big sleepy collie that only moved +occasionally to snap at a worrying fly; and an Irish terrier, plainly +showing by his restlessness that he despised a lazy life, and longed +for action. He caught his mistress's eye at last, and jumped up with a +little whine. + +"If YOU had the heel of a sock to turn, Puck," said Norah, "you'd be +more steady. Lie down, old man." + +Puck lay down again discontentedly, put his nose on his paws, and +feigned slumber, one restless eyelid betraying the hollowness of the +pretence. Presently he rolled over--and chancing to roll on a spiky +twig, rose with a wild yelp of annoyance. Across Norah's laugh came a +stock-whip crack; and the collie came to life suddenly, and sprang up, +as impatient as the terrier. Norah slipped out of the hammock. + +"There's Dad!" she said. "Come along!" + +She was tall for her fourteen years, and very slender--"scraggy," Jim +was wont to say, with the cheerful frankness of brothers. Norah bore +the epithet meekly--she held the view that it was better to be dead than +fat. There was something boyish in the straight, slim figure in the +blue linen frock--perhaps the quality was also to be found in a frank +manner that was the product of years of the Bush and open-air life. The +grey eyes were steady, and met those of others with a straight level +glance; the mouth was a little firm-set for her years, but the child +was revealed when it broke into smiles--and Norah was rarely grave. No +human power had yet been discovered to keep in order the brown curls. +Their distressed owner tied them back firmly with a wide ribbon each +morning; but the ribbon generally was missing early in the day, and +might be replaced with anything that came handy--possibly a fragment of +red tape from the office, or a bit of a New Zealand flax leaf, or haply +even a scrap of green hide. Anything, said Norah, decidedly, was better +than your hair all over your face. For the rest, a nondescript nose, +somewhat freckled, and a square chin, completed a face no one would +have dreamed of calling pretty. In his own mind her father referred to +it as something better. But then there was tremendous friendship +between the master of Billabong and his small daughter. + +The stock-whip cracked again, nearer home this time; and Norah crammed +the blue silk sock hastily into a little work-bag, and raced away over +the lawn, her slim black legs making great time across the buffalo +grass. Beside her tore the collie and Puck, each a vision of embodied +delight. They flashed round the corner of the house, scattered the +gravel on the path leading to the back, and came out into the yard as a +big black horse pulled up at the gate, and the tall man on his back +swung himself lightly to the ground. From some unseen region a black +boy appeared silently and led the horse away. Norah, her father, and +the dogs arrived at the gate simultaneously. + +"I thought you were never coming, Daddy," said the mistress of +Billabong, incoherently. "Did you have a good trip?--and how did Monarch +go?--and did you buy the cattle?--and have you had any dinner?" She +punctuated each query with a hug, and paused only for lack of breath. + +"Steady!" said David Linton, laughing. "I'm not a ready reckoner! I've +bought the bullocks, and Monarch went quite remarkably well, and yes, +I've had dinner, thank you. And how have you been getting on, Norah?" + +"Oh, all right," said his daughter. "It was pretty slow, of course--it +always is when you go away, Daddy. I worked, and pottered round with +Brownie, and went out for rides. And oh, Dad! ever so many letters--and +Jim's coming home next week!" She executed an irrepressible pirouette. +"And he's got the cup for the best average at the sports--best +all-around athlete that means, doesn't it? Isn't it lovely?" + +"That's splendid!" Mr. Linton said, looking as pleased as his daughter. +"And any school prizes?" + +"He didn't mention," Norah answered. "I don't suppose so, bless him! +But there's one thing pretty sickening--the boys can't come with him. +Wally may come later, but Harry has to go to Tasmania with his +father--isn't it unreasonable?" + +"I'm sorry he can't come, but on the whole I've a fellow feeling for +the father," said Jim's parent. "A man wants to see something of his +son occasionally, I suppose. And any news from Mrs. Stephenson?" + +"She's better," Norah answered, her face growing graver. "Dick wrote. +And there's a letter for you from Mrs. Stephenson, too. She says she's +brighter, and the sea-voyage was evidently the thing for her, 'cause +she's more like herself than at any time since--since my dear old Hermit +died." Norah's voice shook a little. "They expect to be in Wellington +all the summer, and perhaps longer." + +"It was certainly a good prescription, that voyage." Mr. Linton said. +"I don't think she would have been long in following her husband--poor +old chap!--if they had remained here. But one misses them, Norah." + +"Horrid," said Norah, with emphasis. "I miss her all the time--and it's +quite rum, Dad, but I do believe I miss lessons. Over five weeks since +I had any! Are you going to get me another tutor?" + +"We'll see," said her father. They were in the big dining-room by this +time, and he was turning over the pile of letters that had come during +his three days' absence from the station. "Any chance of tea, Norah?" + +"Well, rather!" said Norah. "You read your letters, and I'll go and +tell Sarah. And Brownie'll be wanting to see you. I won't be long, +Daddy." She vanished. + +A few minutes later Mr. Linton looked up from a letter that had put a +crease into his brow. A firm, flat step sounded in the hall, and Mrs. +Brown came in--cook and housekeeper to the homestead, the guide, +philosopher and friend of everyone, and the special protector of the +little motherless girl about whom David Linton's life centred. +"Brownie" was not a person lightly to be reckoned with, and her master +was wont to turn to her whenever any question arose affecting Norah. He +greeted her warmly now. + +"We're all glad to welkim you back, sirr," said Brownie. "As for that +blessed child, she's not like the same 'uman bein' when you're off the +place. Passed me jus' now in the passige, goin' full bat, an' turned +'ead over 'eels, she did--I didn't need to be told you'd got 'ome!" She +hesitated: "You heard from Mrs. Stephenson, sir?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Linton, glancing at the letter in his hand. "As I +thought--she confirms our opinion. I'm afraid there's no help for it." + +"I knew she would," said Mrs. Brown, heavily, a shadow falling onto her +broad, pleasant face. "Oh, I know there's no 'elp, sir--it has to be. +But--but--" She put her apron to her eyes. + +"We're really very lucky, I suppose," Mr. Linton said, in tones +distinctly unappreciative, at the moment, of any luck. "Mrs. Stephenson +has been a second mother to Norah, these two years--between you and her +I can't see that the child needed anything; and with Dick as tutor she +has made remarkable progress. Personally, I'd have let the arrangement +go on indefinitely. Now that they've had to leave us, however--" He +paused, folding up the letter slowly. + +"She couldn't stay 'ere, poor lady," Mrs. Brown said; "'tain't in +reason she'd be able to after the old gentleman's death, with the place +full of memories an' all. An', of course, she'd want Mr. Dick along +with her. Anyway, the precious lamb's getting a big girl to be taught +only by a young gentleman--" and Brownie pursed up her lips, looking +such a model of all the proprieties that Mr. Linton smiled +involuntarily. + +"She's all right," he said shortly. "Of course, her aunt has been at me +for ever so long to send her to school." + +"Beggin' your pardon, sir, Mrs. Geoffrey don't know everythink," said +Mrs. Brown, bridling. "Her not havin' any daughters of 'er own, 'ow can +it be expected that she'd understand? An' town ladies can't never +compre'end country children, any'ow. Our little maid's jus' grown up +like a bush flower, an' all the better she is for it." + +"But the time comes for change, Brownie, old friend," said Mr. Linton. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brown, "it do. But what the station'll do is more'n I +can see just at present--an' as for you, sir--an' let alone me--" Her +comfortable, fat voice died away, and the apron was at her eyes again. +"What'll Billabong be, with its little girl at school?" + +"At--WHERE?" asked Norah. + +She had come in with the tea-tray in her hands--a little flushed from +the fire, and her brown face alight with all the hundred-and-one things +she had yet to tell Daddy. On the threshold she paused, struck +motionless by that amazing speech. She looked a little helplessly from +one face to the other; and the two who loved her felt the same +helplessness as they looked back. It was not an easy thing to pass +sentence of exile from Billabong on Norah. + +"I--" said her father. "You see, dear--Dick having gone--you know, your +aunt--" He stopped, his tongue tied by the look in Norah's eyes. + +Brownie slipped into the breach. + +"You're so big now, dearie," she said, "so, big--and--and--" With this +lucid effort at enlightenment she put her apron fairly over her head +and turned away to the open window. + +But Norah's eyes were on her father. Just for a moment the sick sense +of bewilderment and despair seemed to crush her altogether. She had +realized her sentence in a flash--that the home that meant all the world +to her, and from which Heaven only differed in that Mother was there, +was to be changed for a new, strange world that would be empty of all +that she knew and loved. Vaguely she had always known that the blow +hung over her--now that it had fallen, for a moment there was no room +for any other thought. Her look, wide with grief and appeal, met her +father's. + +And then she realized slowly that he was suffering too--that he was +looking to her for the response that had never failed him yet. His +silence told her that this thing was unavoidable, and that he needed +her help. Mates such as they must stand by one another--that was part of +the creed that had grown up in Norah's heart. Daddy had always said +that no matter what happened he could rely upon her. She could not fail +him now. + +So, just as the silence in the room became oppressive, Norah smiled +into her father's eyes, and carefully put the tea-tray upon the table. + +"If you say it's got to be, well, that's all about it, Daddy," she +said. The voice was low, but it did not quiver. "Don't worry, darling; +it's all right. Sarah was out, and Mary goodness knows where, so I made +tea myself; I hope it's drinkable." She brought her father's cup to his +side and smiled at him again. + +"My blessed lamb!" said Mrs. Brown, hastily--and fled from the room. + +David Linton did not take the cup; instead he slipped his arm round the +childish body. + +"You think we can stand it, then?" he asked. "It's not you alone, +little mate; your old Dad's under sentence too." + +"I think that makes things a lot easier," said Norah, "'cause you and +I always do things together, don't we, Daddy? And--and--" Just for a +moment her lips trembled. "Must we, Dad?" + +He tightened his arm. + +"Yes, dear." + +There was a pause. + +"After Christmas?" + +"Yes--in February." + +"Then I've got nine weeks," said Norah, practically. "We won't talk +about it more than we can help, I think, don't you? Have your tea, +Daddy, or it'll be cold and horrid." She brought her own cup and sat +down on the arm of his chair. "How many bullocks did you buy?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TOGETHER + + And you and I were faithful mates. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +Afterwards--when the blow was a little less heavy as Norah grew +accustomed to it--they talked it over thoroughly. + +Norah's education, in the strict sense of the term, had only been +carried on for about two years. In reality it had gone on all her life, +spent mostly at her father's side; but that was the kind of education +that does not live between the covers of books. Together, David Linton +and his daughter had worked, and played and talked--much more of the +former condition than of either of the latter. All that the bush could +teach her Norah knew, and in most of the work of the station--Billabong +was a noted cattle-run--she was as handy as any of the men. Her father's +constant mate, every day shared with him was a delight to her. They +rode together, fished, camped and explored together; it was the rarest +occurrence for Mr. Linton's movements not to include Norah as a matter +of course. + +Yet there was something in the quiet man that had effectually prevented +any development of roughness in Norah. Boyish and offhand to a certain +extent, the solid foundation of womanliness in her nature was never far +below the surface. She was perfectly aware that while Daddy wanted a +mate he also wanted a daughter; and there was never any real danger of +her losing that gentler attribute--there was too much in her of the +little dead mother for that. Brownie, the ever watchful, had seen to it +that she did not lack housewifely accomplishments, and Mr. Linton was +wont to say proudly that Norah's scones were as light as her hand on +the horse's mouth. There was no doubt that the irregular side of her +education was highly practical. + +Two years before Fate had taken a new interest in Norah's development, +bringing as inmates of the homestead an old friend of her father's, +with his wife and son. The latter acted as Norah's tutor, and found his +task an easy one, for the untrodden ground of the little girl's brain +yielded remarkable results. To Mrs. Stephenson fell the work of gently +moulding her to womanly ways--less easy this, for while Norah had no +desire to be a tomboy, she was firmly of the opinion that once lessons +were over, she had simply no time to stay inside the house and be +proper. Still, the gentle influence told, imperceptibly softening and +toning her character, and giving her a standard by which to adapt +herself; and Norah was nothing if not adaptable. Then, six months +previously, the old man they all loved had quietly faded out of life; +and after he had gone his widow could no longer remain in the place +where he had died. She pined slowly, until Dick Stephenson, the son, +had taken her almost forcibly away. The unspoken fear that the parting +was not merely temporary had merged into certainty. Billabong would +know them no more. The question remaining was what to do with Norah. + +"I want you to have the school training," Mr. Linton said, when they +talked the matter over. "You must mix with other girls--learn to see +things from their point of view, and realize how many points of view +there are outside Billabong. Oh, I don't want you to think there are +any better "--he laughed at the vigorous shake of the brown curls--"but +the world has wider boundaries, and you must find them out. There are +other things, too"--vaguely--"dancing and deportment, and--er--the use of +the globes, and I think there's a thing called a blackboard, but I'm +not sure. Dick didn't know. In fact, there's a regulation mill, and I +suppose you must go through it--I don't feel afraid that they'll spoil +my little girl's individuality in the process." + +"Is it a big school, Daddy?" + +"Yes, I believe so. Several people I know send their girls there. And +it's a great place for sports, Norah. You'll like that. They're keen on +hockey and cricket and all sorts of things girls never dreamed about +when I was young. Possibly I may live to see you a slow bowler yet, and +playing in a match! Honestly, Norah, I believe you'll be very happy at +school." + +"And what'll you do, Daddy?" + +"I don't know," he said, heavily. "I told you I was under sentence." + +They sat awhile in silence. It was evening, and they were on the +verandah; Mr. Linton in a big basket chair, and Norah curled up at his +feet in the way she loved. She could not see his face--just then she did +not want to. She said nothing. The moon climbed up slowly, and the +frogs were merry in the lagoon. Far off the cry of a bittern boomed +across the flats. + +"Well, at least we've got nine weeks," Norah said at length. "Nine +weeks to be mates--and Jim'll be home next week, and he'll be mates, +too. Don't let's get blue about it, Daddy. It'll be so horrid when the +time comes, that it's no good letting it spoil these nine weeks. Can't +we try to forget it?" + +"We can try," said David Linton. + +"Course, we won't do it," Norah said. "But don't let's talk about it. +I'm going to put it out of my head as much as ever I can, and have this +time for just Billabong and us. Will you, Daddy?" + +"I'll do all I can, my girlie," said her father. "You mustn't start off +with any bad memories; we'll have the most crowded nine weeks of our +lives, and make a solemn resolve to 'buck up.' I'd like to plan +something for this week, but, upon my word, I'm too busy to play, +Norah. There's any amount to be done." + +"But I don't want to play," Norah said. "Work's good enough for ME, +Daddy, if I can work with you. Can't I come, too?" + +"I'll be exceedingly glad of your help," said her father--which was +exactly what Norah wanted him to say, and went far to cheer her. She +put the dismal future resolutely from her, and set out upon the present +with a heart as light as possible. + +It was never dull at Billabong. Always there were pets of all kinds to +be seen to. Mr. Linton laid no restriction on pets if they were +properly tended, and Norah had a collection as wide as it was beloved. +Household duties there were, too; but these could be left if +necessary--two adoring housemaids were always ready to step into the +breach if "business on the run" claimed Norah's attention. And beyond +the range of the homestead altogether there lay an enchanted region +that only she and Daddy shared--the wide and stretching plains of +Billabong dotted with cattle, seamed with creeks and the river, and +merging at the boundary into a long low line of hills. Norah used to +gaze at them from her window--sometimes purple, sometimes blue, and +sometimes misty grey, but always beautiful to the child who loved them. +Others might know Billabong--visit it, ride over it, exclaim at its +beauties; but Norah always felt that there were only two who really +understood and cared--Daddy and herself. + +Of course there was Jim--the big brother who was seventeen now, and just +about to leave school. Norah was immensely proud of him, and the +affection between them was a thing that never wavered. Jim loved +Billabong, too; but it was only to be expected that six years of school +in Melbourne would make something of a difference. He knew, in the +words of the old Roman, "There is a world elsewhere." But Norah knew no +world beyond Billabong. + +For all that, Jim was distinctly desirable as a brother. He had always +made a tremendous chum of Norah, and the friends he brought home found +they were expected to do the same. This might cause them surprise at +first, but they very soon found that "the kiddie" was quite excellent +as a mate, and could put them up to a good deal more than they usually +knew about the Bush. Norah was invariably Jim's first thought. He was a +big, quiet fellow, very like his father; not over-brilliant at books, +but a first-rate sport, and without a trace of meanness in his generous +nature. At school he was worshipped by the boys--was not he captain of +the football team, stroke of the eight, and best all-round athlete?--and +liked by the masters, who found him inclined to be careless over work +but absolutely reliable in every other way. Such a fellow does not win +scholarships, but he is a tower of strength to his school. + +For the week preceding Jim's return Norah and her father worked hard, +clearing up various odd jobs so that their time might be free when the +boy arrived. There was a quaint side to this, in that Jim would without +doubt have been delighted to help in any station work, which always +presented itself to him as "no end of a lark" after the strenuous life +at school. But it was a point of honour with those at home to leave +none of their work until the holidays and the last week was invariably +the scene of many labours. + +Not that there were not plenty of hands on the station. It was a big +run, and gave employment in one way or another to quite a band of men. +But Mr. Linton preferred to keep a very close watch over everything, +and he had long realized that the best way of seeing that your business +is done is to take a hand yourself. The men said, "The boss was +everywhere," and they respected him the more in that he was no +kid-glove employer, but was willing to share in any work that was going +forward. Especially he insisted on working among the cattle, and--Norah +was nearly always with him on his rides--they had a more or less +accurate knowledge of every beast on the place. Outside the boundary +fences they went very seldom; the nearest township, seventeen miles +away, Norah regarded as merely a place where you called for the mail, +and save that it meant a ride or drive with her father, she had never +the slightest desire to go there. + +Summer was very late that year, and "burning-off" operations on the +rougher parts of the run had been carried on much longer than was +generally possible. Norah always regarded "burning-off" as an immense +picnic, and used to beg her father to take her out. Night after night +found them down on the flats, getting rid of old dead trees, which up +to the present had refused obstinately to burn. It was picturesque +work, and Norah loved it, though she would have been somewhat +embarrassed had you hinted that the picturesqueness had anything to do +with its attractions. + +One after another, they would light the stumps, some squat and solid, +others rising thirty or forty feet into the air. Once the fires were +lit, it was necessary to keep them going; moving backwards and forwards +among the trees, stoking, picking up fallen bits of burning timber and +adding them to the fires, coaxing sullen embers into a blaze, edging +the fire round a tree, so that the wind might do its utmost in helping +the work--there were no idle moments for the "burners-off." Sometimes it +would be necessary to enlarge a crack or hole in a tough stump, to gain +a hold for the fire. Norah always carried a light iron bar, specially +made for her at the station forge, which she called her poker, and +which answered half a dozen purposes equally well, and though not an +ideal weapon for killing a snake, being too stiff and straight, had +been known to act in that capacity also. Every scrap of loose timber on +the ground would be picked up and added to the flames. Some stumps were +very obstinate and resisted all blandishments to burn; but careful +handling generally ensured the fate of the majority. + +There are few sights more weird, or more typically Australian, than a +paddock at night with burning-off in process. Low and high, the red +columns of fire stand in a darkness made blacker by their lurid glow. +Where the fire has taken hold fairly the flames are fierce, and showers +of sparks fall like streams of gold. Sometimes a dull crack gives +warning of the fall of a long-dead giant; and the burning mass leans +slowly over, and then comes down with a crash, while the curious +bullocks, which have poked as near as they dare to the strange scene, +fling round and lumber off in a heavy gallop, heads down and tails up. +From stump to stump flit the little black figures of the workers, +standing out clearly sometimes, by the light of a blaze so fierce that +to face it is scarcely possible; or half seen in the dull glow of a +smouldering tree poking vigorously--seeming as ants attacking living +monsters infinitely beyond their strength. Perhaps it is there that the +fascination of the work comes in--the triumph of conquering tons of +inanimate matter by efforts so small. At any rate it is always hard to +leave the scene of action, and certainly the first glance next morning +is to see "which are down." + +Then there were days spent among the cattle--days that always meant the +high-water mark of bliss to Norah. She road astride, and her special +pony, Bobs, to whom years but added perfection, loved the work as much +as she did. They understood each other perfectly; if Norah carried a +hunting-crop, it was merely for assistance in opening gates, for Bobs +never felt its touch. A hint from her heel, or a quick word, conveyed +all the big bay pony ever needed to supplement his own common sense, of +which Mr. Linton used to say he possessed more than most men. The new +bullocks arrived, and had to be drafted and branded--during which latter +operation Norah retired dismally to the house and the socks that had to +be finished in time to be Jim's Christmas present. Then, after the +branding, came a most cheerful time, putting the cattle into their +various paddocks. + +One day was spent in mustering sheep, an employment not at all to +Norah's taste. She was frankly glad that Billabong devoted most of its +energies to cattle, and only put up with the sheep work because, since +Daddy was there, it never occurred to her to do anything else but go. +But she hated the slow, dusty ride, and hailed with delight a gallop +that came in their way towards the end of the day, when a hare jumped +up under Bob's nose as they rode homewards from the yards. The dogs +promptly gave chase; and, almost without knowing it, Norah and Bobs +were in hot pursuit, with Monarch shaking the earth behind them. The +average sheep dog is no match for a hare, and the quarry easily escaped +into the next paddock, after a merry run. Norah pulled up, her eyes +dancing. + +"Don't you know it's useless to try to get a hare with those fellows?" +asked Mr. Linton, checking the reeking Monarch, and indicating with a +nod the dogs, which were highly aggrieved at their defeat. + +"But I never wanted to get it," said his daughter, in surprise. "It's +perfectly awful to get a hare; they cry just like a baby, and it makes +you feel horrid." + +"Then why did you go after it?" + +"Why?" asked Norah, opening her eyes. "Well, I knew the dogs couldn't +catch it--and I believe you wanted a gallop nearly as much as I did, +Daddy!" They laughed at each other, and let the impatient horses have +their heads across the cleared paddock to the homestead. + +There a letter awaited them. + +Norah, coming in to dinner in a white frock, with her curls unusually +tidy, found her father looking anything but pleased over a closely +covered sheet of thin notepaper. + +"I wish to goodness women would write legibly," he said, with some +heat. "No one on earth has any right to write on both sides of paper as +thin as this--and then across it! No one but your Aunt Eva would do +it--she always had a passion for small economies, together with one for +large extravagances. Amazing woman! Well, I can't read half of it, but +what she wants is unhappily clear." + +"She isn't coming here, Daddy?" + +"Saints forbid!" ejaculated Mr. Linton, who had a lively dread of his +sister--a lady of much social eminence, who disapproved strongly of his +upbringing of Norah. "No, she doesn't mention such an extreme course, +but there's something almost as alarming. She wants to send Cecil here +for Christmas." + +"Cecil! Oh, Daddy!" Norah's tone was eloquent. + +"Says he's been ill," said her father, glancing at the letter in a vain +effort to decipher a message written along one edge. "He's better, but +needs change, and she seems to think Billabong will prove a +sanatorium." He looked at Norah with an expression of dismay that was +comical. "I shouldn't have thought we'd agree with that young man a +bit, Norah!" + +"I've never seen him, of course," Norah said unhappily, "but Jim says +he's pretty awful. And you didn't like him yourself, did you, Daddy?" + +"On the rare occasions that I've had the pleasure of meeting my nephew +I've always thought him an unlicked cub," Mr. Linton answered. "Of +course it's eighteen months since I saw him; possibly he may have +changed for the better, but at that time his bumptiousness certainly +appeared to be on the increase. He had just left school then--he must be +nearly twenty now." + +"Oh--quite old," said Norah. "What is he like?" + +"Pretty!" said Mr. Linton, wrinkling his nose. "As pretty as his +name--Cecil--great Scott! I wonder if he'd let me call him Bill for +short! Bit of a whipper-snapper, he seemed; but I didn't take very much +notice of him--saw he was plainly bored by his uncle from the Bush, so I +didn't worry him. Well, now he's ours for a time your aunt doesn't +limit--more that that, if I can make a guess at these hieroglyphics, +I've got to send a telegram to say we'll have him on Saturday." + +"And this is Wednesday--oh, Dad!" expostulated Norah. + +"Can't be helped," her father said. "We've got to go through with it; +if the boy has been ill he must certainly have all the change we can +give him. But I'm doubtful. Eva says he's had a 'nervous breakdown,' +and I rather think it's a complaint I don't believe in for boys of +twenty." + +The dinner gong sounded. Amid its echoes Norah might have been heard +murmuring something about "nervous grandmother." + +"H'm," said her father, laughing; "I don't think he'll find much +sympathy with his more fragile symptoms in Billabong--we must try to +brace him up, Norah. But whatever will Jim say, I wonder!" + +"He'll be too disgusted for words," Norah answered. "Poor old Jimmy! I +wonder how they'll get on. D'you suppose Cecil ever played football?" + +"From Cecil's appearance I should say he devoted his time to +wool-work," said Mr. Linton. "However, it may not turn out as badly as +we think, and it's no use meeting trouble halfway, is it? Also, we've +to remember that he'll be our guest." + +"But that's the trouble," said Norah, laughing. "It wouldn't be half so +bad if you could laugh at him. I'll have to be so hugely polite!" + +"You'll probably shock him considerably in any case," said her father. +"Cecil's accustomed to very prim young ladies, and it's not at all +unlikely that he'll try to reform you!" + +"I wish him luck!" said Norah. But there was a glint in her eyes which +boded ill for Cecil's reformatory efforts. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION + + Quiet and shy, as the Bush girls are, + But ready-witted and plucky, too. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +The telegram assuring a welcome to Cecil Linton was duly dispatched, +and the fact of his impending arrival broken to Mrs. Brown, who sniffed +portentously, and gave without enthusiasm directions for the +preparation of his room. "Mrs. Geoffrey" was rather a bugbear to +Brownie, who had unpleasant recollections of a visit in the past from +that majestic lady. During her stay of a week, she had attempted to +alter every existing arrangement at Billabong--and when she finally +departed, in a state of profound disapproval, the relief of the +homestead was immense. Brownie was unable to feel any delight at the +idea of entertaining her son. + +Norah and her father made the utmost of their remaining time together. +Thursday was devoted to a great muster of calves, which meant unlimited +galloping and any amount of excitement; for the sturdy youngsters were +running with their mothers in one of the bush paddocks, and it was no +easy matter to cut them out and work them away from the friendly +shelter and refuge of the trees. A bush-reared calf is an irresponsible +being, with a great fund of energy and spirits--and, while Norah loved +her day, she was thoroughly tired as they rode home in the late +evening, the last straggler yarded in readiness for the branding next +day. Mr. Linton sent her to bed early, and she did not wake in the +morning until the dressing gong boomed its cheerful summons through the +house. + +Mr. Linton was already at breakfast when swift footsteps were heard in +the hall above; a momentary silence indicated that his daughter was +coming downstairs by way of the banisters, and the next moment she +arrived hastily. + +"I'm so sorry, Dad," Norah said, greeting him. "But I DID sleep! Let +me pour out your coffee." + +She brought the cup to him, investigated a dish of bacon, and slipped +into her place behind the tall silver coffee pot. + +"What are we going to do to-day, Dad?" + +"I really don't quite know," Mr. Linton said, smiling at her. "There +aren't any very pressing jobs on hand--we must cut out cattle to-morrow +for trucking, but to-day seems fairly free. Have you any ideas on the +subject of how you'd like to spend it? I've letters to write for a +couple of hours, but after that I'm at your disposal." + +Norah wrinkled her brows. + +"There are about fifty things I want to do," she said. "But most of +them ought to wait until Jim comes home." She thought for a moment. "I +don't want to miss any more time with Bobs than I have to--could we ride +over to the backwater, Dad, and muster up the cattle there? You know +you said you were going to do so, pretty soon." + +"I'd nearly forgotten that I had to see them," Mr. Linton said, +hastily. "Glad you reminded me, Norah. We'll have lunch early, and go +across." + +Norah's morning was spent in helping Mrs. Brown to compound Christmas +cakes--large quantities of which were always made and stored well before +Christmas, with due reference to the appetites of Jim and his friends. +Then a somewhat heated and floury damsel donned a neat divided riding +skirt of dark-blue drill, with a white-linen coat, and the collar and +tie which Norah regarded as the only reasonable neck gear, and joined +her father in the office. + +"Ready? That's right," said he, casting an approving glance at the trim +figure. "I've just finished writing, and the horses are in." + +"So's lunch," Norah responded. "It's a perfectly beautiful day for a +ride, Daddy--hurry up!" + +The day merited Norah's epithet, as they rode over the paddocks in the +afternoon. As yet the grass had not dried up, thanks to the late rains, +and everywhere a green sea rippled to the fences. Soon it would be dull +and yellow; but this day there was nothing to mar the perfection of the +carpet that gave softly under the horses' hoofs. The dogs raced wildly +before them, chasing swallows and ground-larks in the cheerfully +idiotic manner of dogs, with always a wary ear for Mr. Linton's +whistle: but as yet they were not on duty, and were allowed to run +riot. + +An old log fence stretched before them. It was the only one on +Billabong, where all station details were strictly up-to-date. This one +had been left, partly because it was picturesque, and partly at the +request of Jim and Norah, because it gave such splendid opportunities +for jumping. There were not many places on that old fence that Bobs did +not know, and he began to reef and pull as they came nearer to it. + +"I don't believe I'll be able to hold him in, Daddy!" said Norah, with +mock anxiety. + +"Not afraid, I hope?" asked her father, laughing. + +"Very--that you won't want to jump! I'd hate to disappoint him, +Daddy--may I?" + +"Oh, go on!" said Mr. Linton. "If I said 'no' the savage animal would +probably bolt!" He held Monarch back as Norah gave the bay pony his +head, and they raced for the fence; watching with a smile in his eyes +the straight little form in the white coat, the firm seat in the +saddle, the steady hand on the rein. Bobs flew the big log like a bird, +and Norah twisted in her saddle to watch the black horse follow. Her +eyes were glowing as her father came up. + +"I do think he loves it as much as I do!" she said, patting the pony's +neck. + +"He's certainly as keen a pony as I ever saw," Mr. Linton said. "How +are you going to manage without him, Norah?" + +Norah looked up, her eyes wide with astonishment. + +"Do without BOBS!" she exclaimed. "But I simply couldn't--he's one of +the family." Then her face fell suddenly, and the life died out of her +voice. "Oh--school," she said. + +The change was rather pitiful, and Mr. Linton mentally abused himself +for his question. + +"He'll always be waiting for you when you come home, dear," he said. +"Plenty of holidays--and think how fit he'll be! We'll have great rides, +Norah." + +"I guess I'll want them," she said. Silence fell between them. + +The scrub at the backwater was fairly thick, and the cattle had sought +its shade when the noonday sun struck hot. Well fed and sleek, they lay +about under the trees or on the little grassy flats formed by the bends +of the stream. Norah and her father separated, each taking a dog, and +beat through the bush, routing out stragglers as they went. The echoes +of the stock-whips rang along the water. Norah's was only a light whip, +half the length and weight of the one her father carried. It was +beautifully plaited--a special piece of work, out of a special hide; +while the handle was a triumph of the stockman's art. It had been a +gift to Norah from an old boundary rider whose whips were famous, and +she valued it more than most of her possessions, while long practice +and expert tuition had given her no little skill in its use. + +She worked through the scrub, keeping her eyes in every direction, for +the cattle were lazy and did not stir readily, and it was easy to miss +a motionless beast hidden behind a clump of dogwood or Christmas +bush--the scrub tree that greets December with its exquisite white +blossoms. When at length she came to the end of her division and drove +her cattle out of the shelter she had quite a respectable little mob to +add to those with which her father was already waiting. + +It was only to be a rough muster; rather, a general inspection to see +how the bullocks were doing, for the nearest stockyards were at the +homestead, and Mr. Linton did not desire to drive them far. He managed +to get a rough count along a fence--Norah in the rear, bringing the +bullocks along slowly, so that they strung out under their owner's eye. +Occasionally one would break out and try to race past him on the wrong +side. Bobs was as quick as his rider to watch for these vagrants, and +at the first hint of a breakaway he would be off in pursuit. It was +work the pair loved. + +"Hundred and thirty," said Mr. Linton, as the last lumbering beast +trotted past him, and, finding the way clear, with no harrowing +creatures to annoy him and head him back to his mates, kicked up his +heels and made off across the paddock. + +"Did any get behind me, Norah?" + +"No, Daddy." + +"That's a good girl. They look well, don't they?" + +Norah assented. "Did you notice how that big poley bullock had come on, +Dad?" + +"Yes, he's three parts fat," said Mr. Linton. "All very satisfactory, +and the count is only two short--not bad for a rough muster." + +They turned homewards, cantering quickly over the paddocks; the going +was too good, Norah said, to waste on walking; and it was a delight to +feel the long, even stride under one, and the gentle wind blowing upon +one's cheeks. As he rode, Mr. Linton watched the eager, vivid little +face, alight with the joy of motion. If Bobs were keen, there was no +doubt that his mistress was even keener. + +They crossed the log fence again by what Norah termed "the direct +route," traversed the home paddock, and drew up with a clatter of hoofs +at the stable yard. Billy, a black youth of some fame concerning +horses, came forward as they dismounted and took the bridles. But Norah +preferred to unsaddle Bobs herself and let him go; she held it only +civil after he had carried her well. She was leading him off when the +dusky retainer muttered something to her father. + +"Oh, all right, Billy," said Mr. Linton. "Norah, those fellows from +Cunjee have come to see me about buying sheep. I expect I shall have to +take them out to the paddock I don't think you'd better come." + +"All right, Dad." Sheep did not interest Norah very much. "I think I'll +go down to the lagoon." + +"Very well, don't distinguish yourself by falling in," said her father, +with a laugh over his shoulder as he hurried away towards the house. + +Left to herself, Norah paid a visit to Brownie in the kitchen, which +resulted in afternoon tea--there was never a bush home where tea did not +make its appearance on the smallest possible pretext. Then she slipped +off her linen jacket and brown leather leggings and, having beguiled +black Billy into digging her some worms, found some fishing tackle and +strolled down to the lagoon. + +It was a broad sheet of water, at one end thickly fringed with trees, +while in the shallower parts a forest of green, feathery reeds bordered +it, swaying and rustling all day, no matter how soft the breeze. The +deeper end had been artificially hollowed out, and a bathing box had +been built, with a springboard jutting out over the water. Under the +raised floor of the bathing box a boat was moored. Norah pulled it out +and dropped down into it, stowing her tin of worms carefully in the +stern. Then she paddled slowly into the deepest part of the lagoon, +baited her line scientifically, and began to fish. + +Only eels rewarded her efforts; and while eels are not bad fun to pull +out, Norah regarded them as great waste of time, since no one at +Billabong cared to eat them, and in any case she would not let them +come into the boat--for a good-sized eel can make a boat unpleasantly +slimy in a very short time. So each capture had to be carefully +released at the stern--not a very easy task. Before long Norah's white +blouse showed various marks of conflict; and being by nature a clean +person, she was rather disgusted with things in general. When at length +a large silver eel, on being pulled up, was found to have swallowed the +hook altogether, she fairly lost patience. + +"Well, you'll have to keep it," she said, cutting her line; whereupon +the eel dropped back into the water thankfully, and made off as though +he had formed a habit of dining on hooks, and, in fact, preferred them +as an article of diet. "I'm sure you'll have shocking indigestion," +Norah said, watching the swirl of bubbles. + +The boat had drifted some way down the lagoon, and a rustle told Norah +that they were near one of the reedy islands dotted here and there in +the shallows. There was very little foothold on them, but they made +excellent nesting places for the ducks that came to the station each +year. The boat grounded its nose in the soft mud, and Norah jumped up +to push it off. Planting the blade of the oar among the reeds, she +leant her weight upon it and shoved steadily. + +The next events happened swiftly. The mud gave way suddenly with a +suck, and the oar promptly slithered, burying itself for half its +length; and Norah, taken altogether by surprise, executed a graceful +header over the bow of the boat. The mud received her softly, and clung +to her with affection; and for a moment, face downward among the reeds, +Norah clawed for support, like a crab suddenly beached. Then, somehow, +she scrambled to a sitting position, up to her waist in mud and +water--and rocked with laughter. A little way off, the boat swayed +gently on the ruffled surface of the water. + +"Well--of all the duffers!" Norah said. She tried to stand, and +forthwith went up to one knee in the mud. Then, seeing that there was +no help for it, she managed to slip into deeper water--not very easy, +for the mud showed a deep attachment to her--and swam to the boat. To +get into it proved beyond her, but, fortunately, the bank was not far +off, and, though her clothes hampered her badly--a riding skirt is the +most inconvenient of swimming suits--she was as much at home as a duck +in the water, and soon got ashore. + +Then she inspected herself, standing on the grass, while a pool of +water rapidly widened round her. Alas, for the trim maiden of the +morning! soaked to the skin, her lank hair clinging round her face, her +collar a limp rag, the dye from her red silk tie spreading in artistic +patches on her white blouse! Over all was the rich black mud of the +lagoon, from brow to boot soles. Her hat, once white felt, was a sodden +black-streaked mass; even her hands and face were stiff with mud. + +"Thank goodness, Daddy's out!" said the soaked one, returning knee-deep +in the water to try and cleanse herself as much as might be--which was +no great amount, for lagoon mud defies ordinary efforts. She waded out, +still laughing; cast an apprehensive glance at the quarter from which +her father might be expected to return, and set out on her journey to +the house, the water squelching dismally in her boots at every step. + +In the garden at Billabong walked a slim youth in most correct attire. +His exquisitely tailored suit of palest grey flannel was set off by a +lavender-striped shirt, with a tie that matched the stripe. Patent +leather shoes with wide ribbon bows shod him; above them, and below the +turned-up trousers, lavender silk socks with purple circles made a very +glory of his ankles. On his sleek head he balanced a straw hat with an +infinitesimal brim, a crown tall enough to resemble a monument, and a +very wide hat band. His pale, well-featured face betrayed unuttered +depths of boredom. + +The click of the gate made him turn. Coming up the path was a figure +that might have been plaintive but that Norah was so immensely amused +at herself; and the stranger opened his pale eyes widely, for such +apparitions had not come his way. She did not see him for a moment. +When she did, he was directly in her path, and Norah pulled up short. + +"Oh!" she said weakly; and then--"I didn't know anyone was here." + +The strange youth looked somewhat disgusted. + +"I should think you'd--ah--better go round to the back," he said +condescendingly. "You'll find the housekeeper there." + +This time it was Norah's turn to be open-eyed. + +"Thanks," she said a little shortly. "Were you waiting to see anyone?" + +The boy's eyebrows went up. "I am--ah--staying here." + +"Oh, are you?" Norah said. "I didn't know. I'm Norah Linton." + +"You!" said the stranger. There was such a world of expression in his +tone that Norah flushed scarlet, suddenly painfully conscious of her +extraordinary appearance. Then--it was unusual for her--she became angry. + +"Did you never see anyone wet?" she asked, in trenchant tones. "And +didn't you ever learn to take your hat off?" + +"By Jove!" said the boy, looking at the truculent and mud-streaked +figure. Then he did an unwise thing, for he burst out laughing. + +"I don't know who you are," Norah said, looking at him steadily. "But I +think you're the rudest, worst-mannered boy that ever came here!" + +She flashed past him with her head in the air. Cecil Linton, staring +after her with amazement, saw her cross the red-tiled verandah +hurriedly and disappear within a side door, a trail of wet marks behind +her. + +"By Jove!" he said again. "The bush cousin!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CUTTING OUT + + And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view, + Well, you know, it's not so often that he sees a swell like you. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Norah did not encounter the newcomer again until dinner-time. + +She was in the drawing-room, waiting for the gong to sound, when Cecil +came in with her father. For a moment he did not recognize the soaked +waif of the garden whom he had recommended "to go round to the back." + +A hot bath and a change of raiment had restored Norah to her usual +self; had helped her also to laugh at her meeting with her cousin, +although she was still ruffled at the memory of the sneer in his laugh. +Perhaps because of that she had dressed more carefully than usual. +Cecil might have been excused for failing to recognize the grave-faced +maiden, very dainty in her simple frock of soft white silk, with her +still-moist curls tied back with a broad white ribbon. + +"As you two have already met, there's no need to introduce you," said +Mr. Linton, a twinkle in his eye. "Sorry your reception was so +informal, Cecil--you took us by surprise." + +"I suppose the mater mixed things up, as usual," Cecil said, in a bored +way. "I certainly intended all along to get here to-day, but she's +fearfully vague, don't you know. I was lucky in getting a lift out." + +"You certainly were," his uncle said, dryly. "However, I'm glad you +didn't have to wait in the township. You'd have found it slow." + +"I'd probably have gone back," said Cecil. + +"Ah--would you?" Mr. Linton looked for a moment very much as though he +wished he had done so. There was an uncomfortable pause, to which the +summons to dinner formed a welcome break. + +Dinner was very different from the usual cheery meal. Cecil was not +shy, and supplied most of the conversation as a matter of course; and +his conversation was of a kind new to Norah. She remained unusually +silent, being, indeed, fully occupied in taking stock of this novel +variety of boy. She wondered were all city boys different from those +she knew. Jim was not like this; neither were the friends he was +accustomed to bring home with him. They were not a bit grown up, and +they talked of ordinary, wholesome things like cricket and football, +and horses, and dormitory "larks," and were altogether sensible and +companionable. But Cecil's talk was of theatres and bridge parties, +and--actually--clothes! Horses he only mentioned in connexion with +racing, and when Mr. Linton inquired mildly if he were fond of dances, +he was met by raised eyebrows and a bored disclaimer of caring to do +anything so energetic. Altogether this product of city culture was an +eye-opener to the simple folks of Billabong. + +Of Norah, Cecil took very little notice. She was evidently a being +quite beneath his attention--he was secretly amused at the way in which +she presided at her end of the table, and decided in his own mind that +his mother's views had been correct, and that this small girl would be +all the better for a little judicious snubbing. So he ignored her in +his conversation, and if she made a remark contrived to infuse a faint +shade of patronage into his reply. It is possible that his amazement +would have been great had he known how profoundly his uncle longed to +kick him. + +Dinner over, Norah fled to Brownie, and to that sympathetic soul +unburdened her woes. Mr. Linton and his nephew retired to the verandah, +where the former preferred to smoke in summer. He smiled a little at +the elaborate cigarette case Cecil drew out, but lit his pipe without +comment, reflecting inwardly that although cigarettes were scarcely the +treatment, though they might be the cause, of a pasty face and a +"nervous breakdown," it was none of his business to interfere with a +young gentleman who evidently considered himself a man of the world. So +they smoked and talked, and when, after a little while, Cecil confessed +himself tired, and went off to bed, he left behind him a completely +bored and rather annoyed squatter. + +"Well, Norah, what do you think of him?" + +Norah, sitting meekly knitting in the drawing-room, looked up and +laughed as her father came in. + +"Think? Why, I don't think much, Daddy." + +"No more do I," said Mr. Linton, casting his long form into an +armchair. "Of all the spoilt young cubs!--and that's all it is, I should +say: clearly a case of spoiling. The boy isn't bad at heart, but he's +never been checked in his life. Well, I'm told it's risky for a father +to bring up his daughter unaided, but I'm positive the result is worse +when an adoring mother rears a fatherless boy! Possibly I've made +rather a boy of you--but Cecil's neither one thing nor the other. Why +didn't you come out, my lass?" + +"Felt too bad tempered!" said Norah; "he makes me mad when he speaks to +you in that condescending way of his, Daddy. I'll be calmer to-morrow." +She smiled up at her father. "Have a game of chess?" + +"It would be soothing, I think," Mr. Linton answered. He laughed. "It's +really pathetic--our Darby and Joan existence to be ruffled like this! +Thank goodness, he's in bed, for to-night, at any rate!" They got out +the chessmen, and played very happily until Norah's bedtime. + +"Do you ride, Cecil?" Mr. Linton asked next morning at breakfast. + +"Ride? Oh, certainly," Cecil answered. "I suppose you're all very keen +on that sort of thing up here?" + +"Well, that's how we earn our living," his uncle remarked. "Norah is my +right-hand man on the run." + +"Ah, how nice! Do you find it hard to get labour here?" + +"Oh, we get them," said Mr. Linton, his eyes twinkling. "But I prefer +to catch 'em young. We're cutting out cattle for trucking to-day. Would +you care to come out?" + +"Delighted," said the nephew, glancing without enthusiasm at his +flannels. "But I didn't dress for riding." + +"Oh, we're not absolute sticklers for costume here," Mr. Linton said, +laughing outright. "Wear what you like--in any case, we shan't start for +an hour." + +It was more than that before they finally got away. The delay was due +to waiting for the visitor, whose toilet was a lengthy proceeding. When +at length he sauntered out, in blissful ignorance of the fact that he +had been keeping them waiting, no one could have found fault with his +clothes--a riding suit of very English cut, with immensely baggy +breeches, topped by an immaculately folded stock, and a smart tweed +cap. + +"That feller plenty new," said black Billy, gazing at him with +astonishment. + +Mr. Linton chuckled as he swung Norah to her saddle. + +"Let's hope his horsemanship is equal to his attire!" + +Norah smiled in answer. Bobs was dancing with impatience, and she +walked him round and round, keeping an eye on her cousin. + +A steady brown mare had been saddled for Cecil--one of the "general +utility" horses to be found on every station. He cast a critical eye +over her as he approached, glancing from her to the horses of his uncle +and cousin. Brown Betty was a thoroughly good stamp of a stock horse, +with plenty of quality; while not, perhaps, of the class of Monarch and +Bobs, she was by no means a mount to be despised. That Cecil +disapproved of her, however, was evident. There was a distinct curl on +his lip as he gathered up the reins. However, he mounted without a +word, and they set off in pursuit of Murty O'Toole, the head stockman, +who was already halfway to the cutting-out paddock. + +The Clover Paddock of Billabong was famous--a splendid stretch of +perfect green, where the cattle moved knee-deep in fragrant blossoming +clovers, with pink and white flowers starring the wide expanse. At one +end it was gently undulating plain, towards the other it came down in a +gradual slope to the river, where tall gums gave an evergreen shelter +from winter gales or summer heat. The cattle were under them as the +riders came up--great, splendid Shorthorns, the aristocracy of their +kind, their roan sides sleek, their coats in perfect condition, and a +sprinkling of smaller bullocks whose inferiority in size was +compensated by their amazing fatness. It was evident that this week +there would be no difficulty in making up the draft for the Melbourne +market. + +The cattle were mustered into one herd; no racing or hastening now, but +with the gentle consideration one should extend to the dignified and +portly. They moved lazily, as if conscious of their own value. Cecil, +hurrying a red-and-white bullock across a little flat, was met by a +glare from Murty O'Toole, and a muttered injunction to "go aisy wid +'em," followed by a remark that "clo'es like thim was only fit to go +mustherin' turkeykins in!" Luckily the latter part of the outbreak was +unheard by Cecil, who was quite sufficiently injured at the first, and +favoured Murty with a lofty stare that had the effect of throwing the +Irishman and black Billy into secret convulsions of mirth. + +Norah rode not far from her father as they brought the cattle out into +the open and to the cutting-out camp--a spot where the beaten ground +showed that very often before such scenes had been enacted. The +bullocks knew it, and huddled there contentedly enough in a compact +body, while slowly Mr. Linton and Murty rode about them, singling out +the primest. Once marked down, O'Toole would slip between the bullock +and his mates and edge him away, where Billy took charge of him, +preventing his returning to the mob. With the first two or three this +was not quite easy: but once a few were together they gave little +trouble, feeding about calmly: and generally a bullock cut out from the +main body would trot quite readily across to the others. + +Privately, Cecil Linton thought it remarkably dull work. All that he +had read of station life was unlike this. He had had visions of far +more exciting doings--mad gallops and wild cattle, thoroughbred horses, +kangaroo hunts and a score of other delights. Instead, all he had to do +was to tail after a lot of sleepy bullocks and then watch them sorted +out by some men whose easy-going ways were unlike anything he had +imagined. He had no small opinion of his riding, and he yearned for +distinction. The very sight of Norah, leaning a little forward, +keenness on every line of her face, was an offence to him. He could see +nothing whatever to be keen about. Yawning, he lit a cigarette. + +Just then a bullock was cut out and pointed in the way he should go. He +lumbered easily past black Billy, apparently quite contented with his +fate; and Billy, seeing another following, gave a crack of his whip to +speed him on his way, and turned to deal with the newcomer. The first +bullock became immediately seized with a spirit of mischief. He +flourished his heels in the air, turned at right angles and made off +towards the river at a gallop. + +Cecil, busy with his cigarette, saw Norah sit up suddenly and tighten +her hand on the bridle. Simultaneously Bobs was off like a shot--tearing +over the paddock a little wide of the fugitive. The race was a short +one. Passing the bullock, the bay pony and his rider swung in sharply +and the lash of Norah's whip shot out. The bullock stopped short, +shaking his head; then, as the whip spoke again, he wheeled and trotted +back meekly to the smaller mob. Behind him Norah cantered slowly. The +work of cutting out had not paused and no one seemed to notice the +incident. But Cecil saw his uncle smile across at the little girl, and +caught the look in Norah's eyes as she smiled back. She and Bobs took +up their station again, silently watchful. + +Cecil was fired with ambition. Norah's small service had seemed to him +ridiculously easy; still, insignificant though everyone appeared to +regard it, it was better than doing nothing. He had not the faintest +doubt of his own ability, and the idea that riding in a decorous suburb +might not fit him for all equine emergencies he would have scouted. He +gathered up his reins, and waited anxiously for another beast to break +away. + +One obliged him presently; a big shorthorn that decided he had stayed +long enough in the mob, and suddenly made up his mind to seek another +scene. Norah had already started in pursuit when she saw her cousin +send his spurs home in Betty, and charge forward. So she pulled up the +indignant Bobs, who danced, and left the field to Cecil. + +Betty took charge of affairs from the outset. There was no move in all +the cattle-game that she did not understand. Moreover, she was justly +indignant at the spur-thrust, which attention only came her way in +great emergencies; and the heavy hand on her mouth was gall and +wormwood to her. But ahead was a flying bullock, and she was a stock +horse, which was sufficient for Betty. + +"That feller brown mare got it all her own way!" said Billy, in +delight. + +She had. Cecil, bumping a little in the saddle, had no very clear idea +of how things were going. He had a moment of amazement that the quiet +mare he had despised could make such a pace. Once he tried to steady +her, but at that instant Betty was not to be steadied. She galloped on, +and Cecil, recovering some of his self-possession, began to think that +this was the thing whereof he had dreamed. + +The bullock was fat and scant of breath. It did not take him very long +to conclude that he had had enough, especially when he heard the hoofs +behind him. It was sad, for close before him was the shade of the trees +and the murmur of the river; but discretion is ever the better part of +valour, particularly if one be not only valorous but fat. He pulled up +short. Betty propped without a second's hesitation, and swung round. + +To Cecil it seemed that the world had dropped from under him--and then +risen to meet him. The brown mare turned, in the bush idiom, "on a +sixpence," but Cecil did not turn. He went on. The onlookers had a +vision of the mare chopping round, as duty bade her, to head off the +bullock, while at right-angles a graceful form in correct English +garments hurtled through the air in an elegant curve. When he came +down, which seemed to be not for some time, it was into a shady clump +of wild raspberries--and only those who know the Victorian wild +raspberry know how clinging and intrusive are its hooked thorns. Two +legs kicked wildly. There was no sound. + +When the rescuing party extricated Cecil from his involuntary botanical +researches he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn in many places, +and his face and hands badly scratched, while the red stains of the +raspberries had turned his light tweeds into something resembling an +impressionist sketch. It was perhaps excusable that he had altogether +lost his temper. He burst out in angry abuse of the mare, the bullock, +the raspberry clump, and the expedition in general--anger which the +scarcely concealed grins of the stockmen only served to intensify. +Norah, who had choked with laughter at first, but had become +sympathetic as soon as she saw the boy's face, extracted numerous +thorns from his person and clothing, and murmured words of regret, +which fell on unheeding ears. Finally his uncle lost patience. + +"That'll do Cecil," he said. "Everyone comes to grief occasionally--take +your gruel like a man. Come on, Norah. Murty's waiting." Saying which, +he put Norah up, and they rode off, while Billy held the brown mare's +rein for Cecil, who mounted sulkily. Something in his uncle's face +forbade his replying. But in his heart came the beginning of a grudge +against the Bush, Billabong in general, and Norah in particular. Later +on, he promised himself, there might come a chance to work it off. + +For the present, however, there was nothing to be done but nurse his +scratches and his grievance; so he sat sulkily on Betty, and took no +further active part in the morning's work, the consciousness of acting +like a spoilt child not tending to improve his temper. Nobody took any +notice of him. One by one the bullocks were cut out, until between +twenty and thirty were ready, and then the main mob was left to wander +slowly back to the river, while O'Toole and Billy started with the +others to the paddock at the end of the run, which was their first +stage in the seventeen-mile journey to the trucking yards at Cunjee. +They moved off peacefully through the blossoming clover. + +"Luckily they don't be afther knowin' what's ahead av thim!" said +Murty. He lifted his battered felt hat to Norah, as he rode away. + +"We'll go down and see how high the river is before we go home," said +Mr. Linton. + +So they rode down to the river, commented on the unusual amount of +water for so late in the year, inspected the drinking places, paid a +visit to a beast in another paddock, which had been sick, but was now +apparently in rude health, and finally cantered home to lunch. Brownie +prudently refrained from comment on Cecil's scratched countenance, +further than to supply him with large quantities of hot water in his +room, together with a small pair of pliers, which she remarked were +'andy things for prickles. Under this varied treatment Cecil became +more like himself, and recovered his spirits, though a soreness yet +remained at the thought of the little girl who had done so easily what +he had failed so ignominiously in trying to do. He decided definitely +in his own mind that he did not like Norah. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO POINTS OF VIEW + + You found the Bush was dismal, and a land of no delight-- + Did you chance to hear a chorus in the shearers' hut at night? + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"Dear Mater,--Arrived at Cunjee safely, and, thanks to the way you fixed +up things, found no one to meet me, as Uncle David thought I would not +arrive until next day. However, a friendly yokel gave me a lift out to +Billabong in a very dirty and springless buggy, so that the mistake was +not a fatal one, though it gave me a very uncomfortable drive. + +"The place is certainly very nice, and the house comfortable, though, +of course, it is old-fashioned. I prefer more modern furniture; but +Uncle David seems to think his queer old chairs and table all that can +be desired, and did not appear interested when I told him where we got +our things. I have a large room, rather draughty, but otherwise +pleasant, with plenty of space for clothes, which is a comfort. I do +think it's intensely annoying to be expected to keep your clothes in +your trunk. The view is nice. + +"Uncle David seemed quite prepared to treat me as a small boy, but I +fancy I have demonstrated to him that I know my way about--in fact, as +far as city life goes, I should say he knew exceedingly little. I can't +understand any man with money being content to live and die in a hole +like this out-of-the-way place: but I suppose, as you say, Aunt Helen's +death made a difference. Actually, they have not even one motor! and +when I spoke of it Uncle David seemed almost indignant, and said horses +were good enough for him. That is a specimen of the way they are +content to live. He seems quite idiotically devoted to the small child, +and she lives in his pocket. If she weren't so countrified in her ways +she wouldn't be bad looking; but, of course, she is quite the bush +youngster, and, I should think, would find her level pretty quickly +when she goes to school among a lot of smart Melbourne girls. I should +hope so, at any rate, for she is quite spoilt here. It is exactly as +you said--everyone treats her like a sort of tin god, and she evidently +thinks herself someone, and is inclined to regard those older than +herself quite as equals. When I first saw her she had just fallen into +some mud hole, and her appearance would have given you a fit. But what +can you expect? + +"The fat old cook is still here, and asked after you. It's absolutely +ridiculous to see the way she is treated--quite considers herself the +mistress of the place, and when I told her one morning to let me have +my shaving water she was almost rude. I think if there's one thing +sillier than another it's the sort of superstition some people have +about old servants. + +"So far I find it exceedingly dull, and don't feel very hopeful that +things will be much better when Jim comes home. Of course, he may be +improved, but he appeared to me a great overgrown animal when I last +saw him, without an idea in his head beyond cricket and football. I +don't feel that he will be any companion to me. He will probably suffer +badly from swelled head, too, as every one is making a fuss about his +return. So quaint, to see the sort of mutual admiration that goes on +here. + +"I have had some riding, being given a horse much inferior to either +Uncle David's or Norah's--the latter rides like a jockey, and, of +course, astride, which I consider very ungraceful. She turns out well, +however, and all her get-up is good--her habits come from a Melbourne +tailor. I think I will get some clothes in Melbourne on my way back; +they may not have newer ideas, but it may be useful for purposes of +comparison with the Sydney cut. My riding clothes were evidently a +source of much wonderment and admiration to the yokels. Unfortunately +they have become badly stained with some confounded raspberry juice, +and though I left them out for Mrs. Brown to clean, she has not done so +yet. + +"Well, there is no news to be got in a place like this; we never go +out, except on the run, and there seems absolutely no society. The +local doctor came out yesterday, in a prehistoric motor, but I found +him very uninteresting. Of course, one has no ideas in common with +these Bush people. Where the 'Charm of the Bush' comes in is more than +I can see--I much prefer Town on a Saturday morning to all Billabong and +its bullocks. They wanted me to go out one night and--fancy!--help burn +down dead trees; but, really, I jibbed on that. There is no billiard +room. Uncle David intends building one when Jim comes home for good, +but that certainly won't be in my time here. I fancy a very few weeks +will see me back in town. + +"No bridge played here, of course! Have you had any luck that way? + +"Your affectionate son, + +"CECIL AUBREY LINTON." + + +Cecil blotted the final sheet of his letter home, and sat back with a +sigh of satisfaction, as one who feels his duty nobly done. He stamped +it, strolled across the hall to deposit it in the post box which stood +on the great oak table, and then looked round for something to do. + +It was afternoon, and all was very quiet. Mr. Linton had ridden off +with a buyer to inspect cattle, Norah ruefully declining to accompany +him. + +"I'm awfully sorry, Dad," she had said, "But I'm too busy." + +"Busy, are you? What at?" + +"Oh, cooking and things," Norah had answered. "Brownie's not very well, +and I said I'd help her--there's a lot to do just now, you know." She +stood on tiptoe to kiss her father. "Good-bye, Dad--don't be too long, +will you? And take care of yourself!" + +Cecil also had declined to go out, giving "letters to write" as a +reason. The truth was that several rides had told on the town youth, +whose seat in the saddle was not easy enough to prevent his becoming +stiff and sore. Bush people are used to this peculiarity in city +visitors, and, while regarding the sufferers with sympathy, generally +prescribe a "hair of the dog that bit them"--more riding--as the quickest +cure; which Cecil would certainly have thought hard-hearted in the +extreme. However, nothing would have induced him to say that he had +felt the riding, since Cecil belonged to that class of boy that hates +to admit inferiority to others. So he suffered in silence, creaked +miserably at his uprising and down-sitting, and was happily unaware +that everyone in Billabong knew perfectly well what was the matter with +him. + +Cecil and his mother were very good friends in the cool, polite way +that was distinctive of them. They "fitted" together admirably, and as +a general rule held the same views, the one on which they were most in +accord being the belief in Cecil's own superior talents and +characteristics. He wrote to her just as he would have talked, certain +of her absolute agreement. When his letter was finished he felt much +relieved at having, as Jim said, "got it off his chest." Not that Cecil +would ever have said anything so inelegant. + +Sarah crossed the hall at the moment, carrying a tray of silver to be +cleaned, and he called to her-- + +"Where is Norah?" + +"Miss Norah's in the kitchen," said the girl shortly. The Billabong +maids were no less independent than modern maids generally are, but +they had their views about the city gentleman's manner to the daughter +of the house. "On'y a bit of a kid himself," Mary had said to Sarah, +indignantly, "but any one'd think he owned the earth, an' Miss Norah +was a bit of it." So they despised Cecil exceedingly, and refrained +from shaking up his mattress when they made his bed. + +"Er--you may tell her I want to speak to her." + +"Can't, I'm afraid," Sarah said. "Miss Norah's very busy, 'elpin' Mrs. +Brown. She don't care to be disturbed." + +"Can't she spare me a moment?" + +"Wouldn't ask her to." Sarah lifted her tray--and her nose--and marched +out. Cecil looked black. + +"Gad! I wish the mater had to deal with those girls!" he said +viciously--Mrs. Geoffrey Linton was of the employers who "change their +maids" with every new moon. "She'd make them sit up, I'll wager. +Abominable impertinence!" He strolled to the door, and looked out +across the garden discontentedly. "What on earth is there for a man to +do? Well, I'll hunt up the important cousin." + +At the moment, Norah was quite of importance. Mrs. Brown had succumbed +to a headache earlier in the day. Norah had found her, white-faced and +miserable, bending over a preserving pan full of jam, waiting for the +mystical moment when it should "jell." Ordered to rest, poor Brownie +had stoutly refused--was there not more baking to be done, impossible to +put off, to say nothing of the jam? A brisk engagement had ensued, from +which Norah had emerged victorious, the reins of government in her +hands for the day. Brownie, still protesting, had been put on her bed +with a handkerchief steeped in eau-de-Cologne on her throbbing +forehead, and Norah had returned to the kitchen to varied occupations. + +The jam had behaved beautifully; had "jelled" in the most satisfactory +manner, just the right colour; now it stood in a neat array of jars on +a side table, waiting to be sealed and labelled when cold. Then, after +lunch, Norah had plunged into the mysteries of pastry, and was +considerably relieved when her mince pies turned out very closely akin +to those of Brownie, which were famous. Puddings for dinner had +followed, and were now cooling in the dairy. Finally, the joint being +in the oven, and vegetables prepared, the cook had compounded Jim's +favourite cake, which was now baking; during which delicate operation, +with a large dab of flour on her nose, the cook sat at the table, and +wrote a letter. + + +"DEAR OLD JIM,--This must be in pencil, 'cause I'm watching a cake +that's in the oven, and I'm awfully scared of it burning, so I don't +dare to go for the ink. Dad said I was to write and tell you we would +meet you on Wednesday, unless we heard from you again. We are all +awfully glad and excited about you coming. I'm sure Tait and Puck +understand, 'cause I told them to-day, and they barked like anything. +Your room is all right, and we've put in another cupboard. We're all so +sorry about Wally not coming, but we hope he will come later on. Do +make him. + +"Dad and I aren't talking about me going to school. It can't be helped, +and it only makes you jolly blue to talk about it. + +"Cecil's come, and he's the queerest specimen of a boy I ever saw. He's +awfully grown up, but he's small and terribly swagger. His riding +clothes are gorgeous, and you mustn't laugh at them. Dad did, but it +was into Bobs' mane. He came with us cutting-out, and Betty was too +good for him, swinging round, so he came a lovely cropper into some +wild raspberries. It was so funny no one could have helped laughing, +and he wasn't really hurt, only prickled and very wild. I am afraid he +isn't enjoying himself very much, but of course he will be all right +when you come. It's jolly hard to entertain him, 'cause he isn't a bit +keen about anything. He has a tremendous array of shaving tackle. And +he has a hand glass. Do you think he will lend it to you to see your +back hair? + +"Bobs is just lovelier than ever. I never knew him go so well as he is +now, and he perfectly loves a jump. Dad has a new horse he calls +Monarch, and he is a beauty, he is black with a star. OF COURSE, don't +say anything about Cecil's spill to anybody, he could not help it. And +he had a much bigger laugh at me, 'cause I fell into the lagoon the day +he came. I will tell you all about it when you come. + +"The place is looking lovely, and hasn't dried up a bit--" + + +An unfamiliar step came along the passage, and Norah sat up abruptly +from the labours of composition, and then with promptness concealed her +letter under a cookery book. + +"Why Cecil! How did you find your way here?" + +"Oh--looked about me. I had finished my writing, and there was nothing +to do." + +"I'm so sorry," Norah said contritely. "You see, Brownie's sick, and +I'm on duty here." + +"You!" said Cecil, with a laugh. "And what can YOU do in a kitchen?" + +Norah blushed at the laugh more than at the words. + +"Oh, you'll get some sort of a dinner," she said. "Don't be too +critical, that's all." + +"What, you really can cook? Or do you play at it?" + +"Well, there are mighty few girls in the Bush who can't cook a bit," +Norah said. "Of course we're lucky, having Brownie--but you really never +can tell as a rule when you may have to turn to in the kitchen. Dad +says it's one of the beauties of Australia!" + +"Can't say I like the idea of a lady in the kitchen," quoth Cecil +loftily. + +"Can't say I'd like to be one who was scared of it," Norah said. "And I +guess you'd get very bored if you had to go without your dinner!" She +seized a cloth and opened the oven door gingerly, and made highly +technical experiments with her cake, rising presently, somewhat +flushed. "Ten minutes more," she said, with an air of satisfaction. +"And, as Brownie would say, 'he's rose lovely.' Have some tea, Cecil?" + +Cecil assented, and watched the small figure in the voluminous white +apron as she flitted about the kitchen. + +"I like having tea here," Norah confided to him. "Then I use Brownie's +teapot, and don't you always think tea tastes miles better out of a +brown pot? You won't get the proper afternoon cups either--I hope you +don't mind?" She stopped short, with a sudden sense of talking a +language altogether foreign to this bored young man in correct attire; +and a rush of something like irritation to think how different Jim or +Wally would have been--she could almost see Wally sitting on the edge of +the table, with a huge cup of tea in one hand, a scone in the other, +and his thin, eager face alight with cheerfulness. Cecil was certainly +heavy in the hand. She sighed, but bent manfully to her task again. + +"You take sugar, don't you? And cream? Yes, you ought to have cream, +'cause you've been ill." She dashed into the pantry, returning with a +small jug. "The cake's not mine, so I can recommend it; but if you're +not frightened you can have one of my mince pies." + +"Thanks, I'd rather have cake," said Cecil., and again Norah flushed at +his tone, but she laughed. + +"It's certainly safer," she agreed, "I'm sure Brownie thought it was a +hideous risk to leave the pies to me." She supplied her cousin with +cake, and retreated to the oven. + +"Why don't you let one of the girls do this?" he asked. + +"Sarah or Mary? Oh, they're as busy as ever they can be," explained +Norah. "We always do a lot of extra cleaning and rubbing up before +Christmas, and they haven't a moment. Of course they'd do it in a +minute, if I asked them, but I wouldn't--as it is, Sarah's going to dish +up for me. They're the nicest girls; I'm going to take them tea as soon +as I get my cake out!" + +"You!" said Cecil. "You don't mean to say you're going to cart tea to +the servants?" + +"I'd be a perfect pig if I didn't," Norah said, shortly. "I'm afraid +you don't understand the bush a bit, Cecil." + +"Thank goodness I don't then," said Cecil, stiffly. "Who's that tray +for?" + +"Brownie, of course." Norah was getting a little ruffled--criticism like +this had not come to her. + +"Well, I think it's extraordinary--and so would my mother," Cecil said, +with an air of finality. + +"I suppose a town is different," said Norah, striving after patience. +"We like to look after everyone here--and I think it's grand when +everyone's nice to everyone!" She paused; it was hard to be patient and +grammatical, too. + +"School will teach you a number of things," said her cousin loftily. He +rose and put down his cup. "A lady shouldn't lower herself." + +"Dad says a lady can't lower herself by work," retorted Norah. "Anyhow, +if taking tea to dear old Brownie's going to lower me, it'll have to, +that's all!" + +"You don't understand," said Cecil. "A lady has her own place, and to +get on terms of familiarity with the lower classes is bad for both her +and them." He looked and felt instructive. "It isn't exactly the action +that counts--it's the spirit it fosters--er--the feeling--that is, +the--er, in short, it's a mistake to--" + +"Oh, please be careful, Cecil, you're sitting in some dough!" + +Norah sprang forward anxiously, and instructiveness fell from Cecil as +one sheds a garment. He had sat down on the edge of the table in the +flow of his eloquence; now he jumped up angrily, and, muttering +unpleasant things, endeavored to remove dough from his person. Norah +hovered round, deeply concerned. Pastry dough, however, is a clinging +and a greasy product, and finally the wrathful lecturer beat a retreat +towards the sanctuary of his own room, and the cook sat down and shook +with laughter. + +"My cake!" she gasped, in the midst of her mirth. She flew to the oven +and rescued Jim's delicacy. + +"Thank goodness, it's all right!" said she. Her mirth broke out afresh. + +A shadow darkened the doorway. + +"What--cooking and in hysterics?" said Mr. Linton. "May I have some tea? +And what's the matter?" + +"Cecil's begun the reforming process," said his daughter, becoming +solemn with difficulty. "You've no idea how improved I am, Daddy! He +seems to be certain that I'm not a lady, and he's very doubtful if I'm +a cook, so could you tell me what I'm likely to be?" + +"A better all-round man than Cecil, I should hope," said David Linton, +with a sound like a snort of wrath. "Give me some tea, mate, and don't +bother your head about the future. Your old Dad's not scared!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COMING HOME + + The top of my desire + Is just to meet a mate o' mine. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +It had suddenly become hot--"truly Christmas" weather, Norah called it, +as she stood waiting on the Cunjee platform for a train which, in +accordance with all railway traditions at Christmas, was already over +an hour late. Norah felt it hard that to-day, of all days in the year, +it should be so--when Jim was actually coming home for good! At the +thought of Jim's arrival she hopped cheerfully on one leg, completely +oblivious of onlookers, and looked up the shining line of rails for the +thousand-and-first time. Would the old train never come? + +"Aren't you contriving to keep warm, with the mercury trying to break +the thermometer? Or do you dance merely because you feel like it?" +asked a friendly voice; and Norah turned with a little flush of +pleasure to greet the Cunjee doctor. She and Dr. Anderson respected +each other very highly. + +"Because I feel like it, I expect," she said, laughing and shaking +hands. + +"Which my wide professional experience leads me to diagnose as the fact +that you're probably waiting for Jim!" said the doctor, gravely. +"There's a certain hectic flush, an intermittent pulse, which convinces +me of your painful state, when coupled with the restlessness of the +eye." + +"Which eye?" asked Norah anxiously. + +"Both," said the doctor. "Don't be flippant with your medical man. So +he's really coming, Norah?" + +"Yes," said Norah, "and I don't care if I am excited--so'd you be, +doctor. Billy's outside with the horses, and he's just as excited as I +am." + +"Billy!" said the doctor. "But he'd never say more than 'Plenty!' no +matter how excited he was." + +"No, of course not, but then he finds it such a useful word," Norah +said a little vaguely. She was peering up the rails. Suddenly she spun +round, her face glowing. "There's the smoke--she's coming!" + +Whatever additional remarks Dr. Anderson may have made fell on deaf +ears, for Norah had no further ideas from that moment. The train came +into view over the brow of the hill, and slid down the long slope into +the station, pulling up with a mighty grinding of brakes. Almost as it +stopped a door was flung open violently, and a very tall boy with the +Grammar School colours on his hat jumped out, cast a hurried glance +around, and then seized the small person in blue linen in an unashamed +bear's hug. + +"Oh, Jim!" said Norah. "Oh, Jimmy--boy!" + +"Well, old kiddie," said Jim. "You all right? My word, I am glad to see +you!" + +"Me, too," said Norah. "It's been just ages, Jim." + +"Hasn't it?" Jim said. He started. "Oh, by Jove! There's someone else +here!" + +Norah wheeled round, and uttered a little cry of joy. Another boy with +the dark-blue hat band was grinning at her in most friendly fashion--a +thin, brown-faced boy, with especially merry dark eyes. Norah's hands +went out. + +"Wally! But, how lovely! I thought you couldn't come." + +"So did I," said Wally Meadows, pumping her hands vigorously. "I was +going home, but my aunt obligingly got measles. I'm awfully sorry for +Aunt. But it's an ill-wind that blows nowhere--old Jim took pity on me, +and here I am!" + +"I should think so," Norah said. "We haven't felt a bit complete +without you. Dad was saying only this morning how sorry he was you +couldn't come. He'll get such a shock! Oh, it's so lovely to have you +two--and isn't it getting like Christmas! I'm so happy!" She jigged on +one foot, regardless of interested faces watching her from the train. + +"You've grown about a foot," said Jim, patting her on the shoulder. +"Pretty thin, too--sure you're all right?" + +Norah reassured him, laughing. + +"Well, you look awfully fit, if you are thin," was Jim's comment. +"Doesn't she, Wally?" + +"Never saw her look fitter," said Wally. "I'm glad as five bob Aunt got +the measles! Oh, what a beast I am--but, you know what I mean! Jim, this +train'll go on, and we've fifty million things in the carriage!" + +"So we have!" Jim said, hurriedly, taking his hand from Norah's +shoulder and diving after his chum into the compartment they had +quitted. They emerged laden with suitcases, parcels, rackets, fishing +rods, golf sticks and other miscellaneous impedimenta. + +"Catch!" Jim said, tossing a big box into Norah's hands. + +"Chocolates!" said Norah blissfully. "Jim, you're an angel!" + +"Always knew that," her brother replied, dropping his load on the +platform with a cheerful disregard of what might break. "Come on, +Wally, we'll get the heavy things out of the van. You watch those, Nor. +Who's in, by the way? And where's Dad?" + +"Dad's in Cunjee; but he had business, and he couldn't wait at the +station, the train was so late. Cecil's with him--they're both riding. +I've got the light buggy with the ponies for you, and Billy's driving +the express for your luggage and heaps of things that Brownie wants for +the house." Norah spoke in one breath and finished with a gasp. + +"Guess people must have thought you were a circus procession!" was +Jim's comment. "All right, we'll cart the things out to Billy." + +Out at the big express-wagon drawn by a pair of greys, Billy stood, +welcoming them with a smile on his dusky countenance that Wally likened +to a slit in a coconut. The luggage was piled in with special +injunctions to the black boy not to put the bags of flour on anything +that looked delicate--whereat Billy's smile widened to a grin, and he +murmured "Plenty!" delightedly. + +"That's the lot," Jim said. "The buggy's at the hotel, I suppose, +Norah?" + +"Yes--and we're to have lunch there with Dad. And you've got to be +awfully polite to Cecil!" + +"Cecil!" said Jim, lifting his nose. "If Cecil's anything like what he +used to be--" He did not finish the sentence. + +"Do we play with Cecil?" Wally asked, grinning. + +"The question is, if Cecil will condescend to play with you," Norah +said. "He thinks ME too much of a kid to look at--" + +"Oh, does he?" asked Jim resentfully. + +"But you're both ever so much bigger than he is, so perhaps he'll let +you love him!" Norah finished. + +"I'm relieved to my soul," said Wally, with gravity. "Visions of my +unrequited affection poured out on Cecil have been troubling my rest +for days. May I kiss him?" + +"I'd wait a little while, I think," Norah answered. "He may be shy--not +that we've found it out yet. Indeed, he's the unshyest person I ever +met." + +"Is he very awful, Nor?" + +"Oh, he's a bit of a drawback," Norah said. "Dad says he's not bad at +heart, only so spoilt--and he's just terribly bumptious, Jim, and thinks +he can do everything; and his clothes are lovely! He isn't caring for +me a bit to-day, 'cause he gave me a broad hint that he wanted to ride +Bobs, and I didn't take it." + +"Ride Bobs!" exclaimed Jim, in amazement. "Well, I should think you +didn't!" + +"Well, I felt rather a pig, considering he's our guest," Norah said, a +little contritely. "If it were you or Wally, now--but he's really got an +awful seat, Jim, and Murty says he's a hand like a ham on a horse's +mouth! I didn't feel I could let him have Bobs." + +"Bobs is your very special property--no one but an ass would ask for +him, and I told Cecil last year you were the only person who ever rode +him," said Jim indignantly. "Surely there are enough horses on the +place without him wanting to collar your pony!" + +"Well, he didn't get him," said Norah, tranquilly, "so that's all right +and you needn't worry, Jimmy. I do think, if only one could get him off +his high horse, he wouldn't be at all bad--perhaps he'll thaw now you +boys are here. I hope he will, for his own sake, 'cause he'd have such +a much better time." + +"Well, if he's going to be patronizing--" Jim began. + +"Ah, perhaps he won't--I don't believe he could try to patronize you!" +Norah glanced lovingly at her tall brother. "You're nearly as big as +Dad, Jimmy, aren't you? and Wally's going to be too." + +"Ill weeds grow apace," quoted the latter gentleman solemnly. "Jim's a +splendid example of that proverb." + +"M'f!" said Norah. "How about yourself?" + +"I'm coming up as a flower!" Wally replied modestly. "A Christmas lily, +I should think!"--whereat Jim murmured something that sounded "More like +an artichoke!" His exact remark, however, was lost, for at that moment +they arrived at the hotel, just as Mr. Linton emerged from it, and Jim +quickened his pace, his face alight. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, my boy!" They gripped hands, and David Linton's eye kindled as +it dwelt on the big fellow. "Glad to have you back, old son. +Why--Wally!" + +"Turned up like a bad penny, sir," said Wally, having his hand pumped +in turn. "Hope you'll forgive me--it's pretty cool to arrive without an +invitation." + +"As far as I know, you had invitations from all the family," said Mr. +Linton, laughing. "We regard you as one of the oldest inhabitants now, +you know. At any rate, I'm delighted to see you; the mistress of +Billabong must answer for herself, but she doesn't look cast down!" + +"She's been fairly polite," Wally said. "On the whole I don't feel as +shy as I was afraid of feeling! I was horribly scared of having +Christmas with my aunt--but she's chosen measles instead, so I expect +she was just as scared as I was!" + +"It's probable," said his host, laughing. + +"You haven't grown up a bit, Wally, and it's such a comfort!" Norah +said. + +"I'm getting old and reverend," said Wally severely, "and it's up to +you to treat me with respect, young Norah. Sixteen's an awful age to +support with any cheerfulness." His brown face at the moment gave the +impression of never having been serious during the sixteen years he +lamented. "As for this ancient mariner"--indicating Jim--"you can see the +signs of senile decay quite plainly!" + +"Ass!" said Jim affectionately. He broke off. "How are you, Cecil?" + +Cecil, coming out of the hotel, a dapper figure beside the two tall +schoolboys, gave languid greetings. He cast at Jim a glance of +something like envy. Height was the one thing he longed for, and it +seemed to him hard that this seventeen-year-old youngster should be +rapidly approaching six feet, while he, three years older, had stopped +short six inches under that measurement. However, generally speaking, +Cecil was uncommonly well satisfied with himself, and not even the +contemplation of Jim's superior inches could worry him for long. He +asked polite questions about the journey, and laughed at the freely +expressed opinion that the day was hot "You should go to Sydney if you +want to know what heat is," he said, with the superiority of the +travelled man; "Victoria really has no heat to talk about!" + +"Well, I'm a Queenslander," said Wally bluntly, "and we're supposed to +know about heat there. And I do think to-day is beastly hot--look at my +collar, it's like a concertina! Sydney heat is hot, and Brisbane heat +is hotter, but Victorian heat has a hotness all of its own!" Whereat +everybody laughed, and the discussion was adjourned for lunch. + +It was a merry meal; and if the fare was no better than that of most +township hotels, the spirits of the party were too high to trouble +about such trifles as tough meat, watery puddings, and weary butter +that bore out Wally's remarks about the heat by threatening to float +away on a sea of its own oil. Everything was rose colour in Norah's +estimation that day. She sat by Jim and beamed across the table at her +father and Wally. Even Cecil found himself at times included in the +beam, and took it meekly, for the happy face was infectious, while the +frank delight of the boys in having her with them again was to a +certain extent educational to the outsider. There was no lack of +manliness in Jim's strong, handsome face. If he found it worth his +while, Cecil reflected, to make such a fuss over a child, it might be +possible that she was not altogether a person to be snubbed. So he was +unusually affable to his small cousin, and lunch passed off very +successfully. + +Afterwards there was shopping to be done. A long list of groceries had +been made out by Mrs. Brown, who professed herself far too busy with +Christmas preparations to come in person, and had laid the +responsibility on Norah, not without misgivings. It was, perhaps, +fortunate that the storekeepers were able to rise to the contents of +the list unaided, for Norah was scarcely in a condition to grapple with +problems relating to anything so ordinary as groceries, and found it +indeed difficult to read out her list coherently, with Jim standing +sentinel in the doorway and Wally wandering about the shop sampling all +he could find, from biscuits to brooms. On one occasion, when making a +special effort to preserve her dignity, she came to the item "flaked +oatmeal," and asked the shopman in rather frigid tones for "floked +atemeal," which had a paralysing effect on the unoffending storekeeper, +while Wally retired to the shelter of a pile of saucepans, and +shrieked. Thus the business of necessary purchases passed off +cheerfully; and then what Norah termed the more interesting +shops--saddlers' and stationers'--were visited, with a view to Christmas. +Finally Jim brought the buggy from the hotel, and they picked up their +lighter parcels. + +"Surely that's all?" Jim inquired, as Norah and Wally came out of the +fruiterer's laden with bags of assorted sizes, which they dumped +thankfully into the buggy, with the immediate result that a bag of +peaches burst, and had to be rescued from all over the floor. "Nor., +you'll not have a penny left, and we'll all be violently ill if we eat +half you've bought. Come on home." + +"Brownie's laid in large stocks of medicine, she says," Norah answered, +tranquilly, climbing into the buggy. "So you needn't worry, need you? +But we've truly finished now, Jim, I think. Ready, Wally?" + +"Quite," said Wally cheerfully. "I've put these peaches in with the +neatsfoot oil, and it seems a beautiful arrangement!" He hopped up +nimbly. "Right oh, Jimmy, and pray remember I am nervous!" + +"I will," Jim grinned. He laid the whip on the ponies' backs, and they +shot forward with a bound, unused to such liberties. They went down the +main street of Cunjee in a whirl of dust, and turned over the bridge +spanning the river, where the ponies promptly rose on their hind legs +at the sight of Dr. Anderson's motor, and betrayed a rooted +disinclination to come down from that unusual altitude. Jim handled +them steadily, and presently they were induced to face the snorting +horror, wherein the doctor sat, waving his hand and calling cheery +Christmas greetings as they shot past, to which the three responded +enthusiastically. Cunjee sank into the distance behind them. + +The miles flew past. On the metalled road the rubbered tyres spun +silently, and only the flying hoofs clattered and soon they had left +the made road and turned on to the hard-beaten track that led to +Billabong, where progress was even smoother. The tongues flew almost as +swiftly as the wheels. The hot sun sank gradually, and the evening +breeze sprang up. It was a time for quick questions and answers. Norah +wanted details of the term just over, the sports, the prize-giving, and +had to laugh over messages from those of Jim's boy friends whom she +knew; and Jim had a hundred things to ask about home--the cattle, the +fishing, his horses, his dogs, "Brownie," and the prospects of fun +ahead. They roared over her ducking and subsequent encounter with +Cecil, and chaffed her unmercifully. + +"Such a mud-lark!" said Wally, with glee. "And that prim young man! Oh, +Norah, you are a dream! I'd have given something to see your face." + +"I was altogether worth seeing," Norah remarked modestly. "When I +caught sight of myself in a glass I really didn't wonder at Cecil." But +Jim glowered and referred to the absent Cecil as a "silly ass." + +They turned in at last at the homestead gate, and the ponies fairly +flew up the long paddock, something in the spirits of their drivers +communicating itself to them. The house was not visible until the track +had passed through a thick belt of trees, and as they came to this Jim +fell silent, looking keenly ahead. Then the red roof came into view and +the boy drew a long breath. + +"There's the old place," he said. "My word, I am glad to be home!" + +Under the dust-rug Norah slipped her hand on to his knee. + +"It's just lovely to have you--both of you." she added. "You're glad, +too, aren't you, Wally?" + +"I could sing!" said Wally. + +"Once," said Jim, "you could. But for some years--" + +"Beast!" said Wally. "If you weren't driving--" + +"And you weren't nervous--!" grinned his chum. + +"There'd be wigs on the green," finished Norah, cheerfully. "I'll +drive, if it would be any convenience to either of you." + +"We'll postpone it," said Jim. "There's Brownie at the gate, bless her +old heart!" + +They shot up the last furlong of the drive. At the big gate of the +yard--very few people, not even bishops, go to the front gate of a Bush +homestead--Brownie stood, her broad face beaming. As they pulled up, +Murty O'Toole came forward to take the horses--a marked compliment from +Murty, who, like most head stockmen, was a free and independent soul. + +Jim went over the wheel with a bound, and seized Brownie's hand. + +"How are you, Brownie, dear?" + +"The size of him!" said she. "The shoulders. No wonder they 'ad you for +captin of the football eleven, then, my dear!" The boys grinned widely. +"If not eleven, then it's four," said Brownie placidly. "Strange, I +can't never remember which, an' it don't sinnerfy, any'ow. Welkim +'ome--an' you too, Master Wally." + +"How are you, Murty?" Jim shook hands with the stockman, while Wally +bowed low over Brownie's hand. + +"I've lived for this moment," he said, fervently. "Brownie, you grow +younger every time I go away!" + +"Naturally!" said Norah from the buggy. + +"Be silent, minx!" said Wally, over his shoulder. "Who are you to break +in on a heart-to-heart talk, anyhow? At this present moment, Mrs. +Brown, you look seventeen!" + +"Get along with you, now, do!" said the delighted Brownie. "You're no +better than you was, I'm afraid, Master Wally--alwuz ready for your +joke!" + +"Joke!" exclaimed he, indignantly. "Any one who'd make a joke of you, +Brownie, would rob a church. Jim might, but I--" + +"Perish the idea!" said Jim, tipping the orator's hat over his eyes. +"Come and take things out of the buggy." + +Across the yard came Mr. Linton, surrounded by a mixed assemblage of +dogs. Puck and the collie had already hurled themselves upon Jim in a +delirium of joy. Cecil strolled after his uncle, looking slightly +amused at the scene by the gate. + +"We're quite a family," Mr. Linton said. "I begin to feel like Mr. +Pickwick at a Christmas gathering! Do you think Billabong will stand +the crowd, Mrs. Brown?" + +"It looks to me, sir," said Mrs. Brown contentedly, "as if Billabong's +goin' to 'ave the time of its life!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JIM UNPACKS + + Holler-days + Were made for boys to holler! + + +Jim's room was a rather vast place, with two long windows opening upon +the balcony, two exceedingly plain iron bedsteads in different corners, +and in the midst a wide, vacant space, where a punching-ball was fixed +whenever the owner was at home. There was a very shabby old leather +armchair by one window, and near the other an even shabbier leather +couch, very wide and solid. Jim used to declare that they were the most +comfortable in the house, and nothing would have induced him to have +them altered in any way. + +One wall held a medley of various articles: Jim's rifle, the sporting +gun his father had given him when he was fifteen, a revolver that had +been through two wars, and a cavalry sword his grandfather had carried, +together with an assortment of native weapons from various +countries--assegais, spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, sjamboks and +South Sea Island clubs and shields. A special nail held Jim's own +stockwhip, to which Norah always attended after he had gone away, lest +the supple thong should become harsh through disuse. Then there were +weapons of peace--hockey sticks, rackets, cricket-bats--the latter an +assortment of all Jim had used, from the tiny one he had begun with at +the age of eight to the full sized beauty that had split honourably in +an inter-State school match the preceding summer. + +All over the other walls were plainly framed photographs. Mr. Linton +and Norah were there, in many positions, with and without horses; then +there were pictures of all the favourite horses and ponies and dogs on +the place, and a big enlargement of Billabong house itself. The others +were school photographs, mostly football and cricket teams, tennis +fours, the school crew, and some large groups at the yearly sports. In +nearly all you could find Jim himself--if you looked closely enough. Jim +loathed being photographed, and always retired as far out of sight in a +group as his inches would permit. + +The room held many of Jim's own manufactured ideas--his "contraptions," +Brownie used to call them. There was a telephone he had rigged up when +he was twelve, communicating with Norah's room by the balcony; and +outside was a sort of fire escape, by which he could--and generally +did--descend without using the stairs. There were various pieces of bush +carpentry--a table, a candlestick and a book-case of his own +construction, which in Norah's eyes were better than beautiful. There +was an arrangement by which he could open his door or his windows +without getting out of bed--which was ingenious, but quaint, since Jim +was never known to shut his windows, and very rarely his door. +Altogether it was an interesting room, and very typical of Jim. + +At present it resembled a maelstrom, for Wally and Jim were unpacking. +Brownie, putting in her head, described it as "a perfick shambles," and +affected great horror at the havoc occasioned by having boys in the +house--beaming all the while in a manner calculated to destroy the +effect of any lecture. Norah, perched on the end of the sofa, which was +the only free spot in the room, looked on at the operations with deep +interest. Occasionally, when some special parcel was unearthed, one of +the boys diverted her attention laboriously, since it was near +Christmas-time, which is ever a season of mysteries. The parcel stowed +away hastily in a cupboard, Norah was permitted to gaze once more, +unrestricted. + +"What's that, Jim?" she asked, catching a glimpse of silver in the +recesses of a suitcase. + +"Oh, nothing." + +"I believe it's your cup," said his sister excitedly. "Do make him show +me, Wally!" + +"The mug it is!" said Wally, diving in under Jim's nose, and snatching +the article in question. "Don't be an ass, Jimmy--d'you expect to keep +it always in your boot-bag?" + +"Very nice place for it," Jim was understood to mutter. + +"Ripping--but you'll want it for your boots. Catch, Norah!" + +The big silver cup flew across the room, and was deftly fielded by the +lady on the end of the sofa. + +"Oh, isn't it a beauty!" she said delightedly. "Jimmy, I'm so proud to +know you!" + +"You ought to have seen him going up to get it," Wally said. "Lovely +sight--he blushed so prettily!" + +"Blush be hanged!" said the victim. + +"Don't be ashamed, my child; it's a very nice thing to be able to +blush," Wally grinned. "No one would ever dream you could, either, so +it's a happy surprise as well!" + +"There's not a blush about you, that's one thing," said Jim, from the +depths of his big box. + +"Wore out all my powers that way blushing over you!" was Wally's prompt +reply. "Norah, will you use that thing for cocoa, or what?" + +"Don't be disrespectful--I'm admiring it," Norah answered, turning the +cup round. "Dad will like it awfully." + +"Has he shown you his prizes?" + +"Prizes!" Norah exclaimed, falling off the arm of the sofa in +amazement. "Jim, you horrid boy, you never told us. Show me at once!" + +"Never thought about 'em," said the unhappy Jim, un-earthing two +resplendent books. "Here you are, anyhow--and Wally needn't talk; he's +got three!" + +"I'm faint in the presence of so much learning!" Norah said, sitting +down on a golf bag. "Who'd ever have suspected you? French and +Prefect's Prize--oh, I'm so glad you got that one, Jim, dear." Her quick +ear caught a step, and she called her father excitedly. + +Mr. Linton entered, to be greeted by incoherent tidings of his son's +success, to the meaning of which the two books lent aid. + +"That's especially good news, old chap," he said quietly, whereat Jim +grinned happily, blushed with fervour, and muttered something entirely +inaudible. "The cup, too! that's a beauty, and no mistake!" He looked +round the "perfick shambles," and laughed a little. "I don't think +they're very safe here," he said. "With your permission, I'll take +charge of them." He left the room, carrying the books and the cup with +him. + +At the door he paused. + +"Don't forget Cecil," he said quietly, and was gone. + +The trio looked blank. + +"Cecil!" said Wally. + +"Hang Cecil!" from Jim disgustedly. + +"Oh, he's such a bore!" Norah said. "And he'd simply hate to be in +here--he wouldn't see any fun in it. I--I really think I've had an +overdose of Cecil." + +"Poor old kid!" said Jim. "Well, we'll hurry up unpacking and then find +him." They dismissed the "bit of a drawback" airily from their minds, +and proceeded with the business in hand, hampered slightly by much +energetic conversation. Jim's boxes were full of interesting things, +the result of his six years at school; his packing, he said, with +pained recollection, had been a "corker." + +"Lucky I had that extra chest of drawers put in here," remarked Norah, +stowing away numerous small articles. "Jim, how many boys gave you +knives as farewell gifts?" + +"Sorra a one of me knows," said her brother. "I lost count--and lost +some of the knives, too. I've an idea Bill Beresford picked up one I +dropped--the one Lance Western gave me; it's got a tortoise-shell +handle, and a nick out of the big blade--and gave it to me for himself." + +"It sounds the sort of economical thing Bill would do," Wally remarked. + +"Then there are five magnifying glasses, seven pencil cases, and six +pens," said Norah. "All tokens of affection, Jim? I'll put them in the +middle drawer." + +"What on earth I'm going to do with 'em all," said their harassed +owner, "I'm sure I don't know. Does any one chap use five magnifiers in +his life? Never used one yet! I wish the fellows hadn't been so kind--it +was awfully brickish of them, though, wasn't it? And the Doctor gave me +this." He held up a large and solemn--looking book. + +"What is it?" + +"'Self Help,' by a chap named Smiles. Shouldn't have thought there were +many smiles about a book looking like that, but it shows you can't tell +everything by the cover. And Mrs. Doctor gave me this tie--knitted it +herself. It was jolly decent of her, wasn't it? She's always been +awfully kind to me," said the big fellow, who had no idea of what "Mrs. +Doctor" thought of his cheerful habit of picking up two or three of her +babies and treating them to a wild ride round the school grounds on his +back; and who had on one occasion sat up all night with a sick +three-year-old who had cried unreasonably for "Yinton" to come and +carry him. The boy had recovered, somewhat against expectations, and +Jim had thought no more of the matter, except to drop gently and firmly +into a gorse bush a fellow who had chaffed him for being a nursemaid. +He had been amazed, and greatly embarrassed, by the tears in little +"Mrs. Doctor's" eyes as she bade him good-bye. Nothing on earth would +have induced him to mention them. + +"If the Doctor ever gives me anything barring the length of his tongue, +I'll have apoplexy!" remarked Wally. "We don't twin-soul a bit better +than we did. He caught me beautifully the other day. Three or four of +us were going to have a supper. I'd been into town to the dentist, and +was bringing home a lobster. Coming out, that idiot Bob Greenfield was +next me on the train, and he amused himself by rubbing the lobster +gently until the thin brown paper they wrap 'em in had worn through in +places. I was talking cricket for all I was worth, and never noticed +him. I'd bought an evening paper, and given him my lobster to hold +while I looked up some scores." + +"Yes?" said Norah, happily. + +"Well, we came to the school, and off I jumped, and just inside the +gate I ran into the Doctor. He was very affable, and we walked up +together, and he asked me quite affectionately how I'd got on with the +dentist, and altogether he might have been my long lost uncle! +Presently he glanced down at my parcel, and said, 'Been getting a boot +mended, Meadows?' I didn't know what to say for a moment. And while I +was floundering in my mind the string broke, and down went my parcel +with a clatter on the asphalt!" + +"Why do I miss these things?" asked Jim, plaintively. + +"I wish I'd missed it instead of you!" said his chum. "I picked it up +in a hurry, and the paper had burst pretty well all over-and-well, you +know, there's no disguising the colour of a lobster! I just held it, +and looked a fool, and the Doctor put up his eyeglass and looked it and +me all over. Then he said, 'Curious colour for a boot, Meadows'--and I +promptly turned the same shade as the lobster." + +"Did you get into a row?" Norah asked. + +"No; I will say for the old chap that he was a perfect brick," Wally +said. "He just grinned, and walked off, remarking that there was no +need to push investigations too far. And I fled, and the lobster was +tip-top, thank you." + +"I don't see why you've any cause to grumble at the Doctor," was +Norah's comment. + +"That's your feminine ignorance," returned Wally. "He made me feel +small." + +"Well, if I get a head mistress as easy-going--" said Norah, dolefully. + +"Don't you get the idea into your mind that our revered Head's +easy-going!" Wally retorted. "He thinks nothing of skinning a fellow on +occasion--only he didn't happen to think a lobster was occasion--that +night, anyhow. You see, it was near the end of term, and even Heads get +soft!" + +"Lots of em," said Jim; "look at your own!" He dodged a hairbrush +neatly. "Have a little sense, young Wally; don't you see I'm busy? +Norah, old chap, did you see my blazer?" + +"I hung it in your wardrobe," said Norah promptly "Also your overcoat, +also your straw hat, also your cadet uniform--what are you going to do +with that, by the way, Jim?" + +"Get photographed in it," said Wally, wickedly. + +"I'm likely to!" Jim said, with fine scorn. "Goodness only knows--I may +find some fellow it'll fit. It certainly wouldn't fit me much longer." + +"It's been the anxiety of the whole battalion," said Wally. "It creaked +and began to split whenever he drilled in it, and for the last six +parades we've always taken out a blanket in case we should need to +drape his tattered form on the way home! It's an uncommonly good thing +he's left. Most demoralizing for a young corps to see its corpulent +lieutenant bursting out of his uniform!" + +"He's not corpulent," said Norah indignantly, whereat Jim, who +personified leanness with breadth of shoulder, grinned even more widely +than Wally, and patted her on the head as he passed with an armful of +clothes, which he stowed into his wardrobe much as he might have dumped +sacks of potatoes into a barn. Even Norah's wide and free views on the +subject of garments were not proof against the sight. + +"Are those your good suits, Jim?" + +"Yes," said her brother, cheerfully. "They're used to it. Chuck me that +coat, Wally." + +Wally complied, and the coat--which happened to be the one belonging to +its owner's evening suit--was added to the heap in the wardrobe. + +"I'll sort 'em out some time or other," said Jim. "I'm so jolly sick of +unpacking. Wally, you animal, you're not finished, are you?" + +"Ages ago," said his chum. "Hadn't anything like your quantity, you +see. My clothes are neat and trim, and my pyjamas have blue ribbon in +them and I have put out my lace pin cushion and my tulle slippers, and +all is well! Now I feel I can go and play with Cecil with a quiet +mind!" + +"I really don't know why I brought a lunatic home with me," Jim said, +patiently. "Sorry, Nor.; but we'll take him out in the scrub and lose +him. Meanwhile--" He closed the last drawer with a bang, and advanced +with slow deliberation upon the hapless Mr. Meadows. + +For the next few minutes the air in the room was murky with pillows, +other missiles and ejaculations. Out of the turmoil came yelps, much +energetic abuse, and shrieks to Norah for aid to which that maiden, who +was enjoying herself hugely, lent a deaf ear. Finally, the combat +restricted itself principally to Wally's bed, from which the bedclothes +gradually disappeared, until they formed a tight bundle on the floor, +with Wally in the centre. Jim piled the mattress on top, and retreated +to the door. + +"Beast!" said Wally, disentangling himself with difficulty, until he +sat on the pile, considerably dishevelled, and wearing a broad grin. +"It's only your vile brute force--some day I'll get even with you!" He +rose, hurled the mattress upon the bed, and looked inquiringly at his +blankets. "How do you imagine I'm going to sleep there to-night?" + +"Oh, we'll fix it up when we come to bed," laughed Jim. "Come on--we +ought to go down to Cecil." + +"Hold on till I brush my hair," said Wally, attacking his disturbed +locks, and settling his tie. "All right; lead on, Macduff!" + +"Ready, Nor.?" + +Norah hesitated. + +"I'm going to my room for something," she said. "I'll be after you in a +few minutes, boys." + +She disappeared within her room, and the boys clattered downstairs. +When they had gone, Norah slipped back noiselessly to Jim's apartment, +which gave the impression of having recently been the scene of a +cyclone. She laughed a little, looking at it from the doorway. + +"It certainly is a 'perfick shambles'," she said. "Poor old chaps--and +they'll be so tired when they come up to bed!" + +Moving quietly, she sorted out the tangled bedclothes and made up the +bed, and reduced to order some of the chaos in the room. Then she +opened the wardrobe and took out the mass of clothes, sorting out the +suits and putting them away carefully, with a shake to the coats to +remove creases. The dress suit she laid in a drawer, running to her own +room for a tiny lavender bag to keep away the moths. She was closing +the drawer when she started at a step, and Jim came in. + +"What on earth are you up to?" was his question. His eye travelled +round the room, taking in the open door of the wardrobe, and the dress +coat in the drawer, where stood his small sister, rather flushed. + +"Well!" he said, and paused. "Weren't we beasts?" + +"No, you weren't," said Norah indignantly. + +"H'm," said Jim. "It's a jolly good thing when a fellow has a sister, +anyhow." He came over to her and put his arm round her shoulders. "Dear +old chap!" he said. They went down the stairs together. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A THUNDERSTORM + + The Bush hath moods and changes, as the seasons rise and fall, + And the men who love the Bushland--they are loyal thro' it all. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"The day after to-morrow is the date of the men's dance," Mr. Linton +said. "Norah mustn't go in for any wild exertion on that day, as she'll +probably want to dance several hundred miles at night. So if you boys +want to plan anything, you had better make your arrangements for +to-morrow." + +"I don't know that I've energy enough to plan anything," said Jim, +lazily. He was lying full length on the lawn, his head on Norah. Wally +was close by, and Cecil and Mr. Linton occupied basket chairs. Peace +would have reigned supreme had not the mosquitoes kept every one busy. + +"Any wishes, Cecil?" + +"None whatever," said Cecil. "There are no people to go and see, I +think you said, Uncle David?" + +"No one that would interest you," Mr. Linton said; and Wally and Jim, +who had groaned internally with fear of being taken "calling," felt +their spirits return. + +"My brain's not equal to planning, as I remarked," Jim said. "But if I +go anywhere, I'd like to do so on a horse. I want to feel a horse under +me again." + +"Hear, hear," from Wally, softly. + +"Well, I can't go out to-morrow," said the squatter. "I've letters to +see to, and Anderson may be out; so you must look after +yourselves--which I believe you to be entirely capable of doing. Norah, +haven't you any ideas?" + +"Loads," said Norah, promptly, "but they're all connected with +mosquitoes!" She aimed a vicious blow into space as she spoke, and +sighed, before rubbing the bite. "Well, suppose we ride out and boil +the billy somewhere along the river? Cecil, would you care for that?" + +"Very much," said Cecil, in the tones that always gave the impression +that he despised the particular subject under discussion. Norah had +quite withdrawn the opinion formed in the first five minutes of their +acquaintance, that he was ill mannered--now she bewailed the fact that +he was so uniformly and painfully polite. + +"Well, if you would--" she said, hesitatingly. "What do you boys think?" + +"Grand idea," responded Wally. Norah loved Wally's way; he was always +so pleased and interested over any plan that might be formed. Jim was +wont to remark that if you arranged to clean out a pigsty, Wally would +probably regard it as a gigantic picnic, and enjoy his day hugely. She +smiled at him gratefully in the darkness. + +"You too, Jim?" + +"Rather--anything you like," said her brother. "What horse can I have, +Dad?" + +Jim had no special horse of his own. His two ponies, Sirdar and Mick, +he had outgrown, although they were still up to anything of a lighter +weight--the former only inferior to Norah's beloved Bobs. His absences +from home were so long that it had not seemed worth while to procure +him a special horse, and for several holidays he had been accustomed to +ride any of the station mounts. Privately, Jim was not altogether +satisfied with the arrangement, although quite admitting its common +sense. Now that he had left school he intended to ask his father if he +could buy a horse. + +"You can try my new purchase, Monarch, if you like," Mr. Linton +answered. "He's quite a decent mover--I think you'll like him." + +Cecil bit his lip, under cover of the darkness. He coveted a ride on +both Bobs and Monarch, and had given hints on the subject, but neither +had been taken. Now Jim, nearly three years his junior, was lent +Monarch without even having asked for him; while he was still, he +presumed, to ride the steady-going Brown Betty, whom he thoroughly +despised, in spite of the fact that she had once got rid of him. He +registered another notch in his general grudge against Billabong. + +Mr. Linton was absolutely ignorant of what passed in his nephew's mind. +To give the city boy, with his uncertain seat and heavy hands, anything +but a steady horse, never occurred to him; he would have regarded it as +little short of inviting disaster to put him on Monarch, thoroughbred +and newly broken in as he was; and, of course, no one but Norah ever +rode Bobs. + +"That's all right," he said, as Jim expressed his pleasure. "And what +about you, Wally? You're too long now for Mick, I think." + +"Oh, anything you like, sir," said Wally, easily. "I haven't met any +bad 'uns on Billabong. Warder, or Brown Betty, or Nan--have you got them +all still?" + +"They're all here," the squatter said. "Cecil generally rides Betty, +and I believe Burton's using old Warder just now. But you can have Nan, +if you like." + +"Thanks very much," said Wally. "I'll take the shine out of you, young +Norah!" + +"I'd like to see you," returned Norah. Monarch might beat Bobs or yes, +perhaps one other horse she knew of, in a small tree-grown paddock; at +the thought of which she smiled happily to herself. But no other horse +on Billabong could see the way Bobs went when he was in earnest. + +"Well, that's all settled," Mr. Linton said. "I hope you'll have a good +day--you're bound to have it hot, so I should advise you to get an early +start. If you go as far as the Swamp Paddock, Norah, you might ride +round the cattle there, and see if they're settling down--I put the new +bullocks there, you know." + +"All right, Dad, we'll do it. I like having an object for a ride." + +"Same here," said Jim sleepily. "Picnics are asinine things!" + +"I don't believe you know much about anything--you're three parts +asleep!" said Wally, flinging a cushion at his chum, which Jim caught +thankfully, and, remarking that Norah was uncommonly scraggy, adjusted +under his head. The result was a vigorous upheaval by the indignant +Norah, who declined to be a head-rest for such ingratitude any longer. +At this point Mr. Linton discovered that it was time for supper; and +the boys, tired after their long journey, were not long in saying +goodnight. + +Jim came up with Norah, and switched on her light. His eye travelled +round the pretty room. + +"I don't know what part of home's HOMIEST," he said--"but I always +reckon your room runs pretty near it! Blest if I know what it will be +like when you're not here, little chap." + +Norah rubbed her face against his coat sleeve. + +"We don't talk of it," she said. "If we did, I'd--I'd be a horrid +coward, Jimmy--boy, and you wouldn't like me a bit!" + +"Wouldn't I?" Jim said. "Well, I can't imagine you a coward, anyhow." +He bent and kissed her. "Good-night, old kiddie." + +They set out in good time next morning, for the sun gave promise of a +scorching day. + +Billy had the horses ready under the shade of a huge pepper-tree; even +there the flies were bad enough to set Monarch and Bobs fretting with +irritation, while the two stock horses lashed unceasingly with their +tails and stamped in the dust. Nan was a long, handsome brown mare, +with two white feet--an old friend of Wally's, who came and patted her +and let her rub her worried head against his coat. Cecil mounted Betty +and looked on sourly, while Jim walked round Monarch and admired the +big black. + +"He ought to carry you like a bird, Dad." + +"He does; a bit green yet, but he'll mend of that," his father +answered. "Now, get away, all of you." He put Norah up and watched, +with a silent look of approval, the way Jim handled his impatient +steed, taking him quietly, as one treats a fractious baby, and mounting +gently. Then he stood under the tree to see them ride down the paddock, +valises containing necessaries for the "asinine picnic" strapped on Nan +and Betty's saddles. Norah, as the lady of the party, was exempt from +carrying burdens, and Monarch brooked no load but his rider. + +They made good time across the shadeless paddocks, anxious for the +pleasanter conditions along the river bank, where a cattle track wound +in and out under the gum trees. It was one of Norah and Jim's favourite +rides; they never failed to take it when holidays brought the boy back +to Billabong. They pushed along it for some time, eventually finding +the slip rails, through which they got into the Swamp Paddock--so called +because of a wide marsh in one corner, where black duck and snipe used +to come freely. The new cattle had taken to the paddock like old hands. +Satisfied with their inspection, Norah and Jim led the way back to the +river, where presently they came to an ideal place to camp; a bend +thickly shaded, with the river bank shelving down to a sandy beach, +where it was easy to get good water. + +Wally volunteered to boil the billy, which he accomplished after much +vigorous fanning with his hat at the fire. The job took some little +time, and if the tea was eventually brewed with water that had not +quite reached boiling point, that was a matter between Wally and his +conscience--certainly the other members of the party were far too +thirsty to be critical! Lunch was lazily discussed close to the water, +after which they lay about on the bank and talked of many things. +Nobody was inclined to move, for the heat, even at the river, was very +great; a still, thunderous day, on which no shade could keep out the +moist heat, that seemed, as Wally put it, "to get into your very bones +and make them lazy." + +At length Jim rolled over. + +"Well, I'm off for a bathe," he said. "Coming, Cecil?" + +"Oh, yes," Cecil answered, a little doubtfully; while Wally jumped up +as a matter of course. + +"Ugh!" groaned Norah. "Pigs! Why was I born a girl?" + +"So's we could lay ourselves at your feet!" said Wally solemnly, +suiting the action to the word, and placing his forehead forcefully in +the dust before her. + +"M'f!" Norah wrinkled her nose. "It's very nice of you, but I don't +quite see what use it would be. Anyhow, I'd far rather go bathing." She +huddled on the ground, and looked tragic. "Go--leave me!" + +"Sorry, old girl," grinned Jim. "We won't be long." + +"Be as long as you like," said the victim of circumstances, cheerfully. +"I'm going to sleep." + +The three boys disappeared along the bank, finding, apparently, some +difficulty in discovering a suitable bathing place, for it was some +time before shouts and laughter from a good way off told Norah that +they were in the water. She sighed, looking ruefully at the river +flowing beneath her, and half decided to go in herself; but her father +did not care for her bathing in the open alone, and she gave up the +idea and shut her eyes so that she would not see temptation rippling +down below. Presently she fell asleep. + +She did not know how long it was before she woke. Then she jumped up +with a start, thinking, for a moment, that it was dark. The sun had +disappeared behind a huge bank of deep-purple cloud that had crept up, +blotting out everything. It was breathlessly hot and quite still--not a +leaf stirred on a tree, and the birds were quiet. + +"Whew!" said Norah. "We're going to have a storm--and a big one!" + +She listened. From far up faint calls and laughter still met her ears. +It was evident that the boys were finding the water very much to their +taste. + +"Duffers!" Norah ejaculated. "We'll have the loveliest soaking--and +Dad'll be anxious." + +She coo-ee'd several times, but no response came. Finally she rose, +with a little wrinkle in her brow. + +"I guess I'd better saddle up," she said. + +The horses were tied up in a clump of trees not far off, the saddles +out of reach of their restless feet. Norah saddled Bobs first, and then +the two stock horses--which was easy. To get Monarch ready, however, was +not such a simple matter: the youngster was uneasy and sweating, and +would not keep still for a moment; to get the saddle on and adjust +breastplate and rings was a fairly stiff task with a sixteen-hands +horse and a groom of fourteen years, hampered by a divided riding +skirt. At length the last buckle went home, and Norah gave a relieved +sigh. + +"Bother you, Monarch!" she said. "You've taken me an awful time. Come +on, Bobs." + +Leaving the other horses tied up, she mounted and cantered down the +bank, calling again and again. An answer came sooner than she had +expected, and the three boys, somewhat hastily arrayed, came running +through the trees. + +"Jimmy, have you seen the weather?" asked his sister, indicating the +blackened sky. + +"Only a few minutes ago," Jim said, visibly annoyed with himself. "We +were diving in a hole with the trees meeting overhead, and the scrub +thick all around us--hadn't an idea it was working up for this. Why +didn't you call us, you old duffer?" + +"I did--but I couldn't make you hear," said Norah, somewhat injured. +"Hurry--I've saddled up." + +"You have? You didn't saddle Monarch?" asked Jim quickly. + +"Yes, he's all ready, and the valises are on. We're in for a ducking, +anyway, don't you think, Jim?" + +"I think you hadn't any business to saddle Monarch," Jim said, soberly. +"I wish you wouldn't do those things, Norah." + +"Oh, it was all right." She smiled down at him. "He was only a bit +fidgety; I believe he's frightened of the weather, Jim." She looked +across at Cecil, seeing that young gentleman, wonderful to relate, with +his stock folded awry, and his hair in wild confusion. "Do you mind +thunderstorms, Cecil?" + +"I--don't care for them much," Cecil panted. Running evidently did not +agree with him, and he was finding his tweed riding suit very unfitted +for the heat of the day. Jim, jogging easily, clad in white silk shirt, +cord breeches and leggings, looked at him pityingly. + +"Carry your coat, Cecil?" he sang out. + +"No, thank you. I'd rather wear it," said Cecil, who disapproved of +being coatless at any time, and had looked with marked disfavour at Jim +and Wally as they set off in the morning. + +"Stupid donkey!" Jim muttered, under his breath. "Ah, there are the +horses!" + +He made for Betty at once, and tossed the breathless Cecil into her +saddle, advising him to ride on quickly. + +Wally was up in a twinkling; but to mount Monarch was no such easy +matter, for the black horse was dancing with restlessness, and a low +growl of thunder far to the west evidently terrified him. Finally, with +a quick movement, Jim was in the saddle, whereat Monarch promptly +reared. He came down, and tried to get his head between his legs, but +the boy was too quick for him, and presently steadied him sufficiently +to move away in the wake of the others. + +"Go on!" Jim shouted. "Don't lose a minute!" + +They went down the river bank at a hand gallop, chafing now and then at +the necessity of striking away from the track to find gates or +slip-rails, as one paddock followed another. At first Monarch gave Jim +all he knew to hold him, and at the gates Wally and Norah had to do all +the work, for the black thoroughbred was too impatient to stand an +instant, and threatened to buck a score of times. Jim watched the sky +anxiously, very disgusted with himself. He knew they had no chance of +getting home dry, but at least they must be out of the timber before +the storm broke. It was coming very near now--the thunder was more +frequent, and jagged lightning tore rents in the inky curtain that +covered the sky. He took Monarch by the head, and sent him tearing +along the track, passing the boys--Wally riding hard on Nan, and Cecil +sitting back on Betty with a pale face. Before him Bobs was galloping +freely, Norah riding with her hands well down, and on her face a smile +that was like a child's laugh of sheer happiness. Norah loved +thunderstorms; they seemed to call to something in her nature that +never failed to respond. She glanced up at Jim merrily as he passed +her. + +"Grand, isn't it?" she said. Then her face changed. "He isn't getting +away with you, Jim?" + +"Not he!" said her brother, grinning. "But we've got to get out of this +jolly soon--hurry your old crock, Norah!" Norah's indignant heel smote +Bobs, and they raced neck and neck for a moment. + +They swung out of the trees just in time, the plain clear for home +before them. Almost simultaneously, the storm broke. There was a mad +flash of lightning across the gloom, and then a rattling peal of +thunder that rang round the sky and finished with a tremendous crack +overhead. The black horse stopped suddenly, wild with terror. Then his +head went down, and he bucked. + +Norah and Wally pulled up, regardless of the rain beginning to fall in +torrents. Monarch was swaying to and fro in mad paroxysms, trying to +get his head between his knees, his back humped in an arch, all his +being centred in the effort to get rid of the weight on his back, and +the iron in his mouth, and the control that kept him near that terrible +convulsion of nature going on overhead. Jim was motionless, each hand +like iron on the rein--yet with gentleness, for he knew the great black +brute was only a baby after all, and a badly frightened baby at that. +Cecil, coming by on Betty, his face white, looked aghast at the +struggle between horse and rider, and fled on homewards. The thunder +pealed, and the lightning lit the sky in forked darts. + +Possibly the rain steadied Monarch, or sense came back to him through +Jim's voice. He stopped suddenly, planting all four feet wide apart on +the ground. Jim patted his neck, and spoke to him, and the tension went +out of the big horse. He stood trembling a little. + +"Slip along," nodded Jim to Norah. + +Bobs and Nan went off together. Behind them, Monarch broke into a +canter, obedient once more. + +Five minutes later they were at the stables, Billy out in the wet to +take the horses. The storm was raging still, but there were coolness +and refreshment in the air. Billy grinned at the three soaked riders as +they slipped to the ground, and then at Brown Betty, trotting down the +hill in the rain. There was no sign of Cecil, who had fled indoors. + +"Him plenty 'fraid," said the black retainer, his grin widening. "Him +run like emu!" His eagle gaze dwelt on Monarch, who was still trembling +and excited. + +"Been buck?" he asked, his eyes round. + +"Plenty!" Jim laughed. "All right, Billy, I'll let him go myself." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BILLABONG DANCE + + The slope beyond is green and still, + And in my dreams I dream, + The hill is like an Irish hill + Beside an Irish stream. + KENDALL. + + +"Don't dress to-night, if you don't mind, Cecil," said Jim, putting his +head into his cousin's room. + +"Not dress?" Evening clothes were part of Cecil's training, and he kept +to them rigidly, putting on each night for dinner what Murty O'Toole, +having seen in wonder, referred to as "a quare little +cobbed-shwaller-tail jacket." He regarded with fine scorn the cheerful +carelessness of the boys where clothes were concerned. To Jim and Wally +who were generally immensely occupied until dinner-time, and more often +than not had further plans for the time following, putting on +regulation evening dress seemed a proceeding little short of lunatic; +but since Cecil "liked that sort of thing," they let him alone. +To-night, however, was different, and when Cecil repeated his query +half impatiently, Jim nodded. + +"No. Didn't we tell you? It's the dance in the loft." + +"Oh--don't you people ever dress for dances then?" + +"Not for these dances," Jim answered. "It's the men's spree--all the +hands and their friends; and you can be jolly well certain they won't +run to dress clothes. So we make a point of not putting 'em on. Father +did one year, and felt very sorry he had." + +"I don't know that I'm keen on going, anyway," said Cecil. + +"Oh, I think you'd better. Dad likes us to go, and it's really rather +fun," Jim responded, patiently. "Norah's quite excited about it." + +"Norah's young and enthusiastic," said Cecil. + +"Oh, well, you're hardly hoary-headed yourself yet!" Jim grinned. +"Might as well be cheerful while you're alive, Cecil, 'cause you'll be +a long time dead!" He withdrew his head, shut the door with an +unconcerned bang, and his whistle died away up the corridor. + +"Hang it!" said Cecil, disgustedly, looking at his forbidden garments. +"Who wants to go to a beastly servants' ball, anyhow?" He donned a dark +suit reluctantly, a little consoled in that its very recent cut would +certainly be an eye-opener to Billabong, and went down to dinner, +meeting on the way Norah, in a muslin frock, with her hair flying and +her eyes sparkling. + +"Oh! I'm so glad you haven't dressed up!" said she. "It's such fun, +Cecil!--we've been helping to decorate the loft, and really you'd hardly +know it was a loft, it looks so decent. And it's so funny to see the +men; they pretend they don't care a bit, but I do believe they're quite +excited. Murty came in with a trememdous lot of ferns, and he's been +nailing them all on the wall in streaks, and he and Mick Shanahan +nearly had a fight 'cause Mick leaned against one of them and the +erection came down, and the nail tore Mick's coat. Still, it was Murty +who seemed most aggrieved! And the musicians have come out from Cunjee, +and they've been practising--they can play, too!" She paused for lack of +breath. + +"What sort of music does Cunjee supply?" + +"Violin and flute and a funny little piano," said Norah. "They had +quite an exciting time getting the piano up into the loft with the +block and pulley. But the music sounds very well up there. The only +trouble is old Andy Ferguson, the fencer--he's always been accustomed to +fiddle for them, and he's very crushed because we've got out these men. +Dad says he'd never have got them if he'd dreamed how disappointed old +Andy would be." + +Cecil had seen Andy, who struck him as a peculiarly uninteresting old +man. That such consideration should be shown to his wishes and feelings +was a thing beyond him, and he merely stared. + +"However, he's going to play the supper dances and some others," said +Norah, not noticing his silence, "so he's a bit consoled." They entered +the drawing-room at the moment, finding Jim and Wally in armchairs, +tweed clad and unusually tidy, and chafing miserably against the +tyranny of white shirts after days of soft variety. "And a big buggy +load of girls has come out from Cunjee already; and Brownie says +there's a tremendous demand for hot water for shaving from the men's +quarters, and Dave Boone came in for some mutton fat for his hair, but +she wouldn't give it to him. Now she's half sorry she didn't, 'cause +she believes he'll use the black fat they keep in the harness room; +he's so dark no one would be able to tell--from the look! Who are you +going to dance with, Cecil?" + +"You, if I may," drawled Cecil. + +"Why, of course, if you want to," Norah said, laughing. "But we always +dance with every one on these occasions. It's one of the sights of +one's life to see Wally leading Brownie out!" + +Cecil gasped. + +"And am I expected to dance with Mrs. Brown?" + +"Very possibly she won't have a dance to spare you," said Wally +serenely. "Brownie's no end popular, you see. Thank goodness. I've +booked mine with her already!" + +Cecil's stare spoke volumes. + +"And who are your partners, Norah?" + +"Any one who asks me," said that maiden promptly. + +"And your father allows it?" + +"Certainly he does," said Jim. "Don't get tragic, Cecil. The men on the +place are an awfully decent lot, and most of them have been here ever +so long--besides, it's their one night in the year, and they never +overstep their limits. Dad always plans this spree himself specially. +Of course, if you don't like--" + +Jim stopped short, and bit his tongue. It had suddenly occurred to him +that he was host--and he had nearly said something rude. So he whistled +vaguely, and asked Wally if he were going to dance with Lee Wing, who +was the Chinese gardener. + +"Wish I could get the chance," said Wally, his eyes twinkling. "Think +of piloting fat old Lee Wing through a polka--he'd get so beautifully +puffed, and his pigtail would wave in the breeze, and he'd be such an +armful!" + +"Do you mean to say that Chow comes, too?" queried Cecil. + +"No; he's shy," Wally answered. "We've tried to get him, but in vain; +he prefers to go to bed and dream of China. And Billy hangs about like +a black ghost, but he won't come in. So we lose a lot of international +enjoyment; but, even so, what's left is pretty good, itsn't it, Norah?" + +"I love it," said Norah. + +"And you don't get any of your own friends to come? It seems to me the +queerest arrangement," said Cecil. + +"It's the men's dance, don't you see? There wouldn't be much fun for +them if the place were filled up with our friends." + +"Well, I should think a few of your own sort would be better. Aren't +there any girls or boys within reach that you know? I suppose you've a +juvenile sweetheart or two in the district?" + +Norah looked at him blankly. Wally gave an expressive wriggle in his +chair, and Jim sat up suddenly, with a flush on his brown face. + +"We never talk that sort of rot here," he said angrily. "Norah's not a +town girl, and her head isn't full of idiotic, silly bosh. I'll thank +you--" + +Mr. Linton came in at the moment, and the point on which Jim intended +to express his gratitude remained unuttered. Cecil had reddened +wrathfully, and the general atmosphere was electric. Mr. Linton took, +apparently, no notice. He pulled Norah's hair gently as he passed her. + +"You're all remarkably spruce," he commented. "Can any one tell me why +almost every maid I have met in my house this day turns and flees as +though I were the plague? Sarah is the only one who doesn't shun me, +and her mind appears to be taken up with affairs of State, for I asked +her twice if she had seen my tobacco pouch, and she brought me in +response a jug of shaving water, for which I have had no use for some +time!" He laughed, stroking his iron-grey beard. "Can you explain the +mystery, Norah?" + +"It's easy," said his daughter. "Sarah's hair has a natural friz, so +she's the only girl in the house without curling pins concealed--more or +less--in her front hair. Brownie gave permission for the pins to-day; I +guess she thinks it would give Sarah an unfair start if she didn't!" + +"But the shaving water?" + +"Ah, well, I expect Fred Anderson wanted that. She's engaged to him, +you know," said Norah, simply. + +"Well, I hardly see why she should give me his shaving water, either +from Anderson's point of view or mine; but I suppose it's all right," +said Mr. Linton. "The whole place is upset. I really wanted some work +done, but the men who should have been sinking a well were tacking up +ferns, and those whose mission in life is--or ought to be--hoeing out +ragwort were putting French chalk on the floor of my loft! Judging from +my brief inspection, it seemed to me that the latter occupation was far +more strenuous than the ragwort job; but they seemed much happier than +usual, and were working overtime without a struggle!" + +"To hear you talk so patiently," quoth Norah, "no one would imagine +that you'd bought the French chalk yourself!" She perched on the arm of +his chair, and looked at him severely, while the boys laughed. + +"The men are like a lot of kids to-day," Jim said. "Did you hear about +old Lee Wing, Dad? He was standing under the block and pulley after +they'd hoisted up the piano, and I expect the sight of the hook on the +end of the dangling rope was too much for the men, for they slipped it +through Wing's leather belt and hauled him up too! You should have seen +him, with his pigtail dangling, kicking at the end of the rope like the +spider in 'Little Miss Muffet!' They landed him in the loft, and Fred +Anderson insisted on waltzing with him, while one of the musicians +hammered out The Merry Widow on the piano. Poor old Wing was very wild +at first, but they got him laughing finally." + +"Why that long-suffering Chinaman stays here is always a mystery to +me," said his father, laughing. "He's the butt of the whole place; but +he fattens on it." + +"There's the dinner gong!" said Norah, jumping up. "Come on, gentlemen, +we've to hurry to-night, so that the girls can get free early." + +The loft over the stables, which had been built with a view to such +occasions, was quite transformed when the house party entered it a +couple of hours later. The electric light--Billabong had its own plant +for lighting--had been extended to the loft, and gleamed down on a +perfect bower of green--bracken and coral ferns, the tender foliage of +young sapling tops, Christmas bush, clematis and tall reeds from the +lagoon--the latter gathered by Jim and Wally during their morning bathe. +Rough steps had been improvised to lead from outside up to the main +door of the loft, over which still dangled from the block and pulley +the rope that had suspended the irate Lee Wing earlier in the day. It +was also possible to enter by the usual method--a trapdoor in the floor +over a ladder leading from the floor below; but this was considered by +the men scarcely suitable for their partners. All traces of its usual +contents had, of course, been removed from the big room, and the floor +gleamed in the light, mute evidence of the ardour with which Mr. +Linton's French chalk had been applied. At one end, near the railing +guarding the trapdoor, the Cunjee musicians were stationed, and close +to them a queer old figure hovered--old Andy Ferguson, gnarled and +knotted and withered; Irish, for all his Scotch name, and with his old +blue eyes full of Irish fire at the thought of "a spree." He held his +old fiddle tenderly as he might hold a child; it, too, was the worse +for wear, and showed in more than one place traces of repair; but when +Andy wielded the bow its tones were just as mellow to him as the finest +instrument on earth. He kept a jealous eye on the Cunjee men; they +might oust him for most of the night, but at least his was to be the +old privilege of opening the ball. "The Boss" had said so. + +The homestead men had lined up near the door to receive their +guests--to-night they were hosts to Mr. Linton and his children, as to +every one else. They were a fine lot of fellows--Murty O'Toole, and Mick +Shanahan, the horse breaker, and Willis and Blake and Burton--all long +and lean and hard, with deep-set, keen eyes and brown, thin faces; +Evans, who was supposed to be over-seer, and important enough to arrive +late; younger fellows, like Fred Anderson and David Boone (the latter's +hair suspiciously smooth and shiny); Hogg, the dour old man who ruled +the flower garden and every one but Norah; and a sprinkling of odd +rouseabouts and boys, very sleek and well brushed, in garments of +varying make, low collars, and the tie the bushman loves "for +best"--pale blue satin, with what Wally termed "jiggly patterns" on it. +Of the same type were the guests--men from other stations, cocky farmers +and a very small sprinkling of township men. + +The ladies kept rigidly on arrival to the other side of the loft. There +was Mrs. Brown, resplendent in a puce silk dress that Norah remembered +from her earliest childhood, with a lace cap of monumental structure +topped by a coquettish bow of pale pink ribbon. Her kind old face +beamed on every one. Close to her, very meek under her sheltering wing, +were Sarah and Mary, the housemaids--very gay in papery silks, pink and +green, with much adornment of wide yellow lace. Norah had helped to +dress them both, and she smiled delightedly at them as she came in. +There was Mrs. Willis, who ruled over the men's hut, and was reckoned, +as a cook, only inferior to Mrs. Brown; and Joe Burton's pretty wife, +in a simple white muslin--with no doubt in big Joe's heart, as he looked +at her, as to who was the belle of the ball. Then, girls and women from +that vague region the bush calls "about," in mixed attire--from flannel +blouses and serge skirts, to a lady who hurt the eye it looked at, and +made the lights seem pale, in her gorgeous gown of mustard-coloured +velveteen, trimmed with knots of cherry-coloured ribbon. They came +early, with every intention of staying late, and cheerfully certain of +a good time. The Billabong ball was an event for which an invitation +was much coveted. + +Norah kept close to her father's wing, as they entered, shaking hands +gravely with the men by the door, and with Mrs. Brown--which latter +proceeding she privately considered a joke. The boys followed; Jim +quiet and pleasant; Wally favouring Murty O'Toole with a solemn wink, +and Cecil plainly bored by the little ceremony. He let his fingers lie +in each man's hand languidly--and would probably have been injured had +he seen Murty wipe his hand carefully on the side of his trousers after +he had passed on. The men had no love for the city boy. + +"S'lect y'r partners!" It was Dave Boone, most noted "M.C."--in demand +at every ball in the district. Dave knew what he was about, and saw +that other people understood the fact; no shirking when he was in +command, no infringement of rules, no slip-shod dancing. Even as he +kept his eagle eye on the throng, he "selected" one of the prettiest +girls himself, and bore her to the head of the room. There was never +any doubt of Dave's generalship. + +Cecil turned to Norah. + +"May I have this?" + +"Sorry," Norah said, "I always dance with Jim first." + +"P'f!" said Cecil, lightly. "That old brother-and-sister idea is +exploded." + +"Not with Jimmy and me," Norah answered. "Why don't you ask Mary? She +can dance awfully well." + +"No, thank you," said Cecil, with elevated nose. "I'll watch." + +Wally had approached Mrs. Brown, and bowed low. + +"Ours, I think?" + +"Now, Master Wally, me dancin' days are over," said Brownie. "Go an' +get one of the girls, now, dearie, do!" + +"A girl!--when I can get you?" Wally ejaculated. "Not much!" He tucked +her hand into his arm and led her off in triumph. + +"Promen-ayde y'r partners!" + +Dave turned and nodded to Andy Ferguson, who, with fiddle tucked +lovingly under his chin, was waiting for his signal. He broke into a +march--the time a little shaky, the tune a little old, for the hand that +held the bow was old and shaky, too; but still a march, with a swing to +it that set the feet going at once. The dancers promenaded round the +room in a long procession, led proudly by Wally and Mrs. Brown. At one +end a few men, disappointed in obtaining partners, clustered by the +wall; near them stood Mr. Linton, watching in his grave, pleasant way +that was so like Jim's, with Cecil at his elbow, his delicate face dull +and expressionless. Round and round marched the couples. + +"Circular waltz, please!" + +The music swung into a waltz without a break, and simultaneously the +march broke into the dance as every man seized his partner by the waist +and began to revolve solemnly and silently. Cecil gaped. + +"What on earth is a circular waltz?" + +"Blest if I know for certain," replied his uncle, laughing. "Much like +any other waltz--but you mustn't use the middle of the floor. Watch +young Boone." + +Dave was keeping an eagle eye on the dancers. For the most part they +were content to gyrate near the wall; but should any more daring couple +approach the unoccupied space in the middle of the room, they were +instantly detected and commanded to return. As Cecil looked, Wally, who +was dancing with a broad grin of sheer happiness on his face, swung his +ponderous partner right across the centre--and was greeted by the +vigilant M.C. with the stern injunction--"Keep circle!" Quite oblivious +that this outbreak had anything to do with him, while Mrs. Brown, +feeling the most miserable of sinners, was far too breathless to +explain, Wally presently repeated his offence, whereupon Boone pulled +him up gravely, and pointed out his enormity to him. The culprit +grinned the more widely, promised amendment, nodded vigorously, and +danced off, Mrs. Brown remaining speechless throughout. Mr. Linton +smothered a laugh in his beard. + +Presently the music came to an end. Old Andy put his fiddle down and +looked along the loft with a happy little smile. The dancers stopped, +and Mr. Boone's voice rose sonorously. + +"Seats, please!" + +At this, each man rushed with his partner to the side of the loft +previously tenanted by the ladies, and deposited her on the long forms +ranged there. Then the men retreated hastily to the other side. + +There was no conversation, nor had there been any through the dance. It +seemed that the poetry of motion must suffice for enjoyment. + +Norah and Jim, who had been dancing vigorously, pulled up near the +others. + +"Did you see me get hauled over the coals?" asked Wally gleefully. He +had placed Mrs. Brown on a seat, and followed the example of his sex in +retreating. + +"Rather--we were in fits, behind you!" said Jim. "Was Dave cross?" + +"Oh, quite mild; took my assurance that I didn't know I was sinning, +and forgave me like a man and a brother. And why shouldn't a fellow +cross that floor?" + +"Goodness knows; but it's a rule. They dance very strictly, and in many +ways more correctly than we do." + +"There are two lovely couples," said Wally, gleefully. "They hold each +other firmly round the neck, and they revolve on the space of a +threepenny bit. It's beautiful. May I try that way with you, Norah?" + +"No, you mayn't," laughed Norah; "at least, not here. They might think +we were imitating them." + +"Curious penetration on their parts!" rejoined Wally. "Well, can you +tell me why lots of the men hold one arm behind their backs?" + +"In my young days that was quite ordinary," Mr. Linton put in. "I +always danced that way--and I was remarkably run after," he added, +modestly. Whereat Wally meekly assured him that he thought the practice +a highly desirable one, and had serious thoughts of adopting it +himself. + +"I've been looking at the programme nailed up for the musicians," said +Cecil. "There are some dances I never saw--Varsoviana, Circassian +Circle, and Caledonians." + +"In the Varsoviana," said Mr. Linton, retrospectively, "I used to +shine." + +"Well, they beat US," said his son. "We can't dance 'em; but we look +on. The first two are round dances, and the Caledonians is a square. I +suppose they'd be all right, only they're not taught now." + +"And there are no two-steps," said Cecil, in a tone of personal injury. + +Jim laughed outright. + +"It'd be so much simpler for you if you'd remember you're at what's +commonly known as 'a bush hop'," he said. "You can't expect the last +adornments of a city spree. Anyway, they get more honest fun out of +this than most people do at a Melbourne or Sydney ball." + +Cecil looked patient. + +"May I have the next dance, Norah?" + +"I'm sorry, truly, Cecil, but I've promised it to Murty." + +"Oh!" said Cecil. "The next?" + +"That's Mick Shanahan's," said Norah, laughing. "But you may have the +one after that if you like." + +"I must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose," said he, +unthankfully. + +"Won't you dance with any one else?" + +"No, thanks, I don't care to." The tone was final. + +"Well, I'm going to collar Sarah or die!" said Wally, manfully. "I'll +probably die, anyway, 'cause Fred has his eye on her. Still, here +goes!" + +The musicians gave a preliminary blast, on which followed a shout from +the M.C. + +"Select y'r partners for the lancers!" + +At the word there was a general stampede. Youths who had been timid +before, grown bolder now, dashed towards the long row of girls. Where +more than one arrived simultaneously, there was no argument; the man +who failed to speak first shot off to find another damsel. In a moment +every available fair one had been secured firmly, and the dancers +awaited further commands. + +Wally had not waited for permission from Mr. Boone. At the first sound +of the music he had darted towards Sarah, arriving beside the lady with +"the natural friz" a yard in front of Fred Anderson. + +It was not etiquette to refuse to dance, and the fact that he was "the +Boss's" guest, if only a boy, carried weight. Sarah rose, with a rueful +glance at her disappointed swain. The two disconsolate faces moved +Wally to compassion. + +"I say--I'm awfully sorry," he said. "'Fraid I got ahead of you +unfairly, Fred--perhaps you'll excuse me this time, Sarah? You don't +mind? Well, you'll give me the next, won't you? Thanks, awfully." He +relinquished her to the beaming Fred, and returned, partnerless, to Mr. +Linton and Cecil. + +Then it was a marvellous sight to behold young Dave Boone! With Mrs. +Brown on his arm, he "took the floor" at the head of the room, seeing +that the dancers were correctly sorted out in sets; and thence +proceeded to dance and instruct the room simultaneously, in a manner +truly amazing. With what agility did he "set to partner" and "swing +corner," with his eagle eye all the time scanning the sets to make sure +no one mixed up the commands!--how ably bear his part in "First lady and +second gent.," not even put out of step by the necessity of telling the +further end of the room that it was going wrong!--how splendidly issue +the edict to "chassee-crossee" and "gent. solo," finding time, even in +the press of his double occupation, to propel his panting partner in +the way she should go! His voice rang out over the room, indicating +each figure as it came--there was no excuse for making any mistake in a +square dance when Mr. Boone was in command. And all the while he danced +with a wholehearted energy and a face of absolute gravity. No one, +watching him, could have possibly imagined that this was a pastime. + +"I've seen Boone looking infinitely more cheerful when fighting a bush +fire!" said Mr. Linton. + +"Talk about a conjurer!" was Cecil's astonished comment. "I never saw +one man do so many things at once!" + +The music ceased at last, and the "Seats, please!" marked the temporary +termination of the labours of the M.C. Murty brought Norah back to her +father, thanked her gravely, and made off. + +"What happened to you, Wally?" queried Jim, restoring a blushing damsel +in blue to her form and rejoining his relations. "Did Sarah turn you +down?" + +"I resigned gracefully in favour of Fred," Wally said. "He looked +murderous, and Sarah looked woe-begone, so it seemed the best plan. But +she's mine for the next--and ill befall the caitiff that disputes my +claim!" + +"No one'd dare!" said Jim, hastily. "I'm after Brownie, myself." + +"Ah, Jim, be steady with her," said Norah. "It's a polka!" + +"I'll be steady as old Time," Jim told her, smiling. True to his +promise, when the music began he danced mildly and moderately, and +Brownie emerged from the ordeal in far better order than might have +been expected. + +After that the evening flew. Dance after dance went by in rapid +succession--for the guests were out to dance, and where no time is +wasted in talking much may be done with a few hours. Cecil steadfastly +declined any partner but Norah, and as that maiden had no mind to spare +him more than two, his evening was dull, since his sense of humour was +not equal to finding any fun in the entertainment. He was the object of +considerable curiosity among the visitors, and was generally voted +"stuck-up," and "too big for his boots." As for Jim and Wally, they +flung themselves cheerfully into the business of the night, and even +succeeded in making most of their partners talk, albeit this was a +daring proceeding, and not looked upon with favour by the M.C. They +were too popular, however, to come in for any real criticism, and being +regarded by the majority of the men as "just kids," were allowed to do +very much as they liked. + +Supper was a majestic meal, spread on long tables in a big tent. Mr. +Linton led the way to it with Mrs. Brown, followed by Mick Shanahan, +who conveyed Norah much in the way he danced with her--as if she were a +piece of eggshell china, and apt to crack with careless handling. There +was no "head of the table"; every one sat in the place that seemed +good, and tongues flew as fast as the knives and forks. At the end Mr. +Linton made a little speech. + +"My friends," he said, "it's a great pleasure to Billabong to see you +all here. I hope you'll keep it up till morning, and come again next +year; you're always welcome. However, it is time my daughter went to +bed." (Dissent, and cries of "Not her!") "Before she goes, though, I +would like to see one more dance. I move that our old friend Andy +Ferguson play the 'Royal Irish.'" + +There was frantic applause, and supper adjourned hastily, while every +one hurried back to the loft; in the midst old Andy, his quavering +voice a little raised in excitement, his fiddle held firmly in one +hand. "Too old to work," some called him, wondering why David Linton +kept the old fencer, when younger men were always wanting work on +Billabong; and now, as he faced the long room with his faded blue eyes +a little misty, Andy looked an old man indeed. But the pride of work +was in him, and his master knew it--knew how the gnarled hands ceased to +tremble when they grasped the adze and mattock, just as there was now +no quiver in them as he raised the brown fiddle and cuddled it under +his chin. Age would seize on Andy only when he could work and play no +more. The light came back into his eyes as he saw the boys and girls +waiting for the music--his music. + +He drew the bow lovingly across the strings, and swung into the Irish +dance the old, common tune with the little gay lilt to it that grips +the heart and makes the feet beat time, and has the power to wake old +memories across the years. There were no memories to wake in the happy +young hearts in the loft at Billabong that night. But Andy looked over +the heads of the dancers at his master, meeting his eyes as man to man, +and each knew that the mind of the other had gone back to days long +dead. + +The long floor echoed under the dancers' feet--up and down, swing in the +centre, hands across; the pace was always a good one when Andy Ferguson +played the "Royal Irish." One foot tapped out the time, and his grey +head nodded in sympathy with it. They called to him now and again, +"Bravo, Andy! Good man, Andy! Keep it going!" and he smiled at the +friendly voices, watching them with the keenness of the Irishman for a +light foot in a dance. + +Just before him, Mrs. Brown, dancing with Jim, was footing it in and +out of the figures like a girl, holding her skirts quaintly on either +side as she advanced and retired, and came back to sweep a curtsey that +shamed the quick bow of the younger generation, while the tall lad she +had nursed waited for her with a grave gentleness that sat prettily on +his broad shoulders. Near, too, the old man's eyes dwelt lovingly on +Norah, whose eyes were dancing in time with her feet as Wally pranced +her madly up and down, his own brown face glowing.... just for a moment +Andy saw "the little mistress" who had known her baby for so brief a +time fourteen years before; her face looked at him through her child's +grey eyes. He looked across at his master again, a little wistfully. + +The tune broke into "St. Patrick's Day," and Murty O'Toole gave a +sudden involuntary shout, his hand above his head, Mick Shanahan echoed +it; the Irish music was in their blood, and the old man with the brown +fiddle had power to make them boys again. He, too, had gone back on the +lilt of the tune; back to his own green country, where the man with the +fiddle has his kingdom always, and the lads and lasses are his +subjects. There was a girl with blue Irish eyes, coming to meet him on +St. Patrick's morning... the tune wavered ever so little then, as his +heart cried out to her. Then the dream passed, and he knew that he was +a boy no more, but old Andy Ferguson, playing for the boys and girls in +the loft at Billabong. The bow moved faster and faster yet--only a good +pair could see him right through the "Royal Irish." They were panting +when he dropped his hand at last and stood looking at them a little +vaguely. Then they crowded round him, thanking him. Even the Cunjee +musicians were saying that he could beat them all, and Miss Norah had +put her hand into his, and was patting his arm. There was a mist before +him--he could not see them all, though he knew his triumph. + +"'Tis wid the kindness of all of y'," he murmured. "So good to me y' +all are!" + +David Linton's hand was on his shoulder. + +"Come on, old friend," he said, gently; "we're getting old and we're +tired, you and I." He led him away, Norah still holding his hand. +Behind them the music broke out again, cheerily, and the flying feet +made the loft echo until the dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHRISTMAS + + O mellow air! O sunny light! + O Hope and Youth that pass away, + Print thou in letters of delight + Upon each heart one glorious day! + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Norah woke up early. + +Close outside her open windows a magpie in the magnolia tree was +carolling as though he knew it was a special morning, and that he had a +special message to deliver. The linen blinds were rolled tight up, and +she could see him near one of the great creamy blossoms, each big +enough for his bath; his black and white coat very spruce and smart, +his head thrown back in utter enjoyment of his own song. Norah smiled +at him sleepily from her pillow. + +"Nice old chap!" she said; and then she remembered. + +"Oh!--Christmas." She gave a little happy laugh, for to-day was going to +be such a very good day. There was something that had taxed all her +patience; it was so hard to keep the secret until Christmas. Norah was +not a very patient person by nature, and she was glad that the need for +it was almost over. + +She turned over lazily, and then burst out laughing as something caught +her eye at the foot of the bed--a huge football stocking, assuming +extraordinary shapes by reason of strange packages within it, while +from the top a monkey on a stick grinned at her. Norah jumped up and +brought the stocking back to bed for examination, weak with laughter +when she had finished. A big box of chocolates; a scarlet Christmas +cracker; a very flowery mug of thickest china, with "Love the Giver" on +it, and tied to the handle a label with "For a Good Little Girl" in the +best handwriting of Wally, who evidently considered it not sufficiently +adorned by nature; a live frog in a glass-covered box; a huge bundle, +which took her many minutes to unwrap, and was finally found to contain +a tiny pig of Connemara marble; a Christmas pudding the size of a golf +ball; and finally, in the very toe, a minute bottle labelled "Castor +Oil; Seasonable at Any Time." + +"Oh, you NICE donkeys!" said the recipient of these varied gifts, lying +back and investigating the chocolates. A sound at the window made her +look up, and Jim's laughing face peeped round the curtain. + +"Like 'em?" + +"They're lovely," said Norah, fervently. "Come in, Jimmy, you old +duffer. Merry Christmas!" + +Jim came in, immensely tall and lean in his pyjamas, and sat down on +the bed. + +"Merry Christmas, old kid!" he said, and kissed her. "Taken your oil?" + +"Pudding first--and chocolates," said Norah, solemnly, indicating the +box. "Take lots, Jim, they're beauties. How did you get that thing into +my room?" + +"Waited until I could hear your cheerful snores, and then sneaked in by +the window," said her brother, dodging a chocolate. "My best stocking; +I think I was jolly good to lend it to you--you'll kindly notice that +the frog's box tore a hole in it, and take steps accordingly! It's a +ripping morning--but it's going to be hot. Do you know what time it is?" + +"I don't," said Norah. + +"Five o'clock," said Jim; "isn't it ridiculous!--and you wide awake and +playing with pigs and frogs! I'm off to bed again for a bit--besides, +young Wally's bursting to know how you liked your sock. Go to sleep +again, old chap." + +"I'll try," said Norah, obediently, snuggling down, "Take some +chocolates to Wally--and the castor oil!" + +At the moment Norah was quite convinced that sleep was the last thing +possible for her, and merely laid down to please Jim, just as she would +cheerfully have endeavoured to jump over the moon had he expressed any +wish in that direction. Thus she was considerably surprised on waking +up two hours later to hear the dressing gong pealing through the house. +Further off came the cheerful voices of Jim and Wally on their way to +the lagoon. Cecil preferred the bath in the house, saying that he +considered it cleaner, which remark had incensed Norah at the time. But +they were learning not to worry about Cecil's remarks, but to regard +him with a kind of mild toleration, as one who "could not help it." + +Norah tore in haste to the bath, and returning made a speedy toilet; +breakfast was to be half an hour later than usual, but still there was +much to do. Her gifts to the men's quarters had gone over the night +before, in charge of Mrs. Willis; still there were parcels for the +girls in the house, together with the envelopes containing cheques for +them, which Mr. Linton always gave into Norah's care, and of course +Brownie's gifts, besides the nearer and dearer excitement of the +breakfast table. To the latter she attended first, scattering parcels +at each plate before any one else arrived on the scene. Then she raced +off, just escaping in the hall Jim, who immediately put his hands +behind him and began to whistle with great carelessness. Jim was a man +of tact. + +Mrs. Brown, narrowly watching some fried potatoes, heard flying +footsteps, and turned to receive Norah bodily. + +"Merry Christmas, Brownie, dear!" said the breathless one. She hung +over the stout shoulders a tiny shawl of softest white wool. + +"It's only a shawl-let," Norah explained, "just for when you feel the +summer evenings get cool, you know." + +"An' you made it, my precious!" + +"Why, of course," said Norah, lifting her brows; "do you think I'd buy +it, when you taught me to knit? Ah, Brownie, I'm having such a good +time!" + +"Look at me!" said Mrs. Brown, sitting down in rapture, and forgetting +her frying pan entirely. "This lovely shawl--an' your Pa's cheque--and +here's even Master Wally brung me down a cap, an' Master Jim--don't 'e +always think!--a frame with the photer 'e took of you an' your Pa, an' +it's sollud silver, no less, if you'll believe me, an' then it's none +too good for the photer, but the dear lamb knew wot I'd like more than +anything on earth! Of all the loving--kindest children--" At this point +Brownie's feelings overcame her, and she sniffed and, inhaling a threat +of burnt potato, rushed to conceal her emotions over the stove. + +Sarah and Mary felt delighted with the pretty collars Mrs. Stephenson +had chosen for Norah in Melbourne; the daughter of the house +encountered Jim returning from the back regions, with a broad smile on +his brown face. Jim's invariable gift to Lee Wing was a felt hat, and +as the Celestial still wore the one first given, eight Christmases +before, it was popularly supposed that the intermediate half-dozen went +to support his starving relatives in China! Lee Wing had never +mentioned the existence of any starving relatives, but Wally said it +was well known that all Chinese gardeners had them--speaking, as Norah +remarked, as though it was a new complaint, like measles or mumps! + +"You didn't give Wing another hat, Jim?" queried his sister. + +"I did, though," returned Jim, firmly. "Asked him at midwinter what +he'd have, and he grinned and said, 'Allee same hat!' So he got it--a +lovely green one!" + +"Jim!--not green! For Lee Wing!" + +"There weren't any other colours left," said Jim; "next year it would +have had to be pale blue! He took it with a heavenly smile, and looked +at it all over inside and out; then he looked down at his feet, and I +beheld his toe sticking out of his boot. He didn't say 'Thank you' at +all. What he did say was 'Nex'-Clis'mas-socks,' all in one word, and +you couldn't have widened his smile without shifting his ears further +back!" + +"Merry Christmas, Norah, asthore!" said a cheerful voice, and Norah +turned to greet Wally. So Wally had to hear the story of Lee Wing all +over again, and they were laughing over it when Mr. Linton came out on +the verandah, pausing in the doorway a moment to look at the slender +figure in the blue frock, with white collar and tie, and the tall lads +in white flannels beside her. + +Three greetings flashed at him simultaneously as he came into view. + +"Merry Christmas, every one!" he said, one hand on his small daughter's +shoulder. "Going to be a hot Christmas, too, I believe. Where's Cecil?" + +"Coming," said that gentleman, exchanging good wishes with a languid +air. "Sorry to be late, but I couldn't open the bathroom door." + +Wally started. + +"Good gracious, was it you in there?" he asked anxiously. "I thought it +was Norah--and we wanted her out of the way at the moment, so I +barricaded the door! Then I saw her afterwards, so I reckoned she'd got +out all right, and I never bothered to take down the barricade. I'm +awfully sorry!" + +Every one laughed but Cecil, who saw nothing humorous in having been +obliged to climb through the bathroom window, and said so with point. + +"I'm a fearful ass, truly," said Wally, with contrition. "Norah, you've +no need to laugh like a hyena--you ought to have been there, if you +weren't!" + +"That's why I laugh," Norah explained kindly. "Never mind, it's +Christmas--and there's breakfast!" + +It was the gong, but not breakfast. Mrs. Brown knew better than to send +in the porridge with the gong on Christmas morning. Instead, the table +was heaped with parcels, a goodly pile by every plate. + +"What an abominable litter!" said Mr. Linton, affecting displeasure. +"Norah, kindly oblige me by getting those things out of your way. How +are you going to eat breakfast?" + +"You're as bad as I am, Daddy!" + +"Dear me!" said her father. "I seem to be. Well, yours is decidedly the +most untidy, so you had better begin." + +They watched the eager face as Norah turned to her bundles. Books from +Cecil and his mother; warm slippers made by Brownie; a halter +exquisitely plaited from finest strips of hide by Murty O'Toole, the +sight of which brought the whole gathering to Norah's side; from Wally +a quaint little bronze inkstand, and from Jim the daintiest horse rug +that Melbourne could produce, made to fit Bobs, with a big scarlet B in +one corner, and Norah's monogram in the other. "Not that he needs it +just now," Jim explained, as Norah hugged him--"but a store's no sore, +as Brownie'd say!" Last, a tiny velvet case, which concealed a brooch--a +thin bar of gold with one beautiful pearl. Norah did not need the slip +of paper under it to know it came from Dad. + +Then things became merry, and even Cecil warmed at the gifts on his +plate, while the boys were exclaiming in delight over Norah's knitting, +and Wally was shaking hands with Mr. Linton and looking +half-shamefacedly at the plain gold sleeve links from him and the +silver watch chain from Jim; and Mr. Linton's face was alight with +pleasure at the waistcoat Norah had made for him, and the little oak +bookshelf for his bedside that was the work of Jim's spare hours. +Finally all the bundles were unwrapped, and there was a lull, though +Norah's eyes were still dancing, and she exchanged glances with her +father. + +Jim spoke. + +"There's a string under my plate," said he, faintly puzzled. "At least, +there's one end." + +"Strings always have two ends," said Wally, wisely. "Where's the +other?" + +"I'm blessed if I know," said Jim. "It goes down to the floor." + +Wally came round, investigating. + +"Seems to me it goes out of the window," he said. "Guess you'd better +follow it, Jimmy." + +Jim looked round, a little doubtful. Then he saw Norah's face, and knew +that there was something he did not understand. He laughed a little. + +"Some one pulling my leg?" he asked, good-humouredly. "Oh, well, I'll +chase it." + +The string went somewhere--that was evident. Outside it was at the +height of Jim's hand, and ran along the wall, so that it was easy to +follow. They trooped after him as he went along, Norah completely +unable to walk steadily, but progressing principally on one foot, while +David Linton's eyes were twinkling. The chase was not a long one; the +string suddenly cut across to the door in the high fence dividing the +front and back gardens, and there disappeared. + +"What next?" said Jim. + +"If it was me," said Wally, with a fine disregard of grammar, "I should +open the door." + +"Good for you, Wally," grinned Jim. "Here goes!" He flung the door +open, and then stood as if rooted to the spot. + +The string went on. It ended, however, just through the door, where its +end was spliced to a halter, held by black Billy, whose smile disclosed +every tooth in his head. Fidgeting in the halter was a big bay horse, +showing all Monarch's quality, and all his good looks; a show ring +horse, picked by a keen judge, and built for speed as well as strength. +He looked at Jim with a kind eye, set well in his beautiful head. There +was no flaw in him; from his heels to his fine, straight forelock he +was perfection. + +Jim had no words. He did not need to be told anything--Norah's face had +been enough; but he could not speak. He took refuge with the big bay, +moving forward and putting out a hand, to which the horse responded +instantly, rubbing his head against him in friendly fashion. Then, +across the arched neck, Jim's eyes met his father's, and the colour +flooded into his brown face. + +"Well, old son--will he do?" + +"Do!" said Jim, weakly. "Dad!--by Jove, I--I--" He stopped helplessly; +then his hand went out and took his father's in a grip that made David +Linton realize that this big son of his was nearly a man. + +"Oh, Jimmy, I'm so glad--and isn't he lovely?" + +"Why, he's perfect," Jim said, stepping back and running his eye over +his Christmas box. "My word, Dad, he'll jump!" + +"Yes, he'll jump all right," said David Linton. "Gallop, too, I should +say." + +"Plenty!" said Billy, with unexpected emphasis, whereat every one +laughed. + +"Billy and Norah have had this little joke plotted for some time," Mr. +Linton said--"and the experiences they have undergone in keeping strings +and steed out of your way this morning have, I believe, whitened the +hair of both!" + +Jim looked gratefully round. + +"You're all bricks," he said. "Has he got a name, Dad?" + +"'A tearin' foine wan,' Murty says," responded his father; "since it's +Irish: Garryowen, unless you'd like to change it." + +"Not me!" said Jim. "I like it." He looked round as the sound of the +gong came across the garden. "I say, don't mind me," he said--"go into +breakfast. I don't want any this morning." His eye went back to the +bay. + +"Rubbish!" said his father--"he'll be alive after breakfast! Come +along," and reluctantly Jim saw Billy lead his horse away to the +stable. He discovered, however, on reaching the breakfast room, that he +was remarkably hungry, and distinguished himself greatly with his knife +and fork. + +Afterwards it was necessary to try the bay's paces without delay, and +they all watched Jim take him round the home paddock. Garryowen moved +beautifully; and when Jim finally put him at the highest part of the +old log fence, and brought him back again, he flew it with a foot to +spare. The boy's face was aglow as he rode up. + +"Well, he's perfect!" he said. "I never was on such a horse." He came +close to his father. "Dad," he said in a low tone--"are you sure you +wouldn't like him instead of Monarch? He's far more finished." + +"Not for anything, thanks, old chap--I prefer my pupil," said his +father, his look answering more than his words. "You see he never bucks +with me, Jim!" + +Jim laughed, dismounting. "Like to try him, Cecil?" + +"Thanks," said Cecil, scrambling up and setting off down the paddock, +while Jim watched him and writhed to think of possible damage to his +horse's back and mouth. Billy, who was near, said reflectively, "Plenty +bump!" and Murty O'Toole roundly rebuked Jim for "puttin' up an insult +like that on a good horse!" They breathed more freely when Cecil came +back, albeit the way in which he sawed at the bay's mouth was +calculated to strike woe to the heart of any owner. Then Wally tried +Garryowen, and finally Norah, having flown to the house for a riding +skirt, had a ride also, and sailed over the log fence in a manner fully +equal to Jim's. She came back charged with high compliment. + +"He's nearly as good as Bobs, Jim!" + +"Bobs!" said Jim, loftily. "We don't compare ponies with horses, my +child!" + +"Then he's not to be compared with Bobs!" Norah retorted sturdily, and, +the laugh being on her side, retired quickly to dress for dinner. + +Dinner was typical of Billabong, and an Australian Christmas--one with +the thermometer striving to reach the hundred mark. Everything was +cold, from the mammoth turkey, with which Mr. Linton wrestled, to the +iced peaches that topped off what the boys declared "a corking feed." +There was plum pudding, certainly, but it was cold, too. Wally found in +his piece no fewer than four buttons; and, deeply aggrieved, went +afterwards to remonstrate with Mrs. Brown, who was amazed, declaring +she had put in but one, which to her certain knowledge had fallen to +the unhappy lot of Sarah. Further inquiries revealed the fact that Jim +had come to the table well supplied with buttons, with which he had +contrived to enrich Wally's portion as it travelled past him--which led +to a battle on the lawn, until both combatants, too well fed and weak +with mirth to fight, collapsed, and slept peacefully under a pine tree. + +Later on the horses were saddled, and every one rode out to the river, +where Brownie and the maids had already been driven by Fred Anderson, +and where they picnicked for tea. Afterwards they lay on the soft +grass, with the water murmuring past them, and Mr. Linton told them +stories--for Christmas was ever, and will ever be, the time for stories. +Simple, straightforward tales, like the man himself: old Christmases +overseas, and others in many parts of Australia--some that brought a +sadder note into the speaker's voice, and made Norah draw herself along +the grass until she came within touch of his hand. Words were never +really needed between them--being mates. + +So they stayed until the golden western sky had grown rose colour, and +the rose glow faded into night, that brought with it a little cool +breeze. Then the horses were saddled, and they rode home by the longest +possible way, singing every imaginable chorus, from Good Old Jeff to +the latest medley of pantomime ditties, and ending with a wild scurry +across the paddock home. They all trooped into the house, waking its +quietness to youth and laughter. + +But David Linton called to Norah. + +"Come on," he said, "we'll finish up with the real Christmas songs." + +So they all gathered round the piano while Norah played, and joined in +the old Christmas hymns and carols--none the less hearty in that they +sang of frost and snow with all around them the yellowing plain, dried +up by the scorching sun, and, beyond that, the unbroken line of the +little trodden Bush. The young voices rang out cheerily, David Linton +listening in his armchair, his hand over his eyes. + +Norah was in bed when her father looked in, in passing, to say +good-night. She put up her face to him sleepily. + +"It's been a beautiful Christmas, Daddy dear!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" + + I mind the time when first I came + A stranger to the land. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The house was unusually quiet. It was New Year's Day, and every man on +the place, and most of the maids, had gone off to a bush race meeting, +ten miles away. Even Mrs. Brown had allowed herself to be persuaded to +go and, arrayed in her best silk gown, had climbed laboriously into the +high double buggy, driven by Dave Boone, and departed, waving to Norah +a stout reticule that looked, Wally said, as though it contained +sausages! Only Mary, the housemaid, remained. Mary was a prim soul, and +did not care for race meetings. She had remarked that she would stay at +home and "crocher"! + +Mr. Linton and the boys had ridden away after lunch. A valuable bull +had slipped down the side of a steep gully and injured himself, and +bush surgery was required. David Linton was rather notable in this +direction, and he had seen to it that Jim had had a thorough course of +veterinary training in Melbourne. Together they made, the squatter +remarked, a very respectable firm of practitioners! Cecil and Wally +were ready to perform unskilled labour as required, and it was quite +possible that their help might be needed, since no men were available. +So the picnic planned for the afternoon had had to be abandoned, and +Norah was left somewhat desolate, since she could not take part in the +"relief expedition." + +"Hard on you, old girl," Jim had said; "but it can't be helped." + +"No, of course it can't," Norah replied. She was well trained in the +emergencies of the country, and would probably have been perfectly +cheerful had this particular one only been something that would not +have excluded her. As it was, however, it was certainly disappointing, +and she felt somewhat "at a loose end" as she watched the four ride +off. There seemed nothing for her to do. It was beyond doubt that being +a girl had its drawbacks. + +Within, the silence of the house was depressing, and the rooms seemed +much too large. Norah saw to one or two odd jobs, fed some chickens, +talked for a while to Fudge, the parrot, who was a companionable bird, +with a great flow of eloquence on occasions, wrote a couple of +letters--always a laborious proceeding for the maid of the bush--and +finally arrived at the decision that there was nothing to do. In the +kitchen Mary sat and "crochered" placidly at a fearful and wonderful +set of table mats. Norah watched her for a while, with a great scorn +for the gentle art that could produce such monstrosities. Then she +practised for half an hour, and at length, taking a book, sauntered off +to read by the creek. + +Meanwhile Mary worked on contentedly, unconscious of outer things, +dreaming, perhaps, such dreams as may come to any one who makes +crocheted table mats of green and yellow. Now and then she rose to +replenish the fire, returning to her needle in the far-away corner of +the great kitchen, where Mrs. Brown's cane armchair always stood. She +glanced up in surprise after a while, when a shadow fell across the +doorway. Then, for Mary was a girl with "nerves," she jumped up with a +little scream. + +An Indian hawker stood there--a big, black-bearded fellow, in dusty +clothes that had once been white, and on his head a turban of faded +pink. His heavy pack hung from his shoulder, but as the girl looked, he +slipped it to the ground, and stood erect, with a grunt of relief. Then +he grinned faintly at Mary, who had promptly put the table between +them, and asked the hawker's universal question: + +"Anything to-day, Meesis?" + +The Hindu hawker is still a figure to be met frequently in the +Bush--where he is, indeed, something of an institution. "Remote from +towns he runs" a race that no poetical licence can stretch to complete +the quotation by calling "godly." He carries a queer mixture of goods--a +kind of condensed bazaar-stall from his native land, with silks and +cottons, soaps, scents, boot laces and cheap jewellery, all packed into +a marvellously small space; and so he tramps his way through Australia. +No life can be lonelier. His stock of English is generally barely +enough to enable him to complete his deals; the free and independent +Australian regards him as "a nigger," and despises him accordingly; +while the Hindu, in his turn, has in his inmost soul a scorn far deeper +for his scorners--the pride of tradition and of caste. It is the caste +that keeps him rigidly to himself, since, as a rule, he can touch no +food that others have handled. He sits apart, over his own tiny fire, +baking his unappetising little cakes; and in many cases even the shadow +of a passer-by falling across his cookery is held to defile it beyond +possibility of his eating it. As a rule he has but one idea in life--to +make enough money to carry him back to end his days in comfort by the +waters of the Ganges. + +There are certain well recognized hawkers in many districts--men who +have kept for a long time to a particular beat, and may be regarded as +fairly regular, and likely to turn up at each place at their route +three or four times a year. Such men have generally arrived at the +dignity of a pack-horse--no unmixed benefit in the eyes of people +driving, since most of the country horses are reduced to frenzy by the +sight of the lean screw with his immense white pack--the hawker is +merciless to his horse--led by the "black" man in flapping clothes and +gay turban. Still the regular hawkers are a more respectable class of +men, and their visits are often eagerly welcomed by the housewife in +the lonely country, many miles from a township, who finds herself +confronted with such problems as the necessity for lacing Johnny's +Sunday boots with strips of green hide, or the more serious one of a +dearth of trouser-buttons for his garments. + +It is the casual hawker who is looked on with disfavour, and strikes +terror to the heart of many women. He has very frequently no money and +less principle; and being without reputation to sustain in the +district, is careless of his doings along a route that he probably does +not intend to visit again. He knows perfectly well that women and +children are afraid of him, and as a rule is very willing to work upon +that fear--though the sight of a man, or of a dog with character, is +sufficient to make him the most servile of his race. But where he meets +a lonely woman he is a very apparition of terror. + +There was one hawker who came regularly to Billabong; a cheery old +fellow, well known and respected, whose caste was not strict enough to +prevent his refusing the station hospitality, and whose appearance was +always welcome. He had been coming so long that he knew them all well, +and took an almost affectionate interest in Jim and Norah, always +bringing some little gift for the latter. The men liked him, for he had +been known to "turn to" and work at a bush fire "as hearty as if he +weren't a fat little image av a haythen," said Murty O'Toole; Norah was +always delighted when old Ram Das came up the track, his unwieldy body +on two amazingly lean legs. Even Mary would not have been scared at his +appearance. + +But this was not Ram Das--this Indian who stood looking at her with that +queer little half-smile, so different from the old man's wide and +cheerful grin. It was a strange man, and a terrible one in Mary's +sight. She gaped at him feebly across the table, and he watched her +with keen, calculating eyes. Presently he spoke again, this time a +little impatiently. + +"You ask-a meesis annything to-day?" + +"Nothin' to-day," said Mary, quickly and nervously. + +"You ask-a meesis." + +"She don't want anything," the girl quavered. + +"You ask-a." + +"I tell you she don't want anything--there ain't any missis," Mary said. +He looked at her unbelievingly, and broke into a speech of broken +English that was quite unintelligible to the frightened girl behind the +table. Then, as she did not answer him, he came a few steps nearer. + +It was more than enough for Mary. She gave a terrified shriek and ran +for the nearest cover--the half-open door of the back kitchen behind +her. She banged it violently as she dashed through. There was no lock +on the door, so she could not stay there--but the window stood open, and +Mary went through it with all the nimbleness of fear. She came out into +the yard where the way lay clear to the house; and across the space +went Mary, cometwise, a vision of terror and flying cap strings, each +moment expecting to hear pursuing feet. Puck, the Irish terrier, +sleeping peacefully on the front verandah, leapt to his feet at the +sudden bang of the back door, and came dashing through the house in +search of the cause. Mary, half sobbing, welcomed him with fervour. + +"Good dog, Puck!" she said. She reconnoitred through the nearest +window. + +The Indian had come out of the kitchen, and now stood on the back +verandah, his dark face working. He looked uncertainly about him. Then +the back door opened a few inches--just so far that an enthusiastic +Irish terrier could squeeze through--and Mary's voice came. + +"Good dog, Puck!--sool 'im!" + +The door banged again, and the heavy lock shot home. Mary flew back to +the window, shutting and locking it frantically. She watched. + +Puck wasted no time. He dashed at the hawker, with every fighting +instinct aroused, and the Hindu leaped back quickly, seizing with one +hand a broom that leaned against the wall. He met the terrier's +onslaught with a savage blow that sent the little dog head over heels +yards away. Puck picked himself up and came again like a whirlwind. +Then Mary screamed again, for the Hindu dropped the broom, and +something flashed in the sunlight--a long knife that came swiftly from +some hiding place in his voluminous draperies. He crouched to meet the +dog, his eyes gleaming, his lips drawn back from his teeth. + +Puck was no fool. He arrested himself almost in midair, and planted +himself just out of the hawker's reach, his whole enraged little body a +vision of defiance, and barked madly. The Indian moved backwards, +uttering a flood of furious speech, while for each step that he moved +the terrier advanced another. Then Mary's heart gave a sudden leap; for +the hand that held the knife suddenly went behind him as he reached for +his pack and swung it to his shoulder. Puck was nearly upon him in the +moment that the knife no longer menaced, but the Hindu was quick; and +again the little dog drew back, rending the air with his barking. +Slowly the man backed off the verandah and along the path to the yard +gate, Puck following every step, loathing with all his fury that unfair +advantage of gleaming steel that kept him from his enemy. The Hindu +backed through the gate, and slammed it in the terrier's face, spitting +a volley of angry words as he went. Mary flung the window open and +called her protector anxiously, lest he should find some means of exit +and leave her alone; and Puck came back a few steps, turning again to +bark at his retreating foe. The tall form in the dusty clothes went +slowly down the track. Mary watched him out of sight. Then she fled to +her own room, locked herself in securely, and went, very properly, into +hysterics. + +Meanwhile, at the creek, Norah was nodding sleepily over her book. It +was hot, and naturally a lazy day; everything seemed sleepy, from the +cows lying about under the willows on the banks to the bees droning +overhead. Tait, near her, was snoring gently. Even the water below +seemed to be rippling more lazily than usual; the splash of a leaping +fish made an unusual stir in the stillness. Moreover, her book was not +calculated to keep her awake. It was poetry, and Norah's soul did not +incline naturally to poetry, unless it were one of Gordon's stirring +rhymes, or something equally Australian in character. This was quite +different, but it had been Cecil's Christmas gift, and it had seemed to +Norah that politeness required her to study it. + +"It's the rummiest stuff!" said the Bush damsel, hopelessly. She turned +to the cover, a dainty thing of pale blue and gold. "William Morris? +Didn't we have a stockman once called Bill Morris? But I'm pretty +certain he never wrote this. The name's the same, though!" thought +Norah, uncertainly. She turned back, and read anew, painstakingly: + + No meat did ever pass my lips + Those days. (Alas! the sunlight slips + From off the gilded parclose dips, + And night comes on apace.) + +"Then I'm positive it wasn't our Bill Morris, 'cause I never saw a +stockman who was a vegetarian. But what's a parclose? I'll have to ask +Cecil; but then he'll think me such a duffer not to know, and he'll be +so awfully patronizing. But what on earth does it all mean?" + +She closed the book in despair, let her eyelids droop, and nodded a +little, while the book in its blue and gold cover slipped from her knee +to the grass. It was much easier to go to sleep than to read William +Morris. What a long time Dad and the boys were, doctoring Derrimut! It +was certainly dull. + +A quick bark from Tait startled her. The collie had jumped up, and was +bristling with wrath at an unusual spectacle coming through the trees +towards her--a tall man, with a face of dusky bronze, surmounted by a +pink turban. His face was working angrily, and he muttered as he +walked, slowly, as if the pack on his shoulder were heavy. When Tait +barked he started for a moment, but then came on steadily--a collie is +rarely as formidable as an Irish terrier. + +Norah paled a little. She was not timid, but no Australian girl takes +naturally to an encounter with a Hindu and there was no doubt that this +man was in a very bad temper. The place was lonely, too, and out of +sight of the house, even if she had not been painfully conscious that +there was not a man on the place should she need help. Still, there was +nothing to be gained by running. She backed against the tree, keeping +one hand on Tait's collar as the man came up. + +"What do you want?" + +He stopped, and the pack slipped to the grass. Then he broke into a +flood of rapid speech in his own tongue, gesticulating violently; +occasionally indicating the house with a sweep of his hand in that +direction. As he talked he worked himself up to further wrath--his voice +rose almost to a shout sometimes, and his face was not pleasant to see. +Once or twice he held his left hand out, and Norah saw that it was +bandaged. + +For a minute or two she was badly frightened. Then, watching him, she +suddenly came to the conclusion that she had nothing to fear--that he +was telling her something he wanted her to know. She listened, trying +hard to catch some word in the flood of fluent foreign speech, and +twice she thought she made out the name of Ram Das. Then he finished +abruptly with almost the one word of Hindustani she knew, since it was +one the old hawker had taught her. "SUMJA," ("Do you understand?") he +hurled at her. + +Norah shook her head. + +"No, I don't 'SUMJA,'" she said: but her tone was friendly, and some of +the anger melted from the Indian's face, and was succeeded by a quick +relief. "Can't you speak English? You know Ram Das--Ram Das?" she +repeated, hoping that the name might convey something to him. To her +immense relief, the effect was instantaneous. + +"Know Ram Das," said the man, struggling for words. "Him--him." He swept +the horizon vaguely with his hand. + +"I know Ram Das," Norah put in. "Him good man." + +The Hindu nodded violently. His face was natural again, and suddenly he +smiled at her. "You a meesis?" he asked. "Ram Das say l'il meesis." + +"I'm little meesis," Norah said promptly. It was the old man's title +for her. "Did Ram Das send you?" + +"Him send me," said the man, with evident pleasure in finding the word. +He struggled again for English, but finally gave it up, and held out +his left hand to her silently. + +"Why, you're hurt!" Norah said. "Is that why Ram Das sent you?" + +He nodded again, and began to unroll the long strip of cotton stuff +round his hand and wrist. It took a long time, and at last he had to go +down to the water and bathe the stiffened rag before it would come +away. Then he came back to Norah and held it out again--a long, hideous +gash right up the wrist, torn and swollen and inflamed. + +"Oh!" said Norah, drawing back a pace, instinctively. "You poor fellow! +How did you do it?" + +"Barb wire," said the Indian, simply. "Three days. Him bad. Ram Das, +him say you help." With this stupendous effort of eloquence he became +speechless again, still holding the torn wrist out to her. + +"I should think so!" said Norah, forgetting everything in the sight of +that cruel wound. "Come on up to the house quickly!" She turned to lead +the way, but the man shook his head. + +"Woman there," he stammered. + +"It's all right," Norah told him. "Come along." + +"Small dog," said the Hindu, unhappily. "Them afraid of me." He pointed +towards the house. "Been there." + +"Oh-h!" said Norah, suddenly comprehending. She knew Mary. Then she +laughed. "You come with me; it's all right." She led the way, and the +hawker followed her. A few yards further on, Norah bethought herself of +something, and turned back. + +"You must have that covered up," she told him. "No, not with that awful +rag again," with a faint shudder. She took out her handkerchief and +wrapped it lightly round the man's wrist. "That'll do for the +present--come on." + +Puck, still in a state of profound indignation in the back yard, was +thrown into a paroxysm of fury at the sight of his enemy returning. +Norah had to chain him up before the Hindu would come inside the gate. +Then she led the way to the kitchen and called Mary. + +No Mary answered, so Norah went about her preparations alone--a big +basin of hot water, boracic acid--standby of the Bush--soft rags, and +ointment from the "hospital drawer" Mrs. Brown kept always ready. She +shuddered a little as she began to bathe the wound, while the Indian +watched her with inscrutable face, never flinching, though the pain was +no small thing. It was done at last--cleansed, anointed, and carefully +bandaged. Then he smiled at her gratefully. + +"Ram Das him say you good," he said. "Him truth!" + +Norah laughed, somewhat embarrassed. + +"Hungry?" she asked. "You take my food?" + +It was always a delicate question, since the Hindu is easily offended +over a matter of caste. This man, however, was evidently as independent +as Ram Das, for he nodded, and when Norah brought him food, fell to +work upon it hungrily. + +Thus it was that Mary, brought from the hysterical sanctuary of her +room by the pressing sense of the necessity of looking after the +kitchen fire, and coming back to her duties like a vestal of old, found +her dreaded enemy cheerfully eating in the kitchen, while Norah sat +near and carried on a one-sided conversation with every appearance of +friendliness, with Tait sleepily lying beside her--at which astonishing +spectacle Mary promptly shrieked anew. The Hindu rose, smiling +nervously. + +"Come here, you duffer, Mary!" said Norah, who by this time had arrived +at something of an understanding of the previous happenings. "He's as +tame as tame. Why, old Ram Das sent him!" + +"Miss Norah, he's got a knife on him!" said Mary, in a sepulchral +whisper. "I saw it with me own eyes. He nearly killed Puck with it!" + +"Well, Puck was trying to kill him," said Norah, "and I guess if you +had a wrist like his, you'd defend yourself any way you could, if Puck +was at you! He's terribly sorry he frightened you--you didn't understand +him, that was all. Ram Das sent him to have his wrist fixed up, and his +name's Lal Chunder, and he's quite a nice man!" + +"H'm!" said Mary doubtfully, relaxing so far as to enter the kitchen, +but keeping a respectful distance from the hawker, who took no further +notice of her, going on with his meal. "I don't 'old with them black +creechers in any shape or form, Miss Norah, an' it's my belief he'd +kill us all in our beds as soon as wink! Scarin' the wits out of one, +with his pink top-knot arrangement--such a thing for a man to wear! +Gimme white Orstralia!" + +"Look out, he'll hear you!" said Norah, laughing. "He--" + +"What talk is this?" said a cheerful voice; and Ram Das, very plump, +very hot and very beaming, came in at the kitchen door, and stood +looking at them. "I sent this young man to the li'l meesis, for that he +was hurt and in pain, and I know the fat woman is kind, and has the +brassic-acid." He glanced at Lal Chunder's bandaged wrist, and shot a +quick question at him in their own tongue, to which the other +responded. The old man turned back to Norah, not without dignity. + +"We thank the l'il meesis," he said. "Lal Chunder is as my son: he +cannot speak, but he will not forget." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Norah, turning a lively red. "It wasn't +anything, really, Ram Das--and his wrist was terribly sore. You'll both +camp here to-night, won't you? And have some tea--I'm sure you want it, +it's so hot." + +"It will be good," said Ram Das, gratefully, sitting down. Then voices +and the sound of hoofs and the chink of bits came from outside; and +presently Mr. Linton and the boys came in, hot and thirsty. + +Cecil's eyebrows went up as he beheld his cousin carrying a cup to the +stout old Hindu. + +"It's the most extraordinary place I was ever at," he told himself +later, dressing for dinner, in the seclusion of his own room. From the +garden below came shouts and laughter, as Jim engaged Norah and Wally +in a strenuous set on the tennis court. "Absolutely no class limits +whatever, and no restrictions--why, she kept me waiting for my second +cup while she looked after that fat old black in the dirty white +turban! As for the boys--childish young hoodlums. Well, thank goodness +I'm not condemned to Billabong all my days!" With which serene +reflection Mr. Cecil Linton adjusted his tie nicely, smoothed a +refractory strand of hair in his forelock, and went down to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OF POULTRY + + A man would soon wonder how it's done, + The stock so soon decreases! + A. B. PATERSON + + +"Where are you off to, Norah?" + +"To feed the chickens." + +"May I come with you, my pretty maid?" + +"Delighted!" said Norah. "Here's a load for you." + +"Even to stagger under thy kerosene tin were ever a joy!" responded +Wally, seizing the can of feed as he spoke--the kerosene tin of the +bush, that serves so many purposes, from bucket to cooking stove, and +may end its days as a flower pot, or, flattened out, as roofing iron. +"Anyhow, you oughtn't to carry this thing, Norah; it's too heavy. Why +will you be such a goat?" + +Under this direct query, put plaintively, Norah had the grace to look +abashed. + +"Well, I don't, as a rule," she said. "It's really Billy's job to carry +it for me, but Jim has been coming with me since he came home, so of +course young Billy's got out of hand. And Jim's gone across with Dad to +see old Derrimut, so I had no one. I looked for you and couldn't find +you. And I asked Cecil politely to accompany me, but he put his +eyebrows up, and said fowls didn't interest him. Oh, Wally, don't you +think it's terribly hard to find subjects that do interest Cecil?" + +"Hard!" said Wally expressively. "Well, it beats me, anyhow. But then +Cecil regards me with scorn and contumely, and, to tell you the truth, +Nor., when I see him coming I quiver like--like a blancmange! He's so +awfully superior!" + +"You know, I'm sure he's not enjoying himself," Norah went on; "and it +really worries us, 'cause we hate to think of anyone being here and not +having a good time. But he does keep his nose so in the air, doesn't +he?" + +"Beats me how you're so nice to him," Wally averred. "My word, it would +do that lad good to have a year or two at our school! I guess it would +take some of the nonsense out of him. Was he ever young?" + +"I shouldn't think so," Norah said, laughing--"he has such a lofty +contempt for anything at all juvenile now. Well, at least he's looking +better than when he came, so Billabong is doing him good in one way at +any rate, and that is a comfort. But I'm sure he's counting the days +until he goes away." + +"Well, so am I," said Wally, cheerfully. "So at least there are two of +us, and I should think there were several more. It's pleasant to find +even one subject on which one can be a twin-soul with Cecil. +Norah"--solemnly--"I have counted eleven different pairs of socks on that +Johnny since I came, and each was more brilliant than the last!" + +"I don't doubt it," Norah laughed. "They're the admiration of the +laundry here, and even the men stopped and looked at them as they were +hanging on the line last week. Dave Boone was much interested in that +green pair with the gold stripes, and asked Sarah what football club +they belonged to!" + +"Great Scott!" said Wally explosively. "Can you imagine Cecil playing +football?" + +"I can't--I wish I could," Norah answered. "Well, never mind Cecil--he's +a tiring subject. Tell me what you think of my chicks." + +Norah's special fowl yard was a grassy run divided into two parts, with +small houses and wire-netted enclosures in each. At present one was +devoted to a couple of mothers with clutches of ten and twelve +chickens--all white Orpingtons. The mothers were stately, comfortable +dames, and the chicks, round little creamy balls, very tame and +fascinating. They came quite close to Norah as she stooped to feed +them, and one chick, bolder than his brethren, even stood on the back +of her hand. Wally admired without stint, and proceeded to discharge +the practical duty of rinsing out the water tins and filling them +afresh. + +In the other yard a number of older chickens grew and prospered; these +also were all white, of the Leghorn breed, and Norah was immensely +proud of them. She sat down on the end of a box and pointed out their +varied beauties. + +"I should have more--lots more," she said, dolefully. "But I've had +horrible trouble with pigs. Why anybody keeps pigs at all I can't +imagine!" + +"They're handy when preserved," Wally remarked. "But what did they do +to you?" + +"I had a lot of hens sitting this year," said the owner of the +yard--"sitting on lovely eggs, too, Wally! Some I got from Cunjee, and +some from Westwood, and two special sittings from Melbourne. I was +going to be awfully rich! You couldn't imagine all I'd planned with the +immense sums I was going to make." + +"There's a proverb," said Wally, sententiously, "about counting your +chickens." + +"You're quite the twelfth person who's mentioned that," Norah said, +with some asperity. "Anyhow, I never counted them; I only became rich +in a vague way, and it was very comforting. I'm glad I had that +comfort, for it was all I had." + +"Norah, you thrill my very soul with awful fears," Wally gasped. "Tell +me the worst!" + +"Donkey!" said Norah, unsympathetically. "Well, they were set. I fixed +up the boxes myself, and lined them so beautifully that when they were +ready, and the eggs in, it was all I could do to prevent myself sitting +on them!" + +"I know," Wally nodded. "And then the hens wouldn't sit, would they? +They never do, when you make the nests especially tempting. I had an +old Cochin once who used to sit quite happily for six months at a time +on a clod and a bit of stone, expecting to hatch out a half-acre +allotment and a town hall; but if you put her on twelve beautiful eggs +she simply wouldn't look at them! Makes you vow you'll give up keeping +hens at all." + +"It would," Norah said. "Only mine didn't do that." + +"Oh!" said Wally, a little blankly. "What did they do, then?" + +"Sat--" + +"And ate the eggs--I know," Wally burst in. "My old brute used to eat +one a day if you got her to sit. I remember once it was a race between +her and the eggs, and I used to haunt the nest, wondering would she get +'em all eaten before they hatched. They beat her by one--one poor chick +came out. The shock was too much for the old hen, and she deserted it, +and I poddied it in a box for a week, and called it Moses, and it would +eat out of my hand, and then it died!" He gasped for breath, and Norah +gazed with undisguised admiration at the orator. + +"So I know how you'd feel," Wally finished. + +"I might--but my hens weren't cannibals. They didn't eat any." + +"You had luck," said the unabashed Wally. "Well, what happened?" + +"They sat quite nicely--" + +"And the eggs were addled, weren't they? It's always the way with half +these swagger sittings you buy from dealers. They--" + +"Oh, Wally, I WISH you wouldn't be so intelligent!" said Norah, with +not unnatural heat. "How am I ever going to tell you?" + +"Why, I thought you were telling me as hard as ever you could!" Wally +responded, visibly indignant "Well, fire away; I won't speak another +word!" + +"I don't think you could help it," Norah laughed. "However, I'd eight +hens sitting, and I really do believe that they understood their +responsibilities, for they set as if they were glued, except when they +came off for necessary exercise and refreshment. Even then, they never +gave me any of the usual bother about refusing to go back into the +right box, or scratching the eggs out. They behaved like perfect +ladies--I might have known it was too bright to last!" She heaved a +sigh. + +"I know you're working up to some horrible tragedy, and I'm sure I +won't be able to bear it!" said her hearer, much agitated. "Tell me the +worst!" + +"So they sat--" + +"You said that before!" + +"Well, they sat before--and after," said Norah, unmoved. "Two of them +brought their eggs out, beautiful clutches, twelve in one and thirteen +in the other. Such luck! I used to be like the old woman who pinched +herself and asked, 'Be this I?' They all lived in a fox-proof +yard--fence eight feet high with wire-netting on top. I wasn't leaving +anything to chance about those chicks." + +"Was it cholera? Or pip?" + +"Neither," said Norah. "They were the very healthiest, all of them. The +chickens grew and flourished, and when they were about a week old, the +other six hens were all about to bring out theirs within two days. Oh, +Wally, I was so excited! I used to go down to the yard about a dozen +times a day, just to gloat!" + +"Never gloat too soon," said Wally. "It's a hideous risk!" + +"I'm never going to gloat again at all, I think," said Norah, +mournfully. The recital of her woes was painful. "So I went down one +morning, and found them all happy and peaceful; the six old ladies +sitting in their boxes, and the two proud mammas with their chicks, +scratching round the yard and chasing grasshoppers. It was," said +Norah, in the approved manner of story-tellers, "a fair and joyous +scene!" + +"'Specially for the grasshoppers!" commented her hearer. "And then--?" + +"Then I went out for a ride with Dad, and I didn't get back until late +in the afternoon. I let Bobs go, and ran down to the fowl yard without +waiting to change my habit." Norah paused. "I really don't know that I +can bring myself to tell you any more!" + +"If you don't," said Wally, indignantly, "there'll certainly be +bloodshed. Go on at once-- + + "Am I a man on human plan + Designed, or am I not, Matilda?" + + +"H'm," said Norah. "Well, I'm not Matilda, anyway! However, I opened +the gate of the yard. And then I stood there and just gaped at what I +saw." + +"Dogs?" + +"Our dogs are decently trained," Norah said, much offended. "No, it +wasn't dogs--it was pigs!" + +"Whew-w!" whistled Wally. + +"Pigs. They had burrowed in right under the fence; there was a great +big hole there. And they'd eaten every chicken, and every egg in the +yard. My lovely boxes were all knocked over, and the nests torn to +bits, and there wasn't so much as an eggshell left. The poor old hens +were just demented--they were going round and round the yard, clucking +and calling, and altogether like mad things. And in the middle of it +all, fat and happy and snoring--three pigs!" + +"What did you do?" Wally felt that this case was beyond the reach of +ordinary words of sympathy. + +"Couldn't do anything. I chased the beasts out of the yard, and threw +everything I could find at them--but you can't hurt a pig. And Dad was +horrid--advised me to have them killed, so that at least we could have +eggs and bacon!" Norah laughed, in spite of her woebegone tone. + +"And he calls himself a father!" said Wally, solemnly. + +"Oh, he wasn't really horrid," Norah answered. "He wrote off to town +and bought me a very swagger pair of Plymouth Rocks--just beauties. They +cost three guineas!" + +"Three guineas!" said the awestruck youth. "What awful waste! Where are +they, Norah? Show me them at once!" + +"Can't," Norah responded, sadly. + +"You don't mean--?" + +"Oh, I've had a terrible year with fowls," said the dejected poultry +keeper. "Those Plymouth Rocks came just before the Cunjee show, and Dad +entered them for me, 'cause the dealer had told him they would beat +anything there. And I think they would have--only just after he sold Dad +mine, a Cunjee man bought a pair for five guineas. He showed his, too!" +Norah sighed. + +"Oh!" said Wally. + +"So I got second. However, they were very lovely, and so tame. I was +truly fond of Peter." + +"Why Peter?" + +"Oh, Peter means a Rock," said Norah. "I heard it in a sermon. He was a +beautiful bird. I think he was too beautiful to live, 'cause he became +ill--I don't know what it was, but he pined away. I used to nurse him +ever so; for the last two days of his poor young life I fed him every +hour with brandy and strong soup out of the spout of the invalid +feeder. Brownie was quite annoyed when she found I'd used it for him," +said Norah, reflectively. + +"But he was an invalid, wasn't he?" asked Wally. + +"Of course he was--and it's an invalid feeder. I don't see what it's +for, if not for the sick. But it didn't do him any good. I went out +about ten o'clock one night and wrapped him in hot flannel, and he was +rattling inside his poor chest; and in the morning I went out at five +and he was dead!" + +"Poor old Nor.!" + +"So I tied a bit of black stuff on the gate and went back to bed," said +Norah, pensively. + +Wally grinned. "And what became of Mrs. Peter?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Peter was a lovely hen," Norah said, "and very healthy. She +never seemed to feel any of Peter's delicacy. He was a very refined +bird. There was another show coming on at Mulgoa, and I found among the +other fowls another Mr. Peter, and it struck me I would have a try for +the prize. Mrs. Peter was so good that I felt I'd get it unless the +five-guinea Plymouth Rock man came up. So I fed up the new Peter and +had them looking very well the day before the show. And then--" + +"Yes?" said Wally, as she paused. + +"Then a new dog of Burton's killed Mrs. Peter," said Norah, "so I gave +up showing poultry!" + +"I should think you did," said the sympathetic auditor. "What did your +father say?" + +"He was very nice; and very angry with the dog; but he didn't buy me +any more valuable fowls--and I expect that was just as well," said +Norah, laughing. "I don't seem to have luck when it comes to keeping +poultry. Jim says it's management, but then Jim never kept any himself. +And it does make a difference to your views if you keep them yourself." + +"It does," Wally agreed. "I used to lose ever so many in Queensland, +but then things are really rough on fowls up there--climate and snakes +and lots of odd things, including crocodiles! When I came down to +school I left a lot of hens, and twelve eggs under one old lady hen, +who should have hatched 'em out a few days after I left. And the whole +lot went wandering and found some poison my brother had put out for a +cat!" Wally wiped his eyes elaborately. + +"And died?" + +"It was suicide, I think," said Wally, nodding. "But I always had +comfort about that lot, because I still have hopes that those twelve +eggs hadn't hatched." + +"I don't see what that has to do with it," Norah said, plainly puzzled. + +"Why, don't you understand? If they hatched I must have lost them along +with the others; but if they didn't hatch, I didn't lose so many, for, +not having them to lose, I couldn't very well lose them, could I? +Q.E.D.!" finished Wally, triumphantly. "That's Philosophy!" + +"You're a credit to your teachers, old man," said a new voice; and Jim +made his appearance behind the fence, over which he proceeded to climb +laboriously. + +"Yes, I'm a nice boy," said modest Mr. Meadows. "Sometimes I think you +don't appreciate me--" + +"Perish the thought!" said Jim, solemnly. + +"But I always feel that honest worth will tell in the end," finished +Wally. "Jim, you great, uncivilized rogue, unhand me!" There was a +strenuous interlude, during which the Leghorn chicks fled shrieking to +the farthest corner of their domain. Finally Jim stepped unwittingly, +in the joy of battle, into the kerosene tin, which was fortunately +empty, and a truce was made while he scraped from a once immaculate +brown leather legging the remains of the Leghorns' breakfast. + +"Serve you right," said Wally, adjusting his tie, which had +mysteriously appeared under his right ear. "Norah and I were talking +beautifully, and you hadn't any business to come poke your nose in, if +you couldn't behave, had he Nor.?" Whereat Norah and Jim grinned +cheerfully at each other, and Wally collapsed, remarking with +indignation that you couldn't hope to get justice for either of the +Linton twins when it came to dealing with the other. + +"We're not twins!" said Norah. + +"No," said her guest, "I think you're worse!" Withdrawing, he sat in +melancholy isolation on a hen coop, and gave himself up, very +appropriately, to brooding. + +"Well, I'm sorry if I broke up the party," Jim said, relinquishing the +task of polishing his leggings with marshmallow leaves and looking at +its streaked surface disconsolately. Jim might--and did--scorn coats and +waistcoats in the summer, and revel in soft shirts and felt hats; but +his riding equipment was a different matter, and from Garryowen's bit +and irons to his own boots, all had to be in apple pie order. "Norah, +may I have your hanky to rub this up? No? You haven't one! Well, I'm +surprised at you!" He rubbed it, quite ineffectually, with the crown of +his hat, and still looked pained. "Never mind, I'll get hold of some +tan stuff when I go in. What I came to say when you attacked me, young +Wally--" + +"When I attacked you! I like that!" spluttered the justly indignant +Wally. + +"Didn't you? I thought you did," grinned Jim. "My mistake, I suppose. +Well, anyhow, when you attacked Norah--quiet, Wally, bother you; how can +a fellow get a word out?--what I came to mention was that Dad wants us." + +"Oh!" said Norah, gathering herself up. "Why didn't you say so before?" + +"Too busy, and you and Wal. do prattle so. Anyhow, he's not in a +tearing hurry, 'cause he said he was going to have an hour at his +income-tax--and you know what that means." + +"Solitude is always best for Dad when he's income-taxing," said Norah. +"It has the most horrible effect on his usual serenity. My dear old +Hermit used to help him, of course; but now--well, no wonder he's +starting early! How's Derrimut, Jimmy?" + +"Going on splendidly; Dad and I are quite proud of ourselves as vets.," +said her brother. "We made quite a good job of the old chap; I believe +he'll hardly have a blemish. By George, you should have seen Cecil at +that operation! He had one rope to hold and he was scared to death." + +"So was I," said Wally, grinning. "I was always as timid as a rabbit." + +"You!" said Jim, laughing. "Well, you held three ropes, anyway, and I +didn't notice that you looked pale." + +"My face won't let me," said his chum. "But I FELT pale!" + +"Well Cecil looked and felt it," Jim said. "Of course, you don't +exactly blame a town chap for not taking to that sort of thing like a +duck to water. Still, there's a limit--and I'll swear Norah would have +made a fuss. As far as that goes, Dad says he's known our grandmother, +in the early days, have to help at a much worse job for a beast than +fixing up old Derry's leg. Lots of women had to. They wouldn't like it, +of course, but they certainly wouldn't have made it harder for the man +they were helping by putting on frills!" + +"Well, you'd hate to have to get a woman to do a job like that." + +"Of course you would. You'd never do it unless it came to a question of +saving a beast or easing its pain. But if it did come to the point, a +decent woman with backbone would lend a hand, just as she'd help if it +was the man himself that was hurt. At least, most Australian women +would, or most of those in the country, at any rate. I'd disown Norah +if she didn't." + +"I should hope so!" said Norah, quietly. + +"At the same time, I've not the remotest intention of employing you as +a vet., old woman," said Jim, untying her hair ribbons in a brotherly +fashion. "Quite enough for you to act in that capacity for that rum +beggar, Lal Chunder--who's departed, by the way, leaving you his +blessing and a jolly little brass tray. The blessing was rather +unintelligible, but there's no doubt about the tray." + +"Bother!" said Norah, vexedly. "Silly man! I don't want him to give me +presents--and that wound of his ought certainly to have been looked +after for a few days." + +"He said he was going to travel with Ram Das--and old Ram'll see that he +ties it up, I expect," said Jim, with unconcern. "I wouldn't bother, +old first-aid; it looked tip-top when you dressed it before breakfast." + +"I'd have given him rag for it, anyway," said Norah, still troubled. + +"He can always tear half a yard or so off that turban of his," Jim +said. "Don't go out of your way to meet worry, my girl--it'll always +come quickly enough to meet you. Which is philosophy quite equal to +Wally's!" He sighed. "Here's trouble coming to meet us now, that's +certain!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +STATION DOINGS + + I see as I stand at the slip-rails, dreaming, + Merry riders that mount and meet; + Sun on the saddles, gleaming, gleaming, + Red dust wrapping the horses' feet. + W. H. OGILVIE + + +They had turned the corner of the house leading to the verandah off +which Mr. Linton's office opened, and where that gentleman was +presumably to be found, wrestling with the intricacies of his +income-tax schedule--the squatter's yearly bugbear. Along this verandah +came, slowly, Cecil, beautiful to behold in a loose brown suit, with +buff coloured shirt and flowing orange tie. Wally cast a swift glance +at his ankles, and chuckled. + +"He's got new socks on!" he said, in a sepulchral whisper. + +"Shut up, you duffer--he'll hear you!" Jim said. He raised his voice. +"Looking for us, Cecil?" + +"Yes," Cecil drawled. "Uncle David asked me to find you. Fed +the--ah--poultry, Norah?" + +"Yes, thank you," said that damsel. + +"Awfully uninteresting things, fowls," said Cecil, turning and walking +back with them. "Noisy and dirty--I can't imagine you bothering your +head over them." + +"They're not dirty when they're kept properly," Norah said, a little +warmly. "And I don't think any animal's uninteresting if you look after +it yourself. Of course, if you do nothing more than eat them--" + +"I assure you that's all I care to do!" said Cecil. At this point, they +arrived at the door of the office, which was perhaps as well, and found +Mr. Linton half submerged in a sea of stock returns, books, and +bill-files. + +"Oh, here you are," he said, smoothing the furrows out of his brow to +smile at Norah. "I had an idea I sent you for the others some time ago, +Jim." + +Jim looked somewhat sheepish. + +"Yes." He admitted, laughing. "Fact is, I--I got into a kerosene tin!" +He glanced at his left leg expressively. + +"I see," said his father, with a smile. "Well, I don't know that it +matters--only a note has just come out from Anderson, and his chauffeur +is waiting for an answer. It seems Cunjee is playing Mulgoa in a great +cricket match on Thursday, and they're short of men. They want to know +if they can recruit from Billabong." + +"Good business!" said Jim, joyfully, while Wally hurrahed below his +breath. "But will they let us play, Dad--Wal. and me?" + +"Oh, they've fixed that up with the Mulgoa fellows," said his father. +"It's all right. They're kind enough to ask me to play, but it's out of +the question--even if I weren't approaching senile decay"--he smiled--"I +wouldn't be able to go. Mr. Darrell has a buyer coming to look at his +young stock on Friday, and he writes me that if I want any of them--he +knows I did want some--I can have the first pick if I am over at +Killybeg on Thursday. So that means I'll be away from Wednesday +morning--and I think this match will be as efficacious as anything else +in keeping you out of mischief during my absence!" + +"I'm glad we'll have something!" Jim said, his grin belying his meek +voice. "Well, we'll have to see who can play." + +"You two boys, of course," said his father. "And Cecil--do you play?" + +"Not for worlds, thank you," said Cecil, hastily. "It's not in my +line." + +"Oh," said his uncle. "Then you can be Norah's escort--if she wants to +go, that is!" + +"Want to go! Well, Daddy!" said Norah in expostulation--whereat +everybody laughed. + +"Murty can slog, I believe, and of course, Boone is a cricketer," the +squatter said. "They only want four, so if those two fellows are +willing--of which I'm not very doubtful!--that will be just right. You +might go out and see if they're anywhere about, Jim." + +Jim and Wally dashed off, to return presently with the tidings that +Murty would play "wid all the pleasure in loife." Boone was away at +work, but his acquiescence could be taken for granted. + +"Then I'll send a line to the doctor," Mr. Linton said. "He and Mrs. +Anderson want you all to go there for lunch on the day of the match--a +very good arrangement, seeing that you'll have Norah with you. You'd +better get away from here quite early; it's pretty certain to be hot, +and the day will be a fairly long one, in any case. It will be far +better to get the ride over before the sun is very formidable. And if +you'll take my advice, boys, you'll make those fellows have some +practice before Thursday. You two should be in good form, but they +scarcely ever touch a bat." + +Jim and Wally approved of his advice, and each evening before the day +of the match saw the Billabong contingent of the Cunjee eleven hard at +work on a level stretch of ground close to the homestead; while Norah +was generally to be found making herself useful in the outfield. Her +sex did not hinder the daughter of the house from being able to return +balls with force and directness, and when, as a reward for her aid, she +was given a few minutes with the bat, to carefully regulated bowling +from Wally, Norah's cup of joy was full. She was even heard to say that +school might be bearable if they let you play cricket most of the +time!--which was a great admission for Norah, who had kept her word +rigidly about not mentioning the dreaded prospect before her. That she +thought of it continually, Jim knew well and he and his chum were wont, +by all means in their power, to paint school life for girls in +attractive colours without appearing to be directly "preaching" to +Norah; which kindly thought she saw through very well, and was silently +grateful, though it was doubtful if her sentence lost any of its +terrors. + +It was always more or less before her. Her own circle had been too +limited to give Norah much experience of the outer world, and she +shrank instinctively from anything that lay beyond Billabong and its +surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that +she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came +over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to +date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil +were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush. + +For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and +to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly +trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her--which was +prudently when no one else was about--Norah felt a complete rustic, and +was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in +her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them +of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even +wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her, +and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy +evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons +from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on +some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears--until the next +time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of +her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of +manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's +tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the +other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they +done so. + +Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions, +boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much +cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly--at least to most of the +inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across +the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The +Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads; +but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles, +although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles. +Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and +Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him, +the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's +irresponsible bounds--for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and +was full of spirits and suppressed energy. + +"Take care of him, Daddy, won't you?" she said, a little anxiously, as +Monarch executed a more than ordinarily uproarious caper. "He's awfully +fresh." + +"He'll steady down presently," said her father, smiling at the upturned +face. "There's some steep country ahead of him." + +"Yes, but he's such a mad-headed animal--and those paths on the sides of +the gullies are very steep." + +"You sound like the nervous young woman in 'Excelsior,'" David Linton +said, with a laugh. "Cheer up, my girl--there's no need to worry about +Monarch and me. He's only playful; hasn't an atom of vice, and I know +him very well by now. I never put my leg over a better horse." + +"Oh, of course," said Norah, cheered, but not altogether convinced. +"Every one knows he's a beauty--but just look out that he doesn't try to +be too playful on the sidings, Daddy. It would be so easy to slip +down." + +"Not for anything with four good legs and a fair allowance of sense," +said her father. "Do you think you could make Bobs slip down?" + +Norah laughed. + +"Oh, Bobs is like a mountain goat when it comes to sure-footedness," +she said. "You've said yourself, Daddy that it would hardly be possible +to THROW him down! But then, Bobs is Bobs, and he's seven years old, +and ever so sensible--not like that big four-year-old baby. So promise +me you'll be careful, Daddy." + +"I will, little daughter." They were at the boundary fence now, and it +was time for Norah to turn back. "Hurry home--I don't quite like you +being so far afield by yourself." + +"Oh, Bobs will look after me." Norah hugged her father so far as +Monarch would permit--Mr. Linton had got off to wrestle with a stiff +padlock on the seldom-used gate, and the black horse was pulling away, +impatient of the delay. + +"I expect he will," said the father. "That pony is almost as great a +comfort to me as he is to you, I believe! Make haste home, all the +same." He stood still a moment to watch the little white-coated figure +and the handsome pony swinging across the plain at Bobs' long canter; +his face tender as few people ever saw it. Then he mounted the eager +Monarch, and rode off into the rough country that led to the ranges. + +It was comparatively early, but already very hot. Norah was not sorry +when she left the long stretch they called the "Far Plain" behind her, +and came into the welcome shade of a belt of timber. She walked Bobs +through it slowly. Then came the clear stretch to the homestead, and +they cantered steadily across it. + +Near the stockyard a cloud of dust hovered, through which might be seen +dimly the forms of Jim, Wally and O'Toole--all engaged in the engrossing +pursuit of inducing three poddy calves to enter the yard. They had but +one dog, which, being young and "whip shy," had vanished into the +distant landscape at the sound of Murty's stockwhip, leaving them but +their own energies to persuade the calves; and when a poddy calf +becomes obstinate there are few animals less easy to persuade. Each was +possessed of a very respectable turn of speed and a rooted +determination to remain in the paddock. When, as frequently happened, +they made separate rushes away in the direction of freedom it was all +but impossible for those on foot to head them off and keep them in the +corner by the yards. They raced hither and thither like mad things, +cutting wild capers as they fled; backed and twisted and dodged, and +occasionally bellowed as they bolted, much as a naughty child might +bellow. To an onlooker there was something distinctly funny in the +spectacle. + +Murty and the boys, however, might be excused for failing to see the +finer points of the joke. They were hot beyond expression; they were +also extremely dirty, and were verging on becoming extremely cross. To +and fro they darted wildly, striving to head off the cheerful culprits: +lifted up their voices in fruitless shouting, and wasted much necessary +breath in uttering wild threats of what might be expected to happen +when--if ever--they succeeded in yarding the enemy. Not one had a hat; +they had long ago been used as missiles in checking a rush, and now lay +in the dust, trampled under the racing feet of the poddies. Moreover, +it was distressingly evident that they were becoming tired, whilst the +calves remained fresh and in most excellent spirits. The chances, as +Norah arrived, were distinctly in favour of the calves. + +From a comfortable seat on a rail Cecil watch the battle, for once +ceasing to look bored. In his opinion it was funnier than a circus. +Once or twice he shouted words of encouragement to the combatants, and +frequently he laughed outright. As an entertainment this quite outshone +anything that had been offered him on Billabong--and Cecil was not the +man to withhold applause where he thought it due. Finally his attitude +attracted the notice of the perspiring Mr. O'Toole. + +"Yerra, come down out o' that an' len' a hand!" he shouted, panting. +"It is laughin' ye'd be, wid these loonattic images gittin' away on +us--!" Further eloquence on Murty's part was checked by a determined +rush on the part of a red and white calf, which would certainly have +ended in freedom but for a well-aimed clod, which, hurled by the +Irishman, took the poddy squarely between the eyes and induced him to +pull up and meditate. Unfortunately Murty tripped in the act of +delivery, and went headlong, picking himself up just in time to stop a +second rush by the calf, which, on seeing his enemy on the ground, +promptly ceased to meditate. Cecil rocked with laughter. + +"Oh, get off that fence and try and block these brutes, Cecil!" sang +out Jim, angrily. "Another hand would make all the difference, if you'd +exert yourself!" + +Cecil's laughter came to a sudden stop. He looked indignantly at his +grey suit, and with pain at his patent leather shoes; then, apparently +coming to the conclusion that there was no help for it, descended +gingerly, and came into the line of defenders. A sturdy little +Shorthorn singled him out for attention, and charged in his direction. + +"Block him! Block him, I say!" + +Jim's voice rang out. Cecil uttered a feeble yelp as the calf came +racing past, waved his arms, and executed a few mild steps towards +him--attentions which but served to accelerate the Shorthorn's flight. +He went by the city lad like a meteor, rendering useless a wild run by +Wally, who was just too late to head him. Murty O'Toole uttered a shout +of wrath. + +"Howly Ann! He's lost him! The blitherin'--yerra, glory be, there's Miss +Norah!" + +The change from indignation to relief was comical. Norah and Bobs came +like a bolt from the blue upon the vision of the astonished Shorthorn, +which made one last gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, +while Bobs made every movement, propping and swinging to cut +him off in a manner that would have disturbed any rider not +used to the intricate ways of a stock horse. Finally the calf +gave it up abruptly, and raced back towards the yard, the +pony at his heels. He bolted in at the open gate, promptly +followed by his companions, and Murty cut off their exit with +a grunt of relief. + +"Wisha, it's hot!" he said, mopping his brow. "Sure, Miss Norah, y' kem +in the nick av time--'twas run clane off our legs, we was." + +"They CAN run, can't they?" said Norah, who was laughing. "Did you hurt +yourself, Murty?" + +"Only me timper," said the Irishman, grinning. "But 'twas enough to +make a man angry to see that little omadhaun dancin' an' flapping his +arrums f'r all the world loike a monkey on a stick--an' pardon to ye, +Miss Norah, but I do be forgettin' he's y'r cousin." + +"Oh, he's not used to stock; you mustn't be hard on him, Murty," Norah +laughed. "Are you very hot, you poor boys?"--as Wally and Jim came up, +panting. Cecil had withdrawn towards the house, in offended dignity. + +"Hot!" said Wally, casting himself on the ground-- + + "'Far better in the sod to lie, + With pasturing pig above, + Than broil beneath a copper sky, + In sight of all I love!' + +That's me!" + +"Don't know how you've energy to spout Dr. Watts at that rate," said +Jim, following his example. + +"I don't think it is Dr. Watts; I fancy it's Kendall," said Wally, +uncertainly. "Not that it matters, anyhow; I'm not likely to meet +either of them! Did you ever see anything like the way those little +beggars ran?" + +"Hope I never will again--with the thermometer at this height," Jim +answered. "Norah, no words can say how glad I was to see you return, my +dear!" + +"I can imagine how much of your gladness concerned me, and how much was +due to that Shorthorn calf!" said Norah, laughing. + +"Well, he'd have been fleeing yet into the offing if it hadn't been for +you," said Wally. "Will any one take my hand and lead me for a drink?" + +"We'll go up to the house--it's cool there," Jim said. "I want a lemon +squash three feet long. There'll be one for you, Murty, if you come +up." + +"I will that same," said Mr. O'Toole, promptly. "There's no vegetable +loike the limon on a day loike this!" So they let Bobs go, and all +trooped inside, where Cecil was found, well brushed, and wearing a +martyred expression--which, however, was not proof against refreshments. +He even went so far as to express mild regret for his slowness to +render assistance, remarking that it was against his doctor's advice +for him to run; which remarks were received with fitting demeanour by +his hearers, though, as Wally remarked later, it was difficult to see +how any one who knew Cecil at all could ever have contemplated the +possibility of his running! + +"Well, I must go back and help Murty brand those youngsters," Jim said, +at length, bringing his long form in stages off the sofa. "Coming, +Wal.? And, Norah, just you take things quietly. It's uncommon hot, and +you'll have a long day to-morrow." + +Norah assented with surprising meekness, and the day passed calmly, +enlivened by an enthusiastic cricket practice in the evening; after +which she was called into requisition at the piano, and played to an +audience stretched on basket chairs and lounges on the verandah +outside. Finally the performer protested, coming out through one of the +long windows for a breath of cooler air. + +"Well, then, it's bed," said Jim, yawning prodigiously. "Norah, the men +are going to drive in, with our playing togs, to-morrow; would you +rather go in the buggy?" + +"I'd rather drive, thanks, Jim." + +"Thought so. Then hurry off to bed, for we're going to make an early +start." Jim paused, looking up at the star-filled sky. "And I give you +all warning, it's going to be a caution for heat!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CUNJEE v. MULGOA + + I remember + What it was to be young, and glad, and strong, + By a creek that rippled the whole day long. + M. FORREST. + + +There was no doubt whatever that the heat was, as Jim had prophesied, +"a caution." Pretty little Mrs. Anderson, walking down to the cricket +ground at Cunjee, between Jim and Cecil, inwardly wondered what had +made her come out of her cool, shaded house to encounter so scorching a +sun--with nothing ahead but a bush cricket match. However, Cunjee was no +more lively than other townships of its class, and even a match was +something. Besides, her husband was playing, and the Billabong +contingent, who did not seem to mind the heat at all, had arrived full +of most infectious high spirits, filling her house with a cheerful +atmosphere of youth and jollity. Norah had at once succumbed to the +charms of the baby, and as the baby seemed similarly impressed with +Norah, it had been hard to remove him from her arms even for purposes +of nourishment for either. She had quite seriously proposed to take him +to the match, and had been a little grieved when his mother hastily +vetoed the proposition. As mother of three babies, Mrs. Anderson knew +precisely their worth at an entertainment--particularly on a hot day. + +Even Cecil was more than usually inclined to be--if not happy, at least +less bored; although he had begun the day badly, and considered himself +scarcely on speaking terms with Jim. This attitude was somewhat +difficult to sustain, because Jim himself ignored it cheerfully, and +addressed to his cousin whatever remarks came into his head--which Cecil +privately considered a demeanour showing the worst of taste. + +Bobs had been the "unhappy cause of all this discord." The bay pony was +always an object of envy to Cecil, and in his heart he was determined +to ride him before leaving Billabong. Particularly he coveted him for +the ride into Cunjee. It was bad enough, he considered, to be condemned +to Brown Betty in the paddocks, but she was certainly not stylish +enough to please him when it came to a township expedition. So he had +sauntered out when the horses were being saddled, and delicately hinted +to Jim that he might ride Bobs. + +Jim, wrestling with Garryowen's girth, had found it the easiest way out +of the difficulty to avoid hearing the hint--which he considered "like +Cecil's cheek," and as nothing short of Norah's own command would have +induced him to accede to it, silence seemed the better plan. Cecil had +waited a moment until his head came up from under the saddle flap, and +repeated his remark. + +"Afraid not," said Jim, driven to bay, and speaking shortly to cover +his annoyance. "Norah's going to ride him herself." He led Garryowen +off to tie him under the shade of the pepper trees, and did not return +to saddle Bobs until Cecil had retreated to the house, looking very +black. + +This little incident--which Jim had not thought is necessary to report +to Norah--had slightly marred the harmony of the early morning. But +Jim's unfailing good humour make it hard to keep up a grievance, and if +Betty were not exactly stylish, her paces were good enough to make her +rider enjoy the trip into Cunjee, especially as Wally and Norah were in +the best of spirits and kept things going with a will. Then had come +lunch at the Andersons', an occasion which called all Cecil's reserve +powers into play. Mrs. Anderson was pretty and smart, and he assumed +his best society manner in talking to her, monopolized most of the +conversation and flattered himself on making a distinct impression on +his country hostess. Possibly he would have been pained had he heard +Mrs. Anderson's remark to her husband while putting on her hat after +lunch. + +"Did you ever see such a contrast, Jack?" she asked--"that conceited +boy, and those nice Grammar School youngsters--they're so jolly and +unaffected!" To which the doctor had responded that if he had his way +he'd boil Cecil, and it was time she had that veil fixed--and had led +her forth, protesting that "half the pins weren't in!" + +Cecil, however, knew nothing of these comments, and was very well +satisfied with himself as they walked slowly along the lane leading to +the cricket ground. Jim, on the other side of Mrs. Anderson, tall and +handsome in his flannels, with his white hat pulled over his eyes, +discoursed cheerfully of school matches, and promised them something +worth seeing if young Wally got going with the bat--conversation which +did not interest Cecil, who turned it as speedily as might be to +matters more to his taste, whereat Jim grew silent, listening with a +smile hovering on his well-cut mouth to society doing in the city, told +with a view to impressing his hearers with a sense of the narrator's +own important share therein. Once Mrs. Anderson met Jim's eye in a +brief glance, and reflected the smile momentarily. Behind them, Norah, +Wally, and the little doctor kept up a flow of chatter which Wally +described as "quite idiotic and awfully comfortable!" The party arrived +at the cricket ground on very good terms with itself. + +The ground boasted no pavilion save a shed used for the preparation of +afternoon tea--a building of which the extreme heat made it almost +possible to boil the kettle without lighting a fire! Naturally, no one +used it for purposes of watching the play, but there was a row of +wattle trees along one side of the ground, and seats placed in their +shade made an excellent natural grand stand. Here the non-players +betook themselves, while the doctor and the two boys went off to the +spot where already most of the other players were gathered--a lean-to +under a huge gum-tree, used as a dressing-room by most of the +combatants, a number of whom arrived on horseback from long distances. +The Billabong boys had changed at the hotel, after putting up their +horses, and before repairing to the Andersons', so that they had no +dressing to do--which was more than fortunate for them, since the +lean-to was so thick with men, boys, valises, discarded garments, +leggings and boots, that it resembled a hive in a strong state of +disorganization. + +Finally, the men were ready; a somewhat motley crowd--not more than +seven or eight in flannels, while the remainder were in ordinary dress, +with occasionally riding breeches and leggings to be seen, and not a +few football jerseys. The Mulgoa men, on being mustered, were found to +be a man short, while Cunjee had one to the good. So Murty O'Toole, to +his intense disgust, was solemnly handed over to Mulgoa. Then Dr. +Anderson, who captained Cunjee, won the toss, and Murty took the field +along with his new allies, amid heartless jeers from Mr. Boone, smoking +comfortably under a tree, who desired to know should he fetch Mr. +O'Toole an umbrella? + +The story in detail of a cricket match is generally of particular +interest to those who have been there; and as, unfortunately, the +number of spectators of the famous battle between Cunjee and Mulgoa was +limited, little would be served by an exhaustive description of each +over bowled on that day of relentless heat. Cunjee shaped badly from +the start. Their two most noted batsmen, a young blacksmith and the +post-master, fell victims, without getting into double figures, to the +crafty bowling of the Mulgoa captain, Dan Billings--who drove a coach in +his spare moments, and had as nice an understanding of how to make a +ball break on a fast wicket as of flicking the off leader on the ear +with the cracker of his four-in-hand whip. Dr. Anderson scored a couple +of fours, and then went out "leg before." He remarked, returning to the +"pavilion" sorrowfully, that when one was as round and fat as he, it +was difficult to keep out of the way of three little sticks! Then Dave +Boone and Wally made a stand that roused the perspiring spectators to +something like enthusiasm, for Mr. Boone was a mighty "slogger," and +Wally had a neat and graceful style that sent the Cunjee supporters +into the seventh heaven. Between them the score mounted rapidly, and +the men of Mulgoa breathed a sigh of relief when at length Dave skied a +ball from Billings, which descended into the ample hands of Murty +O'Toole, who was quite undecided whether to treat his catch as a +triumph or a calamity. There was no doubt, however, on the part of his +colleagues for the day, who thumped him wildly on the back and yelled +again with joy. Mr. Boone retired with a score of forty-five and a wide +grin. + +Then Jim joined Wally, and kept his end up while his chum put on the +runs. Nothing came amiss to Wally that day--slow balls, fast balls, +"yorkers," "googlies"--the science of Mulgoa went to earth before the +thin brown schoolboy with the merry face. Jim, however, was never at +ease, though he managed to remain in a good while; and eventually +Dickenson, a wiry little Mulgoa man, found his middle stump with a +swift ball--to the intense dismay of Norah, to whom it seemed that the +sky had fallen. Cecil smiled serenely. + +"I had an idea Jim fancied himself as a bat!" said he. + +"Jim never fancies himself at anything!" said Jim's sister, +indignantly. "Anyway, he's a bowler far more than a bat." + +"Ah, it's possibly not his 'day out.' What a pity!" Cecil murmured. + +"Well, we can't always be on our best form, I suppose," said Mrs. +Anderson, pacifically. "And, at any rate, Norah, your friend is doing +splendidly. Wasn't that a lovely stroke?" + +Alas! it soon was apparent that Cunjee was not going to support its +ally. One after another the wickets went down, and the batsmen returned +from the field "with mournful steps and slow." Wally, seeing his +chances diminishing, took liberties with the bowling, and hit wildly, +with amazing luck in having catches missed. At last, however, he +snicked a ball into cover-point's hands, and retired, amid great +applause, having made forty-three. The remaining Cunjee wickets went as +chaff before the wind, and the innings closed for 119. + +Then there was a rush for the refreshment shed, and monumental +quantities of tea were consumed by the teams and their supporters, +administered by the admiring maidens of Cunjee. Wally and Jim, prone on +the grass in the shade, were cheerful, but by no means enthusiastic +regarding their chances. Norah had half expected to find Jim cast down +over his batting failure, and was much relieved that he exhibited all +his usual serenity. Jim's training had been against showing feeling +over games. + +"Absolutely fiery out there," said he, accepting a cup gratefully. +"Thanks, awfully, Mrs. Anderson; you people are no end good. Didn't we +make a beautiful exhibition of ourselves?--all except Dave and this kid, +that is." + +"Kid yourself," said Wally, who was sucking a lemon slowly and +luxuriously. "No tea, thanks, Norah. I'm boiling already, and if I took +tea I don't know what might happen, but certainly heat apoplexy would +be part of it. Have half my lemon?" + +"I don't think so, thanks," said Norah, unmoved by this magnificent +offer. "You seem to be getting used to that one, and I'd hate to +deprive you of it. Do you boys think we've any chance?" + +"It's highly doubtful," Jim answered. "The general opinion is that +Mulgoa's good for 150 at the very least--they've got a few rather +superior men, I believe, and of course that Billings chap is a terror. +And the wicket, such as it is, is all in favour for the bat--which +doesn't say much for us And one of our men has gone down with the heat +and can't field--fellow from the hotel with red hair, who made +five--remember him, Wal.? He's out of training, like most hotel chaps, +and as soft as possible, So we're playing a man short." + +"I wish they'd give you Murty back!" said Norah, with feminine +ignorance. + +"Much hope!" returned her brother. "Anyway, Murty's not over good in +the field; he's too much in the saddle to be a quick man on his feet. I +wouldn't mind you as substitute, Nor."--which remark, though futile, +pleased Norah exceedingly. + +She was rather more hopeful when the Cunjee team at length took the +field, with Boone and the blacksmith bowling against Billings and +another noted Mulgoa warrior. But her hopes were rapidly put to flight, +and the spirits of the Cunjee "barrackers" went down to zero as it +became distressingly apparent that Mr. Billings and his partner were +there to stay. Alike they treated the bowling with indifference, +hitting the Billabong stockman with especial success--which soon +demoralized Dave, who appealed to be taken off, and devoted his +energies to short slip fielding. Here he had his revenge presently, for +the second Mulgoa man hit a ball almost into his hands, and Dave clung +to it as a drowning man to a straw--one wicket for thirty-five. + +Then the score mounted with alarming steadiness, and the wickets fell +all too slowly for the home team. Dan Billings appeared as comfortable +at the wickets as though on the box of his coach, and smote the bowling +all round the ground with impartiality. The heat became more and more +oppressive, and several of the Cunjee men were tiring, including plump +little Dr. Anderson, who stuck to his work as wicket-keeper pluckily--to +the unconcealed anxiety of his wife. His reward came when a hot return +from the field by Wally gave him a chance of stumping one of the Mulgoa +cracks. But the enthusiasm was only momentary; the game was considered, +even by the most sanguine small boy of Cunjee, to be "all over bar +shouting." + +Jim had been bowling for some time from one end with fair results. The +batsmen certainly took fewer liberties with him, and he managed to +account for three of them for a comparatively low average. He had +allowed himself to become anxious, which is a bad thing for a bowler +when the score is creeping up and the batsmen are well set. Wally +watched his chum with some anxiety--there was none of the fire in his +bowling that had so often brought down the ground in a School match. + +"Wish he'd wake up," said Wally to himself. "I'd like a chance to talk +to him." + +The chance came when the field crossed over, disposed anew to harry a +left-handed batsman. Jim came over with his long, swinging walk, his +head a little bent. He started a little at his friend's voice. + +"You'll snore soon!" said Wally, incisively. "What on earth's the +matter with you? Play up, School!" + +Jim stopped short a moment--and burst out laughing, Wally's indignant +face glanced back over his shoulder as he ran off. There was a new +spring in the bowler's walk as he went to his crease, and the smile +still lingered. + +The left-handed man faced him confidently--not many local bowlers could +trouble him much, and being a large and well-whiskered gentleman, the +tall schoolboy opposite to him sent no thrill of fear through his soul. +But Jim had learned a thing or two at school about left-handed bats. He +took a short run. + +On returning to the pavilion the whiskered one admitted that he knew +really nothing about the ball. It seemed to come from nowhere, and curl +about his bat as he lifted it to strike. How the bails came off was a +mystery to him, though it was unfortunately beyond question that they +had not remained on. The left-hander removed his pads, ruminating. + +Cunjee, meanwhile, had cheered frantically, and Wally sent a School +yell ringing down the field. Jim's eye lit up anew as he heard it. + +"I do believe I've been asleep," he muttered. + +The new man was waiting for him, and he treated his first two balls +with respect. Then he grew bolder; hit him for a single, and snicked +him to the fence for four. There was a perceptible droop in the Cunjee +spirits at the boundary hit. Then Jim bowled the last ball of the over, +and there was a composite yell from Cunjee as the Mulgoa man pushed the +ball gently into the air just over Dr. Anderson's head. The little +doctor was pitifully hot, but he did not fail. The Mulgoa batsman +returned to his friends. + +Dan Billings was a little worried. Much, he felt, depended on him, and +he had never been more comfortably set; but his men--would they be as +reliable? He decided to hit out, and Mulgoa roared as the hundred went +up for a beautiful boundary hit. Six wickets were down, and Mulgoa was +107 at the end of the over. It seemed safe enough. + +Jim took the ball again, his fingers pressing the red surface almost +lovingly. He had quite waked up; his head was buzzing with "theories," +and his old power seemed to have come back to his fingers. The first +ball came with a beautiful leg-break, and the Mulgoan bat swiped at it +wildly, and vainly. Seven for 107. + +Cunjee was getting excited as the eighth man came in--a wiry and long +youth with a stolid face. He contented himself with blocking Jim's +bowling, snatching a single presently so that Billings would have the +responsibility--to which that gentleman promptly responded by smiting +Jim for three. That brought the stolid youth back to power--an honour he +did not wish. He hit the next ball softly back to the bowler. Eight for +111; and Cunjee howling steadily, with all its youth, and some of its +beauty, battering with sticks on tins. A dog ran across the ground, and +was greeted with a yell that made it scurry away in terror, its tail +concealed between its legs. Just then Cunjee had no time for dogs. + +But it was Mr. Billings' turn, and Mr. Billings was busy. He made good +use of the over--the score mounted, and the Cunjee hopes swung lower. It +was still eight--for 115--when a single brought his companion to face +little Harry Blake, the other Cunjee bowler, who was plainly feeling +the weight of his position. He sent the ball down nervously--it slipped +as it left his hand, and the Mulgoan stepped out to meet it, while +Harry gasped with horror. Up, up, it soared--a boundary surely! Then +there was a roar as Wally Meadows gathered himself together, raced, and +sprang for the red disc, spinning over his head just at the fence. It +seemed to hover above him--then his hands closed, and, unable to stop +himself, Wally somersaulted, rolling over and over in the long grass of +the outfield. He sat up, his brown face lit by a wide smile, the ball +still clutched, held above his head. Nine for 115! + +The tension was on bowlers and batsmen alike now--all save Dan Billings, +whose calmness was unimpaired. He greeted the tenth man cheerfully--and +the tenth man was Murty O'Toole, very hot and nervous, and certainly +the most miserable man on the ground as he faced "Masther Jim's" +bowling, and knew that the alien hopes of Mulgoa depended on him. Out +in the open a Mulgoa man shrugged his shoulders, remarking, "He won't +try!" and was promptly attacked furiously by three small boys of +Cunjee, who pelted him with clods and abuse from a safe distance. Murty +looked at Jim with a little half-apologetic gesture, and Jim grinned. + +"Play up, Murty, old chap!" he said. + +It was not in vain that he had schooled the stockman in the paddock at +Billabong. He sent down a treacherous ball, and Murty met it and played +it boldly for two, amid Mulgoan shrieks. Two to tie and three to +win--no, one fewer now, for the Irishman had turned a swift ball to leg, +and only quick fielding had prevented a boundary. A hundred and +seventeen! Murty heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned on his bat at the +bowler's end and glanced across at Jim. + +"Praises be, 'twill be Billings to hit it, an' not O'Toole!" he +muttered. "I have put me fut in it sufficient f'r wance!" + +The ball left Jim's hand with a whizz, and Billings stepped out to meet +it. Just what happened no one saw clearly for a moment, it all came to +pass so quickly. Then an Irish yell from Murty O'Toole woke the echoes, +even as the bowler's hand flashed up above his head--and the big +stockman flung up his bat in an ecstasy of delight. Billings bit off a +sharp word and left his crease; and Cunjee woke to the fact that the +Mulgoan captain was caught and bowled. The match was theirs--by one run! + +When Cunjee woke it became very thoroughly awake. They rushed the +ground, cheering, shouting and hurling hats and caps into the air, +irrespective of their owners' wishes. There was a demonstration to +carry Jim in, which that hero promptly quenched by taking to his heels +and leaving his too affectionate friends far in the rear. Behind him +Cunjee and Mulgoa seethed together, and the air was rent with cheers. +Free fights were in active progress in at least five places on the +ground. It was clearly Cunjee's day out. + +Jim met Wally with a grin that was distinctly sheepish. + +"Knew you could!" said the Mentor, patting him happily on the back. +"Good old School! But what an ass you were, Jimmy!" + +"I was," said Jim, meekly. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RIDE HOME + + In the gathering of night-gloom o'erhead in + The still, silent change. + GORDON. + + +"Well, old girl?" + +Norah laughed up at the big fellow delightedly. + +"Oh, wasn't it lovely, Jimmy?" she said. "I was so excited--and you were +grand! And wasn't Wally's catch a beauty? It's been a lovely match, +hasn't it, Jim?" + +"H'm--in spots," said Jim, a little doubtfully, but laughing back at +her. "Rather like the fellow who said his egg was 'excellent--in parts,' +don't you think? Anyhow, we won, and that's the main thing--and I never +DID see a catch to beat that of Wal's." + +"We're all immensely proud of you, Jim," Mrs. Anderson said. "And +didn't my old man do well?" + +"He did, indeed," Jim agreed heartily. "But I'm not a bit proud of +myself--I think I was asleep most of the time, till old Wal., here, woke +me up with a few well-chosen words. However, it's over now--and Norah, I +want you to get along home." + +"Aren't you coming?" Norah asked, a little blankly. + +"We'll have to catch you up. I don't quite like the look of the +weather; we're in for a storm, that's certain, and you may possibly +escape it if you get away now. I can't start just yet; the Mulgoa +fellows are insisting on 'shouting' for all hands, and we can't very +well refuse; besides"--he dropped his voice--"you know what Boone is--I +must see that he and Murty leave Cunjee. Cecil will look after you, +won't you, Cecil?" + +That gentleman assented without any pleasure. He did not feel impressed +with the prospect of acting as escort to a small girl when he might +have remained in Cunjee. Norah was quick to notice his manner. + +"I needn't bother Cecil, Jim," she said, "I can quite easily ride on by +myself." + +"Indeed you won't," her brother responded. "Why, it'll be dark before +long--let alone the state of the weather. You don't mind, Cecil, do +you?" + +Thus directly questioned, Cecil could do nothing but express his entire +willingness. + +"That's all right, then," Jim said. "Hurry on down to the hotel and get +the saddles on, there's a good chap. Goodness knows whether you'll find +any one there, but I fancy that pretty well the whole township is up at +the match. You'll only escape that storm if you're lucky--don't lose a +minute." He made his farewells to Mrs. Anderson, and turned to Norah +again. "Better look after your own girth," he told her--"run after Cecil +and lend him a hand if he wants it." + +Cecil had already started; his slim, correctly attired figure was +hastening along the dusty lane. He hated rain, and the hint of the +coming storm had made him hurry when no other consideration would have +done so. There was no one visible about the hotel yard, as he entered, +and he called in vain; then, seeing no help for it, he entered the +stables, where the Billabong horses occupied the stalls at one end. +Bobs whinnied sharply as the door opened, and Cecil looked at the +inquiring head; and then, sourly, towards Brown Betty, standing +peacefully, half asleep, in her stall. + +"Wonder if she'd mind?" Cecil muttered, pondering. "Let her, anyhow!" +With which cryptic remarks he moved towards the saddles. + +Norah arrived on the scene a few minutes later, coming straight to the +stables. For a moment she could not see Cecil, then, peering into +Betty's stall, she made him out, busily girthing up. Bobs was already +saddled, and Norah went up to him. + +"Why, you have been quick, Cecil," she said, cheerfully. "I thought I +was going to help you, but there doesn't seem anything for me to do. +Thanks very much for saddling Bobs." She led the pony out, and then +stopped. "Oh, what a pity," she said. "You've got the wrong saddles on, +Cecil." + +Cecil came out, leading the brown mare, and a little flushed. + +"I did it on--ah--purpose," he said. "You don't mind, I suppose if I ride +Bobs home?" + +Norah looked at him a moment, and then flushed in her turn. To let her +cousin ride Bobs seventeen miles was unthinkable. She had the +profoundest regard for her pony's back; and she knew that even Brown +Betty's seasoned hide was giving way under the unskilled horsemanship +of the city boy. It was very doubtful, moreover, that it would be safe +to mount him on Bobs, who was already excited with the coming storm and +the prospect of home. She knew every turn, and thought of the +high-spirited pony--he went quietly for her, but with a new-chum it +might be a different matter. + +Moreover, Norah was distinctly annoyed. She was a sweet-tempered +maiden, but she did not like being treated lightly; and in assuming +that he might coolly appropriate her special property, it seemed to her +that Cecil was treating her very lightly indeed. She had a moment's +swift wish that Jim were there to take her part. It was not quite easy +to oppose any one nearly grown up like Cecil--who in addition was a +guest, and had a special claim on courtesy. She flushed deeply as she +answered him in a low voice. + +"I can't let you ride Bobs, I'm afraid, Cecil." + +"Oh, can't you?" said Cecil, staring. "Why not?" + +"Well, no one rides him but me," said Norah unhappily. "And he's a +queer pony, Cecil. I'm not a bit sure that he'd go nicely with you. You +see, I understand him." + +"You evidently think no one can ride but yourself," Cecil said +disagreeably. "I really think I can manage the famous Bobs." + +"If you knew him it might be all right," Norah answered. "But I'd +really rather not, Cecil. He's eager and impatient, and quite +unaccustomed to strangers. Dad would be awfully annoyed if you had any +trouble with him." + +"I don't fancy Uncle David would be given any need for annoyance," +Cecil replied. "I'm a bit sick of this old mare, and I don't think it +would hurt you to lend me Bobs. It's uncommonly selfish of you to want +to keep him always." + +Norah's flush deepened. + +"I'm awfully sorry you think that," she said. "And I'll speak to Dad +about your riding him, if you like--another time." + +"Another time? Then what's the matter with my riding him now? I +suppose," said Cecil with a sneer, "you want to show off in Cunjee." + +Norah stared at him blankly for a moment. Rudeness had been always so +far from her that she did not for a moment comprehend that this boy was +being deliberately rude. Then she walked round Bobs without replying, +and unbuckled the girth. + +"Please let me have my saddle," she said. Her voice was quite final. + +Cecil was pale with anger. He flung round without a word, tugging at +the buckle until Betty, who was patient but girth-galled, pulled away +in protest. As it yielded Norah laid his saddle on the mare's withers, +and slipped her own away. Their eyes met for a moment as she did so--the +child's steady and a little scornful, the young man's shifty. Then +Norah lifted her saddle across to Bobs, and girthed him up in silence. + +The pony was restless and excited, and objected to the second saddling +out in the space of the yard, when he was keen to get away. It seemed +unreasonable to Bobs, and he ran round and generally behaved in a +frivolous manner, while Norah struggled with the girth. When it was +done, she took her head, somewhat dishevelled, from under the saddle +flap. She laughed a little. + +Cecil, every line of his back showing offended dignity, was riding out +of the yard. As he came to the gate he dug his heel into Betty, who +broke into a canter at once. Norah's escort disappeared round a turn in +the street without looking back. + +"Well, if he isn't a donkey!" was her comment. "He's awfully +unpleasant--I wish he wouldn't make things so uncomfortable." She +mounted Bobs, and subdued that excitable steed's impatience while she +settled her habit. "Jim will be so angry if he finds out. I must get +away before he comes." + +She rode into the street. Some distance away a crowd was moving slowly +in her direction. Cheers and snatches of triumphant choruses were +wafted to her. In the midst she could see some figures in white +flannels. Norah rounded the corner of the street, seeing ahead of her a +fast-receding speck--Brown Betty and her rider. It was evident that she +was not to have the benefit of Cecil's presence on the ride home; and +Norah could not help laughing again, although she was annoyed at the +whole occurrence. For all his airs, he was such a baby, this cousin of +hers. + +"I'll tell Dad all about it," she reflected. "The he can say whether he +thinks Cecil can ride Bobs. Only I won't tell him he cleared out and +left me, 'cause there would be a row straight away." Thus pondering in +the Australian manner, she took the road home. + +Jim's storm was coming up slowly, and though the sun had not yet set, +already it was growing dusk; and still it was very hot. She let Bobs +canter slowly, not wishing to appear to be hurrying after Cecil. Norah +never bore malice, but she had her pride! Often she glanced back over +her shoulder, hoping to see the boys. She knew they would not let the +grass grow under their horses' hoofs, once they were able to take the +road home. But the track lay bare behind her, and ahead Cecil had quite +disappeared. By the time she was five miles out of Cunjee she seemed +the only person in the whole landscape, and the only sound that met her +ear was the steady beat of the cantering hoofs, mingled with the creak +of the saddle leather. + +The metalled road ended, and she struck into the bush track. It was +very lonely now; trees overhung the path, and the eerie light of the +coming storm threw strange shadows, at which Bobs shied constantly. +Once or twice there was a distant roll of thunder. There was just light +enough left to see the way. The road wound in and out among the trees. +By day it was Norah's favourite part of the journey; but now she could +not help wishing that it were possible to look further ahead, or to +watch the road over which she had passed, to catch the first glimpse of +Jim and Wally. There was a pleasant security in feeling that they were +coming. Norah was not a nervous girl; but she had rarely been allowed +to ride any but short distances alone. If Dad and Jim were not +available, it was an understood thing that Billy must act as her +escort. Certainly she had never been in the dark alone, and so far from +home. She was not afraid--she would have laughed at the very notion. +Still, it was a little queer. She knew she would be glad when she was +out of the timber. + +There came a bend in the track, and Bobs swung round it sharply. Then a +dark figure loomed up suddenly in the gloom, and the pony shied +violently, and propped. Norah struck her heel into him, her heart +giving a great bound. He struggled and plunged. A hand was on his +bridle, and a rough voice threatened him savagely. In the gloom Norah +could just make out a brutal-looking man, young, but with something in +his face that made her shudder. Her heart stood still for a moment, +after that first wild leap. Then she realized that he was asking her +for money, and she commanded her voice to answer. + +"I haven't any." + +It was true. When she rode with her father or brother it never occurred +to Norah to carry money, and she wore nothing of value at all to tempt +any thief. Her hunting-crop was silver mounted; she remembered it +suddenly, glad that it was dark and that the man would not be likely to +notice the gift that had been Jim's. + +"I don't believe y'," he said. + +"Well, you can, then," Norah answered. She was beginning to recover +herself, a little ashamed of that first moment of unreasoning terror. +If she had no money he would surely let her go. She scarcely knew the +meaning of fear--how should she, in the free, simple life that had +always been guarded, yet had left her only a little child in mind? "I +haven't so much as a penny," she went on. "Let go my bridle." + +"What are y' doin' here alone?" The slow voice was crafty; something in +it brought back that stupid first fear. She pulled herself together. + +"My people are coming--you'd better let go. If my brother gets hold of +you--" + +"Oh, your brother's comin', is he?" + +"Yes; let go my bridle." + +"Shut up about your bridle!" said the man, and Norah shrank back as if +she had been stung. He began to lead Bobs off the track. + +"What are you doing?" she asked angrily. She kicked Bobs again, and the +pony tried to rear, caught between the sudden blow and that compelling +hand on his rein. The man pulled him down savagely, jerking at his bit +and flinging threats at him and at Norah. + +"Y' might as well stop playin' the fool," he told her. "I want that +pony, an' I'm goin' to have it." + +TO HAVE BOBS! She tried to speak, but the words died before she could +utter them. Bobs! In her bewildered terror she scarcely realized for a +moment what he meant; then she raised her whip and cut with all her +strength at the hand that held the rein. He gave a sharp yell of pain +as the stinging whalebone caught him, but he did not relinquish his +grasp, and Norah struck at him again and again, half blindly in the +darkness, but always with the strength of desperation. It could not +last long--the struggle was too pitifully unequal. It was only a minute +before he had wrested the whip from her and held her wrists in one +vice-like hand. His voice was thick with rage. + +"I'll teach y'," he said, "y' little spitfire! Get off that pony." + +He began to drag her off. She clung to the saddle wildly, knowing how +hopeless it was, but somehow feeling that she must not leave that one +poor haven of safety. Then she felt herself going, and in that +sickening moment screamed for help--a child's piteous cry: + +"Jim! Jim! Jim!" + +There was no Jim to aid her--she knew it, even as she cried. The rough +grasp tightened; she could feel his breath as he dragged her from the +saddle. + +Then from the darkness came a tall, stealthy shadow, and suddenly her +wrists were free, as her assailant staggered back in the grip of the +newcomer. She made a violent effort and found herself back in the +saddle; and Bobs was plunging wildly, his bridle free. The necessity of +steadying him in the timber helped her to calm herself. Before her the +men were swaying backwards and forwards, blocking the way to the track; +her enemy's savage voice mingling with a lower one that was somehow +familiar, though she could not tell what he said. Then she saw that the +struggle was ending--the tall man had the other pinned against a tree, +and turned to her. His dark face was close, and she cried out to him, +knowing him for a friend. + +"Oh, Lal Chunder, it's you!" + +"Him beat," said Lal Chunder, breathlessly. "L'il meesis orright?" + +"I'm all right," she said, struggling with--for Norah--an unaccountable +desire to cry. "Oh, don't let him go!" + +"No," said the Hindu, decidedly. "Him hurt you? Me kill him." + +The last remark was uttered conversationally, and the man against the +tree cried out in fear. Lal Chunder flung at him a flood of rapid +Hindustani, and he collapsed into shivering silence. Probably it was +rather awe-inspiring--the great black-bearded Indian, with his keen, +enraged face and the voice that seemed to cut. But to Norah he was a +very haven of refuge. + +"Oh, you mustn't kill him," she said. "The boys will be here--men +coming--quick! Can you hold him?" + +"Hold him--yes--tight," said Lal Chunder, tightening his grip as he +spoke, to the manifest discomfort of the man against the tree. Then +came distant voices, and a snatch of a School song, mingled with quick +hoofs; and Norah caught her breath in the sharpness of the relief. She +rode out on the track, calling to Jim. + +The boys pulled up, the horses plunging. + +"Norah! What on earth--" + +Norah explained rapidly, and Jim flung himself off, tossing Garryowen's +rein to Wally, and ran to her. + +"Kiddie--you're all right? He didn't hurt you?" The boy's voice was +shaking. + +"Only my wrists," said Norah, and then began to shudder as the memory +of the struggle in the trees came back to her. Jim put his arm about +her. + +"Thank heaven for that blessed Indian!" said he. "Steady, old +girl--you're all right," and Norah recovered herself. + +"Yes, I'm all right, Jimmy," she said, a little shakily. "What about +Lal Chunder?" + +"Here's the buggy," said Wally, and in a moment Murty and Boone were on +the scene, when it was the work of a few minutes to tie the prisoner +with halters and hoist him into the buggy, where he lay very +uncomfortable, with his head close to the splashboard. There was much +explanation, and it would probably have gone hard with the prisoner but +for Jim, as Murty and Boone wanted to deal out instant justice. + +"Not good enough," Jim said. He was rather white, in the glow of the +buggy lamps. "He'll be better safe in gaol." He turned to Lal Chunder, +who had drawn close to Norah, and was contemplating his right hand, +which had been nearly shaken off by the four from Billabong. The +Hindu's English was not equal to his sense of friendship, and +conversation with him lacked fluency. It was some time before Jim could +make him understand that they wanted him to return to the station--and +indeed, it was Norah who made it clear at last. + +"Me want you," she said, taking the dusky hand in hers. "Come back to +my home." She pointed towards the direction of Billabong. Lal Chunder +capitulated immediately. + +"It is an order," he said, gravely; and forthwith climbed into the +buggy, a weird figure between the two stockmen, their faces still +flushed with anger as they looked at the man lying between their feet. + +"We'll put him away in the lock-up, an' be out agin in no time, Masther +Jim," said Murty. "Take care of her me boy." And the stockman, who had +known Norah since her babyhood, choked suddenly as he looked at her +pale face. Norah was herself again, however, and she smiled at him +cheerily. + +"I'm right as rain, Murty!" she said, in the Bush idiom. "Don't you +worry about me." + +"'Tis pluck y' have," said the Irishman. He turned the buggy with some +difficulty, for the track was narrow, and they spun off on the return +journey to Cunjee, while Norah, between the two boys, was once more on +the way to Billabong. + +"You're sure you're all right, Nor.?" Jim said, looking at her keenly. + +"Yes--truly, Jim." Norah had made up her mind not to say too much. There +was nothing to be gained by harrowing them with unnecessary +details--and, child-like, the memory of her terror was already fading, +now that care and safety had again wrapped her about. "I was a bit +scared, but that's all over." + +"Then," said Jim, "can you tell me where is Cecil?" His voice was +dangerously calm. + +"Oh, he--he went on," Norah said. "We had a dispute, and he was a bit +put out." + +"A dispute? What about?" + +"He wanted to ride Bobs." + +"DID he?" Jim said. "And because you wouldn't let him, he cleared out +and left you?" + +"Well, he was offended," Norah replied slowly, "and I dare say he +thought I would catch him up--instead of which I hung back, hoping you +boys would catch ME up. So it wasn't really his fault." + +"He must have known you would be coming through that timber by yourself +in the dark." + +"Oh, most likely he reckoned I'd have you with me by that time. He +doesn't understand very well, does he? He didn't mean any harm, Jim." + +"I don't know what he meant," Jim said, angrily. "But I know what he +did--and what he'd have been responsible for if Lal Chunder hadn't +happened along in the nick of time. Great overgrown calf! Upon my word, +when I see him--" + +"Oh, don't have a row, Jim," Norah pleaded. "He's a guest." + +"Guest be hanged! Do you mean to say that's excuse for behaving like a +cad?" + +"Ah, he wouldn't mean to. Don't tell him about--about Lal Chunder--and +the man." + +"Not tell him?" Jim exclaimed. + +"Well, not to-night, anyhow. Promise me you won't have a row +to-night--and if you tackle him when you get home there will be a row. +Wait until Dad comes home." finished Norah, a little wearily. + +Behind her, Wally leaned across to his chum. They pulled back a little. + +"I say--don't worry her, old man," Wally said. "I guess she's had a bit +of a shock--let's try and keep her mind off it. Do what she asks." And +Jim nodded. + +"All right, old woman," he said, coming alongside again. "I won't slay +him to-night--don't bother your little head. We'll let Dad fix him." + +Norah's grateful look rewarded him. + +"Thanks, Jimmy," she said. "I--I'm feeling like having a little peace. +And he'd never understand, no matter what you said." + +"I suppose he wouldn't," Jim agreed. "But he's a worm! However--the +storm's coming, and if we don't want wet jackets we'd better travel." +They tore homewards through the hot night. Presently Wally started a +chorus, and both boys were relieved when Norah joined in. They nodded +at each other cheerfully behind her back. So, singing very lustily, if +not in the most artistic fashion, they reached the Billagong stables +just as the first heavy drops were falling. + +Within, Cecil met them, a little nervously. + +"I thought you were lost," he said. + +"H'm," said Jim, passing him, and struggling with his promise. "Sorry +you and Norah had any difference of opinion." + +Cecil flushed. + +"Possibly I was--ah--hasty," he said. "I did not consider I asked Norah +much of a favour." + +"That's a matter of opinion. At any rate, Cecil, I may as well tell you +straight out that I don't consider it would be at all wise for you to +ride Bobs." + +"I'm not likely to hurt him." + +"He might very likely hurt you. He's not an easy pony to ride." + +Cecil's little laugh was irritating. + +"What?" he said. "I don't profess to be a jockey, but--a child's pony?" + +Jim very nearly lost his temper. + +"You won't be convinced," he said, "and I've no desire to convince you +with Bobs. But take my advice and let Norah alone about her pony. +You've a very good mare to ride." + +"That old crock!" said Cecil, scornfully. + +Jim stared. + +"Crock!" he said. "Well, you won't find many hacks to beat old Betty, +even if in your mighty judgment she is a crock. And, anyhow, Bobs is +Norah's, and no one else has any say about him. There's the bell; +ready, chaps?" + +The meal was scarcely lively. Cecil maintained an offended silence, and +Jim was too angry to talk, while Norah was silent and a little pale. +However, Cecil retired to his room immediately he had finished; and the +boys set themselves to the task of diverting Norah, fearful lest the +evening's adventure should have any bad effect on her. They succeeded +so well that by bedtime Norah had forgotten all her troubles, and was +weak with laughter. When Wally set out "to blither," as he said, he did +not do things by halves. + +Jim came into Norah's room and switched on her light. + +"Sure you're all right, kiddie?" + +"Rather!" said Norah. "I've laughed too much to be anything else." + +"Then go to sleep laughing," said Jim, practically. "I'm quite close if +you want anything." + +"Oh, I won't want anything, thanks," Norah answered. "Good-night, +Jimmy." + +"Good-night, little chap." + +Norah tumbled hastily into bed and slept dreamlessly. She did not know +that Jim dragged a sofa and some rugs along the corridor, and slept +close to her door. + +"Kid might dream and wake up scared," he said to Wally, a little +apologetically, before mounting guard. It was Jim's way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A CHILD'S PONY + + With the spirit of fire and of dew + To show the road home to them all. + KENDALL. + + +It was quite early next morning when Cecil awoke. One of his grievances +against the country was the way in which the birds acted as alarum +clocks every day, rousing him from his well-earned slumbers fully an +hour before even the earliest milk cart rattling along the suburban +street fulfilled a similar purpose at home. Generally, he managed to +turn over and go to sleep again. This morning, however, he was +unusually wakeful. + +He lay turning in his mind his anger against his cousins. Little causes +for annoyance, simple enough in themselves, had been brooded over until +they made up a very substantial total; and now, last night's happenings +capped everything. In his own heart of hearts he knew that he had small +justification for his childish outbursts of anger; only it was not +Cecil's nature to admit any such thing, and if justification were not +evident, his mind was quite equal to manufacturing it. At the end of +half an hour's gloomy pondering he had worked himself up into a fine +state of ill usage, and into the firm belief that Norah and the boys +had no intention but to insult and humiliate him. + +To some natures there is a certain comfort in nursing a grievance, and +reasoning themselves into a plaintive state of martyrdom. When Cecil +finally rolled angrily out of bed, he was almost cheerful in the +contemplation of his own unhappiness. They were determined to sneer at +him and lessen his pride, were they? Well, they should see. + +Just what they were likely to see, Cecil did not know himself, but the +reflection was soothing. Meanwhile, the birds were maddeningly active, +and an unusual restlessness was upon him. He dressed slowly, putting on +flannels, for the day promised heat, and went downstairs. + +Sarah and Mary were busy in the hall, and lifted astonished eyebrows at +seeing the boy down before the others; as a rule Cecil strolled into +the dining-room barely in time for breakfast, or was late altogether. +He took no notice of them, but wandered out to the back, where Brownie +was found instructing a new kitchen assistant in the gentle art of +cleaning a stove. She, too, showed amazement at the apparition, but +recovered sufficiently to offer him tea and scones, to which Cecil did +justice. + +"Be you all going out early?" Brownie asked. + +"Not that I know of." Cecil's tone did not encourage conversation. + +"Seein' you so unusual early, I thought there was some plan on," said +Brownie. "Master Jim's great on makin' plans, ain't he? (Meriar, elbow +grease is one of the necessariest things in gettin' a shine on a +stove--don't let me catch you merely strokin' it again!) An' Miss +Norah's always ready to back him up--wunnerfull mates them two has alwuz +been, an' Master Jim has ever and alwuz looked after her, from the +d'rekly-minute he could walk!" + +"Ah?" said Cecil. + +"Well may you say so," said Brownie, inspired by her subject. "As +loving-kind a pair as could be, have them two been; and as proud of +each other--! Well, any one who reads may run! An', Master Jim never +mindin' her being on'y a girl; not that that has 'ampered Miss Norah +much, I will say, seein' how she rides an' all. I'm sure it's a picture +to see her on that there Bobs, an' the dumb beast knows every single +word she says to him. They'll fret for each other cruel, Bobs an' her, +when she goes to school." + +Brownie's enthusiasm was ill-timed, as far as Cecil was concerned; +indeed, she could scarcely have hit upon a subject less palatable to +him. Still, it was useless to interfere with the old woman; so he +gulped down his tea hastily, listening with ill-concealed impatience to +her talk of Norah and Bobs, and then escaped abruptly. + +"H'm!" said Brownie, looking after him. "Not a word out of me noble--not +even a thank you! Too much of a fine gentleman for Billabong, like his +ma before him!" + +"Young gent don't seem to cotton to Miss Norah," remarked the astute, +if new, Maria, who had been listening with all her ears. + +"When you're asked for your opinion about your betters, Meriar, it may +be time to shove in your oar; but until then let me advise you to keep +it in your own head," said Brownie severely. "At present your work is +rubbin' that stove, and if it ain't done in remarkable quick time it'll +have to be blackleaded all over again, bein' as how it'll have got too +dry!" Appalled by which awful possibility, Maria fell to work with +wonderful vigour, dismissing all lesser matters from her mind. + +Meanwhile, Cecil strolled across the yard, and thence towards the +stockyards, where a trampling of feet and a light cloud of dust showed +that the men had got in the horses for the day. He selected a clean +place on the top rail carefully, and cast his eye over the little mob +standing in groups about the enclosure--a dozen stock horses; the big +pair of greys that were used in the covered buggy or the express wagon; +the brown ponies that Norah drove; his own mount Betty, and Wally's +mare Nan; and then the aristocrats, Garryowen and, last of all, Bobs. +Norah's pony was standing near an old black horse for which he had a +great affection. They were nearly always to be found together in the +yards or paddocks. Even unbrushed as he was, the sunlight rippled on +his bay coat when he moved, showing the hard masses of muscle in his +arched neck. + +"Beauty, ain't he?" It was Mick Shanahan, on his way to another paddock +to bring in some colts. He pulled up beside Cecil, the youngster he was +riding sidling impatiently. + +"Yes, he's a nice pony," said Cecil, without enthusiasm. + +"Well, I've seen a few, but he beats 'em all," said the horsebreaker. +"A ringer from the time he was a foal--and he's only improved since I +first handled him, four year ago. Worth a pot of money that pony is!" +He laughed. "Not as his particular owner'd sell him, I reckon. Miss +Norah acts more by that chap than by anything else she's got!" + +"I suppose so," Cecil said, seeing that he waited for a reply. + +"Yes, my word! Take 'em all round, they'd be hard to beat as a pair," +said Mick, lighting his pipe in apparent ignorance that his horse was +indulging in caracoles that appeared likely to end in a bucking +demonstration. He threw the match away after carefully extinguishing +it, and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Quiet, y' image, can't y'? Who's +hurtin' y'? Well, I must be goin'--so long." Cecil nodded casually, and +the impatient pupil went off in a series of bounds that struck the city +boy as alarming, although Mick did not appear to notice that his mount +was not walking demurely. + +Several other men came to the stockyard, selected each a horse, and +saddled it, and disappeared in various directions. The old black horse, +Bob's mate, was taken by Joe Burton, who harnessed him into a dray that +stood near, loaded up a number of fence rails, and drove off over the +paddock, evidently to a job of repairing some boundary. Cecil watched +them crawl across the plain, until they were only a speck on the grass. +Then he turned his sullen eyes on Bobs, who, left alone, had come +nearer to the fence where he sat, and was sleepily flicking with his +tail at an intrusive fly, which insisted on walking round his hip. +Cecil stared at him for some minutes before his idea came to him. + +Then he flushed a little, his hand clenching on the post beside him. At +first the idea was fascinating, but preposterous; he tried to put it +from him, but it came back persistently, and his mind held it with a +kind of half-fearful excitement. They had said he could not ride him--a +child's pony! Would he show them? + +Once he entertained the idea at all he could not let it go. It would be +such an easy way of "coming out on top"--of showing them that in one +thing at least their opinion was worthless. That Jim's words were true, +and that he could not master Bobs, he ridiculed loftily. It was +impossible for him to believe that what a child of fourteen did so +easily he might not be able to do. He had never seen Bobs other than +quiet; and though big and well bred and spirited, he was still only a +pony--a child's pony. Visions floated before him of increased respect +paid him by the men, and even by his uncle, when he should have +demonstrated his ability to manage something better than old Brown +Betty, flicking at the flies in her corner of the yard, with +down-drooped head, and then--he wanted to ride Bobs; and all his life +Cecil Linton had done what he wanted. + +He slipped down from the fence and went across to the stables for a +saddle and bridle, entering the harness room a little nervously, but +relieved on finding no men about. Returning, he caught Bobs--who stood +like the gentleman he was--and brought him outside, where his +unaccustomed fingers bungled a little with the saddle. The one he had +chosen in his haste had a breastplate, but this he could not manage at +all; and at last he managed to get the bewildering array of straps off, +and hang it over the fence. He buckled on a pair of spurs he had found +in the harness room. Then he gathered up the reins and clambered into +the saddle. Possibly, had he let Bobs feel the spur, his ride would +have ended there and then, and there would have been no further +developments in Cecil's excursion; and it is certain that he would have +spurred him cheerfully, had not the pony moved off at once. As it was +he sat back and felt exceedingly independent and pleased with himself. +He turned him down the home paddock. + +"Phwat are y' doin' on that pony?" + +Murty O'Toole had come out of the men's quarters, and was gazing +open-mouthed at the unfamiliar figure on Bobs--"the city feller," for +once not apparelled in exaggerated riding clothes, but in loose +flannels; already the legs of the trousers had worked up from his low +shoes, disclosing a vision of brilliant sock. Cecil took no notice. + +"Hallo, there! Shtop a minnit! Who put y' on Bobs?" + +"Mind your own business," said Cecil, between his teeth, looking round. + +"My business, is it? Sure, 'tis my business, if 'tis anny man's on +Billabong! Did Miss Norah say y' could ride her pony?" + +"What's that to you?" + +"Be gob!" said Murty, "'tis more to me than it is to you, seein' 'tis +meself knows Miss Norah's feelin's an' disposition about Bobs! Did she +give y' leave? Tell me, or I'll pull y' off, if y' was the Boss' nevvy +ten times over!" + +"WILL you?" Cecil spat the words at him bitterly. He shook the reins, +and Bobs, impatient enough already, broke into a canter that carried +him away from the good friend who had intervened on his behalf. They +shot across the paddock. + +Murty, left helpless, said a few strong things as he looked after the +retreating pair. + +"It's a guinea to a gooseberry he's taken Frinch lave wid him," he +said, "bitther tongued little whipper-snapper that he is! Sure if Bobs +gets rid av him it'll serve him sorry, so 'twill. But phwat'll I do +about it, at all?" He scratched his head reflectively. "If I go over +'twill only worry Miss Norah to hear--an' it's most likely he'll have +enough av it pretty soon, an' the pony'll come home--an I do not care if +he comes home widout him! I'll lave it be f'r awhile." He went slowly +over to the stockyards. + +Cecil, cantering over the grass with Bobs' perfect stride beneath him, +was, for the moment, completely satisfied with himself. He had routed +the enemy in the first engagement, and, if he had not left him +speechless, at least he had had the last word. Murty and he had been at +daggers drawn from the very first day, when the grinning Irishman had +pulled him out of the wild raspberry clump in the cutting-out paddock; +and the cheerful friendliness with which Jim and Norah treated the +stockman had always irritated him. He was exceedingly pleased that on +this occasion he had scored at his expense. + +Where should he go? There were three gates leading out of the home +paddock--one to the Cunjee road; another to a similar well-cleared plain +to that on which the house stood; and a third into a smaller paddock, +which in its turn led into part of the rougher and steeper part of the +run. Cecil wanted to get out of sight quickly. In his mind there was a +half-formed idea that Murty might saddle a horse and come out in +pursuit; and a hand-to-hand encounter with the justly indignant +Irishman was just at that moment the last thing that the boy wanted. So +he decided upon the bush paddock, and headed in that direction. + +Now, a horse that is always ridden by one person is apt to develop +ideas of his own--possibly through acquiring habits insensibly from his +usual rider. Also, he becomes accustomed to that one rider, and is +quite likely to be annoyed by a change--not alone in weight and in style +of riding, but in the absence of the sympathy that always exists +between a horse so managed and the one who cares for him and +understands him. The alien hand on his mouth had irritated Bobs from +the first; it was heavy, and jerky, where Norah's touch was as a +feather; and the light, firm seat in the saddle was changed for a +weight that bumped and shifted continuously. Further, it was not very +usual for Norah to ride in this direction--he had headed naturally for +the second gate before his tender mouth was suddenly wrenched aside +towards the third. Bobs arrived at the gate in something considerably +removed from his usual contented state of mind. + +The gate was awkward, and Cecil clumsy at shutting it; he hauled the +pony's mouth roughly in his efforts to bring him into position where he +could send home the catch. The same performance was repeated at the +next gate--the one leading into the bush paddock; and when at length +they turned from it Bobs' mouth was feeling the bit in a manner that +was quite new to him, and as unpleasant as new. He sidled off in a +rough, jerky walk, betraying irritation in every movement, had Cecil +been wise enough to know it. + +Cecil, however, was still perfectly content. He was out of sight of the +house, which was comforting in itself; while as for the idea that he +was not completely master of his mount, he would have been highly +amused at it. It was pleasant to be out, in the morning freshness; and +there was no need to hurry home, since the scones and tea in the +kitchen had made him independent of breakfast. The paddock he was in +looked interesting, too; the plain ended in a line of rough, +scrub-grown hills which it occurred to him would be a good place to +explore. He headed towards them. + +Bobs walked on, inwardly seething; jerking his head impatiently at the +unceasing pressure on his bit, and now and then giving a little half +kick that at length attracted Cecil's attention, making him wonder +vaguely what was wrong. Possibly something in the saddle; it had +occurred to him when cantering that his girth was loose. So he +dismounted and tightened it, bringing it up with a jerk that pinched +the pony suddenly, and made him back away. This time Cecil did not find +it so easy to mount. He was a little nervous as he rode on--and there is +nothing that more quickly communicates itself to a horse than +nervousness in the rider. Bobs began to dance as he went, and Cecil, +hauling at his mouth, broke out into a mild perspiration. He decided +that he was not altogether an easy pony to ride. + +A hare jumped up abruptly in the grass just ahead. Bobs shied and +plunged--and missing the hand that always understood and steadied such +mistaken energy, gave a couple of rough "pig-jumps." It was more than +enough for Cecil; mild as they were, he shot on to the pony's neck, +only regaining the saddle by a great effort. The reins flopped, and the +indignant Bobs plunged forward, while his rider clawed for support, his +feet and hands alike flying. As he dropped back into the saddle, the +spurs went home; and Bobs bolted. + +He had never in his life felt the spur; light and free in every pace, +Norah's boot heel was the utmost correction that ever came to him. This +sudden cruel stab on either side was more than painful--it was a sudden +shock of amazement that was sharper than pain. Coming on top of all his +grievances, it was too much for Bobs. Possibly, a mad race would rid +him of this creature on his back, who was so unlike his mistress. His +heels went up with a little squeal as he bounded forward before +settling into his stride. + +Cecil gave himself up for lost from the first. He tugged frantically at +the rein, realizing soon that the pony was in full command, and that +his soft muscles might as well pull at the side of a house as try to +stop him. He lost one stirrup, and clung desperately to the pommel +while he felt for it, and by great good luck managed to get his foot in +again--a piece of good fortune which his own efforts would never have +secured. The pommel was too comforting to be released; he still clung +to it while he tried to steady himself and to see where he was going. + +The plain ended abruptly just before him, and the rough hills sloped +away to the south. Perhaps, if he put Bobs at the steepest it might +calm him a little, and he might be able to pull him up. So he wrenched +the pony's mouth round, and presently they were racing up the face of +the hill, which apparently made no difference whatever to Bobs. Cecil +had not the slightest idea that his heels were spurring the pony at +every stride. He wondered angrily in his fear why he seemed to become +momentarily more maddened, and sawed at the bleeding mouth in vain. +They were at the top of the hill now. The crest was sharp and +immediately over it a sharp drop went down to a gully at the bottom. It +was steep, rough-going, boulder-strewn and undermined with wombat +holes. Perhaps in his calmer moments Bobs might have hesitated, but +just now he knew nothing but a frantic desire to escape from that cruel +agony in his sides. He flung down the side of the hill blindly, making +great bounds over the sparse bracken fern that hid the ground. Cecil +was nearly on his shoulder now--a moment more would set him free. + +Then he put his foot on a loose boulder that gave with him and went +down the slope in a flurry of shifting stones. He made a gallant effort +to recover himself, stumbling to his knees as Cecil left the saddle and +landed in the ferns--but just as he struck out for firmer footing his +forefoot sank into a wombat hole, and he turned a complete somersault, +rolling over and over. He brought up against a big boulder, struggled +to rise and then lay still. + + * * * * * + +Presently Cecil came limping to him, white and angry. + +"Get up, you brute!" he said, kicking him. When there was no response, +he took the bridle, jerking it. Bobs' head gave a little at every jerk, +but that was all. + +Between rage and fear, Cecil lost his head. He kicked the pony +savagely; and finding that useless, sought a stick and thrashed him as +he lay. Once Bobs struggled, but only his head and shoulders came up, +and presently they fell back again. Cecil gave it up at last, and left +him alone, limping down to the gully and out of sight. He sat down on a +log for a long while, until the sun grew hot. Then he pulled his hat +over his eyes and set off towards home. + +Bobs did not know he had gone. He lay quite still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ON THE HILLSIDE + + Never again, when the soft winds blow, + We shall ride by the river. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Wally came into breakfast with a rush and a scramble, bearing traces of +a hasty toilet. At the table Norah and Jim were eating solemnly, with +expressions of deep disapproval. They did not raise their eyes as Wally +entered. + +"Awfully sorry!" said he. "You've no idea of the difficulties I've had +to overcome, Norah, and all along of him!" indicating Jim with a jerk +of his head. "Oh, Norah, do be sympathetic, and forget that he's your +brother. I assure you I'd be a far better brother to you than ever he +could, and you can have me cheap! Look up at me, Norah, and smile--one +perfect grin is all I ask! He took my towel and dressed Tait in it, and +for all he cared I would be swimming in that beastly lagoon yet, and +dying of cramp, and nervous prostration, and housemaid's knee. And she +goes on gnawing a chop!" + +He sat down, and buried his face in his hands tragically, and began to +sob, whereat Norah and Jim laughed, and the victim of circumstances +recovered with promptitude. + +"Cream, please," he said, attacking his porridge. "Oh, he's a beast, +Norah. I'm blessed if I know why you keep him in the family--it can't be +for either his manners or his looks! I have a hectic cough coming on +rapidly. My uncle by marriage three times removed died of consumption, +and it's a thing I've always been nervous about. When I occupy the +family urn with my ashes you'll be sorry!" + +"I should be more than sorry if it were this urn," Jim put in, +grinning. "It might be an honour, of course; but we've other homely +uses for the urn. How long did you swim, Wal.?" + +"Never you mind," returned Wally wrathfully. "I don't see why I should +satisfy any part of your fiendish curiosity--only when Brownie finds +Tait wearing one of the best bath towels as a toga, and makes remarks +about it, I shall certainly refer her to you!" + +"I never saw a dog look so miserable as he did," Norah said, laughing. +"He came straight up to me, with a truly hang-dog air, and folds of +towel ever so far behind him in the grass, and didn't get back his +self-respect until I took it off. Poor old Tait! You really ought to be +ashamed of yourself, Jimmy." + +"I am," said Jim cheerfully. "Toast, please." + +"When I saw Tait last he was disappearing into the landscape with all +his blushing honours thick upon him!" Wally said. "I don't see why you +waste all your sympathy on the brute, and give me none. It's the +greatest wonder I'm here at all!" + +"Where's Cecil, anyhow?" asked Jim, suddenly. + +"Haven't an idea--how should I? He wasn't in the lagoon, which is the +only place I could give an expert opinion on this morning." + +"Oh, he's late as usual," Norah said. "I suppose he's still cross about +last night. Really, Jim, I'm sorry we've managed to rub him up the +wrong way." + +"Why, the difficulty would be to find the right way," Jim retorted. +"He's such a cross-grained beggar--you never know when you're going to +offend him; and of course he's perfectly idiotic about the horses. +Wonder if he thinks we LIKE horses with sore backs and mouths! He'll +have to give poor old Betty a spell, anyhow, for she's a patch on her +back the size of half a crown, thanks to him." + +"Oh, dear!" said Norah, with a little shiver. "That's awfully bad +news--'cause I'd about made up my mind to offer him Bobs!" + +"Offer--him--Bobs!" said Jim slowly. Wally gasped. + +"Just for a ride, Jimmy. He's a guest, you know, and I don't like him +to feel ill-used. And you let him on Garryowen." + +"Only for a moment--and then with my heart in my boots!" said Jim. +"Norah, I think you're utterly mad if you lend him Bobs--after last +night, too! Why, you know jolly well I'VE never asked you for your +pony!" + +"Well, you could have had him," Norah answered, "you know that, Jimmy. +I don't want to lend him to Cecil--I simply hate it; but I don't like +the idea of his thinking we treated him at all badly." + +"He's the sort of chap that would find a grievance if you gave +everything you had in the world," Jim said. "It's all rot--and I tell +you straight, Nor., I don't think it's safe, either. Bobs is all right +with you, of course, but he's a fiery little beggar, and there's no +knowing what he'd do with a sack of flour like that on his back. I wish +you wouldn't." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"Me? Oh, I'm with Jim," Wally answered. "Personally, I think a +velocipede is about Cecil's form, and it's absolute insult to a pony +like Bobs to ask him to carry him! And you'd hate it so, Nor.'!" + +"Oh, I know I would," Norah said. "He's such a dear--" + +"What! Cecil?" + +"No, you donkey--Bobs," Norah continued, laughing. "I'd feel like +begging his pardon all the time. But--" + +"Murty wants to see you, Master Jim," said Mary, entering. "Says he'd +be glad if you could spare him a minute." + +"All right, Mary--thank you," said Jim, getting up lazily and strolling +out. "Back in a minute, you two." + +"What happens to-day, Norah? Marmalade, please," said Wally, in a +breath. + +"The marmalade happens on the spot," laughed Norah, handing it to him. +"Otherwise--oh, I don't know, unless we ride out somewhere and fish. We +haven't been out to Angler's Bend this time, have we?" + +"No, but that's fifteen miles. You'd never let Cecil ride Bobs that +distance?" + +"Oh, I couldn't!" said Norah, hastily. "I don't think I possibly could +ride anything except Bobs out there. Cecil might have him another day, +if Jim doesn't think me quite mad. Perhaps I won't be sorry if he does, +'cause I'd hate to go against Jim! And Bobs is--" + +"Bobs," said Wally gravely; and Norah smiled at him. "Hallo, +Jamesy--what passion hangs these weights upon thy brow?" + +Jim had entered quickly. + +"It's that beauty Cecil," he said, angrily. "My word, Norah, I'll let +that young man know what I think about him! He's taken Bobs!" + +"What!" + +"Gone out on Bobs before breakfast. Must have got him in the yard, and +saddled him himself. Murty saw him just as he was riding off, and tried +to stop him. Here's Murty--he'll tell you." + +"Sure, I towld him to stop, Miss Norah," said the stock-man. "Axed him, +I did, if he'd y'r lave, and he gev me back-answers as free as y' +please. I was perfickly calm, an never losht me timper, an' towld him +I'd pull him off av the little harse if he'd not the lave to take him; +an' he put the comether on me by cantherin' off. So I waited, thinkin' +not to worry y', an' that he'd be comin' back; or more be token Bobs +widout him, an' small loss. But he's elsewhere yit, so I kem in f'r +Masther Jim." + +"Well, I'm blessed!" said Norah, weakly. + +"The mean little toad!" Wally's voice was full of scorn. "I'd like five +quiet minutes with him with coats off when he comes back!" + +"I guess he'll get that--or its equivalent," said Jim, grimly. "Which +way did he go, Murty?" + +"To the bush paddock, Masther Jim. He's that stupid, tin to one he's +bushed in one av thim gullies." + +"Or else Bobs has slung him; but in that case Bobs would be back at the +gate," Jim said. "Perhaps he is." + +"No, he ain't, Masther Jim, I wint over a bit an' had a look. There's +no sign av either av thim." + +"Well, I suppose we'd better go after them," Jim said. "What'll you +ride, Nor? Would you care for Garryowen?" + +Norah smiled at him. + +"No, thanks, old man. I'll have Cirdar," she said. "Can you get him, +Murty?" + +"In two twos, Miss Norah," said the stockman, departing hastily. + +"You're not worried, Norah, old girl?" Jim said. + +"Why, not exactly; he can't hurt Bobs, of course, beyond a sore back," +Norah answered. "I'm more cross than worried--it is such cheek, Jim, +isn't it? All the same, I hope Cecil's all right." + +"Him!" said Jim, with fine scorn. "That sort never comes to any harm. +Well, hurry up, and get your habit on, old chap." + +There was no need to tell Norah to hurry. She flew upstairs, Brownie +plodding after; the news had flown round the house in a few moments, +and there was a storm of indignation against the absent Cecil. + +"If I'd knowed!" said Brownie, darkly, bringing Norah's linen coat out +from the wardrobe, and seeking with vigour for a felt hat that already +was on her head. "Me, givin' him tea and scones, an' talkin' about the +pony, too, no less; little I guessed at the depths of him. Never mind, +my dearie, Master Jim'll deal with him!" + +"Oh, it'll be all right, if Bobs hasn't hurt him. Only there'll be an +awful row when Jim gets him. I never saw Jim so angry," Norah said. + +"A good thing, too!" said the warlike Mrs. Brown. "There you are, +dearie, an' there's your 'unting-crop. Off you go!" and Norah ran +downstairs, finding Jim and Wally waiting, boots and leggings on. They +set off, Murty muttering dark threats against Cecil as he shut the gate +of the stable yard after them. + +Wally had recovered his cheerfulness, never long absent from him, and +was, besides, not unpleasantly excited at the thought of war ahead. He +chattered gaily as they rode through the first two paddocks. But Jim +remained quiet. As Norah said, she had never seen him so angry. Anxiety +in his mind warred with hot anger against the insult to Norah and to +them all. He swept the bush paddock with his eye as they came up to it, +seeing nothing but the scattered bullocks here and there. + +"Wonder which way he'd go," he said. "Suppose you and Wally cut over to +the right, Norah, and see if you can find any trace. I'll go over this +way. We'll coo-ee to each other if we come across him." They separated, +and Jim put Garryowen at a canter across the plain. Here and there he +could see a track--and something made him wish to go on alone. + +He was nearly at the foot of the hills when a figure came out from +their shadow. Jim gave a sudden little sound in his throat as he saw +that it was Cecil--and alone. He was limping a little, and had evidently +been down. Relief that he was safe was the first thought; then, anxiety +being done with, there was no room for anything but anger. Jim rode +towards him. At the sight of his approach Cecil started a little, and +cast a glance round as if looking for a hiding place; then he came on +doggedly, his head down. + +"I've been looking for you," Jim said, controlling his voice with +difficulty. "Where's Bobs?" + +"Over there." Cecil jerked his hand backwards. + +"Where?" + +"Back there." + +"What do you mean? did he get away from you?" + +"He bolted," Cecil said. + +"And threw you?" + +Cecil nodded. "Yes--can't you see I'm limping?" + +"Well, did he clear out again?" + +"No--he's over there." + +Jim's face went grim. "Do you mean--you don't mean the pony's HURT?" + +"He won't get up," said Cecil, sullenly. "I've tried my best." + +For a moment they faced each other, and then Cecil quailed under the +younger boy's look. His eyes fell. + +Jim jumped off. "Go on." + +"Where?" + +"Back to Bobs, of course. Hurry up!" + +"I can't go back there," Cecil said, angrily. "I'm limping, and--" + +"Do you think your limp matters an atom just now?" Jim said, through +his teeth. "Hurry up." + +He followed Cecil, not trusting himself to speak. A dull despair lay on +his heart, and above everything a great wave of pity for the little +sister across the paddock. If he could spare Norah--! + +Then they were in the gully, and he saw Bobs above him, and knew in +that instant that he could spare her nothing. The bay pony lay where he +had fallen, his head flung outwards; helplessness in every line of the +frame that had been a model of strength and beauty an hour ago. As Jim +looked Bobs beat his head three times against the ground, and then lay +still. The boy flung round, sick with horror. + +"Why, you vile little wretch--you've killed him!" + +He had Cecil in a grip of iron, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat--not +knowing what he did in the sick fury that possessed him. Then suddenly +he stopped and hurled him from him into the bracken. He ran down the +gully. + +"Go back, Norah dear--don't come." + +Norah and Wally had come cantering quickly round the shoulder of the +hill. She was laughing at something Wally had said as they rode into +the gully, and the laugh was still on her lips as she looked at Jim. +Then she saw his face, and it died away. + +"What is it, Jim?" + +"Don't come, kiddie," the boy said, wretchedly. "Wally, you take her +home." + +"Why?" said Norah. "We saw Cecil--where's Bobs?" Her eyes were wandering +round the gully. They passed Cecil, lying on his face in the bracken, +and travelled further up the hill. Then she turned suddenly white, and +flung herself off Sirdar. + +Jim caught her as she came blindly past him. + +"Kiddie--it's no good--you mustn't!" + +"I must," she said, and broke from him, running up the hillside. Jim +followed her with a long stride, his arm round her as she stumbled +through the ferns and boulders. When they came to Bobs he held her back +for a moment. + +The pony was nearly done. As they looked his head beat the ground again +unavailingly, and at the piteous sight a dry sob broke from Norah, and +she went on her knees by him. + +"Norah--dear little chap--you mustn't." Jim's voice was choking. "He +doesn't know what he's doing, poor old boy--it isn't safe." + +"He wants me," she said. "Bobs--dear Bobs!" + +At the voice he knew the pony quivered and struggled to rise. It was no +use--he fell back, though the beautiful head lifted itself, and the +brown eyes tried to find her. She sat down and took his head on her +knee, stroking his neck and speaking to him... broken, pitiful words. +Presently she put her cheek down to him, and crouched there above him. +Something of his agony died out of Bobs' eyes. He did not struggle any +more. After a little he gave a long shiver, straightening out; and so +died, gently. + + * * * * * + +"Come on home, old kiddie." + +It seemed a long time after, Norah could not think of a time when she +had done anything but sit with that quiet head on her knee. She +shuddered all over. + +"I can't leave him." + +"You must come, dear." Jim's hands were lifting Bobs' head as tenderly +as she herself could have done it. He picked her up and held her as +though she had been a baby, and she clung to him, shaking. + +"If I could help you!" he said, and there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, +Nor.--you know, don't you?" + +He felt her hand tighten on his arm. Then he carried her down the hill, +where Garryowen stood waiting. + +"The others have gone," he said. "I sent them home--Wally and--that +brute! I've told him to go--I'll kill him if I see him again!" He lifted +her into his saddle, and keeping his arms round her, walked beside the +bay horse down the gully and out upon the plain. + +"Jim," she whispered--somewhere her voice had gone away--"you can't go +home like that. Let me walk." His arm tightened. + +"I'm all right," he said--"poor little mate!" + +They did not speak again until they were nearly home--where, ahead, +Brownie waited, her kind eyes red; while every man about the homestead +was near the gate, a stern-faced, angry group that talked in savage +undertones. Murty came forward as Jim lifted Norah down. + +"Miss Norah," he said. "Miss Norah, dear--sure I'd sooner--" + +The tall fellow's voice broke as he looked at the white, childish face. + +"Thanks, Murty," Norah said steadily. + +"And--all of you." She turned from the pitying faces, and ran indoors. + +"Oh, Brownie, don't let any one see me!" + +Then came a dazed time, when she did not know anything clearly. Once, +lying on her bed, with her face pressed into the pillow, trying not to +see a lean head that beat on the ground, she heard a dull sound that +rose to an angry shout from the men; and immediately the buggy drove +away quickly, as Wally took Cecil away from Billabong. She only +shivered, pressing her face harder. Jim was always near at first; the +touch of his hand made her calm when dreadful, shuddering fits came +over her. All through the night he sat by her bed, watching +ceaselessly. + +Then there was a longer time when she was alone, and there seemed much +going to and fro. But no sounds touched her nearly. She could only +think of Bobs, lying in the bracken, and calling silently to her with +his pain-filled eyes. + +Then, late on, the second evening, Jim came back with a troubled face +and sat on the bed. + +"Norah," he said, "I want you." + +"Yes, Jim?" + +"I want you to be brave, old chap," he said slowly. Something in his +tone made her start and scan his tired face. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"It may be all right," Jim said, "but--but I thought I'd better tell +you, Norah, they--we can't find Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BROTHER AND SISTER + + We were mates together, + And I shall not forget. + W. H. OGILVIE. + + +Jim had not wanted to tell Norah. It had been Brownie who had +counselled differently. + +"I think she's got enough to bear," the boy had said, sitting on the +edge of the kitchen table, and flicking his boots mechanically with his +whip. He had been riding hard almost all day, but anxiety, not fatigue, +had put the lines into his face. "What's the good of giving her any +more?" + +"I do believe it'd be best for her, the poor lamb!" Brownie had said. +"She's there all day, not speaking--it'll wear her out. An' you know, +Master Jim, dear, she'd never forgive us for keepin' anything back from +her about the master." + +"No--but we've nothing definite. And it may make her really ill, coming +on top of the other." + +"I don't think Miss Norah's the sort to let herself get ill when there +was need of her. It may take her poor mind off the other--she can't help +that now, an' he was only a pony--" + +"Only a pony! By George, Brownie--!" + +"Any horse is only a pony when compared to your Pa," said Brownie, +unconscious of anything peculiar in her remark. "I don't know that real +anxiety mayn't help her, Master Jim. And any'ow, it don't seem to me +we've the right to keep it from her, them bein', as it were, that +partickler much to each other. Take my tip, an' you tell her." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"I'm with Brownie," said Wally, unexpectedly. "It's awful to see Norah +lying there all day, never saying a word, and this'll rouse her up when +nothing else would." So Jim had yielded to the weight of advice, and +had gone slowly up to tell Norah they could not find David Linton. + +"Can't find him?" she echoed, "but isn't he at Killybeg?" + +"He left there yesterday morning," Jim answered. "A telegram came for +him last night, and it was important--something about cattle--so I sent +Burton into Cunjee with it--Killybeg's on the telephone now, you know, +and Burton could ring him up from the post office. But the Darrells +were astonished, and said he'd left there quite early, and meant to +come straight home." + +"Well?" Norah was white enough now. + +"Well, I got worried, and so did Murty; because you know there isn't +any stopping place between here and Killybeg when you come across the +ranges. And Monarch's pretty uncertain--in rough country, especially. So +I got Murty and Wally to go out at daylight this morning, taking the +straight line to the Darrells, and they picked up his tracks pointing +homewards about five miles from the Billabong boundary. Murty made +Monarch's shoes himself, and he could swear to them anywhere. They +followed them awhile, and they came to a place where the ground was +beaten down a lot, as if he'd had trouble with Monarch; I expect +something scared him, and he played the fool. But after that the tracks +led on to some stony rises, and they lost them; the ground was too +hard. They could only tell he'd gone right off the line to Billabong." + +"Jim! Do you think--? Oh, he couldn't be hurt! Monarch would never get +rid of him." + +"He'd stick to Monarch as long as the girth held and Monarch stood up," +Jim said, "but it's rough country, and a young horse isn't handy on +those sidings. Of course it may be all right; but if so, why wasn't he +home twenty-four hours ago?" + +"Have you done anything?" + +"Been out all day," Jim said. "Murty sent Wal. straight home while he +went on looking, and we went back with three of the men. But you know +what that country is, all hills and gullies, and the scrub's so thick +you can scarcely get through it in places. We found one or two hoof +marks, but that was all. If he's not home to-night we're going out at +daybreak with every hand on the place." + +"I'm coming." + +"I knew you'd want to," Jim said, anxiety in his tone. "But I don't +think you're fit to, old girl." + +"Jimmy, I'd go mad if I stayed behind." + +"Oh, I know that, too. But you'll have to stay near me, Norah, and if +you're coming you've got to eat now; Brownie says you've touched +nothing all day." + +Norah shivered a little. "I'm not hungry." + +"No, but you've sense, old chap. You'd be the first to say one of us +couldn't go out without proper food. Try, won't you?" + +"I'll try," Norah said, obediently. + +"Brownie's got dinner for Wally and me in the breakfast-room," Jim +said. "Wouldn't you come down, old girl? It's only old Wal., you know, +and--and he's so awfully sorry for you, Nor. He's been such a brick. I +think it would cheer him up a bit if you came down." + +"All right," Norah said, hesitating a moment. "But I'm bad company, +Jim." + +"We're none of us lively," said the boy. "But we've got to help each +other." And Norah looked at him gently, and came. + +Dinner was quiet, for the shadow hung upon them all. Wally tried to +talk cheerfully, checked by a lump that would rise in his throat +whenever he looked at Norah, who was "playing the game" manfully, +trying hard to eat and to be, as she would have said, "ordinary." They +talked of the plans for the next day, when a systematic search was to +be made through the scrub near where the tracks had been found. + +"Each of us is to take a revolver," Jim said; "there are five +altogether, and the men who haven't got them will have to use their +stockwhips as signals if they find anything. Three shots to be fired in +the air if help is wanted. And Brownie has flasks ready for every one, +and little packets of food with some chocolate; if he's come to grief +it'll be nearly forty-eight hours since he had anything to eat. Two of +the men are to take the express wagon out as far as it can go, with +everything to make him comfortable, if--if he's hurt. Then they can ride +the horses on to help us search." Jim forced a sorry smile. "Won't he +grin at us if he turns up all right? We'll never hear the end of it!" +Then he got up abruptly and walked to the window, looking out across +the moonlit flats; and they were all silent. + +"I keep thinking all the time I hear him coming," Jim said, turning +back into the room. "If you keep still, you can almost swear you can +hear old Monarch's hoofs coming up the track--and half a dozen times +I've been certain I caught the crack of his stockwhip. Of course, +it's--it's all imagination. My word! it's hard to loaf about here and go +to bed comfortably when you want to be hunting out there." + +"You couldn't do any good, though?" asked Wally. + +"No--it would be madness to go straying round those gullies in the +moonlight; it's not even full moon, and there the timber's so thick +that very little light can get through. There's nothing for it but to +wait until daylight." + +"It's hard waiting," Norah said. + +"Yes, it is. But you ought to go to bed, old woman; you had precious +little sleep last night, and the big bell is to ring at daylight." + +"Then won't you boys go, too?" + +"Yes, I guess we'd better," Jim said. "I'll come in and say good-night +to you, Norah." A look passed between them; the boy knew his father +never failed to pay a good-night visit to Norah's room. She smiled at +him gratefully. + +It was very lonely and quiet up there, undressing, with her heart like +lead within her. She hurried over her preparations, so that she might +not keep Jim waiting when he came; she knew he needed sleep--"a big boy +outgrowing his strength like that," thought Norah, with the quaint +little touch of motherliness that she always felt towards Jim. Once she +caught sight of something on the end of the couch; the white rug that +had been Jim's Christmas present, with the scarlet B standing out +sharply in the corner--the rug Bobs would never use. Shivering a little, +she put it away in her wardrobe. Just now she could only think of that +most dear one--perhaps lying out there in the cold shadows of the bush +night. She crept into bed. + +Jim came in in his shirt sleeves. + +"Comfy, little chap?" + +"Yes, thanks, old man. Jim--shall I ride Sirdar tomorrow?" + +"You needn't have asked," the boy said--"he's yours. And, Norah--I know +Dad wouldn't mind. I'd like you to have Garryowen. He's a bit big, but +he'll suit you quite well. I know he won't make up, but you'd get fond +of him in time, dear." + +"Jim!" she said--knowing all that the carelessly spoken words +meant--"Jimmy, boy." And then Jim was frightened, for Norah, who had not +cried at all, broke into a passion of crying. He held her tightly, +stroking her, not knowing what to say; murmuring broken, awkward words +of affection, while she sobbed against him. After a while she grew +quiet, and was desperately ashamed. + +"I didn't mean to make an ass of myself," she said, contritely. "I'm +awfully sorry, and you were such a brick to me, Jimmy. I won't ever +forget it; only I couldn't take your horse. I love you for it. But +Sirdar will do for me quite well." And no arguments could shake her +from that decision. + +Jim put the light out after some time. Then he came back and sat down +on the bed. + +"I wanted to tell you, dear little chap," he said, gently. "I sent Mick +out with Boone to-day, and--and they buried him under that big tree +where he fell, and heaped up stones so that nothing could get at him." +He stopped, his voice uncertain as Norah's hand tightened in his. + +"Mick said there couldn't have been any hope for him, kiddie," he went +on, presently. "His back was broken; no one could have done anything." +He would not tell her of other things Mick had seen--the spur wounds +from hip to shoulder and the marks of the stick that Cecil had thrown +down beside the pony he had ridden to his death. "They carved his name +on the tree in great big letters. Some time--whenever you feel you +can--I'll take you out there. At least"--his hand gripped hers almost +painfully--"Dad and I will take you." + +Norah put her face against him, not speaking. They stayed so, her +breath coming and going unevenly, while Jim stroked her shoulder. +Presently he slipped to his knees by the bed, one arm across her, not +moving until her head nestled closer, and he knew she was asleep. Then +the big, tired fellow put his own head down and went to sleep as he +knelt, waking, stiff and sore, in the grey half light that just +precedes the dawn. He crept away noiselessly, going out on the balcony +for a breath of the chill air. + +Below him, against the stockyard fence, a black shadow stood and +whinnied faintly. Jim's heart came into his throat, and he swung +himself over the edge of the balcony, using his old "fire escape" to +slide to the gravel below. He ran wildly across to the yard. + +A moment later the big bell of the station clanged out furiously. + +Norah, fastening her habit with swift fingers, ran to open the door in +answer to Jim's voice. + +"Hurry all you know, little chap," he said. "I'm off in a few +minutes--breakfast's ready. Wally's going into Cunjee with a telegram to +Melbourne for the black trackers, as hard as he can ride." + +"Jim--there's something you know!" + +He hesitated. + +"I'd better tell you," he said. "Monarch's come home alone, Norah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE LONG QUEST + + The creek went down with a broken song, + 'Neath the she oaks high; + The waters carried the song along, + And the oaks a sigh. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The big black thoroughbred still stood by the rails as they rode away. +He had got rid of the saddle, and the broken bridle trailed from his +head. No one had time to see to him. + +Billabong was humming with activity. Men were running down to the +yards, bridle in hand; others leading their horses up to be saddled; +while those who were ready had raced over to the quarters for a +snatched breakfast. Sirdar and the boys' horses had been stabled all +night, so that they were quickly saddled. Jim was riding Nan; Wally, on +Garryowen, was already a speck in the distance. + +"You'll be quicker if you take him," Jim had said. Then he and Norah +had cantered away together. + +"Monarch wasn't hurt, Jim?" + +"He'd been down, I think," Jim said; "His knees look like it. But he's +all right--why, he must have jumped three fences?" + +After that for a long time they did not speak. Grim fear was knocking +at both their hearts, for with the return of the black horse without +his rider, their worst dread was practically confirmed. It was fairly +certain that Mr. Linton was helpless, somewhere in the bush, and that +meant that he had been so for nearly two days, since it was almost that +time since he had ridden away from Killybeg. + +Two days! They had been days of steady, relentless heat, untempered by +any breeze--when the cattle had sought the shade of the gum trees, and +the dogs about the homestead had crept close in under the tree +lucernes, with open mouths and tongues lolling. The men working on the +run had left their tasks often to go down to the creek or the river for +a drink; in the house, closely shuttered windows and lowered blinds on +the verandahs had only served to make the heat bearable. And he had +been out in it, somewhere, helpless, and perhaps in pain; with nothing +to ease for him the hot hours or to save him from the chill of a +Victorian night, which, even in midsummer, may be sharply cold before +the dawn. The thought gnawed at his children's hearts. + +They passed through the Billabong boundary and out into the rough +country beyond, sharply undulating until it rose into the ranges David +Linton had crossed on his way to and from Killybeg. They had been +fairly certain that he had come through them safely on his way home, +and the thought had been a comfort--for to seek a man in those hills was +a hopeless task. But suddenly a sick fear came over Norah. + +"Jim," she said, "we don't know where Monarch got rid of Dad, of +course?" + +"No; but I expect it was near where they picked up his tracks." + +"You don't think it might have been in the ranges?" + +Jim looked suddenly aghast; but his face cleared. + +"No," he said, decidedly; "I don't. That place where Monarch had been +playing up shows Dad must have been on him--a horse alone doesn't go to +market as he seems to have done there. I guess you can put that notion +out of your head, mate." He smiled at Norah, who answered him with a +grateful look. + +Five miles from the boundary they came upon the tracks--to see them gave +Norah a queer sense of comfort, since in a way they brought her in +touch with Dad. Then they separated, beating into the scrub that hemmed +them round everywhere, except when low, stony hills rose naked out of +the green undergrowth. + +"We must shout to each other every few minutes to make sure we're not +getting too far apart," Jim said. "Of course, it's not so risky when +you're riding--if you gave old Sirdar his head anywhere I know he'd take +you home. Still, you don't gain anything by going far apart. A +systematic search is what's necessary in a place like this, where you +might ride half a dozen yards from him and not see him. Keep Tait with +you, Norah." + +"All right," Norah nodded. "What about coo-eeing, Jim? He might hear a +shout and answer it, even if he couldn't see us." + +"Yes, but you can't keep coo-eeing all the time," said Jim, +practically. "I'll tell you what--sing or whistle. You can do that +easily, and it doesn't tire you. And of course, if you find him, fire +the revolver--you're sure you've got it carefully?" + +"Yes, it's all right," Norah replied, showing the revolver in its neat +leather case. Jim and her father had taught her its use long ago, and +she understood it quite well. Mr. Linton held the view that all women +in the bush should know how to handle fire arms, since the bush is a +place where no one ever knows exactly what may turn up, from burglars +to tiger snakes. "Fire three times in the air, isn't it, Jim?" + +"Yes, that's right. Go on then, kiddie, and do take care!" Jim's voice +was strained with anxiety and wretchedness. While Norah was full of +hope, and, indeed, could scarcely realize that they might not find Dad +soon, the boy had the memory of the fruitless search all the previous +day to dispirit him. As he looked at the forbidding wall of green +scrub, his feeling was almost one of despair. + +It did not take long for Norah to realize the difficulty of their task. +She beat up and down among the trees, striving to keep an eye in every +direction, since any one of the big stumps, any clump of brushwood, any +old log or little knoll or grassy hollow might hide the one she +sought--unable, perhaps, to see her or call to her even should she pass +in his sight. She remembered Jim's advice, and began to sing; but the +words died in her throat, and ended in something more like a sob. +Whistling was more possible, and mechanically she took up a tune that +Wally used to sing, and whistled it up and down the scrub as she went. +Soon she did not know that she was doing so; but years after she used +to shudder within herself if she heard that foolish little tune. + +The men came out a little later, and soon the scrub was alive with +voices and the noise of the searching. It was weary work, with many a +flutter at the heart when a sudden call would bring Norah to attention, +rigid and listening--forgetting for the moment that only the three +signals agreed upon were to give evidence of success. Hour after hour +went by. + +They had settled a certain signal to meet for lunch, and when it +finally summoned them the searchers struggled out of the bush one by +one. Jim's heart smote him as he saw Norah's white face, and he begged +her to cease; to stay resting during the hot afternoon, even if she +would not go home. Norah shook her head dully. She could not do it; and +Jim, knowing how he would have felt were he in her place, did not press +her, although he was miserably anxious. They sat down together on an +old log, finding a shred of comfort in each other's nearness. + +It was a silent party that gathered round when black Billy had the big +quart pots of tea ready. No one seemed to have anything to say. Norah +thought, with a catch at her heart, of the last time they had picnicked +in the scrub; the happy talk and laughter, the dear foolish jokes and +merriment. This was indeed a strange picnic--each man eating rapidly and +in silence, and everywhere stern preoccupied faces. There was no +waiting afterwards for the usual "smoke oh"; the men sprang up as soon +as the hurried meal was over, and lit their pipes as they strode away. +Soon the temporary camp was deserted--black Billy, the last to leave, +muttering miserably to himself, hurrying back into the bush. The search +went on. + +There was no riding in the afternoon; they were in country where the +tangle of dogwood and undergrowth was so thick that to take a horse +through it meant only lost time, and hindered the thoroughness of the +quest. Norah fought her way through, keeping her line just as the men +kept theirs; her white coat stained and torn now, her riding skirt +showing a hundred rents, her boots cut through in many places. She did +not know it; there was only room in her heart for one thought. When, +while waiting for lunch, she had heard Dave Boone say something in an +angry undertone about Bobs, she had wondered dully for a moment what he +meant. She had forgotten even Bobs. + +The hours went by, and the sun drooped towards evening. In the dark +heart of the scrub the gloom came early, making each shadow a place of +mystery that gave false hope to the searchers a hundred times. +Gradually it was too dark to look any more; for that day also they must +give it up--the third since Monarch had broken free from his master and +left him lying somewhere in the green fastness about them. There +scarcely seemed a yard of it left unsearched. Despair was written on +most of the faces as the men came one by one to their horses and rode +home, picking up on their way those who were still beating the bush as +far as the Billabong boundary. + +Jim and Norah were the last to leave. They came back to the horses +together, Tait at their heels, his head and tail down. Norah was +stumbling blindly as she walked, and Jim's arm was round her. He put +her up, and turned silently to unfasten his own bridle. + +"Jim," she said, and stopped. "Jim, do you think we'll find him in--in +time?" + +Jim hesitated, trying to bring himself to say what he dared no longer +think. Then he gave way suddenly. + +"No," he said, hoarsely, "I don't; I don't believe we ever will!" He +put his head down on the saddle and sobbed terribly--dry, hard sobs that +came from the bottom of his big heart. And Norah had no word of +comfort. She sat still on Sirdar, staring in front of her. + +Presently Jim stood up and climbed into the saddle, and the impatient +horses moved off quickly towards home, Tait jogging at their heels. +Once Jim turned towards his sister, saying, "Are you quite knocked up, +old girl?" Norah only shook her head--she did not know that she was +tired. Neither spoke again. + +It was perhaps a mile further on that Norah pulled up sharply, and +whistled to Tait. The collie had slipped off into the undergrowth--she +could hear him moving on dry sticks that crackled beneath him. He +whined a little, but did not come. + +"Don't wait," Jim said. "He'll catch us up in a minute." + +"He always comes if I whistle," Norah answered, her brow puckering. "I +don't understand. Wait a moment, Jim." She had slid off her pony and +followed Tait almost before Jim realized that she was gone. + +The dog was nosing along a big log, the ruff on his neck bristling. As +Norah saw him he leaped upon it, and down on the other side. Then she +heard him bark sharply, and flung herself over the log after him. He +was licking something that lay in the shadows, almost invisible at +first, until the dim light showed a white glimmer. It was instinct more +than sight that told Norah it was her father's face. + +"Daddy--oh, Dad!" + +The wild cry turned Jim to stone for a moment--then he was off his horse +and through the scrub like a madman to where Norah knelt beside the +still form, sobbing and talking incoherently, and screwing blindly at +the cap of the flask she carried. They forced a little of the stimulant +between the set teeth, once a terrified examination had told them that +he still breathed; then Jim struck match after match, trying to see the +extent of his injuries--a hopeless task by the flickering light that +lasted only an instant. He put the box in his pocket at last. + +"It's no good," he said, "we can't see. Wonder if the men are out of +hearing." Running to the horses, standing patiently with trailing +bridles, he fired off all his revolver shots in quick succession, and +coo-ed again and again. Then he went back to where Norah sat in the +darkness and held her father's hand. + +"Don't wait," she said. "I'm sure they're out of hearing, Jim, darling. +And we couldn't dare to move him by ourselves. Tear in and bring the +men--and send for the doctor." + +"I don't like to leave you here alone," he said, anxiously. + +"Alone!" Norah said, in amazement. "But I've got Dad!" + +"Yes," he said, "but--" + +"Oh, do fly, Jimmy!" she said. "Leave me the matches. I'm all right." + +She heard him crash back to the horses, and then the swift thud of +Nan's hoofs grew fainter and fainter as he spurred her madly over the +rough ground, galloping off for help. The darkness seemed all at once +to be more complete, and the scrub to come closer, like a curtain round +them--round her and Dad, who was found again. She put her ear close to +his mouth--the breathing was a little more distinct, and so far as she +could tell his head was uninjured. One leg was doubled up beneath him +in an ugly manner. Norah knew she must not try to move it; but even in +the darkness she was sure that it was badly hurt, and the tears were +falling on David Linton's face as Norah crept back after her +examination. It was horrible to see Dad, of all people, helpless and +still. + +Perhaps it was the tears that woke him from his stupor. He stirred a +little, and groaned. At the sound, Norah, on her knees beside him, +trembled very exceedingly, with a mixture of joy and fear that almost +took her breath. She spoke softly. + +"Dad!" + +"Is it--you?" said David Linton, weakly. The darkness hid his face, but +to hear his voice again was wonderful; and Norah's hands shook as she +wrestled with the flask. + +"Yes, it's me," she said. "Oh, Dad, dear old Dad, are you much hurt?" + +"I don't know." The voice was very faint. Her fears surged back. + +"Try to drink some of this--it's weak, and you won't choke," she said. +"Is your head hurt, Daddy? Could I lift it a little?" + +"Not hurt," he managed to say. So she groped in the darkness to lift +the heavy head, and together they made a sorry business of the flask, +spilling far more than he drank. Still, some went the right way; and +presently he spoke again, his voice stronger. + +"I knew you'd come... mate." + +"Tait found you," she said. "And Jim was here, but he's gone for the +men. We'll take care of you, Daddy. Could I move you any way to help?" + +"Better not," he said. "Just--be there." His hand closed on hers, and he +seemed to slip off into unconsciousness again, for when she spoke to +him he did not answer. So Norah sat and held his hand; and the night +crept on. + +"Coo-ee!" Far off a shout. She slipped her hand away gently, and ran a +little way before answering, lest the cry should startle him. Then she +shouted with all her strength; and soon the beat of hoofs came nearer +and out of the darkness Jim came back, Murty galloping with him. + +"He's spoken," said Norah; "but he's gone off again. And he's had some +whisky." + +"Did he know you?" + +"Yes; but he's terribly weak." They were all beside Mr. Linton now, and +Murty struck a match, and carefully shading it, scanned the fallen +man's face by its glimmer. Norah saw his own change as he looked. Then +the match went out, and for a moment it was darker than ever. + +"They're bringing things," Jim said. He took off his coat and spread it +over his father, and Murty did the same. "And the doctor's coming--it's +wonderful luck--he came out from Cunjee with Wally." Jim put his hand on +Norah's. "Were you all right, old kiddie?" + +"Quite right," said she. Then they waited silently until a rattle of +wheels came as the express wagon clattered up. Murty went out to the +track to bring the doctor in. + +Dr. Anderson cast a glance at Norah by the light of the lanterns they +had brought, and spoke to Jim. + +"Take her away," he said. "I don't want you, either. Murty and Boone +will help me." So the two who were only children wandered off into the +scrub together, sitting on a log, silently, in sick anxiety, while the +doctor was busy. A groan came to them once, and Norah shuddered and put +her face into her hands, while Jim, who had himself shivered at the +sound, put his arm round her, and tried to whisper something, only his +voice would not come. Then--ages later, it seemed--the doctor's voice: + +"Are you two there?" + +They hurried to him. + +"We'll get him home," the doctor said. "A risk, moving him; but it's +worse to leave him lying under that log. The men are getting some of +the dogwood down, so that we can carry him out better. He's badly +knocked about, but his head's all right. The leg is the worst; it's +fractured in two places. You'll have a patient for a good while, +Norah." + +"Then--then he won't die?" + +"Die?" said the doctor. "Not a bit of it! He'll--ah, you poor child!" +For Norah had turned and clung to Jim, and was sobbing, while the big +fellow who bent over her and patted her was himself unable to speak. +Little Dr. Anderson patted them both, and choked himself, though he hid +it professionally with a cough. He remarked afterwards that he had not +known that young Norah Linton could cry. + +It was only for a minute, though. The men came back carrying a +stretcher, and Norah and Jim sprang to help. Very gently they lifted +David Linton's unconscious form, and the four bore him slowly to the +wagon, Norah backing in front with two lanterns to light every step. + +"Chancy work through them dorgwood spikes," said Dave Boone. But they +came out safely, and got him into the wagon, where a mattress was in +readiness. The doctor heaved a sigh of relief when the business was +done. So they took him home, the grey horses pulled into a slow walk, +while Jim and Norah rode ahead to find the smoothest track. + +It was past midnight when the lights of the homestead came into view; +but everywhere Billabong was up. The men were round the open gate of +the yard, from Andy Ferguson, the tears running unheeded down his old +face, to Lee Wing, for once without his wide benevolent smile, and in +the background Lal Chunder's dark face. Beyond them was Mrs. Brown, +with the pale-faced girls behind her. There were a score of willing +hands to bring David Linton into his home. + +A little later Jim came out to where Norah waited in the hall, a little +huddled figure in one corner of a leather armchair. + +"He's quite comfortable," he said; "hasn't spoken, but the doctor says +it's a natural sleep, and Brownie and he are going to sit with him. Old +kiddie, are you awfully tired?" + +"I'm not tired one bit!" said Norah, with no idea that she was not +speaking the exact truth. + +"H'm!" said Jim, looking at her. He went into the dining-room, +returning a minute later with a glass of wine. + +"You're to have this," he said authoritatively, "and then I'm going to +put you to--" + +He broke off, looking at her with a little smile on his tired face. +Norah had put her head down on the arm of the big chair, and was fast +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MATES + + The sleepy river murmurs low, + And far away one dimly sees, + Beyond the stretch of forest trees, + Beyond the foothills dusk and dun, + The ranges sleeping in the sun. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Autumn was late that year at Billabong, and the orchard trees were +still green, though a yellow leaf showed here and there in the Virginia +creeper, as David Linton lay on the verandah and looked out over the +garden. From his couch he could see the paddock beyond, and here and +there the roan hides of some of his Shorthorns. They did not generally +graze there; but Jim had brought some into the paddock the day before, +remarking that he was certain his father would recover much more +quickly if he could see a bullock now and then. So they grazed, and lay +about in the yellow grass, and David Linton watched them contentedly. + +From time to time Mrs. Brown's comfortable face peeped out from door or +window, with an inquiry as to her master's needs; but he was not an +exacting patient, and usually met her with a smile and "Nothing, +Brownie, thanks--don't trouble about me." Lee Wing came along, +shouldering a great coil of rubber hose like an immense grey snake, and +stopped for a cheerful conversation in his picturesque English; and +Billy, arriving from some remote corner of the run, left his horse at +the gate and came up to the verandah, standing a black statue in shirt, +moleskins and leggings, his stockwhip over his arm, while Mr. Linton +asked questions about the cattle he had been to see. Afterwards Mrs. +Brown brought out tea, having met and routed with great slaughter +Sarah, who was anxious to have the honour that up to to-day had been +Norah's alone. + +"It's dull for you, sir," she said. "No mistake, it do make a +difference when that child's not in the house!" + +"No doubt of that," Mr. Linton said. "But I'm getting on very well, +Brownie, although I certainly miss my nurses." + +"Oh, we can make you comferable an' all that," Brownie said, +disparagingly. "But when it comes to a mate, we all know there ain't +any one for you like Miss Norah--though I do say Master Jim's as handy +in a sick-room as that high-flown nurse from Melbourne ever was--I'm +glad to me bones she's gone!" said Brownie, in pious relief. + +"So am I," agreed the squatter hastily. "Afraid I don't take kindly to +the imported article--and I'm perfectly certain Norah and she nearly +came to blows many times." + +"An' small wonder," said Brownie, her nose uplifted. "Keepin' her out +of your room, if you please--or tryin' to--till Miss Norah heard you +callin' her, an' simply came in at the winder! An' callin' her 'ducksy +bird.' I ask you, sir," said Brownie, indignantly, "is 'ducksy bird' +the thing anybody with sense'd be likely to call Miss Norah?" + +"Poor Norah!" said Mr. Linton, laughing. "She didn't tell me of that +indignity." + +"Many a trile Miss Norah had with that nurse as I'll dare be sworn, +she'd never menshin to you, sir," Brownie answered. "She wouldn't let a +breath of anything get near you that'd worry you. Why, it was three +weeks and more before she'd let you be told about Bobs!" + +David Linton's brow darkened. + +"I couldn't have done any good, of course," he said. "But I'm sorry I +couldn't have helped her at all over that bad business. Well, I hope +Providence will keep that young man out of my path in future!" + +"An' out of Billabong," said Brownie with fervour. "Mr. Cecil's safer +away. I guess even now he'd have a rough time if the men caught him--an' +serve him right!" + +"He seems penitent," Mr. Linton said, "and even his mother wrote about +him more in sorrow than in anger. The atmosphere of admiration in which +he has always lived seems to have cooled, which should be an uncommonly +good thing for Cecil. But I don't want to see him." + +"Nor more don't any of us," Brownie said, wrathfully. "Billabong had +enough of Mr. Cecil. Dear sakes!--when I think of him clearin' away from +Miss Norah that night, an' what might have 'appened but for that +blessed 'eathen, Lal Chunder, I don't feel 'ardly Christian, that I +don't! Not as she ever made much of it--but--poor little lamb!" + +Mr. Linton's face contracted, and Brownie left the topic hastily. It +always agitated the invalid, who had indeed only been told of Norah's +night adventure because of the risk of his hearing of it suddenly from +outsiders or a newspaper. The district had seethed over the child's +peril, and Lal Chunder had found himself in the embarrassing position +of a hero--which by no means suited that usually mild-mannered Asiatic. +He had developed a habit of paying Billabong frequent, if fleeting, +calls; apparently for the sole purpose of looking at Norah, for he +rarely spoke. There was no guest more welcome. + +Presently Murty O'Toole and Dave Boone came round the corner of the +verandah. + +"Masther Jim gev special insthructions not to be later'n half-past four +in takin' y' in, sir," said the Irishman. "The chill do be comin' in +the air afther that, says he. An' Miss Norah towld me to be stern wid +ye!" + +"Oh, did she?" said Norah's father, laughing. "Well, I suppose I'd +better be meek, Murty, if the orders are so strict--though it's warm +enough out here still." + +"The cowld creeps up from thim flats," Murty said, judicially. "An' +whin y' are takin' things aisy--well, y' are apt to take a cowld aisy as +well." + +"I'm certainly taking things far too easy for my taste," Mr. Linton +said, smiling ruefully. "Five weeks on my back, Murty!--and goodness +knows how much ahead. It doesn't suit me." + +"I will admit there's some on the station 'twould suit betther," Murty +answered. "Dave here, now--sure, he shines best whin he's on his back! +an' I can do a bit av that same meself. ("You can that!" from the +outraged Mr. Boone.) But y' had the drawback to be born widout a lazy +bone in y'r body, so 'tis a hardship on y'. There is but wan thing +that's good in it, as far as th' station sees." + +"What's that, Murty?" + +"Mrs. Brown here do be tellin' me Miss Norah's not to go away--an' +there's not a man on the place but slung up his hat!" said the +Irishman. "Billabong wouldn't be the same at all widout the little +misthress--we had a grudge agin that foine school in Melbourne, so we +had. However, it's all right now." He beamed on his master. + +"Only a postponement, I'm afraid, Murty," said that gentleman, who +beamed himself, quite unconsciously. + +"Yerra, it's no good lookin' ahead--time enough to jump over the bridge +when y' come to it," said Murty, cheerfully. "Annyhow, she'll not be +lavin' on us yit. Well, if y' are ready, sir?" He nodded to Boone and +took up his position at the head of Mr. Linton's couch. + +"I'll go into the dining-room," the squatter said, as they carried him +gently into the hall. "Put me near the window, boys--no, the one looking +down the track. That's all right," as his couch came to anchor in the +bay of a window that gave a clear view of the homestead paddock. He +chatted to them awhile longer before wishing them good-night. + +The stockmen tramped out, making violent efforts to be noiseless. + +"Whisht, can't y'?" said Murty, indignantly, as Dave cannoned into a +chair in the hall. "Have y' not got anny manners at all, thin, Davy? +wid' him lyin' there, an' good luck to him! Did y' see how he made us +put his sofy in that square little winder?" + +"Why?" asked the slower Mr. Boone. + +"An' what but to see the first glimpse av them kids comin' home? Y' do +be an ass, Davy!" said Murty, pleasantly. "Begob, 'tis somethin' f'r a +man's eyes to see how Miss Norah handles that bay horse!" + +Left to himself, David Linton made a pretence at reading a paper, but +his eyes were weary, and presently the sheet crackled to the floor, and +lay unheeded. Brownie, coming in softly, thought he had fallen asleep, +and tiptoed to the couch with a light rug, which she drew over him. +They handled him very carefully; although his clean, hard life had +helped him to make a wonderful recovery, his injuries had been severe; +and it would be many weeks yet before he could use his leg, even with +crutches. The trained nurse from Melbourne, who had been more or less a +necessary evil, or, as Jim put it, "an evil necessary," had been +dispensed with a week before; and now he had as many attendants as +there were inhabitants of Billabong, with Norah as head nurse and +Brownie as superintendent, and Jim as right-hand man. Once there had +been a plan that Jim should go North, for other experience, after +leaving school. But it was never talked of now. + +This was the first day, since they had brought her father home, that +Norah had been induced to leave him; and then it had taken a command on +his part to make her go. She was growing pale and hollow-eyed with the +long watching. + +Dr. Anderson, whose visits were becoming rarer, had prescribed a tonic, +which Norah had taken meekly, and without apparent results. + +"The tonic she wants is her own old life," Brownie had said. "Stickin' +inside the house all day! it's no wonder she's peakin' and pinin'. Make +her go out, sir." So David Linton had asserted himself from his couch; +and Jim had taken Norah for a ride over the paddocks, and to call for +the mail at the Cross Roads, where the Billabong loose bag was left by +the coach three times a week. + +He was lying with his eyes fixed on the track when they came out of the +trees; both horses at a hand gallop and pulling double. Norah was on +Garryowen, her face flushed and laughing, her head thrown back a little +as the beautiful bay reefed and plunged forward, enjoying the speed as +much as his rider. Jim was a length or so behind on Monarch, whose one +ambition at that moment was, in Murty's words, "to get away on him." It +was plain that the boy was exulting in the tussle. The sunlight gleamed +on the black horse's splendid side as they dashed up the track. + +As yet there had been no talk openly of a successor to Bobs--that wound +was still too sore. For the present Norah was to ride Garryowen, since +Monarch was far too frivolous to stand a long spell; Jim would handle +him for the months that must elapse before his father was in the saddle +again. Later on, Jim and Mr. Linton had great plans for something very +special--a new pony that would not disgrace Bobs' memory, and that would +fit the unused rug with the scarlet B that lay locked away in Norah's +wardrobe. Other things were locked away in her heart; she never spoke +of Bobs. But the two who were her mates knew. + +The swift hoofs came thudding up the track and scattered the gravel by +the gate; then there was silence for a moment, voices and laughter, and +quick footsteps, and Jim and Norah came in together, their faces +glowing. + +"How did you get on, Dad? Were we long?" + +"Long!" said David Linton, whose face had grown suddenly contented. +"The conceit of some people! Why, I had so much attention paid me that +I scarcely noticed you had gone." He put up one hand and took Norah's +as she sat on the arm of his couch. "But I'm glad you're back," he +added. They smiled at each other. + +"Conceit's bad enough," said Jim, grinning, "but insanity's worse. Had +the maddest ride of my life, Dad--my poor old Garryowen's absolutely +cowed, and has no tail left to speak of!" He ducked to avoid a cushion +from his sister. "It's a most disastrous experiment to keep Norah off a +horse for five weeks!" + +"We won't repeat it," said her father, "not that Garryowen seemed to be +suffering from nervous prostration as he came up the paddock--or Monarch +either! Any letters?" + +"One from Wally," Norah cried, "poor old boy. He says school is horrid +without Jim, and he's collar-proud, and they lost the match last +Saturday--he carried out his bat for thirty-seven, though!--and he misses +Billabong, and he sends his love and all sorts of messages to you, Dad. +I guess Brownie and I will fix up a hamper for him," concluded Norah, +pensively, weighing in her mind the attractions of plum or seed cake, +and deciding on both. "And mince pies," she added, aloud. + +"What?" said her father, staring. "Oh, I see. Any other mail?" + +"Oh, the usual pile for you, Dad. Agents' letters and bills and things. +Jim has them. We didn't bring the papers." + +"I should think not!" returned her father. "If I catch either of you +carrying loose papers on those horses--well, one broken leg is enough in +a family of this size!" + +"Too much respect for Monarch, to say nothing of my legs," said Jim, +laconically, producing a handful of letters. "There you are, Dad; +that's all. Do you want anything? I'm going down to the little paddock +for a lesson in bullock driving from Burton." + +"How are you getting on in the art?" asked his father, smiling. + +"Oh, slowly. My command of language doesn't seem to be sufficient, for +so far the team looks on me with mild scorn." Jim grinned. "It's +nervous work for Joe, too. I got him with the tail of the whip +yesterday, when I'd every intention of correcting old Ranger! However, +I plod on, and Joe keeps well out of the way now. He yells instructions +at me from some way back in the landscape!" + +"Prudent man, Burton," laughed his father. "A good tutor, too. I don't +know that I ever saw a man handle bullocks better. Most people don't +credit bullocks with souls, but I think Joe gets nearer to finding that +attribute in his beasts than the average driver, and with less +expenditure of energy and eloquence! He's like the man we were reading +about, North: + + "As to a team, over gully and hill, + He can travel with twelve on the breadth of a quill!" + + +"Oh, COULD he?" asked Jim, with much interest. "Well, the width of the +paddock doesn't seem more than enough for me, so far. We wobble +magnificently, the team and I! However, I keep hoping! I'd better be +going. Sure you don't want me, Dad?" + +"Not just now, old chap." + +"Well, I'll be back before long." He smiled at his father and Norah, +swinging out over the window ledge, and whistling cheerily until his +long legs had carried him out of sight. + +"He'll be a good man on the place, Norah." + +"Why, of course," said Norah, a little surprised that statement should +be made of so evident a fact. "Murty says he's 'takin' howld wid' both +hands, an' 'tis the ould man over agin,' though it's like Murty's cheek +to call you that. You won't be able to let him go away, I believe, +Dad." + +"I don't see myself sparing him to any other place now," said Mr. +Linton. "Nor the head nurse either!" + +Norah slipped down beside him. + +"I've been thinking," she said, a little anxiously. "It's been so +lovely to think of no old school until midwinter--but I'd go sooner--when +you're quite well--if you're worried really, Dad. I don't want to be a +duffer--and of course I don't know half that other girls know." + +"Jim will be able to keep you from going back, I expect," her father +said, watching the troubled face. "He won't be exactly a stern tutor, +and possibly lessons may be free and easy; still, after all, Jim was a +prefect, and the handling of unruly subjects is probably not unknown to +him." + +"If Jim attempts to be a prefect with me," said Norah, "things will be +mixed!" She laughed, but the line came back into her forehead. "It's +not the lessons I was thinking of, Dad." + +"Then what is it?" + +"Oh, all the other things I don't know that other girls do. Do you +think it really matters, Dad? I know perfectly well I don't do my hair +properly--" + +"I seem to like it." + +"And I can't talk prettily--you know, like Cecil did; and I don't know a +single blessed thing about fancywork! I'd--I'd hate you to be ashamed of +me, Dad, dear!" + +"Ashamed?" He held her close; and when he spoke again there was +something in his voice that made Norah suddenly content. + +"Little mate!" was all he said. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + +***** This file should be named 4050-0.txt or 4050-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/5/4050/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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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: Mates at Billabong + +Author: Mary Grant Bruce + +Posting Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #4050] +Release Date: May, 2003 +First Posted: October 21, 2001 +[Last updated: June 5, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MATES AT BILLABONG. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<PRE> + CHAPTER I <A HREF="#chap01">NORAH'S HOME</A> + CHAPTER II <A HREF="#chap02">TOGETHER</A> + CHAPTER III <A HREF="#chap03">BATH—AND AN INTRODUCTION</A> + CHAPTER IV <A HREF="#chap04">CUTTING OUT</A> + CHAPTER V <A HREF="#chap05">TWO POINTS OF VIEW</A> + CHAPTER VI <A HREF="#chap06">COMING HOME</A> + CHAPTER VII <A HREF="#chap07">JIM UNPACKS</A> + CHAPTER VIII <A HREF="#chap08">A THUNDERSTORM</A> + CHAPTER IX <A HREF="#chap09">THE BILLABONG DANCE</A> + CHAPTER X <A HREF="#chap10">CHRISTMAS</A> + CHAPTER XI <A HREF="#chap11">"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!"</A> + CHAPTER XII <A HREF="#chap12">OF POULTRY</A> + CHAPTER XIII <A HREF="#chap13">STATION DOINGS</A> + CHAPTER XIV <A HREF="#chap14">CUNJEE v. MULGOA</A> + CHAPTER XV <A HREF="#chap15">THE RIDE HOME</A> + CHAPTER XVI <A HREF="#chap16">A CHILD'S PONY</A> + CHAPTER XVII <A HREF="#chap17">ON THE HILLSIDE</A> + CHAPTER XVIII <A HREF="#chap18">BROTHER AND SISTER</A> + CHAPTER XIX <A HREF="#chap19">THE LONG QUEST</A> + CHAPTER XX <A HREF="#chap20">MATES</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NORAH'S HOME +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The grey old dwelling, rambling and wide,<BR> + With the homestead paddocks on either side,<BR> + And the deep verandahs and porches tall<BR> + Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall.<BR> + G. ESSEX EVANS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Billabong homestead lay calm and peaceful in the slanting rays of the +sun that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden in +the surrounding trees—pine and box and mighty blue gums towering above +the tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of the +Virginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls. +If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under the +touch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern bay +window to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but from +the paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and the +mellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance of +rippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon—too +lazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the reed-fringed water. +Towards it a flight of black swans winged slowly, with outstretched +necks, across a sky of perfect blue. Their leader's note floated down, +as if in answer to the magpies that carolled in the pine trees by the +stables. The sound seemed to hang in the still air. +</P> + +<P> +Beyond the tennis-court, in the farther recesses of the garden, a +hammock swung between two grevillea trees, whose orange flowers made a +gay canopy overhead; and in the hammock Norah swayed gently, and +knitted, and pondered. The shining needles flashed in and out of the +dark blue silk sock. Outsiders—mothers of prim daughters, whom Norah +pictured as finding their wildest excitement in "patting a doll"—were +wont to deplore that the only daughter of David Linton of Billabong was +brought up in an eccentric fashion, less girl than boy; but outsiders +are apt to cherish delusions, and Norah was not without her share of +gentle accomplishments. Knitting was one; the sock grew quickly in the +capable brown fingers that could grip a stock-whip as easily as they +handled the needles. All the while, she was listening. +</P> + +<P> +About her the coo of invisible doves fell gently, mingling with the +happy droning of bees in the overhead blossoms. Somewhere, not far off, +a sheep bell tinkled monotonously, the only outside sound in the +afternoon stillness. It was very peaceful. To Norah, who knew that the +world held no place like Billabong, it only lacked one person for the +final seal of perfection. +</P> + +<P> +"Wish Dad would come," she said aloud, puckering her brow over a knot +in the silk. "He's late—and it is jolly dull without him." The knot +came free, and the needles raced as though making up for lost time. +</P> + +<P> +Two dogs lay on the grass: a big sleepy collie that only moved +occasionally to snap at a worrying fly; and an Irish terrier, plainly +showing by his restlessness that he despised a lazy life, and longed +for action. He caught his mistress's eye at last, and jumped up with a +little whine. +</P> + +<P> +"If YOU had the heel of a sock to turn, Puck," said Norah, "you'd be +more steady. Lie down, old man." +</P> + +<P> +Puck lay down again discontentedly, put his nose on his paws, and +feigned slumber, one restless eyelid betraying the hollowness of the +pretence. Presently he rolled over—and chancing to roll on a spiky +twig, rose with a wild yelp of annoyance. Across Norah's laugh came a +stock-whip crack; and the collie came to life suddenly, and sprang up, +as impatient as the terrier. Norah slipped out of the hammock. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Dad!" she said. "Come along!" +</P> + +<P> +She was tall for her fourteen years, and very slender—"scraggy," Jim +was wont to say, with the cheerful frankness of brothers. Norah bore +the epithet meekly—she held the view that it was better to be dead than +fat. There was something boyish in the straight, slim figure in the +blue linen frock—perhaps the quality was also to be found in a frank +manner that was the product of years of the Bush and open-air life. The +grey eyes were steady, and met those of others with a straight level +glance; the mouth was a little firm-set for her years, but the child +was revealed when it broke into smiles—and Norah was rarely grave. No +human power had yet been discovered to keep in order the brown curls. +Their distressed owner tied them back firmly with a wide ribbon each +morning; but the ribbon generally was missing early in the day, and +might be replaced with anything that came handy—possibly a fragment of +red tape from the office, or a bit of a New Zealand flax leaf, or haply +even a scrap of green hide. Anything, said Norah, decidedly, was better +than your hair all over your face. For the rest, a nondescript nose, +somewhat freckled, and a square chin, completed a face no one would +have dreamed of calling pretty. In his own mind her father referred to +it as something better. But then there was tremendous friendship +between the master of Billabong and his small daughter. +</P> + +<P> +The stock-whip cracked again, nearer home this time; and Norah crammed +the blue silk sock hastily into a little work-bag, and raced away over +the lawn, her slim black legs making great time across the buffalo +grass. Beside her tore the collie and Puck, each a vision of embodied +delight. They flashed round the corner of the house, scattered the +gravel on the path leading to the back, and came out into the yard as a +big black horse pulled up at the gate, and the tall man on his back +swung himself lightly to the ground. From some unseen region a black +boy appeared silently and led the horse away. Norah, her father, and +the dogs arrived at the gate simultaneously. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were never coming, Daddy," said the mistress of +Billabong, incoherently. "Did you have a good trip?—and how did Monarch +go?—and did you buy the cattle?—and have you had any dinner?" She +punctuated each query with a hug, and paused only for lack of breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady!" said David Linton, laughing. "I'm not a ready reckoner! I've +bought the bullocks, and Monarch went quite remarkably well, and yes, +I've had dinner, thank you. And how have you been getting on, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all right," said his daughter. "It was pretty slow, of course—it +always is when you go away, Daddy. I worked, and pottered round with +Brownie, and went out for rides. And oh, Dad! ever so many letters—and +Jim's coming home next week!" She executed an irrepressible pirouette. +"And he's got the cup for the best average at the sports—best +all-around athlete that means, doesn't it? Isn't it lovely?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's splendid!" Mr. Linton said, looking as pleased as his daughter. +"And any school prizes?" +</P> + +<P> +"He didn't mention," Norah answered. "I don't suppose so, bless him! +But there's one thing pretty sickening—the boys can't come with him. +Wally may come later, but Harry has to go to Tasmania with his +father—isn't it unreasonable?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry he can't come, but on the whole I've a fellow feeling for +the father," said Jim's parent. "A man wants to see something of his +son occasionally, I suppose. And any news from Mrs. Stephenson?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's better," Norah answered, her face growing graver. "Dick wrote. +And there's a letter for you from Mrs. Stephenson, too. She says she's +brighter, and the sea-voyage was evidently the thing for her, 'cause +she's more like herself than at any time since—since my dear old Hermit +died." Norah's voice shook a little. "They expect to be in Wellington +all the summer, and perhaps longer." +</P> + +<P> +"It was certainly a good prescription, that voyage." Mr. Linton said. +"I don't think she would have been long in following her husband—poor +old chap!—if they had remained here. But one misses them, Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"Horrid," said Norah, with emphasis. "I miss her all the time—and it's +quite rum, Dad, but I do believe I miss lessons. Over five weeks since +I had any! Are you going to get me another tutor?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll see," said her father. They were in the big dining-room by this +time, and he was turning over the pile of letters that had come during +his three days' absence from the station. "Any chance of tea, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, rather!" said Norah. "You read your letters, and I'll go and +tell Sarah. And Brownie'll be wanting to see you. I won't be long, +Daddy." She vanished. +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later Mr. Linton looked up from a letter that had put a +crease into his brow. A firm, flat step sounded in the hall, and Mrs. +Brown came in—cook and housekeeper to the homestead, the guide, +philosopher and friend of everyone, and the special protector of the +little motherless girl about whom David Linton's life centred. +"Brownie" was not a person lightly to be reckoned with, and her master +was wont to turn to her whenever any question arose affecting Norah. He +greeted her warmly now. +</P> + +<P> +"We're all glad to welkim you back, sirr," said Brownie. "As for that +blessed child, she's not like the same 'uman bein' when you're off the +place. Passed me jus' now in the passige, goin' full bat, an' turned +'ead over 'eels, she did—I didn't need to be told you'd got 'ome!" She +hesitated: "You heard from Mrs. Stephenson, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Mr. Linton, glancing at the letter in his hand. "As I +thought—she confirms our opinion. I'm afraid there's no help for it." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew she would," said Mrs. Brown, heavily, a shadow falling onto her +broad, pleasant face. "Oh, I know there's no 'elp, sir—it has to be. +But—but—" She put her apron to her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"We're really very lucky, I suppose," Mr. Linton said, in tones +distinctly unappreciative, at the moment, of any luck. "Mrs. Stephenson +has been a second mother to Norah, these two years—between you and her +I can't see that the child needed anything; and with Dick as tutor she +has made remarkable progress. Personally, I'd have let the arrangement +go on indefinitely. Now that they've had to leave us, however—" He +paused, folding up the letter slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"She couldn't stay 'ere, poor lady," Mrs. Brown said; "'tain't in +reason she'd be able to after the old gentleman's death, with the place +full of memories an' all. An', of course, she'd want Mr. Dick along +with her. Anyway, the precious lamb's getting a big girl to be taught +only by a young gentleman—" and Brownie pursed up her lips, looking +such a model of all the proprieties that Mr. Linton smiled +involuntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"She's all right," he said shortly. "Of course, her aunt has been at me +for ever so long to send her to school." +</P> + +<P> +"Beggin' your pardon, sir, Mrs. Geoffrey don't know everythink," said +Mrs. Brown, bridling. "Her not havin' any daughters of 'er own, 'ow can +it be expected that she'd understand? An' town ladies can't never +compre'end country children, any'ow. Our little maid's jus' grown up +like a bush flower, an' all the better she is for it." +</P> + +<P> +"But the time comes for change, Brownie, old friend," said Mr. Linton. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Mrs. Brown, "it do. But what the station'll do is more'n I +can see just at present—an' as for you, sir—an' let alone me—" Her +comfortable, fat voice died away, and the apron was at her eyes again. +"What'll Billabong be, with its little girl at school?" +</P> + +<P> +"At—WHERE?" asked Norah. +</P> + +<P> +She had come in with the tea-tray in her hands—a little flushed from +the fire, and her brown face alight with all the hundred-and-one things +she had yet to tell Daddy. On the threshold she paused, struck +motionless by that amazing speech. She looked a little helplessly from +one face to the other; and the two who loved her felt the same +helplessness as they looked back. It was not an easy thing to pass +sentence of exile from Billabong on Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"I—" said her father. "You see, dear—Dick having gone—you know, your +aunt—" He stopped, his tongue tied by the look in Norah's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Brownie slipped into the breach. +</P> + +<P> +"You're so big now, dearie," she said, "so, big—and—and—" With this +lucid effort at enlightenment she put her apron fairly over her head +and turned away to the open window. +</P> + +<P> +But Norah's eyes were on her father. Just for a moment the sick sense +of bewilderment and despair seemed to crush her altogether. She had +realized her sentence in a flash—that the home that meant all the world +to her, and from which Heaven only differed in that Mother was there, +was to be changed for a new, strange world that would be empty of all +that she knew and loved. Vaguely she had always known that the blow +hung over her—now that it had fallen, for a moment there was no room +for any other thought. Her look, wide with grief and appeal, met her +father's. +</P> + +<P> +And then she realized slowly that he was suffering too—that he was +looking to her for the response that had never failed him yet. His +silence told her that this thing was unavoidable, and that he needed +her help. Mates such as they must stand by one another—that was part of +the creed that had grown up in Norah's heart. Daddy had always said +that no matter what happened he could rely upon her. She could not fail +him now. +</P> + +<P> +So, just as the silence in the room became oppressive, Norah smiled +into her father's eyes, and carefully put the tea-tray upon the table. +</P> + +<P> +"If you say it's got to be, well, that's all about it, Daddy," she +said. The voice was low, but it did not quiver. "Don't worry, darling; +it's all right. Sarah was out, and Mary goodness knows where, so I made +tea myself; I hope it's drinkable." She brought her father's cup to his +side and smiled at him again. +</P> + +<P> +"My blessed lamb!" said Mrs. Brown, hastily—and fled from the room. +</P> + +<P> +David Linton did not take the cup; instead he slipped his arm round the +childish body. +</P> + +<P> +"You think we can stand it, then?" he asked. "It's not you alone, +little mate; your old Dad's under sentence too." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that makes things a lot easier," said Norah, "'cause you and +I always do things together, don't we, Daddy? And—and—" Just for a +moment her lips trembled. "Must we, Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +He tightened his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, dear." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause. +</P> + +<P> +"After Christmas?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—in February." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I've got nine weeks," said Norah, practically. "We won't talk +about it more than we can help, I think, don't you? Have your tea, +Daddy, or it'll be cold and horrid." She brought her own cup and sat +down on the arm of his chair. "How many bullocks did you buy?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TOGETHER +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + And you and I were faithful mates.<BR> + HENRY LAWSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Afterwards—when the blow was a little less heavy as Norah grew +accustomed to it—they talked it over thoroughly. +</P> + +<P> +Norah's education, in the strict sense of the term, had only been +carried on for about two years. In reality it had gone on all her life, +spent mostly at her father's side; but that was the kind of education +that does not live between the covers of books. Together, David Linton +and his daughter had worked, and played and talked—much more of the +former condition than of either of the latter. All that the bush could +teach her Norah knew, and in most of the work of the station—Billabong +was a noted cattle-run—she was as handy as any of the men. Her father's +constant mate, every day shared with him was a delight to her. They +rode together, fished, camped and explored together; it was the rarest +occurrence for Mr. Linton's movements not to include Norah as a matter +of course. +</P> + +<P> +Yet there was something in the quiet man that had effectually prevented +any development of roughness in Norah. Boyish and offhand to a certain +extent, the solid foundation of womanliness in her nature was never far +below the surface. She was perfectly aware that while Daddy wanted a +mate he also wanted a daughter; and there was never any real danger of +her losing that gentler attribute—there was too much in her of the +little dead mother for that. Brownie, the ever watchful, had seen to it +that she did not lack housewifely accomplishments, and Mr. Linton was +wont to say proudly that Norah's scones were as light as her hand on +the horse's mouth. There was no doubt that the irregular side of her +education was highly practical. +</P> + +<P> +Two years before Fate had taken a new interest in Norah's development, +bringing as inmates of the homestead an old friend of her father's, +with his wife and son. The latter acted as Norah's tutor, and found his +task an easy one, for the untrodden ground of the little girl's brain +yielded remarkable results. To Mrs. Stephenson fell the work of gently +moulding her to womanly ways—less easy this, for while Norah had no +desire to be a tomboy, she was firmly of the opinion that once lessons +were over, she had simply no time to stay inside the house and be +proper. Still, the gentle influence told, imperceptibly softening and +toning her character, and giving her a standard by which to adapt +herself; and Norah was nothing if not adaptable. Then, six months +previously, the old man they all loved had quietly faded out of life; +and after he had gone his widow could no longer remain in the place +where he had died. She pined slowly, until Dick Stephenson, the son, +had taken her almost forcibly away. The unspoken fear that the parting +was not merely temporary had merged into certainty. Billabong would +know them no more. The question remaining was what to do with Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to have the school training," Mr. Linton said, when they +talked the matter over. "You must mix with other girls—learn to see +things from their point of view, and realize how many points of view +there are outside Billabong. Oh, I don't want you to think there are +any better "—he laughed at the vigorous shake of the brown curls—"but +the world has wider boundaries, and you must find them out. There are +other things, too"—vaguely—"dancing and deportment, and—er—the use of +the globes, and I think there's a thing called a blackboard, but I'm +not sure. Dick didn't know. In fact, there's a regulation mill, and I +suppose you must go through it—I don't feel afraid that they'll spoil +my little girl's individuality in the process." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it a big school, Daddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I believe so. Several people I know send their girls there. And +it's a great place for sports, Norah. You'll like that. They're keen on +hockey and cricket and all sorts of things girls never dreamed about +when I was young. Possibly I may live to see you a slow bowler yet, and +playing in a match! Honestly, Norah, I believe you'll be very happy at +school." +</P> + +<P> +"And what'll you do, Daddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," he said, heavily. "I told you I was under sentence." +</P> + +<P> +They sat awhile in silence. It was evening, and they were on the +verandah; Mr. Linton in a big basket chair, and Norah curled up at his +feet in the way she loved. She could not see his face—just then she did +not want to. She said nothing. The moon climbed up slowly, and the +frogs were merry in the lagoon. Far off the cry of a bittern boomed +across the flats. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, at least we've got nine weeks," Norah said at length. "Nine +weeks to be mates—and Jim'll be home next week, and he'll be mates, +too. Don't let's get blue about it, Daddy. It'll be so horrid when the +time comes, that it's no good letting it spoil these nine weeks. Can't +we try to forget it?" +</P> + +<P> +"We can try," said David Linton. +</P> + +<P> +"Course, we won't do it," Norah said. "But don't let's talk about it. +I'm going to put it out of my head as much as ever I can, and have this +time for just Billabong and us. Will you, Daddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do all I can, my girlie," said her father. "You mustn't start off +with any bad memories; we'll have the most crowded nine weeks of our +lives, and make a solemn resolve to 'buck up.' I'd like to plan +something for this week, but, upon my word, I'm too busy to play, +Norah. There's any amount to be done." +</P> + +<P> +"But I don't want to play," Norah said. "Work's good enough for ME, +Daddy, if I can work with you. Can't I come, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be exceedingly glad of your help," said her father—which was +exactly what Norah wanted him to say, and went far to cheer her. She +put the dismal future resolutely from her, and set out upon the present +with a heart as light as possible. +</P> + +<P> +It was never dull at Billabong. Always there were pets of all kinds to +be seen to. Mr. Linton laid no restriction on pets if they were +properly tended, and Norah had a collection as wide as it was beloved. +Household duties there were, too; but these could be left if +necessary—two adoring housemaids were always ready to step into the +breach if "business on the run" claimed Norah's attention. And beyond +the range of the homestead altogether there lay an enchanted region +that only she and Daddy shared—the wide and stretching plains of +Billabong dotted with cattle, seamed with creeks and the river, and +merging at the boundary into a long low line of hills. Norah used to +gaze at them from her window—sometimes purple, sometimes blue, and +sometimes misty grey, but always beautiful to the child who loved them. +Others might know Billabong—visit it, ride over it, exclaim at its +beauties; but Norah always felt that there were only two who really +understood and cared—Daddy and herself. +</P> + +<P> +Of course there was Jim—the big brother who was seventeen now, and just +about to leave school. Norah was immensely proud of him, and the +affection between them was a thing that never wavered. Jim loved +Billabong, too; but it was only to be expected that six years of school +in Melbourne would make something of a difference. He knew, in the +words of the old Roman, "There is a world elsewhere." But Norah knew no +world beyond Billabong. +</P> + +<P> +For all that, Jim was distinctly desirable as a brother. He had always +made a tremendous chum of Norah, and the friends he brought home found +they were expected to do the same. This might cause them surprise at +first, but they very soon found that "the kiddie" was quite excellent +as a mate, and could put them up to a good deal more than they usually +knew about the Bush. Norah was invariably Jim's first thought. He was a +big, quiet fellow, very like his father; not over-brilliant at books, +but a first-rate sport, and without a trace of meanness in his generous +nature. At school he was worshipped by the boys—was not he captain of +the football team, stroke of the eight, and best all-round athlete?—and +liked by the masters, who found him inclined to be careless over work +but absolutely reliable in every other way. Such a fellow does not win +scholarships, but he is a tower of strength to his school. +</P> + +<P> +For the week preceding Jim's return Norah and her father worked hard, +clearing up various odd jobs so that their time might be free when the +boy arrived. There was a quaint side to this, in that Jim would without +doubt have been delighted to help in any station work, which always +presented itself to him as "no end of a lark" after the strenuous life +at school. But it was a point of honour with those at home to leave +none of their work until the holidays and the last week was invariably +the scene of many labours. +</P> + +<P> +Not that there were not plenty of hands on the station. It was a big +run, and gave employment in one way or another to quite a band of men. +But Mr. Linton preferred to keep a very close watch over everything, +and he had long realized that the best way of seeing that your business +is done is to take a hand yourself. The men said, "The boss was +everywhere," and they respected him the more in that he was no +kid-glove employer, but was willing to share in any work that was going +forward. Especially he insisted on working among the cattle, and—Norah +was nearly always with him on his rides—they had a more or less +accurate knowledge of every beast on the place. Outside the boundary +fences they went very seldom; the nearest township, seventeen miles +away, Norah regarded as merely a place where you called for the mail, +and save that it meant a ride or drive with her father, she had never +the slightest desire to go there. +</P> + +<P> +Summer was very late that year, and "burning-off" operations on the +rougher parts of the run had been carried on much longer than was +generally possible. Norah always regarded "burning-off" as an immense +picnic, and used to beg her father to take her out. Night after night +found them down on the flats, getting rid of old dead trees, which up +to the present had refused obstinately to burn. It was picturesque +work, and Norah loved it, though she would have been somewhat +embarrassed had you hinted that the picturesqueness had anything to do +with its attractions. +</P> + +<P> +One after another, they would light the stumps, some squat and solid, +others rising thirty or forty feet into the air. Once the fires were +lit, it was necessary to keep them going; moving backwards and forwards +among the trees, stoking, picking up fallen bits of burning timber and +adding them to the fires, coaxing sullen embers into a blaze, edging +the fire round a tree, so that the wind might do its utmost in helping +the work—there were no idle moments for the "burners-off." Sometimes it +would be necessary to enlarge a crack or hole in a tough stump, to gain +a hold for the fire. Norah always carried a light iron bar, specially +made for her at the station forge, which she called her poker, and +which answered half a dozen purposes equally well, and though not an +ideal weapon for killing a snake, being too stiff and straight, had +been known to act in that capacity also. Every scrap of loose timber on +the ground would be picked up and added to the flames. Some stumps were +very obstinate and resisted all blandishments to burn; but careful +handling generally ensured the fate of the majority. +</P> + +<P> +There are few sights more weird, or more typically Australian, than a +paddock at night with burning-off in process. Low and high, the red +columns of fire stand in a darkness made blacker by their lurid glow. +Where the fire has taken hold fairly the flames are fierce, and showers +of sparks fall like streams of gold. Sometimes a dull crack gives +warning of the fall of a long-dead giant; and the burning mass leans +slowly over, and then comes down with a crash, while the curious +bullocks, which have poked as near as they dare to the strange scene, +fling round and lumber off in a heavy gallop, heads down and tails up. +From stump to stump flit the little black figures of the workers, +standing out clearly sometimes, by the light of a blaze so fierce that +to face it is scarcely possible; or half seen in the dull glow of a +smouldering tree poking vigorously—seeming as ants attacking living +monsters infinitely beyond their strength. Perhaps it is there that the +fascination of the work comes in—the triumph of conquering tons of +inanimate matter by efforts so small. At any rate it is always hard to +leave the scene of action, and certainly the first glance next morning +is to see "which are down." +</P> + +<P> +Then there were days spent among the cattle—days that always meant the +high-water mark of bliss to Norah. She road astride, and her special +pony, Bobs, to whom years but added perfection, loved the work as much +as she did. They understood each other perfectly; if Norah carried a +hunting-crop, it was merely for assistance in opening gates, for Bobs +never felt its touch. A hint from her heel, or a quick word, conveyed +all the big bay pony ever needed to supplement his own common sense, of +which Mr. Linton used to say he possessed more than most men. The new +bullocks arrived, and had to be drafted and branded—during which latter +operation Norah retired dismally to the house and the socks that had to +be finished in time to be Jim's Christmas present. Then, after the +branding, came a most cheerful time, putting the cattle into their +various paddocks. +</P> + +<P> +One day was spent in mustering sheep, an employment not at all to +Norah's taste. She was frankly glad that Billabong devoted most of its +energies to cattle, and only put up with the sheep work because, since +Daddy was there, it never occurred to her to do anything else but go. +But she hated the slow, dusty ride, and hailed with delight a gallop +that came in their way towards the end of the day, when a hare jumped +up under Bob's nose as they rode homewards from the yards. The dogs +promptly gave chase; and, almost without knowing it, Norah and Bobs +were in hot pursuit, with Monarch shaking the earth behind them. The +average sheep dog is no match for a hare, and the quarry easily escaped +into the next paddock, after a merry run. Norah pulled up, her eyes +dancing. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know it's useless to try to get a hare with those fellows?" +asked Mr. Linton, checking the reeking Monarch, and indicating with a +nod the dogs, which were highly aggrieved at their defeat. +</P> + +<P> +"But I never wanted to get it," said his daughter, in surprise. "It's +perfectly awful to get a hare; they cry just like a baby, and it makes +you feel horrid." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did you go after it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Norah, opening her eyes. "Well, I knew the dogs couldn't +catch it—and I believe you wanted a gallop nearly as much as I did, +Daddy!" They laughed at each other, and let the impatient horses have +their heads across the cleared paddock to the homestead. +</P> + +<P> +There a letter awaited them. +</P> + +<P> +Norah, coming in to dinner in a white frock, with her curls unusually +tidy, found her father looking anything but pleased over a closely +covered sheet of thin notepaper. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish to goodness women would write legibly," he said, with some +heat. "No one on earth has any right to write on both sides of paper as +thin as this—and then across it! No one but your Aunt Eva would do +it—she always had a passion for small economies, together with one for +large extravagances. Amazing woman! Well, I can't read half of it, but +what she wants is unhappily clear." +</P> + +<P> +"She isn't coming here, Daddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Saints forbid!" ejaculated Mr. Linton, who had a lively dread of his +sister—a lady of much social eminence, who disapproved strongly of his +upbringing of Norah. "No, she doesn't mention such an extreme course, +but there's something almost as alarming. She wants to send Cecil here +for Christmas." +</P> + +<P> +"Cecil! Oh, Daddy!" Norah's tone was eloquent. +</P> + +<P> +"Says he's been ill," said her father, glancing at the letter in a vain +effort to decipher a message written along one edge. "He's better, but +needs change, and she seems to think Billabong will prove a +sanatorium." He looked at Norah with an expression of dismay that was +comical. "I shouldn't have thought we'd agree with that young man a +bit, Norah!" +</P> + +<P> +"I've never seen him, of course," Norah said unhappily, "but Jim says +he's pretty awful. And you didn't like him yourself, did you, Daddy?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the rare occasions that I've had the pleasure of meeting my nephew +I've always thought him an unlicked cub," Mr. Linton answered. "Of +course it's eighteen months since I saw him; possibly he may have +changed for the better, but at that time his bumptiousness certainly +appeared to be on the increase. He had just left school then—he must be +nearly twenty now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—quite old," said Norah. "What is he like?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty!" said Mr. Linton, wrinkling his nose. "As pretty as his +name—Cecil—great Scott! I wonder if he'd let me call him Bill for +short! Bit of a whipper-snapper, he seemed; but I didn't take very much +notice of him—saw he was plainly bored by his uncle from the Bush, so I +didn't worry him. Well, now he's ours for a time your aunt doesn't +limit—more that that, if I can make a guess at these hieroglyphics, +I've got to send a telegram to say we'll have him on Saturday." +</P> + +<P> +"And this is Wednesday—oh, Dad!" expostulated Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't be helped," her father said. "We've got to go through with it; +if the boy has been ill he must certainly have all the change we can +give him. But I'm doubtful. Eva says he's had a 'nervous breakdown,' +and I rather think it's a complaint I don't believe in for boys of +twenty." +</P> + +<P> +The dinner gong sounded. Amid its echoes Norah might have been heard +murmuring something about "nervous grandmother." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm," said her father, laughing; "I don't think he'll find much +sympathy with his more fragile symptoms in Billabong—we must try to +brace him up, Norah. But whatever will Jim say, I wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +"He'll be too disgusted for words," Norah answered. "Poor old Jimmy! I +wonder how they'll get on. D'you suppose Cecil ever played football?" +</P> + +<P> +"From Cecil's appearance I should say he devoted his time to +wool-work," said Mr. Linton. "However, it may not turn out as badly as +we think, and it's no use meeting trouble halfway, is it? Also, we've +to remember that he'll be our guest." +</P> + +<P> +"But that's the trouble," said Norah, laughing. "It wouldn't be half so +bad if you could laugh at him. I'll have to be so hugely polite!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll probably shock him considerably in any case," said her father. +"Cecil's accustomed to very prim young ladies, and it's not at all +unlikely that he'll try to reform you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish him luck!" said Norah. But there was a glint in her eyes which +boded ill for Cecil's reformatory efforts. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A BATH—AND AN INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Quiet and shy, as the Bush girls are,<BR> + But ready-witted and plucky, too.<BR> + A. B. PATERSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The telegram assuring a welcome to Cecil Linton was duly dispatched, +and the fact of his impending arrival broken to Mrs. Brown, who sniffed +portentously, and gave without enthusiasm directions for the +preparation of his room. "Mrs. Geoffrey" was rather a bugbear to +Brownie, who had unpleasant recollections of a visit in the past from +that majestic lady. During her stay of a week, she had attempted to +alter every existing arrangement at Billabong—and when she finally +departed, in a state of profound disapproval, the relief of the +homestead was immense. Brownie was unable to feel any delight at the +idea of entertaining her son. +</P> + +<P> +Norah and her father made the utmost of their remaining time together. +Thursday was devoted to a great muster of calves, which meant unlimited +galloping and any amount of excitement; for the sturdy youngsters were +running with their mothers in one of the bush paddocks, and it was no +easy matter to cut them out and work them away from the friendly +shelter and refuge of the trees. A bush-reared calf is an irresponsible +being, with a great fund of energy and spirits—and, while Norah loved +her day, she was thoroughly tired as they rode home in the late +evening, the last straggler yarded in readiness for the branding next +day. Mr. Linton sent her to bed early, and she did not wake in the +morning until the dressing gong boomed its cheerful summons through the +house. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton was already at breakfast when swift footsteps were heard in +the hall above; a momentary silence indicated that his daughter was +coming downstairs by way of the banisters, and the next moment she +arrived hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so sorry, Dad," Norah said, greeting him. "But I DID sleep! Let +me pour out your coffee." +</P> + +<P> +She brought the cup to him, investigated a dish of bacon, and slipped +into her place behind the tall silver coffee pot. +</P> + +<P> +"What are we going to do to-day, Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't quite know," Mr. Linton said, smiling at her. "There +aren't any very pressing jobs on hand—we must cut out cattle to-morrow +for trucking, but to-day seems fairly free. Have you any ideas on the +subject of how you'd like to spend it? I've letters to write for a +couple of hours, but after that I'm at your disposal." +</P> + +<P> +Norah wrinkled her brows. +</P> + +<P> +"There are about fifty things I want to do," she said. "But most of +them ought to wait until Jim comes home." She thought for a moment. "I +don't want to miss any more time with Bobs than I have to—could we ride +over to the backwater, Dad, and muster up the cattle there? You know +you said you were going to do so, pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd nearly forgotten that I had to see them," Mr. Linton said, +hastily. "Glad you reminded me, Norah. We'll have lunch early, and go +across." +</P> + +<P> +Norah's morning was spent in helping Mrs. Brown to compound Christmas +cakes—large quantities of which were always made and stored well before +Christmas, with due reference to the appetites of Jim and his friends. +Then a somewhat heated and floury damsel donned a neat divided riding +skirt of dark-blue drill, with a white-linen coat, and the collar and +tie which Norah regarded as the only reasonable neck gear, and joined +her father in the office. +</P> + +<P> +"Ready? That's right," said he, casting an approving glance at the trim +figure. "I've just finished writing, and the horses are in." +</P> + +<P> +"So's lunch," Norah responded. "It's a perfectly beautiful day for a +ride, Daddy—hurry up!" +</P> + +<P> +The day merited Norah's epithet, as they rode over the paddocks in the +afternoon. As yet the grass had not dried up, thanks to the late rains, +and everywhere a green sea rippled to the fences. Soon it would be dull +and yellow; but this day there was nothing to mar the perfection of the +carpet that gave softly under the horses' hoofs. The dogs raced wildly +before them, chasing swallows and ground-larks in the cheerfully +idiotic manner of dogs, with always a wary ear for Mr. Linton's +whistle: but as yet they were not on duty, and were allowed to run +riot. +</P> + +<P> +An old log fence stretched before them. It was the only one on +Billabong, where all station details were strictly up-to-date. This one +had been left, partly because it was picturesque, and partly at the +request of Jim and Norah, because it gave such splendid opportunities +for jumping. There were not many places on that old fence that Bobs did +not know, and he began to reef and pull as they came nearer to it. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe I'll be able to hold him in, Daddy!" said Norah, with +mock anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Not afraid, I hope?" asked her father, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Very—that you won't want to jump! I'd hate to disappoint him, +Daddy—may I?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, go on!" said Mr. Linton. "If I said 'no' the savage animal would +probably bolt!" He held Monarch back as Norah gave the bay pony his +head, and they raced for the fence; watching with a smile in his eyes +the straight little form in the white coat, the firm seat in the +saddle, the steady hand on the rein. Bobs flew the big log like a bird, +and Norah twisted in her saddle to watch the black horse follow. Her +eyes were glowing as her father came up. +</P> + +<P> +"I do think he loves it as much as I do!" she said, patting the pony's +neck. +</P> + +<P> +"He's certainly as keen a pony as I ever saw," Mr. Linton said. "How +are you going to manage without him, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah looked up, her eyes wide with astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Do without BOBS!" she exclaimed. "But I simply couldn't—he's one of +the family." Then her face fell suddenly, and the life died out of her +voice. "Oh—school," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The change was rather pitiful, and Mr. Linton mentally abused himself +for his question. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll always be waiting for you when you come home, dear," he said. +"Plenty of holidays—and think how fit he'll be! We'll have great rides, +Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I'll want them," she said. Silence fell between them. +</P> + +<P> +The scrub at the backwater was fairly thick, and the cattle had sought +its shade when the noonday sun struck hot. Well fed and sleek, they lay +about under the trees or on the little grassy flats formed by the bends +of the stream. Norah and her father separated, each taking a dog, and +beat through the bush, routing out stragglers as they went. The echoes +of the stock-whips rang along the water. Norah's was only a light whip, +half the length and weight of the one her father carried. It was +beautifully plaited—a special piece of work, out of a special hide; +while the handle was a triumph of the stockman's art. It had been a +gift to Norah from an old boundary rider whose whips were famous, and +she valued it more than most of her possessions, while long practice +and expert tuition had given her no little skill in its use. +</P> + +<P> +She worked through the scrub, keeping her eyes in every direction, for +the cattle were lazy and did not stir readily, and it was easy to miss +a motionless beast hidden behind a clump of dogwood or Christmas +bush—the scrub tree that greets December with its exquisite white +blossoms. When at length she came to the end of her division and drove +her cattle out of the shelter she had quite a respectable little mob to +add to those with which her father was already waiting. +</P> + +<P> +It was only to be a rough muster; rather, a general inspection to see +how the bullocks were doing, for the nearest stockyards were at the +homestead, and Mr. Linton did not desire to drive them far. He managed +to get a rough count along a fence—Norah in the rear, bringing the +bullocks along slowly, so that they strung out under their owner's eye. +Occasionally one would break out and try to race past him on the wrong +side. Bobs was as quick as his rider to watch for these vagrants, and +at the first hint of a breakaway he would be off in pursuit. It was +work the pair loved. +</P> + +<P> +"Hundred and thirty," said Mr. Linton, as the last lumbering beast +trotted past him, and, finding the way clear, with no harrowing +creatures to annoy him and head him back to his mates, kicked up his +heels and made off across the paddock. +</P> + +<P> +"Did any get behind me, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Daddy." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good girl. They look well, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah assented. "Did you notice how that big poley bullock had come on, +Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's three parts fat," said Mr. Linton. "All very satisfactory, +and the count is only two short—not bad for a rough muster." +</P> + +<P> +They turned homewards, cantering quickly over the paddocks; the going +was too good, Norah said, to waste on walking; and it was a delight to +feel the long, even stride under one, and the gentle wind blowing upon +one's cheeks. As he rode, Mr. Linton watched the eager, vivid little +face, alight with the joy of motion. If Bobs were keen, there was no +doubt that his mistress was even keener. +</P> + +<P> +They crossed the log fence again by what Norah termed "the direct +route," traversed the home paddock, and drew up with a clatter of hoofs +at the stable yard. Billy, a black youth of some fame concerning +horses, came forward as they dismounted and took the bridles. But Norah +preferred to unsaddle Bobs herself and let him go; she held it only +civil after he had carried her well. She was leading him off when the +dusky retainer muttered something to her father. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all right, Billy," said Mr. Linton. "Norah, those fellows from +Cunjee have come to see me about buying sheep. I expect I shall have to +take them out to the paddock I don't think you'd better come." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Dad." Sheep did not interest Norah very much. "I think I'll +go down to the lagoon." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, don't distinguish yourself by falling in," said her father, +with a laugh over his shoulder as he hurried away towards the house. +</P> + +<P> +Left to herself, Norah paid a visit to Brownie in the kitchen, which +resulted in afternoon tea—there was never a bush home where tea did not +make its appearance on the smallest possible pretext. Then she slipped +off her linen jacket and brown leather leggings and, having beguiled +black Billy into digging her some worms, found some fishing tackle and +strolled down to the lagoon. +</P> + +<P> +It was a broad sheet of water, at one end thickly fringed with trees, +while in the shallower parts a forest of green, feathery reeds bordered +it, swaying and rustling all day, no matter how soft the breeze. The +deeper end had been artificially hollowed out, and a bathing box had +been built, with a springboard jutting out over the water. Under the +raised floor of the bathing box a boat was moored. Norah pulled it out +and dropped down into it, stowing her tin of worms carefully in the +stern. Then she paddled slowly into the deepest part of the lagoon, +baited her line scientifically, and began to fish. +</P> + +<P> +Only eels rewarded her efforts; and while eels are not bad fun to pull +out, Norah regarded them as great waste of time, since no one at +Billabong cared to eat them, and in any case she would not let them +come into the boat—for a good-sized eel can make a boat unpleasantly +slimy in a very short time. So each capture had to be carefully +released at the stern—not a very easy task. Before long Norah's white +blouse showed various marks of conflict; and being by nature a clean +person, she was rather disgusted with things in general. When at length +a large silver eel, on being pulled up, was found to have swallowed the +hook altogether, she fairly lost patience. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you'll have to keep it," she said, cutting her line; whereupon +the eel dropped back into the water thankfully, and made off as though +he had formed a habit of dining on hooks, and, in fact, preferred them +as an article of diet. "I'm sure you'll have shocking indigestion," +Norah said, watching the swirl of bubbles. +</P> + +<P> +The boat had drifted some way down the lagoon, and a rustle told Norah +that they were near one of the reedy islands dotted here and there in +the shallows. There was very little foothold on them, but they made +excellent nesting places for the ducks that came to the station each +year. The boat grounded its nose in the soft mud, and Norah jumped up +to push it off. Planting the blade of the oar among the reeds, she +leant her weight upon it and shoved steadily. +</P> + +<P> +The next events happened swiftly. The mud gave way suddenly with a +suck, and the oar promptly slithered, burying itself for half its +length; and Norah, taken altogether by surprise, executed a graceful +header over the bow of the boat. The mud received her softly, and clung +to her with affection; and for a moment, face downward among the reeds, +Norah clawed for support, like a crab suddenly beached. Then, somehow, +she scrambled to a sitting position, up to her waist in mud and +water—and rocked with laughter. A little way off, the boat swayed +gently on the ruffled surface of the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—of all the duffers!" Norah said. She tried to stand, and +forthwith went up to one knee in the mud. Then, seeing that there was +no help for it, she managed to slip into deeper water—not very easy, +for the mud showed a deep attachment to her—and swam to the boat. To +get into it proved beyond her, but, fortunately, the bank was not far +off, and, though her clothes hampered her badly—a riding skirt is the +most inconvenient of swimming suits—she was as much at home as a duck +in the water, and soon got ashore. +</P> + +<P> +Then she inspected herself, standing on the grass, while a pool of +water rapidly widened round her. Alas, for the trim maiden of the +morning! soaked to the skin, her lank hair clinging round her face, her +collar a limp rag, the dye from her red silk tie spreading in artistic +patches on her white blouse! Over all was the rich black mud of the +lagoon, from brow to boot soles. Her hat, once white felt, was a sodden +black-streaked mass; even her hands and face were stiff with mud. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness, Daddy's out!" said the soaked one, returning knee-deep +in the water to try and cleanse herself as much as might be—which was +no great amount, for lagoon mud defies ordinary efforts. She waded out, +still laughing; cast an apprehensive glance at the quarter from which +her father might be expected to return, and set out on her journey to +the house, the water squelching dismally in her boots at every step. +</P> + +<P> +In the garden at Billabong walked a slim youth in most correct attire. +His exquisitely tailored suit of palest grey flannel was set off by a +lavender-striped shirt, with a tie that matched the stripe. Patent +leather shoes with wide ribbon bows shod him; above them, and below the +turned-up trousers, lavender silk socks with purple circles made a very +glory of his ankles. On his sleek head he balanced a straw hat with an +infinitesimal brim, a crown tall enough to resemble a monument, and a +very wide hat band. His pale, well-featured face betrayed unuttered +depths of boredom. +</P> + +<P> +The click of the gate made him turn. Coming up the path was a figure +that might have been plaintive but that Norah was so immensely amused +at herself; and the stranger opened his pale eyes widely, for such +apparitions had not come his way. She did not see him for a moment. +When she did, he was directly in her path, and Norah pulled up short. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" she said weakly; and then—"I didn't know anyone was here." +</P> + +<P> +The strange youth looked somewhat disgusted. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think you'd—ah—better go round to the back," he said +condescendingly. "You'll find the housekeeper there." +</P> + +<P> +This time it was Norah's turn to be open-eyed. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," she said a little shortly. "Were you waiting to see anyone?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy's eyebrows went up. "I am—ah—staying here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are you?" Norah said. "I didn't know. I'm Norah Linton." +</P> + +<P> +"You!" said the stranger. There was such a world of expression in his +tone that Norah flushed scarlet, suddenly painfully conscious of her +extraordinary appearance. Then—it was unusual for her—she became angry. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you never see anyone wet?" she asked, in trenchant tones. "And +didn't you ever learn to take your hat off?" +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" said the boy, looking at the truculent and mud-streaked +figure. Then he did an unwise thing, for he burst out laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know who you are," Norah said, looking at him steadily. "But I +think you're the rudest, worst-mannered boy that ever came here!" +</P> + +<P> +She flashed past him with her head in the air. Cecil Linton, staring +after her with amazement, saw her cross the red-tiled verandah +hurriedly and disappear within a side door, a trail of wet marks behind +her. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" he said again. "The bush cousin!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CUTTING OUT +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view,<BR> + Well, you know, it's not so often that he sees a swell like you.<BR> + A. B. PATERSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Norah did not encounter the newcomer again until dinner-time. +</P> + +<P> +She was in the drawing-room, waiting for the gong to sound, when Cecil +came in with her father. For a moment he did not recognize the soaked +waif of the garden whom he had recommended "to go round to the back." +</P> + +<P> +A hot bath and a change of raiment had restored Norah to her usual +self; had helped her also to laugh at her meeting with her cousin, +although she was still ruffled at the memory of the sneer in his laugh. +Perhaps because of that she had dressed more carefully than usual. +Cecil might have been excused for failing to recognize the grave-faced +maiden, very dainty in her simple frock of soft white silk, with her +still-moist curls tied back with a broad white ribbon. +</P> + +<P> +"As you two have already met, there's no need to introduce you," said +Mr. Linton, a twinkle in his eye. "Sorry your reception was so +informal, Cecil—you took us by surprise." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose the mater mixed things up, as usual," Cecil said, in a bored +way. "I certainly intended all along to get here to-day, but she's +fearfully vague, don't you know. I was lucky in getting a lift out." +</P> + +<P> +"You certainly were," his uncle said, dryly. "However, I'm glad you +didn't have to wait in the township. You'd have found it slow." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd probably have gone back," said Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—would you?" Mr. Linton looked for a moment very much as though he +wished he had done so. There was an uncomfortable pause, to which the +summons to dinner formed a welcome break. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was very different from the usual cheery meal. Cecil was not +shy, and supplied most of the conversation as a matter of course; and +his conversation was of a kind new to Norah. She remained unusually +silent, being, indeed, fully occupied in taking stock of this novel +variety of boy. She wondered were all city boys different from those +she knew. Jim was not like this; neither were the friends he was +accustomed to bring home with him. They were not a bit grown up, and +they talked of ordinary, wholesome things like cricket and football, +and horses, and dormitory "larks," and were altogether sensible and +companionable. But Cecil's talk was of theatres and bridge parties, +and—actually—clothes! Horses he only mentioned in connexion with +racing, and when Mr. Linton inquired mildly if he were fond of dances, +he was met by raised eyebrows and a bored disclaimer of caring to do +anything so energetic. Altogether this product of city culture was an +eye-opener to the simple folks of Billabong. +</P> + +<P> +Of Norah, Cecil took very little notice. She was evidently a being +quite beneath his attention—he was secretly amused at the way in which +she presided at her end of the table, and decided in his own mind that +his mother's views had been correct, and that this small girl would be +all the better for a little judicious snubbing. So he ignored her in +his conversation, and if she made a remark contrived to infuse a faint +shade of patronage into his reply. It is possible that his amazement +would have been great had he known how profoundly his uncle longed to +kick him. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner over, Norah fled to Brownie, and to that sympathetic soul +unburdened her woes. Mr. Linton and his nephew retired to the verandah, +where the former preferred to smoke in summer. He smiled a little at +the elaborate cigarette case Cecil drew out, but lit his pipe without +comment, reflecting inwardly that although cigarettes were scarcely the +treatment, though they might be the cause, of a pasty face and a +"nervous breakdown," it was none of his business to interfere with a +young gentleman who evidently considered himself a man of the world. So +they smoked and talked, and when, after a little while, Cecil confessed +himself tired, and went off to bed, he left behind him a completely +bored and rather annoyed squatter. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Norah, what do you think of him?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah, sitting meekly knitting in the drawing-room, looked up and +laughed as her father came in. +</P> + +<P> +"Think? Why, I don't think much, Daddy." +</P> + +<P> +"No more do I," said Mr. Linton, casting his long form into an +armchair. "Of all the spoilt young cubs!—and that's all it is, I should +say: clearly a case of spoiling. The boy isn't bad at heart, but he's +never been checked in his life. Well, I'm told it's risky for a father +to bring up his daughter unaided, but I'm positive the result is worse +when an adoring mother rears a fatherless boy! Possibly I've made +rather a boy of you—but Cecil's neither one thing nor the other. Why +didn't you come out, my lass?" +</P> + +<P> +"Felt too bad tempered!" said Norah; "he makes me mad when he speaks to +you in that condescending way of his, Daddy. I'll be calmer to-morrow." +She smiled up at her father. "Have a game of chess?" +</P> + +<P> +"It would be soothing, I think," Mr. Linton answered. He laughed. "It's +really pathetic—our Darby and Joan existence to be ruffled like this! +Thank goodness, he's in bed, for to-night, at any rate!" They got out +the chessmen, and played very happily until Norah's bedtime. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you ride, Cecil?" Mr. Linton asked next morning at breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Ride? Oh, certainly," Cecil answered. "I suppose you're all very keen +on that sort of thing up here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's how we earn our living," his uncle remarked. "Norah is my +right-hand man on the run." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, how nice! Do you find it hard to get labour here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we get them," said Mr. Linton, his eyes twinkling. "But I prefer +to catch 'em young. We're cutting out cattle for trucking to-day. Would +you care to come out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Delighted," said the nephew, glancing without enthusiasm at his +flannels. "But I didn't dress for riding." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we're not absolute sticklers for costume here," Mr. Linton said, +laughing outright. "Wear what you like—in any case, we shan't start for +an hour." +</P> + +<P> +It was more than that before they finally got away. The delay was due +to waiting for the visitor, whose toilet was a lengthy proceeding. When +at length he sauntered out, in blissful ignorance of the fact that he +had been keeping them waiting, no one could have found fault with his +clothes—a riding suit of very English cut, with immensely baggy +breeches, topped by an immaculately folded stock, and a smart tweed +cap. +</P> + +<P> +"That feller plenty new," said black Billy, gazing at him with +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton chuckled as he swung Norah to her saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hope his horsemanship is equal to his attire!" +</P> + +<P> +Norah smiled in answer. Bobs was dancing with impatience, and she +walked him round and round, keeping an eye on her cousin. +</P> + +<P> +A steady brown mare had been saddled for Cecil—one of the "general +utility" horses to be found on every station. He cast a critical eye +over her as he approached, glancing from her to the horses of his uncle +and cousin. Brown Betty was a thoroughly good stamp of a stock horse, +with plenty of quality; while not, perhaps, of the class of Monarch and +Bobs, she was by no means a mount to be despised. That Cecil +disapproved of her, however, was evident. There was a distinct curl on +his lip as he gathered up the reins. However, he mounted without a +word, and they set off in pursuit of Murty O'Toole, the head stockman, +who was already halfway to the cutting-out paddock. +</P> + +<P> +The Clover Paddock of Billabong was famous—a splendid stretch of +perfect green, where the cattle moved knee-deep in fragrant blossoming +clovers, with pink and white flowers starring the wide expanse. At one +end it was gently undulating plain, towards the other it came down in a +gradual slope to the river, where tall gums gave an evergreen shelter +from winter gales or summer heat. The cattle were under them as the +riders came up—great, splendid Shorthorns, the aristocracy of their +kind, their roan sides sleek, their coats in perfect condition, and a +sprinkling of smaller bullocks whose inferiority in size was +compensated by their amazing fatness. It was evident that this week +there would be no difficulty in making up the draft for the Melbourne +market. +</P> + +<P> +The cattle were mustered into one herd; no racing or hastening now, but +with the gentle consideration one should extend to the dignified and +portly. They moved lazily, as if conscious of their own value. Cecil, +hurrying a red-and-white bullock across a little flat, was met by a +glare from Murty O'Toole, and a muttered injunction to "go aisy wid +'em," followed by a remark that "clo'es like thim was only fit to go +mustherin' turkeykins in!" Luckily the latter part of the outbreak was +unheard by Cecil, who was quite sufficiently injured at the first, and +favoured Murty with a lofty stare that had the effect of throwing the +Irishman and black Billy into secret convulsions of mirth. +</P> + +<P> +Norah rode not far from her father as they brought the cattle out into +the open and to the cutting-out camp—a spot where the beaten ground +showed that very often before such scenes had been enacted. The +bullocks knew it, and huddled there contentedly enough in a compact +body, while slowly Mr. Linton and Murty rode about them, singling out +the primest. Once marked down, O'Toole would slip between the bullock +and his mates and edge him away, where Billy took charge of him, +preventing his returning to the mob. With the first two or three this +was not quite easy: but once a few were together they gave little +trouble, feeding about calmly: and generally a bullock cut out from the +main body would trot quite readily across to the others. +</P> + +<P> +Privately, Cecil Linton thought it remarkably dull work. All that he +had read of station life was unlike this. He had had visions of far +more exciting doings—mad gallops and wild cattle, thoroughbred horses, +kangaroo hunts and a score of other delights. Instead, all he had to do +was to tail after a lot of sleepy bullocks and then watch them sorted +out by some men whose easy-going ways were unlike anything he had +imagined. He had no small opinion of his riding, and he yearned for +distinction. The very sight of Norah, leaning a little forward, +keenness on every line of her face, was an offence to him. He could see +nothing whatever to be keen about. Yawning, he lit a cigarette. +</P> + +<P> +Just then a bullock was cut out and pointed in the way he should go. He +lumbered easily past black Billy, apparently quite contented with his +fate; and Billy, seeing another following, gave a crack of his whip to +speed him on his way, and turned to deal with the newcomer. The first +bullock became immediately seized with a spirit of mischief. He +flourished his heels in the air, turned at right angles and made off +towards the river at a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, busy with his cigarette, saw Norah sit up suddenly and tighten +her hand on the bridle. Simultaneously Bobs was off like a shot—tearing +over the paddock a little wide of the fugitive. The race was a short +one. Passing the bullock, the bay pony and his rider swung in sharply +and the lash of Norah's whip shot out. The bullock stopped short, +shaking his head; then, as the whip spoke again, he wheeled and trotted +back meekly to the smaller mob. Behind him Norah cantered slowly. The +work of cutting out had not paused and no one seemed to notice the +incident. But Cecil saw his uncle smile across at the little girl, and +caught the look in Norah's eyes as she smiled back. She and Bobs took +up their station again, silently watchful. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil was fired with ambition. Norah's small service had seemed to him +ridiculously easy; still, insignificant though everyone appeared to +regard it, it was better than doing nothing. He had not the faintest +doubt of his own ability, and the idea that riding in a decorous suburb +might not fit him for all equine emergencies he would have scouted. He +gathered up his reins, and waited anxiously for another beast to break +away. +</P> + +<P> +One obliged him presently; a big shorthorn that decided he had stayed +long enough in the mob, and suddenly made up his mind to seek another +scene. Norah had already started in pursuit when she saw her cousin +send his spurs home in Betty, and charge forward. So she pulled up the +indignant Bobs, who danced, and left the field to Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +Betty took charge of affairs from the outset. There was no move in all +the cattle-game that she did not understand. Moreover, she was justly +indignant at the spur-thrust, which attention only came her way in +great emergencies; and the heavy hand on her mouth was gall and +wormwood to her. But ahead was a flying bullock, and she was a stock +horse, which was sufficient for Betty. +</P> + +<P> +"That feller brown mare got it all her own way!" said Billy, in +delight. +</P> + +<P> +She had. Cecil, bumping a little in the saddle, had no very clear idea +of how things were going. He had a moment of amazement that the quiet +mare he had despised could make such a pace. Once he tried to steady +her, but at that instant Betty was not to be steadied. She galloped on, +and Cecil, recovering some of his self-possession, began to think that +this was the thing whereof he had dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +The bullock was fat and scant of breath. It did not take him very long +to conclude that he had had enough, especially when he heard the hoofs +behind him. It was sad, for close before him was the shade of the trees +and the murmur of the river; but discretion is ever the better part of +valour, particularly if one be not only valorous but fat. He pulled up +short. Betty propped without a second's hesitation, and swung round. +</P> + +<P> +To Cecil it seemed that the world had dropped from under him—and then +risen to meet him. The brown mare turned, in the bush idiom, "on a +sixpence," but Cecil did not turn. He went on. The onlookers had a +vision of the mare chopping round, as duty bade her, to head off the +bullock, while at right-angles a graceful form in correct English +garments hurtled through the air in an elegant curve. When he came +down, which seemed to be not for some time, it was into a shady clump +of wild raspberries—and only those who know the Victorian wild +raspberry know how clinging and intrusive are its hooked thorns. Two +legs kicked wildly. There was no sound. +</P> + +<P> +When the rescuing party extricated Cecil from his involuntary botanical +researches he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn in many places, +and his face and hands badly scratched, while the red stains of the +raspberries had turned his light tweeds into something resembling an +impressionist sketch. It was perhaps excusable that he had altogether +lost his temper. He burst out in angry abuse of the mare, the bullock, +the raspberry clump, and the expedition in general—anger which the +scarcely concealed grins of the stockmen only served to intensify. +Norah, who had choked with laughter at first, but had become +sympathetic as soon as she saw the boy's face, extracted numerous +thorns from his person and clothing, and murmured words of regret, +which fell on unheeding ears. Finally his uncle lost patience. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do Cecil," he said. "Everyone comes to grief occasionally—take +your gruel like a man. Come on, Norah. Murty's waiting." Saying which, +he put Norah up, and they rode off, while Billy held the brown mare's +rein for Cecil, who mounted sulkily. Something in his uncle's face +forbade his replying. But in his heart came the beginning of a grudge +against the Bush, Billabong in general, and Norah in particular. Later +on, he promised himself, there might come a chance to work it off. +</P> + +<P> +For the present, however, there was nothing to be done but nurse his +scratches and his grievance; so he sat sulkily on Betty, and took no +further active part in the morning's work, the consciousness of acting +like a spoilt child not tending to improve his temper. Nobody took any +notice of him. One by one the bullocks were cut out, until between +twenty and thirty were ready, and then the main mob was left to wander +slowly back to the river, while O'Toole and Billy started with the +others to the paddock at the end of the run, which was their first +stage in the seventeen-mile journey to the trucking yards at Cunjee. +They moved off peacefully through the blossoming clover. +</P> + +<P> +"Luckily they don't be afther knowin' what's ahead av thim!" said +Murty. He lifted his battered felt hat to Norah, as he rode away. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go down and see how high the river is before we go home," said +Mr. Linton. +</P> + +<P> +So they rode down to the river, commented on the unusual amount of +water for so late in the year, inspected the drinking places, paid a +visit to a beast in another paddock, which had been sick, but was now +apparently in rude health, and finally cantered home to lunch. Brownie +prudently refrained from comment on Cecil's scratched countenance, +further than to supply him with large quantities of hot water in his +room, together with a small pair of pliers, which she remarked were +'andy things for prickles. Under this varied treatment Cecil became +more like himself, and recovered his spirits, though a soreness yet +remained at the thought of the little girl who had done so easily what +he had failed so ignominiously in trying to do. He decided definitely +in his own mind that he did not like Norah. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWO POINTS OF VIEW +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + You found the Bush was dismal, and a land of no delight—<BR> + Did you chance to hear a chorus in the shearers' hut at night?<BR> + A. B. PATERSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Dear Mater,—Arrived at Cunjee safely, and, thanks to the way you fixed +up things, found no one to meet me, as Uncle David thought I would not +arrive until next day. However, a friendly yokel gave me a lift out to +Billabong in a very dirty and springless buggy, so that the mistake was +not a fatal one, though it gave me a very uncomfortable drive. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The place is certainly very nice, and the house comfortable, though, +of course, it is old-fashioned. I prefer more modern furniture; but +Uncle David seems to think his queer old chairs and table all that can +be desired, and did not appear interested when I told him where we got +our things. I have a large room, rather draughty, but otherwise +pleasant, with plenty of space for clothes, which is a comfort. I do +think it's intensely annoying to be expected to keep your clothes in +your trunk. The view is nice. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Uncle David seemed quite prepared to treat me as a small boy, but I +fancy I have demonstrated to him that I know my way about—in fact, as +far as city life goes, I should say he knew exceedingly little. I can't +understand any man with money being content to live and die in a hole +like this out-of-the-way place: but I suppose, as you say, Aunt Helen's +death made a difference. Actually, they have not even one motor! and +when I spoke of it Uncle David seemed almost indignant, and said horses +were good enough for him. That is a specimen of the way they are +content to live. He seems quite idiotically devoted to the small child, +and she lives in his pocket. If she weren't so countrified in her ways +she wouldn't be bad looking; but, of course, she is quite the bush +youngster, and, I should think, would find her level pretty quickly +when she goes to school among a lot of smart Melbourne girls. I should +hope so, at any rate, for she is quite spoilt here. It is exactly as +you said—everyone treats her like a sort of tin god, and she evidently +thinks herself someone, and is inclined to regard those older than +herself quite as equals. When I first saw her she had just fallen into +some mud hole, and her appearance would have given you a fit. But what +can you expect? +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The fat old cook is still here, and asked after you. It's absolutely +ridiculous to see the way she is treated—quite considers herself the +mistress of the place, and when I told her one morning to let me have +my shaving water she was almost rude. I think if there's one thing +sillier than another it's the sort of superstition some people have +about old servants. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"So far I find it exceedingly dull, and don't feel very hopeful that +things will be much better when Jim comes home. Of course, he may be +improved, but he appeared to me a great overgrown animal when I last +saw him, without an idea in his head beyond cricket and football. I +don't feel that he will be any companion to me. He will probably suffer +badly from swelled head, too, as every one is making a fuss about his +return. So quaint, to see the sort of mutual admiration that goes on +here. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"I have had some riding, being given a horse much inferior to either +Uncle David's or Norah's—the latter rides like a jockey, and, of +course, astride, which I consider very ungraceful. She turns out well, +however, and all her get-up is good—her habits come from a Melbourne +tailor. I think I will get some clothes in Melbourne on my way back; +they may not have newer ideas, but it may be useful for purposes of +comparison with the Sydney cut. My riding clothes were evidently a +source of much wonderment and admiration to the yokels. Unfortunately +they have become badly stained with some confounded raspberry juice, +and though I left them out for Mrs. Brown to clean, she has not done so +yet. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Well, there is no news to be got in a place like this; we never go +out, except on the run, and there seems absolutely no society. The +local doctor came out yesterday, in a prehistoric motor, but I found +him very uninteresting. Of course, one has no ideas in common with +these Bush people. Where the 'Charm of the Bush' comes in is more than +I can see—I much prefer Town on a Saturday morning to all Billabong and +its bullocks. They wanted me to go out one night and—fancy!—help burn +down dead trees; but, really, I jibbed on that. There is no billiard +room. Uncle David intends building one when Jim comes home for good, +but that certainly won't be in my time here. I fancy a very few weeks +will see me back in town. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"No bridge played here, of course! Have you had any luck that way? +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Your affectionate son, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"CECIL AUBREY LINTON." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Cecil blotted the final sheet of his letter home, and sat back with a +sigh of satisfaction, as one who feels his duty nobly done. He stamped +it, strolled across the hall to deposit it in the post box which stood +on the great oak table, and then looked round for something to do. +</P> + +<P> +It was afternoon, and all was very quiet. Mr. Linton had ridden off +with a buyer to inspect cattle, Norah ruefully declining to accompany +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm awfully sorry, Dad," she had said, "But I'm too busy." +</P> + +<P> +"Busy, are you? What at?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, cooking and things," Norah had answered. "Brownie's not very well, +and I said I'd help her—there's a lot to do just now, you know." She +stood on tiptoe to kiss her father. "Good-bye, Dad—don't be too long, +will you? And take care of yourself!" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil also had declined to go out, giving "letters to write" as a +reason. The truth was that several rides had told on the town youth, +whose seat in the saddle was not easy enough to prevent his becoming +stiff and sore. Bush people are used to this peculiarity in city +visitors, and, while regarding the sufferers with sympathy, generally +prescribe a "hair of the dog that bit them"—more riding—as the quickest +cure; which Cecil would certainly have thought hard-hearted in the +extreme. However, nothing would have induced him to say that he had +felt the riding, since Cecil belonged to that class of boy that hates +to admit inferiority to others. So he suffered in silence, creaked +miserably at his uprising and down-sitting, and was happily unaware +that everyone in Billabong knew perfectly well what was the matter with +him. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil and his mother were very good friends in the cool, polite way +that was distinctive of them. They "fitted" together admirably, and as +a general rule held the same views, the one on which they were most in +accord being the belief in Cecil's own superior talents and +characteristics. He wrote to her just as he would have talked, certain +of her absolute agreement. When his letter was finished he felt much +relieved at having, as Jim said, "got it off his chest." Not that Cecil +would ever have said anything so inelegant. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah crossed the hall at the moment, carrying a tray of silver to be +cleaned, and he called to her— +</P> + +<P> +"Where is Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Norah's in the kitchen," said the girl shortly. The Billabong +maids were no less independent than modern maids generally are, but +they had their views about the city gentleman's manner to the daughter +of the house. "On'y a bit of a kid himself," Mary had said to Sarah, +indignantly, "but any one'd think he owned the earth, an' Miss Norah +was a bit of it." So they despised Cecil exceedingly, and refrained +from shaking up his mattress when they made his bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Er—you may tell her I want to speak to her." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't, I'm afraid," Sarah said. "Miss Norah's very busy, 'elpin' Mrs. +Brown. She don't care to be disturbed." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't she spare me a moment?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't ask her to." Sarah lifted her tray—and her nose—and marched +out. Cecil looked black. +</P> + +<P> +"Gad! I wish the mater had to deal with those girls!" he said +viciously—Mrs. Geoffrey Linton was of the employers who "change their +maids" with every new moon. "She'd make them sit up, I'll wager. +Abominable impertinence!" He strolled to the door, and looked out +across the garden discontentedly. "What on earth is there for a man to +do? Well, I'll hunt up the important cousin." +</P> + +<P> +At the moment, Norah was quite of importance. Mrs. Brown had succumbed +to a headache earlier in the day. Norah had found her, white-faced and +miserable, bending over a preserving pan full of jam, waiting for the +mystical moment when it should "jell." Ordered to rest, poor Brownie +had stoutly refused—was there not more baking to be done, impossible to +put off, to say nothing of the jam? A brisk engagement had ensued, from +which Norah had emerged victorious, the reins of government in her +hands for the day. Brownie, still protesting, had been put on her bed +with a handkerchief steeped in eau-de-Cologne on her throbbing +forehead, and Norah had returned to the kitchen to varied occupations. +</P> + +<P> +The jam had behaved beautifully; had "jelled" in the most satisfactory +manner, just the right colour; now it stood in a neat array of jars on +a side table, waiting to be sealed and labelled when cold. Then, after +lunch, Norah had plunged into the mysteries of pastry, and was +considerably relieved when her mince pies turned out very closely akin +to those of Brownie, which were famous. Puddings for dinner had +followed, and were now cooling in the dairy. Finally, the joint being +in the oven, and vegetables prepared, the cook had compounded Jim's +favourite cake, which was now baking; during which delicate operation, +with a large dab of flour on her nose, the cook sat at the table, and +wrote a letter. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"DEAR OLD JIM,—This must be in pencil, 'cause I'm watching a cake +that's in the oven, and I'm awfully scared of it burning, so I don't +dare to go for the ink. Dad said I was to write and tell you we would +meet you on Wednesday, unless we heard from you again. We are all +awfully glad and excited about you coming. I'm sure Tait and Puck +understand, 'cause I told them to-day, and they barked like anything. +Your room is all right, and we've put in another cupboard. We're all so +sorry about Wally not coming, but we hope he will come later on. Do +make him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Dad and I aren't talking about me going to school. It can't be helped, +and it only makes you jolly blue to talk about it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Cecil's come, and he's the queerest specimen of a boy I ever saw. He's +awfully grown up, but he's small and terribly swagger. His riding +clothes are gorgeous, and you mustn't laugh at them. Dad did, but it +was into Bobs' mane. He came with us cutting-out, and Betty was too +good for him, swinging round, so he came a lovely cropper into some +wild raspberries. It was so funny no one could have helped laughing, +and he wasn't really hurt, only prickled and very wild. I am afraid he +isn't enjoying himself very much, but of course he will be all right +when you come. It's jolly hard to entertain him, 'cause he isn't a bit +keen about anything. He has a tremendous array of shaving tackle. And +he has a hand glass. Do you think he will lend it to you to see your +back hair? +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"Bobs is just lovelier than ever. I never knew him go so well as he is +now, and he perfectly loves a jump. Dad has a new horse he calls +Monarch, and he is a beauty, he is black with a star. OF COURSE, don't +say anything about Cecil's spill to anybody, he could not help it. And +he had a much bigger laugh at me, 'cause I fell into the lagoon the day +he came. I will tell you all about it when you come. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +"The place is looking lovely, and hasn't dried up a bit—" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +An unfamiliar step came along the passage, and Norah sat up abruptly +from the labours of composition, and then with promptness concealed her +letter under a cookery book. +</P> + +<P> +"Why Cecil! How did you find your way here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—looked about me. I had finished my writing, and there was nothing +to do." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so sorry," Norah said contritely. "You see, Brownie's sick, and +I'm on duty here." +</P> + +<P> +"You!" said Cecil, with a laugh. "And what can YOU do in a kitchen?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah blushed at the laugh more than at the words. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you'll get some sort of a dinner," she said. "Don't be too +critical, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"What, you really can cook? Or do you play at it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there are mighty few girls in the Bush who can't cook a bit," +Norah said. "Of course we're lucky, having Brownie—but you really never +can tell as a rule when you may have to turn to in the kitchen. Dad +says it's one of the beauties of Australia!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say I like the idea of a lady in the kitchen," quoth Cecil +loftily. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say I'd like to be one who was scared of it," Norah said. "And I +guess you'd get very bored if you had to go without your dinner!" She +seized a cloth and opened the oven door gingerly, and made highly +technical experiments with her cake, rising presently, somewhat +flushed. "Ten minutes more," she said, with an air of satisfaction. +"And, as Brownie would say, 'he's rose lovely.' Have some tea, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil assented, and watched the small figure in the voluminous white +apron as she flitted about the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"I like having tea here," Norah confided to him. "Then I use Brownie's +teapot, and don't you always think tea tastes miles better out of a +brown pot? You won't get the proper afternoon cups either—I hope you +don't mind?" She stopped short, with a sudden sense of talking a +language altogether foreign to this bored young man in correct attire; +and a rush of something like irritation to think how different Jim or +Wally would have been—she could almost see Wally sitting on the edge of +the table, with a huge cup of tea in one hand, a scone in the other, +and his thin, eager face alight with cheerfulness. Cecil was certainly +heavy in the hand. She sighed, but bent manfully to her task again. +</P> + +<P> +"You take sugar, don't you? And cream? Yes, you ought to have cream, +'cause you've been ill." She dashed into the pantry, returning with a +small jug. "The cake's not mine, so I can recommend it; but if you're +not frightened you can have one of my mince pies." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, I'd rather have cake," said Cecil., and again Norah flushed at +his tone, but she laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's certainly safer," she agreed, "I'm sure Brownie thought it was a +hideous risk to leave the pies to me." She supplied her cousin with +cake, and retreated to the oven. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you let one of the girls do this?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarah or Mary? Oh, they're as busy as ever they can be," explained +Norah. "We always do a lot of extra cleaning and rubbing up before +Christmas, and they haven't a moment. Of course they'd do it in a +minute, if I asked them, but I wouldn't—as it is, Sarah's going to dish +up for me. They're the nicest girls; I'm going to take them tea as soon +as I get my cake out!" +</P> + +<P> +"You!" said Cecil. "You don't mean to say you're going to cart tea to +the servants?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd be a perfect pig if I didn't," Norah said, shortly. "I'm afraid +you don't understand the bush a bit, Cecil." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness I don't then," said Cecil, stiffly. "Who's that tray +for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Brownie, of course." Norah was getting a little ruffled—criticism like +this had not come to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I think it's extraordinary—and so would my mother," Cecil said, +with an air of finality. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose a town is different," said Norah, striving after patience. +"We like to look after everyone here—and I think it's grand when +everyone's nice to everyone!" She paused; it was hard to be patient and +grammatical, too. +</P> + +<P> +"School will teach you a number of things," said her cousin loftily. He +rose and put down his cup. "A lady shouldn't lower herself." +</P> + +<P> +"Dad says a lady can't lower herself by work," retorted Norah. "Anyhow, +if taking tea to dear old Brownie's going to lower me, it'll have to, +that's all!" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't understand," said Cecil. "A lady has her own place, and to +get on terms of familiarity with the lower classes is bad for both her +and them." He looked and felt instructive. "It isn't exactly the action +that counts—it's the spirit it fosters—er—the feeling—that is, +the—er, in short, it's a mistake to—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please be careful, Cecil, you're sitting in some dough!" +</P> + +<P> +Norah sprang forward anxiously, and instructiveness fell from Cecil as +one sheds a garment. He had sat down on the edge of the table in the +flow of his eloquence; now he jumped up angrily, and, muttering +unpleasant things, endeavored to remove dough from his person. Norah +hovered round, deeply concerned. Pastry dough, however, is a clinging +and a greasy product, and finally the wrathful lecturer beat a retreat +towards the sanctuary of his own room, and the cook sat down and shook +with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"My cake!" she gasped, in the midst of her mirth. She flew to the oven +and rescued Jim's delicacy. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness, it's all right!" said she. Her mirth broke out afresh. +</P> + +<P> +A shadow darkened the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"What—cooking and in hysterics?" said Mr. Linton. "May I have some tea? +And what's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cecil's begun the reforming process," said his daughter, becoming +solemn with difficulty. "You've no idea how improved I am, Daddy! He +seems to be certain that I'm not a lady, and he's very doubtful if I'm +a cook, so could you tell me what I'm likely to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"A better all-round man than Cecil, I should hope," said David Linton, +with a sound like a snort of wrath. "Give me some tea, mate, and don't +bother your head about the future. Your old Dad's not scared!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +COMING HOME +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The top of my desire<BR> + Is just to meet a mate o' mine.<BR> + HENRY LAWSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It had suddenly become hot—"truly Christmas" weather, Norah called it, +as she stood waiting on the Cunjee platform for a train which, in +accordance with all railway traditions at Christmas, was already over +an hour late. Norah felt it hard that to-day, of all days in the year, +it should be so—when Jim was actually coming home for good! At the +thought of Jim's arrival she hopped cheerfully on one leg, completely +oblivious of onlookers, and looked up the shining line of rails for the +thousand-and-first time. Would the old train never come? +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you contriving to keep warm, with the mercury trying to break +the thermometer? Or do you dance merely because you feel like it?" +asked a friendly voice; and Norah turned with a little flush of +pleasure to greet the Cunjee doctor. She and Dr. Anderson respected +each other very highly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because I feel like it, I expect," she said, laughing and shaking +hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Which my wide professional experience leads me to diagnose as the fact +that you're probably waiting for Jim!" said the doctor, gravely. +"There's a certain hectic flush, an intermittent pulse, which convinces +me of your painful state, when coupled with the restlessness of the +eye." +</P> + +<P> +"Which eye?" asked Norah anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Both," said the doctor. "Don't be flippant with your medical man. So +he's really coming, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Norah, "and I don't care if I am excited—so'd you be, +doctor. Billy's outside with the horses, and he's just as excited as I +am." +</P> + +<P> +"Billy!" said the doctor. "But he'd never say more than 'Plenty!' no +matter how excited he was." +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course not, but then he finds it such a useful word," Norah +said a little vaguely. She was peering up the rails. Suddenly she spun +round, her face glowing. "There's the smoke—she's coming!" +</P> + +<P> +Whatever additional remarks Dr. Anderson may have made fell on deaf +ears, for Norah had no further ideas from that moment. The train came +into view over the brow of the hill, and slid down the long slope into +the station, pulling up with a mighty grinding of brakes. Almost as it +stopped a door was flung open violently, and a very tall boy with the +Grammar School colours on his hat jumped out, cast a hurried glance +around, and then seized the small person in blue linen in an unashamed +bear's hug. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jim!" said Norah. "Oh, Jimmy—boy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, old kiddie," said Jim. "You all right? My word, I am glad to see +you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Me, too," said Norah. "It's been just ages, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"Hasn't it?" Jim said. He started. "Oh, by Jove! There's someone else +here!" +</P> + +<P> +Norah wheeled round, and uttered a little cry of joy. Another boy with +the dark-blue hat band was grinning at her in most friendly fashion—a +thin, brown-faced boy, with especially merry dark eyes. Norah's hands +went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Wally! But, how lovely! I thought you couldn't come." +</P> + +<P> +"So did I," said Wally Meadows, pumping her hands vigorously. "I was +going home, but my aunt obligingly got measles. I'm awfully sorry for +Aunt. But it's an ill-wind that blows nowhere—old Jim took pity on me, +and here I am!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think so," Norah said. "We haven't felt a bit complete +without you. Dad was saying only this morning how sorry he was you +couldn't come. He'll get such a shock! Oh, it's so lovely to have you +two—and isn't it getting like Christmas! I'm so happy!" She jigged on +one foot, regardless of interested faces watching her from the train. +</P> + +<P> +"You've grown about a foot," said Jim, patting her on the shoulder. +"Pretty thin, too—sure you're all right?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah reassured him, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you look awfully fit, if you are thin," was Jim's comment. +"Doesn't she, Wally?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never saw her look fitter," said Wally. "I'm glad as five bob Aunt got +the measles! Oh, what a beast I am—but, you know what I mean! Jim, this +train'll go on, and we've fifty million things in the carriage!" +</P> + +<P> +"So we have!" Jim said, hurriedly, taking his hand from Norah's +shoulder and diving after his chum into the compartment they had +quitted. They emerged laden with suitcases, parcels, rackets, fishing +rods, golf sticks and other miscellaneous impedimenta. +</P> + +<P> +"Catch!" Jim said, tossing a big box into Norah's hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Chocolates!" said Norah blissfully. "Jim, you're an angel!" +</P> + +<P> +"Always knew that," her brother replied, dropping his load on the +platform with a cheerful disregard of what might break. "Come on, +Wally, we'll get the heavy things out of the van. You watch those, Nor. +Who's in, by the way? And where's Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dad's in Cunjee; but he had business, and he couldn't wait at the +station, the train was so late. Cecil's with him—they're both riding. +I've got the light buggy with the ponies for you, and Billy's driving +the express for your luggage and heaps of things that Brownie wants for +the house." Norah spoke in one breath and finished with a gasp. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess people must have thought you were a circus procession!" was +Jim's comment. "All right, we'll cart the things out to Billy." +</P> + +<P> +Out at the big express-wagon drawn by a pair of greys, Billy stood, +welcoming them with a smile on his dusky countenance that Wally likened +to a slit in a coconut. The luggage was piled in with special +injunctions to the black boy not to put the bags of flour on anything +that looked delicate—whereat Billy's smile widened to a grin, and he +murmured "Plenty!" delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the lot," Jim said. "The buggy's at the hotel, I suppose, +Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—and we're to have lunch there with Dad. And you've got to be +awfully polite to Cecil!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cecil!" said Jim, lifting his nose. "If Cecil's anything like what he +used to be—" He did not finish the sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Do we play with Cecil?" Wally asked, grinning. +</P> + +<P> +"The question is, if Cecil will condescend to play with you," Norah +said. "He thinks ME too much of a kid to look at—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, does he?" asked Jim resentfully. +</P> + +<P> +"But you're both ever so much bigger than he is, so perhaps he'll let +you love him!" Norah finished. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm relieved to my soul," said Wally, with gravity. "Visions of my +unrequited affection poured out on Cecil have been troubling my rest +for days. May I kiss him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd wait a little while, I think," Norah answered. "He may be shy—not +that we've found it out yet. Indeed, he's the unshyest person I ever +met." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he very awful, Nor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's a bit of a drawback," Norah said. "Dad says he's not bad at +heart, only so spoilt—and he's just terribly bumptious, Jim, and thinks +he can do everything; and his clothes are lovely! He isn't caring for +me a bit to-day, 'cause he gave me a broad hint that he wanted to ride +Bobs, and I didn't take it." +</P> + +<P> +"Ride Bobs!" exclaimed Jim, in amazement. "Well, I should think you +didn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I felt rather a pig, considering he's our guest," Norah said, a +little contritely. "If it were you or Wally, now—but he's really got an +awful seat, Jim, and Murty says he's a hand like a ham on a horse's +mouth! I didn't feel I could let him have Bobs." +</P> + +<P> +"Bobs is your very special property—no one but an ass would ask for +him, and I told Cecil last year you were the only person who ever rode +him," said Jim indignantly. "Surely there are enough horses on the +place without him wanting to collar your pony!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he didn't get him," said Norah, tranquilly, "so that's all right +and you needn't worry, Jimmy. I do think, if only one could get him off +his high horse, he wouldn't be at all bad—perhaps he'll thaw now you +boys are here. I hope he will, for his own sake, 'cause he'd have such +a much better time." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he's going to be patronizing—" Jim began. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, perhaps he won't—I don't believe he could try to patronize you!" +Norah glanced lovingly at her tall brother. "You're nearly as big as +Dad, Jimmy, aren't you? and Wally's going to be too." +</P> + +<P> +"Ill weeds grow apace," quoted the latter gentleman solemnly. "Jim's a +splendid example of that proverb." +</P> + +<P> +"M'f!" said Norah. "How about yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm coming up as a flower!" Wally replied modestly. "A Christmas lily, +I should think!"—whereat Jim murmured something that sounded "More like +an artichoke!" His exact remark, however, was lost, for at that moment +they arrived at the hotel, just as Mr. Linton emerged from it, and Jim +quickened his pace, his face alight. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my boy!" They gripped hands, and David Linton's eye kindled as +it dwelt on the big fellow. "Glad to have you back, old son. +Why—Wally!" +</P> + +<P> +"Turned up like a bad penny, sir," said Wally, having his hand pumped +in turn. "Hope you'll forgive me—it's pretty cool to arrive without an +invitation." +</P> + +<P> +"As far as I know, you had invitations from all the family," said Mr. +Linton, laughing. "We regard you as one of the oldest inhabitants now, +you know. At any rate, I'm delighted to see you; the mistress of +Billabong must answer for herself, but she doesn't look cast down!" +</P> + +<P> +"She's been fairly polite," Wally said. "On the whole I don't feel as +shy as I was afraid of feeling! I was horribly scared of having +Christmas with my aunt—but she's chosen measles instead, so I expect +she was just as scared as I was!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's probable," said his host, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't grown up a bit, Wally, and it's such a comfort!" Norah +said. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm getting old and reverend," said Wally severely, "and it's up to +you to treat me with respect, young Norah. Sixteen's an awful age to +support with any cheerfulness." His brown face at the moment gave the +impression of never having been serious during the sixteen years he +lamented. "As for this ancient mariner"—indicating Jim—"you can see the +signs of senile decay quite plainly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ass!" said Jim affectionately. He broke off. "How are you, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, coming out of the hotel, a dapper figure beside the two tall +schoolboys, gave languid greetings. He cast at Jim a glance of +something like envy. Height was the one thing he longed for, and it +seemed to him hard that this seventeen-year-old youngster should be +rapidly approaching six feet, while he, three years older, had stopped +short six inches under that measurement. However, generally speaking, +Cecil was uncommonly well satisfied with himself, and not even the +contemplation of Jim's superior inches could worry him for long. He +asked polite questions about the journey, and laughed at the freely +expressed opinion that the day was hot "You should go to Sydney if you +want to know what heat is," he said, with the superiority of the +travelled man; "Victoria really has no heat to talk about!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm a Queenslander," said Wally bluntly, "and we're supposed to +know about heat there. And I do think to-day is beastly hot—look at my +collar, it's like a concertina! Sydney heat is hot, and Brisbane heat +is hotter, but Victorian heat has a hotness all of its own!" Whereat +everybody laughed, and the discussion was adjourned for lunch. +</P> + +<P> +It was a merry meal; and if the fare was no better than that of most +township hotels, the spirits of the party were too high to trouble +about such trifles as tough meat, watery puddings, and weary butter +that bore out Wally's remarks about the heat by threatening to float +away on a sea of its own oil. Everything was rose colour in Norah's +estimation that day. She sat by Jim and beamed across the table at her +father and Wally. Even Cecil found himself at times included in the +beam, and took it meekly, for the happy face was infectious, while the +frank delight of the boys in having her with them again was to a +certain extent educational to the outsider. There was no lack of +manliness in Jim's strong, handsome face. If he found it worth his +while, Cecil reflected, to make such a fuss over a child, it might be +possible that she was not altogether a person to be snubbed. So he was +unusually affable to his small cousin, and lunch passed off very +successfully. +</P> + +<P> +Afterwards there was shopping to be done. A long list of groceries had +been made out by Mrs. Brown, who professed herself far too busy with +Christmas preparations to come in person, and had laid the +responsibility on Norah, not without misgivings. It was, perhaps, +fortunate that the storekeepers were able to rise to the contents of +the list unaided, for Norah was scarcely in a condition to grapple with +problems relating to anything so ordinary as groceries, and found it +indeed difficult to read out her list coherently, with Jim standing +sentinel in the doorway and Wally wandering about the shop sampling all +he could find, from biscuits to brooms. On one occasion, when making a +special effort to preserve her dignity, she came to the item "flaked +oatmeal," and asked the shopman in rather frigid tones for "floked +atemeal," which had a paralysing effect on the unoffending storekeeper, +while Wally retired to the shelter of a pile of saucepans, and +shrieked. Thus the business of necessary purchases passed off +cheerfully; and then what Norah termed the more interesting +shops—saddlers' and stationers'—were visited, with a view to Christmas. +Finally Jim brought the buggy from the hotel, and they picked up their +lighter parcels. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely that's all?" Jim inquired, as Norah and Wally came out of the +fruiterer's laden with bags of assorted sizes, which they dumped +thankfully into the buggy, with the immediate result that a bag of +peaches burst, and had to be rescued from all over the floor. "Nor., +you'll not have a penny left, and we'll all be violently ill if we eat +half you've bought. Come on home." +</P> + +<P> +"Brownie's laid in large stocks of medicine, she says," Norah answered, +tranquilly, climbing into the buggy. "So you needn't worry, need you? +But we've truly finished now, Jim, I think. Ready, Wally?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite," said Wally cheerfully. "I've put these peaches in with the +neatsfoot oil, and it seems a beautiful arrangement!" He hopped up +nimbly. "Right oh, Jimmy, and pray remember I am nervous!" +</P> + +<P> +"I will," Jim grinned. He laid the whip on the ponies' backs, and they +shot forward with a bound, unused to such liberties. They went down the +main street of Cunjee in a whirl of dust, and turned over the bridge +spanning the river, where the ponies promptly rose on their hind legs +at the sight of Dr. Anderson's motor, and betrayed a rooted +disinclination to come down from that unusual altitude. Jim handled +them steadily, and presently they were induced to face the snorting +horror, wherein the doctor sat, waving his hand and calling cheery +Christmas greetings as they shot past, to which the three responded +enthusiastically. Cunjee sank into the distance behind them. +</P> + +<P> +The miles flew past. On the metalled road the rubbered tyres spun +silently, and only the flying hoofs clattered and soon they had left +the made road and turned on to the hard-beaten track that led to +Billabong, where progress was even smoother. The tongues flew almost as +swiftly as the wheels. The hot sun sank gradually, and the evening +breeze sprang up. It was a time for quick questions and answers. Norah +wanted details of the term just over, the sports, the prize-giving, and +had to laugh over messages from those of Jim's boy friends whom she +knew; and Jim had a hundred things to ask about home—the cattle, the +fishing, his horses, his dogs, "Brownie," and the prospects of fun +ahead. They roared over her ducking and subsequent encounter with +Cecil, and chaffed her unmercifully. +</P> + +<P> +"Such a mud-lark!" said Wally, with glee. "And that prim young man! Oh, +Norah, you are a dream! I'd have given something to see your face." +</P> + +<P> +"I was altogether worth seeing," Norah remarked modestly. "When I +caught sight of myself in a glass I really didn't wonder at Cecil." But +Jim glowered and referred to the absent Cecil as a "silly ass." +</P> + +<P> +They turned in at last at the homestead gate, and the ponies fairly +flew up the long paddock, something in the spirits of their drivers +communicating itself to them. The house was not visible until the track +had passed through a thick belt of trees, and as they came to this Jim +fell silent, looking keenly ahead. Then the red roof came into view and +the boy drew a long breath. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the old place," he said. "My word, I am glad to be home!" +</P> + +<P> +Under the dust-rug Norah slipped her hand on to his knee. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just lovely to have you—both of you." she added. "You're glad, +too, aren't you, Wally?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could sing!" said Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"Once," said Jim, "you could. But for some years—" +</P> + +<P> +"Beast!" said Wally. "If you weren't driving—" +</P> + +<P> +"And you weren't nervous—!" grinned his chum. +</P> + +<P> +"There'd be wigs on the green," finished Norah, cheerfully. "I'll +drive, if it would be any convenience to either of you." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll postpone it," said Jim. "There's Brownie at the gate, bless her +old heart!" +</P> + +<P> +They shot up the last furlong of the drive. At the big gate of the +yard—very few people, not even bishops, go to the front gate of a Bush +homestead—Brownie stood, her broad face beaming. As they pulled up, +Murty O'Toole came forward to take the horses—a marked compliment from +Murty, who, like most head stockmen, was a free and independent soul. +</P> + +<P> +Jim went over the wheel with a bound, and seized Brownie's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Brownie, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"The size of him!" said she. "The shoulders. No wonder they 'ad you for +captin of the football eleven, then, my dear!" The boys grinned widely. +"If not eleven, then it's four," said Brownie placidly. "Strange, I +can't never remember which, an' it don't sinnerfy, any'ow. Welkim +'ome—an' you too, Master Wally." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Murty?" Jim shook hands with the stockman, while Wally +bowed low over Brownie's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I've lived for this moment," he said, fervently. "Brownie, you grow +younger every time I go away!" +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally!" said Norah from the buggy. +</P> + +<P> +"Be silent, minx!" said Wally, over his shoulder. "Who are you to break +in on a heart-to-heart talk, anyhow? At this present moment, Mrs. +Brown, you look seventeen!" +</P> + +<P> +"Get along with you, now, do!" said the delighted Brownie. "You're no +better than you was, I'm afraid, Master Wally—alwuz ready for your +joke!" +</P> + +<P> +"Joke!" exclaimed he, indignantly. "Any one who'd make a joke of you, +Brownie, would rob a church. Jim might, but I—" +</P> + +<P> +"Perish the idea!" said Jim, tipping the orator's hat over his eyes. +"Come and take things out of the buggy." +</P> + +<P> +Across the yard came Mr. Linton, surrounded by a mixed assemblage of +dogs. Puck and the collie had already hurled themselves upon Jim in a +delirium of joy. Cecil strolled after his uncle, looking slightly +amused at the scene by the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"We're quite a family," Mr. Linton said. "I begin to feel like Mr. +Pickwick at a Christmas gathering! Do you think Billabong will stand +the crowd, Mrs. Brown?" +</P> + +<P> +"It looks to me, sir," said Mrs. Brown contentedly, "as if Billabong's +goin' to 'ave the time of its life!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JIM UNPACKS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Holler-days<BR> + Were made for boys to holler!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Jim's room was a rather vast place, with two long windows opening upon +the balcony, two exceedingly plain iron bedsteads in different corners, +and in the midst a wide, vacant space, where a punching-ball was fixed +whenever the owner was at home. There was a very shabby old leather +armchair by one window, and near the other an even shabbier leather +couch, very wide and solid. Jim used to declare that they were the most +comfortable in the house, and nothing would have induced him to have +them altered in any way. +</P> + +<P> +One wall held a medley of various articles: Jim's rifle, the sporting +gun his father had given him when he was fifteen, a revolver that had +been through two wars, and a cavalry sword his grandfather had carried, +together with an assortment of native weapons from various +countries—assegais, spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, sjamboks and +South Sea Island clubs and shields. A special nail held Jim's own +stockwhip, to which Norah always attended after he had gone away, lest +the supple thong should become harsh through disuse. Then there were +weapons of peace—hockey sticks, rackets, cricket-bats—the latter an +assortment of all Jim had used, from the tiny one he had begun with at +the age of eight to the full sized beauty that had split honourably in +an inter-State school match the preceding summer. +</P> + +<P> +All over the other walls were plainly framed photographs. Mr. Linton +and Norah were there, in many positions, with and without horses; then +there were pictures of all the favourite horses and ponies and dogs on +the place, and a big enlargement of Billabong house itself. The others +were school photographs, mostly football and cricket teams, tennis +fours, the school crew, and some large groups at the yearly sports. In +nearly all you could find Jim himself—if you looked closely enough. Jim +loathed being photographed, and always retired as far out of sight in a +group as his inches would permit. +</P> + +<P> +The room held many of Jim's own manufactured ideas—his "contraptions," +Brownie used to call them. There was a telephone he had rigged up when +he was twelve, communicating with Norah's room by the balcony; and +outside was a sort of fire escape, by which he could—and generally +did—descend without using the stairs. There were various pieces of bush +carpentry—a table, a candlestick and a book-case of his own +construction, which in Norah's eyes were better than beautiful. There +was an arrangement by which he could open his door or his windows +without getting out of bed—which was ingenious, but quaint, since Jim +was never known to shut his windows, and very rarely his door. +Altogether it was an interesting room, and very typical of Jim. +</P> + +<P> +At present it resembled a maelstrom, for Wally and Jim were unpacking. +Brownie, putting in her head, described it as "a perfick shambles," and +affected great horror at the havoc occasioned by having boys in the +house—beaming all the while in a manner calculated to destroy the +effect of any lecture. Norah, perched on the end of the sofa, which was +the only free spot in the room, looked on at the operations with deep +interest. Occasionally, when some special parcel was unearthed, one of +the boys diverted her attention laboriously, since it was near +Christmas-time, which is ever a season of mysteries. The parcel stowed +away hastily in a cupboard, Norah was permitted to gaze once more, +unrestricted. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Jim?" she asked, catching a glimpse of silver in the +recesses of a suitcase. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it's your cup," said his sister excitedly. "Do make him show +me, Wally!" +</P> + +<P> +"The mug it is!" said Wally, diving in under Jim's nose, and snatching +the article in question. "Don't be an ass, Jimmy—d'you expect to keep +it always in your boot-bag?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very nice place for it," Jim was understood to mutter. +</P> + +<P> +"Ripping—but you'll want it for your boots. Catch, Norah!" +</P> + +<P> +The big silver cup flew across the room, and was deftly fielded by the +lady on the end of the sofa. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, isn't it a beauty!" she said delightedly. "Jimmy, I'm so proud to +know you!" +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to have seen him going up to get it," Wally said. "Lovely +sight—he blushed so prettily!" +</P> + +<P> +"Blush be hanged!" said the victim. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be ashamed, my child; it's a very nice thing to be able to +blush," Wally grinned. "No one would ever dream you could, either, so +it's a happy surprise as well!" +</P> + +<P> +"There's not a blush about you, that's one thing," said Jim, from the +depths of his big box. +</P> + +<P> +"Wore out all my powers that way blushing over you!" was Wally's prompt +reply. "Norah, will you use that thing for cocoa, or what?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be disrespectful—I'm admiring it," Norah answered, turning the +cup round. "Dad will like it awfully." +</P> + +<P> +"Has he shown you his prizes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Prizes!" Norah exclaimed, falling off the arm of the sofa in +amazement. "Jim, you horrid boy, you never told us. Show me at once!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never thought about 'em," said the unhappy Jim, un-earthing two +resplendent books. "Here you are, anyhow—and Wally needn't talk; he's +got three!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm faint in the presence of so much learning!" Norah said, sitting +down on a golf bag. "Who'd ever have suspected you? French and +Prefect's Prize—oh, I'm so glad you got that one, Jim, dear." Her quick +ear caught a step, and she called her father excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton entered, to be greeted by incoherent tidings of his son's +success, to the meaning of which the two books lent aid. +</P> + +<P> +"That's especially good news, old chap," he said quietly, whereat Jim +grinned happily, blushed with fervour, and muttered something entirely +inaudible. "The cup, too! that's a beauty, and no mistake!" He looked +round the "perfick shambles," and laughed a little. "I don't think +they're very safe here," he said. "With your permission, I'll take +charge of them." He left the room, carrying the books and the cup with +him. +</P> + +<P> +At the door he paused. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget Cecil," he said quietly, and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The trio looked blank. +</P> + +<P> +"Cecil!" said Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"Hang Cecil!" from Jim disgustedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's such a bore!" Norah said. "And he'd simply hate to be in +here—he wouldn't see any fun in it. I—I really think I've had an +overdose of Cecil." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old kid!" said Jim. "Well, we'll hurry up unpacking and then find +him." They dismissed the "bit of a drawback" airily from their minds, +and proceeded with the business in hand, hampered slightly by much +energetic conversation. Jim's boxes were full of interesting things, +the result of his six years at school; his packing, he said, with +pained recollection, had been a "corker." +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky I had that extra chest of drawers put in here," remarked Norah, +stowing away numerous small articles. "Jim, how many boys gave you +knives as farewell gifts?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorra a one of me knows," said her brother. "I lost count—and lost +some of the knives, too. I've an idea Bill Beresford picked up one I +dropped—the one Lance Western gave me; it's got a tortoise-shell +handle, and a nick out of the big blade—and gave it to me for himself." +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds the sort of economical thing Bill would do," Wally remarked. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there are five magnifying glasses, seven pencil cases, and six +pens," said Norah. "All tokens of affection, Jim? I'll put them in the +middle drawer." +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth I'm going to do with 'em all," said their harassed +owner, "I'm sure I don't know. Does any one chap use five magnifiers in +his life? Never used one yet! I wish the fellows hadn't been so kind—it +was awfully brickish of them, though, wasn't it? And the Doctor gave me +this." He held up a large and solemn—looking book. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Self Help,' by a chap named Smiles. Shouldn't have thought there were +many smiles about a book looking like that, but it shows you can't tell +everything by the cover. And Mrs. Doctor gave me this tie—knitted it +herself. It was jolly decent of her, wasn't it? She's always been +awfully kind to me," said the big fellow, who had no idea of what "Mrs. +Doctor" thought of his cheerful habit of picking up two or three of her +babies and treating them to a wild ride round the school grounds on his +back; and who had on one occasion sat up all night with a sick +three-year-old who had cried unreasonably for "Yinton" to come and +carry him. The boy had recovered, somewhat against expectations, and +Jim had thought no more of the matter, except to drop gently and firmly +into a gorse bush a fellow who had chaffed him for being a nursemaid. +He had been amazed, and greatly embarrassed, by the tears in little +"Mrs. Doctor's" eyes as she bade him good-bye. Nothing on earth would +have induced him to mention them. +</P> + +<P> +"If the Doctor ever gives me anything barring the length of his tongue, +I'll have apoplexy!" remarked Wally. "We don't twin-soul a bit better +than we did. He caught me beautifully the other day. Three or four of +us were going to have a supper. I'd been into town to the dentist, and +was bringing home a lobster. Coming out, that idiot Bob Greenfield was +next me on the train, and he amused himself by rubbing the lobster +gently until the thin brown paper they wrap 'em in had worn through in +places. I was talking cricket for all I was worth, and never noticed +him. I'd bought an evening paper, and given him my lobster to hold +while I looked up some scores." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" said Norah, happily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we came to the school, and off I jumped, and just inside the +gate I ran into the Doctor. He was very affable, and we walked up +together, and he asked me quite affectionately how I'd got on with the +dentist, and altogether he might have been my long lost uncle! +Presently he glanced down at my parcel, and said, 'Been getting a boot +mended, Meadows?' I didn't know what to say for a moment. And while I +was floundering in my mind the string broke, and down went my parcel +with a clatter on the asphalt!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why do I miss these things?" asked Jim, plaintively. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I'd missed it instead of you!" said his chum. "I picked it up +in a hurry, and the paper had burst pretty well all over-and-well, you +know, there's no disguising the colour of a lobster! I just held it, +and looked a fool, and the Doctor put up his eyeglass and looked it and +me all over. Then he said, 'Curious colour for a boot, Meadows'—and I +promptly turned the same shade as the lobster." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get into a row?" Norah asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No; I will say for the old chap that he was a perfect brick," Wally +said. "He just grinned, and walked off, remarking that there was no +need to push investigations too far. And I fled, and the lobster was +tip-top, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why you've any cause to grumble at the Doctor," was +Norah's comment. +</P> + +<P> +"That's your feminine ignorance," returned Wally. "He made me feel +small." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if I get a head mistress as easy-going—" said Norah, dolefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you get the idea into your mind that our revered Head's +easy-going!" Wally retorted. "He thinks nothing of skinning a fellow on +occasion—only he didn't happen to think a lobster was occasion—that +night, anyhow. You see, it was near the end of term, and even Heads get +soft!" +</P> + +<P> +"Lots of em," said Jim; "look at your own!" He dodged a hairbrush +neatly. "Have a little sense, young Wally; don't you see I'm busy? +Norah, old chap, did you see my blazer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hung it in your wardrobe," said Norah promptly "Also your overcoat, +also your straw hat, also your cadet uniform—what are you going to do +with that, by the way, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Get photographed in it," said Wally, wickedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm likely to!" Jim said, with fine scorn. "Goodness only knows—I may +find some fellow it'll fit. It certainly wouldn't fit me much longer." +</P> + +<P> +"It's been the anxiety of the whole battalion," said Wally. "It creaked +and began to split whenever he drilled in it, and for the last six +parades we've always taken out a blanket in case we should need to +drape his tattered form on the way home! It's an uncommonly good thing +he's left. Most demoralizing for a young corps to see its corpulent +lieutenant bursting out of his uniform!" +</P> + +<P> +"He's not corpulent," said Norah indignantly, whereat Jim, who +personified leanness with breadth of shoulder, grinned even more widely +than Wally, and patted her on the head as he passed with an armful of +clothes, which he stowed into his wardrobe much as he might have dumped +sacks of potatoes into a barn. Even Norah's wide and free views on the +subject of garments were not proof against the sight. +</P> + +<P> +"Are those your good suits, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said her brother, cheerfully. "They're used to it. Chuck me that +coat, Wally." +</P> + +<P> +Wally complied, and the coat—which happened to be the one belonging to +its owner's evening suit—was added to the heap in the wardrobe. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll sort 'em out some time or other," said Jim. "I'm so jolly sick of +unpacking. Wally, you animal, you're not finished, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ages ago," said his chum. "Hadn't anything like your quantity, you +see. My clothes are neat and trim, and my pyjamas have blue ribbon in +them and I have put out my lace pin cushion and my tulle slippers, and +all is well! Now I feel I can go and play with Cecil with a quiet +mind!" +</P> + +<P> +"I really don't know why I brought a lunatic home with me," Jim said, +patiently. "Sorry, Nor.; but we'll take him out in the scrub and lose +him. Meanwhile—" He closed the last drawer with a bang, and advanced +with slow deliberation upon the hapless Mr. Meadows. +</P> + +<P> +For the next few minutes the air in the room was murky with pillows, +other missiles and ejaculations. Out of the turmoil came yelps, much +energetic abuse, and shrieks to Norah for aid to which that maiden, who +was enjoying herself hugely, lent a deaf ear. Finally, the combat +restricted itself principally to Wally's bed, from which the bedclothes +gradually disappeared, until they formed a tight bundle on the floor, +with Wally in the centre. Jim piled the mattress on top, and retreated +to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Beast!" said Wally, disentangling himself with difficulty, until he +sat on the pile, considerably dishevelled, and wearing a broad grin. +"It's only your vile brute force—some day I'll get even with you!" He +rose, hurled the mattress upon the bed, and looked inquiringly at his +blankets. "How do you imagine I'm going to sleep there to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll fix it up when we come to bed," laughed Jim. "Come on—we +ought to go down to Cecil." +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on till I brush my hair," said Wally, attacking his disturbed +locks, and settling his tie. "All right; lead on, Macduff!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ready, Nor.?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to my room for something," she said. "I'll be after you in a +few minutes, boys." +</P> + +<P> +She disappeared within her room, and the boys clattered downstairs. +When they had gone, Norah slipped back noiselessly to Jim's apartment, +which gave the impression of having recently been the scene of a +cyclone. She laughed a little, looking at it from the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly is a 'perfick shambles'," she said. "Poor old chaps—and +they'll be so tired when they come up to bed!" +</P> + +<P> +Moving quietly, she sorted out the tangled bedclothes and made up the +bed, and reduced to order some of the chaos in the room. Then she +opened the wardrobe and took out the mass of clothes, sorting out the +suits and putting them away carefully, with a shake to the coats to +remove creases. The dress suit she laid in a drawer, running to her own +room for a tiny lavender bag to keep away the moths. She was closing +the drawer when she started at a step, and Jim came in. +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth are you up to?" was his question. His eye travelled +round the room, taking in the open door of the wardrobe, and the dress +coat in the drawer, where stood his small sister, rather flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" he said, and paused. "Weren't we beasts?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you weren't," said Norah indignantly. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm," said Jim. "It's a jolly good thing when a fellow has a sister, +anyhow." He came over to her and put his arm round her shoulders. "Dear +old chap!" he said. They went down the stairs together. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A THUNDERSTORM +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The Bush hath moods and changes, as the seasons rise and fall,<BR> + And the men who love the Bushland—they are loyal thro' it all.<BR> + A. B. PATERSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The day after to-morrow is the date of the men's dance," Mr. Linton +said. "Norah mustn't go in for any wild exertion on that day, as she'll +probably want to dance several hundred miles at night. So if you boys +want to plan anything, you had better make your arrangements for +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that I've energy enough to plan anything," said Jim, +lazily. He was lying full length on the lawn, his head on Norah. Wally +was close by, and Cecil and Mr. Linton occupied basket chairs. Peace +would have reigned supreme had not the mosquitoes kept every one busy. +</P> + +<P> +"Any wishes, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"None whatever," said Cecil. "There are no people to go and see, I +think you said, Uncle David?" +</P> + +<P> +"No one that would interest you," Mr. Linton said; and Wally and Jim, +who had groaned internally with fear of being taken "calling," felt +their spirits return. +</P> + +<P> +"My brain's not equal to planning, as I remarked," Jim said. "But if I +go anywhere, I'd like to do so on a horse. I want to feel a horse under +me again." +</P> + +<P> +"Hear, hear," from Wally, softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't go out to-morrow," said the squatter. "I've letters to +see to, and Anderson may be out; so you must look after +yourselves—which I believe you to be entirely capable of doing. Norah, +haven't you any ideas?" +</P> + +<P> +"Loads," said Norah, promptly, "but they're all connected with +mosquitoes!" She aimed a vicious blow into space as she spoke, and +sighed, before rubbing the bite. "Well, suppose we ride out and boil +the billy somewhere along the river? Cecil, would you care for that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very much," said Cecil, in the tones that always gave the impression +that he despised the particular subject under discussion. Norah had +quite withdrawn the opinion formed in the first five minutes of their +acquaintance, that he was ill mannered—now she bewailed the fact that +he was so uniformly and painfully polite. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if you would—" she said, hesitatingly. "What do you boys think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Grand idea," responded Wally. Norah loved Wally's way; he was always +so pleased and interested over any plan that might be formed. Jim was +wont to remark that if you arranged to clean out a pigsty, Wally would +probably regard it as a gigantic picnic, and enjoy his day hugely. She +smiled at him gratefully in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"You too, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather—anything you like," said her brother. "What horse can I have, +Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim had no special horse of his own. His two ponies, Sirdar and Mick, +he had outgrown, although they were still up to anything of a lighter +weight—the former only inferior to Norah's beloved Bobs. His absences +from home were so long that it had not seemed worth while to procure +him a special horse, and for several holidays he had been accustomed to +ride any of the station mounts. Privately, Jim was not altogether +satisfied with the arrangement, although quite admitting its common +sense. Now that he had left school he intended to ask his father if he +could buy a horse. +</P> + +<P> +"You can try my new purchase, Monarch, if you like," Mr. Linton +answered. "He's quite a decent mover—I think you'll like him." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil bit his lip, under cover of the darkness. He coveted a ride on +both Bobs and Monarch, and had given hints on the subject, but neither +had been taken. Now Jim, nearly three years his junior, was lent +Monarch without even having asked for him; while he was still, he +presumed, to ride the steady-going Brown Betty, whom he thoroughly +despised, in spite of the fact that she had once got rid of him. He +registered another notch in his general grudge against Billabong. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton was absolutely ignorant of what passed in his nephew's mind. +To give the city boy, with his uncertain seat and heavy hands, anything +but a steady horse, never occurred to him; he would have regarded it as +little short of inviting disaster to put him on Monarch, thoroughbred +and newly broken in as he was; and, of course, no one but Norah ever +rode Bobs. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," he said, as Jim expressed his pleasure. "And what +about you, Wally? You're too long now for Mick, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, anything you like, sir," said Wally, easily. "I haven't met any +bad 'uns on Billabong. Warder, or Brown Betty, or Nan—have you got them +all still?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're all here," the squatter said. "Cecil generally rides Betty, +and I believe Burton's using old Warder just now. But you can have Nan, +if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks very much," said Wally. "I'll take the shine out of you, young +Norah!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see you," returned Norah. Monarch might beat Bobs or yes, +perhaps one other horse she knew of, in a small tree-grown paddock; at +the thought of which she smiled happily to herself. But no other horse +on Billabong could see the way Bobs went when he was in earnest. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's all settled," Mr. Linton said. "I hope you'll have a good +day—you're bound to have it hot, so I should advise you to get an early +start. If you go as far as the Swamp Paddock, Norah, you might ride +round the cattle there, and see if they're settling down—I put the new +bullocks there, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Dad, we'll do it. I like having an object for a ride." +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," said Jim sleepily. "Picnics are asinine things!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe you know much about anything—you're three parts +asleep!" said Wally, flinging a cushion at his chum, which Jim caught +thankfully, and, remarking that Norah was uncommonly scraggy, adjusted +under his head. The result was a vigorous upheaval by the indignant +Norah, who declined to be a head-rest for such ingratitude any longer. +At this point Mr. Linton discovered that it was time for supper; and +the boys, tired after their long journey, were not long in saying +goodnight. +</P> + +<P> +Jim came up with Norah, and switched on her light. His eye travelled +round the pretty room. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what part of home's HOMIEST," he said—"but I always +reckon your room runs pretty near it! Blest if I know what it will be +like when you're not here, little chap." +</P> + +<P> +Norah rubbed her face against his coat sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't talk of it," she said. "If we did, I'd—I'd be a horrid +coward, Jimmy—boy, and you wouldn't like me a bit!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't I?" Jim said. "Well, I can't imagine you a coward, anyhow." +He bent and kissed her. "Good-night, old kiddie." +</P> + +<P> +They set out in good time next morning, for the sun gave promise of a +scorching day. +</P> + +<P> +Billy had the horses ready under the shade of a huge pepper-tree; even +there the flies were bad enough to set Monarch and Bobs fretting with +irritation, while the two stock horses lashed unceasingly with their +tails and stamped in the dust. Nan was a long, handsome brown mare, +with two white feet—an old friend of Wally's, who came and patted her +and let her rub her worried head against his coat. Cecil mounted Betty +and looked on sourly, while Jim walked round Monarch and admired the +big black. +</P> + +<P> +"He ought to carry you like a bird, Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"He does; a bit green yet, but he'll mend of that," his father +answered. "Now, get away, all of you." He put Norah up and watched, +with a silent look of approval, the way Jim handled his impatient +steed, taking him quietly, as one treats a fractious baby, and mounting +gently. Then he stood under the tree to see them ride down the paddock, +valises containing necessaries for the "asinine picnic" strapped on Nan +and Betty's saddles. Norah, as the lady of the party, was exempt from +carrying burdens, and Monarch brooked no load but his rider. +</P> + +<P> +They made good time across the shadeless paddocks, anxious for the +pleasanter conditions along the river bank, where a cattle track wound +in and out under the gum trees. It was one of Norah and Jim's favourite +rides; they never failed to take it when holidays brought the boy back +to Billabong. They pushed along it for some time, eventually finding +the slip rails, through which they got into the Swamp Paddock—so called +because of a wide marsh in one corner, where black duck and snipe used +to come freely. The new cattle had taken to the paddock like old hands. +Satisfied with their inspection, Norah and Jim led the way back to the +river, where presently they came to an ideal place to camp; a bend +thickly shaded, with the river bank shelving down to a sandy beach, +where it was easy to get good water. +</P> + +<P> +Wally volunteered to boil the billy, which he accomplished after much +vigorous fanning with his hat at the fire. The job took some little +time, and if the tea was eventually brewed with water that had not +quite reached boiling point, that was a matter between Wally and his +conscience—certainly the other members of the party were far too +thirsty to be critical! Lunch was lazily discussed close to the water, +after which they lay about on the bank and talked of many things. +Nobody was inclined to move, for the heat, even at the river, was very +great; a still, thunderous day, on which no shade could keep out the +moist heat, that seemed, as Wally put it, "to get into your very bones +and make them lazy." +</P> + +<P> +At length Jim rolled over. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm off for a bathe," he said. "Coming, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," Cecil answered, a little doubtfully; while Wally jumped up +as a matter of course. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" groaned Norah. "Pigs! Why was I born a girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"So's we could lay ourselves at your feet!" said Wally solemnly, +suiting the action to the word, and placing his forehead forcefully in +the dust before her. +</P> + +<P> +"M'f!" Norah wrinkled her nose. "It's very nice of you, but I don't +quite see what use it would be. Anyhow, I'd far rather go bathing." She +huddled on the ground, and looked tragic. "Go—leave me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry, old girl," grinned Jim. "We won't be long." +</P> + +<P> +"Be as long as you like," said the victim of circumstances, cheerfully. +"I'm going to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +The three boys disappeared along the bank, finding, apparently, some +difficulty in discovering a suitable bathing place, for it was some +time before shouts and laughter from a good way off told Norah that +they were in the water. She sighed, looking ruefully at the river +flowing beneath her, and half decided to go in herself; but her father +did not care for her bathing in the open alone, and she gave up the +idea and shut her eyes so that she would not see temptation rippling +down below. Presently she fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +She did not know how long it was before she woke. Then she jumped up +with a start, thinking, for a moment, that it was dark. The sun had +disappeared behind a huge bank of deep-purple cloud that had crept up, +blotting out everything. It was breathlessly hot and quite still—not a +leaf stirred on a tree, and the birds were quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"Whew!" said Norah. "We're going to have a storm—and a big one!" +</P> + +<P> +She listened. From far up faint calls and laughter still met her ears. +It was evident that the boys were finding the water very much to their +taste. +</P> + +<P> +"Duffers!" Norah ejaculated. "We'll have the loveliest soaking—and +Dad'll be anxious." +</P> + +<P> +She coo-ee'd several times, but no response came. Finally she rose, +with a little wrinkle in her brow. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I'd better saddle up," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The horses were tied up in a clump of trees not far off, the saddles +out of reach of their restless feet. Norah saddled Bobs first, and then +the two stock horses—which was easy. To get Monarch ready, however, was +not such a simple matter: the youngster was uneasy and sweating, and +would not keep still for a moment; to get the saddle on and adjust +breastplate and rings was a fairly stiff task with a sixteen-hands +horse and a groom of fourteen years, hampered by a divided riding +skirt. At length the last buckle went home, and Norah gave a relieved +sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"Bother you, Monarch!" she said. "You've taken me an awful time. Come +on, Bobs." +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the other horses tied up, she mounted and cantered down the +bank, calling again and again. An answer came sooner than she had +expected, and the three boys, somewhat hastily arrayed, came running +through the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmy, have you seen the weather?" asked his sister, indicating the +blackened sky. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a few minutes ago," Jim said, visibly annoyed with himself. "We +were diving in a hole with the trees meeting overhead, and the scrub +thick all around us—hadn't an idea it was working up for this. Why +didn't you call us, you old duffer?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did—but I couldn't make you hear," said Norah, somewhat injured. +"Hurry—I've saddled up." +</P> + +<P> +"You have? You didn't saddle Monarch?" asked Jim quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's all ready, and the valises are on. We're in for a ducking, +anyway, don't you think, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think you hadn't any business to saddle Monarch," Jim said, soberly. +"I wish you wouldn't do those things, Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it was all right." She smiled down at him. "He was only a bit +fidgety; I believe he's frightened of the weather, Jim." She looked +across at Cecil, seeing that young gentleman, wonderful to relate, with +his stock folded awry, and his hair in wild confusion. "Do you mind +thunderstorms, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—don't care for them much," Cecil panted. Running evidently did not +agree with him, and he was finding his tweed riding suit very unfitted +for the heat of the day. Jim, jogging easily, clad in white silk shirt, +cord breeches and leggings, looked at him pityingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Carry your coat, Cecil?" he sang out. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you. I'd rather wear it," said Cecil, who disapproved of +being coatless at any time, and had looked with marked disfavour at Jim +and Wally as they set off in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Stupid donkey!" Jim muttered, under his breath. "Ah, there are the +horses!" +</P> + +<P> +He made for Betty at once, and tossed the breathless Cecil into her +saddle, advising him to ride on quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Wally was up in a twinkling; but to mount Monarch was no such easy +matter, for the black horse was dancing with restlessness, and a low +growl of thunder far to the west evidently terrified him. Finally, with +a quick movement, Jim was in the saddle, whereat Monarch promptly +reared. He came down, and tried to get his head between his legs, but +the boy was too quick for him, and presently steadied him sufficiently +to move away in the wake of the others. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on!" Jim shouted. "Don't lose a minute!" +</P> + +<P> +They went down the river bank at a hand gallop, chafing now and then at +the necessity of striking away from the track to find gates or +slip-rails, as one paddock followed another. At first Monarch gave Jim +all he knew to hold him, and at the gates Wally and Norah had to do all +the work, for the black thoroughbred was too impatient to stand an +instant, and threatened to buck a score of times. Jim watched the sky +anxiously, very disgusted with himself. He knew they had no chance of +getting home dry, but at least they must be out of the timber before +the storm broke. It was coming very near now—the thunder was more +frequent, and jagged lightning tore rents in the inky curtain that +covered the sky. He took Monarch by the head, and sent him tearing +along the track, passing the boys—Wally riding hard on Nan, and Cecil +sitting back on Betty with a pale face. Before him Bobs was galloping +freely, Norah riding with her hands well down, and on her face a smile +that was like a child's laugh of sheer happiness. Norah loved +thunderstorms; they seemed to call to something in her nature that +never failed to respond. She glanced up at Jim merrily as he passed +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Grand, isn't it?" she said. Then her face changed. "He isn't getting +away with you, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not he!" said her brother, grinning. "But we've got to get out of this +jolly soon—hurry your old crock, Norah!" Norah's indignant heel smote +Bobs, and they raced neck and neck for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +They swung out of the trees just in time, the plain clear for home +before them. Almost simultaneously, the storm broke. There was a mad +flash of lightning across the gloom, and then a rattling peal of +thunder that rang round the sky and finished with a tremendous crack +overhead. The black horse stopped suddenly, wild with terror. Then his +head went down, and he bucked. +</P> + +<P> +Norah and Wally pulled up, regardless of the rain beginning to fall in +torrents. Monarch was swaying to and fro in mad paroxysms, trying to +get his head between his knees, his back humped in an arch, all his +being centred in the effort to get rid of the weight on his back, and +the iron in his mouth, and the control that kept him near that terrible +convulsion of nature going on overhead. Jim was motionless, each hand +like iron on the rein—yet with gentleness, for he knew the great black +brute was only a baby after all, and a badly frightened baby at that. +Cecil, coming by on Betty, his face white, looked aghast at the +struggle between horse and rider, and fled on homewards. The thunder +pealed, and the lightning lit the sky in forked darts. +</P> + +<P> +Possibly the rain steadied Monarch, or sense came back to him through +Jim's voice. He stopped suddenly, planting all four feet wide apart on +the ground. Jim patted his neck, and spoke to him, and the tension went +out of the big horse. He stood trembling a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Slip along," nodded Jim to Norah. +</P> + +<P> +Bobs and Nan went off together. Behind them, Monarch broke into a +canter, obedient once more. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later they were at the stables, Billy out in the wet to +take the horses. The storm was raging still, but there were coolness +and refreshment in the air. Billy grinned at the three soaked riders as +they slipped to the ground, and then at Brown Betty, trotting down the +hill in the rain. There was no sign of Cecil, who had fled indoors. +</P> + +<P> +"Him plenty 'fraid," said the black retainer, his grin widening. "Him +run like emu!" His eagle gaze dwelt on Monarch, who was still trembling +and excited. +</P> + +<P> +"Been buck?" he asked, his eyes round. +</P> + +<P> +"Plenty!" Jim laughed. "All right, Billy, I'll let him go myself." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BILLABONG DANCE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The slope beyond is green and still,<BR> + And in my dreams I dream,<BR> + The hill is like an Irish hill<BR> + Beside an Irish stream.<BR> + KENDALL.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Don't dress to-night, if you don't mind, Cecil," said Jim, putting his +head into his cousin's room. +</P> + +<P> +"Not dress?" Evening clothes were part of Cecil's training, and he kept +to them rigidly, putting on each night for dinner what Murty O'Toole, +having seen in wonder, referred to as "a quare little +cobbed-shwaller-tail jacket." He regarded with fine scorn the cheerful +carelessness of the boys where clothes were concerned. To Jim and Wally +who were generally immensely occupied until dinner-time, and more often +than not had further plans for the time following, putting on +regulation evening dress seemed a proceeding little short of lunatic; +but since Cecil "liked that sort of thing," they let him alone. +To-night, however, was different, and when Cecil repeated his query +half impatiently, Jim nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Didn't we tell you? It's the dance in the loft." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—don't you people ever dress for dances then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not for these dances," Jim answered. "It's the men's spree—all the +hands and their friends; and you can be jolly well certain they won't +run to dress clothes. So we make a point of not putting 'em on. Father +did one year, and felt very sorry he had." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that I'm keen on going, anyway," said Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think you'd better. Dad likes us to go, and it's really rather +fun," Jim responded, patiently. "Norah's quite excited about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Norah's young and enthusiastic," said Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, well, you're hardly hoary-headed yourself yet!" Jim grinned. +"Might as well be cheerful while you're alive, Cecil, 'cause you'll be +a long time dead!" He withdrew his head, shut the door with an +unconcerned bang, and his whistle died away up the corridor. +</P> + +<P> +"Hang it!" said Cecil, disgustedly, looking at his forbidden garments. +"Who wants to go to a beastly servants' ball, anyhow?" He donned a dark +suit reluctantly, a little consoled in that its very recent cut would +certainly be an eye-opener to Billabong, and went down to dinner, +meeting on the way Norah, in a muslin frock, with her hair flying and +her eyes sparkling. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I'm so glad you haven't dressed up!" said she. "It's such fun, +Cecil!—we've been helping to decorate the loft, and really you'd hardly +know it was a loft, it looks so decent. And it's so funny to see the +men; they pretend they don't care a bit, but I do believe they're quite +excited. Murty came in with a trememdous lot of ferns, and he's been +nailing them all on the wall in streaks, and he and Mick Shanahan +nearly had a fight 'cause Mick leaned against one of them and the +erection came down, and the nail tore Mick's coat. Still, it was Murty +who seemed most aggrieved! And the musicians have come out from Cunjee, +and they've been practising—they can play, too!" She paused for lack of +breath. +</P> + +<P> +"What sort of music does Cunjee supply?" +</P> + +<P> +"Violin and flute and a funny little piano," said Norah. "They had +quite an exciting time getting the piano up into the loft with the +block and pulley. But the music sounds very well up there. The only +trouble is old Andy Ferguson, the fencer—he's always been accustomed to +fiddle for them, and he's very crushed because we've got out these men. +Dad says he'd never have got them if he'd dreamed how disappointed old +Andy would be." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil had seen Andy, who struck him as a peculiarly uninteresting old +man. That such consideration should be shown to his wishes and feelings +was a thing beyond him, and he merely stared. +</P> + +<P> +"However, he's going to play the supper dances and some others," said +Norah, not noticing his silence, "so he's a bit consoled." They entered +the drawing-room at the moment, finding Jim and Wally in armchairs, +tweed clad and unusually tidy, and chafing miserably against the +tyranny of white shirts after days of soft variety. "And a big buggy +load of girls has come out from Cunjee already; and Brownie says +there's a tremendous demand for hot water for shaving from the men's +quarters, and Dave Boone came in for some mutton fat for his hair, but +she wouldn't give it to him. Now she's half sorry she didn't, 'cause +she believes he'll use the black fat they keep in the harness room; +he's so dark no one would be able to tell—from the look! Who are you +going to dance with, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"You, if I may," drawled Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course, if you want to," Norah said, laughing. "But we always +dance with every one on these occasions. It's one of the sights of +one's life to see Wally leading Brownie out!" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"And am I expected to dance with Mrs. Brown?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very possibly she won't have a dance to spare you," said Wally +serenely. "Brownie's no end popular, you see. Thank goodness. I've +booked mine with her already!" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil's stare spoke volumes. +</P> + +<P> +"And who are your partners, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Any one who asks me," said that maiden promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"And your father allows it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly he does," said Jim. "Don't get tragic, Cecil. The men on the +place are an awfully decent lot, and most of them have been here ever +so long—besides, it's their one night in the year, and they never +overstep their limits. Dad always plans this spree himself specially. +Of course, if you don't like—" +</P> + +<P> +Jim stopped short, and bit his tongue. It had suddenly occurred to him +that he was host—and he had nearly said something rude. So he whistled +vaguely, and asked Wally if he were going to dance with Lee Wing, who +was the Chinese gardener. +</P> + +<P> +"Wish I could get the chance," said Wally, his eyes twinkling. "Think +of piloting fat old Lee Wing through a polka—he'd get so beautifully +puffed, and his pigtail would wave in the breeze, and he'd be such an +armful!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say that Chow comes, too?" queried Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"No; he's shy," Wally answered. "We've tried to get him, but in vain; +he prefers to go to bed and dream of China. And Billy hangs about like +a black ghost, but he won't come in. So we lose a lot of international +enjoyment; but, even so, what's left is pretty good, itsn't it, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"I love it," said Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"And you don't get any of your own friends to come? It seems to me the +queerest arrangement," said Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the men's dance, don't you see? There wouldn't be much fun for +them if the place were filled up with our friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I should think a few of your own sort would be better. Aren't +there any girls or boys within reach that you know? I suppose you've a +juvenile sweetheart or two in the district?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah looked at him blankly. Wally gave an expressive wriggle in his +chair, and Jim sat up suddenly, with a flush on his brown face. +</P> + +<P> +"We never talk that sort of rot here," he said angrily. "Norah's not a +town girl, and her head isn't full of idiotic, silly bosh. I'll thank +you—" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton came in at the moment, and the point on which Jim intended +to express his gratitude remained unuttered. Cecil had reddened +wrathfully, and the general atmosphere was electric. Mr. Linton took, +apparently, no notice. He pulled Norah's hair gently as he passed her. +</P> + +<P> +"You're all remarkably spruce," he commented. "Can any one tell me why +almost every maid I have met in my house this day turns and flees as +though I were the plague? Sarah is the only one who doesn't shun me, +and her mind appears to be taken up with affairs of State, for I asked +her twice if she had seen my tobacco pouch, and she brought me in +response a jug of shaving water, for which I have had no use for some +time!" He laughed, stroking his iron-grey beard. "Can you explain the +mystery, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy," said his daughter. "Sarah's hair has a natural friz, so +she's the only girl in the house without curling pins concealed—more or +less—in her front hair. Brownie gave permission for the pins to-day; I +guess she thinks it would give Sarah an unfair start if she didn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"But the shaving water?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well, I expect Fred Anderson wanted that. She's engaged to him, +you know," said Norah, simply. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I hardly see why she should give me his shaving water, either +from Anderson's point of view or mine; but I suppose it's all right," +said Mr. Linton. "The whole place is upset. I really wanted some work +done, but the men who should have been sinking a well were tacking up +ferns, and those whose mission in life is—or ought to be—hoeing out +ragwort were putting French chalk on the floor of my loft! Judging from +my brief inspection, it seemed to me that the latter occupation was far +more strenuous than the ragwort job; but they seemed much happier than +usual, and were working overtime without a struggle!" +</P> + +<P> +"To hear you talk so patiently," quoth Norah, "no one would imagine +that you'd bought the French chalk yourself!" She perched on the arm of +his chair, and looked at him severely, while the boys laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"The men are like a lot of kids to-day," Jim said. "Did you hear about +old Lee Wing, Dad? He was standing under the block and pulley after +they'd hoisted up the piano, and I expect the sight of the hook on the +end of the dangling rope was too much for the men, for they slipped it +through Wing's leather belt and hauled him up too! You should have seen +him, with his pigtail dangling, kicking at the end of the rope like the +spider in 'Little Miss Muffet!' They landed him in the loft, and Fred +Anderson insisted on waltzing with him, while one of the musicians +hammered out The Merry Widow on the piano. Poor old Wing was very wild +at first, but they got him laughing finally." +</P> + +<P> +"Why that long-suffering Chinaman stays here is always a mystery to +me," said his father, laughing. "He's the butt of the whole place; but +he fattens on it." +</P> + +<P> +"There's the dinner gong!" said Norah, jumping up. "Come on, gentlemen, +we've to hurry to-night, so that the girls can get free early." +</P> + +<P> +The loft over the stables, which had been built with a view to such +occasions, was quite transformed when the house party entered it a +couple of hours later. The electric light—Billabong had its own plant +for lighting—had been extended to the loft, and gleamed down on a +perfect bower of green—bracken and coral ferns, the tender foliage of +young sapling tops, Christmas bush, clematis and tall reeds from the +lagoon—the latter gathered by Jim and Wally during their morning bathe. +Rough steps had been improvised to lead from outside up to the main +door of the loft, over which still dangled from the block and pulley +the rope that had suspended the irate Lee Wing earlier in the day. It +was also possible to enter by the usual method—a trapdoor in the floor +over a ladder leading from the floor below; but this was considered by +the men scarcely suitable for their partners. All traces of its usual +contents had, of course, been removed from the big room, and the floor +gleamed in the light, mute evidence of the ardour with which Mr. +Linton's French chalk had been applied. At one end, near the railing +guarding the trapdoor, the Cunjee musicians were stationed, and close +to them a queer old figure hovered—old Andy Ferguson, gnarled and +knotted and withered; Irish, for all his Scotch name, and with his old +blue eyes full of Irish fire at the thought of "a spree." He held his +old fiddle tenderly as he might hold a child; it, too, was the worse +for wear, and showed in more than one place traces of repair; but when +Andy wielded the bow its tones were just as mellow to him as the finest +instrument on earth. He kept a jealous eye on the Cunjee men; they +might oust him for most of the night, but at least his was to be the +old privilege of opening the ball. "The Boss" had said so. +</P> + +<P> +The homestead men had lined up near the door to receive their +guests—to-night they were hosts to Mr. Linton and his children, as to +every one else. They were a fine lot of fellows—Murty O'Toole, and Mick +Shanahan, the horse breaker, and Willis and Blake and Burton—all long +and lean and hard, with deep-set, keen eyes and brown, thin faces; +Evans, who was supposed to be over-seer, and important enough to arrive +late; younger fellows, like Fred Anderson and David Boone (the latter's +hair suspiciously smooth and shiny); Hogg, the dour old man who ruled +the flower garden and every one but Norah; and a sprinkling of odd +rouseabouts and boys, very sleek and well brushed, in garments of +varying make, low collars, and the tie the bushman loves "for +best"—pale blue satin, with what Wally termed "jiggly patterns" on it. +Of the same type were the guests—men from other stations, cocky farmers +and a very small sprinkling of township men. +</P> + +<P> +The ladies kept rigidly on arrival to the other side of the loft. There +was Mrs. Brown, resplendent in a puce silk dress that Norah remembered +from her earliest childhood, with a lace cap of monumental structure +topped by a coquettish bow of pale pink ribbon. Her kind old face +beamed on every one. Close to her, very meek under her sheltering wing, +were Sarah and Mary, the housemaids—very gay in papery silks, pink and +green, with much adornment of wide yellow lace. Norah had helped to +dress them both, and she smiled delightedly at them as she came in. +There was Mrs. Willis, who ruled over the men's hut, and was reckoned, +as a cook, only inferior to Mrs. Brown; and Joe Burton's pretty wife, +in a simple white muslin—with no doubt in big Joe's heart, as he looked +at her, as to who was the belle of the ball. Then, girls and women from +that vague region the bush calls "about," in mixed attire—from flannel +blouses and serge skirts, to a lady who hurt the eye it looked at, and +made the lights seem pale, in her gorgeous gown of mustard-coloured +velveteen, trimmed with knots of cherry-coloured ribbon. They came +early, with every intention of staying late, and cheerfully certain of +a good time. The Billabong ball was an event for which an invitation +was much coveted. +</P> + +<P> +Norah kept close to her father's wing, as they entered, shaking hands +gravely with the men by the door, and with Mrs. Brown—which latter +proceeding she privately considered a joke. The boys followed; Jim +quiet and pleasant; Wally favouring Murty O'Toole with a solemn wink, +and Cecil plainly bored by the little ceremony. He let his fingers lie +in each man's hand languidly—and would probably have been injured had +he seen Murty wipe his hand carefully on the side of his trousers after +he had passed on. The men had no love for the city boy. +</P> + +<P> +"S'lect y'r partners!" It was Dave Boone, most noted "M.C."—in demand +at every ball in the district. Dave knew what he was about, and saw +that other people understood the fact; no shirking when he was in +command, no infringement of rules, no slip-shod dancing. Even as he +kept his eagle eye on the throng, he "selected" one of the prettiest +girls himself, and bore her to the head of the room. There was never +any doubt of Dave's generalship. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil turned to Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"May I have this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry," Norah said, "I always dance with Jim first." +</P> + +<P> +"P'f!" said Cecil, lightly. "That old brother-and-sister idea is +exploded." +</P> + +<P> +"Not with Jimmy and me," Norah answered. "Why don't you ask Mary? She +can dance awfully well." +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you," said Cecil, with elevated nose. "I'll watch." +</P> + +<P> +Wally had approached Mrs. Brown, and bowed low. +</P> + +<P> +"Ours, I think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Master Wally, me dancin' days are over," said Brownie. "Go an' +get one of the girls, now, dearie, do!" +</P> + +<P> +"A girl!—when I can get you?" Wally ejaculated. "Not much!" He tucked +her hand into his arm and led her off in triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"Promen-ayde y'r partners!" +</P> + +<P> +Dave turned and nodded to Andy Ferguson, who, with fiddle tucked +lovingly under his chin, was waiting for his signal. He broke into a +march—the time a little shaky, the tune a little old, for the hand that +held the bow was old and shaky, too; but still a march, with a swing to +it that set the feet going at once. The dancers promenaded round the +room in a long procession, led proudly by Wally and Mrs. Brown. At one +end a few men, disappointed in obtaining partners, clustered by the +wall; near them stood Mr. Linton, watching in his grave, pleasant way +that was so like Jim's, with Cecil at his elbow, his delicate face dull +and expressionless. Round and round marched the couples. +</P> + +<P> +"Circular waltz, please!" +</P> + +<P> +The music swung into a waltz without a break, and simultaneously the +march broke into the dance as every man seized his partner by the waist +and began to revolve solemnly and silently. Cecil gaped. +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth is a circular waltz?" +</P> + +<P> +"Blest if I know for certain," replied his uncle, laughing. "Much like +any other waltz—but you mustn't use the middle of the floor. Watch +young Boone." +</P> + +<P> +Dave was keeping an eagle eye on the dancers. For the most part they +were content to gyrate near the wall; but should any more daring couple +approach the unoccupied space in the middle of the room, they were +instantly detected and commanded to return. As Cecil looked, Wally, who +was dancing with a broad grin of sheer happiness on his face, swung his +ponderous partner right across the centre—and was greeted by the +vigilant M.C. with the stern injunction—"Keep circle!" Quite oblivious +that this outbreak had anything to do with him, while Mrs. Brown, +feeling the most miserable of sinners, was far too breathless to +explain, Wally presently repeated his offence, whereupon Boone pulled +him up gravely, and pointed out his enormity to him. The culprit +grinned the more widely, promised amendment, nodded vigorously, and +danced off, Mrs. Brown remaining speechless throughout. Mr. Linton +smothered a laugh in his beard. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the music came to an end. Old Andy put his fiddle down and +looked along the loft with a happy little smile. The dancers stopped, +and Mr. Boone's voice rose sonorously. +</P> + +<P> +"Seats, please!" +</P> + +<P> +At this, each man rushed with his partner to the side of the loft +previously tenanted by the ladies, and deposited her on the long forms +ranged there. Then the men retreated hastily to the other side. +</P> + +<P> +There was no conversation, nor had there been any through the dance. It +seemed that the poetry of motion must suffice for enjoyment. +</P> + +<P> +Norah and Jim, who had been dancing vigorously, pulled up near the +others. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see me get hauled over the coals?" asked Wally gleefully. He +had placed Mrs. Brown on a seat, and followed the example of his sex in +retreating. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather—we were in fits, behind you!" said Jim. "Was Dave cross?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, quite mild; took my assurance that I didn't know I was sinning, +and forgave me like a man and a brother. And why shouldn't a fellow +cross that floor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness knows; but it's a rule. They dance very strictly, and in many +ways more correctly than we do." +</P> + +<P> +"There are two lovely couples," said Wally, gleefully. "They hold each +other firmly round the neck, and they revolve on the space of a +threepenny bit. It's beautiful. May I try that way with you, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you mayn't," laughed Norah; "at least, not here. They might think +we were imitating them." +</P> + +<P> +"Curious penetration on their parts!" rejoined Wally. "Well, can you +tell me why lots of the men hold one arm behind their backs?" +</P> + +<P> +"In my young days that was quite ordinary," Mr. Linton put in. "I +always danced that way—and I was remarkably run after," he added, +modestly. Whereat Wally meekly assured him that he thought the practice +a highly desirable one, and had serious thoughts of adopting it +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been looking at the programme nailed up for the musicians," said +Cecil. "There are some dances I never saw—Varsoviana, Circassian +Circle, and Caledonians." +</P> + +<P> +"In the Varsoviana," said Mr. Linton, retrospectively, "I used to +shine." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they beat US," said his son. "We can't dance 'em; but we look +on. The first two are round dances, and the Caledonians is a square. I +suppose they'd be all right, only they're not taught now." +</P> + +<P> +"And there are no two-steps," said Cecil, in a tone of personal injury. +</P> + +<P> +Jim laughed outright. +</P> + +<P> +"It'd be so much simpler for you if you'd remember you're at what's +commonly known as 'a bush hop'," he said. "You can't expect the last +adornments of a city spree. Anyway, they get more honest fun out of +this than most people do at a Melbourne or Sydney ball." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil looked patient. +</P> + +<P> +"May I have the next dance, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, truly, Cecil, but I've promised it to Murty." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Cecil. "The next?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's Mick Shanahan's," said Norah, laughing. "But you may have the +one after that if you like." +</P> + +<P> +"I must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose," said he, +unthankfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you dance with any one else?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks, I don't care to." The tone was final. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm going to collar Sarah or die!" said Wally, manfully. "I'll +probably die, anyway, 'cause Fred has his eye on her. Still, here +goes!" +</P> + +<P> +The musicians gave a preliminary blast, on which followed a shout from +the M.C. +</P> + +<P> +"Select y'r partners for the lancers!" +</P> + +<P> +At the word there was a general stampede. Youths who had been timid +before, grown bolder now, dashed towards the long row of girls. Where +more than one arrived simultaneously, there was no argument; the man +who failed to speak first shot off to find another damsel. In a moment +every available fair one had been secured firmly, and the dancers +awaited further commands. +</P> + +<P> +Wally had not waited for permission from Mr. Boone. At the first sound +of the music he had darted towards Sarah, arriving beside the lady with +"the natural friz" a yard in front of Fred Anderson. +</P> + +<P> +It was not etiquette to refuse to dance, and the fact that he was "the +Boss's" guest, if only a boy, carried weight. Sarah rose, with a rueful +glance at her disappointed swain. The two disconsolate faces moved +Wally to compassion. +</P> + +<P> +"I say—I'm awfully sorry," he said. "'Fraid I got ahead of you +unfairly, Fred—perhaps you'll excuse me this time, Sarah? You don't +mind? Well, you'll give me the next, won't you? Thanks, awfully." He +relinquished her to the beaming Fred, and returned, partnerless, to Mr. +Linton and Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was a marvellous sight to behold young Dave Boone! With Mrs. +Brown on his arm, he "took the floor" at the head of the room, seeing +that the dancers were correctly sorted out in sets; and thence +proceeded to dance and instruct the room simultaneously, in a manner +truly amazing. With what agility did he "set to partner" and "swing +corner," with his eagle eye all the time scanning the sets to make sure +no one mixed up the commands!—how ably bear his part in "First lady and +second gent.," not even put out of step by the necessity of telling the +further end of the room that it was going wrong!—how splendidly issue +the edict to "chassee-crossee" and "gent. solo," finding time, even in +the press of his double occupation, to propel his panting partner in +the way she should go! His voice rang out over the room, indicating +each figure as it came—there was no excuse for making any mistake in a +square dance when Mr. Boone was in command. And all the while he danced +with a wholehearted energy and a face of absolute gravity. No one, +watching him, could have possibly imagined that this was a pastime. +</P> + +<P> +"I've seen Boone looking infinitely more cheerful when fighting a bush +fire!" said Mr. Linton. +</P> + +<P> +"Talk about a conjurer!" was Cecil's astonished comment. "I never saw +one man do so many things at once!" +</P> + +<P> +The music ceased at last, and the "Seats, please!" marked the temporary +termination of the labours of the M.C. Murty brought Norah back to her +father, thanked her gravely, and made off. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened to you, Wally?" queried Jim, restoring a blushing damsel +in blue to her form and rejoining his relations. "Did Sarah turn you +down?" +</P> + +<P> +"I resigned gracefully in favour of Fred," Wally said. "He looked +murderous, and Sarah looked woe-begone, so it seemed the best plan. But +she's mine for the next—and ill befall the caitiff that disputes my +claim!" +</P> + +<P> +"No one'd dare!" said Jim, hastily. "I'm after Brownie, myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Jim, be steady with her," said Norah. "It's a polka!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be steady as old Time," Jim told her, smiling. True to his +promise, when the music began he danced mildly and moderately, and +Brownie emerged from the ordeal in far better order than might have +been expected. +</P> + +<P> +After that the evening flew. Dance after dance went by in rapid +succession—for the guests were out to dance, and where no time is +wasted in talking much may be done with a few hours. Cecil steadfastly +declined any partner but Norah, and as that maiden had no mind to spare +him more than two, his evening was dull, since his sense of humour was +not equal to finding any fun in the entertainment. He was the object of +considerable curiosity among the visitors, and was generally voted +"stuck-up," and "too big for his boots." As for Jim and Wally, they +flung themselves cheerfully into the business of the night, and even +succeeded in making most of their partners talk, albeit this was a +daring proceeding, and not looked upon with favour by the M.C. They +were too popular, however, to come in for any real criticism, and being +regarded by the majority of the men as "just kids," were allowed to do +very much as they liked. +</P> + +<P> +Supper was a majestic meal, spread on long tables in a big tent. Mr. +Linton led the way to it with Mrs. Brown, followed by Mick Shanahan, +who conveyed Norah much in the way he danced with her—as if she were a +piece of eggshell china, and apt to crack with careless handling. There +was no "head of the table"; every one sat in the place that seemed +good, and tongues flew as fast as the knives and forks. At the end Mr. +Linton made a little speech. +</P> + +<P> +"My friends," he said, "it's a great pleasure to Billabong to see you +all here. I hope you'll keep it up till morning, and come again next +year; you're always welcome. However, it is time my daughter went to +bed." (Dissent, and cries of "Not her!") "Before she goes, though, I +would like to see one more dance. I move that our old friend Andy +Ferguson play the 'Royal Irish.'" +</P> + +<P> +There was frantic applause, and supper adjourned hastily, while every +one hurried back to the loft; in the midst old Andy, his quavering +voice a little raised in excitement, his fiddle held firmly in one +hand. "Too old to work," some called him, wondering why David Linton +kept the old fencer, when younger men were always wanting work on +Billabong; and now, as he faced the long room with his faded blue eyes +a little misty, Andy looked an old man indeed. But the pride of work +was in him, and his master knew it—knew how the gnarled hands ceased to +tremble when they grasped the adze and mattock, just as there was now +no quiver in them as he raised the brown fiddle and cuddled it under +his chin. Age would seize on Andy only when he could work and play no +more. The light came back into his eyes as he saw the boys and girls +waiting for the music—his music. +</P> + +<P> +He drew the bow lovingly across the strings, and swung into the Irish +dance the old, common tune with the little gay lilt to it that grips +the heart and makes the feet beat time, and has the power to wake old +memories across the years. There were no memories to wake in the happy +young hearts in the loft at Billabong that night. But Andy looked over +the heads of the dancers at his master, meeting his eyes as man to man, +and each knew that the mind of the other had gone back to days long +dead. +</P> + +<P> +The long floor echoed under the dancers' feet—up and down, swing in the +centre, hands across; the pace was always a good one when Andy Ferguson +played the "Royal Irish." One foot tapped out the time, and his grey +head nodded in sympathy with it. They called to him now and again, +"Bravo, Andy! Good man, Andy! Keep it going!" and he smiled at the +friendly voices, watching them with the keenness of the Irishman for a +light foot in a dance. +</P> + +<P> +Just before him, Mrs. Brown, dancing with Jim, was footing it in and +out of the figures like a girl, holding her skirts quaintly on either +side as she advanced and retired, and came back to sweep a curtsey that +shamed the quick bow of the younger generation, while the tall lad she +had nursed waited for her with a grave gentleness that sat prettily on +his broad shoulders. Near, too, the old man's eyes dwelt lovingly on +Norah, whose eyes were dancing in time with her feet as Wally pranced +her madly up and down, his own brown face glowing.... just for a moment +Andy saw "the little mistress" who had known her baby for so brief a +time fourteen years before; her face looked at him through her child's +grey eyes. He looked across at his master again, a little wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +The tune broke into "St. Patrick's Day," and Murty O'Toole gave a +sudden involuntary shout, his hand above his head, Mick Shanahan echoed +it; the Irish music was in their blood, and the old man with the brown +fiddle had power to make them boys again. He, too, had gone back on the +lilt of the tune; back to his own green country, where the man with the +fiddle has his kingdom always, and the lads and lasses are his +subjects. There was a girl with blue Irish eyes, coming to meet him on +St. Patrick's morning... the tune wavered ever so little then, as his +heart cried out to her. Then the dream passed, and he knew that he was +a boy no more, but old Andy Ferguson, playing for the boys and girls in +the loft at Billabong. The bow moved faster and faster yet—only a good +pair could see him right through the "Royal Irish." They were panting +when he dropped his hand at last and stood looking at them a little +vaguely. Then they crowded round him, thanking him. Even the Cunjee +musicians were saying that he could beat them all, and Miss Norah had +put her hand into his, and was patting his arm. There was a mist before +him—he could not see them all, though he knew his triumph. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis wid the kindness of all of y'," he murmured. "So good to me y' +all are!" +</P> + +<P> +David Linton's hand was on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, old friend," he said, gently; "we're getting old and we're +tired, you and I." He led him away, Norah still holding his hand. +Behind them the music broke out again, cheerily, and the flying feet +made the loft echo until the dawn. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHRISTMAS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + O mellow air! O sunny light!<BR> + O Hope and Youth that pass away,<BR> + Print thou in letters of delight<BR> + Upon each heart one glorious day!<BR> + G. ESSEX EVANS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Norah woke up early. +</P> + +<P> +Close outside her open windows a magpie in the magnolia tree was +carolling as though he knew it was a special morning, and that he had a +special message to deliver. The linen blinds were rolled tight up, and +she could see him near one of the great creamy blossoms, each big +enough for his bath; his black and white coat very spruce and smart, +his head thrown back in utter enjoyment of his own song. Norah smiled +at him sleepily from her pillow. +</P> + +<P> +"Nice old chap!" she said; and then she remembered. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!—Christmas." She gave a little happy laugh, for to-day was going to +be such a very good day. There was something that had taxed all her +patience; it was so hard to keep the secret until Christmas. Norah was +not a very patient person by nature, and she was glad that the need for +it was almost over. +</P> + +<P> +She turned over lazily, and then burst out laughing as something caught +her eye at the foot of the bed—a huge football stocking, assuming +extraordinary shapes by reason of strange packages within it, while +from the top a monkey on a stick grinned at her. Norah jumped up and +brought the stocking back to bed for examination, weak with laughter +when she had finished. A big box of chocolates; a scarlet Christmas +cracker; a very flowery mug of thickest china, with "Love the Giver" on +it, and tied to the handle a label with "For a Good Little Girl" in the +best handwriting of Wally, who evidently considered it not sufficiently +adorned by nature; a live frog in a glass-covered box; a huge bundle, +which took her many minutes to unwrap, and was finally found to contain +a tiny pig of Connemara marble; a Christmas pudding the size of a golf +ball; and finally, in the very toe, a minute bottle labelled "Castor +Oil; Seasonable at Any Time." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you NICE donkeys!" said the recipient of these varied gifts, lying +back and investigating the chocolates. A sound at the window made her +look up, and Jim's laughing face peeped round the curtain. +</P> + +<P> +"Like 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're lovely," said Norah, fervently. "Come in, Jimmy, you old +duffer. Merry Christmas!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim came in, immensely tall and lean in his pyjamas, and sat down on +the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Merry Christmas, old kid!" he said, and kissed her. "Taken your oil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pudding first—and chocolates," said Norah, solemnly, indicating the +box. "Take lots, Jim, they're beauties. How did you get that thing into +my room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Waited until I could hear your cheerful snores, and then sneaked in by +the window," said her brother, dodging a chocolate. "My best stocking; +I think I was jolly good to lend it to you—you'll kindly notice that +the frog's box tore a hole in it, and take steps accordingly! It's a +ripping morning—but it's going to be hot. Do you know what time it is?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't," said Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"Five o'clock," said Jim; "isn't it ridiculous!—and you wide awake and +playing with pigs and frogs! I'm off to bed again for a bit—besides, +young Wally's bursting to know how you liked your sock. Go to sleep +again, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll try," said Norah, obediently, snuggling down, "Take some +chocolates to Wally—and the castor oil!" +</P> + +<P> +At the moment Norah was quite convinced that sleep was the last thing +possible for her, and merely laid down to please Jim, just as she would +cheerfully have endeavoured to jump over the moon had he expressed any +wish in that direction. Thus she was considerably surprised on waking +up two hours later to hear the dressing gong pealing through the house. +Further off came the cheerful voices of Jim and Wally on their way to +the lagoon. Cecil preferred the bath in the house, saying that he +considered it cleaner, which remark had incensed Norah at the time. But +they were learning not to worry about Cecil's remarks, but to regard +him with a kind of mild toleration, as one who "could not help it." +</P> + +<P> +Norah tore in haste to the bath, and returning made a speedy toilet; +breakfast was to be half an hour later than usual, but still there was +much to do. Her gifts to the men's quarters had gone over the night +before, in charge of Mrs. Willis; still there were parcels for the +girls in the house, together with the envelopes containing cheques for +them, which Mr. Linton always gave into Norah's care, and of course +Brownie's gifts, besides the nearer and dearer excitement of the +breakfast table. To the latter she attended first, scattering parcels +at each plate before any one else arrived on the scene. Then she raced +off, just escaping in the hall Jim, who immediately put his hands +behind him and began to whistle with great carelessness. Jim was a man +of tact. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Brown, narrowly watching some fried potatoes, heard flying +footsteps, and turned to receive Norah bodily. +</P> + +<P> +"Merry Christmas, Brownie, dear!" said the breathless one. She hung +over the stout shoulders a tiny shawl of softest white wool. +</P> + +<P> +"It's only a shawl-let," Norah explained, "just for when you feel the +summer evenings get cool, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"An' you made it, my precious!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course," said Norah, lifting her brows; "do you think I'd buy +it, when you taught me to knit? Ah, Brownie, I'm having such a good +time!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me!" said Mrs. Brown, sitting down in rapture, and forgetting +her frying pan entirely. "This lovely shawl—an' your Pa's cheque—and +here's even Master Wally brung me down a cap, an' Master Jim—don't 'e +always think!—a frame with the photer 'e took of you an' your Pa, an' +it's sollud silver, no less, if you'll believe me, an' then it's none +too good for the photer, but the dear lamb knew wot I'd like more than +anything on earth! Of all the loving—kindest children—" At this point +Brownie's feelings overcame her, and she sniffed and, inhaling a threat +of burnt potato, rushed to conceal her emotions over the stove. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Mary felt delighted with the pretty collars Mrs. Stephenson +had chosen for Norah in Melbourne; the daughter of the house +encountered Jim returning from the back regions, with a broad smile on +his brown face. Jim's invariable gift to Lee Wing was a felt hat, and +as the Celestial still wore the one first given, eight Christmases +before, it was popularly supposed that the intermediate half-dozen went +to support his starving relatives in China! Lee Wing had never +mentioned the existence of any starving relatives, but Wally said it +was well known that all Chinese gardeners had them—speaking, as Norah +remarked, as though it was a new complaint, like measles or mumps! +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't give Wing another hat, Jim?" queried his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"I did, though," returned Jim, firmly. "Asked him at midwinter what +he'd have, and he grinned and said, 'Allee same hat!' So he got it—a +lovely green one!" +</P> + +<P> +"Jim!—not green! For Lee Wing!" +</P> + +<P> +"There weren't any other colours left," said Jim; "next year it would +have had to be pale blue! He took it with a heavenly smile, and looked +at it all over inside and out; then he looked down at his feet, and I +beheld his toe sticking out of his boot. He didn't say 'Thank you' at +all. What he did say was 'Nex'-Clis'mas-socks,' all in one word, and +you couldn't have widened his smile without shifting his ears further +back!" +</P> + +<P> +"Merry Christmas, Norah, asthore!" said a cheerful voice, and Norah +turned to greet Wally. So Wally had to hear the story of Lee Wing all +over again, and they were laughing over it when Mr. Linton came out on +the verandah, pausing in the doorway a moment to look at the slender +figure in the blue frock, with white collar and tie, and the tall lads +in white flannels beside her. +</P> + +<P> +Three greetings flashed at him simultaneously as he came into view. +</P> + +<P> +"Merry Christmas, every one!" he said, one hand on his small daughter's +shoulder. "Going to be a hot Christmas, too, I believe. Where's Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Coming," said that gentleman, exchanging good wishes with a languid +air. "Sorry to be late, but I couldn't open the bathroom door." +</P> + +<P> +Wally started. +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious, was it you in there?" he asked anxiously. "I thought it +was Norah—and we wanted her out of the way at the moment, so I +barricaded the door! Then I saw her afterwards, so I reckoned she'd got +out all right, and I never bothered to take down the barricade. I'm +awfully sorry!" +</P> + +<P> +Every one laughed but Cecil, who saw nothing humorous in having been +obliged to climb through the bathroom window, and said so with point. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a fearful ass, truly," said Wally, with contrition. "Norah, you've +no need to laugh like a hyena—you ought to have been there, if you +weren't!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's why I laugh," Norah explained kindly. "Never mind, it's +Christmas—and there's breakfast!" +</P> + +<P> +It was the gong, but not breakfast. Mrs. Brown knew better than to send +in the porridge with the gong on Christmas morning. Instead, the table +was heaped with parcels, a goodly pile by every plate. +</P> + +<P> +"What an abominable litter!" said Mr. Linton, affecting displeasure. +"Norah, kindly oblige me by getting those things out of your way. How +are you going to eat breakfast?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're as bad as I am, Daddy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me!" said her father. "I seem to be. Well, yours is decidedly the +most untidy, so you had better begin." +</P> + +<P> +They watched the eager face as Norah turned to her bundles. Books from +Cecil and his mother; warm slippers made by Brownie; a halter +exquisitely plaited from finest strips of hide by Murty O'Toole, the +sight of which brought the whole gathering to Norah's side; from Wally +a quaint little bronze inkstand, and from Jim the daintiest horse rug +that Melbourne could produce, made to fit Bobs, with a big scarlet B in +one corner, and Norah's monogram in the other. "Not that he needs it +just now," Jim explained, as Norah hugged him—"but a store's no sore, +as Brownie'd say!" Last, a tiny velvet case, which concealed a brooch—a +thin bar of gold with one beautiful pearl. Norah did not need the slip +of paper under it to know it came from Dad. +</P> + +<P> +Then things became merry, and even Cecil warmed at the gifts on his +plate, while the boys were exclaiming in delight over Norah's knitting, +and Wally was shaking hands with Mr. Linton and looking +half-shamefacedly at the plain gold sleeve links from him and the +silver watch chain from Jim; and Mr. Linton's face was alight with +pleasure at the waistcoat Norah had made for him, and the little oak +bookshelf for his bedside that was the work of Jim's spare hours. +Finally all the bundles were unwrapped, and there was a lull, though +Norah's eyes were still dancing, and she exchanged glances with her +father. +</P> + +<P> +Jim spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a string under my plate," said he, faintly puzzled. "At least, +there's one end." +</P> + +<P> +"Strings always have two ends," said Wally, wisely. "Where's the +other?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm blessed if I know," said Jim. "It goes down to the floor." +</P> + +<P> +Wally came round, investigating. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me it goes out of the window," he said. "Guess you'd better +follow it, Jimmy." +</P> + +<P> +Jim looked round, a little doubtful. Then he saw Norah's face, and knew +that there was something he did not understand. He laughed a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one pulling my leg?" he asked, good-humouredly. "Oh, well, I'll +chase it." +</P> + +<P> +The string went somewhere—that was evident. Outside it was at the +height of Jim's hand, and ran along the wall, so that it was easy to +follow. They trooped after him as he went along, Norah completely +unable to walk steadily, but progressing principally on one foot, while +David Linton's eyes were twinkling. The chase was not a long one; the +string suddenly cut across to the door in the high fence dividing the +front and back gardens, and there disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"What next?" said Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"If it was me," said Wally, with a fine disregard of grammar, "I should +open the door." +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, Wally," grinned Jim. "Here goes!" He flung the door +open, and then stood as if rooted to the spot. +</P> + +<P> +The string went on. It ended, however, just through the door, where its +end was spliced to a halter, held by black Billy, whose smile disclosed +every tooth in his head. Fidgeting in the halter was a big bay horse, +showing all Monarch's quality, and all his good looks; a show ring +horse, picked by a keen judge, and built for speed as well as strength. +He looked at Jim with a kind eye, set well in his beautiful head. There +was no flaw in him; from his heels to his fine, straight forelock he +was perfection. +</P> + +<P> +Jim had no words. He did not need to be told anything—Norah's face had +been enough; but he could not speak. He took refuge with the big bay, +moving forward and putting out a hand, to which the horse responded +instantly, rubbing his head against him in friendly fashion. Then, +across the arched neck, Jim's eyes met his father's, and the colour +flooded into his brown face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, old son—will he do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do!" said Jim, weakly. "Dad!—by Jove, I—I—" He stopped helplessly; +then his hand went out and took his father's in a grip that made David +Linton realize that this big son of his was nearly a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jimmy, I'm so glad—and isn't he lovely?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, he's perfect," Jim said, stepping back and running his eye over +his Christmas box. "My word, Dad, he'll jump!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he'll jump all right," said David Linton. "Gallop, too, I should +say." +</P> + +<P> +"Plenty!" said Billy, with unexpected emphasis, whereat every one +laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Billy and Norah have had this little joke plotted for some time," Mr. +Linton said—"and the experiences they have undergone in keeping strings +and steed out of your way this morning have, I believe, whitened the +hair of both!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim looked gratefully round. +</P> + +<P> +"You're all bricks," he said. "Has he got a name, Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +"'A tearin' foine wan,' Murty says," responded his father; "since it's +Irish: Garryowen, unless you'd like to change it." +</P> + +<P> +"Not me!" said Jim. "I like it." He looked round as the sound of the +gong came across the garden. "I say, don't mind me," he said—"go into +breakfast. I don't want any this morning." His eye went back to the +bay. +</P> + +<P> +"Rubbish!" said his father—"he'll be alive after breakfast! Come +along," and reluctantly Jim saw Billy lead his horse away to the +stable. He discovered, however, on reaching the breakfast room, that he +was remarkably hungry, and distinguished himself greatly with his knife +and fork. +</P> + +<P> +Afterwards it was necessary to try the bay's paces without delay, and +they all watched Jim take him round the home paddock. Garryowen moved +beautifully; and when Jim finally put him at the highest part of the +old log fence, and brought him back again, he flew it with a foot to +spare. The boy's face was aglow as he rode up. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he's perfect!" he said. "I never was on such a horse." He came +close to his father. "Dad," he said in a low tone—"are you sure you +wouldn't like him instead of Monarch? He's far more finished." +</P> + +<P> +"Not for anything, thanks, old chap—I prefer my pupil," said his +father, his look answering more than his words. "You see he never bucks +with me, Jim!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim laughed, dismounting. "Like to try him, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said Cecil, scrambling up and setting off down the paddock, +while Jim watched him and writhed to think of possible damage to his +horse's back and mouth. Billy, who was near, said reflectively, "Plenty +bump!" and Murty O'Toole roundly rebuked Jim for "puttin' up an insult +like that on a good horse!" They breathed more freely when Cecil came +back, albeit the way in which he sawed at the bay's mouth was +calculated to strike woe to the heart of any owner. Then Wally tried +Garryowen, and finally Norah, having flown to the house for a riding +skirt, had a ride also, and sailed over the log fence in a manner fully +equal to Jim's. She came back charged with high compliment. +</P> + +<P> +"He's nearly as good as Bobs, Jim!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bobs!" said Jim, loftily. "We don't compare ponies with horses, my +child!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then he's not to be compared with Bobs!" Norah retorted sturdily, and, +the laugh being on her side, retired quickly to dress for dinner. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was typical of Billabong, and an Australian Christmas—one with +the thermometer striving to reach the hundred mark. Everything was +cold, from the mammoth turkey, with which Mr. Linton wrestled, to the +iced peaches that topped off what the boys declared "a corking feed." +There was plum pudding, certainly, but it was cold, too. Wally found in +his piece no fewer than four buttons; and, deeply aggrieved, went +afterwards to remonstrate with Mrs. Brown, who was amazed, declaring +she had put in but one, which to her certain knowledge had fallen to +the unhappy lot of Sarah. Further inquiries revealed the fact that Jim +had come to the table well supplied with buttons, with which he had +contrived to enrich Wally's portion as it travelled past him—which led +to a battle on the lawn, until both combatants, too well fed and weak +with mirth to fight, collapsed, and slept peacefully under a pine tree. +</P> + +<P> +Later on the horses were saddled, and every one rode out to the river, +where Brownie and the maids had already been driven by Fred Anderson, +and where they picnicked for tea. Afterwards they lay on the soft +grass, with the water murmuring past them, and Mr. Linton told them +stories—for Christmas was ever, and will ever be, the time for stories. +Simple, straightforward tales, like the man himself: old Christmases +overseas, and others in many parts of Australia—some that brought a +sadder note into the speaker's voice, and made Norah draw herself along +the grass until she came within touch of his hand. Words were never +really needed between them—being mates. +</P> + +<P> +So they stayed until the golden western sky had grown rose colour, and +the rose glow faded into night, that brought with it a little cool +breeze. Then the horses were saddled, and they rode home by the longest +possible way, singing every imaginable chorus, from Good Old Jeff to +the latest medley of pantomime ditties, and ending with a wild scurry +across the paddock home. They all trooped into the house, waking its +quietness to youth and laughter. +</P> + +<P> +But David Linton called to Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on," he said, "we'll finish up with the real Christmas songs." +</P> + +<P> +So they all gathered round the piano while Norah played, and joined in +the old Christmas hymns and carols—none the less hearty in that they +sang of frost and snow with all around them the yellowing plain, dried +up by the scorching sun, and, beyond that, the unbroken line of the +little trodden Bush. The young voices rang out cheerily, David Linton +listening in his armchair, his hand over his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Norah was in bed when her father looked in, in passing, to say +good-night. She put up her face to him sleepily. +</P> + +<P> +"It's been a beautiful Christmas, Daddy dear!" she said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + I mind the time when first I came<BR> + A stranger to the land.<BR> + HENRY LAWSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The house was unusually quiet. It was New Year's Day, and every man on +the place, and most of the maids, had gone off to a bush race meeting, +ten miles away. Even Mrs. Brown had allowed herself to be persuaded to +go and, arrayed in her best silk gown, had climbed laboriously into the +high double buggy, driven by Dave Boone, and departed, waving to Norah +a stout reticule that looked, Wally said, as though it contained +sausages! Only Mary, the housemaid, remained. Mary was a prim soul, and +did not care for race meetings. She had remarked that she would stay at +home and "crocher"! +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton and the boys had ridden away after lunch. A valuable bull +had slipped down the side of a steep gully and injured himself, and +bush surgery was required. David Linton was rather notable in this +direction, and he had seen to it that Jim had had a thorough course of +veterinary training in Melbourne. Together they made, the squatter +remarked, a very respectable firm of practitioners! Cecil and Wally +were ready to perform unskilled labour as required, and it was quite +possible that their help might be needed, since no men were available. +So the picnic planned for the afternoon had had to be abandoned, and +Norah was left somewhat desolate, since she could not take part in the +"relief expedition." +</P> + +<P> +"Hard on you, old girl," Jim had said; "but it can't be helped." +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course it can't," Norah replied. She was well trained in the +emergencies of the country, and would probably have been perfectly +cheerful had this particular one only been something that would not +have excluded her. As it was, however, it was certainly disappointing, +and she felt somewhat "at a loose end" as she watched the four ride +off. There seemed nothing for her to do. It was beyond doubt that being +a girl had its drawbacks. +</P> + +<P> +Within, the silence of the house was depressing, and the rooms seemed +much too large. Norah saw to one or two odd jobs, fed some chickens, +talked for a while to Fudge, the parrot, who was a companionable bird, +with a great flow of eloquence on occasions, wrote a couple of +letters—always a laborious proceeding for the maid of the bush—and +finally arrived at the decision that there was nothing to do. In the +kitchen Mary sat and "crochered" placidly at a fearful and wonderful +set of table mats. Norah watched her for a while, with a great scorn +for the gentle art that could produce such monstrosities. Then she +practised for half an hour, and at length, taking a book, sauntered off +to read by the creek. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Mary worked on contentedly, unconscious of outer things, +dreaming, perhaps, such dreams as may come to any one who makes +crocheted table mats of green and yellow. Now and then she rose to +replenish the fire, returning to her needle in the far-away corner of +the great kitchen, where Mrs. Brown's cane armchair always stood. She +glanced up in surprise after a while, when a shadow fell across the +doorway. Then, for Mary was a girl with "nerves," she jumped up with a +little scream. +</P> + +<P> +An Indian hawker stood there—a big, black-bearded fellow, in dusty +clothes that had once been white, and on his head a turban of faded +pink. His heavy pack hung from his shoulder, but as the girl looked, he +slipped it to the ground, and stood erect, with a grunt of relief. Then +he grinned faintly at Mary, who had promptly put the table between +them, and asked the hawker's universal question: +</P> + +<P> +"Anything to-day, Meesis?" +</P> + +<P> +The Hindu hawker is still a figure to be met frequently in the +Bush—where he is, indeed, something of an institution. "Remote from +towns he runs" a race that no poetical licence can stretch to complete +the quotation by calling "godly." He carries a queer mixture of goods—a +kind of condensed bazaar-stall from his native land, with silks and +cottons, soaps, scents, boot laces and cheap jewellery, all packed into +a marvellously small space; and so he tramps his way through Australia. +No life can be lonelier. His stock of English is generally barely +enough to enable him to complete his deals; the free and independent +Australian regards him as "a nigger," and despises him accordingly; +while the Hindu, in his turn, has in his inmost soul a scorn far deeper +for his scorners—the pride of tradition and of caste. It is the caste +that keeps him rigidly to himself, since, as a rule, he can touch no +food that others have handled. He sits apart, over his own tiny fire, +baking his unappetising little cakes; and in many cases even the shadow +of a passer-by falling across his cookery is held to defile it beyond +possibility of his eating it. As a rule he has but one idea in life—to +make enough money to carry him back to end his days in comfort by the +waters of the Ganges. +</P> + +<P> +There are certain well recognized hawkers in many districts—men who +have kept for a long time to a particular beat, and may be regarded as +fairly regular, and likely to turn up at each place at their route +three or four times a year. Such men have generally arrived at the +dignity of a pack-horse—no unmixed benefit in the eyes of people +driving, since most of the country horses are reduced to frenzy by the +sight of the lean screw with his immense white pack—the hawker is +merciless to his horse—led by the "black" man in flapping clothes and +gay turban. Still the regular hawkers are a more respectable class of +men, and their visits are often eagerly welcomed by the housewife in +the lonely country, many miles from a township, who finds herself +confronted with such problems as the necessity for lacing Johnny's +Sunday boots with strips of green hide, or the more serious one of a +dearth of trouser-buttons for his garments. +</P> + +<P> +It is the casual hawker who is looked on with disfavour, and strikes +terror to the heart of many women. He has very frequently no money and +less principle; and being without reputation to sustain in the +district, is careless of his doings along a route that he probably does +not intend to visit again. He knows perfectly well that women and +children are afraid of him, and as a rule is very willing to work upon +that fear—though the sight of a man, or of a dog with character, is +sufficient to make him the most servile of his race. But where he meets +a lonely woman he is a very apparition of terror. +</P> + +<P> +There was one hawker who came regularly to Billabong; a cheery old +fellow, well known and respected, whose caste was not strict enough to +prevent his refusing the station hospitality, and whose appearance was +always welcome. He had been coming so long that he knew them all well, +and took an almost affectionate interest in Jim and Norah, always +bringing some little gift for the latter. The men liked him, for he had +been known to "turn to" and work at a bush fire "as hearty as if he +weren't a fat little image av a haythen," said Murty O'Toole; Norah was +always delighted when old Ram Das came up the track, his unwieldy body +on two amazingly lean legs. Even Mary would not have been scared at his +appearance. +</P> + +<P> +But this was not Ram Das—this Indian who stood looking at her with that +queer little half-smile, so different from the old man's wide and +cheerful grin. It was a strange man, and a terrible one in Mary's +sight. She gaped at him feebly across the table, and he watched her +with keen, calculating eyes. Presently he spoke again, this time a +little impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask-a meesis annything to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' to-day," said Mary, quickly and nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask-a meesis." +</P> + +<P> +"She don't want anything," the girl quavered. +</P> + +<P> +"You ask-a." +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you she don't want anything—there ain't any missis," Mary said. +He looked at her unbelievingly, and broke into a speech of broken +English that was quite unintelligible to the frightened girl behind the +table. Then, as she did not answer him, he came a few steps nearer. +</P> + +<P> +It was more than enough for Mary. She gave a terrified shriek and ran +for the nearest cover—the half-open door of the back kitchen behind +her. She banged it violently as she dashed through. There was no lock +on the door, so she could not stay there—but the window stood open, and +Mary went through it with all the nimbleness of fear. She came out into +the yard where the way lay clear to the house; and across the space +went Mary, cometwise, a vision of terror and flying cap strings, each +moment expecting to hear pursuing feet. Puck, the Irish terrier, +sleeping peacefully on the front verandah, leapt to his feet at the +sudden bang of the back door, and came dashing through the house in +search of the cause. Mary, half sobbing, welcomed him with fervour. +</P> + +<P> +"Good dog, Puck!" she said. She reconnoitred through the nearest +window. +</P> + +<P> +The Indian had come out of the kitchen, and now stood on the back +verandah, his dark face working. He looked uncertainly about him. Then +the back door opened a few inches—just so far that an enthusiastic +Irish terrier could squeeze through—and Mary's voice came. +</P> + +<P> +"Good dog, Puck!—sool 'im!" +</P> + +<P> +The door banged again, and the heavy lock shot home. Mary flew back to +the window, shutting and locking it frantically. She watched. +</P> + +<P> +Puck wasted no time. He dashed at the hawker, with every fighting +instinct aroused, and the Hindu leaped back quickly, seizing with one +hand a broom that leaned against the wall. He met the terrier's +onslaught with a savage blow that sent the little dog head over heels +yards away. Puck picked himself up and came again like a whirlwind. +Then Mary screamed again, for the Hindu dropped the broom, and +something flashed in the sunlight—a long knife that came swiftly from +some hiding place in his voluminous draperies. He crouched to meet the +dog, his eyes gleaming, his lips drawn back from his teeth. +</P> + +<P> +Puck was no fool. He arrested himself almost in midair, and planted +himself just out of the hawker's reach, his whole enraged little body a +vision of defiance, and barked madly. The Indian moved backwards, +uttering a flood of furious speech, while for each step that he moved +the terrier advanced another. Then Mary's heart gave a sudden leap; for +the hand that held the knife suddenly went behind him as he reached for +his pack and swung it to his shoulder. Puck was nearly upon him in the +moment that the knife no longer menaced, but the Hindu was quick; and +again the little dog drew back, rending the air with his barking. +Slowly the man backed off the verandah and along the path to the yard +gate, Puck following every step, loathing with all his fury that unfair +advantage of gleaming steel that kept him from his enemy. The Hindu +backed through the gate, and slammed it in the terrier's face, spitting +a volley of angry words as he went. Mary flung the window open and +called her protector anxiously, lest he should find some means of exit +and leave her alone; and Puck came back a few steps, turning again to +bark at his retreating foe. The tall form in the dusty clothes went +slowly down the track. Mary watched him out of sight. Then she fled to +her own room, locked herself in securely, and went, very properly, into +hysterics. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, at the creek, Norah was nodding sleepily over her book. It +was hot, and naturally a lazy day; everything seemed sleepy, from the +cows lying about under the willows on the banks to the bees droning +overhead. Tait, near her, was snoring gently. Even the water below +seemed to be rippling more lazily than usual; the splash of a leaping +fish made an unusual stir in the stillness. Moreover, her book was not +calculated to keep her awake. It was poetry, and Norah's soul did not +incline naturally to poetry, unless it were one of Gordon's stirring +rhymes, or something equally Australian in character. This was quite +different, but it had been Cecil's Christmas gift, and it had seemed to +Norah that politeness required her to study it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the rummiest stuff!" said the Bush damsel, hopelessly. She turned +to the cover, a dainty thing of pale blue and gold. "William Morris? +Didn't we have a stockman once called Bill Morris? But I'm pretty +certain he never wrote this. The name's the same, though!" thought +Norah, uncertainly. She turned back, and read anew, painstakingly: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + No meat did ever pass my lips<BR> + Those days. (Alas! the sunlight slips<BR> + From off the gilded parclose dips,<BR> + And night comes on apace.)<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Then I'm positive it wasn't our Bill Morris, 'cause I never saw a +stockman who was a vegetarian. But what's a parclose? I'll have to ask +Cecil; but then he'll think me such a duffer not to know, and he'll be +so awfully patronizing. But what on earth does it all mean?" +</P> + +<P> +She closed the book in despair, let her eyelids droop, and nodded a +little, while the book in its blue and gold cover slipped from her knee +to the grass. It was much easier to go to sleep than to read William +Morris. What a long time Dad and the boys were, doctoring Derrimut! It +was certainly dull. +</P> + +<P> +A quick bark from Tait startled her. The collie had jumped up, and was +bristling with wrath at an unusual spectacle coming through the trees +towards her—a tall man, with a face of dusky bronze, surmounted by a +pink turban. His face was working angrily, and he muttered as he +walked, slowly, as if the pack on his shoulder were heavy. When Tait +barked he started for a moment, but then came on steadily—a collie is +rarely as formidable as an Irish terrier. +</P> + +<P> +Norah paled a little. She was not timid, but no Australian girl takes +naturally to an encounter with a Hindu and there was no doubt that this +man was in a very bad temper. The place was lonely, too, and out of +sight of the house, even if she had not been painfully conscious that +there was not a man on the place should she need help. Still, there was +nothing to be gained by running. She backed against the tree, keeping +one hand on Tait's collar as the man came up. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +He stopped, and the pack slipped to the grass. Then he broke into a +flood of rapid speech in his own tongue, gesticulating violently; +occasionally indicating the house with a sweep of his hand in that +direction. As he talked he worked himself up to further wrath—his voice +rose almost to a shout sometimes, and his face was not pleasant to see. +Once or twice he held his left hand out, and Norah saw that it was +bandaged. +</P> + +<P> +For a minute or two she was badly frightened. Then, watching him, she +suddenly came to the conclusion that she had nothing to fear—that he +was telling her something he wanted her to know. She listened, trying +hard to catch some word in the flood of fluent foreign speech, and +twice she thought she made out the name of Ram Das. Then he finished +abruptly with almost the one word of Hindustani she knew, since it was +one the old hawker had taught her. "SUMJA," ("Do you understand?") he +hurled at her. +</P> + +<P> +Norah shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't 'SUMJA,'" she said: but her tone was friendly, and some of +the anger melted from the Indian's face, and was succeeded by a quick +relief. "Can't you speak English? You know Ram Das—Ram Das?" she +repeated, hoping that the name might convey something to him. To her +immense relief, the effect was instantaneous. +</P> + +<P> +"Know Ram Das," said the man, struggling for words. "Him—him." He swept +the horizon vaguely with his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I know Ram Das," Norah put in. "Him good man." +</P> + +<P> +The Hindu nodded violently. His face was natural again, and suddenly he +smiled at her. "You a meesis?" he asked. "Ram Das say l'il meesis." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm little meesis," Norah said promptly. It was the old man's title +for her. "Did Ram Das send you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Him send me," said the man, with evident pleasure in finding the word. +He struggled again for English, but finally gave it up, and held out +his left hand to her silently. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you're hurt!" Norah said. "Is that why Ram Das sent you?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded again, and began to unroll the long strip of cotton stuff +round his hand and wrist. It took a long time, and at last he had to go +down to the water and bathe the stiffened rag before it would come +away. Then he came back to Norah and held it out again—a long, hideous +gash right up the wrist, torn and swollen and inflamed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Norah, drawing back a pace, instinctively. "You poor fellow! +How did you do it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Barb wire," said the Indian, simply. "Three days. Him bad. Ram Das, +him say you help." With this stupendous effort of eloquence he became +speechless again, still holding the torn wrist out to her. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think so!" said Norah, forgetting everything in the sight of +that cruel wound. "Come on up to the house quickly!" She turned to lead +the way, but the man shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Woman there," he stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right," Norah told him. "Come along." +</P> + +<P> +"Small dog," said the Hindu, unhappily. "Them afraid of me." He pointed +towards the house. "Been there." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh-h!" said Norah, suddenly comprehending. She knew Mary. Then she +laughed. "You come with me; it's all right." She led the way, and the +hawker followed her. A few yards further on, Norah bethought herself of +something, and turned back. +</P> + +<P> +"You must have that covered up," she told him. "No, not with that awful +rag again," with a faint shudder. She took out her handkerchief and +wrapped it lightly round the man's wrist. "That'll do for the +present—come on." +</P> + +<P> +Puck, still in a state of profound indignation in the back yard, was +thrown into a paroxysm of fury at the sight of his enemy returning. +Norah had to chain him up before the Hindu would come inside the gate. +Then she led the way to the kitchen and called Mary. +</P> + +<P> +No Mary answered, so Norah went about her preparations alone—a big +basin of hot water, boracic acid—standby of the Bush—soft rags, and +ointment from the "hospital drawer" Mrs. Brown kept always ready. She +shuddered a little as she began to bathe the wound, while the Indian +watched her with inscrutable face, never flinching, though the pain was +no small thing. It was done at last—cleansed, anointed, and carefully +bandaged. Then he smiled at her gratefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Ram Das him say you good," he said. "Him truth!" +</P> + +<P> +Norah laughed, somewhat embarrassed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hungry?" she asked. "You take my food?" +</P> + +<P> +It was always a delicate question, since the Hindu is easily offended +over a matter of caste. This man, however, was evidently as independent +as Ram Das, for he nodded, and when Norah brought him food, fell to +work upon it hungrily. +</P> + +<P> +Thus it was that Mary, brought from the hysterical sanctuary of her +room by the pressing sense of the necessity of looking after the +kitchen fire, and coming back to her duties like a vestal of old, found +her dreaded enemy cheerfully eating in the kitchen, while Norah sat +near and carried on a one-sided conversation with every appearance of +friendliness, with Tait sleepily lying beside her—at which astonishing +spectacle Mary promptly shrieked anew. The Hindu rose, smiling +nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here, you duffer, Mary!" said Norah, who by this time had arrived +at something of an understanding of the previous happenings. "He's as +tame as tame. Why, old Ram Das sent him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Norah, he's got a knife on him!" said Mary, in a sepulchral +whisper. "I saw it with me own eyes. He nearly killed Puck with it!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Puck was trying to kill him," said Norah, "and I guess if you +had a wrist like his, you'd defend yourself any way you could, if Puck +was at you! He's terribly sorry he frightened you—you didn't understand +him, that was all. Ram Das sent him to have his wrist fixed up, and his +name's Lal Chunder, and he's quite a nice man!" +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" said Mary doubtfully, relaxing so far as to enter the kitchen, +but keeping a respectful distance from the hawker, who took no further +notice of her, going on with his meal. "I don't 'old with them black +creechers in any shape or form, Miss Norah, an' it's my belief he'd +kill us all in our beds as soon as wink! Scarin' the wits out of one, +with his pink top-knot arrangement—such a thing for a man to wear! +Gimme white Orstralia!" +</P> + +<P> +"Look out, he'll hear you!" said Norah, laughing. "He—" +</P> + +<P> +"What talk is this?" said a cheerful voice; and Ram Das, very plump, +very hot and very beaming, came in at the kitchen door, and stood +looking at them. "I sent this young man to the li'l meesis, for that he +was hurt and in pain, and I know the fat woman is kind, and has the +brassic-acid." He glanced at Lal Chunder's bandaged wrist, and shot a +quick question at him in their own tongue, to which the other +responded. The old man turned back to Norah, not without dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"We thank the l'il meesis," he said. "Lal Chunder is as my son: he +cannot speak, but he will not forget." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's all right," said Norah, turning a lively red. "It wasn't +anything, really, Ram Das—and his wrist was terribly sore. You'll both +camp here to-night, won't you? And have some tea—I'm sure you want it, +it's so hot." +</P> + +<P> +"It will be good," said Ram Das, gratefully, sitting down. Then voices +and the sound of hoofs and the chink of bits came from outside; and +presently Mr. Linton and the boys came in, hot and thirsty. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil's eyebrows went up as he beheld his cousin carrying a cup to the +stout old Hindu. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the most extraordinary place I was ever at," he told himself +later, dressing for dinner, in the seclusion of his own room. From the +garden below came shouts and laughter, as Jim engaged Norah and Wally +in a strenuous set on the tennis court. "Absolutely no class limits +whatever, and no restrictions—why, she kept me waiting for my second +cup while she looked after that fat old black in the dirty white +turban! As for the boys—childish young hoodlums. Well, thank goodness +I'm not condemned to Billabong all my days!" With which serene +reflection Mr. Cecil Linton adjusted his tie nicely, smoothed a +refractory strand of hair in his forelock, and went down to dinner. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF POULTRY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + A man would soon wonder how it's done,<BR> + The stock so soon decreases!<BR> + A. B. PATERSON<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Where are you off to, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"To feed the chickens." +</P> + +<P> +"May I come with you, my pretty maid?" +</P> + +<P> +"Delighted!" said Norah. "Here's a load for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Even to stagger under thy kerosene tin were ever a joy!" responded +Wally, seizing the can of feed as he spoke—the kerosene tin of the +bush, that serves so many purposes, from bucket to cooking stove, and +may end its days as a flower pot, or, flattened out, as roofing iron. +"Anyhow, you oughtn't to carry this thing, Norah; it's too heavy. Why +will you be such a goat?" +</P> + +<P> +Under this direct query, put plaintively, Norah had the grace to look +abashed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't, as a rule," she said. "It's really Billy's job to carry +it for me, but Jim has been coming with me since he came home, so of +course young Billy's got out of hand. And Jim's gone across with Dad to +see old Derrimut, so I had no one. I looked for you and couldn't find +you. And I asked Cecil politely to accompany me, but he put his +eyebrows up, and said fowls didn't interest him. Oh, Wally, don't you +think it's terribly hard to find subjects that do interest Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hard!" said Wally expressively. "Well, it beats me, anyhow. But then +Cecil regards me with scorn and contumely, and, to tell you the truth, +Nor., when I see him coming I quiver like—like a blancmange! He's so +awfully superior!" +</P> + +<P> +"You know, I'm sure he's not enjoying himself," Norah went on; "and it +really worries us, 'cause we hate to think of anyone being here and not +having a good time. But he does keep his nose so in the air, doesn't +he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Beats me how you're so nice to him," Wally averred. "My word, it would +do that lad good to have a year or two at our school! I guess it would +take some of the nonsense out of him. Was he ever young?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't think so," Norah said, laughing—"he has such a lofty +contempt for anything at all juvenile now. Well, at least he's looking +better than when he came, so Billabong is doing him good in one way at +any rate, and that is a comfort. But I'm sure he's counting the days +until he goes away." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, so am I," said Wally, cheerfully. "So at least there are two of +us, and I should think there were several more. It's pleasant to find +even one subject on which one can be a twin-soul with Cecil. +Norah"—solemnly—"I have counted eleven different pairs of socks on that +Johnny since I came, and each was more brilliant than the last!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't doubt it," Norah laughed. "They're the admiration of the +laundry here, and even the men stopped and looked at them as they were +hanging on the line last week. Dave Boone was much interested in that +green pair with the gold stripes, and asked Sarah what football club +they belonged to!" +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott!" said Wally explosively. "Can you imagine Cecil playing +football?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't—I wish I could," Norah answered. "Well, never mind Cecil—he's +a tiring subject. Tell me what you think of my chicks." +</P> + +<P> +Norah's special fowl yard was a grassy run divided into two parts, with +small houses and wire-netted enclosures in each. At present one was +devoted to a couple of mothers with clutches of ten and twelve +chickens—all white Orpingtons. The mothers were stately, comfortable +dames, and the chicks, round little creamy balls, very tame and +fascinating. They came quite close to Norah as she stooped to feed +them, and one chick, bolder than his brethren, even stood on the back +of her hand. Wally admired without stint, and proceeded to discharge +the practical duty of rinsing out the water tins and filling them +afresh. +</P> + +<P> +In the other yard a number of older chickens grew and prospered; these +also were all white, of the Leghorn breed, and Norah was immensely +proud of them. She sat down on the end of a box and pointed out their +varied beauties. +</P> + +<P> +"I should have more—lots more," she said, dolefully. "But I've had +horrible trouble with pigs. Why anybody keeps pigs at all I can't +imagine!" +</P> + +<P> +"They're handy when preserved," Wally remarked. "But what did they do +to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I had a lot of hens sitting this year," said the owner of the +yard—"sitting on lovely eggs, too, Wally! Some I got from Cunjee, and +some from Westwood, and two special sittings from Melbourne. I was +going to be awfully rich! You couldn't imagine all I'd planned with the +immense sums I was going to make." +</P> + +<P> +"There's a proverb," said Wally, sententiously, "about counting your +chickens." +</P> + +<P> +"You're quite the twelfth person who's mentioned that," Norah said, +with some asperity. "Anyhow, I never counted them; I only became rich +in a vague way, and it was very comforting. I'm glad I had that +comfort, for it was all I had." +</P> + +<P> +"Norah, you thrill my very soul with awful fears," Wally gasped. "Tell +me the worst!" +</P> + +<P> +"Donkey!" said Norah, unsympathetically. "Well, they were set. I fixed +up the boxes myself, and lined them so beautifully that when they were +ready, and the eggs in, it was all I could do to prevent myself sitting +on them!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know," Wally nodded. "And then the hens wouldn't sit, would they? +They never do, when you make the nests especially tempting. I had an +old Cochin once who used to sit quite happily for six months at a time +on a clod and a bit of stone, expecting to hatch out a half-acre +allotment and a town hall; but if you put her on twelve beautiful eggs +she simply wouldn't look at them! Makes you vow you'll give up keeping +hens at all." +</P> + +<P> +"It would," Norah said. "Only mine didn't do that." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Wally, a little blankly. "What did they do, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sat—" +</P> + +<P> +"And ate the eggs—I know," Wally burst in. "My old brute used to eat +one a day if you got her to sit. I remember once it was a race between +her and the eggs, and I used to haunt the nest, wondering would she get +'em all eaten before they hatched. They beat her by one—one poor chick +came out. The shock was too much for the old hen, and she deserted it, +and I poddied it in a box for a week, and called it Moses, and it would +eat out of my hand, and then it died!" He gasped for breath, and Norah +gazed with undisguised admiration at the orator. +</P> + +<P> +"So I know how you'd feel," Wally finished. +</P> + +<P> +"I might—but my hens weren't cannibals. They didn't eat any." +</P> + +<P> +"You had luck," said the unabashed Wally. "Well, what happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"They sat quite nicely—" +</P> + +<P> +"And the eggs were addled, weren't they? It's always the way with half +these swagger sittings you buy from dealers. They—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Wally, I WISH you wouldn't be so intelligent!" said Norah, with +not unnatural heat. "How am I ever going to tell you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I thought you were telling me as hard as ever you could!" Wally +responded, visibly indignant "Well, fire away; I won't speak another +word!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think you could help it," Norah laughed. "However, I'd eight +hens sitting, and I really do believe that they understood their +responsibilities, for they set as if they were glued, except when they +came off for necessary exercise and refreshment. Even then, they never +gave me any of the usual bother about refusing to go back into the +right box, or scratching the eggs out. They behaved like perfect +ladies—I might have known it was too bright to last!" She heaved a +sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you're working up to some horrible tragedy, and I'm sure I +won't be able to bear it!" said her hearer, much agitated. "Tell me the +worst!" +</P> + +<P> +"So they sat—" +</P> + +<P> +"You said that before!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, they sat before—and after," said Norah, unmoved. "Two of them +brought their eggs out, beautiful clutches, twelve in one and thirteen +in the other. Such luck! I used to be like the old woman who pinched +herself and asked, 'Be this I?' They all lived in a fox-proof +yard—fence eight feet high with wire-netting on top. I wasn't leaving +anything to chance about those chicks." +</P> + +<P> +"Was it cholera? Or pip?" +</P> + +<P> +"Neither," said Norah. "They were the very healthiest, all of them. The +chickens grew and flourished, and when they were about a week old, the +other six hens were all about to bring out theirs within two days. Oh, +Wally, I was so excited! I used to go down to the yard about a dozen +times a day, just to gloat!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never gloat too soon," said Wally. "It's a hideous risk!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm never going to gloat again at all, I think," said Norah, +mournfully. The recital of her woes was painful. "So I went down one +morning, and found them all happy and peaceful; the six old ladies +sitting in their boxes, and the two proud mammas with their chicks, +scratching round the yard and chasing grasshoppers. It was," said +Norah, in the approved manner of story-tellers, "a fair and joyous +scene!" +</P> + +<P> +"'Specially for the grasshoppers!" commented her hearer. "And then—?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then I went out for a ride with Dad, and I didn't get back until late +in the afternoon. I let Bobs go, and ran down to the fowl yard without +waiting to change my habit." Norah paused. "I really don't know that I +can bring myself to tell you any more!" +</P> + +<P> +"If you don't," said Wally, indignantly, "there'll certainly be +bloodshed. Go on at once— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Am I a man on human plan<BR> + Designed, or am I not, Matilda?"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"H'm," said Norah. "Well, I'm not Matilda, anyway! However, I opened +the gate of the yard. And then I stood there and just gaped at what I +saw." +</P> + +<P> +"Dogs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Our dogs are decently trained," Norah said, much offended. "No, it +wasn't dogs—it was pigs!" +</P> + +<P> +"Whew-w!" whistled Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"Pigs. They had burrowed in right under the fence; there was a great +big hole there. And they'd eaten every chicken, and every egg in the +yard. My lovely boxes were all knocked over, and the nests torn to +bits, and there wasn't so much as an eggshell left. The poor old hens +were just demented—they were going round and round the yard, clucking +and calling, and altogether like mad things. And in the middle of it +all, fat and happy and snoring—three pigs!" +</P> + +<P> +"What did you do?" Wally felt that this case was beyond the reach of +ordinary words of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't do anything. I chased the beasts out of the yard, and threw +everything I could find at them—but you can't hurt a pig. And Dad was +horrid—advised me to have them killed, so that at least we could have +eggs and bacon!" Norah laughed, in spite of her woebegone tone. +</P> + +<P> +"And he calls himself a father!" said Wally, solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he wasn't really horrid," Norah answered. "He wrote off to town +and bought me a very swagger pair of Plymouth Rocks—just beauties. They +cost three guineas!" +</P> + +<P> +"Three guineas!" said the awestruck youth. "What awful waste! Where are +they, Norah? Show me them at once!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't," Norah responded, sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean—?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I've had a terrible year with fowls," said the dejected poultry +keeper. "Those Plymouth Rocks came just before the Cunjee show, and Dad +entered them for me, 'cause the dealer had told him they would beat +anything there. And I think they would have—only just after he sold Dad +mine, a Cunjee man bought a pair for five guineas. He showed his, too!" +Norah sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"So I got second. However, they were very lovely, and so tame. I was +truly fond of Peter." +</P> + +<P> +"Why Peter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Peter means a Rock," said Norah. "I heard it in a sermon. He was a +beautiful bird. I think he was too beautiful to live, 'cause he became +ill—I don't know what it was, but he pined away. I used to nurse him +ever so; for the last two days of his poor young life I fed him every +hour with brandy and strong soup out of the spout of the invalid +feeder. Brownie was quite annoyed when she found I'd used it for him," +said Norah, reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +"But he was an invalid, wasn't he?" asked Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course he was—and it's an invalid feeder. I don't see what it's +for, if not for the sick. But it didn't do him any good. I went out +about ten o'clock one night and wrapped him in hot flannel, and he was +rattling inside his poor chest; and in the morning I went out at five +and he was dead!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old Nor.!" +</P> + +<P> +"So I tied a bit of black stuff on the gate and went back to bed," said +Norah, pensively. +</P> + +<P> +Wally grinned. "And what became of Mrs. Peter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mrs. Peter was a lovely hen," Norah said, "and very healthy. She +never seemed to feel any of Peter's delicacy. He was a very refined +bird. There was another show coming on at Mulgoa, and I found among the +other fowls another Mr. Peter, and it struck me I would have a try for +the prize. Mrs. Peter was so good that I felt I'd get it unless the +five-guinea Plymouth Rock man came up. So I fed up the new Peter and +had them looking very well the day before the show. And then—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" said Wally, as she paused. +</P> + +<P> +"Then a new dog of Burton's killed Mrs. Peter," said Norah, "so I gave +up showing poultry!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think you did," said the sympathetic auditor. "What did your +father say?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was very nice; and very angry with the dog; but he didn't buy me +any more valuable fowls—and I expect that was just as well," said +Norah, laughing. "I don't seem to have luck when it comes to keeping +poultry. Jim says it's management, but then Jim never kept any himself. +And it does make a difference to your views if you keep them yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"It does," Wally agreed. "I used to lose ever so many in Queensland, +but then things are really rough on fowls up there—climate and snakes +and lots of odd things, including crocodiles! When I came down to +school I left a lot of hens, and twelve eggs under one old lady hen, +who should have hatched 'em out a few days after I left. And the whole +lot went wandering and found some poison my brother had put out for a +cat!" Wally wiped his eyes elaborately. +</P> + +<P> +"And died?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was suicide, I think," said Wally, nodding. "But I always had +comfort about that lot, because I still have hopes that those twelve +eggs hadn't hatched." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see what that has to do with it," Norah said, plainly puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, don't you understand? If they hatched I must have lost them along +with the others; but if they didn't hatch, I didn't lose so many, for, +not having them to lose, I couldn't very well lose them, could I? +Q.E.D.!" finished Wally, triumphantly. "That's Philosophy!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're a credit to your teachers, old man," said a new voice; and Jim +made his appearance behind the fence, over which he proceeded to climb +laboriously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm a nice boy," said modest Mr. Meadows. "Sometimes I think you +don't appreciate me—" +</P> + +<P> +"Perish the thought!" said Jim, solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"But I always feel that honest worth will tell in the end," finished +Wally. "Jim, you great, uncivilized rogue, unhand me!" There was a +strenuous interlude, during which the Leghorn chicks fled shrieking to +the farthest corner of their domain. Finally Jim stepped unwittingly, +in the joy of battle, into the kerosene tin, which was fortunately +empty, and a truce was made while he scraped from a once immaculate +brown leather legging the remains of the Leghorns' breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Serve you right," said Wally, adjusting his tie, which had +mysteriously appeared under his right ear. "Norah and I were talking +beautifully, and you hadn't any business to come poke your nose in, if +you couldn't behave, had he Nor.?" Whereat Norah and Jim grinned +cheerfully at each other, and Wally collapsed, remarking with +indignation that you couldn't hope to get justice for either of the +Linton twins when it came to dealing with the other. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not twins!" said Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said her guest, "I think you're worse!" Withdrawing, he sat in +melancholy isolation on a hen coop, and gave himself up, very +appropriately, to brooding. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm sorry if I broke up the party," Jim said, relinquishing the +task of polishing his leggings with marshmallow leaves and looking at +its streaked surface disconsolately. Jim might—and did—scorn coats and +waistcoats in the summer, and revel in soft shirts and felt hats; but +his riding equipment was a different matter, and from Garryowen's bit +and irons to his own boots, all had to be in apple pie order. "Norah, +may I have your hanky to rub this up? No? You haven't one! Well, I'm +surprised at you!" He rubbed it, quite ineffectually, with the crown of +his hat, and still looked pained. "Never mind, I'll get hold of some +tan stuff when I go in. What I came to say when you attacked me, young +Wally—" +</P> + +<P> +"When I attacked you! I like that!" spluttered the justly indignant +Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you? I thought you did," grinned Jim. "My mistake, I suppose. +Well, anyhow, when you attacked Norah—quiet, Wally, bother you; how can +a fellow get a word out?—what I came to mention was that Dad wants us." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" said Norah, gathering herself up. "Why didn't you say so before?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too busy, and you and Wal. do prattle so. Anyhow, he's not in a +tearing hurry, 'cause he said he was going to have an hour at his +income-tax—and you know what that means." +</P> + +<P> +"Solitude is always best for Dad when he's income-taxing," said Norah. +"It has the most horrible effect on his usual serenity. My dear old +Hermit used to help him, of course; but now—well, no wonder he's +starting early! How's Derrimut, Jimmy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Going on splendidly; Dad and I are quite proud of ourselves as vets.," +said her brother. "We made quite a good job of the old chap; I believe +he'll hardly have a blemish. By George, you should have seen Cecil at +that operation! He had one rope to hold and he was scared to death." +</P> + +<P> +"So was I," said Wally, grinning. "I was always as timid as a rabbit." +</P> + +<P> +"You!" said Jim, laughing. "Well, you held three ropes, anyway, and I +didn't notice that you looked pale." +</P> + +<P> +"My face won't let me," said his chum. "But I FELT pale!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well Cecil looked and felt it," Jim said. "Of course, you don't +exactly blame a town chap for not taking to that sort of thing like a +duck to water. Still, there's a limit—and I'll swear Norah would have +made a fuss. As far as that goes, Dad says he's known our grandmother, +in the early days, have to help at a much worse job for a beast than +fixing up old Derry's leg. Lots of women had to. They wouldn't like it, +of course, but they certainly wouldn't have made it harder for the man +they were helping by putting on frills!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you'd hate to have to get a woman to do a job like that." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you would. You'd never do it unless it came to a question of +saving a beast or easing its pain. But if it did come to the point, a +decent woman with backbone would lend a hand, just as she'd help if it +was the man himself that was hurt. At least, most Australian women +would, or most of those in the country, at any rate. I'd disown Norah +if she didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"I should hope so!" said Norah, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"At the same time, I've not the remotest intention of employing you as +a vet., old woman," said Jim, untying her hair ribbons in a brotherly +fashion. "Quite enough for you to act in that capacity for that rum +beggar, Lal Chunder—who's departed, by the way, leaving you his +blessing and a jolly little brass tray. The blessing was rather +unintelligible, but there's no doubt about the tray." +</P> + +<P> +"Bother!" said Norah, vexedly. "Silly man! I don't want him to give me +presents—and that wound of his ought certainly to have been looked +after for a few days." +</P> + +<P> +"He said he was going to travel with Ram Das—and old Ram'll see that he +ties it up, I expect," said Jim, with unconcern. "I wouldn't bother, +old first-aid; it looked tip-top when you dressed it before breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd have given him rag for it, anyway," said Norah, still troubled. +</P> + +<P> +"He can always tear half a yard or so off that turban of his," Jim +said. "Don't go out of your way to meet worry, my girl—it'll always +come quickly enough to meet you. Which is philosophy quite equal to +Wally's!" He sighed. "Here's trouble coming to meet us now, that's +certain!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +STATION DOINGS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + I see as I stand at the slip-rails, dreaming,<BR> + Merry riders that mount and meet;<BR> + Sun on the saddles, gleaming, gleaming,<BR> + Red dust wrapping the horses' feet.<BR> + W. H. OGILVIE<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +They had turned the corner of the house leading to the verandah off +which Mr. Linton's office opened, and where that gentleman was +presumably to be found, wrestling with the intricacies of his +income-tax schedule—the squatter's yearly bugbear. Along this verandah +came, slowly, Cecil, beautiful to behold in a loose brown suit, with +buff coloured shirt and flowing orange tie. Wally cast a swift glance +at his ankles, and chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"He's got new socks on!" he said, in a sepulchral whisper. +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up, you duffer—he'll hear you!" Jim said. He raised his voice. +"Looking for us, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," Cecil drawled. "Uncle David asked me to find you. Fed +the—ah—poultry, Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, thank you," said that damsel. +</P> + +<P> +"Awfully uninteresting things, fowls," said Cecil, turning and walking +back with them. "Noisy and dirty—I can't imagine you bothering your +head over them." +</P> + +<P> +"They're not dirty when they're kept properly," Norah said, a little +warmly. "And I don't think any animal's uninteresting if you look after +it yourself. Of course, if you do nothing more than eat them—" +</P> + +<P> +"I assure you that's all I care to do!" said Cecil. At this point, they +arrived at the door of the office, which was perhaps as well, and found +Mr. Linton half submerged in a sea of stock returns, books, and +bill-files. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, here you are," he said, smoothing the furrows out of his brow to +smile at Norah. "I had an idea I sent you for the others some time ago, +Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Jim looked somewhat sheepish. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." He admitted, laughing. "Fact is, I—I got into a kerosene tin!" +He glanced at his left leg expressively. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," said his father, with a smile. "Well, I don't know that it +matters—only a note has just come out from Anderson, and his chauffeur +is waiting for an answer. It seems Cunjee is playing Mulgoa in a great +cricket match on Thursday, and they're short of men. They want to know +if they can recruit from Billabong." +</P> + +<P> +"Good business!" said Jim, joyfully, while Wally hurrahed below his +breath. "But will they let us play, Dad—Wal. and me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they've fixed that up with the Mulgoa fellows," said his father. +"It's all right. They're kind enough to ask me to play, but it's out of +the question—even if I weren't approaching senile decay"—he smiled—"I +wouldn't be able to go. Mr. Darrell has a buyer coming to look at his +young stock on Friday, and he writes me that if I want any of them—he +knows I did want some—I can have the first pick if I am over at +Killybeg on Thursday. So that means I'll be away from Wednesday +morning—and I think this match will be as efficacious as anything else +in keeping you out of mischief during my absence!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad we'll have something!" Jim said, his grin belying his meek +voice. "Well, we'll have to see who can play." +</P> + +<P> +"You two boys, of course," said his father. "And Cecil—do you play?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not for worlds, thank you," said Cecil, hastily. "It's not in my +line." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said his uncle. "Then you can be Norah's escort—if she wants to +go, that is!" +</P> + +<P> +"Want to go! Well, Daddy!" said Norah in expostulation—whereat +everybody laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Murty can slog, I believe, and of course, Boone is a cricketer," the +squatter said. "They only want four, so if those two fellows are +willing—of which I'm not very doubtful!—that will be just right. You +might go out and see if they're anywhere about, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +Jim and Wally dashed off, to return presently with the tidings that +Murty would play "wid all the pleasure in loife." Boone was away at +work, but his acquiescence could be taken for granted. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll send a line to the doctor," Mr. Linton said. "He and Mrs. +Anderson want you all to go there for lunch on the day of the match—a +very good arrangement, seeing that you'll have Norah with you. You'd +better get away from here quite early; it's pretty certain to be hot, +and the day will be a fairly long one, in any case. It will be far +better to get the ride over before the sun is very formidable. And if +you'll take my advice, boys, you'll make those fellows have some +practice before Thursday. You two should be in good form, but they +scarcely ever touch a bat." +</P> + +<P> +Jim and Wally approved of his advice, and each evening before the day +of the match saw the Billabong contingent of the Cunjee eleven hard at +work on a level stretch of ground close to the homestead; while Norah +was generally to be found making herself useful in the outfield. Her +sex did not hinder the daughter of the house from being able to return +balls with force and directness, and when, as a reward for her aid, she +was given a few minutes with the bat, to carefully regulated bowling +from Wally, Norah's cup of joy was full. She was even heard to say that +school might be bearable if they let you play cricket most of the +time!—which was a great admission for Norah, who had kept her word +rigidly about not mentioning the dreaded prospect before her. That she +thought of it continually, Jim knew well and he and his chum were wont, +by all means in their power, to paint school life for girls in +attractive colours without appearing to be directly "preaching" to +Norah; which kindly thought she saw through very well, and was silently +grateful, though it was doubtful if her sentence lost any of its +terrors. +</P> + +<P> +It was always more or less before her. Her own circle had been too +limited to give Norah much experience of the outer world, and she +shrank instinctively from anything that lay beyond Billabong and its +surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that +she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came +over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to +date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil +were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush. +</P> + +<P> +For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and +to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly +trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her—which was +prudently when no one else was about—Norah felt a complete rustic, and +was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in +her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them +of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even +wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her, +and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy +evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons +from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on +some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears—until the next +time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of +her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of +manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's +tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the +other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they +done so. +</P> + +<P> +Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions, +boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much +cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly—at least to most of the +inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across +the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The +Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads; +but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles, +although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles. +Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and +Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him, +the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's +irresponsible bounds—for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and +was full of spirits and suppressed energy. +</P> + +<P> +"Take care of him, Daddy, won't you?" she said, a little anxiously, as +Monarch executed a more than ordinarily uproarious caper. "He's awfully +fresh." +</P> + +<P> +"He'll steady down presently," said her father, smiling at the upturned +face. "There's some steep country ahead of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but he's such a mad-headed animal—and those paths on the sides of +the gullies are very steep." +</P> + +<P> +"You sound like the nervous young woman in 'Excelsior,'" David Linton +said, with a laugh. "Cheer up, my girl—there's no need to worry about +Monarch and me. He's only playful; hasn't an atom of vice, and I know +him very well by now. I never put my leg over a better horse." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, of course," said Norah, cheered, but not altogether convinced. +"Every one knows he's a beauty—but just look out that he doesn't try to +be too playful on the sidings, Daddy. It would be so easy to slip +down." +</P> + +<P> +"Not for anything with four good legs and a fair allowance of sense," +said her father. "Do you think you could make Bobs slip down?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bobs is like a mountain goat when it comes to sure-footedness," +she said. "You've said yourself, Daddy that it would hardly be possible +to THROW him down! But then, Bobs is Bobs, and he's seven years old, +and ever so sensible—not like that big four-year-old baby. So promise +me you'll be careful, Daddy." +</P> + +<P> +"I will, little daughter." They were at the boundary fence now, and it +was time for Norah to turn back. "Hurry home—I don't quite like you +being so far afield by yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bobs will look after me." Norah hugged her father so far as +Monarch would permit—Mr. Linton had got off to wrestle with a stiff +padlock on the seldom-used gate, and the black horse was pulling away, +impatient of the delay. +</P> + +<P> +"I expect he will," said the father. "That pony is almost as great a +comfort to me as he is to you, I believe! Make haste home, all the +same." He stood still a moment to watch the little white-coated figure +and the handsome pony swinging across the plain at Bobs' long canter; +his face tender as few people ever saw it. Then he mounted the eager +Monarch, and rode off into the rough country that led to the ranges. +</P> + +<P> +It was comparatively early, but already very hot. Norah was not sorry +when she left the long stretch they called the "Far Plain" behind her, +and came into the welcome shade of a belt of timber. She walked Bobs +through it slowly. Then came the clear stretch to the homestead, and +they cantered steadily across it. +</P> + +<P> +Near the stockyard a cloud of dust hovered, through which might be seen +dimly the forms of Jim, Wally and O'Toole—all engaged in the engrossing +pursuit of inducing three poddy calves to enter the yard. They had but +one dog, which, being young and "whip shy," had vanished into the +distant landscape at the sound of Murty's stockwhip, leaving them but +their own energies to persuade the calves; and when a poddy calf +becomes obstinate there are few animals less easy to persuade. Each was +possessed of a very respectable turn of speed and a rooted +determination to remain in the paddock. When, as frequently happened, +they made separate rushes away in the direction of freedom it was all +but impossible for those on foot to head them off and keep them in the +corner by the yards. They raced hither and thither like mad things, +cutting wild capers as they fled; backed and twisted and dodged, and +occasionally bellowed as they bolted, much as a naughty child might +bellow. To an onlooker there was something distinctly funny in the +spectacle. +</P> + +<P> +Murty and the boys, however, might be excused for failing to see the +finer points of the joke. They were hot beyond expression; they were +also extremely dirty, and were verging on becoming extremely cross. To +and fro they darted wildly, striving to head off the cheerful culprits: +lifted up their voices in fruitless shouting, and wasted much necessary +breath in uttering wild threats of what might be expected to happen +when—if ever—they succeeded in yarding the enemy. Not one had a hat; +they had long ago been used as missiles in checking a rush, and now lay +in the dust, trampled under the racing feet of the poddies. Moreover, +it was distressingly evident that they were becoming tired, whilst the +calves remained fresh and in most excellent spirits. The chances, as +Norah arrived, were distinctly in favour of the calves. +</P> + +<P> +From a comfortable seat on a rail Cecil watch the battle, for once +ceasing to look bored. In his opinion it was funnier than a circus. +Once or twice he shouted words of encouragement to the combatants, and +frequently he laughed outright. As an entertainment this quite outshone +anything that had been offered him on Billabong—and Cecil was not the +man to withhold applause where he thought it due. Finally his attitude +attracted the notice of the perspiring Mr. O'Toole. +</P> + +<P> +"Yerra, come down out o' that an' len' a hand!" he shouted, panting. +"It is laughin' ye'd be, wid these loonattic images gittin' away on +us—!" Further eloquence on Murty's part was checked by a determined +rush on the part of a red and white calf, which would certainly have +ended in freedom but for a well-aimed clod, which, hurled by the +Irishman, took the poddy squarely between the eyes and induced him to +pull up and meditate. Unfortunately Murty tripped in the act of +delivery, and went headlong, picking himself up just in time to stop a +second rush by the calf, which, on seeing his enemy on the ground, +promptly ceased to meditate. Cecil rocked with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, get off that fence and try and block these brutes, Cecil!" sang +out Jim, angrily. "Another hand would make all the difference, if you'd +exert yourself!" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil's laughter came to a sudden stop. He looked indignantly at his +grey suit, and with pain at his patent leather shoes; then, apparently +coming to the conclusion that there was no help for it, descended +gingerly, and came into the line of defenders. A sturdy little +Shorthorn singled him out for attention, and charged in his direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Block him! Block him, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim's voice rang out. Cecil uttered a feeble yelp as the calf came +racing past, waved his arms, and executed a few mild steps towards +him—attentions which but served to accelerate the Shorthorn's flight. +He went by the city lad like a meteor, rendering useless a wild run by +Wally, who was just too late to head him. Murty O'Toole uttered a shout +of wrath. +</P> + +<P> +"Howly Ann! He's lost him! The blitherin'—yerra, glory be, there's Miss +Norah!" +</P> + +<P> +The change from indignation to relief was comical. Norah and Bobs came +like a bolt from the blue upon the vision of the astonished Shorthorn, +which made one last gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, +while Bobs made +every movement, propping and swinging to cut him off in a manner that +would have disturbed any rider not used to the intricate ways of a +stock horse. Finally the calf gave it up abruptly, and raced back +towards the yard, the pony at his heels. He bolted in at the open gate, +promptly followed by his companions, and Murty cut off their exit with +a grunt of relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Wisha, it's hot!" he said, mopping his brow. "Sure, Miss Norah, y' kem +in the nick av time—'twas run clane off our legs, we was." +</P> + +<P> +"They CAN run, can't they?" said Norah, who was laughing. "Did you hurt +yourself, Murty?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only me timper," said the Irishman, grinning. "But 'twas enough to +make a man angry to see that little omadhaun dancin' an' flapping his +arrums f'r all the world loike a monkey on a stick—an' pardon to ye, +Miss Norah, but I do be forgettin' he's y'r cousin." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's not used to stock; you mustn't be hard on him, Murty," Norah +laughed. "Are you very hot, you poor boys?"—as Wally and Jim came up, +panting. Cecil had withdrawn towards the house, in offended dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"Hot!" said Wally, casting himself on the ground— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "'Far better in the sod to lie,<BR> + With pasturing pig above,<BR> + Than broil beneath a copper sky,<BR> + In sight of all I love!'<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +That's me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know how you've energy to spout Dr. Watts at that rate," said +Jim, following his example. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think it is Dr. Watts; I fancy it's Kendall," said Wally, +uncertainly. "Not that it matters, anyhow; I'm not likely to meet +either of them! Did you ever see anything like the way those little +beggars ran?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hope I never will again—with the thermometer at this height," Jim +answered. "Norah, no words can say how glad I was to see you return, my +dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"I can imagine how much of your gladness concerned me, and how much was +due to that Shorthorn calf!" said Norah, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he'd have been fleeing yet into the offing if it hadn't been for +you," said Wally. "Will any one take my hand and lead me for a drink?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go up to the house—it's cool there," Jim said. "I want a lemon +squash three feet long. There'll be one for you, Murty, if you come +up." +</P> + +<P> +"I will that same," said Mr. O'Toole, promptly. "There's no vegetable +loike the limon on a day loike this!" So they let Bobs go, and all +trooped inside, where Cecil was found, well brushed, and wearing a +martyred expression—which, however, was not proof against refreshments. +He even went so far as to express mild regret for his slowness to +render assistance, remarking that it was against his doctor's advice +for him to run; which remarks were received with fitting demeanour by +his hearers, though, as Wally remarked later, it was difficult to see +how any one who knew Cecil at all could ever have contemplated the +possibility of his running! +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I must go back and help Murty brand those youngsters," Jim said, +at length, bringing his long form in stages off the sofa. "Coming, +Wal.? And, Norah, just you take things quietly. It's uncommon hot, and +you'll have a long day to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Norah assented with surprising meekness, and the day passed calmly, +enlivened by an enthusiastic cricket practice in the evening; after +which she was called into requisition at the piano, and played to an +audience stretched on basket chairs and lounges on the verandah +outside. Finally the performer protested, coming out through one of the +long windows for a breath of cooler air. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, it's bed," said Jim, yawning prodigiously. "Norah, the men +are going to drive in, with our playing togs, to-morrow; would you +rather go in the buggy?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather drive, thanks, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"Thought so. Then hurry off to bed, for we're going to make an early +start." Jim paused, looking up at the star-filled sky. "And I give you +all warning, it's going to be a caution for heat!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CUNJEE v. MULGOA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + I remember<BR> + What it was to be young, and glad, and strong,<BR> + By a creek that rippled the whole day long.<BR> + M. FORREST.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There was no doubt whatever that the heat was, as Jim had prophesied, +"a caution." Pretty little Mrs. Anderson, walking down to the cricket +ground at Cunjee, between Jim and Cecil, inwardly wondered what had +made her come out of her cool, shaded house to encounter so scorching a +sun—with nothing ahead but a bush cricket match. However, Cunjee was no +more lively than other townships of its class, and even a match was +something. Besides, her husband was playing, and the Billabong +contingent, who did not seem to mind the heat at all, had arrived full +of most infectious high spirits, filling her house with a cheerful +atmosphere of youth and jollity. Norah had at once succumbed to the +charms of the baby, and as the baby seemed similarly impressed with +Norah, it had been hard to remove him from her arms even for purposes +of nourishment for either. She had quite seriously proposed to take him +to the match, and had been a little grieved when his mother hastily +vetoed the proposition. As mother of three babies, Mrs. Anderson knew +precisely their worth at an entertainment—particularly on a hot day. +</P> + +<P> +Even Cecil was more than usually inclined to be—if not happy, at least +less bored; although he had begun the day badly, and considered himself +scarcely on speaking terms with Jim. This attitude was somewhat +difficult to sustain, because Jim himself ignored it cheerfully, and +addressed to his cousin whatever remarks came into his head—which Cecil +privately considered a demeanour showing the worst of taste. +</P> + +<P> +Bobs had been the "unhappy cause of all this discord." The bay pony was +always an object of envy to Cecil, and in his heart he was determined +to ride him before leaving Billabong. Particularly he coveted him for +the ride into Cunjee. It was bad enough, he considered, to be condemned +to Brown Betty in the paddocks, but she was certainly not stylish +enough to please him when it came to a township expedition. So he had +sauntered out when the horses were being saddled, and delicately hinted +to Jim that he might ride Bobs. +</P> + +<P> +Jim, wrestling with Garryowen's girth, had found it the easiest way out +of the difficulty to avoid hearing the hint—which he considered "like +Cecil's cheek," and as nothing short of Norah's own command would have +induced him to accede to it, silence seemed the better plan. Cecil had +waited a moment until his head came up from under the saddle flap, and +repeated his remark. +</P> + +<P> +"Afraid not," said Jim, driven to bay, and speaking shortly to cover +his annoyance. "Norah's going to ride him herself." He led Garryowen +off to tie him under the shade of the pepper trees, and did not return +to saddle Bobs until Cecil had retreated to the house, looking very +black. +</P> + +<P> +This little incident—which Jim had not thought is necessary to report +to Norah—had slightly marred the harmony of the early morning. But +Jim's unfailing good humour make it hard to keep up a grievance, and if +Betty were not exactly stylish, her paces were good enough to make her +rider enjoy the trip into Cunjee, especially as Wally and Norah were in +the best of spirits and kept things going with a will. Then had come +lunch at the Andersons', an occasion which called all Cecil's reserve +powers into play. Mrs. Anderson was pretty and smart, and he assumed +his best society manner in talking to her, monopolized most of the +conversation and flattered himself on making a distinct impression on +his country hostess. Possibly he would have been pained had he heard +Mrs. Anderson's remark to her husband while putting on her hat after +lunch. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever see such a contrast, Jack?" she asked—"that conceited +boy, and those nice Grammar School youngsters—they're so jolly and +unaffected!" To which the doctor had responded that if he had his way +he'd boil Cecil, and it was time she had that veil fixed—and had led +her forth, protesting that "half the pins weren't in!" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, however, knew nothing of these comments, and was very well +satisfied with himself as they walked slowly along the lane leading to +the cricket ground. Jim, on the other side of Mrs. Anderson, tall and +handsome in his flannels, with his white hat pulled over his eyes, +discoursed cheerfully of school matches, and promised them something +worth seeing if young Wally got going with the bat—conversation which +did not interest Cecil, who turned it as speedily as might be to +matters more to his taste, whereat Jim grew silent, listening with a +smile hovering on his well-cut mouth to society doing in the city, told +with a view to impressing his hearers with a sense of the narrator's +own important share therein. Once Mrs. Anderson met Jim's eye in a +brief glance, and reflected the smile momentarily. Behind them, Norah, +Wally, and the little doctor kept up a flow of chatter which Wally +described as "quite idiotic and awfully comfortable!" The party arrived +at the cricket ground on very good terms with itself. +</P> + +<P> +The ground boasted no pavilion save a shed used for the preparation of +afternoon tea—a building of which the extreme heat made it almost +possible to boil the kettle without lighting a fire! Naturally, no one +used it for purposes of watching the play, but there was a row of +wattle trees along one side of the ground, and seats placed in their +shade made an excellent natural grand stand. Here the non-players +betook themselves, while the doctor and the two boys went off to the +spot where already most of the other players were gathered—a lean-to +under a huge gum-tree, used as a dressing-room by most of the +combatants, a number of whom arrived on horseback from long distances. +The Billabong boys had changed at the hotel, after putting up their +horses, and before repairing to the Andersons', so that they had no +dressing to do—which was more than fortunate for them, since the +lean-to was so thick with men, boys, valises, discarded garments, +leggings and boots, that it resembled a hive in a strong state of +disorganization. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, the men were ready; a somewhat motley crowd—not more than +seven or eight in flannels, while the remainder were in ordinary dress, +with occasionally riding breeches and leggings to be seen, and not a +few football jerseys. The Mulgoa men, on being mustered, were found to +be a man short, while Cunjee had one to the good. So Murty O'Toole, to +his intense disgust, was solemnly handed over to Mulgoa. Then Dr. +Anderson, who captained Cunjee, won the toss, and Murty took the field +along with his new allies, amid heartless jeers from Mr. Boone, smoking +comfortably under a tree, who desired to know should he fetch Mr. +O'Toole an umbrella? +</P> + +<P> +The story in detail of a cricket match is generally of particular +interest to those who have been there; and as, unfortunately, the +number of spectators of the famous battle between Cunjee and Mulgoa was +limited, little would be served by an exhaustive description of each +over bowled on that day of relentless heat. Cunjee shaped badly from +the start. Their two most noted batsmen, a young blacksmith and the +post-master, fell victims, without getting into double figures, to the +crafty bowling of the Mulgoa captain, Dan Billings—who drove a coach in +his spare moments, and had as nice an understanding of how to make a +ball break on a fast wicket as of flicking the off leader on the ear +with the cracker of his four-in-hand whip. Dr. Anderson scored a couple +of fours, and then went out "leg before." He remarked, returning to the +"pavilion" sorrowfully, that when one was as round and fat as he, it +was difficult to keep out of the way of three little sticks! Then Dave +Boone and Wally made a stand that roused the perspiring spectators to +something like enthusiasm, for Mr. Boone was a mighty "slogger," and +Wally had a neat and graceful style that sent the Cunjee supporters +into the seventh heaven. Between them the score mounted rapidly, and +the men of Mulgoa breathed a sigh of relief when at length Dave skied a +ball from Billings, which descended into the ample hands of Murty +O'Toole, who was quite undecided whether to treat his catch as a +triumph or a calamity. There was no doubt, however, on the part of his +colleagues for the day, who thumped him wildly on the back and yelled +again with joy. Mr. Boone retired with a score of forty-five and a wide +grin. +</P> + +<P> +Then Jim joined Wally, and kept his end up while his chum put on the +runs. Nothing came amiss to Wally that day—slow balls, fast balls, +"yorkers," "googlies"—the science of Mulgoa went to earth before the +thin brown schoolboy with the merry face. Jim, however, was never at +ease, though he managed to remain in a good while; and eventually +Dickenson, a wiry little Mulgoa man, found his middle stump with a +swift ball—to the intense dismay of Norah, to whom it seemed that the +sky had fallen. Cecil smiled serenely. +</P> + +<P> +"I had an idea Jim fancied himself as a bat!" said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim never fancies himself at anything!" said Jim's sister, +indignantly. "Anyway, he's a bowler far more than a bat." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, it's possibly not his 'day out.' What a pity!" Cecil murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we can't always be on our best form, I suppose," said Mrs. +Anderson, pacifically. "And, at any rate, Norah, your friend is doing +splendidly. Wasn't that a lovely stroke?" +</P> + +<P> +Alas! it soon was apparent that Cunjee was not going to support its +ally. One after another the wickets went down, and the batsmen returned +from the field "with mournful steps and slow." Wally, seeing his +chances diminishing, took liberties with the bowling, and hit wildly, +with amazing luck in having catches missed. At last, however, he +snicked a ball into cover-point's hands, and retired, amid great +applause, having made forty-three. The remaining Cunjee wickets went as +chaff before the wind, and the innings closed for 119. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a rush for the refreshment shed, and monumental +quantities of tea were consumed by the teams and their supporters, +administered by the admiring maidens of Cunjee. Wally and Jim, prone on +the grass in the shade, were cheerful, but by no means enthusiastic +regarding their chances. Norah had half expected to find Jim cast down +over his batting failure, and was much relieved that he exhibited all +his usual serenity. Jim's training had been against showing feeling +over games. +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely fiery out there," said he, accepting a cup gratefully. +"Thanks, awfully, Mrs. Anderson; you people are no end good. Didn't we +make a beautiful exhibition of ourselves?—all except Dave and this kid, +that is." +</P> + +<P> +"Kid yourself," said Wally, who was sucking a lemon slowly and +luxuriously. "No tea, thanks, Norah. I'm boiling already, and if I took +tea I don't know what might happen, but certainly heat apoplexy would +be part of it. Have half my lemon?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think so, thanks," said Norah, unmoved by this magnificent +offer. "You seem to be getting used to that one, and I'd hate to +deprive you of it. Do you boys think we've any chance?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's highly doubtful," Jim answered. "The general opinion is that +Mulgoa's good for 150 at the very least—they've got a few rather +superior men, I believe, and of course that Billings chap is a terror. +And the wicket, such as it is, is all in favour for the bat—which +doesn't say much for us And one of our men has gone down with the heat +and can't field—fellow from the hotel with red hair, who made +five—remember him, Wal.? He's out of training, like most hotel chaps, +and as soft as possible, So we're playing a man short." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish they'd give you Murty back!" said Norah, with feminine +ignorance. +</P> + +<P> +"Much hope!" returned her brother. "Anyway, Murty's not over good in +the field; he's too much in the saddle to be a quick man on his feet. I +wouldn't mind you as substitute, Nor."—which remark, though futile, +pleased Norah exceedingly. +</P> + +<P> +She was rather more hopeful when the Cunjee team at length took the +field, with Boone and the blacksmith bowling against Billings and +another noted Mulgoa warrior. But her hopes were rapidly put to flight, +and the spirits of the Cunjee "barrackers" went down to zero as it +became distressingly apparent that Mr. Billings and his partner were +there to stay. Alike they treated the bowling with indifference, +hitting the Billabong stockman with especial success—which soon +demoralized Dave, who appealed to be taken off, and devoted his +energies to short slip fielding. Here he had his revenge presently, for +the second Mulgoa man hit a ball almost into his hands, and Dave clung +to it as a drowning man to a straw—one wicket for thirty-five. +</P> + +<P> +Then the score mounted with alarming steadiness, and the wickets fell +all too slowly for the home team. Dan Billings appeared as comfortable +at the wickets as though on the box of his coach, and smote the bowling +all round the ground with impartiality. The heat became more and more +oppressive, and several of the Cunjee men were tiring, including plump +little Dr. Anderson, who stuck to his work as wicket-keeper pluckily—to +the unconcealed anxiety of his wife. His reward came when a hot return +from the field by Wally gave him a chance of stumping one of the Mulgoa +cracks. But the enthusiasm was only momentary; the game was considered, +even by the most sanguine small boy of Cunjee, to be "all over bar +shouting." +</P> + +<P> +Jim had been bowling for some time from one end with fair results. The +batsmen certainly took fewer liberties with him, and he managed to +account for three of them for a comparatively low average. He had +allowed himself to become anxious, which is a bad thing for a bowler +when the score is creeping up and the batsmen are well set. Wally +watched his chum with some anxiety—there was none of the fire in his +bowling that had so often brought down the ground in a School match. +</P> + +<P> +"Wish he'd wake up," said Wally to himself. "I'd like a chance to talk +to him." +</P> + +<P> +The chance came when the field crossed over, disposed anew to harry a +left-handed batsman. Jim came over with his long, swinging walk, his +head a little bent. He started a little at his friend's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll snore soon!" said Wally, incisively. "What on earth's the +matter with you? Play up, School!" +</P> + +<P> +Jim stopped short a moment—and burst out laughing, Wally's indignant +face glanced back over his shoulder as he ran off. There was a new +spring in the bowler's walk as he went to his crease, and the smile +still lingered. +</P> + +<P> +The left-handed man faced him confidently—not many local bowlers could +trouble him much, and being a large and well-whiskered gentleman, the +tall schoolboy opposite to him sent no thrill of fear through his soul. +But Jim had learned a thing or two at school about left-handed bats. He +took a short run. +</P> + +<P> +On returning to the pavilion the whiskered one admitted that he knew +really nothing about the ball. It seemed to come from nowhere, and curl +about his bat as he lifted it to strike. How the bails came off was a +mystery to him, though it was unfortunately beyond question that they +had not remained on. The left-hander removed his pads, ruminating. +</P> + +<P> +Cunjee, meanwhile, had cheered frantically, and Wally sent a School +yell ringing down the field. Jim's eye lit up anew as he heard it. +</P> + +<P> +"I do believe I've been asleep," he muttered. +</P> + +<P> +The new man was waiting for him, and he treated his first two balls +with respect. Then he grew bolder; hit him for a single, and snicked +him to the fence for four. There was a perceptible droop in the Cunjee +spirits at the boundary hit. Then Jim bowled the last ball of the over, +and there was a composite yell from Cunjee as the Mulgoa man pushed the +ball gently into the air just over Dr. Anderson's head. The little +doctor was pitifully hot, but he did not fail. The Mulgoa batsman +returned to his friends. +</P> + +<P> +Dan Billings was a little worried. Much, he felt, depended on him, and +he had never been more comfortably set; but his men—would they be as +reliable? He decided to hit out, and Mulgoa roared as the hundred went +up for a beautiful boundary hit. Six wickets were down, and Mulgoa was +107 at the end of the over. It seemed safe enough. +</P> + +<P> +Jim took the ball again, his fingers pressing the red surface almost +lovingly. He had quite waked up; his head was buzzing with "theories," +and his old power seemed to have come back to his fingers. The first +ball came with a beautiful leg-break, and the Mulgoan bat swiped at it +wildly, and vainly. Seven for 107. +</P> + +<P> +Cunjee was getting excited as the eighth man came in—a wiry and long +youth with a stolid face. He contented himself with blocking Jim's +bowling, snatching a single presently so that Billings would have the +responsibility—to which that gentleman promptly responded by smiting +Jim for three. That brought the stolid youth back to power—an honour he +did not wish. He hit the next ball softly back to the bowler. Eight for +111; and Cunjee howling steadily, with all its youth, and some of its +beauty, battering with sticks on tins. A dog ran across the ground, and +was greeted with a yell that made it scurry away in terror, its tail +concealed between its legs. Just then Cunjee had no time for dogs. +</P> + +<P> +But it was Mr. Billings' turn, and Mr. Billings was busy. He made good +use of the over—the score mounted, and the Cunjee hopes swung lower. It +was still eight—for 115—when a single brought his companion to face +little Harry Blake, the other Cunjee bowler, who was plainly feeling +the weight of his position. He sent the ball down nervously—it slipped +as it left his hand, and the Mulgoan stepped out to meet it, while +Harry gasped with horror. Up, up, it soared—a boundary surely! Then +there was a roar as Wally Meadows gathered himself together, raced, and +sprang for the red disc, spinning over his head just at the fence. It +seemed to hover above him—then his hands closed, and, unable to stop +himself, Wally somersaulted, rolling over and over in the long grass of +the outfield. He sat up, his brown face lit by a wide smile, the ball +still clutched, held above his head. Nine for 115! +</P> + +<P> +The tension was on bowlers and batsmen alike now—all save Dan Billings, +whose calmness was unimpaired. He greeted the tenth man cheerfully—and +the tenth man was Murty O'Toole, very hot and nervous, and certainly +the most miserable man on the ground as he faced "Masther Jim's" +bowling, and knew that the alien hopes of Mulgoa depended on him. Out +in the open a Mulgoa man shrugged his shoulders, remarking, "He won't +try!" and was promptly attacked furiously by three small boys of +Cunjee, who pelted him with clods and abuse from a safe distance. Murty +looked at Jim with a little half-apologetic gesture, and Jim grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Play up, Murty, old chap!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +It was not in vain that he had schooled the stockman in the paddock at +Billabong. He sent down a treacherous ball, and Murty met it and played +it boldly for two, amid Mulgoan shrieks. Two to tie and three to +win—no, one fewer now, for the Irishman had turned a swift ball to leg, +and only quick fielding had prevented a boundary. A hundred and +seventeen! Murty heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned on his bat at the +bowler's end and glanced across at Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Praises be, 'twill be Billings to hit it, an' not O'Toole!" he +muttered. "I have put me fut in it sufficient f'r wance!" +</P> + +<P> +The ball left Jim's hand with a whizz, and Billings stepped out to meet +it. Just what happened no one saw clearly for a moment, it all came to +pass so quickly. Then an Irish yell from Murty O'Toole woke the echoes, +even as the bowler's hand flashed up above his head—and the big +stockman flung up his bat in an ecstasy of delight. Billings bit off a +sharp word and left his crease; and Cunjee woke to the fact that the +Mulgoan captain was caught and bowled. The match was theirs—by one run! +</P> + +<P> +When Cunjee woke it became very thoroughly awake. They rushed the +ground, cheering, shouting and hurling hats and caps into the air, +irrespective of their owners' wishes. There was a demonstration to +carry Jim in, which that hero promptly quenched by taking to his heels +and leaving his too affectionate friends far in the rear. Behind him +Cunjee and Mulgoa seethed together, and the air was rent with cheers. +Free fights were in active progress in at least five places on the +ground. It was clearly Cunjee's day out. +</P> + +<P> +Jim met Wally with a grin that was distinctly sheepish. +</P> + +<P> +"Knew you could!" said the Mentor, patting him happily on the back. +"Good old School! But what an ass you were, Jimmy!" +</P> + +<P> +"I was," said Jim, meekly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RIDE HOME +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + In the gathering of night-gloom o'erhead in<BR> + The still, silent change.<BR> + GORDON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, old girl?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah laughed up at the big fellow delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, wasn't it lovely, Jimmy?" she said. "I was so excited—and you were +grand! And wasn't Wally's catch a beauty? It's been a lovely match, +hasn't it, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"H'm—in spots," said Jim, a little doubtfully, but laughing back at +her. "Rather like the fellow who said his egg was 'excellent—in parts,' +don't you think? Anyhow, we won, and that's the main thing—and I never +DID see a catch to beat that of Wal's." +</P> + +<P> +"We're all immensely proud of you, Jim," Mrs. Anderson said. "And +didn't my old man do well?" +</P> + +<P> +"He did, indeed," Jim agreed heartily. "But I'm not a bit proud of +myself—I think I was asleep most of the time, till old Wal., here, woke +me up with a few well-chosen words. However, it's over now—and Norah, I +want you to get along home." +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you coming?" Norah asked, a little blankly. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to catch you up. I don't quite like the look of the +weather; we're in for a storm, that's certain, and you may possibly +escape it if you get away now. I can't start just yet; the Mulgoa +fellows are insisting on 'shouting' for all hands, and we can't very +well refuse; besides"—he dropped his voice—"you know what Boone is—I +must see that he and Murty leave Cunjee. Cecil will look after you, +won't you, Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +That gentleman assented without any pleasure. He did not feel impressed +with the prospect of acting as escort to a small girl when he might +have remained in Cunjee. Norah was quick to notice his manner. +</P> + +<P> +"I needn't bother Cecil, Jim," she said, "I can quite easily ride on by +myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed you won't," her brother responded. "Why, it'll be dark before +long—let alone the state of the weather. You don't mind, Cecil, do +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Thus directly questioned, Cecil could do nothing but express his entire +willingness. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, then," Jim said. "Hurry on down to the hotel and get +the saddles on, there's a good chap. Goodness knows whether you'll find +any one there, but I fancy that pretty well the whole township is up at +the match. You'll only escape that storm if you're lucky—don't lose a +minute." He made his farewells to Mrs. Anderson, and turned to Norah +again. "Better look after your own girth," he told her—"run after Cecil +and lend him a hand if he wants it." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil had already started; his slim, correctly attired figure was +hastening along the dusty lane. He hated rain, and the hint of the +coming storm had made him hurry when no other consideration would have +done so. There was no one visible about the hotel yard, as he entered, +and he called in vain; then, seeing no help for it, he entered the +stables, where the Billabong horses occupied the stalls at one end. +Bobs whinnied sharply as the door opened, and Cecil looked at the +inquiring head; and then, sourly, towards Brown Betty, standing +peacefully, half asleep, in her stall. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonder if she'd mind?" Cecil muttered, pondering. "Let her, anyhow!" +With which cryptic remarks he moved towards the saddles. +</P> + +<P> +Norah arrived on the scene a few minutes later, coming straight to the +stables. For a moment she could not see Cecil, then, peering into +Betty's stall, she made him out, busily girthing up. Bobs was already +saddled, and Norah went up to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you have been quick, Cecil," she said, cheerfully. "I thought I +was going to help you, but there doesn't seem anything for me to do. +Thanks very much for saddling Bobs." She led the pony out, and then +stopped. "Oh, what a pity," she said. "You've got the wrong saddles on, +Cecil." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil came out, leading the brown mare, and a little flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I did it on—ah—purpose," he said. "You don't mind, I suppose if I ride +Bobs home?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah looked at him a moment, and then flushed in her turn. To let her +cousin ride Bobs seventeen miles was unthinkable. She had the +profoundest regard for her pony's back; and she knew that even Brown +Betty's seasoned hide was giving way under the unskilled horsemanship +of the city boy. It was very doubtful, moreover, that it would be safe +to mount him on Bobs, who was already excited with the coming storm and +the prospect of home. She knew every turn, and thought of the +high-spirited pony—he went quietly for her, but with a new-chum it +might be a different matter. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, Norah was distinctly annoyed. She was a sweet-tempered +maiden, but she did not like being treated lightly; and in assuming +that he might coolly appropriate her special property, it seemed to her +that Cecil was treating her very lightly indeed. She had a moment's +swift wish that Jim were there to take her part. It was not quite easy +to oppose any one nearly grown up like Cecil—who in addition was a +guest, and had a special claim on courtesy. She flushed deeply as she +answered him in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't let you ride Bobs, I'm afraid, Cecil." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, can't you?" said Cecil, staring. "Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no one rides him but me," said Norah unhappily. "And he's a +queer pony, Cecil. I'm not a bit sure that he'd go nicely with you. You +see, I understand him." +</P> + +<P> +"You evidently think no one can ride but yourself," Cecil said +disagreeably. "I really think I can manage the famous Bobs." +</P> + +<P> +"If you knew him it might be all right," Norah answered. "But I'd +really rather not, Cecil. He's eager and impatient, and quite +unaccustomed to strangers. Dad would be awfully annoyed if you had any +trouble with him." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't fancy Uncle David would be given any need for annoyance," +Cecil replied. "I'm a bit sick of this old mare, and I don't think it +would hurt you to lend me Bobs. It's uncommonly selfish of you to want +to keep him always." +</P> + +<P> +Norah's flush deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm awfully sorry you think that," she said. "And I'll speak to Dad +about your riding him, if you like—another time." +</P> + +<P> +"Another time? Then what's the matter with my riding him now? I +suppose," said Cecil with a sneer, "you want to show off in Cunjee." +</P> + +<P> +Norah stared at him blankly for a moment. Rudeness had been always so +far from her that she did not for a moment comprehend that this boy was +being deliberately rude. Then she walked round Bobs without replying, +and unbuckled the girth. +</P> + +<P> +"Please let me have my saddle," she said. Her voice was quite final. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil was pale with anger. He flung round without a word, tugging at +the buckle until Betty, who was patient but girth-galled, pulled away +in protest. As it yielded Norah laid his saddle on the mare's withers, +and slipped her own away. Their eyes met for a moment as she did so—the +child's steady and a little scornful, the young man's shifty. Then +Norah lifted her saddle across to Bobs, and girthed him up in silence. +</P> + +<P> +The pony was restless and excited, and objected to the second saddling +out in the space of the yard, when he was keen to get away. It seemed +unreasonable to Bobs, and he ran round and generally behaved in a +frivolous manner, while Norah struggled with the girth. When it was +done, she took her head, somewhat dishevelled, from under the saddle +flap. She laughed a little. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, every line of his back showing offended dignity, was riding out +of the yard. As he came to the gate he dug his heel into Betty, who +broke into a canter at once. Norah's escort disappeared round a turn in +the street without looking back. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if he isn't a donkey!" was her comment. "He's awfully +unpleasant—I wish he wouldn't make things so uncomfortable." She +mounted Bobs, and subdued that excitable steed's impatience while she +settled her habit. "Jim will be so angry if he finds out. I must get +away before he comes." +</P> + +<P> +She rode into the street. Some distance away a crowd was moving slowly +in her direction. Cheers and snatches of triumphant choruses were +wafted to her. In the midst she could see some figures in white +flannels. Norah rounded the corner of the street, seeing ahead of her a +fast-receding speck—Brown Betty and her rider. It was evident that she +was not to have the benefit of Cecil's presence on the ride home; and +Norah could not help laughing again, although she was annoyed at the +whole occurrence. For all his airs, he was such a baby, this cousin of +hers. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell Dad all about it," she reflected. "The he can say whether he +thinks Cecil can ride Bobs. Only I won't tell him he cleared out and +left me, 'cause there would be a row straight away." Thus pondering in +the Australian manner, she took the road home. +</P> + +<P> +Jim's storm was coming up slowly, and though the sun had not yet set, +already it was growing dusk; and still it was very hot. She let Bobs +canter slowly, not wishing to appear to be hurrying after Cecil. Norah +never bore malice, but she had her pride! Often she glanced back over +her shoulder, hoping to see the boys. She knew they would not let the +grass grow under their horses' hoofs, once they were able to take the +road home. But the track lay bare behind her, and ahead Cecil had quite +disappeared. By the time she was five miles out of Cunjee she seemed +the only person in the whole landscape, and the only sound that met her +ear was the steady beat of the cantering hoofs, mingled with the creak +of the saddle leather. +</P> + +<P> +The metalled road ended, and she struck into the bush track. It was +very lonely now; trees overhung the path, and the eerie light of the +coming storm threw strange shadows, at which Bobs shied constantly. +Once or twice there was a distant roll of thunder. There was just light +enough left to see the way. The road wound in and out among the trees. +By day it was Norah's favourite part of the journey; but now she could +not help wishing that it were possible to look further ahead, or to +watch the road over which she had passed, to catch the first glimpse of +Jim and Wally. There was a pleasant security in feeling that they were +coming. Norah was not a nervous girl; but she had rarely been allowed +to ride any but short distances alone. If Dad and Jim were not +available, it was an understood thing that Billy must act as her +escort. Certainly she had never been in the dark alone, and so far from +home. She was not afraid—she would have laughed at the very notion. +Still, it was a little queer. She knew she would be glad when she was +out of the timber. +</P> + +<P> +There came a bend in the track, and Bobs swung round it sharply. Then a +dark figure loomed up suddenly in the gloom, and the pony shied +violently, and propped. Norah struck her heel into him, her heart +giving a great bound. He struggled and plunged. A hand was on his +bridle, and a rough voice threatened him savagely. In the gloom Norah +could just make out a brutal-looking man, young, but with something in +his face that made her shudder. Her heart stood still for a moment, +after that first wild leap. Then she realized that he was asking her +for money, and she commanded her voice to answer. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't any." +</P> + +<P> +It was true. When she rode with her father or brother it never occurred +to Norah to carry money, and she wore nothing of value at all to tempt +any thief. Her hunting-crop was silver mounted; she remembered it +suddenly, glad that it was dark and that the man would not be likely to +notice the gift that had been Jim's. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe y'," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you can, then," Norah answered. She was beginning to recover +herself, a little ashamed of that first moment of unreasoning terror. +If she had no money he would surely let her go. She scarcely knew the +meaning of fear—how should she, in the free, simple life that had +always been guarded, yet had left her only a little child in mind? "I +haven't so much as a penny," she went on. "Let go my bridle." +</P> + +<P> +"What are y' doin' here alone?" The slow voice was crafty; something in +it brought back that stupid first fear. She pulled herself together. +</P> + +<P> +"My people are coming—you'd better let go. If my brother gets hold of +you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, your brother's comin', is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; let go my bridle." +</P> + +<P> +"Shut up about your bridle!" said the man, and Norah shrank back as if +she had been stung. He began to lead Bobs off the track. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing?" she asked angrily. She kicked Bobs again, and the +pony tried to rear, caught between the sudden blow and that compelling +hand on his rein. The man pulled him down savagely, jerking at his bit +and flinging threats at him and at Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"Y' might as well stop playin' the fool," he told her. "I want that +pony, an' I'm goin' to have it." +</P> + +<P> +TO HAVE BOBS! She tried to speak, but the words died before she could +utter them. Bobs! In her bewildered terror she scarcely realized for a +moment what he meant; then she raised her whip and cut with all her +strength at the hand that held the rein. He gave a sharp yell of pain +as the stinging whalebone caught him, but he did not relinquish his +grasp, and Norah struck at him again and again, half blindly in the +darkness, but always with the strength of desperation. It could not +last long—the struggle was too pitifully unequal. It was only a minute +before he had wrested the whip from her and held her wrists in one +vice-like hand. His voice was thick with rage. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll teach y'," he said, "y' little spitfire! Get off that pony." +</P> + +<P> +He began to drag her off. She clung to the saddle wildly, knowing how +hopeless it was, but somehow feeling that she must not leave that one +poor haven of safety. Then she felt herself going, and in that +sickening moment screamed for help—a child's piteous cry: +</P> + +<P> +"Jim! Jim! Jim!" +</P> + +<P> +There was no Jim to aid her—she knew it, even as she cried. The rough +grasp tightened; she could feel his breath as he dragged her from the +saddle. +</P> + +<P> +Then from the darkness came a tall, stealthy shadow, and suddenly her +wrists were free, as her assailant staggered back in the grip of the +newcomer. She made a violent effort and found herself back in the +saddle; and Bobs was plunging wildly, his bridle free. The necessity of +steadying him in the timber helped her to calm herself. Before her the +men were swaying backwards and forwards, blocking the way to the track; +her enemy's savage voice mingling with a lower one that was somehow +familiar, though she could not tell what he said. Then she saw that the +struggle was ending—the tall man had the other pinned against a tree, +and turned to her. His dark face was close, and she cried out to him, +knowing him for a friend. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Lal Chunder, it's you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Him beat," said Lal Chunder, breathlessly. "L'il meesis orright?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right," she said, struggling with—for Norah—an unaccountable +desire to cry. "Oh, don't let him go!" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the Hindu, decidedly. "Him hurt you? Me kill him." +</P> + +<P> +The last remark was uttered conversationally, and the man against the +tree cried out in fear. Lal Chunder flung at him a flood of rapid +Hindustani, and he collapsed into shivering silence. Probably it was +rather awe-inspiring—the great black-bearded Indian, with his keen, +enraged face and the voice that seemed to cut. But to Norah he was a +very haven of refuge. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you mustn't kill him," she said. "The boys will be here—men +coming—quick! Can you hold him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hold him—yes—tight," said Lal Chunder, tightening his grip as he +spoke, to the manifest discomfort of the man against the tree. Then +came distant voices, and a snatch of a School song, mingled with quick +hoofs; and Norah caught her breath in the sharpness of the relief. She +rode out on the track, calling to Jim. +</P> + +<P> +The boys pulled up, the horses plunging. +</P> + +<P> +"Norah! What on earth—" +</P> + +<P> +Norah explained rapidly, and Jim flung himself off, tossing Garryowen's +rein to Wally, and ran to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Kiddie—you're all right? He didn't hurt you?" The boy's voice was +shaking. +</P> + +<P> +"Only my wrists," said Norah, and then began to shudder as the memory +of the struggle in the trees came back to her. Jim put his arm about +her. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank heaven for that blessed Indian!" said he. "Steady, old +girl—you're all right," and Norah recovered herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm all right, Jimmy," she said, a little shakily. "What about +Lal Chunder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here's the buggy," said Wally, and in a moment Murty and Boone were on +the scene, when it was the work of a few minutes to tie the prisoner +with halters and hoist him into the buggy, where he lay very +uncomfortable, with his head close to the splashboard. There was much +explanation, and it would probably have gone hard with the prisoner but +for Jim, as Murty and Boone wanted to deal out instant justice. +</P> + +<P> +"Not good enough," Jim said. He was rather white, in the glow of the +buggy lamps. "He'll be better safe in gaol." He turned to Lal Chunder, +who had drawn close to Norah, and was contemplating his right hand, +which had been nearly shaken off by the four from Billabong. The +Hindu's English was not equal to his sense of friendship, and +conversation with him lacked fluency. It was some time before Jim could +make him understand that they wanted him to return to the station—and +indeed, it was Norah who made it clear at last. +</P> + +<P> +"Me want you," she said, taking the dusky hand in hers. "Come back to +my home." She pointed towards the direction of Billabong. Lal Chunder +capitulated immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"It is an order," he said, gravely; and forthwith climbed into the +buggy, a weird figure between the two stockmen, their faces still +flushed with anger as they looked at the man lying between their feet. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll put him away in the lock-up, an' be out agin in no time, Masther +Jim," said Murty. "Take care of her me boy." And the stockman, who had +known Norah since her babyhood, choked suddenly as he looked at her +pale face. Norah was herself again, however, and she smiled at him +cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm right as rain, Murty!" she said, in the Bush idiom. "Don't you +worry about me." +</P> + +<P> +"'Tis pluck y' have," said the Irishman. He turned the buggy with some +difficulty, for the track was narrow, and they spun off on the return +journey to Cunjee, while Norah, between the two boys, was once more on +the way to Billabong. +</P> + +<P> +"You're sure you're all right, Nor.?" Jim said, looking at her keenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—truly, Jim." Norah had made up her mind not to say too much. There +was nothing to be gained by harrowing them with unnecessary +details—and, child-like, the memory of her terror was already fading, +now that care and safety had again wrapped her about. "I was a bit +scared, but that's all over." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said Jim, "can you tell me where is Cecil?" His voice was +dangerously calm. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he—he went on," Norah said. "We had a dispute, and he was a bit +put out." +</P> + +<P> +"A dispute? What about?" +</P> + +<P> +"He wanted to ride Bobs." +</P> + +<P> +"DID he?" Jim said. "And because you wouldn't let him, he cleared out +and left you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, he was offended," Norah replied slowly, "and I dare say he +thought I would catch him up—instead of which I hung back, hoping you +boys would catch ME up. So it wasn't really his fault." +</P> + +<P> +"He must have known you would be coming through that timber by yourself +in the dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, most likely he reckoned I'd have you with me by that time. He +doesn't understand very well, does he? He didn't mean any harm, Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what he meant," Jim said, angrily. "But I know what he +did—and what he'd have been responsible for if Lal Chunder hadn't +happened along in the nick of time. Great overgrown calf! Upon my word, +when I see him—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't have a row, Jim," Norah pleaded. "He's a guest." +</P> + +<P> +"Guest be hanged! Do you mean to say that's excuse for behaving like a +cad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, he wouldn't mean to. Don't tell him about—about Lal Chunder—and +the man." +</P> + +<P> +"Not tell him?" Jim exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, not to-night, anyhow. Promise me you won't have a row +to-night—and if you tackle him when you get home there will be a row. +Wait until Dad comes home." finished Norah, a little wearily. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her, Wally leaned across to his chum. They pulled back a little. +</P> + +<P> +"I say—don't worry her, old man," Wally said. "I guess she's had a bit +of a shock—let's try and keep her mind off it. Do what she asks." And +Jim nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, old woman," he said, coming alongside again. "I won't slay +him to-night—don't bother your little head. We'll let Dad fix him." +</P> + +<P> +Norah's grateful look rewarded him. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Jimmy," she said. "I—I'm feeling like having a little peace. +And he'd never understand, no matter what you said." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose he wouldn't," Jim agreed. "But he's a worm! However—the +storm's coming, and if we don't want wet jackets we'd better travel." +They tore homewards through the hot night. Presently Wally started a +chorus, and both boys were relieved when Norah joined in. They nodded +at each other cheerfully behind her back. So, singing very lustily, if +not in the most artistic fashion, they reached the Billagong stables +just as the first heavy drops were falling. +</P> + +<P> +Within, Cecil met them, a little nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were lost," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm," said Jim, passing him, and struggling with his promise. "Sorry +you and Norah had any difference of opinion." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Possibly I was—ah—hasty," he said. "I did not consider I asked Norah +much of a favour." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a matter of opinion. At any rate, Cecil, I may as well tell you +straight out that I don't consider it would be at all wise for you to +ride Bobs." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not likely to hurt him." +</P> + +<P> +"He might very likely hurt you. He's not an easy pony to ride." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil's little laugh was irritating. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" he said. "I don't profess to be a jockey, but—a child's pony?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim very nearly lost his temper. +</P> + +<P> +"You won't be convinced," he said, "and I've no desire to convince you +with Bobs. But take my advice and let Norah alone about her pony. +You've a very good mare to ride." +</P> + +<P> +"That old crock!" said Cecil, scornfully. +</P> + +<P> +Jim stared. +</P> + +<P> +"Crock!" he said. "Well, you won't find many hacks to beat old Betty, +even if in your mighty judgment she is a crock. And, anyhow, Bobs is +Norah's, and no one else has any say about him. There's the bell; +ready, chaps?" +</P> + +<P> +The meal was scarcely lively. Cecil maintained an offended silence, and +Jim was too angry to talk, while Norah was silent and a little pale. +However, Cecil retired to his room immediately he had finished; and the +boys set themselves to the task of diverting Norah, fearful lest the +evening's adventure should have any bad effect on her. They succeeded +so well that by bedtime Norah had forgotten all her troubles, and was +weak with laughter. When Wally set out "to blither," as he said, he did +not do things by halves. +</P> + +<P> +Jim came into Norah's room and switched on her light. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure you're all right, kiddie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather!" said Norah. "I've laughed too much to be anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"Then go to sleep laughing," said Jim, practically. "I'm quite close if +you want anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I won't want anything, thanks," Norah answered. "Good-night, +Jimmy." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, little chap." +</P> + +<P> +Norah tumbled hastily into bed and slept dreamlessly. She did not know +that Jim dragged a sofa and some rugs along the corridor, and slept +close to her door. +</P> + +<P> +"Kid might dream and wake up scared," he said to Wally, a little +apologetically, before mounting guard. It was Jim's way. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHILD'S PONY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + With the spirit of fire and of dew<BR> + To show the road home to them all.<BR> + KENDALL.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was quite early next morning when Cecil awoke. One of his grievances +against the country was the way in which the birds acted as alarum +clocks every day, rousing him from his well-earned slumbers fully an +hour before even the earliest milk cart rattling along the suburban +street fulfilled a similar purpose at home. Generally, he managed to +turn over and go to sleep again. This morning, however, he was +unusually wakeful. +</P> + +<P> +He lay turning in his mind his anger against his cousins. Little causes +for annoyance, simple enough in themselves, had been brooded over until +they made up a very substantial total; and now, last night's happenings +capped everything. In his own heart of hearts he knew that he had small +justification for his childish outbursts of anger; only it was not +Cecil's nature to admit any such thing, and if justification were not +evident, his mind was quite equal to manufacturing it. At the end of +half an hour's gloomy pondering he had worked himself up into a fine +state of ill usage, and into the firm belief that Norah and the boys +had no intention but to insult and humiliate him. +</P> + +<P> +To some natures there is a certain comfort in nursing a grievance, and +reasoning themselves into a plaintive state of martyrdom. When Cecil +finally rolled angrily out of bed, he was almost cheerful in the +contemplation of his own unhappiness. They were determined to sneer at +him and lessen his pride, were they? Well, they should see. +</P> + +<P> +Just what they were likely to see, Cecil did not know himself, but the +reflection was soothing. Meanwhile, the birds were maddeningly active, +and an unusual restlessness was upon him. He dressed slowly, putting on +flannels, for the day promised heat, and went downstairs. +</P> + +<P> +Sarah and Mary were busy in the hall, and lifted astonished eyebrows at +seeing the boy down before the others; as a rule Cecil strolled into +the dining-room barely in time for breakfast, or was late altogether. +He took no notice of them, but wandered out to the back, where Brownie +was found instructing a new kitchen assistant in the gentle art of +cleaning a stove. She, too, showed amazement at the apparition, but +recovered sufficiently to offer him tea and scones, to which Cecil did +justice. +</P> + +<P> +"Be you all going out early?" Brownie asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Not that I know of." Cecil's tone did not encourage conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"Seein' you so unusual early, I thought there was some plan on," said +Brownie. "Master Jim's great on makin' plans, ain't he? (Meriar, elbow +grease is one of the necessariest things in gettin' a shine on a +stove—don't let me catch you merely strokin' it again!) An' Miss +Norah's always ready to back him up—wunnerfull mates them two has alwuz +been, an' Master Jim has ever and alwuz looked after her, from the +d'rekly-minute he could walk!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah?" said Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"Well may you say so," said Brownie, inspired by her subject. "As +loving-kind a pair as could be, have them two been; and as proud of +each other—! Well, any one who reads may run! An', Master Jim never +mindin' her being on'y a girl; not that that has 'ampered Miss Norah +much, I will say, seein' how she rides an' all. I'm sure it's a picture +to see her on that there Bobs, an' the dumb beast knows every single +word she says to him. They'll fret for each other cruel, Bobs an' her, +when she goes to school." +</P> + +<P> +Brownie's enthusiasm was ill-timed, as far as Cecil was concerned; +indeed, she could scarcely have hit upon a subject less palatable to +him. Still, it was useless to interfere with the old woman; so he +gulped down his tea hastily, listening with ill-concealed impatience to +her talk of Norah and Bobs, and then escaped abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" said Brownie, looking after him. "Not a word out of me noble—not +even a thank you! Too much of a fine gentleman for Billabong, like his +ma before him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Young gent don't seem to cotton to Miss Norah," remarked the astute, +if new, Maria, who had been listening with all her ears. +</P> + +<P> +"When you're asked for your opinion about your betters, Meriar, it may +be time to shove in your oar; but until then let me advise you to keep +it in your own head," said Brownie severely. "At present your work is +rubbin' that stove, and if it ain't done in remarkable quick time it'll +have to be blackleaded all over again, bein' as how it'll have got too +dry!" Appalled by which awful possibility, Maria fell to work with +wonderful vigour, dismissing all lesser matters from her mind. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Cecil strolled across the yard, and thence towards the +stockyards, where a trampling of feet and a light cloud of dust showed +that the men had got in the horses for the day. He selected a clean +place on the top rail carefully, and cast his eye over the little mob +standing in groups about the enclosure—a dozen stock horses; the big +pair of greys that were used in the covered buggy or the express wagon; +the brown ponies that Norah drove; his own mount Betty, and Wally's +mare Nan; and then the aristocrats, Garryowen and, last of all, Bobs. +Norah's pony was standing near an old black horse for which he had a +great affection. They were nearly always to be found together in the +yards or paddocks. Even unbrushed as he was, the sunlight rippled on +his bay coat when he moved, showing the hard masses of muscle in his +arched neck. +</P> + +<P> +"Beauty, ain't he?" It was Mick Shanahan, on his way to another paddock +to bring in some colts. He pulled up beside Cecil, the youngster he was +riding sidling impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's a nice pony," said Cecil, without enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I've seen a few, but he beats 'em all," said the horsebreaker. +"A ringer from the time he was a foal—and he's only improved since I +first handled him, four year ago. Worth a pot of money that pony is!" +He laughed. "Not as his particular owner'd sell him, I reckon. Miss +Norah acts more by that chap than by anything else she's got!" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," Cecil said, seeing that he waited for a reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my word! Take 'em all round, they'd be hard to beat as a pair," +said Mick, lighting his pipe in apparent ignorance that his horse was +indulging in caracoles that appeared likely to end in a bucking +demonstration. He threw the match away after carefully extinguishing +it, and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Quiet, y' image, can't y'? Who's +hurtin' y'? Well, I must be goin'—so long." Cecil nodded casually, and +the impatient pupil went off in a series of bounds that struck the city +boy as alarming, although Mick did not appear to notice that his mount +was not walking demurely. +</P> + +<P> +Several other men came to the stockyard, selected each a horse, and +saddled it, and disappeared in various directions. The old black horse, +Bob's mate, was taken by Joe Burton, who harnessed him into a dray that +stood near, loaded up a number of fence rails, and drove off over the +paddock, evidently to a job of repairing some boundary. Cecil watched +them crawl across the plain, until they were only a speck on the grass. +Then he turned his sullen eyes on Bobs, who, left alone, had come +nearer to the fence where he sat, and was sleepily flicking with his +tail at an intrusive fly, which insisted on walking round his hip. +Cecil stared at him for some minutes before his idea came to him. +</P> + +<P> +Then he flushed a little, his hand clenching on the post beside him. At +first the idea was fascinating, but preposterous; he tried to put it +from him, but it came back persistently, and his mind held it with a +kind of half-fearful excitement. They had said he could not ride him—a +child's pony! Would he show them? +</P> + +<P> +Once he entertained the idea at all he could not let it go. It would be +such an easy way of "coming out on top"—of showing them that in one +thing at least their opinion was worthless. That Jim's words were true, +and that he could not master Bobs, he ridiculed loftily. It was +impossible for him to believe that what a child of fourteen did so +easily he might not be able to do. He had never seen Bobs other than +quiet; and though big and well bred and spirited, he was still only a +pony—a child's pony. Visions floated before him of increased respect +paid him by the men, and even by his uncle, when he should have +demonstrated his ability to manage something better than old Brown +Betty, flicking at the flies in her corner of the yard, with +down-drooped head, and then—he wanted to ride Bobs; and all his life +Cecil Linton had done what he wanted. +</P> + +<P> +He slipped down from the fence and went across to the stables for a +saddle and bridle, entering the harness room a little nervously, but +relieved on finding no men about. Returning, he caught Bobs—who stood +like the gentleman he was—and brought him outside, where his +unaccustomed fingers bungled a little with the saddle. The one he had +chosen in his haste had a breastplate, but this he could not manage at +all; and at last he managed to get the bewildering array of straps off, +and hang it over the fence. He buckled on a pair of spurs he had found +in the harness room. Then he gathered up the reins and clambered into +the saddle. Possibly, had he let Bobs feel the spur, his ride would +have ended there and then, and there would have been no further +developments in Cecil's excursion; and it is certain that he would have +spurred him cheerfully, had not the pony moved off at once. As it was +he sat back and felt exceedingly independent and pleased with himself. +He turned him down the home paddock. +</P> + +<P> +"Phwat are y' doin' on that pony?" +</P> + +<P> +Murty O'Toole had come out of the men's quarters, and was gazing +open-mouthed at the unfamiliar figure on Bobs—"the city feller," for +once not apparelled in exaggerated riding clothes, but in loose +flannels; already the legs of the trousers had worked up from his low +shoes, disclosing a vision of brilliant sock. Cecil took no notice. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, there! Shtop a minnit! Who put y' on Bobs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mind your own business," said Cecil, between his teeth, looking round. +</P> + +<P> +"My business, is it? Sure, 'tis my business, if 'tis anny man's on +Billabong! Did Miss Norah say y' could ride her pony?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's that to you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Be gob!" said Murty, "'tis more to me than it is to you, seein' 'tis +meself knows Miss Norah's feelin's an' disposition about Bobs! Did she +give y' leave? Tell me, or I'll pull y' off, if y' was the Boss' nevvy +ten times over!" +</P> + +<P> +"WILL you?" Cecil spat the words at him bitterly. He shook the reins, +and Bobs, impatient enough already, broke into a canter that carried +him away from the good friend who had intervened on his behalf. They +shot across the paddock. +</P> + +<P> +Murty, left helpless, said a few strong things as he looked after the +retreating pair. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a guinea to a gooseberry he's taken Frinch lave wid him," he +said, "bitther tongued little whipper-snapper that he is! Sure if Bobs +gets rid av him it'll serve him sorry, so 'twill. But phwat'll I do +about it, at all?" He scratched his head reflectively. "If I go over +'twill only worry Miss Norah to hear—an' it's most likely he'll have +enough av it pretty soon, an' the pony'll come home—an I do not care if +he comes home widout him! I'll lave it be f'r awhile." He went slowly +over to the stockyards. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, cantering over the grass with Bobs' perfect stride beneath him, +was, for the moment, completely satisfied with himself. He had routed +the enemy in the first engagement, and, if he had not left him +speechless, at least he had had the last word. Murty and he had been at +daggers drawn from the very first day, when the grinning Irishman had +pulled him out of the wild raspberry clump in the cutting-out paddock; +and the cheerful friendliness with which Jim and Norah treated the +stockman had always irritated him. He was exceedingly pleased that on +this occasion he had scored at his expense. +</P> + +<P> +Where should he go? There were three gates leading out of the home +paddock—one to the Cunjee road; another to a similar well-cleared plain +to that on which the house stood; and a third into a smaller paddock, +which in its turn led into part of the rougher and steeper part of the +run. Cecil wanted to get out of sight quickly. In his mind there was a +half-formed idea that Murty might saddle a horse and come out in +pursuit; and a hand-to-hand encounter with the justly indignant +Irishman was just at that moment the last thing that the boy wanted. So +he decided upon the bush paddock, and headed in that direction. +</P> + +<P> +Now, a horse that is always ridden by one person is apt to develop +ideas of his own—possibly through acquiring habits insensibly from his +usual rider. Also, he becomes accustomed to that one rider, and is +quite likely to be annoyed by a change—not alone in weight and in style +of riding, but in the absence of the sympathy that always exists +between a horse so managed and the one who cares for him and +understands him. The alien hand on his mouth had irritated Bobs from +the first; it was heavy, and jerky, where Norah's touch was as a +feather; and the light, firm seat in the saddle was changed for a +weight that bumped and shifted continuously. Further, it was not very +usual for Norah to ride in this direction—he had headed naturally for +the second gate before his tender mouth was suddenly wrenched aside +towards the third. Bobs arrived at the gate in something considerably +removed from his usual contented state of mind. +</P> + +<P> +The gate was awkward, and Cecil clumsy at shutting it; he hauled the +pony's mouth roughly in his efforts to bring him into position where he +could send home the catch. The same performance was repeated at the +next gate—the one leading into the bush paddock; and when at length +they turned from it Bobs' mouth was feeling the bit in a manner that +was quite new to him, and as unpleasant as new. He sidled off in a +rough, jerky walk, betraying irritation in every movement, had Cecil +been wise enough to know it. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil, however, was still perfectly content. He was out of sight of the +house, which was comforting in itself; while as for the idea that he +was not completely master of his mount, he would have been highly +amused at it. It was pleasant to be out, in the morning freshness; and +there was no need to hurry home, since the scones and tea in the +kitchen had made him independent of breakfast. The paddock he was in +looked interesting, too; the plain ended in a line of rough, +scrub-grown hills which it occurred to him would be a good place to +explore. He headed towards them. +</P> + +<P> +Bobs walked on, inwardly seething; jerking his head impatiently at the +unceasing pressure on his bit, and now and then giving a little half +kick that at length attracted Cecil's attention, making him wonder +vaguely what was wrong. Possibly something in the saddle; it had +occurred to him when cantering that his girth was loose. So he +dismounted and tightened it, bringing it up with a jerk that pinched +the pony suddenly, and made him back away. This time Cecil did not find +it so easy to mount. He was a little nervous as he rode on—and there is +nothing that more quickly communicates itself to a horse than +nervousness in the rider. Bobs began to dance as he went, and Cecil, +hauling at his mouth, broke out into a mild perspiration. He decided +that he was not altogether an easy pony to ride. +</P> + +<P> +A hare jumped up abruptly in the grass just ahead. Bobs shied and +plunged—and missing the hand that always understood and steadied such +mistaken energy, gave a couple of rough "pig-jumps." It was more than +enough for Cecil; mild as they were, he shot on to the pony's neck, +only regaining the saddle by a great effort. The reins flopped, and the +indignant Bobs plunged forward, while his rider clawed for support, his +feet and hands alike flying. As he dropped back into the saddle, the +spurs went home; and Bobs bolted. +</P> + +<P> +He had never in his life felt the spur; light and free in every pace, +Norah's boot heel was the utmost correction that ever came to him. This +sudden cruel stab on either side was more than painful—it was a sudden +shock of amazement that was sharper than pain. Coming on top of all his +grievances, it was too much for Bobs. Possibly, a mad race would rid +him of this creature on his back, who was so unlike his mistress. His +heels went up with a little squeal as he bounded forward before +settling into his stride. +</P> + +<P> +Cecil gave himself up for lost from the first. He tugged frantically at +the rein, realizing soon that the pony was in full command, and that +his soft muscles might as well pull at the side of a house as try to +stop him. He lost one stirrup, and clung desperately to the pommel +while he felt for it, and by great good luck managed to get his foot in +again—a piece of good fortune which his own efforts would never have +secured. The pommel was too comforting to be released; he still clung +to it while he tried to steady himself and to see where he was going. +</P> + +<P> +The plain ended abruptly just before him, and the rough hills sloped +away to the south. Perhaps, if he put Bobs at the steepest it might +calm him a little, and he might be able to pull him up. So he wrenched +the pony's mouth round, and presently they were racing up the face of +the hill, which apparently made no difference whatever to Bobs. Cecil +had not the slightest idea that his heels were spurring the pony at +every stride. He wondered angrily in his fear why he seemed to become +momentarily more maddened, and sawed at the bleeding mouth in vain. +They were at the top of the hill now. The crest was sharp and +immediately over it a sharp drop went down to a gully at the bottom. It +was steep, rough-going, boulder-strewn and undermined with wombat +holes. Perhaps in his calmer moments Bobs might have hesitated, but +just now he knew nothing but a frantic desire to escape from that cruel +agony in his sides. He flung down the side of the hill blindly, making +great bounds over the sparse bracken fern that hid the ground. Cecil +was nearly on his shoulder now—a moment more would set him free. +</P> + +<P> +Then he put his foot on a loose boulder that gave with him and went +down the slope in a flurry of shifting stones. He made a gallant effort +to recover himself, stumbling to his knees as Cecil left the saddle and +landed in the ferns—but just as he struck out for firmer footing his +forefoot sank into a wombat hole, and he turned a complete somersault, +rolling over and over. He brought up against a big boulder, struggled +to rise and then lay still. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +Presently Cecil came limping to him, white and angry. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up, you brute!" he said, kicking him. When there was no response, +he took the bridle, jerking it. Bobs' head gave a little at every jerk, +but that was all. +</P> + +<P> +Between rage and fear, Cecil lost his head. He kicked the pony +savagely; and finding that useless, sought a stick and thrashed him as +he lay. Once Bobs struggled, but only his head and shoulders came up, +and presently they fell back again. Cecil gave it up at last, and left +him alone, limping down to the gully and out of sight. He sat down on a +log for a long while, until the sun grew hot. Then he pulled his hat +over his eyes and set off towards home. +</P> + +<P> +Bobs did not know he had gone. He lay quite still. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ON THE HILLSIDE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + Never again, when the soft winds blow,<BR> + We shall ride by the river.<BR> + G. ESSEX EVANS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Wally came into breakfast with a rush and a scramble, bearing traces of +a hasty toilet. At the table Norah and Jim were eating solemnly, with +expressions of deep disapproval. They did not raise their eyes as Wally +entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Awfully sorry!" said he. "You've no idea of the difficulties I've had +to overcome, Norah, and all along of him!" indicating Jim with a jerk +of his head. "Oh, Norah, do be sympathetic, and forget that he's your +brother. I assure you I'd be a far better brother to you than ever he +could, and you can have me cheap! Look up at me, Norah, and smile—one +perfect grin is all I ask! He took my towel and dressed Tait in it, and +for all he cared I would be swimming in that beastly lagoon yet, and +dying of cramp, and nervous prostration, and housemaid's knee. And she +goes on gnawing a chop!" +</P> + +<P> +He sat down, and buried his face in his hands tragically, and began to +sob, whereat Norah and Jim laughed, and the victim of circumstances +recovered with promptitude. +</P> + +<P> +"Cream, please," he said, attacking his porridge. "Oh, he's a beast, +Norah. I'm blessed if I know why you keep him in the family—it can't be +for either his manners or his looks! I have a hectic cough coming on +rapidly. My uncle by marriage three times removed died of consumption, +and it's a thing I've always been nervous about. When I occupy the +family urn with my ashes you'll be sorry!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should be more than sorry if it were this urn," Jim put in, +grinning. "It might be an honour, of course; but we've other homely +uses for the urn. How long did you swim, Wal.?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind," returned Wally wrathfully. "I don't see why I should +satisfy any part of your fiendish curiosity—only when Brownie finds +Tait wearing one of the best bath towels as a toga, and makes remarks +about it, I shall certainly refer her to you!" +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw a dog look so miserable as he did," Norah said, laughing. +"He came straight up to me, with a truly hang-dog air, and folds of +towel ever so far behind him in the grass, and didn't get back his +self-respect until I took it off. Poor old Tait! You really ought to be +ashamed of yourself, Jimmy." +</P> + +<P> +"I am," said Jim cheerfully. "Toast, please." +</P> + +<P> +"When I saw Tait last he was disappearing into the landscape with all +his blushing honours thick upon him!" Wally said. "I don't see why you +waste all your sympathy on the brute, and give me none. It's the +greatest wonder I'm here at all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Cecil, anyhow?" asked Jim, suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't an idea—how should I? He wasn't in the lagoon, which is the +only place I could give an expert opinion on this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's late as usual," Norah said. "I suppose he's still cross about +last night. Really, Jim, I'm sorry we've managed to rub him up the +wrong way." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the difficulty would be to find the right way," Jim retorted. +"He's such a cross-grained beggar—you never know when you're going to +offend him; and of course he's perfectly idiotic about the horses. +Wonder if he thinks we LIKE horses with sore backs and mouths! He'll +have to give poor old Betty a spell, anyhow, for she's a patch on her +back the size of half a crown, thanks to him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear!" said Norah, with a little shiver. "That's awfully bad +news—'cause I'd about made up my mind to offer him Bobs!" +</P> + +<P> +"Offer—him—Bobs!" said Jim slowly. Wally gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Just for a ride, Jimmy. He's a guest, you know, and I don't like him +to feel ill-used. And you let him on Garryowen." +</P> + +<P> +"Only for a moment—and then with my heart in my boots!" said Jim. +"Norah, I think you're utterly mad if you lend him Bobs—after last +night, too! Why, you know jolly well I'VE never asked you for your +pony!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you could have had him," Norah answered, "you know that, Jimmy. +I don't want to lend him to Cecil—I simply hate it; but I don't like +the idea of his thinking we treated him at all badly." +</P> + +<P> +"He's the sort of chap that would find a grievance if you gave +everything you had in the world," Jim said. "It's all rot—and I tell +you straight, Nor., I don't think it's safe, either. Bobs is all right +with you, of course, but he's a fiery little beggar, and there's no +knowing what he'd do with a sack of flour like that on his back. I wish +you wouldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think, Wally?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me? Oh, I'm with Jim," Wally answered. "Personally, I think a +velocipede is about Cecil's form, and it's absolute insult to a pony +like Bobs to ask him to carry him! And you'd hate it so, Nor.'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know I would," Norah said. "He's such a dear—" +</P> + +<P> +"What! Cecil?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, you donkey—Bobs," Norah continued, laughing. "I'd feel like +begging his pardon all the time. But—" +</P> + +<P> +"Murty wants to see you, Master Jim," said Mary, entering. "Says he'd +be glad if you could spare him a minute." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mary—thank you," said Jim, getting up lazily and strolling +out. "Back in a minute, you two." +</P> + +<P> +"What happens to-day, Norah? Marmalade, please," said Wally, in a +breath. +</P> + +<P> +"The marmalade happens on the spot," laughed Norah, handing it to him. +"Otherwise—oh, I don't know, unless we ride out somewhere and fish. We +haven't been out to Angler's Bend this time, have we?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but that's fifteen miles. You'd never let Cecil ride Bobs that +distance?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't!" said Norah, hastily. "I don't think I possibly could +ride anything except Bobs out there. Cecil might have him another day, +if Jim doesn't think me quite mad. Perhaps I won't be sorry if he does, +'cause I'd hate to go against Jim! And Bobs is—" +</P> + +<P> +"Bobs," said Wally gravely; and Norah smiled at him. "Hallo, +Jamesy—what passion hangs these weights upon thy brow?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim had entered quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's that beauty Cecil," he said, angrily. "My word, Norah, I'll let +that young man know what I think about him! He's taken Bobs!" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone out on Bobs before breakfast. Must have got him in the yard, and +saddled him himself. Murty saw him just as he was riding off, and tried +to stop him. Here's Murty—he'll tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I towld him to stop, Miss Norah," said the stock-man. "Axed him, +I did, if he'd y'r lave, and he gev me back-answers as free as y' +please. I was perfickly calm, an never losht me timper, an' towld him +I'd pull him off av the little harse if he'd not the lave to take him; +an' he put the comether on me by cantherin' off. So I waited, thinkin' +not to worry y', an' that he'd be comin' back; or more be token Bobs +widout him, an' small loss. But he's elsewhere yit, so I kem in f'r +Masther Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm blessed!" said Norah, weakly. +</P> + +<P> +"The mean little toad!" Wally's voice was full of scorn. "I'd like five +quiet minutes with him with coats off when he comes back!" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he'll get that—or its equivalent," said Jim, grimly. "Which +way did he go, Murty?" +</P> + +<P> +"To the bush paddock, Masther Jim. He's that stupid, tin to one he's +bushed in one av thim gullies." +</P> + +<P> +"Or else Bobs has slung him; but in that case Bobs would be back at the +gate," Jim said. "Perhaps he is." +</P> + +<P> +"No, he ain't, Masther Jim, I wint over a bit an' had a look. There's +no sign av either av thim." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I suppose we'd better go after them," Jim said. "What'll you +ride, Nor? Would you care for Garryowen?" +</P> + +<P> +Norah smiled at him. +</P> + +<P> +"No, thanks, old man. I'll have Cirdar," she said. "Can you get him, +Murty?" +</P> + +<P> +"In two twos, Miss Norah," said the stockman, departing hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not worried, Norah, old girl?" Jim said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, not exactly; he can't hurt Bobs, of course, beyond a sore back," +Norah answered. "I'm more cross than worried—it is such cheek, Jim, +isn't it? All the same, I hope Cecil's all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Him!" said Jim, with fine scorn. "That sort never comes to any harm. +Well, hurry up, and get your habit on, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +There was no need to tell Norah to hurry. She flew upstairs, Brownie +plodding after; the news had flown round the house in a few moments, +and there was a storm of indignation against the absent Cecil. +</P> + +<P> +"If I'd knowed!" said Brownie, darkly, bringing Norah's linen coat out +from the wardrobe, and seeking with vigour for a felt hat that already +was on her head. "Me, givin' him tea and scones, an' talkin' about the +pony, too, no less; little I guessed at the depths of him. Never mind, +my dearie, Master Jim'll deal with him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it'll be all right, if Bobs hasn't hurt him. Only there'll be an +awful row when Jim gets him. I never saw Jim so angry," Norah said. +</P> + +<P> +"A good thing, too!" said the warlike Mrs. Brown. "There you are, +dearie, an' there's your 'unting-crop. Off you go!" and Norah ran +downstairs, finding Jim and Wally waiting, boots and leggings on. They +set off, Murty muttering dark threats against Cecil as he shut the gate +of the stable yard after them. +</P> + +<P> +Wally had recovered his cheerfulness, never long absent from him, and +was, besides, not unpleasantly excited at the thought of war ahead. He +chattered gaily as they rode through the first two paddocks. But Jim +remained quiet. As Norah said, she had never seen him so angry. Anxiety +in his mind warred with hot anger against the insult to Norah and to +them all. He swept the bush paddock with his eye as they came up to it, +seeing nothing but the scattered bullocks here and there. +</P> + +<P> +"Wonder which way he'd go," he said. "Suppose you and Wally cut over to +the right, Norah, and see if you can find any trace. I'll go over this +way. We'll coo-ee to each other if we come across him." They separated, +and Jim put Garryowen at a canter across the plain. Here and there he +could see a track—and something made him wish to go on alone. +</P> + +<P> +He was nearly at the foot of the hills when a figure came out from +their shadow. Jim gave a sudden little sound in his throat as he saw +that it was Cecil—and alone. He was limping a little, and had evidently +been down. Relief that he was safe was the first thought; then, anxiety +being done with, there was no room for anything but anger. Jim rode +towards him. At the sight of his approach Cecil started a little, and +cast a glance round as if looking for a hiding place; then he came on +doggedly, his head down. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been looking for you," Jim said, controlling his voice with +difficulty. "Where's Bobs?" +</P> + +<P> +"Over there." Cecil jerked his hand backwards. +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back there." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean? did he get away from you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He bolted," Cecil said. +</P> + +<P> +"And threw you?" +</P> + +<P> +Cecil nodded. "Yes—can't you see I'm limping?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, did he clear out again?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—he's over there." +</P> + +<P> +Jim's face went grim. "Do you mean—you don't mean the pony's HURT?" +</P> + +<P> +"He won't get up," said Cecil, sullenly. "I've tried my best." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment they faced each other, and then Cecil quailed under the +younger boy's look. His eyes fell. +</P> + +<P> +Jim jumped off. "Go on." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back to Bobs, of course. Hurry up!" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't go back there," Cecil said, angrily. "I'm limping, and—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think your limp matters an atom just now?" Jim said, through +his teeth. "Hurry up." +</P> + +<P> +He followed Cecil, not trusting himself to speak. A dull despair lay on +his heart, and above everything a great wave of pity for the little +sister across the paddock. If he could spare Norah—! +</P> + +<P> +Then they were in the gully, and he saw Bobs above him, and knew in +that instant that he could spare her nothing. The bay pony lay where he +had fallen, his head flung outwards; helplessness in every line of the +frame that had been a model of strength and beauty an hour ago. As Jim +looked Bobs beat his head three times against the ground, and then lay +still. The boy flung round, sick with horror. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you vile little wretch—you've killed him!" +</P> + +<P> +He had Cecil in a grip of iron, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat—not +knowing what he did in the sick fury that possessed him. Then suddenly +he stopped and hurled him from him into the bracken. He ran down the +gully. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back, Norah dear—don't come." +</P> + +<P> +Norah and Wally had come cantering quickly round the shoulder of the +hill. She was laughing at something Wally had said as they rode into +the gully, and the laugh was still on her lips as she looked at Jim. +Then she saw his face, and it died away. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't come, kiddie," the boy said, wretchedly. "Wally, you take her +home." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" said Norah. "We saw Cecil—where's Bobs?" Her eyes were wandering +round the gully. They passed Cecil, lying on his face in the bracken, +and travelled further up the hill. Then she turned suddenly white, and +flung herself off Sirdar. +</P> + +<P> +Jim caught her as she came blindly past him. +</P> + +<P> +"Kiddie—it's no good—you mustn't!" +</P> + +<P> +"I must," she said, and broke from him, running up the hillside. Jim +followed her with a long stride, his arm round her as she stumbled +through the ferns and boulders. When they came to Bobs he held her back +for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +The pony was nearly done. As they looked his head beat the ground again +unavailingly, and at the piteous sight a dry sob broke from Norah, and +she went on her knees by him. +</P> + +<P> +"Norah—dear little chap—you mustn't." Jim's voice was choking. "He +doesn't know what he's doing, poor old boy—it isn't safe." +</P> + +<P> +"He wants me," she said. "Bobs—dear Bobs!" +</P> + +<P> +At the voice he knew the pony quivered and struggled to rise. It was no +use—he fell back, though the beautiful head lifted itself, and the +brown eyes tried to find her. She sat down and took his head on her +knee, stroking his neck and speaking to him... broken, pitiful words. +Presently she put her cheek down to him, and crouched there above him. +Something of his agony died out of Bobs' eyes. He did not struggle any +more. After a little he gave a long shiver, straightening out; and so +died, gently. +</P> + +<HR ALIGN="center" WIDTH="60%"> + +<P> +"Come on home, old kiddie." +</P> + +<P> +It seemed a long time after, Norah could not think of a time when she +had done anything but sit with that quiet head on her knee. She +shuddered all over. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't leave him." +</P> + +<P> +"You must come, dear." Jim's hands were lifting Bobs' head as tenderly +as she herself could have done it. He picked her up and held her as +though she had been a baby, and she clung to him, shaking. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could help you!" he said, and there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, +Nor.—you know, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +He felt her hand tighten on his arm. Then he carried her down the hill, +where Garryowen stood waiting. +</P> + +<P> +"The others have gone," he said. "I sent them home—Wally and—that +brute! I've told him to go—I'll kill him if I see him again!" He lifted +her into his saddle, and keeping his arms round her, walked beside the +bay horse down the gully and out upon the plain. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim," she whispered—somewhere her voice had gone away—"you can't go +home like that. Let me walk." His arm tightened. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all right," he said—"poor little mate!" +</P> + +<P> +They did not speak again until they were nearly home—where, ahead, +Brownie waited, her kind eyes red; while every man about the homestead +was near the gate, a stern-faced, angry group that talked in savage +undertones. Murty came forward as Jim lifted Norah down. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Norah," he said. "Miss Norah, dear—sure I'd sooner—" +</P> + +<P> +The tall fellow's voice broke as he looked at the white, childish face. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, Murty," Norah said steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"And—all of you." She turned from the pitying faces, and ran indoors. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Brownie, don't let any one see me!" +</P> + +<P> +Then came a dazed time, when she did not know anything clearly. Once, +lying on her bed, with her face pressed into the pillow, trying not to +see a lean head that beat on the ground, she heard a dull sound that +rose to an angry shout from the men; and immediately the buggy drove +away quickly, as Wally took Cecil away from Billabong. She only +shivered, pressing her face harder. Jim was always near at first; the +touch of his hand made her calm when dreadful, shuddering fits came +over her. All through the night he sat by her bed, watching +ceaselessly. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a longer time when she was alone, and there seemed much +going to and fro. But no sounds touched her nearly. She could only +think of Bobs, lying in the bracken, and calling silently to her with +his pain-filled eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Then, late on, the second evening, Jim came back with a troubled face +and sat on the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Norah," he said, "I want you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to be brave, old chap," he said slowly. Something in his +tone made her start and scan his tired face. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It may be all right," Jim said, "but—but I thought I'd better tell +you, Norah, they—we can't find Dad!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BROTHER AND SISTER +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + We were mates together,<BR> + And I shall not forget.<BR> + W. H. OGILVIE.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Jim had not wanted to tell Norah. It had been Brownie who had +counselled differently. +</P> + +<P> +"I think she's got enough to bear," the boy had said, sitting on the +edge of the kitchen table, and flicking his boots mechanically with his +whip. He had been riding hard almost all day, but anxiety, not fatigue, +had put the lines into his face. "What's the good of giving her any +more?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do believe it'd be best for her, the poor lamb!" Brownie had said. +"She's there all day, not speaking—it'll wear her out. An' you know, +Master Jim, dear, she'd never forgive us for keepin' anything back from +her about the master." +</P> + +<P> +"No—but we've nothing definite. And it may make her really ill, coming +on top of the other." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think Miss Norah's the sort to let herself get ill when there +was need of her. It may take her poor mind off the other—she can't help +that now, an' he was only a pony—" +</P> + +<P> +"Only a pony! By George, Brownie—!" +</P> + +<P> +"Any horse is only a pony when compared to your Pa," said Brownie, +unconscious of anything peculiar in her remark. "I don't know that real +anxiety mayn't help her, Master Jim. And any'ow, it don't seem to me +we've the right to keep it from her, them bein', as it were, that +partickler much to each other. Take my tip, an' you tell her." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think, Wally?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm with Brownie," said Wally, unexpectedly. "It's awful to see Norah +lying there all day, never saying a word, and this'll rouse her up when +nothing else would." So Jim had yielded to the weight of advice, and +had gone slowly up to tell Norah they could not find David Linton. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't find him?" she echoed, "but isn't he at Killybeg?" +</P> + +<P> +"He left there yesterday morning," Jim answered. "A telegram came for +him last night, and it was important—something about cattle—so I sent +Burton into Cunjee with it—Killybeg's on the telephone now, you know, +and Burton could ring him up from the post office. But the Darrells +were astonished, and said he'd left there quite early, and meant to +come straight home." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" Norah was white enough now. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I got worried, and so did Murty; because you know there isn't +any stopping place between here and Killybeg when you come across the +ranges. And Monarch's pretty uncertain—in rough country, especially. So +I got Murty and Wally to go out at daylight this morning, taking the +straight line to the Darrells, and they picked up his tracks pointing +homewards about five miles from the Billabong boundary. Murty made +Monarch's shoes himself, and he could swear to them anywhere. They +followed them awhile, and they came to a place where the ground was +beaten down a lot, as if he'd had trouble with Monarch; I expect +something scared him, and he played the fool. But after that the tracks +led on to some stony rises, and they lost them; the ground was too +hard. They could only tell he'd gone right off the line to Billabong." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim! Do you think—? Oh, he couldn't be hurt! Monarch would never get +rid of him." +</P> + +<P> +"He'd stick to Monarch as long as the girth held and Monarch stood up," +Jim said, "but it's rough country, and a young horse isn't handy on +those sidings. Of course it may be all right; but if so, why wasn't he +home twenty-four hours ago?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you done anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Been out all day," Jim said. "Murty sent Wal. straight home while he +went on looking, and we went back with three of the men. But you know +what that country is, all hills and gullies, and the scrub's so thick +you can scarcely get through it in places. We found one or two hoof +marks, but that was all. If he's not home to-night we're going out at +daybreak with every hand on the place." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm coming." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you'd want to," Jim said, anxiety in his tone. "But I don't +think you're fit to, old girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmy, I'd go mad if I stayed behind." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know that, too. But you'll have to stay near me, Norah, and if +you're coming you've got to eat now; Brownie says you've touched +nothing all day." +</P> + +<P> +Norah shivered a little. "I'm not hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but you've sense, old chap. You'd be the first to say one of us +couldn't go out without proper food. Try, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll try," Norah said, obediently. +</P> + +<P> +"Brownie's got dinner for Wally and me in the breakfast-room," Jim +said. "Wouldn't you come down, old girl? It's only old Wal., you know, +and—and he's so awfully sorry for you, Nor. He's been such a brick. I +think it would cheer him up a bit if you came down." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Norah said, hesitating a moment. "But I'm bad company, +Jim." +</P> + +<P> +"We're none of us lively," said the boy. "But we've got to help each +other." And Norah looked at him gently, and came. +</P> + +<P> +Dinner was quiet, for the shadow hung upon them all. Wally tried to +talk cheerfully, checked by a lump that would rise in his throat +whenever he looked at Norah, who was "playing the game" manfully, +trying hard to eat and to be, as she would have said, "ordinary." They +talked of the plans for the next day, when a systematic search was to +be made through the scrub near where the tracks had been found. +</P> + +<P> +"Each of us is to take a revolver," Jim said; "there are five +altogether, and the men who haven't got them will have to use their +stockwhips as signals if they find anything. Three shots to be fired in +the air if help is wanted. And Brownie has flasks ready for every one, +and little packets of food with some chocolate; if he's come to grief +it'll be nearly forty-eight hours since he had anything to eat. Two of +the men are to take the express wagon out as far as it can go, with +everything to make him comfortable, if—if he's hurt. Then they can ride +the horses on to help us search." Jim forced a sorry smile. "Won't he +grin at us if he turns up all right? We'll never hear the end of it!" +Then he got up abruptly and walked to the window, looking out across +the moonlit flats; and they were all silent. +</P> + +<P> +"I keep thinking all the time I hear him coming," Jim said, turning +back into the room. "If you keep still, you can almost swear you can +hear old Monarch's hoofs coming up the track—and half a dozen times +I've been certain I caught the crack of his stockwhip. Of course, +it's—it's all imagination. My word! it's hard to loaf about here and go +to bed comfortably when you want to be hunting out there." +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't do any good, though?" asked Wally. +</P> + +<P> +"No—it would be madness to go straying round those gullies in the +moonlight; it's not even full moon, and there the timber's so thick +that very little light can get through. There's nothing for it but to +wait until daylight." +</P> + +<P> +"It's hard waiting," Norah said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is. But you ought to go to bed, old woman; you had precious +little sleep last night, and the big bell is to ring at daylight." +</P> + +<P> +"Then won't you boys go, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I guess we'd better," Jim said. "I'll come in and say good-night +to you, Norah." A look passed between them; the boy knew his father +never failed to pay a good-night visit to Norah's room. She smiled at +him gratefully. +</P> + +<P> +It was very lonely and quiet up there, undressing, with her heart like +lead within her. She hurried over her preparations, so that she might +not keep Jim waiting when he came; she knew he needed sleep—"a big boy +outgrowing his strength like that," thought Norah, with the quaint +little touch of motherliness that she always felt towards Jim. Once she +caught sight of something on the end of the couch; the white rug that +had been Jim's Christmas present, with the scarlet B standing out +sharply in the corner—the rug Bobs would never use. Shivering a little, +she put it away in her wardrobe. Just now she could only think of that +most dear one—perhaps lying out there in the cold shadows of the bush +night. She crept into bed. +</P> + +<P> +Jim came in in his shirt sleeves. +</P> + +<P> +"Comfy, little chap?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, thanks, old man. Jim—shall I ride Sirdar tomorrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't have asked," the boy said—"he's yours. And, Norah—I know +Dad wouldn't mind. I'd like you to have Garryowen. He's a bit big, but +he'll suit you quite well. I know he won't make up, but you'd get fond +of him in time, dear." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim!" she said—knowing all that the carelessly spoken words +meant—"Jimmy, boy." And then Jim was frightened, for Norah, who had not +cried at all, broke into a passion of crying. He held her tightly, +stroking her, not knowing what to say; murmuring broken, awkward words +of affection, while she sobbed against him. After a while she grew +quiet, and was desperately ashamed. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't mean to make an ass of myself," she said, contritely. "I'm +awfully sorry, and you were such a brick to me, Jimmy. I won't ever +forget it; only I couldn't take your horse. I love you for it. But +Sirdar will do for me quite well." And no arguments could shake her +from that decision. +</P> + +<P> +Jim put the light out after some time. Then he came back and sat down +on the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to tell you, dear little chap," he said, gently. "I sent Mick +out with Boone to-day, and—and they buried him under that big tree +where he fell, and heaped up stones so that nothing could get at him." +He stopped, his voice uncertain as Norah's hand tightened in his. +</P> + +<P> +"Mick said there couldn't have been any hope for him, kiddie," he went +on, presently. "His back was broken; no one could have done anything." +He would not tell her of other things Mick had seen—the spur wounds +from hip to shoulder and the marks of the stick that Cecil had thrown +down beside the pony he had ridden to his death. "They carved his name +on the tree in great big letters. Some time—whenever you feel you +can—I'll take you out there. At least"—his hand gripped hers almost +painfully—"Dad and I will take you." +</P> + +<P> +Norah put her face against him, not speaking. They stayed so, her +breath coming and going unevenly, while Jim stroked her shoulder. +Presently he slipped to his knees by the bed, one arm across her, not +moving until her head nestled closer, and he knew she was asleep. Then +the big, tired fellow put his own head down and went to sleep as he +knelt, waking, stiff and sore, in the grey half light that just +precedes the dawn. He crept away noiselessly, going out on the balcony +for a breath of the chill air. +</P> + +<P> +Below him, against the stockyard fence, a black shadow stood and +whinnied faintly. Jim's heart came into his throat, and he swung +himself over the edge of the balcony, using his old "fire escape" to +slide to the gravel below. He ran wildly across to the yard. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later the big bell of the station clanged out furiously. +</P> + +<P> +Norah, fastening her habit with swift fingers, ran to open the door in +answer to Jim's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry all you know, little chap," he said. "I'm off in a few +minutes—breakfast's ready. Wally's going into Cunjee with a telegram to +Melbourne for the black trackers, as hard as he can ride." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim—there's something you know!" +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd better tell you," he said. "Monarch's come home alone, Norah!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LONG QUEST +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The creek went down with a broken song,<BR> + 'Neath the she oaks high;<BR> + The waters carried the song along,<BR> + And the oaks a sigh.<BR> + HENRY LAWSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The big black thoroughbred still stood by the rails as they rode away. +He had got rid of the saddle, and the broken bridle trailed from his +head. No one had time to see to him. +</P> + +<P> +Billabong was humming with activity. Men were running down to the +yards, bridle in hand; others leading their horses up to be saddled; +while those who were ready had raced over to the quarters for a +snatched breakfast. Sirdar and the boys' horses had been stabled all +night, so that they were quickly saddled. Jim was riding Nan; Wally, on +Garryowen, was already a speck in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be quicker if you take him," Jim had said. Then he and Norah +had cantered away together. +</P> + +<P> +"Monarch wasn't hurt, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"He'd been down, I think," Jim said; "His knees look like it. But he's +all right—why, he must have jumped three fences?" +</P> + +<P> +After that for a long time they did not speak. Grim fear was knocking +at both their hearts, for with the return of the black horse without +his rider, their worst dread was practically confirmed. It was fairly +certain that Mr. Linton was helpless, somewhere in the bush, and that +meant that he had been so for nearly two days, since it was almost that +time since he had ridden away from Killybeg. +</P> + +<P> +Two days! They had been days of steady, relentless heat, untempered by +any breeze—when the cattle had sought the shade of the gum trees, and +the dogs about the homestead had crept close in under the tree +lucernes, with open mouths and tongues lolling. The men working on the +run had left their tasks often to go down to the creek or the river for +a drink; in the house, closely shuttered windows and lowered blinds on +the verandahs had only served to make the heat bearable. And he had +been out in it, somewhere, helpless, and perhaps in pain; with nothing +to ease for him the hot hours or to save him from the chill of a +Victorian night, which, even in midsummer, may be sharply cold before +the dawn. The thought gnawed at his children's hearts. +</P> + +<P> +They passed through the Billabong boundary and out into the rough +country beyond, sharply undulating until it rose into the ranges David +Linton had crossed on his way to and from Killybeg. They had been +fairly certain that he had come through them safely on his way home, +and the thought had been a comfort—for to seek a man in those hills was +a hopeless task. But suddenly a sick fear came over Norah. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim," she said, "we don't know where Monarch got rid of Dad, of +course?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but I expect it was near where they picked up his tracks." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't think it might have been in the ranges?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim looked suddenly aghast; but his face cleared. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, decidedly; "I don't. That place where Monarch had been +playing up shows Dad must have been on him—a horse alone doesn't go to +market as he seems to have done there. I guess you can put that notion +out of your head, mate." He smiled at Norah, who answered him with a +grateful look. +</P> + +<P> +Five miles from the boundary they came upon the tracks—to see them gave +Norah a queer sense of comfort, since in a way they brought her in +touch with Dad. Then they separated, beating into the scrub that hemmed +them round everywhere, except when low, stony hills rose naked out of +the green undergrowth. +</P> + +<P> +"We must shout to each other every few minutes to make sure we're not +getting too far apart," Jim said. "Of course, it's not so risky when +you're riding—if you gave old Sirdar his head anywhere I know he'd take +you home. Still, you don't gain anything by going far apart. A +systematic search is what's necessary in a place like this, where you +might ride half a dozen yards from him and not see him. Keep Tait with +you, Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Norah nodded. "What about coo-eeing, Jim? He might hear a +shout and answer it, even if he couldn't see us." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but you can't keep coo-eeing all the time," said Jim, +practically. "I'll tell you what—sing or whistle. You can do that +easily, and it doesn't tire you. And of course, if you find him, fire +the revolver—you're sure you've got it carefully?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's all right," Norah replied, showing the revolver in its neat +leather case. Jim and her father had taught her its use long ago, and +she understood it quite well. Mr. Linton held the view that all women +in the bush should know how to handle fire arms, since the bush is a +place where no one ever knows exactly what may turn up, from burglars +to tiger snakes. "Fire three times in the air, isn't it, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's right. Go on then, kiddie, and do take care!" Jim's voice +was strained with anxiety and wretchedness. While Norah was full of +hope, and, indeed, could scarcely realize that they might not find Dad +soon, the boy had the memory of the fruitless search all the previous +day to dispirit him. As he looked at the forbidding wall of green +scrub, his feeling was almost one of despair. +</P> + +<P> +It did not take long for Norah to realize the difficulty of their task. +She beat up and down among the trees, striving to keep an eye in every +direction, since any one of the big stumps, any clump of brushwood, any +old log or little knoll or grassy hollow might hide the one she +sought—unable, perhaps, to see her or call to her even should she pass +in his sight. She remembered Jim's advice, and began to sing; but the +words died in her throat, and ended in something more like a sob. +Whistling was more possible, and mechanically she took up a tune that +Wally used to sing, and whistled it up and down the scrub as she went. +Soon she did not know that she was doing so; but years after she used +to shudder within herself if she heard that foolish little tune. +</P> + +<P> +The men came out a little later, and soon the scrub was alive with +voices and the noise of the searching. It was weary work, with many a +flutter at the heart when a sudden call would bring Norah to attention, +rigid and listening—forgetting for the moment that only the three +signals agreed upon were to give evidence of success. Hour after hour +went by. +</P> + +<P> +They had settled a certain signal to meet for lunch, and when it +finally summoned them the searchers struggled out of the bush one by +one. Jim's heart smote him as he saw Norah's white face, and he begged +her to cease; to stay resting during the hot afternoon, even if she +would not go home. Norah shook her head dully. She could not do it; and +Jim, knowing how he would have felt were he in her place, did not press +her, although he was miserably anxious. They sat down together on an +old log, finding a shred of comfort in each other's nearness. +</P> + +<P> +It was a silent party that gathered round when black Billy had the big +quart pots of tea ready. No one seemed to have anything to say. Norah +thought, with a catch at her heart, of the last time they had picnicked +in the scrub; the happy talk and laughter, the dear foolish jokes and +merriment. This was indeed a strange picnic—each man eating rapidly and +in silence, and everywhere stern preoccupied faces. There was no +waiting afterwards for the usual "smoke oh"; the men sprang up as soon +as the hurried meal was over, and lit their pipes as they strode away. +Soon the temporary camp was deserted—black Billy, the last to leave, +muttering miserably to himself, hurrying back into the bush. The search +went on. +</P> + +<P> +There was no riding in the afternoon; they were in country where the +tangle of dogwood and undergrowth was so thick that to take a horse +through it meant only lost time, and hindered the thoroughness of the +quest. Norah fought her way through, keeping her line just as the men +kept theirs; her white coat stained and torn now, her riding skirt +showing a hundred rents, her boots cut through in many places. She did +not know it; there was only room in her heart for one thought. When, +while waiting for lunch, she had heard Dave Boone say something in an +angry undertone about Bobs, she had wondered dully for a moment what he +meant. She had forgotten even Bobs. +</P> + +<P> +The hours went by, and the sun drooped towards evening. In the dark +heart of the scrub the gloom came early, making each shadow a place of +mystery that gave false hope to the searchers a hundred times. +Gradually it was too dark to look any more; for that day also they must +give it up—the third since Monarch had broken free from his master and +left him lying somewhere in the green fastness about them. There +scarcely seemed a yard of it left unsearched. Despair was written on +most of the faces as the men came one by one to their horses and rode +home, picking up on their way those who were still beating the bush as +far as the Billabong boundary. +</P> + +<P> +Jim and Norah were the last to leave. They came back to the horses +together, Tait at their heels, his head and tail down. Norah was +stumbling blindly as she walked, and Jim's arm was round her. He put +her up, and turned silently to unfasten his own bridle. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim," she said, and stopped. "Jim, do you think we'll find him in—in +time?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim hesitated, trying to bring himself to say what he dared no longer +think. Then he gave way suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, hoarsely, "I don't; I don't believe we ever will!" He +put his head down on the saddle and sobbed terribly—dry, hard sobs that +came from the bottom of his big heart. And Norah had no word of +comfort. She sat still on Sirdar, staring in front of her. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Jim stood up and climbed into the saddle, and the impatient +horses moved off quickly towards home, Tait jogging at their heels. +Once Jim turned towards his sister, saying, "Are you quite knocked up, +old girl?" Norah only shook her head—she did not know that she was +tired. Neither spoke again. +</P> + +<P> +It was perhaps a mile further on that Norah pulled up sharply, and +whistled to Tait. The collie had slipped off into the undergrowth—she +could hear him moving on dry sticks that crackled beneath him. He +whined a little, but did not come. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't wait," Jim said. "He'll catch us up in a minute." +</P> + +<P> +"He always comes if I whistle," Norah answered, her brow puckering. "I +don't understand. Wait a moment, Jim." She had slid off her pony and +followed Tait almost before Jim realized that she was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The dog was nosing along a big log, the ruff on his neck bristling. As +Norah saw him he leaped upon it, and down on the other side. Then she +heard him bark sharply, and flung herself over the log after him. He +was licking something that lay in the shadows, almost invisible at +first, until the dim light showed a white glimmer. It was instinct more +than sight that told Norah it was her father's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Daddy—oh, Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +The wild cry turned Jim to stone for a moment—then he was off his horse +and through the scrub like a madman to where Norah knelt beside the +still form, sobbing and talking incoherently, and screwing blindly at +the cap of the flask she carried. They forced a little of the stimulant +between the set teeth, once a terrified examination had told them that +he still breathed; then Jim struck match after match, trying to see the +extent of his injuries—a hopeless task by the flickering light that +lasted only an instant. He put the box in his pocket at last. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no good," he said, "we can't see. Wonder if the men are out of +hearing." Running to the horses, standing patiently with trailing +bridles, he fired off all his revolver shots in quick succession, and +coo-ed again and again. Then he went back to where Norah sat in the +darkness and held her father's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't wait," she said. "I'm sure they're out of hearing, Jim, darling. +And we couldn't dare to move him by ourselves. Tear in and bring the +men—and send for the doctor." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like to leave you here alone," he said, anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Alone!" Norah said, in amazement. "But I've got Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "but—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do fly, Jimmy!" she said. "Leave me the matches. I'm all right." +</P> + +<P> +She heard him crash back to the horses, and then the swift thud of +Nan's hoofs grew fainter and fainter as he spurred her madly over the +rough ground, galloping off for help. The darkness seemed all at once +to be more complete, and the scrub to come closer, like a curtain round +them—round her and Dad, who was found again. She put her ear close to +his mouth—the breathing was a little more distinct, and so far as she +could tell his head was uninjured. One leg was doubled up beneath him +in an ugly manner. Norah knew she must not try to move it; but even in +the darkness she was sure that it was badly hurt, and the tears were +falling on David Linton's face as Norah crept back after her +examination. It was horrible to see Dad, of all people, helpless and +still. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was the tears that woke him from his stupor. He stirred a +little, and groaned. At the sound, Norah, on her knees beside him, +trembled very exceedingly, with a mixture of joy and fear that almost +took her breath. She spoke softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Dad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it—you?" said David Linton, weakly. The darkness hid his face, but +to hear his voice again was wonderful; and Norah's hands shook as she +wrestled with the flask. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's me," she said. "Oh, Dad, dear old Dad, are you much hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know." The voice was very faint. Her fears surged back. +</P> + +<P> +"Try to drink some of this—it's weak, and you won't choke," she said. +"Is your head hurt, Daddy? Could I lift it a little?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not hurt," he managed to say. So she groped in the darkness to lift +the heavy head, and together they made a sorry business of the flask, +spilling far more than he drank. Still, some went the right way; and +presently he spoke again, his voice stronger. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you'd come... mate." +</P> + +<P> +"Tait found you," she said. "And Jim was here, but he's gone for the +men. We'll take care of you, Daddy. Could I move you any way to help?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better not," he said. "Just—be there." His hand closed on hers, and he +seemed to slip off into unconsciousness again, for when she spoke to +him he did not answer. So Norah sat and held his hand; and the night +crept on. +</P> + +<P> +"Coo-ee!" Far off a shout. She slipped her hand away gently, and ran a +little way before answering, lest the cry should startle him. Then she +shouted with all her strength; and soon the beat of hoofs came nearer +and out of the darkness Jim came back, Murty galloping with him. +</P> + +<P> +"He's spoken," said Norah; "but he's gone off again. And he's had some +whisky." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he know you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but he's terribly weak." They were all beside Mr. Linton now, and +Murty struck a match, and carefully shading it, scanned the fallen +man's face by its glimmer. Norah saw his own change as he looked. Then +the match went out, and for a moment it was darker than ever. +</P> + +<P> +"They're bringing things," Jim said. He took off his coat and spread it +over his father, and Murty did the same. "And the doctor's coming—it's +wonderful luck—he came out from Cunjee with Wally." Jim put his hand on +Norah's. "Were you all right, old kiddie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite right," said she. Then they waited silently until a rattle of +wheels came as the express wagon clattered up. Murty went out to the +track to bring the doctor in. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Anderson cast a glance at Norah by the light of the lanterns they +had brought, and spoke to Jim. +</P> + +<P> +"Take her away," he said. "I don't want you, either. Murty and Boone +will help me." So the two who were only children wandered off into the +scrub together, sitting on a log, silently, in sick anxiety, while the +doctor was busy. A groan came to them once, and Norah shuddered and put +her face into her hands, while Jim, who had himself shivered at the +sound, put his arm round her, and tried to whisper something, only his +voice would not come. Then—ages later, it seemed—the doctor's voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Are you two there?" +</P> + +<P> +They hurried to him. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll get him home," the doctor said. "A risk, moving him; but it's +worse to leave him lying under that log. The men are getting some of +the dogwood down, so that we can carry him out better. He's badly +knocked about, but his head's all right. The leg is the worst; it's +fractured in two places. You'll have a patient for a good while, +Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"Then—then he won't die?" +</P> + +<P> +"Die?" said the doctor. "Not a bit of it! He'll—ah, you poor child!" +For Norah had turned and clung to Jim, and was sobbing, while the big +fellow who bent over her and patted her was himself unable to speak. +Little Dr. Anderson patted them both, and choked himself, though he hid +it professionally with a cough. He remarked afterwards that he had not +known that young Norah Linton could cry. +</P> + +<P> +It was only for a minute, though. The men came back carrying a +stretcher, and Norah and Jim sprang to help. Very gently they lifted +David Linton's unconscious form, and the four bore him slowly to the +wagon, Norah backing in front with two lanterns to light every step. +</P> + +<P> +"Chancy work through them dorgwood spikes," said Dave Boone. But they +came out safely, and got him into the wagon, where a mattress was in +readiness. The doctor heaved a sigh of relief when the business was +done. So they took him home, the grey horses pulled into a slow walk, +while Jim and Norah rode ahead to find the smoothest track. +</P> + +<P> +It was past midnight when the lights of the homestead came into view; +but everywhere Billabong was up. The men were round the open gate of +the yard, from Andy Ferguson, the tears running unheeded down his old +face, to Lee Wing, for once without his wide benevolent smile, and in +the background Lal Chunder's dark face. Beyond them was Mrs. Brown, +with the pale-faced girls behind her. There were a score of willing +hands to bring David Linton into his home. +</P> + +<P> +A little later Jim came out to where Norah waited in the hall, a little +huddled figure in one corner of a leather armchair. +</P> + +<P> +"He's quite comfortable," he said; "hasn't spoken, but the doctor says +it's a natural sleep, and Brownie and he are going to sit with him. Old +kiddie, are you awfully tired?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not tired one bit!" said Norah, with no idea that she was not +speaking the exact truth. +</P> + +<P> +"H'm!" said Jim, looking at her. He went into the dining-room, +returning a minute later with a glass of wine. +</P> + +<P> +"You're to have this," he said authoritatively, "and then I'm going to +put you to—" +</P> + +<P> +He broke off, looking at her with a little smile on his tired face. +Norah had put her head down on the arm of the big chair, and was fast +asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MATES +</H3> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + The sleepy river murmurs low,<BR> + And far away one dimly sees,<BR> + Beyond the stretch of forest trees,<BR> + Beyond the foothills dusk and dun,<BR> + The ranges sleeping in the sun.<BR> + A. B. PATERSON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Autumn was late that year at Billabong, and the orchard trees were +still green, though a yellow leaf showed here and there in the Virginia +creeper, as David Linton lay on the verandah and looked out over the +garden. From his couch he could see the paddock beyond, and here and +there the roan hides of some of his Shorthorns. They did not generally +graze there; but Jim had brought some into the paddock the day before, +remarking that he was certain his father would recover much more +quickly if he could see a bullock now and then. So they grazed, and lay +about in the yellow grass, and David Linton watched them contentedly. +</P> + +<P> +From time to time Mrs. Brown's comfortable face peeped out from door or +window, with an inquiry as to her master's needs; but he was not an +exacting patient, and usually met her with a smile and "Nothing, +Brownie, thanks—don't trouble about me." Lee Wing came along, +shouldering a great coil of rubber hose like an immense grey snake, and +stopped for a cheerful conversation in his picturesque English; and +Billy, arriving from some remote corner of the run, left his horse at +the gate and came up to the verandah, standing a black statue in shirt, +moleskins and leggings, his stockwhip over his arm, while Mr. Linton +asked questions about the cattle he had been to see. Afterwards Mrs. +Brown brought out tea, having met and routed with great slaughter +Sarah, who was anxious to have the honour that up to to-day had been +Norah's alone. +</P> + +<P> +"It's dull for you, sir," she said. "No mistake, it do make a +difference when that child's not in the house!" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt of that," Mr. Linton said. "But I'm getting on very well, +Brownie, although I certainly miss my nurses." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we can make you comferable an' all that," Brownie said, +disparagingly. "But when it comes to a mate, we all know there ain't +any one for you like Miss Norah—though I do say Master Jim's as handy +in a sick-room as that high-flown nurse from Melbourne ever was—I'm +glad to me bones she's gone!" said Brownie, in pious relief. +</P> + +<P> +"So am I," agreed the squatter hastily. "Afraid I don't take kindly to +the imported article—and I'm perfectly certain Norah and she nearly +came to blows many times." +</P> + +<P> +"An' small wonder," said Brownie, her nose uplifted. "Keepin' her out +of your room, if you please—or tryin' to—till Miss Norah heard you +callin' her, an' simply came in at the winder! An' callin' her 'ducksy +bird.' I ask you, sir," said Brownie, indignantly, "is 'ducksy bird' +the thing anybody with sense'd be likely to call Miss Norah?" +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Norah!" said Mr. Linton, laughing. "She didn't tell me of that +indignity." +</P> + +<P> +"Many a trile Miss Norah had with that nurse as I'll dare be sworn, +she'd never menshin to you, sir," Brownie answered. "She wouldn't let a +breath of anything get near you that'd worry you. Why, it was three +weeks and more before she'd let you be told about Bobs!" +</P> + +<P> +David Linton's brow darkened. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't have done any good, of course," he said. "But I'm sorry I +couldn't have helped her at all over that bad business. Well, I hope +Providence will keep that young man out of my path in future!" +</P> + +<P> +"An' out of Billabong," said Brownie with fervour. "Mr. Cecil's safer +away. I guess even now he'd have a rough time if the men caught him—an' +serve him right!" +</P> + +<P> +"He seems penitent," Mr. Linton said, "and even his mother wrote about +him more in sorrow than in anger. The atmosphere of admiration in which +he has always lived seems to have cooled, which should be an uncommonly +good thing for Cecil. But I don't want to see him." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor more don't any of us," Brownie said, wrathfully. "Billabong had +enough of Mr. Cecil. Dear sakes!—when I think of him clearin' away from +Miss Norah that night, an' what might have 'appened but for that +blessed 'eathen, Lal Chunder, I don't feel 'ardly Christian, that I +don't! Not as she ever made much of it—but—poor little lamb!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Linton's face contracted, and Brownie left the topic hastily. It +always agitated the invalid, who had indeed only been told of Norah's +night adventure because of the risk of his hearing of it suddenly from +outsiders or a newspaper. The district had seethed over the child's +peril, and Lal Chunder had found himself in the embarrassing position +of a hero—which by no means suited that usually mild-mannered Asiatic. +He had developed a habit of paying Billabong frequent, if fleeting, +calls; apparently for the sole purpose of looking at Norah, for he +rarely spoke. There was no guest more welcome. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Murty O'Toole and Dave Boone came round the corner of the +verandah. +</P> + +<P> +"Masther Jim gev special insthructions not to be later'n half-past four +in takin' y' in, sir," said the Irishman. "The chill do be comin' in +the air afther that, says he. An' Miss Norah towld me to be stern wid +ye!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, did she?" said Norah's father, laughing. "Well, I suppose I'd +better be meek, Murty, if the orders are so strict—though it's warm +enough out here still." +</P> + +<P> +"The cowld creeps up from thim flats," Murty said, judicially. "An' +whin y' are takin' things aisy—well, y' are apt to take a cowld aisy as +well." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm certainly taking things far too easy for my taste," Mr. Linton +said, smiling ruefully. "Five weeks on my back, Murty!—and goodness +knows how much ahead. It doesn't suit me." +</P> + +<P> +"I will admit there's some on the station 'twould suit betther," Murty +answered. "Dave here, now—sure, he shines best whin he's on his back! +an' I can do a bit av that same meself. ("You can that!" from the +outraged Mr. Boone.) But y' had the drawback to be born widout a lazy +bone in y'r body, so 'tis a hardship on y'. There is but wan thing +that's good in it, as far as th' station sees." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Murty?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Brown here do be tellin' me Miss Norah's not to go away—an' +there's not a man on the place but slung up his hat!" said the +Irishman. "Billabong wouldn't be the same at all widout the little +misthress—we had a grudge agin that foine school in Melbourne, so we +had. However, it's all right now." He beamed on his master. +</P> + +<P> +"Only a postponement, I'm afraid, Murty," said that gentleman, who +beamed himself, quite unconsciously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yerra, it's no good lookin' ahead—time enough to jump over the bridge +when y' come to it," said Murty, cheerfully. "Annyhow, she'll not be +lavin' on us yit. Well, if y' are ready, sir?" He nodded to Boone and +took up his position at the head of Mr. Linton's couch. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go into the dining-room," the squatter said, as they carried him +gently into the hall. "Put me near the window, boys—no, the one looking +down the track. That's all right," as his couch came to anchor in the +bay of a window that gave a clear view of the homestead paddock. He +chatted to them awhile longer before wishing them good-night. +</P> + +<P> +The stockmen tramped out, making violent efforts to be noiseless. +</P> + +<P> +"Whisht, can't y'?" said Murty, indignantly, as Dave cannoned into a +chair in the hall. "Have y' not got anny manners at all, thin, Davy? +wid' him lyin' there, an' good luck to him! Did y' see how he made us +put his sofy in that square little winder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked the slower Mr. Boone. +</P> + +<P> +"An' what but to see the first glimpse av them kids comin' home? Y' do +be an ass, Davy!" said Murty, pleasantly. "Begob, 'tis somethin' f'r a +man's eyes to see how Miss Norah handles that bay horse!" +</P> + +<P> +Left to himself, David Linton made a pretence at reading a paper, but +his eyes were weary, and presently the sheet crackled to the floor, and +lay unheeded. Brownie, coming in softly, thought he had fallen asleep, +and tiptoed to the couch with a light rug, which she drew over him. +They handled him very carefully; although his clean, hard life had +helped him to make a wonderful recovery, his injuries had been severe; +and it would be many weeks yet before he could use his leg, even with +crutches. The trained nurse from Melbourne, who had been more or less a +necessary evil, or, as Jim put it, "an evil necessary," had been +dispensed with a week before; and now he had as many attendants as +there were inhabitants of Billabong, with Norah as head nurse and +Brownie as superintendent, and Jim as right-hand man. Once there had +been a plan that Jim should go North, for other experience, after +leaving school. But it was never talked of now. +</P> + +<P> +This was the first day, since they had brought her father home, that +Norah had been induced to leave him; and then it had taken a command on +his part to make her go. She was growing pale and hollow-eyed with the +long watching. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Anderson, whose visits were becoming rarer, had prescribed a tonic, +which Norah had taken meekly, and without apparent results. +</P> + +<P> +"The tonic she wants is her own old life," Brownie had said. "Stickin' +inside the house all day! it's no wonder she's peakin' and pinin'. Make +her go out, sir." So David Linton had asserted himself from his couch; +and Jim had taken Norah for a ride over the paddocks, and to call for +the mail at the Cross Roads, where the Billabong loose bag was left by +the coach three times a week. +</P> + +<P> +He was lying with his eyes fixed on the track when they came out of the +trees; both horses at a hand gallop and pulling double. Norah was on +Garryowen, her face flushed and laughing, her head thrown back a little +as the beautiful bay reefed and plunged forward, enjoying the speed as +much as his rider. Jim was a length or so behind on Monarch, whose one +ambition at that moment was, in Murty's words, "to get away on him." It +was plain that the boy was exulting in the tussle. The sunlight gleamed +on the black horse's splendid side as they dashed up the track. +</P> + +<P> +As yet there had been no talk openly of a successor to Bobs—that wound +was still too sore. For the present Norah was to ride Garryowen, since +Monarch was far too frivolous to stand a long spell; Jim would handle +him for the months that must elapse before his father was in the saddle +again. Later on, Jim and Mr. Linton had great plans for something very +special—a new pony that would not disgrace Bobs' memory, and that would +fit the unused rug with the scarlet B that lay locked away in Norah's +wardrobe. Other things were locked away in her heart; she never spoke +of Bobs. But the two who were her mates knew. +</P> + +<P> +The swift hoofs came thudding up the track and scattered the gravel by +the gate; then there was silence for a moment, voices and laughter, and +quick footsteps, and Jim and Norah came in together, their faces +glowing. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get on, Dad? Were we long?" +</P> + +<P> +"Long!" said David Linton, whose face had grown suddenly contented. +"The conceit of some people! Why, I had so much attention paid me that +I scarcely noticed you had gone." He put up one hand and took Norah's +as she sat on the arm of his couch. "But I'm glad you're back," he +added. They smiled at each other. +</P> + +<P> +"Conceit's bad enough," said Jim, grinning, "but insanity's worse. Had +the maddest ride of my life, Dad—my poor old Garryowen's absolutely +cowed, and has no tail left to speak of!" He ducked to avoid a cushion +from his sister. "It's a most disastrous experiment to keep Norah off a +horse for five weeks!" +</P> + +<P> +"We won't repeat it," said her father, "not that Garryowen seemed to be +suffering from nervous prostration as he came up the paddock—or Monarch +either! Any letters?" +</P> + +<P> +"One from Wally," Norah cried, "poor old boy. He says school is horrid +without Jim, and he's collar-proud, and they lost the match last +Saturday—he carried out his bat for thirty-seven, though!—and he misses +Billabong, and he sends his love and all sorts of messages to you, Dad. +I guess Brownie and I will fix up a hamper for him," concluded Norah, +pensively, weighing in her mind the attractions of plum or seed cake, +and deciding on both. "And mince pies," she added, aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" said her father, staring. "Oh, I see. Any other mail?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the usual pile for you, Dad. Agents' letters and bills and things. +Jim has them. We didn't bring the papers." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think not!" returned her father. "If I catch either of you +carrying loose papers on those horses—well, one broken leg is enough in +a family of this size!" +</P> + +<P> +"Too much respect for Monarch, to say nothing of my legs," said Jim, +laconically, producing a handful of letters. "There you are, Dad; +that's all. Do you want anything? I'm going down to the little paddock +for a lesson in bullock driving from Burton." +</P> + +<P> +"How are you getting on in the art?" asked his father, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, slowly. My command of language doesn't seem to be sufficient, for +so far the team looks on me with mild scorn." Jim grinned. "It's +nervous work for Joe, too. I got him with the tail of the whip +yesterday, when I'd every intention of correcting old Ranger! However, +I plod on, and Joe keeps well out of the way now. He yells instructions +at me from some way back in the landscape!" +</P> + +<P> +"Prudent man, Burton," laughed his father. "A good tutor, too. I don't +know that I ever saw a man handle bullocks better. Most people don't +credit bullocks with souls, but I think Joe gets nearer to finding that +attribute in his beasts than the average driver, and with less +expenditure of energy and eloquence! He's like the man we were reading +about, North: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "As to a team, over gully and hill,<BR> + He can travel with twelve on the breadth of a quill!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Oh, COULD he?" asked Jim, with much interest. "Well, the width of the +paddock doesn't seem more than enough for me, so far. We wobble +magnificently, the team and I! However, I keep hoping! I'd better be +going. Sure you don't want me, Dad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not just now, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'll be back before long." He smiled at his father and Norah, +swinging out over the window ledge, and whistling cheerily until his +long legs had carried him out of sight. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll be a good man on the place, Norah." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course," said Norah, a little surprised that statement should +be made of so evident a fact. "Murty says he's 'takin' howld wid' both +hands, an' 'tis the ould man over agin,' though it's like Murty's cheek +to call you that. You won't be able to let him go away, I believe, +Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see myself sparing him to any other place now," said Mr. +Linton. "Nor the head nurse either!" +</P> + +<P> +Norah slipped down beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been thinking," she said, a little anxiously. "It's been so +lovely to think of no old school until midwinter—but I'd go sooner—when +you're quite well—if you're worried really, Dad. I don't want to be a +duffer—and of course I don't know half that other girls know." +</P> + +<P> +"Jim will be able to keep you from going back, I expect," her father +said, watching the troubled face. "He won't be exactly a stern tutor, +and possibly lessons may be free and easy; still, after all, Jim was a +prefect, and the handling of unruly subjects is probably not unknown to +him." +</P> + +<P> +"If Jim attempts to be a prefect with me," said Norah, "things will be +mixed!" She laughed, but the line came back into her forehead. "It's +not the lessons I was thinking of, Dad." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, all the other things I don't know that other girls do. Do you +think it really matters, Dad? I know perfectly well I don't do my hair +properly—" +</P> + +<P> +"I seem to like it." +</P> + +<P> +"And I can't talk prettily—you know, like Cecil did; and I don't know a +single blessed thing about fancywork! I'd—I'd hate you to be ashamed of +me, Dad, dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ashamed?" He held her close; and when he spoke again there was +something in his voice that made Norah suddenly content. +</P> + +<P> +"Little mate!" was all he said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + +***** This file should be named 4050-h.htm or 4050-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/5/4050/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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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: Mates at Billabong + +Author: Mary Grant Bruce + +Posting Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #4050] +Release Date: May, 2003 +First Posted: October 21, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + + + + +Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +MATES AT BILLABONG. + + +by + +Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I NORAH'S HOME + CHAPTER II TOGETHER + CHAPTER III BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION + CHAPTER IV CUTTING OUT + CHAPTER V TWO POINTS OF VIEW + CHAPTER VI COMING HOME + CHAPTER VII JIM UNPACKS + CHAPTER VIII A THUNDERSTORM + CHAPTER IX THE BILLABONG DANCE + CHAPTER X CHRISTMAS + CHAPTER XI "LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" + CHAPTER XII OF POULTRY + CHAPTER XIII STATION DOINGS + CHAPTER XIV CUNJEE v. MULGOA + CHAPTER XV THE RIDE HOME + CHAPTER XVI A CHILD'S PONY + CHAPTER XVII ON THE HILLSIDE + CHAPTER XVIII BROTHER AND SISTER + CHAPTER XIX THE LONG QUEST + CHAPTER XX MATES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +NORAH'S HOME + + The grey old dwelling, rambling and wide, + With the homestead paddocks on either side, + And the deep verandahs and porches tall + Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Billabong homestead lay calm and peaceful in the slanting rays of the +sum that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden in +the surrounding trees--pine and box and mighty blue gums towering above +the tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of the +Virginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls. +If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under the +touch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern bay +window to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but from +the paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and the +mellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance of +rippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon--too +lazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the reed-fringed water. +Towards it a flight of black swans winged slowly, with outstretched +necks, across a sky of perfect blue. Their leader's note floated down, +as if in answer to the magpies that carolled in the pine trees by the +stables. The sound seemed to hang in the still air. + +Beyond the tennis-court, in the farther recesses of the garden, a +hammock swung between two grevillea trees, whose orange flowers made a +gay canopy overhead; and in the hammock Norah swayed gently, and +knitted, and pondered. The shining needles flashed in and out of the +dark blue silk sock. Outsiders--mothers of prim daughters, whom Norah +pictured as finding their wildest excitement in "patting a doll"--were +wont to deplore that the only daughter of David Linton of Billabong was +brought up in an eccentric fashion, less girl than boy; but outsiders +are apt to cherish delusions, and Norah was not without her share of +gentle accomplishments. Knitting was one; the sock grew quickly in the +capable brown fingers that could grip a stock-whip as easily as they +handled the needles. All the while, she was listening. + +About her the coo of invisible doves fell gently, mingling with the +happy droning of bees in the overhead blossoms. Somewhere, not far off, +a sheep bell tinkled monotonously, the only outside sound in the +afternoon stillness. It was very peaceful. To Norah, who knew that the +world held no place like Billabong, it only lacked one person for the +final seal of perfection. + +"Wish Dad would come," she said aloud, puckering her brow over a knot +in the silk. "He's late--and it is jolly dull without him." The knot +came free, and the needles raced as though making up for lost time. + +Two dogs lay on the grass: a big sleepy collie that only moved +occasionally to snap at a worrying fly; and an Irish terrier, plainly +showing by his restlessness that he despised a lazy life, and longed +for action. He caught his mistress's eye at last, and jumped up with a +little whine. + +"If YOU had the heel of a sock to turn, Puck," said Norah, "you'd be +more steady. Lie down, old man." + +Puck lay down again discontentedly, put his nose on his paws, and +feigned slumber, one restless eyelid betraying the hollowness of the +pretence. Presently he rolled over--and chancing to roll on a spiky +twig, rose with a wild yelp of annoyance. Across Norah's laugh came a +stock-whip crack; and the collie came to life suddenly, and sprang up, +as impatient as the terrier. Norah slipped out of the hammock. + +"There's Dad!" she said. "Come along!" + +She was tall for her fourteen years, and very slender--"scraggy," Jim +was wont to say, with the cheerful frankness of brothers. Norah bore +the epithet meekly--she held the view that it was better to be dead than +fat. There was something boyish in the straight, slim figure in the +blue linen frock--perhaps the quality was also to be found in a frank +manner that was the product of years of the Bush and open-air life. The +grey eyes were steady, and met those of others with a straight level +glance; the mouth was a little firm-set for her years, but the child +was revealed when it broke into smiles--and Norah was rarely grave. No +human power had yet been discovered to keep in order the brown curls. +Their distressed owner tied them back firmly with a wide ribbon each +morning; but the ribbon generally was missing early in the day, and +might be replaced with anything that came handy--possibly a fragment of +red tape from the office, or a bit of a New Zealand flax leaf, or haply +even a scrap of green hide. Anything, said Norah, decidedly, was better +than your hair all over your face. For the rest, a nondescript nose, +somewhat freckled, and a square chin, completed a face no one would +have dreamed of calling pretty. In his own mind her father referred to +it as something better. But then there was tremendous friendship +between the master of Billabong and his small daughter. + +The stock-whip cracked again, nearer home this time; and Norah crammed +the blue silk sock hastily into a little work-bag, and raced away over +the lawn, her slim black legs making great time across the buffalo +grass. Beside her tore the collie and Puck, each a vision of embodied +delight. They flashed round the corner of the house, scattered the +gravel on the path leading to the back, and came out into the yard as a +big black horse pulled up at the gate, and the tall man on his back +swung himself lightly to the ground. From some unseen region a black +boy appeared silently and led the horse away. Norah, her father, and +the dogs arrived at the gate simultaneously. + +"I thought you were never coming, Daddy," said the mistress of +Billabong, incoherently. "Did you have a good trip?--and how did Monarch +go?--and did you buy the cattle?--and have you had any dinner?" She +punctuated each query with a hug, and paused only for lack of breath. + +"Steady!" said David Linton, laughing. "I'm not a ready reckoner! I've +bought the bullocks, and Monarch went quite remarkably well, and yes, +I've had dinner, thank you. And how have you been getting on, Norah?" + +"Oh, all right," said his daughter. "It was pretty slow, of course--it +always is when you go away, Daddy. I worked, and pottered round with +Brownie, and went out for rides. And oh, Dad! ever so many letters--and +Jim's coming home next week!" She executed an irrepressible pirouette. +"And he's got the cup for the best average at the sports--best +all-around athlete that means, doesn't it? Isn't it lovely?" + +"That's splendid!" Mr. Linton said, looking as pleased as his daughter. +"And any school prizes?" + +"He didn't mention," Norah answered. "I don't suppose so, bless him! +But there's one thing pretty sickening--the boys can't come with him. +Wally may come later, but Harry has to go to Tasmania with his +father--isn't it unreasonable?" + +"I'm sorry he can't come, but on the whole I've a fellow feeling for +the father," said Jim's parent. "A man wants to see something of his +son occasionally, I suppose. And any news from Mrs. Stephenson?" + +"She's better," Norah answered, her face growing graver. "Dick wrote. +And there's a letter for you from Mrs. Stephenson, too. She says she's +brighter, and the sea-voyage was evidently the thing for her, 'cause +she's more like herself than at any time since--since my dear old Hermit +died." Norah's voice shook a little. "They expect to be in Wellington +all the summer, and perhaps longer." + +"It was certainly a good prescription, that voyage." Mr. Linton said. +"I don't think she would have been long in following her husband--poor +old chap!--if they had remained here. But one misses them, Norah." + +"Horrid," said Norah, with emphasis. "I miss her all the time--and it's +quite rum, Dad, but I do believe I miss lessons. Over five weeks since +I had any! Are you going to get me another tutor?" + +"We'll see," said her father. They were in the big dining-room by this +time, and he was turning over the pile of letters that had come during +his three days' absence from the station. "Any chance of tea, Norah?" + +"Well, rather!" said Norah. "You read your letters, and I'll go and +tell Sarah. And Brownie'll be wanting to see you. I won't be long, +Daddy." She vanished. + +A few minutes later Mr. Linton looked up from a letter that had put a +crease into his brow. A firm, flat step sounded in the hall, and Mrs. +Brown came in--cook and housekeeper to the homestead, the guide, +philosopher and friend of everyone, and the special protector of the +little motherless girl about whom David Linton's life centred. +"Brownie" was not a person lightly to be reckoned with, and her master +was wont to turn to her whenever any question arose affecting Norah. He +greeted her warmly now. + +"We're all glad to welkim you back, sirr," said Brownie. "As for that +blessed child, she's not like the same 'uman bein' when you're off the +place. Passed me jus' now in the passige, goin' full bat, an' turned +'ead over 'eels, she did--I didn't need to be told you'd got 'ome!" She +hesitated: "You heard from Mrs. Stephenson, sir?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Linton, glancing at the letter in his hand. "As I +thought--she confirms our opinion. I'm afraid there's no help for it." + +"I knew she would," said Mrs. Brown, heavily, a shadow falling onto her +broad, pleasant face. "Oh, I know there's no 'elp, sir--it has to be. +But--but--" She put her apron to her eyes. + +"We're really very lucky, I suppose," Mr. Linton said, in tones +distinctly unappreciative, at the moment, of any luck. "Mrs. Stephenson +has been a second mother to Norah, these two years--between you and her +I can't see that the child needed anything; and with Dick as tutor she +has made remarkable progress. Personally, I'd have let the arrangement +go on indefinitely. Now that they've had to leave us, however--" He +paused, folding up the letter slowly. + +"She couldn't stay 'ere, poor lady," Mrs. Brown said; "'tain't in +reason she'd be able to after the old gentleman's death, with the place +full of memories an' all. An', of course, she'd want Mr. Dick along +with her. Anyway, the precious lamb's getting a big girl to be taught +only by a young gentleman--" and Brownie pursed up her lips, looking +such a model of all the proprieties that Mr. Linton smiled +involuntarily. + +"She's all right," he said shortly. "Of course, her aunt has been at me +for ever so long to send her to school." + +"Beggin' your pardon, sir, Mrs. Geoffrey don't know everythink," said +Mrs. Brown, bridling. "Her not havin' any daughters of 'er own, 'ow can +it be expected that she'd understand? An' town ladies can't never +compre'end country children, any'ow. Our little maid's jus' grown up +like a bush flower, an' all the better she is for it." + +"But the time comes for change, Brownie, old friend," said Mr. Linton. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brown, "it do. But what the station'll do is more'n I +can see just at present--an' as for you, sir--an' let alone me--" Her +comfortable, fat voice died away, and the apron was at her eyes again. +"What'll Billabong be, with its little girl at school?" + +"At--WHERE?" asked Norah. + +She had come in with the tea-tray in her hands--a little flushed from +the fire, and her brown face alight with all the hundred-and-one things +she had yet to tell Daddy. On the threshold she paused, struck +motionless by that amazing speech. She looked a little helplessly from +one face to the other; and the two who loved her felt the same +helplessness as they looked back. It was not an easy thing to pass +sentence of exile from Billabong on Norah. + +"I--" said her father. "You see, dear--Dick having gone--you know, your +aunt--" He stopped, his tongue tied by the look in Norah's eyes. + +Brownie slipped into the breach. + +"You're so big now, dearie," she said, "so, big--and--and--" With this +lucid effort at enlightenment she put her apron fairly over her head +and turned away to the open window. + +But Norah's eyes were on her father. Just for a moment the sick sense +of bewilderment and despair seemed to crush her altogether. She had +realized her sentence in a flash--that the home that meant all the world +to her, and from which Heaven only differed in that Mother was there, +was to be changed for a new, strange world that would be empty of all +that she knew and loved. Vaguely she had always known that the blow +hung over her--now that it had fallen, for a moment there was no room +for any other thought. Her look, wide with grief and appeal, met her +father's. + +And then she realized slowly that he was suffering too--that he was +looking to her for the response that had never failed him yet. His +silence told her that this thing was unavoidable, and that he needed +her help. Mates such as they must stand by one another--that was part of +the creed that had grown up in Norah's heart. Daddy had always said +that no matter what happened he could rely upon her. She could not fail +him now. + +So, just as the silence in the room became oppressive, Norah smiled +into her father's eyes, and carefully put the tea-tray upon the table. + +"If you say it's got to be, well, that's all about it, Daddy," she +said. The voice was low, but it did not quiver. "Don't worry, darling; +it's all right. Sarah was out, and Mary goodness knows where, so I made +tea myself; I hope it's drinkable." She brought her father's cup to his +side and smiled at him again. + +"My blessed lamb!" said Mrs. Brown, hastily--and fled from the room. + +David Linton did not take the cup; instead he slipped his arm round the +childish body. + +"You think we can stand it, then?" he asked. "It's not you alone, +little mate; your old Dad's under sentence too." + +"I think that makes things a lot easier," said Norah, "'cause you and +I always do things together, don't we, Daddy? And--and--" Just for a +moment her lips trembled. "Must we, Dad?" + +He tightened his arm. + +"Yes, dear." + +There was a pause. + +"After Christmas?" + +"Yes--in February." + +"Then I've got nine weeks," said Norah, practically. "We won't talk +about it more than we can help, I think, don't you? Have your tea, +Daddy, or it'll be cold and horrid." She brought her own cup and sat +down on the arm of his chair. "How many bullocks did you buy?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TOGETHER + + And you and I were faithful mates. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +Afterwards--when the blow was a little less heavy as Norah grew +accustomed to it--they talked it over thoroughly. + +Norah's education, in the strict sense of the term, had only been +carried on for about two years. In reality it had gone on all her life, +spent mostly at her father's side; but that was the kind of education +that does not live between the covers of books. Together, David Linton +and his daughter had worked, and played and talked--much more of the +former condition than of either of the latter. All that the bush could +teach her Norah knew, and in most of the work of the station--Billabong +was a noted cattle-run--she was as handy as any of the men. Her father's +constant mate, every day shared with him was a delight to her. They +rode together, fished, camped and explored together; it was the rarest +occurrence for Mr. Linton's movements not to include Norah as a matter +of course. + +Yet there was something in the quiet man that had effectually prevented +any development of roughness in Norah. Boyish and offhand to a certain +extent, the solid foundation of womanliness in her nature was never far +below the surface. She was perfectly aware that while Daddy wanted a +mate he also wanted a daughter; and there was never any real danger of +her losing that gentler attribute--there was too much in her of the +little dead mother for that. Brownie, the ever watchful, had seen to it +that she did not lack housewifely accomplishments, and Mr. Linton was +wont to say proudly that Norah's scones were as light as her hand on +the horse's mouth. There was no doubt that the irregular side of her +education was highly practical. + +Two years before Fate had taken a new interest in Norah's development, +bringing as inmates of the homestead an old friend of her father's, +with his wife and son. The latter acted as Norah's tutor, and found his +task an easy one, for the untrodden ground of the little girl's brain +yielded remarkable results. To Mrs. Stephenson fell the work of gently +moulding her to womanly ways--less easy this, for while Norah had no +desire to be a tomboy, she was firmly of the opinion that once lessons +were over, she had simply no time to stay inside the house and be +proper. Still, the gentle influence told, imperceptibly softening and +toning her character, and giving her a standard by which to adapt +herself; and Norah was nothing if not adaptable. Then, six months +previously, the old man they all loved had quietly faded out of life; +and after he had gone his widow could no longer remain in the place +where he had died. She pined slowly, until Dick Stephenson, the son, +had taken her almost forcibly away. The unspoken fear that the parting +was not merely temporary had merged into certainty. Billabong would +know them no more. The question remaining was what to do with Norah. + +"I want you to have the school training," Mr. Linton said, when they +talked the matter over. "You must mix with other girls--learn to see +things from their point of view, and realize how many points of view +there are outside Billabong. Oh, I don't want you to think there are +any better "--he laughed at the vigorous shake of the brown curls--"but +the world has wider boundaries, and you must find them out. There are +other things, too"--vaguely--"dancing and deportment, and--er--the use of +the globes, and I think there's a thing called a blackboard, but I'm +not sure. Dick didn't know. In fact, there's a regulation mill, and I +suppose you must go through it--I don't feel afraid that they'll spoil +my little girl's individuality in the process." + +"Is it a big school, Daddy?" + +"Yes, I believe so. Several people I know send their girls there. And +it's a great place for sports, Norah. You'll like that. They're keen on +hockey and cricket and all sorts of things girls never dreamed about +when I was young. Possibly I may live to see you a slow bowler yet, and +playing in a match! Honestly, Norah, I believe you'll be very happy at +school." + +"And what'll you do, Daddy?" + +"I don't know," he said, heavily. "I told you I was under sentence." + +They sat awhile in silence. It was evening, and they were on the +verandah; Mr. Linton in a big basket chair, and Norah curled up at his +feet in the way she loved. She could not see his face--just then she did +not want to. She said nothing. The moon climbed up slowly, and the +frogs were merry in the lagoon. Far off the cry of a bittern boomed +across the flats. + +"Well, at least we've got nine weeks," Norah said at length. "Nine +weeks to be mates--and Jim'll be home next week, and he'll be mates, +too. Don't let's get blue about it, Daddy. It'll be so horrid when the +time comes, that it's no good letting it spoil these nine weeks. Can't +we try to forget it?" + +"We can try," said David Linton. + +"Course, we won't do it," Norah said. "But don't let's talk about it. +I'm going to put it out of my head as much as ever I can, and have this +time for just Billabong and us. Will you, Daddy?" + +"I'll do all I can, my girlie," said her father. "You mustn't start off +with any bad memories; we'll have the most crowded nine weeks of our +lives, and make a solemn resolve to 'buck up.' I'd like to plan +something for this week, but, upon my word, I'm too busy to play, +Norah. There's any amount to be done." + +"But I don't want to play," Norah said. "Work's good enough for ME, +Daddy, if I can work with you. Can't I come, too?" + +"I'll be exceedingly glad of your help," said her father--which was +exactly what Norah wanted him to say, and went far to cheer her. She +put the dismal future resolutely from her, and set out upon the present +with a heart as light as possible. + +It was never dull at Billabong. Always there were pets of all kinds to +be seen to. Mr. Linton laid no restriction on pets if they were +properly tended, and Norah had a collection as wide as it was beloved. +Household duties there were, too; but these could be left if +necessary--two adoring housemaids were always ready to step into the +breach if "business on the run" claimed Norah's attention. And beyond +the range of the homestead altogether there lay an enchanted region +that only she and Daddy shared--the wide and stretching plains of +Billabong dotted with cattle, seamed with creeks and the river, and +merging at the boundary into a long low line of hills. Norah used to +gaze at them from her window--sometimes purple, sometimes blue, and +sometimes misty grey, but always beautiful to the child who loved them. +Others might know Billabong--visit it, ride over it, exclaim at its +beauties; but Norah always felt that there were only two who really +understood and cared--Daddy and herself. + +Of course there was Jim--the big brother who was seventeen now, and just +about to leave school. Norah was immensely proud of him, and the +affection between them was a thing that never wavered. Jim loved +Billabong, too; but it was only to be expected that six years of school +in Melbourne would make something of a difference. He knew, in the +words of the old Roman, "There is a world elsewhere." But Norah knew no +world beyond Billabong. + +For all that, Jim was distinctly desirable as a brother. He had always +made a tremendous chum of Norah, and the friends he brought home found +they were expected to do the same. This might cause them surprise at +first, but they very soon found that "the kiddie" was quite excellent +as a mate, and could put them up to a good deal more than they usually +knew about the Bush. Norah was invariably Jim's first thought. He was a +big, quiet fellow, very like his father; not over-brilliant at books, +but a first-rate sport, and without a trace of meanness in his generous +nature. At school he was worshipped by the boys--was not he captain of +the football team, stroke of the eight, and best all-round athlete?--and +liked by the masters, who found him inclined to be careless over work +but absolutely reliable in every other way. Such a fellow does not win +scholarships, but he is a tower of strength to his school. + +For the week preceding Jim's return Norah and her father worked hard, +clearing up various odd jobs so that their time might be free when the +boy arrived. There was a quaint side to this, in that Jim would without +doubt have been delighted to help in any station work, which always +presented itself to him as "no end of a lark" after the strenuous life +at school. But it was a point of honour with those at home to leave +none of their work until the holidays and the last week was invariably +the scene of many labours. + +Not that there were not plenty of hands on the station. It was a big +run, and gave employment in one way or another to quite a band of men. +But Mr. Linton preferred to keep a very close watch over everything, +and he had long realized that the best way of seeing that your business +is done is to take a hand yourself. The men said, "The boss was +everywhere," and they respected him the more in that he was no +kid-glove employer, but was willing to share in any work that was going +forward. Especially he insisted on working among the cattle, and--Norah +was nearly always with him on his rides--they had a more or less +accurate knowledge of every beast on the place. Outside the boundary +fences they went very seldom; the nearest township, seventeen miles +away, Norah regarded as merely a place where you called for the mail, +and save that it meant a ride or drive with her father, she had never +the slightest desire to go there. + +Summer was very late that year, and "burning-off" operations on the +rougher parts of the run had been carried on much longer than was +generally possible. Norah always regarded "burning-off" as an immense +picnic, and used to beg her father to take her out. Night after night +found them down on the flats, getting rid of old dead trees, which up +to the present had refused obstinately to burn. It was picturesque +work, and Norah loved it, though she would have been somewhat +embarrassed had you hinted that the picturesqueness had anything to do +with its attractions. + +One after another, they would light the stumps, some squat and solid, +others rising thirty or forty feet into the air. Once the fires were +lit, it was necessary to keep them going; moving backwards and forwards +among the trees, stoking, picking up fallen bits of burning timber and +adding them to the fires, coaxing sullen embers into a blaze, edging +the fire round a tree, so that the wind might do its utmost in helping +the work--there were no idle moments for the "burners-off." Sometimes it +would be necessary to enlarge a crack or hole in a tough stump, to gain +a hold for the fire. Norah always carried a light iron bar, specially +made for her at the station forge, which she called her poker, and +which answered half a dozen purposes equally well, and though not an +ideal weapon for killing a snake, being too stiff and straight, had +been known to act in that capacity also. Every scrap of loose timber on +the ground would be picked up and added to the flames. Some stumps were +very obstinate and resisted all blandishments to burn; but careful +handling generally ensured the fate of the majority. + +There are few sights more weird, or more typically Australian, than a +paddock at night with burning-off in process. Low and high, the red +columns of fire stand in a darkness made blacker by their lurid glow. +Where the fire has taken hold fairly the flames are fierce, and showers +of sparks fall like streams of gold. Sometimes a dull crack gives +warning of the fall of a long-dead giant; and the burning mass leans +slowly over, and then comes down with a crash, while the curious +bullocks, which have poked as near as they dare to the strange scene, +fling round and lumber off in a heavy gallop, heads down and tails up. +From stump to stump flit the little black figures of the workers, +standing out clearly sometimes, by the light of a blaze so fierce that +to face it is scarcely possible; or half seen in the dull glow of a +smouldering tree poking vigorously--seeming as ants attacking living +monsters infinitely beyond their strength. Perhaps it is there that the +fascination of the work comes in--the triumph of conquering tons of +inanimate matter by efforts so small. At any rate it is always hard to +leave the scene of action, and certainly the first glance next morning +is to see "which are down." + +Then there were days spent among the cattle--days that always meant the +high-water mark of bliss to Norah. She road astride, and her special +pony, Bobs, to whom years but added perfection, loved the work as much +as she did. They understood each other perfectly; if Norah carried a +hunting-crop, it was merely for assistance in opening gates, for Bobs +never felt its touch. A hint from her heel, or a quick word, conveyed +all the big bay pony ever needed to supplement his own common sense, of +which Mr. Linton used to say he possessed more than most men. The new +bullocks arrived, and had to be drafted and branded--during which latter +operation Norah retired dismally to the house and the socks that had to +be finished in time to be Jim's Christmas present. Then, after the +branding, came a most cheerful time, putting the cattle into their +various paddocks. + +One day was spent in mustering sheep, an employment not at all to +Norah's taste. She was frankly glad that Billabong devoted most of its +energies to cattle, and only put up with the sheep work because, since +Daddy was there, it never occurred to her to do anything else but go. +But she hated the slow, dusty ride, and hailed with delight a gallop +that came in their way towards the end of the day, when a hare jumped +up under Bob's nose as they rode homewards from the yards. The dogs +promptly gave chase; and, almost without knowing it, Norah and Bobs +were in hot pursuit, with Monarch shaking the earth behind them. The +average sheep dog is no match for a hare, and the quarry easily escaped +into the next paddock, after a merry run. Norah pulled up, her eyes +dancing. + +"Don't you know it's useless to try to get a hare with those fellows?" +asked Mr. Linton, checking the reeking Monarch, and indicating with a +nod the dogs, which were highly aggrieved at their defeat. + +"But I never wanted to get it," said his daughter, in surprise. "It's +perfectly awful to get a hare; they cry just like a baby, and it makes +you feel horrid." + +"Then why did you go after it?" + +"Why?" asked Norah, opening her eyes. "Well, I knew the dogs couldn't +catch it--and I believe you wanted a gallop nearly as much as I did, +Daddy!" They laughed at each other, and let the impatient horses have +their heads across the cleared paddock to the homestead. + +There a letter awaited them. + +Norah, coming in to dinner in a white frock, with her curls unusually +tidy, found her father looking anything but pleased over a closely +covered sheet of thin notepaper. + +"I wish to goodness women would write legibly," he said, with some +heat. "No one on earth has any right to write on both sides of paper as +thin as this--and then across it! No one but your Aunt Eva would do +it--she always had a passion for small economies, together with one for +large extravagances. Amazing woman! Well, I can't read half of it, but +what she wants is unhappily clear." + +"She isn't coming here, Daddy?" + +"Saints forbid!" ejaculated Mr. Linton, who had a lively dread of his +sister--a lady of much social eminence, who disapproved strongly of his +upbringing of Norah. "No, she doesn't mention such an extreme course, +but there's something almost as alarming. She wants to send Cecil here +for Christmas." + +"Cecil! Oh, Daddy!" Norah's tone was eloquent. + +"Says he's been ill," said her father, glancing at the letter in a vain +effort to decipher a message written along one edge. "He's better, but +needs change, and she seems to think Billabong will prove a +sanatorium." He looked at Norah with an expression of dismay that was +comical. "I shouldn't have thought we'd agree with that young man a +bit, Norah!" + +"I've never seen him, of course," Norah said unhappily, "but Jim says +he's pretty awful. And you didn't like him yourself, did you, Daddy?" + +"On the rare occasions that I've had the pleasure of meeting my nephew +I've always thought him an unlicked cub," Mr. Linton answered. "Of +course it's eighteen months since I saw him; possibly he may have +changed for the better, but at that time his bumptiousness certainly +appeared to be on the increase. He had just left school then--he must be +nearly twenty now." + +"Oh--quite old," said Norah. "What is he like?" + +"Pretty!" said Mr. Linton, wrinkling his nose. "As pretty as his +name--Cecil--great Scott! I wonder if he'd let me call him Bill for +short! Bit of a whipper-snapper, he seemed; but I didn't take very much +notice of him--saw he was plainly bored by his uncle from the Bush, so I +didn't worry him. Well, now he's ours for a time your aunt doesn't +limit--more that that, if I can make a guess at these hieroglyphics, +I've got to send a telegram to say we'll have him on Saturday." + +"And this is Wednesday--oh, Dad!" expostulated Norah. + +"Can't be helped," her father said. "We've got to go through with it; +if the boy has been ill he must certainly have all the change we can +give him. But I'm doubtful. Eva says he's had a 'nervous breakdown,' +and I rather think it's a complaint I don't believe in for boys of +twenty." + +The dinner gong sounded. Amid its echoes Norah might have been heard +murmuring something about "nervous grandmother." + +"H'm," said her father, laughing; "I don't think he'll find much +sympathy with his more fragile symptoms in Billabong--we must try to +brace him up, Norah. But whatever will Jim say, I wonder!" + +"He'll be too disgusted for words," Norah answered. "Poor old Jimmy! I +wonder how they'll get on. D'you suppose Cecil ever played football?" + +"From Cecil's appearance I should say he devoted his time to +wool-work," said Mr. Linton. "However, it may not turn out as badly as +we think, and it's no use meeting trouble halfway, is it? Also, we've +to remember that he'll be our guest." + +"But that's the trouble," said Norah, laughing. "It wouldn't be half so +bad if you could laugh at him. I'll have to be so hugely polite!" + +"You'll probably shock him considerably in any case," said her father. +"Cecil's accustomed to very prim young ladies, and it's not at all +unlikely that he'll try to reform you!" + +"I wish him luck!" said Norah. But there was a glint in her eyes which +boded ill for Cecil's reformatory efforts. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION + + Quiet and shy, as the Bush girls are, + But ready-witted and plucky, too. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +The telegram assuring a welcome to Cecil Linton was duly dispatched, +and the fact of his impending arrival broken to Mrs. Brown, who sniffed +portentously, and gave without enthusiasm directions for the +preparation of his room. "Mrs. Geoffrey" was rather a bugbear to +Brownie, who had unpleasant recollections of a visit in the past from +that majestic lady. During her stay of a week, she had attempted to +alter every existing arrangement at Billabong--and when she finally +departed, in a state of profound disapproval, the relief of the +homestead was immense. Brownie was unable to feel any delight at the +idea of entertaining her son. + +Norah and her father made the utmost of their remaining time together. +Thursday was devoted to a great muster of calves, which meant unlimited +galloping and any amount of excitement; for the sturdy youngsters were +running with their mothers in one of the bush paddocks, and it was no +easy matter to cut them out and work them away from the friendly +shelter and refuge of the trees. A bush-reared calf is an irresponsible +being, with a great fund of energy and spirits--and, while Norah loved +her day, she was thoroughly tired as they rode home in the late +evening, the last straggler yarded in readiness for the branding next +day. Mr. Linton sent her to bed early, and she did not wake in the +morning until the dressing gong boomed its cheerful summons through the +house. + +Mr. Linton was already at breakfast when swift footsteps were heard in +the hall above; a momentary silence indicated that his daughter was +coming downstairs by way of the banisters, and the next moment she +arrived hastily. + +"I'm so sorry, Dad," Norah said, greeting him. "But I DID sleep! Let +me pour out your coffee." + +She brought the cup to him, investigated a dish of bacon, and slipped +into her place behind the tall silver coffee pot. + +"What are we going to do to-day, Dad?" + +"I really don't quite know," Mr. Linton said, smiling at her. "There +aren't any very pressing jobs on hand--we must cut out cattle to-morrow +for trucking, but to-day seems fairly free. Have you any ideas on the +subject of how you'd like to spend it? I've letters to write for a +couple of hours, but after that I'm at your disposal." + +Norah wrinkled her brows. + +"There are about fifty things I want to do," she said. "But most of +them ought to wait until Jim comes home." She thought for a moment. "I +don't want to miss any more time with Bobs than I have to--could we ride +over to the backwater, Dad, and muster up the cattle there? You know +you said you were going to do so, pretty soon." + +"I'd nearly forgotten that I had to see them," Mr. Linton said, +hastily. "Glad you reminded me, Norah. We'll have lunch early, and go +across." + +Norah's morning was spent in helping Mrs. Brown to compound Christmas +cakes--large quantities of which were always made and stored well before +Christmas, with due reference to the appetites of Jim and his friends. +Then a somewhat heated and floury damsel donned a neat divided riding +skirt of dark-blue drill, with a white-linen coat, and the collar and +tie which Norah regarded as the only reasonable neck gear, and joined +her father in the office. + +"Ready? That's right," said he, casting an approving glance at the trim +figure. "I've just finished writing, and the horses are in." + +"So's lunch," Norah responded. "It's a perfectly beautiful day for a +ride, Daddy--hurry up!" + +The day merited Norah's epithet, as they rode over the paddocks in the +afternoon. As yet the grass had not dried up, thanks to the late rains, +and everywhere a green sea rippled to the fences. Soon it would be dull +and yellow; but this day there was nothing to mar the perfection of the +carpet that gave softly under the horses' hoofs. The dogs raced wildly +before them, chasing swallows and ground-larks in the cheerfully +idiotic manner of dogs, with always a wary ear for Mr. Linton's +whistle: but as yet they were not on duty, and were allowed to run +riot. + +An old log fence stretched before them. It was the only one on +Billabong, where all station details were strictly up-to-date. This one +had been left, partly because it was picturesque, and partly at the +request of Jim and Norah, because it gave such splendid opportunities +for jumping. There were not many places on that old fence that Bobs did +not know, and he began to reef and pull as they came nearer to it. + +"I don't believe I'll be able to hold him in, Daddy!" said Norah, with +mock anxiety. + +"Not afraid, I hope?" asked her father, laughing. + +"Very--that you won't want to jump! I'd hate to disappoint him, +Daddy--may I?" + +"Oh, go on!" said Mr. Linton. "If I said 'no' the savage animal would +probably bolt!" He held Monarch back as Norah gave the bay pony his +head, and they raced for the fence; watching with a smile in his eyes +the straight little form in the white coat, the firm seat in the +saddle, the steady hand on the rein. Bobs flew the big log like a bird, +and Norah twisted in her saddle to watch the black horse follow. Her +eyes were glowing as her father came up. + +"I do think he loves it as much as I do!" she said, patting the pony's +neck. + +"He's certainly as keen a pony as I ever saw," Mr. Linton said. "How +are you going to manage without him, Norah?" + +Norah looked up, her eyes wide with astonishment. + +"Do without BOBS!" she exclaimed. "But I simply couldn't--he's one of +the family." Then her face fell suddenly, and the life died out of her +voice. "Oh--school," she said. + +The change was rather pitiful, and Mr. Linton mentally abused himself +for his question. + +"He'll always be waiting for you when you come home, dear," he said. +"Plenty of holidays--and think how fit he'll be! We'll have great rides, +Norah." + +"I guess I'll want them," she said. Silence fell between them. + +The scrub at the backwater was fairly thick, and the cattle had sought +its shade when the noonday sun struck hot. Well fed and sleek, they lay +about under the trees or on the little grassy flats formed by the bends +of the stream. Norah and her father separated, each taking a dog, and +beat through the bush, routing out stragglers as they went. The echoes +of the stock-whips rang along the water. Norah's was only a light whip, +half the length and weight of the one her father carried. It was +beautifully plaited--a special piece of work, out of a special hide; +while the handle was a triumph of the stockman's art. It had been a +gift to Norah from an old boundary rider whose whips were famous, and +she valued it more than most of her possessions, while long practice +and expert tuition had given her no little skill in its use. + +She worked through the scrub, keeping her eyes in every direction, for +the cattle were lazy and did not stir readily, and it was easy to miss +a motionless beast hidden behind a clump of dogwood or Christmas +bush--the scrub tree that greets December with its exquisite white +blossoms. When at length she came to the end of her division and drove +her cattle out of the shelter she had quite a respectable little mob to +add to those with which her father was already waiting. + +It was only to be a rough muster; rather, a general inspection to see +how the bullocks were doing, for the nearest stockyards were at the +homestead, and Mr. Linton did not desire to drive them far. He managed +to get a rough count along a fence--Norah in the rear, bringing the +bullocks along slowly, so that they strung out under their owner's eye. +Occasionally one would break out and try to race past him on the wrong +side. Bobs was as quick as his rider to watch for these vagrants, and +at the first hint of a breakaway he would be off in pursuit. It was +work the pair loved. + +"Hundred and thirty," said Mr. Linton, as the last lumbering beast +trotted past him, and, finding the way clear, with no harrowing +creatures to annoy him and head him back to his mates, kicked up his +heels and made off across the paddock. + +"Did any get behind me, Norah?" + +"No, Daddy." + +"That's a good girl. They look well, don't they?" + +Norah assented. "Did you notice how that big poley bullock had come on, +Dad?" + +"Yes, he's three parts fat," said Mr. Linton. "All very satisfactory, +and the count is only two short--not bad for a rough muster." + +They turned homewards, cantering quickly over the paddocks; the going +was too good, Norah said, to waste on walking; and it was a delight to +feel the long, even stride under one, and the gentle wind blowing upon +one's cheeks. As he rode, Mr. Linton watched the eager, vivid little +face, alight with the joy of motion. If Bobs were keen, there was no +doubt that his mistress was even keener. + +They crossed the log fence again by what Norah termed "the direct +route," traversed the home paddock, and drew up with a clatter of hoofs +at the stable yard. Billy, a black youth of some fame concerning +horses, came forward as they dismounted and took the bridles. But Norah +preferred to unsaddle Bobs herself and let him go; she held it only +civil after he had carried her well. She was leading him off when the +dusky retainer muttered something to her father. + +"Oh, all right, Billy," said Mr. Linton. "Norah, those fellows from +Cunjee have come to see me about buying sheep. I expect I shall have to +take them out to the paddock I don't think you'd better come." + +"All right, Dad." Sheep did not interest Norah very much. "I think I'll +go down to the lagoon." + +"Very well, don't distinguish yourself by falling in," said her father, +with a laugh over his shoulder as he hurried away towards the house. + +Left to herself, Norah paid a visit to Brownie in the kitchen, which +resulted in afternoon tea--there was never a bush home where tea did not +make its appearance on the smallest possible pretext. Then she slipped +off her linen jacket and brown leather leggings and, having beguiled +black Billy into digging her some worms, found some fishing tackle and +strolled down to the lagoon. + +It was a broad sheet of water, at one end thickly fringed with trees, +while in the shallower parts a forest of green, feathery reeds bordered +it, swaying and rustling all day, no matter how soft the breeze. The +deeper end had been artificially hollowed out, and a bathing box had +been built, with a springboard jutting out over the water. Under the +raised floor of the bathing box a boat was moored. Norah pulled it out +and dropped down into it, stowing her tin of worms carefully in the +stern. Then she paddled slowly into the deepest part of the lagoon, +baited her line scientifically, and began to fish. + +Only eels rewarded her efforts; and while eels are not bad fun to pull +out, Norah regarded them as great waste of time, since no one at +Billabong cared to eat them, and in any case she would not let them +come into the boat--for a good-sized eel can make a boat unpleasantly +slimy in a very short time. So each capture had to be carefully +released at the stern--not a very easy task. Before long Norah's white +blouse showed various marks of conflict; and being by nature a clean +person, she was rather disgusted with things in general. When at length +a large silver eel, on being pulled up, was found to have swallowed the +hook altogether, she fairly lost patience. + +"Well, you'll have to keep it," she said, cutting her line; whereupon +the eel dropped back into the water thankfully, and made off as though +he had formed a habit of dining on hooks, and, in fact, preferred them +as an article of diet. "I'm sure you'll have shocking indigestion," +Norah said, watching the swirl of bubbles. + +The boat had drifted some way down the lagoon, and a rustle told Norah +that they were near one of the reedy islands dotted here and there in +the shallows. There was very little foothold on them, but they made +excellent nesting places for the ducks that came to the station each +year. The boat grounded its nose in the soft mud, and Norah jumped up +to push it off. Planting the blade of the oar among the reeds, she +leant her weight upon it and shoved steadily. + +The next events happened swiftly. The mud gave way suddenly with a +suck, and the oar promptly slithered, burying itself for half its +length; and Norah, taken altogether by surprise, executed a graceful +header over the bow of the boat. The mud received her softly, and clung +to her with affection; and for a moment, face downward among the reeds, +Norah clawed for support, like a crab suddenly beached. Then, somehow, +she scrambled to a sitting position, up to her waist in mud and +water--and rocked with laughter. A little way off, the boat swayed +gently on the ruffled surface of the water. + +"Well--of all the duffers!" Norah said. She tried to stand, and +forthwith went up to one knee in the mud. Then, seeing that there was +no help for it, she managed to slip into deeper water--not very easy, +for the mud showed a deep attachment to her--and swam to the boat. To +get into it proved beyond her, but, fortunately, the bank was not far +off, and, though her clothes hampered her badly--a riding skirt is the +most inconvenient of swimming suits--she was as much at home as a duck +in the water, and soon got ashore. + +Then she inspected herself, standing on the grass, while a pool of +water rapidly widened round her. Alas, for the trim maiden of the +morning! soaked to the skin, her lank hair clinging round her face, her +collar a limp rag, the dye from her red silk tie spreading in artistic +patches on her white blouse! Over all was the rich black mud of the +lagoon, from brow to boot soles. Her hat, once white felt, was a sodden +black-streaked mass; even her hands and face were stiff with mud. + +"Thank goodness, Daddy's out!" said the soaked one, returning knee-deep +in the water to try and cleanse herself as much as might be--which was +no great amount, for lagoon mud defies ordinary efforts. She waded out, +still laughing; cast an apprehensive glance at the quarter from which +her father might be expected to return, and set out on her journey to +the house, the water squelching dismally in her boots at every step. + +In the garden at Billabong walked a slim youth in most correct attire. +His exquisitely tailored suit of palest grey flannel was set off by a +lavender-striped shirt, with a tie that matched the stripe. Patent +leather shoes with wide ribbon bows shod him; above them, and below the +turned-up trousers, lavender silk socks with purple circles made a very +glory of his ankles. On his sleek head he balanced a straw hat with an +infinitesimal brim, a crown tall enough to resemble a monument, and a +very wide hat band. His pale, well-featured face betrayed unuttered +depths of boredom. + +The click of the gate made him turn. Coming up the path was a figure +that might have been plaintive but that Norah was so immensely amused +at herself; and the stranger opened his pale eyes widely, for such +apparitions had not come his way. She did not see him for a moment. +When she did, he was directly in her path, and Norah pulled up short. + +"Oh!" she said weakly; and then--"I didn't know anyone was here." + +The strange youth looked somewhat disgusted. + +"I should think you'd--ah--better go round to the back," he said +condescendingly. "You'll find the housekeeper there." + +This time it was Norah's turn to be open-eyed. + +"Thanks," she said a little shortly. "Were you waiting to see anyone?" + +The boy's eyebrows went up. "I am--ah--staying here." + +"Oh, are you?" Norah said. "I didn't know. I'm Norah Linton." + +"You!" said the stranger. There was such a world of expression in his +tone that Norah flushed scarlet, suddenly painfully conscious of her +extraordinary appearance. Then--it was unusual for her--she became angry. + +"Did you never see anyone wet?" she asked, in trenchant tones. "And +didn't you ever learn to take your hat off?" + +"By Jove!" said the boy, looking at the truculent and mud-streaked +figure. Then he did an unwise thing, for he burst out laughing. + +"I don't know who you are," Norah said, looking at him steadily. "But I +think you're the rudest, worst-mannered boy that ever came here!" + +She flashed past him with her head in the air. Cecil Linton, staring +after her with amazement, saw her cross the red-tiled verandah +hurriedly and disappear within a side door, a trail of wet marks behind +her. + +"By Jove!" he said again. "The bush cousin!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CUTTING OUT + + And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view, + Well, you know, it's not so often that he sees a swell like you. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Norah did not encounter the newcomer again until dinner-time. + +She was in the drawing-room, waiting for the gong to sound, when Cecil +came in with her father. For a moment he did not recognize the soaked +waif of the garden whom he had recommended "to go round to the back." + +A hot bath and a change of raiment had restored Norah to her usual +self; had helped her also to laugh at her meeting with her cousin, +although she was still ruffled at the memory of the sneer in his laugh. +Perhaps because of that she had dressed more carefully than usual. +Cecil might have been excused for failing to recognize the grave-faced +maiden, very dainty in her simple frock of soft white silk, with her +still-moist curls tied back with a broad white ribbon. + +"As you two have already met, there's no need to introduce you," said +Mr. Linton, a twinkle in his eye. "Sorry your reception was so +informal, Cecil--you took us by surprise." + +"I suppose the mater mixed things up, as usual," Cecil said, in a bored +way. "I certainly intended all along to get here to-day, but she's +fearfully vague, don't you know. I was lucky in getting a lift out." + +"You certainly were," his uncle said, dryly. "However, I'm glad you +didn't have to wait in the township. You'd have found it slow." + +"I'd probably have gone back," said Cecil. + +"Ah--would you?" Mr. Linton looked for a moment very much as though he +wished he had done so. There was an uncomfortable pause, to which the +summons to dinner formed a welcome break. + +Dinner was very different from the usual cheery meal. Cecil was not +shy, and supplied most of the conversation as a matter of course; and +his conversation was of a kind new to Norah. She remained unusually +silent, being, indeed, fully occupied in taking stock of this novel +variety of boy. She wondered were all city boys different from those +she knew. Jim was not like this; neither were the friends he was +accustomed to bring home with him. They were not a bit grown up, and +they talked of ordinary, wholesome things like cricket and football, +and horses, and dormitory "larks," and were altogether sensible and +companionable. But Cecil's talk was of theatres and bridge parties, +and--actually--clothes! Horses he only mentioned in connexion with +racing, and when Mr. Linton inquired mildly if he were fond of dances, +he was met by raised eyebrows and a bored disclaimer of caring to do +anything so energetic. Altogether this product of city culture was an +eye-opener to the simple folks of Billabong. + +Of Norah, Cecil took very little notice. She was evidently a being +quite beneath his attention--he was secretly amused at the way in which +she presided at her end of the table, and decided in his own mind that +his mother's views had been correct, and that this small girl would be +all the better for a little judicious snubbing. So he ignored her in +his conversation, and if she made a remark contrived to infuse a faint +shade of patronage into his reply. It is possible that his amazement +would have been great had he known how profoundly his uncle longed to +kick him. + +Dinner over, Norah fled to Brownie, and to that sympathetic soul +unburdened her woes. Mr. Linton and his nephew retired to the verandah, +where the former preferred to smoke in summer. He smiled a little at +the elaborate cigarette case Cecil drew out, but lit his pipe without +comment, reflecting inwardly that although cigarettes were scarcely the +treatment, though they might be the cause, of a pasty face and a +"nervous breakdown," it was none of his business to interfere with a +young gentleman who evidently considered himself a man of the world. So +they smoked and talked, and when, after a little while, Cecil confessed +himself tired, and went off to bed, he left behind him a completely +bored and rather annoyed squatter. + +"Well, Norah, what do you think of him?" + +Norah, sitting meekly knitting in the drawing-room, looked up and +laughed as her father came in. + +"Think? Why, I don't think much, Daddy." + +"No more do I," said Mr. Linton, casting his long form into an +armchair. "Of all the spoilt young cubs!--and that's all it is, I should +say: clearly a case of spoiling. The boy isn't bad at heart, but he's +never been checked in his life. Well, I'm told it's risky for a father +to bring up his daughter unaided, but I'm positive the result is worse +when an adoring mother rears a fatherless boy! Possibly I've made +rather a boy of you--but Cecil's neither one thing nor the other. Why +didn't you come out, my lass?" + +"Felt too bad tempered!" said Norah; "he makes me mad when he speaks to +you in that condescending way of his, Daddy. I'll be calmer to-morrow." +She smiled up at her father. "Have a game of chess?" + +"It would be soothing, I think," Mr. Linton answered. He laughed. "It's +really pathetic--our Darby and Joan existence to be ruffled like this! +Thank goodness, he's in bed, for to-night, at any rate!" They got out +the chessmen, and played very happily until Norah's bedtime. + +"Do you ride, Cecil?" Mr. Linton asked next morning at breakfast. + +"Ride? Oh, certainly," Cecil answered. "I suppose you're all very keen +on that sort of thing up here?" + +"Well, that's how we earn our living," his uncle remarked. "Norah is my +right-hand man on the run." + +"Ah, how nice! Do you find it hard to get labour here?" + +"Oh, we get them," said Mr. Linton, his eyes twinkling. "But I prefer +to catch 'em young. We're cutting out cattle for trucking to-day. Would +you care to come out?" + +"Delighted," said the nephew, glancing without enthusiasm at his +flannels. "But I didn't dress for riding." + +"Oh, we're not absolute sticklers for costume here," Mr. Linton said, +laughing outright. "Wear what you like--in any case, we shan't start for +an hour." + +It was more than that before they finally got away. The delay was due +to waiting for the visitor, whose toilet was a lengthy proceeding. When +at length he sauntered out, in blissful ignorance of the fact that he +had been keeping them waiting, no one could have found fault with his +clothes--a riding suit of very English cut, with immensely baggy +breeches, topped by an immaculately folded stock, and a smart tweed +cap. + +"That feller plenty new," said black Billy, gazing at him with +astonishment. + +Mr. Linton chuckled as he swung Norah to her saddle. + +"Let's hope his horsemanship is equal to his attire!" + +Norah smiled in answer. Bobs was dancing with impatience, and she +walked him round and round, keeping an eye on her cousin. + +A steady brown mare had been saddled for Cecil--one of the "general +utility" horses to be found on every station. He cast a critical eye +over her as he approached, glancing from her to the horses of his uncle +and cousin. Brown Betty was a thoroughly good stamp of a stock horse, +with plenty of quality; while not, perhaps, of the class of Monarch and +Bobs, she was by no means a mount to be despised. That Cecil +disapproved of her, however, was evident. There was a distinct curl on +his lip as he gathered up the reins. However, he mounted without a +word, and they set off in pursuit of Murty O'Toole, the head stockman, +who was already halfway to the cutting-out paddock. + +The Clover Paddock of Billabong was famous--a splendid stretch of +perfect green, where the cattle moved knee-deep in fragrant blossoming +clovers, with pink and white flowers starring the wide expanse. At one +end it was gently undulating plain, towards the other it came down in a +gradual slope to the river, where tall gums gave an evergreen shelter +from winter gales or summer heat. The cattle were under them as the +riders came up--great, splendid Shorthorns, the aristocracy of their +kind, their roan sides sleek, their coats in perfect condition, and a +sprinkling of smaller bullocks whose inferiority in size was +compensated by their amazing fatness. It was evident that this week +there would be no difficulty in making up the draft for the Melbourne +market. + +The cattle were mustered into one herd; no racing or hastening now, but +with the gentle consideration one should extend to the dignified and +portly. They moved lazily, as if conscious of their own value. Cecil, +hurrying a red-and-white bullock across a little flat, was met by a +glare from Murty O'Toole, and a muttered injunction to "go aisy wid +'em," followed by a remark that "clo'es like thim was only fit to go +mustherin' turkeykins in!" Luckily the latter part of the outbreak was +unheard by Cecil, who was quite sufficiently injured at the first, and +favoured Murty with a lofty stare that had the effect of throwing the +Irishman and black Billy into secret convulsions of mirth. + +Norah rode not far from her father as they brought the cattle out into +the open and to the cutting-out camp--a spot where the beaten ground +showed that very often before such scenes had been enacted. The +bullocks knew it, and huddled there contentedly enough in a compact +body, while slowly Mr. Linton and Murty rode about them, singling out +the primest. Once marked down, O'Toole would slip between the bullock +and his mates and edge him away, where Billy took charge of him, +preventing his returning to the mob. With the first two or three this +was not quite easy: but once a few were together they gave little +trouble, feeding about calmly: and generally a bullock cut out from the +main body would trot quite readily across to the others. + +Privately, Cecil Linton thought it remarkably dull work. All that he +had read of station life was unlike this. He had had visions of far +more exciting doings--mad gallops and wild cattle, thoroughbred horses, +kangaroo hunts and a score of other delights. Instead, all he had to do +was to tail after a lot of sleepy bullocks and then watch them sorted +out by some men whose easy-going ways were unlike anything he had +imagined. He had no small opinion of his riding, and he yearned for +distinction. The very sight of Norah, leaning a little forward, +keenness on every line of her face, was an offence to him. He could see +nothing whatever to be keen about. Yawning, he lit a cigarette. + +Just then a bullock was cut out and pointed in the way he should go. He +lumbered easily past black Billy, apparently quite contented with his +fate; and Billy, seeing another following, gave a crack of his whip to +speed him on his way, and turned to deal with the newcomer. The first +bullock became immediately seized with a spirit of mischief. He +flourished his heels in the air, turned at right angles and made off +towards the river at a gallop. + +Cecil, busy with his cigarette, saw Norah sit up suddenly and tighten +her hand on the bridle. Simultaneously Bobs was off like a shot--tearing +over the paddock a little wide of the fugitive. The race was a short +one. Passing the bullock, the bay pony and his rider swung in sharply +and the lash of Norah's whip shot out. The bullock stopped short, +shaking his head; then, as the whip spoke again, he wheeled and trotted +back meekly to the smaller mob. Behind him Norah cantered slowly. The +work of cutting out had not paused and no one seemed to notice the +incident. But Cecil saw his uncle smile across at the little girl, and +caught the look in Norah's eyes as she smiled back. She and Bobs took +up their station again, silently watchful. + +Cecil was fired with ambition. Norah's small service had seemed to him +ridiculously easy; still, insignificant though everyone appeared to +regard it, it was better than doing nothing. He had not the faintest +doubt of his own ability, and the idea that riding in a decorous suburb +might not fit him for all equine emergencies he would have scouted. He +gathered up his reins, and waited anxiously for another beast to break +away. + +One obliged him presently; a big shorthorn that decided he had stayed +long enough in the mob, and suddenly made up his mind to seek another +scene. Norah had already started in pursuit when she saw her cousin +send his spurs home in Betty, and charge forward. So she pulled up the +indignant Bobs, who danced, and left the field to Cecil. + +Betty took charge of affairs from the outset. There was no move in all +the cattle-game that she did not understand. Moreover, she was justly +indignant at the spur-thrust, which attention only came her way in +great emergencies; and the heavy hand on her mouth was gall and +wormwood to her. But ahead was a flying bullock, and she was a stock +horse, which was sufficient for Betty. + +"That feller brown mare got it all her own way!" said Billy, in +delight. + +She had. Cecil, bumping a little in the saddle, had no very clear idea +of how things were going. He had a moment of amazement that the quiet +mare he had despised could make such a pace. Once he tried to steady +her, but at that instant Betty was not to be steadied. She galloped on, +and Cecil, recovering some of his self-possession, began to think that +this was the thing whereof he had dreamed. + +The bullock was fat and scant of breath. It did not take him very long +to conclude that he had had enough, especially when he heard the hoofs +behind him. It was sad, for close before him was the shade of the trees +and the murmur of the river; but discretion is ever the better part of +valour, particularly if one be not only valorous but fat. He pulled up +short. Betty propped without a second's hesitation, and swung round. + +To Cecil it seemed that the world had dropped from under him--and then +risen to meet him. The brown mare turned, in the bush idiom, "on a +sixpence," but Cecil did not turn. He went on. The onlookers had a +vision of the mare chopping round, as duty bade her, to head off the +bullock, while at right-angles a graceful form in correct English +garments hurtled through the air in an elegant curve. When he came +down, which seemed to be not for some time, it was into a shady clump +of wild raspberries--and only those who know the Victorian wild +raspberry know how clinging and intrusive are its hooked thorns. Two +legs kicked wildly. There was no sound. + +When the rescuing party extricated Cecil from his involuntary botanical +researches he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn in many places, +and his face and hands badly scratched, while the red stains of the +raspberries had turned his light tweeds into something resembling an +impressionist sketch. It was perhaps excusable that he had altogether +lost his temper. He burst out in angry abuse of the mare, the bullock, +the raspberry clump, and the expedition in general--anger which the +scarcely concealed grins of the stockmen only served to intensify. +Norah, who had choked with laughter at first, but had become +sympathetic as soon as she saw the boy's face, extracted numerous +thorns from his person and clothing, and murmured words of regret, +which fell on unheeding ears. Finally his uncle lost patience. + +"That'll do Cecil," he said. "Everyone comes to grief occasionally--take +your gruel like a man. Come on, Norah. Murty's waiting." Saying which, +he put Norah up, and they rode off, while Billy held the brown mare's +rein for Cecil, who mounted sulkily. Something in his uncle's face +forbade his replying. But in his heart came the beginning of a grudge +against the Bush, Billabong in general, and Norah in particular. Later +on, he promised himself, there might come a chance to work it off. + +For the present, however, there was nothing to be done but nurse his +scratches and his grievance; so he sat sulkily on Betty, and took no +further active part in the morning's work, the consciousness of acting +like a spoilt child not tending to improve his temper. Nobody took any +notice of him. One by one the bullocks were cut out, until between +twenty and thirty were ready, and then the main mob was left to wander +slowly back to the river, while O'Toole and Billy started with the +others to the paddock at the end of the run, which was their first +stage in the seventeen-mile journey to the trucking yards at Cunjee. +They moved off peacefully through the blossoming clover. + +"Luckily they don't be afther knowin' what's ahead av thim!" said +Murty. He lifted his battered felt hat to Norah, as he rode away. + +"We'll go down and see how high the river is before we go home," said +Mr. Linton. + +So they rode down to the river, commented on the unusual amount of +water for so late in the year, inspected the drinking places, paid a +visit to a beast in another paddock, which had been sick, but was now +apparently in rude health, and finally cantered home to lunch. Brownie +prudently refrained from comment on Cecil's scratched countenance, +further than to supply him with large quantities of hot water in his +room, together with a small pair of pliers, which she remarked were +'andy things for prickles. Under this varied treatment Cecil became +more like himself, and recovered his spirits, though a soreness yet +remained at the thought of the little girl who had done so easily what +he had failed so ignominiously in trying to do. He decided definitely +in his own mind that he did not like Norah. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TWO POINTS OF VIEW + + You found the Bush was dismal, and a land of no delight-- + Did you chance to hear a chorus in the shearers' nut at night? + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"Dear Mater,--Arrived at Cunjee safely, and, thanks to the way you fixed +up things, found no one to meet me, as Uncle David thought I would not +arrive until next day. However, a friendly yokel gave me a lift out to +Billabong in a very dirty and springless buggy, so that the mistake was +not a fatal one, though it gave me a very uncomfortable drive. + +"The place is certainly very nice, and the house comfortable, though, +of course, it is old-fashioned. I prefer more modern furniture; but +Uncle David seems to think his queer old chairs and table all that can +be desired, and did not appear interested when I told him where we got +our things. I have a large room, rather draughty, but otherwise +pleasant, with plenty of space for clothes, which is a comfort. I do +think it's intensely annoying to be expected to keep your clothes in +your trunk. The view is nice. + +"Uncle David seemed quite prepared to treat me as a small boy, but I +fancy I have demonstrated to him that I know my way about--in fact, as +far as city life goes, I should say he knew exceedingly little. I can't +understand any man with money being content to live and die in a hole +like this out-of-the-way place: but I suppose, as you say, Aunt Helen's +death made a difference. Actually, they have not even one motor! and +when I spoke of it Uncle David seemed almost indignant, and said horses +were good enough for him. That is a specimen of the way they are +content to live. He seems quite idiotically devoted to the small child, +and she lives in his pocket. If she weren't so countrified in her ways +she wouldn't be bad looking; but, of course, she is quite the bush +youngster, and, I should think, would find her level pretty quickly +when she goes to school among a lot of smart Melbourne girls. I should +hope so, at any rate, for she is quite spoilt here. It is exactly as +you said--everyone treats her like a sort of tin god, and she evidently +thinks herself someone, and is inclined to regard those older than +herself quite as equals. When I first saw her she had just fallen into +some mud hole, and her appearance would have given you a fit. But what +can you expect? + +"The fat old cook is still here, and asked after you. It's absolutely +ridiculous to see the way she is treated--quite considers herself the +mistress of the place, and when I told her one morning to let me have +my shaving water she was almost rude. I think if there's one thing +sillier than another it's the sort of superstition some people have +about old servants. + +"So far I find it exceedingly dull, and don't feel very hopeful that +things will be much better when Jim comes home. Of course, he may be +improved, but he appeared to me a great overgrown animal when I last +saw him, without an idea in his head beyond cricket and football. I +don't feel that he will be any companion to me. He will probably suffer +badly from swelled head, too, as every one is making a fuss about his +return. So quaint, to see the sort of mutual admiration that goes on +here. + +"I have had some riding, being given a horse much inferior to either +Uncle David's or Norah's--the latter rides like a jockey, and, of +course, astride, which I consider very ungraceful. She turns out well, +however, and all her get-up is good--her habits come from a Melbourne +tailor. I think I will get some clothes in Melbourne on my way back; +they may not have newer ideas, but it may be useful for purposes of +comparison with the Sydney cut. My riding clothes were evidently a +source of much wonderment and admiration to the yokels. Unfortunately +they have become badly stained with some confounded raspberry juice, +and though I left them out for Mrs. Brown to clean, she has not done so +yet. + +"Well, there is no news to be got in a place like this; we never go +out, except on the run, and there seems absolutely no society. The +local doctor came out yesterday, in a prehistoric motor, but I found +him very uninteresting. Of course, one has no ideas in common with +these Bush people. Where the 'Charm of the Bush' comes in is more than +I can see--I much prefer Town on a Saturday morning to all Billabong and +its bullocks. They wanted me to go out one night and--fancy!--help burn +down dead trees; but, really, I jibbed on that. There is no billiard +room. Uncle David intends building one when Jim comes home for good, +but that certainly won't be in my time here. I fancy a very few weeks +will see me back in town. + +"No bridge played here, of course! Have you had any luck that way? + +"Your affectionate son, + +"CECIL AUBREY LINTON." + + +Cecil blotted the final sheet of his letter home, and sat back with a +sigh of satisfaction, as one who feels his duty nobly done. He stamped +it, strolled across the hall to deposit it in the post box which stood +on the great oak table, and then looked round for something to do. + +It was afternoon, and all was very quiet. Mr. Linton had ridden off +with a buyer to inspect cattle, Norah ruefully declining to accompany +him. + +"I'm awfully sorry, Dad," she had said, "But I'm too busy." + +"Busy, are you? What at?" + +"Oh, cooking and things," Norah had answered. "Brownie's not very well, +and I said I'd help her--there's a lot to do just now, you know." She +stood on tiptoe to kiss her father. "Good-bye, Dad--don't be too long, +will you? And take care of yourself!" + +Cecil also had declined to go out, giving "letters to write" as a +reason. The truth was that several rides had told on the town youth, +whose seat in the saddle was not easy enough to prevent his becoming +stiff and sore. Bush people are used to this peculiarity in city +visitors, and, while regarding the sufferers with sympathy, generally +prescribe a "hair of the dog that bit them"--more riding--as the quickest +cure; which Cecil would certainly have thought hard-hearted in the +extreme. However, nothing would have induced him to say that he had +felt the riding, since Cecil belonged to that class of boy that hates +to admit inferiority to others. So he suffered in silence, creaked +miserably at his uprising and down-sitting, and was happily unaware +that everyone in Billabong knew perfectly well what was the matter with +him. + +Cecil and his mother were very good friends in the cool, polite way +that was distinctive of them. They "fitted" together admirably, and as +a general rule held the same views, the one on which they were most in +accord being the belief in Cecil's own superior talents and +characteristics. He wrote to her just as he would have talked, certain +of her absolute agreement. When his letter was finished he felt much +relieved at having, as Jim said, "got it off his chest." Not that Cecil +would ever have said anything so inelegant. + +Sarah crossed the hall at the moment, carrying a tray of silver to be +cleaned, and he called to her-- + +"Where is Norah?" + +"Miss Norah's in the kitchen," said the girl shortly. The Billabong +maids were no less independent than modern maids generally are, but +they had their views about the city gentleman's manner to the daughter +of the house. "On'y a bit of a kid himself," Mary had said to Sarah, +indignantly, "but any one'd think he owned the earth, an' Miss Norah +was a bit of it." So they despised Cecil exceedingly, and refrained +from shaking up his mattress when they made his bed. + +"Er--you may tell her I want to speak to her." + +"Can't, I'm afraid," Sarah said. "Miss Norah's very busy, 'elpin' Mrs. +Brown. She don't care to be disturbed." + +"Can't she spare me a moment?" + +"Wouldn't ask her to." Sarah lifted her tray--and her nose--and marched +out. Cecil looked black. + +"Gad! I wish the mater had to deal with those girls!" he said +viciously--Mrs. Geoffrey Linton was of the employers who "change their +maids" with every new moon. "She'd make them sit up, I'll wager. +Abominable impertinence!" He strolled to the door, and looked out +across the garden discontentedly. "What on earth is there for a man to +do? Well, I'll hunt up the important cousin." + +At the moment, Norah was quite of importance. Mrs. Brown had succumbed +to a headache earlier in the day. Norah had found her, white-faced and +miserable, bending over a preserving pan full of jam, waiting for the +mystical moment when it should "jell." Ordered to rest, poor Brownie +had stoutly refused--was there not more baking to be done, impossible to +put off, to say nothing of the jam? A brisk engagement had ensued, from +which Norah had emerged victorious, the reins of government in her +hands for the day. Brownie, still protesting, had been put on her bed +with a handkerchief steeped in eau-de-Cologne on her throbbing +forehead, and Norah had returned to the kitchen to varied occupations. + +The jam had behaved beautifully; had "jelled" in the most satisfactory +manner, just the right colour; now it stood in a neat array of jars on +a side table, waiting to be sealed and labelled when cold. Then, after +lunch, Norah had plunged into the mysteries of pastry, and was +considerably relieved when her mince pies turned out very closely akin +to those of Brownie, which were famous. Puddings for dinner had +followed, and were now cooling in the dairy. Finally, the joint being +in the oven, and vegetables prepared, the cook had compounded Jim's +favourite cake, which was now baking; during which delicate operation, +with a large dab of flour on her nose, the cook sat at the table, and +wrote a letter. + + +"DEAR OLD JIM,--This must be in pencil, 'cause I'm watching a cake +that's in the oven, and I'm awfully scared of it burning, so I don't +dare to go for the ink. Dad said I was to write and tell you we would +meet you on Wednesday, unless we heard from you again. We are all +awfully glad and excited about you coming. I'm sure Tait and Puck +understand, 'cause I told them to-day, and they barked like anything. +Your room is all right, and we've put in another cupboard. We're all so +sorry about Wally not coming, but we hope he will come later on. Do +make him. + +"Dad and I aren't talking about me going to school. It can't be helped, +and it only makes you jolly blue to talk about it. + +"Cecil's come, and he's the queerest specimen of a boy I ever saw. He's +awfully grown up, but he's small and terribly swagger. His riding +clothes are gorgeous, and you mustn't laugh at them. Dad did, but it +was into Bobs' mane. He came with us cutting-out, and Betty was too +good for him, swinging round, so he came a lovely cropper into some +wild raspberries. It was so funny no one could have helped laughing, +and he wasn't really hurt, only prickled and very wild. I am afraid he +isn't enjoying himself very much, but of course he will be all right +when you come. It's jolly hard to entertain him, 'cause he isn't a bit +keen about anything. He has a tremendous array of shaving tackle. And +he has a hand glass. Do you think he will lend it to you to see your +back hair? + +"Bobs is just lovelier than ever. I never knew him go so well as he is +now, and he perfectly loves a jump. Dad has a new horse he calls +Monarch, and he is a beauty, he is black with a star. OF COURSE, don't +say anything about Cecil's spill to anybody, he could not help it. And +he had a much bigger laugh at me, 'cause I fell into the lagoon the day +he came. I will tell you all about it when you come. + +"The place is looking lovely, and hasn't dried up a bit--" + + +An unfamiliar step came along the passage, and Norah sat up abruptly +from the labours of composition, and then with promptness concealed her +letter under a cookery book. + +"Why Cecil! How did you find your way here?" + +"Oh--looked about me. I had finished my writing, and there was nothing +to do." + +"I'm so sorry," Norah said contritely. "You see, Brownie's sick, and +I'm on duty here." + +"You!" said Cecil, with a laugh. "And what can YOU do in a kitchen?" + +Norah blushed at the laugh more than at the words. + +"Oh, you'll get some sort of a dinner," she said. "Don't be too +critical, that's all." + +"What, you really can cook? Or do you play at it?" + +"Well, there are mighty few girls in the Bush who can't cook a bit," +Norah said. "Of course we're lucky, having Brownie--but you really never +can tell as a rule when you may have to turn to in the kitchen. Dad +says it's one of the beauties of Australia!" + +"Can't say I like the idea of a lady in the kitchen," quoth Cecil +loftily. + +"Can't say I'd like to be one who was scared of it," Norah said. "And I +guess you'd get very bored if you had to go without your dinner!" She +seized a cloth and opened the oven door gingerly, and made highly +technical experiments with her cake, rising presently, somewhat +flushed. "Ten minutes more," she said, with an air of satisfaction. +"And, as Brownie would say, 'he's rose lovely.' Have some tea, Cecil?" + +Cecil assented, and watched the small figure in the voluminous white +apron as she flitted about the kitchen. + +"I like having tea here," Norah confided to him. "Then I use Brownie's +teapot, and don't you always think tea tastes miles better out of a +brown pot? You won't get the proper afternoon cups either--I hope you +don't mind?" She stopped short, with a sudden sense of talking a +language altogether foreign to this bored young man in correct attire; +and a rush of something like irritation to think how different Jim or +Wally would have been--she could almost see Wally sitting on the edge of +the table, with a huge cup of tea in one hand, a scone in the other, +and his thin, eager face alight with cheerfulness. Cecil was certainly +heavy in the hand. She sighed, but bent manfully to her task again. + +"You take sugar, don't you? And cream? Yes, you ought to have cream, +'cause you've been ill." She dashed into the pantry, returning with a +small jug. "The cake's not mine, so I can recommend it; but if you're +not frightened you can have one of my mince pies." + +"Thanks, I'd rather have cake," said Cecil., and again Norah flushed at +his tone, but she laughed. + +"It's certainly safer," she agreed, "I'm sure Brownie thought it was a +hideous risk to leave the pies to me." She supplied her cousin with +cake, and retreated to the oven. + +"Why don't you let one of the girls do this?" he asked. + +"Sarah or Mary? Oh, they're as busy as ever they can be," explained +Norah. "We always do a lot of extra cleaning and rubbing up before +Christmas, and they haven't a moment. Of course they'd do it in a +minute, if I asked them, but I wouldn't--as it is, Sarah's going to dish +up for me. They're the nicest girls; I'm going to take them tea as soon +as I get my cake out!" + +"You!" said Cecil. "You don't mean to say you're going to cart tea to +the servants?" + +"I'd be a perfect pig if I didn't," Norah said, shortly. "I'm afraid +you don't understand the bush a bit, Cecil." + +"Thank goodness I don't then," said Cecil, stiffly. "Who's that tray +for?" + +"Brownie, of course." Norah was getting a little ruffled--criticism like +this had not come to her. + +"Well, I think it's extraordinary--and so would my mother," Cecil said, +with an air of finality. + +"I suppose a town is different," said Norah, striving after patience. +"We like to look after everyone here--and I think it's grand when +everyone's nice to everyone!" She paused; it was hard to be patient and +grammatical, too. + +"School will teach you a number of things," said her cousin loftily. He +rose and put down his cup. "A lady shouldn't lower herself." + +"Dad says a lady can't lower herself by work," retorted Norah. "Anyhow, +if taking tea to dear old Brownie's going to lower me, it'll have to, +that's all!" + +"You don't understand," said Cecil. "A lady has her own place, and to +get on terms of familiarity with the lower classes is bad for both her +and them." He looked and felt instructive. "It isn't exactly the action +that counts--it's the spirit it fosters--er--the feeling--that is, +the--er, in short, it's a mistake to--" + +"Oh, please be careful, Cecil, you're sitting in some dough!" + +Norah sprang forward anxiously, and instructiveness fell from Cecil as +one sheds a garment. He had sat down on the edge of the table in the +flow of his eloquence; now he jumped up angrily, and, muttering +unpleasant things, endeavored to remove dough from his person. Norah +hovered round, deeply concerned. Pastry dough, however, is a clinging +and a greasy product, and finally the wrathful lecturer beat a retreat +towards the sanctuary of his own room, and the cook sat down and shook +with laughter. + +"My cake!" she gasped, in the midst of her mirth. She flew to the oven +and rescued Jim's delicacy. + +"Thank goodness, it's all right!" said she. Her mirth broke out afresh. + +A shadow darkened the doorway. + +"What--cooking and in hysterics?" said Mr. Linton. "May I have some tea? +And what's the matter?" + +"Cecil's begun the reforming process," said his daughter, becoming +solemn with difficulty. "You've no idea how improved I am, Daddy! He +seems to be certain that I'm not a lady, and he's very doubtful if I'm +a cook, so could you tell me what I'm likely to be?" + +"A better all-round man than Cecil, I should hope," said David Linton, +with a sound like a snort of wrath. "Give me some tea, mate, and don't +bother your head about the future. Your old Dad's not scared!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +COMING HOME + + The top of my desire + Is just to meet a mate o' mine. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +It had suddenly become hot--"truly Christmas" weather, Norah called it, +as she stood waiting on the Cunjee platform for a train which, in +accordance with all railway traditions at Christmas, was already over +an hour late. Norah felt it hard that to-day, of all days in the year, +it should be so--when Jim was actually coming home for good! At the +thought of Jim's arrival she hopped cheerfully on one leg, completely +oblivious of onlookers, and looked up the shining line of rails for the +thousand-and-first time. Would the old train never come? + +"Aren't you contriving to keep warm, with the mercury trying to break +the thermometer? Or do you dance merely because you feel like it?" +asked a friendly voice; and Norah turned with a little flush of +pleasure to greet the Cunjee doctor. She and Dr. Anderson respected +each other very highly. + +"Because I feel like it, I expect," she said, laughing and shaking +hands. + +"Which my wide professional experience leads me to diagnose as the fact +that you're probably waiting for Jim!" said the doctor, gravely. +"There's a certain hectic flush, an intermittent pulse, which convinces +me of your painful state, when coupled with the restlessness of the +eye." + +"Which eye?" asked Norah anxiously. + +"Both," said the doctor. "Don't be flippant with your medical man. So +he's really coming, Norah?" + +"Yes," said Norah, "and I don't care if I am excited--so'd you be, +doctor. Billy's outside with the horses, and he's just as excited as I +am." + +"Billy!" said the doctor. "But he'd never say more than 'Plenty!' no +matter how excited he was." + +"No, of course not, but then he finds it such a useful word," Norah +said a little vaguely. She was peering up the rails. Suddenly she spun +round, her face glowing. "There's the smoke--she's coming!" + +Whatever additional remarks Dr. Anderson may have made fell on deaf +ears, for Norah had no further ideas from that moment. The train came +into view over the brow of the hill, and slid down the long slope into +the station, pulling up with a mighty grinding of brakes. Almost as it +stopped a door was flung open violently, and a very tall boy with the +Grammar School colours on his hat jumped out, cast a hurried glance +around, and then seized the small person in blue linen in an unashamed +bear's hug. + +"Oh, Jim!" said Norah. "Oh, Jimmy--boy!" + +"Well, old kiddie," said Jim. "You all right? My word, I am glad to see +you!" + +"Me, too," said Norah. "It's been just ages, Jim." + +"Hasn't it?" Jim said. He started. "Oh, by Jove! There's someone else +here!" + +Norah wheeled round, and uttered a little cry of joy. Another boy with +the dark-blue hat band was grinning at her in most friendly fashion--a +thin, brown-faced boy, with especially merry dark eyes. Norah's hands +went out. + +"Wally! But, how lovely! I thought you couldn't come." + +"So did I," said Wally Meadows, pumping her hands vigorously. "I was +going home, but my aunt obligingly got measles. I'm awfully sorry for +Aunt. But it's an ill-wind that blows nowhere--old Jim took pity on me, +and here I am!" + +"I should think so," Norah said. "We haven't felt a bit complete +without you. Dad was saying only this morning how sorry he was you +couldn't come. He'll get such a shock! Oh, it's so lovely to have you +two--and isn't it getting like Christmas! I'm so happy!" She jigged on +one foot, regardless of interested faces watching her from the train. + +"You've grown about a foot," said Jim, patting her on the shoulder. +"Pretty thin, too--sure you're all right?" + +Norah reassured him, laughing. + +"Well, you look awfully fit, if you are thin," was Jim's comment. +"Doesn't she, Wally?" + +"Never saw her look fitter," said Wally. "I'm glad as five bob Aunt got +the measles! Oh, what a beast I am--but, you know what I mean! Jim, this +train'll go on, and we've fifty million things in the carriage!" + +"So we have!" Jim said, hurriedly, taking his hand from Norah's +shoulder and diving after his chum into the compartment they had +quitted. They emerged laden with suitcases, parcels, rackets, fishing +rods, golf sticks and other miscellaneous impedimenta. + +"Catch!" Jim said, tossing a big box into Norah's hands. + +"Chocolates!" said Norah blissfully. "Jim, you're an angel!" + +"Always knew that," her brother replied, dropping his load on the +platform with a cheerful disregard of what might break. "Come on, +Wally, we'll get the heavy things out of the van. You watch those, Nor. +Who's in, by the way? And where's Dad?" + +"Dad's in Cunjee; but he had business, and he couldn't wait at the +station, the train was so late. Cecil's with him--they're both riding. +I've got the light buggy with the ponies for you, and Billy's driving +the express for your luggage and heaps of things that Brownie wants for +the house." Norah spoke in one breath and finished with a gasp. + +"Guess people must have thought you were a circus procession!" was +Jim's comment. "All right, we'll cart the things out to Billy." + +Out at the bid express-wagon drawn by a pair of greys, Billy stood, +welcoming them with a smile on his dusky countenance that Wally likened +to a slit in a coconut. The luggage was piled in with special +injunctions to the black boy not to put the bags of flour on anything +that looked delicate--whereat Billy's smile widened to a grin, and he +murmured "Plenty!" delightedly. + +"That's the lot," Jim said. "The buggy's at the hotel, I suppose, +Norah?" + +"Yes--and we're to have lunch there with Dad. And you've got to be +awfully polite to Cecil!" + +"Cecil!" said Jim, lifting his nose. "If Cecil's anything like what he +used to be--" He did not finish the sentence. + +"Do we play with Cecil?" Wally asked, grinning. + +"The question is, if Cecil will condescend to play with you," Norah +said. "He thinks ME too much of a kid to look at--" + +"Oh, does he?" asked Jim resentfully. + +"But you're both ever so much bigger than he is, so perhaps he'll let +you love him!" Norah finished. + +"I'm relieved to my soul," said Wally, with gravity. "Visions of my +unrequited affection poured out on Cecil have been troubling my rest +for days. May I kiss him?" + +"I'd wait a little while, I think," Norah answered. "He may be shy--not +that we've found it out yet. Indeed, he's the unshyest person I ever +met." + +"Is he very awful, Nor?" + +"Oh, he's a bit of a drawback," Norah said. "Dad says he's not bad at +heart, only so spoilt--and he's just terribly bumptious, Jim, and thinks +he can do everything; and his clothes are lovely! He isn't caring for +me a bit to-day, 'cause he gave me a broad hint that he wanted to ride +Bobs, and I didn't take it." + +"Ride Bobs!" exclaimed Jim, in amazement. "Well, I should think you +didn't!" + +"Well, I felt rather a pig, considering he's our guest," Norah said, a +little contritely. "If it were you or Wally, now--but he's really got an +awful seat, Jim, and Murty says he's a hand like a ham on a horse's +mouth! I didn't feel I could let him have Bobs." + +"Bobs is your very special property--no one but an ass would ask for +him, and I told Cecil last year you were the only person who ever rode +him," said Jim indignantly. "Surely there are enough horses on the +place without him wanting to collar your pony!" + +"Well, he didn't get him," said Norah, tranquilly, "so that's all right +and you needn't worry, Jimmy. I do think, if only one could get him off +his high horse, he wouldn't be at all bad--perhaps he'll thaw now you +boys are here. I hope he will, for his own sake, 'cause he'd have such +a much better time." + +"Well, if he's going to be patronizing--" Jim began. + +"Ah, perhaps he won't--I don't believe he could try to patronize you!" +Norah glanced lovingly at her tall brother. "You're nearly as big as +Dad, Jimmy, aren't you? and Wally's going to be too." + +"Ill weeds grow apace," quoted the latter gentleman solemnly. "Jim's a +splendid example of that proverb." + +"M'f!" said Norah. "How about yourself?" + +"I'm coming up as a flower!" Wally replied modestly. "A Christmas lily, +I should think!"--whereat Jim murmured something that sounded "More like +an artichoke!" His exact remark, however, was lost, for at that moment +they arrived at the hotel, just as Mr. Linton emerged from it, and Jim +quickened his pace, his face alight. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, my boy!" They gripped hands, and David Linton's eye kindled as +it dwelt on the big fellow. "Glad to have you back, old son. +Why--Wally!" + +"Turned up like a bad penny, sir," said Wally, having his hand pumped +in turn. "Hope you'll forgive me--it's pretty cool to arrive without an +invitation." + +"As far as I know, you had invitations from all the family," said Mr. +Linton, laughing. "We regard you as one of the oldest inhabitants now, +you know. At any rate, I'm delighted to see you; the mistress of +Billabong must answer for herself, but she doesn't look cast down!" + +"She's been fairly polite," Wally said. "On the whole I don't feel as +shy as I was afraid of feeling! I was horribly scared of having +Christmas with my aunt--but she's chosen measles instead, so I expect +she was just as scared as I was!" + +"It's probable," said his host, laughing. + +"You haven't grown up a bit, Wally, and it's such a comfort!" Norah +said. + +"I'm getting old and reverend," said Wally severely, "and it's up to +you to treat me with respect, young Norah. Sixteen's an awful age to +support with any cheerfulness." His brown face at the moment gave the +impression of never having been serious during the sixteen years he +lamented. "As for this ancient mariner"--indicating Jim--"you can see the +signs of senile decay quite plainly!" + +"Ass!" said Jim affectionately. He broke off. "How are you, Cecil?" + +Cecil, coming out of the hotel, a dapper figure beside the two tall +schoolboys, gave languid greetings. He cast at Jim a glance of +something like envy. Height was the one thing he longed for, and it +seemed to him hard that this seventeen-year-old youngster should be +rapidly approaching six feet, while he, three years older, had stopped +short six inches under that measurement. However, generally speaking, +Cecil was uncommonly well satisfied with himself, and not even the +contemplation of Jim's superior inches could worry him for long. He +asked polite questions about the journey, and laughed at the freely +expressed opinion that the day was hot "You should go to Sydney if you +want to know what heat is," he said, with the superiority of the +travelled man; "Victoria really has no heat to talk about!" + +"Well, I'm a Queenslander," said Wally bluntly, "and we're supposed to +know about heat there. And I do think to-day is beastly hot--look at my +collar, it's like a concertina! Sydney heat is hot, and Brisbane heat +is hotter, but Victorian heat has a hotness all of its own!" Whereat +everybody laughed, and the discussion was adjourned for lunch. + +It was a merry meal; and if the fare was no better than that of most +township hotels, the spirits of the party were too high to trouble +about such trifles as tough meat, watery puddings, and weary butter +that bore out Wally's remarks about the heat by threatening to float +away on a sea of its own oil. Everything was rose colour in Norah's +estimation that day. She sat by Jim and beamed across the table at her +father and Wally. Even Cecil found himself at times included in the +beam, and took it meekly, for the happy face was infectious, while the +frank delight of the boys in having her with them again was to a +certain extent educational to the outsider. There was no lack of +manliness in Jim's strong, handsome face. If he found it worth his +while, Cecil reflected, to make such a fuss over a child, it might be +possible that she was not altogether a person to be snubbed. So he was +unusually affable to his small cousin, and lunch passed off very +successfully. + +Afterwards there was shopping to be done. A long list of groceries had +been made out by Mrs. Brown, who professed herself far too busy with +Christmas preparations to come in person, and had laid the +responsibility on Norah, not without misgivings. It was, perhaps, +fortunate that the storekeepers were able to rise to the contents of +the list unaided, for Norah was scarcely in a condition to grapple with +problems relating to anything so ordinary as groceries, and found it +indeed difficult to read out her list coherently, with Jim standing +sentinel in the doorway and Wally wandering about the shop sampling all +he could find, from biscuits to brooms. On one occasion, when making a +special effort to preserve her dignity, she came to the item "flaked +oatmeal," and asked the shopman in rather frigid tones for "floked +atemeal," which had a paralysing effect on the unoffending storekeeper, +while Wally retired to the shelter of a pile of saucepans, and +shrieked. Thus the business of necessary purchases passed off +cheerfully; and then what Norah termed the more interesting +shops--saddlers' and stationers'--were visited, with a view to Christmas. +Finally Jim brought the buggy from the hotel, and they picked up their +lighter parcels. + +"Surely that's all?" Jim inquired, as Norah and Wally came out of the +fruiterer's laden with bags of assorted sizes, which they dumped +thankfully into the buggy, with the immediate result that a bag of +peaches burst, and had to be rescued from all over the floor. "Nor., +you'll not have a penny left, and we'll all be violently ill if we eat +half you've bought. Come on home." + +"Brownie's laid in large stocks of medicine, she says," Norah answered, +tranquilly, climbing into the buggy. "So you needn't worry, need you? +But we've truly finished now, Jim, I think. Ready, Wally?" + +"Quite," said Wally cheerfully. "I've put these peaches in with the +neatsfoot oil, and it seems a beautiful arrangement!" He hopped up +nimbly. "Right oh, Jimmy, and pray remember I am nervous!" + +"I will," Jim grinned. He laid the whip on the ponies' backs, and they +shot forward with a bound, unused to such liberties. They went down the +main street of Cunjee in a whirl of dust, and turned over the bridge +spanning the river, where the ponies promptly rose on their hind legs +at the sight of Dr. Anderson's motor, and betrayed a rooted +disinclination to come down from that unusual altitude. Jim handled +them steadily, and presently they were induced to face the snorting +horror, wherein the doctor sat, waving his hand and calling cheery +Christmas greetings as they shot past, to which the three responded +enthusiastically. Cunjee sank into the distance behind them. + +The miles flew past. On the metalled road the rubbered tyres spun +silently, and only the flying hoofs clattered and soon they had left +the made road and turned on to the hard-beaten track that led to +Billabong, where progress was even smoother. The tongues flew almost as +swiftly as the wheels. The hot sun sank gradually, and the evening +breeze sprang up. It was a time for quick questions and answers. Norah +wanted details of the term just over, the sports, the prize-giving, and +had to laugh over messages from those of Jim's boy friends whom she +knew; and Jim had a hundred things to ask about home--the cattle, the +fishing, his horses, his dogs, "Brownie," and the prospects of fun +ahead. They roared over her ducking and subsequent encounter with +Cecil, and chaffed her unmercifully. + +"Such a mud-lark!" said Wally, with glee. "And that prim young man! Oh, +Norah, you are a dream! I'd have given something to see your face." + +"I was altogether worth seeing," Norah remarked modestly. "When I +caught sight of myself in a glass I really didn't wonder at Cecil." But +Jim glowered and referred to the absent Cecil as a "silly ass." + +They turned in at last at the homestead gate, and the ponies fairly +flew up the long paddock, something in the spirits of their drivers +communicating itself to them. The house was not visible until the track +had passed through a thick belt of trees, and as they came to this Jim +fell silent, looking keenly ahead. Then the red roof came into view and +the boy drew a long breath. + +"There's the old place," he said. "My word, I am glad to be home!" + +Under the dust-rug Norah slipped her hand on to his knee. + +"It's just lovely to have you--both of you." she added. "You're glad, +too, aren't you, Wally?" + +"I could sing!" said Wally. + +"Once," said Jim, "you could. But for some years--" + +"Beast!" said Wally. "If you weren't driving--" + +"And you weren't nervous--!" grinned his chum. + +"There'd be wigs on the green," finished Norah, cheerfully. "I'll +drive, if it would be any convenience to either of you." + +"We'll postpone it," said Jim. "There's Brownie at the gate, bless her +old heart!" + +They shot up the last furlong of the drive. At the big gate of the +yard--very few people, not even bishops, go to the front gate of a Bush +homestead--Brownie stood, her broad face beaming. As they pulled up, +Murty O'Toole came forward to take the horses--a marked compliment from +Murty, who, like most head stockmen, was a free and independent soul. + +Jim went over the wheel with a bound, and seized Brownie's hand. + +"How are you, Brownie, dear?" + +"The size of him!" said she. "The shoulders. No wonder they 'ad you for +captin of the football eleven, then, my dear!" The boys grinned widely. +"If not eleven, then it's four," said Brownie placidly. "Strange, I +can't never remember which, an' it don't sinnerfy, any'ow. Welkim +'ome--an' you too, Master Wally." + +"How are you, Murty?" Jim shook hands with the stockman, while Wally +bowed low over Brownie's hand. + +"I've lived for this moment," he said, fervently. "Brownie, you grow +younger every time I go away!" + +"Naturally!" said Norah from the buggy. + +"Be silent, minx!" said Wally, over his shoulder. "Who are you to break +in on a heart-to-heart talk, anyhow? At this present moment, Mrs. +Brown, you look seventeen!" + +"Get along with you, now, do!" said the delighted Brownie. "You're no +better than you was, I'm afraid, Master Wally--alwuz ready for your +joke!" + +"Joke!" exclaimed he, indignantly. "Any one who'd make a joke of you, +Brownie, would rob a church. Jim might, but I--" + +"Perish the idea!" said Jim, tipping the orator's hat over his eyes. +"Come and take things out of the buggy." + +Across the yard came Mr. Linton, surrounded by a mixed assemblage of +dogs. Puck and the collie had already hurled themselves upon Jim in a +delirium of joy. Cecil strolled after his uncle, looking slightly +amused at the scene by the gate. + +"We're quite a family," Mr. Linton said. "I begin to feel like Mr. +Pickwick at a Christmas gathering! Do you think Billabong will stand +the crowd, Mrs. Brown?" + +"It looks to me, sir," said Mrs. Brown contentedly, "as if Billabong's +goin' to 'ave the time of its life!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JIM UNPACKS + + Holler-days + Were made for boys to holler! + + +Jim's room was a rather vast place, with two long windows opening upon +the balcony, two exceedingly plain iron bedsteads in different corners, +and in the midst a wide, vacant space, where a punching-ball was fixed +whenever the owner was at home. There was a very shabby old leather +armchair by one window, and near the other an even shabbier leather +couch, very wide and solid. Jim used to declare that they were the most +comfortable in the house, and nothing would have induced him to have +them altered in any way. + +One wall held a medley of various articles: Jim's rifle, the sporting +gun his father had given him when he was fifteen, a revolver that had +been through two wars, and a cavalry sword his grandfather had carried, +together with an assortment of native weapons from various +countries--assegais, spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, sjamboks and +South Sea Island clubs and shields. A special nail held Jim's own +stockwhip, to which Norah always attended after he had gone away, lest +the supple thong should become harsh through disuse. Then there were +weapons of peace--hockey sticks, rackets, cricket-bats--the latter an +assortment of all Jim had used, from the tiny one he had begun with at +the age of eight to the full sized beauty that had split honourably in +an inter-State school match the preceding summer. + +All over the other walls were plainly framed photographs. Mr. Linton +and Norah were there, in many positions, with and without horses; then +there were pictures of all the favourite horses and ponies and dogs on +the place, and a big enlargement of Billabong house itself. The others +were school photographs, mostly football and cricket teams, tennis +fours, the school crew, and some large groups at the yearly sports. In +nearly all you could find Jim himself--if you looked closely enough. Jim +loathed being photographed, and always retired as far out of sight in a +group as his inches would permit. + +The room held many of Jim's own manufactured ideas--his "contraptions," +Brownie used to call them. There was a telephone he had rigged up when +he was twelve, communicating with Norah's room by the balcony; and +outside was a sort of fire escape, by which he could--and generally +did--descend without using the stairs. There were various pieces of bush +carpentry--a table, a candlestick and a book-case of his own +construction, which in Norah's eyes were better than beautiful. There +was an arrangement by which he could open his door or his windows +without getting out of bed--which was ingenious, but quaint, since Jim +was never known to shut his windows, and very rarely his door. +Altogether it was an interesting room, and very typical of Jim. + +At present it resembled a maelstrom, for Wally and Jim were unpacking. +Brownie, putting in her head, described it as "a perfick shambles," and +affected great horror at the havoc occasioned by having boys in the +house--beaming all the while in a manner calculated to destroy the +effect of any lecture. Norah, perched on the end of the sofa, which was +the only free spot in the room, looked on at the operations with deep +interest. Occasionally, when some special parcel was unearthed, one of +the boys diverted her attention laboriously, since it was near +Christmas-time, which is ever a season of mysteries. The parcel stowed +away hastily in a cupboard, Norah was permitted to gaze once more, +unrestricted. + +"What's that, Jim?" she asked, catching a glimpse of silver in the +recesses of a suitcase. + +"Oh, nothing." + +"I believe it's your cup," said his sister excitedly. "Do make him show +me, Wally!" + +"The mug it is!" said Wally, diving in under Jim's nose, and snatching +the article in question. "Don't be an ass, Jimmy--d'you expect to keep +it always in your boot-bag?" + +"Very nice place for it," Jim was understood to mutter. + +"Ripping--but you'll want it for your boots. Catch, Norah!" + +The big silver cup flew across the room, and was deftly fielded by the +lady on the end of the sofa. + +"Oh, isn't it a beauty!" she said delightedly. "Jimmy, I'm so proud to +know you!" + +"You ought to have seen him going up to get it," Wally said. "Lovely +sight--he blushed so prettily!" + +"Blush be hanged!" said the victim. + +"Don't be ashamed, my child; it's a very nice thing to be able to +blush," Wally grinned. "No one would ever dream you could, either, so +it's a happy surprise as well!" + +"There's not a blush about you, that's one thing," said Jim, from the +depths of his big box. + +"Wore out all my powers that way blushing over you!" was Wally's prompt +reply. "Norah, will you use that thing for cocoa, or what?" + +"Don't be disrespectful--I'm admiring it," Norah answered, turning the +cup round. "Dad will like it awfully." + +"Has he shown you his prizes?" + +"Prizes!" Norah exclaimed, falling off the arm of the sofa in +amazement. "Jim, you horrid boy, you never told us. Show me at once!" + +"Never thought about 'em," said the unhappy Jim, un-earthing two +resplendent books. "Here you are, anyhow--and Wally needn't talk; he's +got three!" + +"I'm faint in the presence of so much learning!" Norah said, sitting +down on a golf bag. "Who'd ever have suspected you? French and +Prefect's Prize--oh, I'm so glad you got that one, Jim, dear." Her quick +ear caught a step, and she called her father excitedly. + +Mr. Linton entered, to be greeted by incoherent tidings of his son's +success, to the meaning of which the two books lent aid. + +"That's especially good news, old chap," he said quietly, whereat Jim +grinned happily, blushed with fervour, and muttered something entirely +inaudible. "The cup, too! that's a beauty, and no mistake!" He looked +round the "perfick shambles," and laughed a little. "I don't think +they're very safe here," he said. "With your permission, I'll take +charge of them." He left the room, carrying the books and the cup with +him. + +At the door he paused. + +"Don't forget Cecil," he said quietly, and was gone. + +The trio looked blank. + +"Cecil!" said Wally. + +"Hang Cecil!" from Jim disgustedly. + +"Oh, he's such a bore!" Norah said. "And he'd simply hate to be in +here--he wouldn't see any fun in it. I--I really think I've had an +overdose of Cecil." + +"Poor old kid!" said Jim. "Well, we'll hurry up unpacking and then find +him." They dismissed the "bit of a drawback" airily from their minds, +and proceeded with the business in hand, hampered slightly by much +energetic conversation. Jim's boxes were full of interesting things, +the result of his six years at school; his packing, he said, with +pained recollection, had been a "corker." + +"Lucky I had that extra chest of drawers put in here," remarked Norah, +stowing away numerous small articles. "Jim, how many boys gave you +knives as farewell gifts?" + +"Sorra a one of me knows," said her brother. "I lost count--and lost +some of the knives, too. I've an idea Bill Beresford picked up one I +dropped--the one Lance Western gave me; it's got a tortoise-shell +handle, and a nick out of the big blade--and gave it to me for himself." + +"It sounds the sort of economical thing Bill would do," Wally remarked. + +"Then there are five magnifying glasses, seven pencil cases, and six +pens," said Norah. "All tokens of affection, Jim? I'll put them in the +middle drawer." + +"What on earth I'm going to do with 'em all," said their harassed +owner, "I'm sure I don't know. Does any one chap use five magnifiers in +his life? Never used one yet! I wish the fellows hadn't been so kind--it +was awfully brickish of them, though, wasn't it? And the Doctor gave me +this." He held up a large and solemn--looking book. + +"What is it?" + +"'Self Help,' by a chap named Smiles. Shouldn't have thought there were +many smiles about a book looking like that, but it shows you can't tell +everything by the cover. And Mrs. Doctor gave me this tie--knitted it +herself. It was jolly decent of her, wasn't it? She's always been +awfully kind to me," said the big fellow, who had no idea of what "Mrs. +Doctor" thought of his cheerful habit of picking up two or three of her +babies and treating them to a wild ride round the school grounds on his +back; and who had on one occasion sat up all night with a sick +three-year-old who had cried unreasonably for "Yinton" to come and +carry him. The boy had recovered, somewhat against expectations, and +Jim had thought no more of the matter, except to drop gently and firmly +into a gorse bush a fellow who had chaffed him for being a nursemaid. +He had been amazed, and greatly embarrassed, by the tears in little +"Mrs. Doctor's" eyes as she bade him good-bye. Nothing on earth would +have induced him to mention them. + +"If the Doctor ever gives me anything barring the length of his tongue, +I'll have apoplexy!" remarked Wally. "We don't twin-soul a bit better +than we did. He caught me beautifully the other day. Three or four of +us were going to have a supper. I'd been into town to the dentist, and +was bringing home a lobster. Coming out, that idiot Bob Greenfield was +next me on the train, and he amused himself by rubbing the lobster +gently until the thin brown paper they wrap 'em in had worn through in +places. I was talking cricket for all I was worth, and never noticed +him. I'd bought an evening paper, and given him my lobster to hold +while I looked up some scores." + +"Yes?" said Norah, happily. + +"Well, we came to the school, and off I jumped, and just inside the +gate I ran into the Doctor. He was very affable, and we walked up +together, and he asked me quite affectionately how I'd got on with the +dentist, and altogether he might have been my long lost uncle! +Presently he glanced down at my parcel, and said, 'Been getting a boot +mended, Meadows?' I didn't know what to say for a moment. And while I +was floundering in my mind the string broke, and down went my parcel +with a clatter on the asphalt!" + +"Why do I miss these things?" asked Jim, plaintively. + +"I wish I'd missed it instead of you!" said his chum. "I picked it up +in a hurry, and the paper had burst pretty well all over-and-well, you +know, there's no disguising the colour of a lobster! I just held it, +and looked a fool, and the Doctor put up his eyeglass and looked it and +me all over. Then he said, 'Curious colour for a boot, Meadows'--and I +promptly turned the same shade as the lobster." + +"Did you get into a row?" Norah asked. + +"No; I will say for the old chap that he was a perfect brick," Wally +said. "He just grinned, and walked off, remarking that there was no +need to push investigations too far. And I fled, and the lobster was +tip-top, thank you." + +"I don't see why you've any cause to grumble at the Doctor," was +Norah's comment. + +"That's you, feminine ignorance," returned Wally. "He made me feel +small." + +"Well, if I get a head mistress as easy-going--" said Norah, dolefully. + +"Don't you get the idea into your mind that our revered Head's +easy-going!" Wally retorted. "He thinks nothing of skinning a fellow on +occasion--only he didn't happen to think a lobster was occasion--that +night, anyhow. You see, it was near the end of term, and even Heads get +soft!" + +"Lots of em," said Jim; "look at your own!" He dodged a hairbrush +neatly. "Have a little sense, young Wally; don't you see I'm busy? +Norah, old chap, did you see my blazer?" + +"I hung it in your wardrobe," said Norah promptly "Also your overcoat, +also your straw hat, also your cadet uniform--what are you going to do +with that, by the way, Jim?" + +"Get photographed in it," said Wally, wickedly. + +"I'm likely to!" Jim said, with fine scorn. "Goodness only knows--I may +find some fellow it'll fit. It certainly wouldn't fit me much longer." + +"It's been the anxiety of the whole battalion," said Wally. "It creaked +and began to split whenever he drilled in it, and for the last six +parades we've always taken out a blanket in case we should need to +drape his tattered form on the way home! It's an uncommonly good thing +he's left. Most demoralizing for a young corps to see its corpulent +lieutenant bursting out of his uniform!" + +"He's not corpulent," said Norah indignantly, whereat Jim, who +personified leanness with breadth of shoulder, grinned even more widely +than Wally, and patted her on the head as he passed with an armful of +clothes, which he stowed into his wardrobe much as he might have dumped +sacks of potatoes into a barn. Even Norah's wide and free views on the +subject of garments were not proof against the sight. + +"Are those your good suits, Jim?" + +"Yes," said her brother, cheerfully. "They're used to it. Chuck me that +coat, Wally." + +Wally complied, and the coat--which happened to be the one belonging to +its owner's evening suit--was added to the heap in the wardrobe. + +"I'll sort 'em out some time or other," said Jim. "I'm so jolly sick of +unpacking. Wally, you animal, you're not finished, are you?" + +"Ages ago," said his chum. "Hadn't anything like your quantity, you +see. My clothes are neat and trim, and my pyjamas have blue ribbon in +them and I have put out my lace pin cushion and my tulle slippers, and +all is well! Now I feel I can go and play with Cecil with a quiet +mind!" + +"I really don't know why I brought a lunatic home with me," Jim said, +patiently. "Sorry, Nor.; but we'll take him out in the scrub and lose +him. Meanwhile--" He closed the last drawer with a bang, and advanced +with slow deliberation upon the hapless Mr. Meadows. + +For the next few minutes the air in the room was murky with pillows, +other missiles and ejaculations. Out of the turmoil came yelps, much +energetic abuse, and shrieks to Norah for aid to which that maiden, who +was enjoying herself hugely, lent a deaf ear. Finally, the combat +restricted itself principally to Wally's bed, from which the bedclothes +gradually disappeared, until they formed a tight bundle on the floor, +with Wally in the centre. Jim piled the mattress on top, and retreated +to the door. + +"Beast!" said Wally, disentangling himself with difficulty, until he +sat on the pile, considerably dishevelled, and wearing a broad grin. +"It's only your vile brute force--some day I'll get even with you!" He +rose, hurled the mattress upon the bed, and looked inquiringly at his +blankets. "How do you imagine I'm going to sleep there to-night?" + +"Oh, we'll fix it up when we come to bed," laughed Jim. "Come on--we +ought to go down to Cecil." + +"Hold on till I brush my hair," said Wally, attacking his disturbed +locks, and settling his tie. "All right; lead on, Macduff!" + +"Ready, Nor.?" + +Norah hesitated. + +"I'm going to my room for something," she said. "I'll be after you in a +few minutes, boys." + +She disappeared within her room, and the boys clattered downstairs. +When they had gone, Norah slipped back noiselessly to Jim's apartment, +which gave the impression of having recently been the scene of a +cyclone. She laughed a little, looking at it from the doorway. + +"It certainly is a 'perfick shambles'," she said. "Poor old chaps--and +they'll be so tired when they come up to bed!" + +Moving quietly, she sorted out the tangled bedclothes and made up the +bed, and reduced to order some of the chaos in the room. Then she +opened the wardrobe and took out the mass of clothes, sorting out the +suits and putting them away carefully, with a shake to the coats to +remove creases. The dress suit she laid in a drawer, running to her own +room for a tiny lavender bag to keep away the moths. She was closing +the drawer when she started at a step, and Jim came in. + +"What on earth are you up to?" was his question. His eye travelled +round the room, taking in the open door of the wardrobe, and the dress +coat in the drawer, where stood his small sister, rather flushed. + +"Well!" he said, and paused. "Weren't we beasts?" + +"No, you weren't," said Norah indignantly. + +"H'm," said Jim. "It's a jolly good thing when a fellow has a sister, +anyhow." He came over to her and put his arm round her shoulders. "Dear +old chap!" he said. They went down the stairs together. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A THUNDERSTORM + + The Bush hath moods and changes, as the seasons rise and fall, + And the men who love the Bushland--they are loyal thro' it all. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"The day after to-morrow is the date of the men's dance," Mr. Linton +said. "Norah mustn't go in for any wild exertion on that day, as she'll +probably want to dance several hundred miles at night. So if you boys +want to plan anything, you had better make your arrangements for +to-morrow." + +"I don't know that I've energy enough to plan anything," said Jim, +lazily. He was lying full length on the lawn, his head on Norah. Wally +was close by, and Cecil and Mr. Linton occupied basket chairs. Peace +would have reigned supreme had not the mosquitoes kept every one busy. + +"Any wishes, Cecil?" + +"None whatever," said Cecil. "There are no people to go and see, I +think you said, Uncle David?" + +"No one that would interest you," Mr. Linton said; and Wally and Jim, +who had groaned internally with fear of being taken "calling," felt +their spirits return. + +"My brain's not equal to planning, as I remarked," Jim said. "But if I +go anywhere, I'd like to do so on a horse. I want to feel a horse under +me again." + +"Hear, hear," from Wally, softly. + +"Well, I can't go out to-morrow," said the squatter. "I've letters to +see to, and Anderson may be out; so you must look after +yourselves--which I believe you to be entirely capable of doing. Norah, +haven't you any ideas?" + +"Loads," said Norah, promptly, "but they're all connected with +mosquitoes!" She aimed a vicious blow into space as she spoke, and +sighed, before rubbing the bite. "Well, suppose we ride out and boil +the billy somewhere along the river? Cecil, would you care for that?" + +"Very much," said Cecil, in the tones that always gave the impression +that he despised the particular subject under discussion. Norah had +quite withdrawn the opinion formed in the first five minutes of their +acquaintance, that he was ill mannered--now she bewailed the fact that +he was so uniformly and painfully polite. + +"Well, if you would--" she said, hesitatingly. "What do you boys think?" + +"Grand idea," responded Wally. Norah loved Wally's way; he was always +so pleased and interested over any plan that might be formed. Jim was +wont to remark that if you arranged to clean out a pigsty, Wally would +probably regard it as a gigantic picnic, and enjoy his day hugely. She +smiled at him gratefully in the darkness. + +"You too, Jim?" + +"Rather--anything you like," said her brother. "What horse can I have, +Dad?" + +Jim had no special horse of his own. His two ponies, Sirdar and Mick, +he had outgrown, although they were still up to anything of a lighter +weight--the former only inferior to Norah's beloved Bobs. His absences +from home were so long that it had not seemed worth while to procure +him a special horse, and for several holidays he had been accustomed to +ride any of the station mounts. Privately, Jim was not altogether +satisfied with the arrangement, although quite admitting its common +sense. Now that he had left school he intended to ask his father if he +could buy a horse. + +"You can try my new purchase, Monarch, if you like," Mr. Linton +answered. "He's quite a decent mover--I think you'll like him." + +Cecil bit his lip, under cover of the darkness. He coveted a ride on +both Bobs and Monarch, and had given hints on the subject, but neither +had been taken. Now Jim, nearly three years his junior, was lent +Monarch without even having asked for him; while he was still, he +presumed, to ride the steady-going Brown Betty, whom he thoroughly +despised, in spite of the fact that she had once got rid of him. He +registered another notch in his general grudge against Billabong. + +Mr. Linton was absolutely ignorant of what passed in his nephew's mind. +To give the city boy, with his uncertain seat and heavy hands, anything +but a steady horse, never occurred to him; he would have regarded it as +little short of inviting disaster to put him on Monarch, thoroughbred +and newly broken in as he was; and, of course, no one but Norah ever +rode Bobs. + +"That's all right," he said, as Jim expressed his pleasure. "And what +about you, Wally? You're too long now for Mick, I think." + +"Oh, anything you like, sir," said Wally, easily. "I haven't met any +bad 'uns on Billabong. Warder, or Brown Betty, or Nan--have you got them +all still?" + +"They're all here," the squatter said. "Cecil generally rides Betty, +and I believe Burton's using old Warder just now. But you can have Nan, +if you like." + +"Thanks very much," said Wally. "I'll take the shine out of you, young +Norah!" + +"I'd like to see you," returned Norah. Monarch might beat Bobs or yes, +perhaps one other horse she knew of, in a small tree-grown paddock; at +the thought of which she smiled happily to herself. But no other horse +on Billabong could see the way Bobs went when he was in earnest. + +"Well, that's all settled," Mr. Linton said. "I hope you'll have a good +day--you're bound to have it hot, so I should advise you to get an early +start. If you go as far as the Swamp Paddock, Norah, you might ride +round the cattle there, and see if they're settling down--I put the new +bullocks there, you know." + +"All right, Dad, we'll do it. I like having an object for a ride." + +"Same here," said Jim sleepily. "Picnics are asinine things!" + +"I don't believe you know much about anything--you're three parts +asleep!" said Wally, flinging a cushion at his chum, which Jim caught +thankfully, and, remarking that Norah was uncommonly scraggy, adjusted +under his head. The result was a vigorous upheaval by the indignant +Norah, who declined to be a head-rest for such ingratitude any longer. +At this point Mr. Linton discovered that it was time for supper; and +the boys, tired after their long journey, were not long in saying +goodnight. + +Jim came up with Norah, and switched on her light. His eye travelled +round the pretty room. + +"I don't know what part of home's HOMIEST," he said--"but I always +reckon your room runs pretty near it! Blest if I know what it will be +like when you're not here, little chap." + +Norah rubbed her face against his coat sleeve. + +"We don't talk of it," she said. "If we did, I'd--I'd be a horrid +coward, Jimmy--boy, and you wouldn't like me a bit!" + +"Wouldn't I?" Jim said. "Well, I can't imagine you a coward, anyhow." +He bent and kissed her. "Good-night, old kiddie." + +They set out in good time next morning, for the sun gave promise of a +scorching day. + +Billy had the horses ready under the shade of a huge pepper-tree; even +there the flies were bad enough to set Monarch and Bobs fretting with +irritation, while the two stock horses lashed unceasingly with their +tails and stamped in the dust. Nan was a long, handsome brown mare, +with two white feet--an old friend of Wally's, who came and patted her +and let her rub her worried head against his coat. Cecil mounted Betty +and looked on sourly, while Jim walked round Monarch and admired the +big black. + +"He ought to carry you like a bird, Dad." + +"He does; a bit green yet, but he'll mend of that," his father +answered. "Now, get away, all of you." He put Norah up and watched, +with a silent look of approval, the way Jim handled his impatient +steed, taking him quietly, as one treats a fractious baby, and mounting +gently. Then he stood under the tree to see them ride down the paddock, +valises containing necessaries for the "asinine picnic" strapped on Nan +and Betty's saddles. Norah, as the lady of the party, was exempt from +carrying burdens, and Monarch brooked no load but his rider. + +They made good time across the shadeless paddocks, anxious for the +pleasanter conditions along the river bank, where a cattle track wound +in and out under the gum trees. It was one of Norah and Jim's favourite +rides; they never failed to take it when holidays brought the boy back +to Billabong. They pushed along it for some time, eventually finding +the slip rails, through which they got into the Swamp Paddock--so called +because of a wide marsh in one corner, where black duck and snipe used +to come freely. The new cattle had taken to the paddock like old hands. +Satisfied with their inspection, Norah and Jim led the way back to the +river, where presently they came to an ideal place to camp; a bend +thickly shaded, with the river bank shelving down to a sandy beach, +where it was easy to get good water. + +Wally volunteered to boil the billy, which he accomplished after much +vigorous fanning with his hat at the fire. The job took some little +time, and if the tea was eventually brewed with water that had not +quite reached boiling point, that was a matter between Wally and his +conscience--certainly the other members of the party were far too +thirsty to be critical! Lunch was lazily discussed close to the water, +after which they lay about on the bank and talked of many things. +Nobody was inclined to move, for the heat, even at the river, was very +great; a still, thunderous day, on which no shade could keep out the +moist heat, that seemed, as Wally put it, "to get into your very bones +and make them lazy." + +At length Jim rolled over. + +"Well, I'm off for a bathe," he said. "Coming, Cecil?" + +"Oh, yes," Cecil answered, a little doubtfully; while Wally jumped up +as a matter of course. + +"Ugh!" groaned Norah. "Pigs! Why was I born a girl?" + +"So's we could lay ourselves at your feet!" said Wally solemnly, +suiting the action to the word, and placing his forehead forcefully in +the dust before her. + +"M'f!" Norah wrinkled her nose. "It's very nice of you, but I don't +quite see what use it would be. Anyhow, I'd far rather go bathing." She +huddled on the ground, and looked tragic. "Go--leave me!" + +"Sorry, old girl," grinned Jim. "We won't be long." + +"Be as long as you like," said the victim of circumstances, cheerfully. +"I'm going to sleep." + +The three boys disappeared along the bank, finding, apparently, some +difficulty in discovering a suitable bathing place, for it was some +time before shouts and laughter from a good way off told Norah that +they were in the water. She sighed, looking ruefully at the river +flowing beneath her, and half decided to go in herself; but her father +did not care for her bathing in the open alone, and she gave up the +idea and shut her eyes so that she would not see temptation rippling +down below. Presently she fell asleep. + +She did not know how long it was before she woke. Then she jumped up +with a start, thinking, for a moment, that it was dark. The sun had +disappeared behind a huge bank of deep-purple cloud that had crept up, +blotting out everything. It was breathlessly hot and quite still--not a +leaf stirred on a tree, and the birds were quiet. + +"Whew!" said Norah. "We're going to have a storm--and a big one!" + +She listened. From far up faint calls and laughter still met her ears. +It was evident that the boys were finding the water very much to their +taste. + +"Duffers!" Norah ejaculated. "We'll have the loveliest soaking--and +Dad'll be anxious." + +She coo-ee'd several times, but no response came. Finally she rose, +with a little wrinkle in her brow. + +"I guess I'd better saddle up," she said. + +The horses were tied up in a clump of trees not far off, the saddles +out of reach of their restless feet. Norah saddled Bobs first, and then +the two stock horses--which was easy. To get Monarch ready, however, was +not such a simple matter: the youngster was uneasy and sweating, and +would not keep still for a moment; to get the saddle on and adjust +breastplate and rings was a fairly stiff task with a sixteen-hands +horse and a groom of fourteen years, hampered by a divided riding +skirt. At length the last buckle went home, and Norah gave a relieved +sigh. + +"Bother you, Monarch!" she said. "You've taken me an awful time. Come +on, Bobs." + +Leaving the other horses tied up, she mounted and cantered down the +bank, calling again and again. An answer came sooner than she had +expected, and the three boys, somewhat hastily arrayed, came running +through the trees. + +"Jimmy, have you seen the weather?" asked his sister, indicating the +blackened sky. + +"Only a few minutes ago," Jim said, visibly annoyed with himself. "We +were diving in a hole with the trees meeting overhead, and the scrub +thick all around us--hadn't an idea it was working up for this. Why +didn't you call us, you old duffer?" + +"I did--but I couldn't make you hear," said Norah, somewhat injured. +"Hurry--I've saddled up." + +"You have? You didn't saddle Monarch?" asked Jim quickly. + +"Yes, he's all ready, and the valises are on. We're in for a ducking, +anyway, don't you think, Jim?" + +"I think you hadn't any business to saddle Monarch," Jim said, soberly. +"I wish you wouldn't do those things, Norah." + +"Oh, it was all right." She smiled down at him. "He was only a bit +fidgety; I believe he's frightened of the weather, Jim." She looked +across at Cecil, seeing that young gentleman, wonderful to relate, with +his stock folded awry, and his hair in wild confusion. "Do you mind +thunderstorms, Cecil?" + +"I--don't care for them much," Cecil panted. Running evidently did not +agree with him, and he was finding his tweed riding suit very unfitted +for the heat of the day. Jim, jogging easily, clad in white silk shirt, +cord breeches and leggings, looked at him pityingly. + +"Carry your coat, Cecil?" he sang out. + +"No, thank you. I'd rather wear it," said Cecil, who disapproved of +being coatless at any time, and had looked with marked disfavour at Jim +and Wally as they set off in the morning. + +"Stupid donkey!" Jim muttered, under his breath. "Ah, there are the +horses!" + +He made for Betty at once, and tossed the breathless Cecil into her +saddle, advising him to ride on quickly. + +Wally was up in a twinkling; but to mount Monarch was no such easy +matter, for the black horse was dancing with restlessness, and a low +growl of thunder far to the west evidently terrified him. Finally, with +a quick movement, Jim was in the saddle, whereat Monarch promptly +reared. He came down, and tried to get his head between his legs, but +the boy was too quick for him, and presently steadied him sufficiently +to move away in the wake of the others. + +"Go on!" Jim shouted. "Don't lose a minute!" + +They went down the river bank at a hand gallop, chafing now and then at +the necessity of striking away from the track to find gates or +slip-rails, as one paddock followed another. At first Monarch gave Jim +all he knew to hold him, and at the gates Wally and Norah had to do all +the work, for the black thoroughbred was too impatient to stand an +instant, and threatened to buck a score of times. Jim watched the sky +anxiously, very disgusted with himself. He knew they had no chance of +getting home dry, but at least they must be out of the timber before +the storm broke. It was coming very near now--the thunder was more +frequent, and jagged lightning tore rents in the inky curtain that +covered the sky. He took Monarch by the head, and sent him tearing +along the track, passing the boys--Wally riding hard on Nan, and Cecil +sitting back on Betty with a pale face. Before him Bobs was galloping +freely, Norah riding with her hands well down, and on her face a smile +that was like a child's laugh of sheer happiness. Norah loved +thunderstorms; they seemed to call to something in her nature that +never failed to respond. She glanced up at Jim merrily as he passed +her. + +"Grand, isn't it?" she said. Then her face changed. "He isn't getting +away with you, Jim?" + +"Not he!" said her brother, grinning. "But we've got to get out of this +jolly soon--hurry your old crock, Norah!" Norah's indignant heel smote +Bobs, and they raced neck and neck for a moment. + +They swung out of the trees just in time, the plain clear for home +before them. Almost simultaneously, the storm broke. There was a mad +flash of lightning across the gloom, and then a rattling peal of +thunder that rang round the sky and finished with a tremendous crack +overhead. The black horse stopped suddenly, wild with terror. Then his +head went down, and he bucked. + +Norah and Wally pulled up, regardless of the rain beginning to fall in +torrents. Monarch was swaying to and fro in mad paroxysms, trying to +get his head between his knees, his back humped in an arch, all his +being centred in the effort to get rid of the weight on his back, and +the iron in his mouth, and the control that kept him near that terrible +convulsion of nature going on overhead. Jim was motionless, each hand +like iron on the rein--yet with gentleness, for he knew the great black +brute was only a baby after all, and a badly frightened baby at that. +Cecil, coming by on Betty, his face white, looked aghast at the +struggle between horse and rider, and fled on homewards. The thunder +pealed, and the lightning lit the sky in forked darts. + +Possibly the rain steadied Monarch, or sense came back to him through +Jim's voice. He stopped suddenly, planting all four feet wide apart on +the ground. Jim patted his neck, and spoke to him, and the tension went +out of the big horse. He stood trembling a little. + +"Slip along," nodded Jim to Norah. + +Bobs and Nan went off together. Behind them, Monarch broke into a +canter, obedient once more. + +Five minutes later they were at the stables, Billy out in the wet to +take the horses. The storm was raging still, but there were coolness +and refreshment in the air. Billy grinned at the three soaked riders as +they slipped to the ground, and then at Brown Betty, trotting down the +hill in the rain. There was no sign of Cecil, who had fled indoors. + +"Him plenty 'fraid," said the black retainer, his grin widening. "Him +run like emu!" His eagle gaze dwelt on Monarch, who was still trembling +and excited. + +"Been buck?" he asked, his eyes round. + +"Plenty!" Jim laughed. "All right, Billy, I'll let him go myself." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BILLABONG DANCE + + The slope beyond is green and still, + And in my dreams I dream, + The hill is like an Irish hill + Beside an Irish stream. + KENDALL. + + +"Don't dress to-night, if you don't mind, Cecil," said Jim, putting his +head into his cousin's room. + +"Not dress?" Evening clothes were part of Cecil's training, and he kept +to them rigidly, putting on each night for dinner what Murty O'Toole, +having seen in wonder, referred to as "a quare little +cobbed-shwaller-tail jacket." He regarded with fine scorn the cheerful +carelessness of the boys where clothes were concerned. To Jim and Wally +who were generally immensely occupied until dinner-time, and more often +than not had further plans for the time following, putting on +regulation evening dress seemed a proceeding little short of lunatic; +but since Cecil "liked that sort of thing," they let him alone. +To-night, however, was different, and when Cecil repeated his query +half impatiently, Jim nodded. + +"No. Didn't we tell you? It's the dance in the loft." + +"Oh--don't you people ever dress for dances then?" + +"Not for these dances," Jim answered. "It's the men's spree--all the +hands and their friends; and you can be jolly well certain they won't +run to dress clothes. So we make a point of not putting 'em on. Father +did one year, and felt very sorry he had." + +"I don't know that I'm keen on going, anyway," said Cecil. + +"Oh, I think you'd better. Dad likes us to go, and it's really rather +fun," Jim responded, patiently. "Norah's quite excited about it." + +"Norah's young and enthusiastic," said Cecil. + +"Oh, well, you're hardly hoary-headed yourself yet!" Jim grinned. +"Might as well be cheerful while you're alive, Cecil, 'cause you'll be +a long time dead!" He withdrew his head, shut the door with an +unconcerned bang, and his whistle died away up the corridor. + +"Hang it!" said Cecil, disgustedly, looking at his forbidden garments. +"Who wants to go to a beastly servants' ball, anyhow?" He donned a dark +suit reluctantly, a little consoled in that its very recent cut would +certainly be an eye-opener to Billabong, and went down to dinner, +meeting on the way Norah, in a muslin frock, with her hair flying and +her eyes sparkling. + +"Oh! I'm so glad you haven't dressed up!" said she. "It's such fun, +Cecil!--we've been helping to decorate the loft, and really you'd hardly +know it was a loft, it looks so decent. And it's so funny to see the +men; they pretend they don't care a bit, but I do believe they're quite +excited. Murty came in with a trememdous lot of ferns, and he's been +nailing them all on the wall in streaks, and he and Mick Shanahan +nearly had a fight 'cause Mick leaned against one of them and the +erection came down, and the nail tore Mick's coat. Still, it was Murty +who seemed most aggrieved! And the musicians have come out from Cunjee, +and they've been practising--they can play, too!" She paused for lack of +breath. + +"What sort of music does Cunjee supply?" + +"Violin and flute and a funny little piano," said Norah. "They had +quite an exciting time getting the piano up into the loft with the +block and pulley. But the music sounds very well up there. The only +trouble is old Andy Ferguson, the fencer--he's always been accustomed to +fiddle for them, and he's very crushed because we've got out these men. +Dad says he'd never have got them if he'd dreamed how disappointed old +Andy would be." + +Cecil had seen Andy, who struck him as a peculiarly uninteresting old +man. That such consideration should be shown to his wishes and feelings +was a thing beyond him, and he merely stared. + +"However, he's going to play the supper dances and some others," said +Norah, not noticing his silence, "so he's a bit consoled." They entered +the drawing-room at the moment, finding Jim and Wally in armchairs, +tweed clad and unusually tidy, and chafing miserably against the +tyranny of white shirts after days of soft variety. "And a big buggy +load of girls has come out from Cunjee already; and Brownie says +there's a tremendous demand for hot water for shaving from the men's +quarters, and Dave Boone came in for some mutton fat for his hair, but +she wouldn't give it to him. Now she's half sorry she didn't, 'cause +she believes he'll use the black fat they keep in the harness room; +he's so dark no one would be able to tell--from the look! Who are you +going to dance with, Cecil?" + +"You, if I may," drawled Cecil. + +"Why, of course, if you want to," Norah said, laughing. "But we always +dance with every one on these occasions. It's one of the sights of +one's life to see Wally leading Brownie out!" + +Cecil gasped. + +"And am I expected to dance with Mrs. Brown?" + +"Very possibly she won't have a dance to spare you," said Wally +serenely. "Brownie's no end popular, you see. Thank goodness. I've +booked mine with her already!" + +Cecil's stare spoke volumes. + +"And who are your partners, Norah?" + +"Any one who asks me," said that maiden promptly. + +"And your father allows it?" + +"Certainly he does," said Jim. "Don't get tragic, Cecil. The men on the +place are an awfully decent lot, and most of them have been here ever +so long--besides, it's their one night in the year, and they never +overstep their limits. Dad always plans this spree himself specially. +Of course, if you don't like--" + +Jim stopped short, and bit his tongue. It had suddenly occurred to him +that he was host--and he had nearly said something rude. So he whistled +vaguely, and asked Wally if he were going to dance with Lee Wing, who +was the Chinese gardener. + +"Wish I could get the chance," said Wally, his eyes twinkling. "Think +of piloting fat old Lee Wing through a polka--he'd get so beautifully +puffed, and his pigtail would wave in the breeze, and he'd be such an +armful!" + +"Do you mean to say that Chow comes, too?" queried Cecil. + +"No; he's shy," Wally answered. "We've tried to get him, but in vain; +he prefers to go to bed and dream of China. And Billy hangs about like +a black ghost, but he won't come in. So we lose a lot of international +enjoyment; but, even so, what's left is pretty good, itsn't it, Norah?" + +"I love it," said Norah. + +"And you don't get any of your own friends to come? It seems to me the +queerest arrangement," said Cecil. + +"It's the men's dance, don't you see? There wouldn't be much fun for +them if the place were filled up with our friends." + +"Well, I should think a few of your own sort would be better. Aren't +there any girls or boys within reach that you know? I suppose you've a +juvenile sweetheart or two in the district?" + +Norah looked at him blankly. Wally gave an expressive wriggle in his +chair, and Jim sat up suddenly, with a flush on his brown face. + +"We never talk that sort of rot here," he said angrily. "Norah's not a +town girl, and her head isn't full of idiotic, silly bosh. I'll thank +you--" + +Mr. Linton came in at the moment, and the point on which Jim intended +to express his gratitude remained unuttered. Cecil had reddened +wrathfully, and the general atmosphere was electric. Mr. Linton took, +apparently, no notice. He pulled Norah's hair gently as he passed her. + +"You're all remarkably spruce," he commented. "Can any one tell me why +almost every maid I have met in my house this day turns and flees as +though I were the plague? Sarah is the only one who doesn't shun me, +and her mind appears to be taken up with affairs of State, for I asked +her twice if she had seen my tobacco pouch, and she brought me in +response a jug of shaving water, for which I have had no use for some +time!" He laughed, stroking his iron-grey beard. "Can you explain the +mystery, Norah?" + +"It's easy," said his daughter. "Sarah's hair has a natural friz, so +she's the only girl in the house without curling pins concealed--more or +less--in her front hair. Brownie gave permission for the pins to-day; I +guess she thinks it would give Sarah an unfair start if she didn't!" + +"But the shaving water?" + +"Ah, well, I expect Fred Anderson wanted that. She's engaged to him, +you know," said Norah, simply. + +"Well, I hardly see why she should give me his shaving water, either +from Anderson's point of view or mine; but I suppose it's all right," +said Mr. Linton. "The whole place is upset. I really wanted some work +done, but the men who should have been sinking a well were tacking up +ferns, and those whose mission in life is--or ought to be--hoeing out +ragwort were putting French chalk on the floor of my loft! Judging from +my brief inspection, it seemed to me that the latter occupation was far +more strenuous than the ragwort job; but they seemed much happier than +usual, and were working overtime without a struggle!" + +"To hear you talk so patiently," quoth Norah, "no one would imagine +that you'd bought the French chalk yourself!" She perched on the arm of +his chair, and looked at him severely, while the boys laughed. + +"The men are like a lot of kids to-day," Jim said. "Did you hear about +old Lee Wing, Dad? He was standing under the block and pulley after +they'd hoisted up the piano, and I expect the sight of the hook on the +end of the dangling rope was too much for the men, for they slipped it +through Wing's leather belt and hauled him up too! You should have seen +him, with his pigtail dangling, kicking at the end of the rope like the +spider in 'Little Miss Muffet!' They landed him in the loft, and Fred +Anderson insisted on waltzing with him, while one of the musicians +hammered out The Merry Widow on the piano. Poor old Wing was very wild +at first, but they got him laughing finally." + +"Why that long-suffering Chinaman stays here is always a mystery to +me," said his father, laughing. "He's the butt of the whole place; but +he fattens on it." + +"There's the dinner gong!" said Norah, jumping up. "Come on, gentlemen, +we've to hurry to-night, so that the girls can get free early." + +The loft over the stables, which had been built with a view to such +occasions, was quite transformed when the house party entered it a +couple of hours later. The electric light--Billabong had its own plant +for lighting--had been extended to the loft, and gleamed down on a +perfect bower of green--bracken and coral ferns, the tender foliage of +young sapling tops, Christmas bush, clematis and tall reeds from the +lagoon--the latter gathered by Jim and Wally during their morning bathe. +Rough steps had been improvised to lead from outside up to the main +door of the loft, over which still dangled from the block and pulley +the rope that had suspended the irate Lee Wing earlier in the day. It +was also possible to enter by the usual method--a trapdoor in the floor +over a ladder leading from the floor below; but this was considered by +the men scarcely suitable for their partners. All traces of its usual +contents had, of course, been removed from the big room, and the floor +gleamed in the light, mute evidence of the ardour with which Mr. +Linton's French chalk had been applied. At one end, near the railing +guarding the trapdoor, the Cunjee musicians were stationed, and close +to them a queer old figure hovered--old Andy Ferguson, gnarled and +knotted and withered; Irish, for all his Scotch name, and with his old +blue eyes full of Irish fire at the thought of "a spree." He held his +old fiddle tenderly as he might hold a child; it, too, was the worse +for wear, and showed in more than one place traces of repair; but when +Andy wielded the bow its tones were just as mellow to him as the finest +instrument on earth. He kept a jealous eye on the Cunjee men; they +might oust him for most of the night, but at least his was to be the +old privilege of opening the ball. "The Boss" had said so. + +The homestead men had lined up near the door to receive their +guests--to-night they were hosts to Mr. Linton and his children, as to +every one else. They were a fine lot of fellows--Murty O'Toole, and Mick +Shanahan, the horse breaker, and Willis and Blake and Burton--all long +and lean and hard, with deep-set, keen eyes and brown, thin faces; +Evans, who was supposed to be over-seer, and important enough to arrive +late; younger fellows, like Fred Anderson and David Boone (the latter's +hair suspiciously smooth and shiny); Hogg, the dour old man who ruled +the flower garden and every one but Norah; and a sprinkling of odd +rouseabouts and boys, very sleek and well brushed, in garments of +varying make, low collars, and the tie the bushman loves "for +best"--pale blue satin, with what Wally termed "jiggly patterns" on it. +Of the same type were the guests--men from other stations, cocky farmers +and a very small sprinkling of township men. + +The ladies kept rigidly on arrival to the other side of the loft. There +was Mrs. Brown, resplendent in a puce silk dress that Norah remembered +from her earliest childhood, with a lace cap of monumental structure +topped by a coquettish bow of pale pink ribbon. Her kind old face +beamed on every one. Close to her, very meek under her sheltering wing, +were Sarah and Mary, the housemaids--very gay in papery silks, pink and +green, with much adornment of wide yellow lace. Norah had helped to +dress them both, and she smiled delightedly at them as she came in. +There was Mrs. Willis, who ruled over the men's hut, and was reckoned, +as a cook, only inferior to Mrs. Brown; and Joe Burton's pretty wife, +in a simple white muslin--with no doubt in big Joe's heart, as he looked +at her, as to who was the belle of the ball. Then, girls and women from +that vague region the bush calls "about," in mixed attire--from flannel +blouses and serge skirts, to a lady who hurt the eye it looked at, and +made the lights seem pale, in her gorgeous gown of mustard-coloured +velveteen, trimmed with knots of cherry-coloured ribbon. They came +early, with every intention of staying late, and cheerfully certain of +a good time. The Billabong ball was an event for which an invitation +was much coveted. + +Norah kept close to her father's wing, as they entered, shaking hands +gravely with the men by the door, and with Mrs. Brown--which latter +proceeding she privately considered a joke. The boys followed; Jim +quiet and pleasant; Wally favouring Murty O'Toole with a solemn wink, +and Cecil plainly bored by the little ceremony. He let his fingers lie +in each man's hand languidly--and would probably have been injured had +he seen Murty wipe his hand carefully on the side of his trousers after +he had passed on. The men had no love for the city boy. + +"S'lect y'r partners!" It was Dave Boone, most noted "M.C."--in demand +at every ball in the district. Dave knew what he was about, and saw +that other people understood the fact; no shirking when he was in +command, no infringement of rules, no slip-shod dancing. Even as he +kept his eagle eye on the throng, he "selected" one of the prettiest +girls himself, and bore her to the head of the room. There was never +any doubt of Dave's generalship. + +Cecil turned to Norah. + +"May I have this?" + +"Sorry," Norah said, "I always dance with Jim first." + +"P'f!" said Cecil, lightly. "That old brother-and-sister idea is +exploded." + +"Not with Jimmy and me," Norah answered. "Why don't you ask Mary? She +can dance awfully well." + +"No, thank you," said Cecil, with elevated nose. "I'll watch." + +Wally had approached Mrs. Brown, and bowed low. + +"Ours, I think?" + +"Now, Master Wally, me dancin' days are over," said Brownie. "Go an' +get one of the girls, now, dearie, do!" + +"A girl!--when I can get you?" Wally ejaculated. "Not much!" He tucked +her hand into his arm and led her off in triumph. + +"Promen-ayde y'r partners!" + +Dave turned and nodded to Andy Ferguson, who, with fiddle tucked +lovingly under his chin, was waiting for his signal. He broke into a +march--the time a little shaky, the tune a little old, for the hand that +held the bow was old and shaky, too; but still a march, with a swing to +it that set the feet going at once. The dancers promenaded round the +room in a long procession, led proudly by Wally and Mrs. Brown. At one +end a few men, disappointed in obtaining partners, clustered by the +wall; near them stood Mr. Linton, watching in his grave, pleasant way +that was so like Jim's, with Cecil at his elbow, his delicate face dull +and expressionless. Round and round marched the couples. + +"Circular waltz, please!" + +The music swung into a waltz without a break, and simultaneously the +march broke into the dance as every man seized his partner by the waist +and began to revolve solemnly and silently. Cecil gaped. + +"What on earth is a circular waltz?" + +"Blest if I know for certain," replied his uncle, laughing. "Much like +any other waltz--but you mustn't use the middle of the floor. Watch +young Boone." + +Dave was keeping an eagle eye on the dancers. For the most part they +were content to gyrate near the wall; but should any more daring couple +approach the unoccupied space in the middle of the room, they were +instantly detected and commanded to return. As Cecil looked, Wally, who +was dancing with a broad grin of sheer happiness on his face, swung his +ponderous partner right across the centre--and was greeted by the +vigilant M.C. with the stern injunction--"Keep circle!" Quite oblivious +that this outbreak had anything to do with him, while Mrs. Brown, +feeling the most miserable of sinners, was far too breathless to +explain, Wally presently repeated his offence, whereupon Boone pulled +him up gravely, and pointed out his enormity to him. The culprit +grinned the more widely, promised amendment, nodded vigorously, and +danced off, Mrs. Brown remaining speechless throughout. Mr. Linton +smothered a laugh in his beard. + +Presently the music came to an end. Old Andy put his fiddle down and +looked along the loft with a happy little smile. The dancers stopped, +and Mr. Boone's voice rose sonorously. + +"Seats, please!" + +At this, each man rushed with his partner to the side of the loft +previously tenanted by the ladies, and deposited her on the long forms +ranged there. Then the men retreated hastily to the other side. + +There was no conversation, nor had there been any through the dance. It +seemed that the poetry of motion must suffice for enjoyment. + +Norah and Jim, who had been dancing vigorously, pulled up near the +others. + +"Did you see me get hauled over the coals?" asked Wally gleefully. He +had placed Mrs. Brown on a seat, and followed the example of his sex in +retreating. + +"Rather--we were in fits, behind you!" said Jim. "Was Dave cross?" + +"Oh, quite mild; took my assurance that I didn't know I was sinning, +and forgave me like a man and a brother. And why shouldn't a fellow +cross that floor?" + +"Goodness knows; but it's a rule. They dance very strictly, and in many +ways more correctly than we do." + +"There are two lovely couples," said Wally, gleefully. "They hold each +other firmly round the neck, and they revolve on the space of a +threepenny bit. It's beautiful. May I try that way with you, Norah?" + +"No, you mayn't," laughed Norah; "at least, not here. They might think +we were imitating them." + +"Curious penetration on their parts!" rejoined Wally. "Well, can you +tell me why lots of the men hold one arm behind their backs?" + +"In my young days that was quite ordinary," Mr. Linton put in. "I +always danced that way--and I was remarkably run after," he added, +modestly. Whereat Wally meekly assured him that he thought the practice +a highly desirable one, and had serious thoughts of adopting it +himself. + +"I've been looking at the programme nailed up for the musicians," said +Cecil. "There are some dances I never saw--Varsoviana, Circassian +Circle, and Caledonians." + +"In the Varsoviana," said Mr. Linton, retrospectively, "I used to +shine." + +"Well, they beat US," said his son. "We can't dance 'em; but we look +on. The first two are round dances, and the Caledonians is a square. I +suppose they'd be all right, only they're not taught now." + +"And there are no two-steps," said Cecil, in a tone of personal injury. + +Jim laughed outright. + +"It'd be so much simpler for you if you'd remember you're at what's +commonly known as 'a bush hop'," he said. "You can't expect the last +adornments of a city spree. Anyway, they get more honest fun out of +this than most people do at a Melbourne or Sydney ball." + +Cecil looked patient. + +"May I have the next dance, Norah?" + +"I'm sorry, truly, Cecil, but I've promised it to Murty." + +"Oh!" said Cecil. "The next?" + +"That's Mick Shanahan's," said Norah, laughing. "But you may have the +one after that if you like." + +"I must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose," said he, +unthankfully. + +"Won't you dance with any one else?" + +"No, thanks, I don't care to." The tone was final. + +"Well, I'm going to collar Sarah or die!" said Wally, manfully. "I'll +probably die, anyway, 'cause Fred has his eye on her. Still, here +goes!" + +The musicians gave a preliminary blast, on which followed a shout from +the M.C. + +"Select y'r partners for the lancers!" + +At the word there was a general stampede. Youths who had been timid +before, grown bolder now, dashed towards the long row of girls. Where +more than one arrived simultaneously, there was no argument; the man +who failed to speak first shot off to find another damsel. In a moment +every available fair one had been secured firmly, and the dancers +awaited further commands. + +Wally had not waited for permission from Mr. Boone. At the first sound +of the music he had darted towards Sarah, arriving beside the lady with +"the natural friz" a yard in front of Fred Anderson. + +It was not etiquette to refuse to dance, and the fact that he was "the +Boss's" guest, if only a boy, carried weight. Sarah rose, with a rueful +glance at her disappointed swain. The two disconsolate faces moved +Wally to compassion. + +"I say--I'm awfully sorry," he said. "'Fraid I got ahead of you +unfairly, Fred--perhaps you'll excuse me this time, Sarah? You don't +mind? Well, you'll give me the next, won't you? Thanks, awfully." He +relinquished her to the beaming Fred, and returned, partnerless, to Mr. +Linton and Cecil. + +Then it was a marvellous sight to behold young Dave Boone! With Mrs. +Brown on his arm, he "took the floor" at the head of the room, seeing +that the dancers were correctly sorted out in sets; and thence +proceeded to dance and instruct the room simultaneously, in a manner +truly amazing. With what agility did he "set to partner" and "swing +corner," with his eagle eye all the time scanning the sets to make sure +no one mixed up the commands!--how ably bear his part in "First lady and +second gent.," not even put out of step by the necessity of telling the +further end of the room that it was going wrong!--how splendidly issue +the edict to "chassee-crossee" and "gent. solo," finding time, even in +the press of his double occupation, to propel his panting partner in +the way she should go! His voice rang out over the room, indicating +each figure as it came--there was no excuse for making any mistake in a +square dance when Mr. Boone was in command. And all the while he danced +with a wholehearted energy and a face of absolute gravity. No one, +watching him, could have possibly imagined that this was a pastime. + +"I've seen Boone looking infinitely more cheerful when fighting a bush +fire!" said Mr. Linton. + +"Talk about a conjurer!" was Cecil's astonished comment. "I never saw +one man do so many things at once!" + +The music ceased at last, and the "Seats, please!" marked the temporary +termination of the labours of the M.C. Murty brought Norah back to her +father, thanked her gravely, and made off. + +"What happened to you, Wally?" queried Jim, restoring a blushing damsel +in blue to her form and rejoining his relations. "Did Sarah turn you +down?" + +"I resigned gracefully in favour of Fred," Wally said. "He looked +murderous, and Sarah looked woe-begone, so it seemed the best plan. But +she's mine for the next--and ill befall the caitiff that disputes my +claim!" + +"No one'd dare!" said Jim, hastily. "I'm after Brownie, myself." + +"Ah, Jim, be steady with her," said Norah. "It's a polka!" + +"I'll be steady as old Time," Jim told her, smiling. True to his +promise, when the music began he danced mildly and moderately, and +Brownie emerged from the ordeal in far better order than might have +been expected. + +After that the evening flew. Dance after dance went by in rapid +succession--for the guests were out to dance, and where no time is +wasted in talking much may be done with a few hours. Cecil steadfastly +declined any partner but Norah, and as that maiden had no mind to spare +him more than two, his evening was dull, since his sense of humour was +not equal to finding any fun in the entertainment. He was the object of +considerable curiosity among the visitors, and was generally voted +"stuck-up," and "too big for his boots." As for Jim and Wally, they +flung themselves cheerfully into the business of the night, and even +succeeded in making most of their partners talk, albeit this was a +daring proceeding, and not looked upon with favour by the M.C. They +were too popular, however, to come in for any real criticism, and being +regarded by the majority of the men as "just kids," were allowed to do +very much as they liked. + +Supper was a majestic meal, spread on long tables in a big tent. Mr. +Linton led the way to it with Mrs. Brown, followed by Mick Shanahan, +who conveyed Norah much in the way he danced with her--as if she were a +piece of eggshell china, and apt to crack with careless handling. There +was no "head of the table"; every one sat in the place that seemed +good, and tongues flew as fast as the knives and forks. At the end Mr. +Linton made a little speech. + +"My friends," he said, "it's a great pleasure to Billabong to see you +all here. I hope you'll keep it up till morning, and come again next +year; you're always welcome. However, it is time my daughter went to +bed." (Dissent, and cries of "Not her!") "Before she goes, though, I +would like to see one more dance. I move that our old friend Andy +Ferguson play the 'Royal Irish.'" + +There was frantic applause, and supper adjourned hastily, while every +one hurried back to the loft; in the midst old Andy, his quavering +voice a little raised in excitement, his fiddle held firmly in one +hand. "Too old to work," some called him, wondering why David Linton +kept the old fencer, when younger men were always wanting work on +Billabong; and now, as he faced the long room with his faded blue eyes +a little misty, Andy looked an old man indeed. But the pride of work +was in him, and his master knew it--knew how the gnarled hands ceased to +tremble when they grasped the adze and mattock, just as there was now +no quiver in them as he raised the brown fiddle and cuddled it under +his chin. Age would seize on Andy only when he could work and play no +more. The light came back into his eyes as he saw the boys and girls +waiting for the music--his music. + +He drew the bow lovingly across the strings, and swung into the Irish +dance the old, common tune with the little gay lilt to it that grips +the heart and makes the feet beat time, and has the power to wake old +memories across the years. There were no memories to wake in the happy +young hearts in the loft at Billabong that night. But Andy looked over +the heads of the dancers at his master, meeting his eyes as man to man, +and each knew that the mind of the other had gone back to days long +dead. + +The long floor echoed under the dancers' feet--up and down, swing in the +centre, hands across; the pace was always a good one when Andy Ferguson +played the "Royal Irish." One foot tapped out the time, and his grey +head nodded in sympathy with it. They called to him now and again, +"Bravo, Andy! Good man, Andy! Keep it going!" and he smiled at the +friendly voices, watching them with the keenness of the Irishman for a +light foot in a dance. + +Just before him, Mrs. Brown, dancing with Jim, was footing it in and +out of the figures like a girl, holding her skirts quaintly on either +side as she advanced and retired, and came back to sweep a curtsey that +shamed the quick bow of the younger generation, while the tall lad she +had nursed waited for her with a grave gentleness that sat prettily on +his broad shoulders. Near, too, the old man's eyes dwelt lovingly on +Norah, whose eyes were dancing in time with her feet as Wally pranced +her madly up and down, his own brown face glowing.... just for a moment +Andy saw "the little mistress" who had known her baby for so brief a +time fourteen years before; her face looked at him through her child's +grey eyes. He looked across at his master again, a little wistfully. + +The tune broke into "St. Patrick's Day," and Murty O'Toole gave a +sudden involuntary shout, his hand above his head, Mick Shanahan echoed +it; the Irish music was in their blood, and the old man with the brown +fiddle had power to make them boys again. He, too, had gone back on the +lilt of the tune; back to his own green country, where the man with the +fiddle has his kingdom always, and the lads and lasses are his +subjects. There was a girl with blue Irish eyes, coming to meet him on +St. Patrick's morning... the tune wavered ever so little then, as his +heart cried out to her. Then the dream passed, and he knew that he was +a boy no more, but old Andy Ferguson, playing for the boys and girls in +the loft at Billabong. The bow moved faster and faster yet--only a good +pair could see him right through the "Royal Irish." They were panting +when he dropped his hand at last and stood looking at them a little +vaguely. Then they crowded round him, thanking him. Even the Cunjee +musicians were saying that he could beat them all, and Miss Norah had +put her hand into his, and was patting his arm. There was a mist before +him--he could not see them all, though he knew his triumph. + +"'Tis wid the kindness of all of y'," he murmured. "So good to me y' +all are!" + +David Linton's hand was on his shoulder. + +"Come on, old friend," he said, gently; "we're getting old and we're +tired, you and I." He led him away, Norah still holding his hand. +Behind them the music broke out again, cheerily, and the flying feet +made the loft echo until the dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHRISTMAS + + O mellow air! O sunny light! + O Hope and Youth that pass away, + Print thou in letters of delight + Upon each heart one glorious day! + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Norah woke up early. + +Close outside her open windows a magpie in the magnolia tree was +carolling as though he knew it was a special morning, and that he had a +special message to deliver. The linen blinds were rolled tight up, and +she could see him near one of the great creamy blossoms, each big +enough for his bath; his black and white coat very spruce and smart, +his head thrown back in utter enjoyment of his own song. Norah smiled +at him sleepily from her pillow. + +"Nice old chap!" she said; and then she remembered. + +"Oh!--Christmas." She gave a little happy laugh, for to-day was going to +be such a very good day. There was something that had taxed all her +patience; it was so hard to keep the secret until Christmas. Norah was +not a very patient person by nature, and she was glad that the need for +it was almost over. + +She turned over lazily, and then burst out laughing as something caught +her eye at the foot of the bed--a huge football stocking, assuming +extraordinary shapes by reason of strange packages within it, while +from the top a monkey on a stick grinned at her. Norah jumped up and +brought the stocking back to bed for examination, weak with laughter +when she had finished. A big box of chocolates; a scarlet Christmas +cracker; a very flowery mug of thickest china, with "Love the Giver" on +it, and tied to the handle a label with "For a Good Little Girl" in the +best handwriting of Wally, who evidently considered it not sufficiently +adorned by nature; a live frog in a glass-covered box; a huge bundle, +which took her many minutes to unwrap, and was finally found to contain +a tiny pig of Connemara marble; a Christmas pudding the size of a golf +ball; and finally, in the very toe, a minute bottle labelled "Castor +Oil; Seasonable at Any Time." + +"Oh, you NICE donkeys!" said the recipient of these varied gifts, lying +back and investigating the chocolates. A sound at the window made her +look up, and Jim's laughing face peeped round the curtain. + +"Like 'em?" + +"They're lovely," said Norah, fervently. "Come in, Jimmy, you old +duffer. Merry Christmas!" + +Jim came in, immensely tall and lean in his pyjamas, and sat down on +the bed. + +"Merry Christmas, old kid!" he said, and kissed her. "Taken your oil?" + +"Pudding first--and chocolates," said Norah, solemnly, indicating the +box. "Take lots, Jim, they're beauties. How did you get that thing into +my room?" + +"Waited until I could hear your cheerful snores, and then sneaked in by +the window," said her brother, dodging a chocolate. "My best stocking; +I think I was jolly good to lend it to you--you'll kindly notice that +the frog's box tore a hole in it, and take steps accordingly! It's a +ripping morning--but it's going to be hot. Do you know what time it is?" + +"I don't," said Norah. + +"Five o'clock," said Jim; "isn't it ridiculous!--and you wide awake and +playing with pigs and frogs! I'm off to bed again for a bit--besides, +young Wally's bursting to know how you liked your sock. Go to sleep +again, old chap." + +"I'll try," said Norah, obediently, snuggling down, "Take some +chocolates to Wally--and the castor oil!" + +At the moment Norah was quite convinced that sleep was the last thing +possible for her, and merely laid down to please Jim, just as she would +cheerfully have endeavoured to jump over the moon had he expressed any +wish in that direction. Thus she was considerably surprised on waking +up two hours later to hear the dressing gong pealing through the house. +Further off came the cheerful voices of Jim and Wally on their way to +the lagoon. Cecil preferred the bath in the house, saying that he +considered it cleaner, which remark had incensed Norah at the time. But +they were learning not to worry about Cecil's remarks, but to regard +him with a kind of mild toleration, as one who "could not help it." + +Norah tore in haste to the bath, and returning made a speedy toilet; +breakfast was to be half an hour later than usual, but still there was +much to do. Her gifts to the men's quarters had gone over the night +before, in charge of Mrs. Willis; still there were parcels for the +girls in the house, together with the envelopes containing cheques for +them, which Mr. Linton always gave into Norah's care, and of course +Brownie's gifts, besides the nearer and dearer excitement of the +breakfast table. To the latter she attended first, scattering parcels +at each plate before any one else arrived on the scene. Then she raced +off, just escaping in the hall Jim, who immediately put his hands +behind him and began to whistle with great carelessness. Jim was a man +of tact. + +Mrs. Brown, narrowly watching some fried potatoes, heard flying +footsteps, and turned to receive Norah bodily. + +"Merry Christmas, Brownie, dear!" said the breathless one. She hung +over the stout shoulders a tiny shawl of softest white wool. + +"It's only a shawl-let," Norah explained, "just for when you feel the +summer evenings get cool, you know." + +"An' you made it, my precious!" + +"Why, of course," said Norah, lifting her brows; "do you think I'd buy +it, when you taught me to knit? Ah, Brownie, I'm having such a good +time!" + +"Look at me!" said Mrs. Brown, sitting down in rapture, and forgetting +her frying pan entirely. "This lovely shawl--an' your Pa's cheque--and +here's even Master Wally brung me down a cap, an' Master Jim--don't 'e +always think!--a frame with the photer 'e took of you an' your Pa, an' +it's sollud silver, no less, if you'll believe me, an' then it's none +too good for the photer, but the dear lamb knew wot I'd like more than +anything on earth! Of all the loving--kindest children--" At this point +Brownie's feelings overcame her, and she sniffed and, inhaling a threat +of burnt potato, rushed to conceal her emotions over the stove. + +Sarah and Mary felt delighted with the pretty collars Mrs. Stephenson +had chosen for Norah in Melbourne; the daughter of the house +encountered Jim returning from the back regions, with a broad smile on +his brown face. Jim's invariable gift to Lee Wing was a felt hat, and +as the Celestial still wore the one first given, eight Christmases +before, it was popularly supposed that the intermediate half-dozen went +to support his starving relatives in China! Lee Wing had never +mentioned the existence of any starving relatives, but Wally said it +was well known that all Chinese gardeners had them--speaking, as Norah +remarked, as though it was a new complaint, like measles or mumps! + +"You didn't give Wing another hat, Jim?" queried his sister. + +"I did, though," returned Jim, firmly. "Asked him at midwinter what +he'd have, and he grinned and said, 'Allee same hat!' So he got it--a +lovely green one!" + +"Jim!--not green! For Lee Wing!" + +"There weren't any other colours left," said Jim; "next year it would +have had to be pale blue! He took it with a heavenly smile, and looked +at it all over inside and out; then he looked down at his feet, and I +beheld his toe sticking out of his boot. He didn't say 'Thank you' at +all. What he did say was 'Nex'-Clis'mas-socks,' all in one word, and +you couldn't have widened his smile without shifting his ears further +back!" + +"Merry Christmas, Norah, asthore!" said a cheerful voice, and Norah +turned to greet Wally. So Wally had to hear the story of Lee Wing all +over again, and they were laughing over it when Mr. Linton came out on +the verandah, pausing in the doorway a moment to look at the slender +figure in the blue frock, with white collar and tie, and the tall lads +in white flannels beside her. + +Three greetings flashed at him simultaneously as he came into view. + +"Merry Christmas, every one!" he said, one hand on his small daughter's +shoulder. "Going to be a hot Christmas, too, I believe. Where's Cecil?" + +"Coming," said that gentleman, exchanging good wishes with a languid +air. "Sorry to be late, but I couldn't open the bathroom door." + +Wally started. + +"Good gracious, was it you in there?" he asked anxiously. "I thought it +was Norah--and we wanted her out of the way at the moment, so I +barricaded the door! Then I saw her afterwards, so I reckoned she'd got +out all right, and I never bothered to take down the barricade. I'm +awfully sorry!" + +Every one laughed but Cecil, who saw nothing humorous in having been +obliged to climb through the bathroom window, and said so with point. + +"I'm a fearful ass, truly," said Wally, with contrition. "Norah, you've +no need to laugh like a hyena--you ought to have been there, if you +weren't!" + +"That's why I laugh," Norah explained kindly. "Never mind, it's +Christmas--and there's breakfast!" + +It was the gong, but not breakfast. Mrs. Brown knew better than to send +in the porridge with the gong on Christmas morning. Instead, the table +was heaped with parcels, a goodly pile by every plate. + +"What an abominable litter!" said Mr. Linton, affecting displeasure. +"Norah, kindly oblige me by getting those things out of your way. How +are you going to eat breakfast?" + +"You're as bad as I am, Daddy!" + +"Dear me!" said her father. "I seem to be. Well, yours is decidedly the +most untidy, so you had better begin." + +They watched the eager face as Norah turned to her bundles. Books from +Cecil and his mother; warm slippers made by Brownie; a halter +exquisitely plaited from finest strips of hide by Murty O'Toole, the +sight of which brought the whole gathering to Norah's side; from Wally +a quaint little bronze inkstand, and from Jim the daintiest horse rug +that Melbourne could produce, made to fit Bobs, with a big scarlet B in +one corner, and Norah's monogram in the other. "Not that he needs it +just now," Jim explained, as Norah hugged him--"but a store's no sore, +as Brownie'd say!" Last, a tiny velvet case, which concealed a brooch--a +thin bar of gold with one beautiful pearl. Norah did not need the slip +of paper under it to know it came from Dad. + +Then things became merry, and even Cecil warmed at the gifts on his +plate, while the boys were exclaiming in delight over Norah's knitting, +and Wally was shaking hands with Mr. Linton and looking +half-shamefacedly at the plain gold sleeve links from him and the +silver watch chain from Jim; and Mr. Linton's face was alight with +pleasure at the waistcoat Norah had made for him, and the little oak +bookshelf for his bedside that was the work of Jim's spare hours. +Finally all the bundles were unwrapped, and there was a lull, though +Norah's eyes were still dancing, and she exchanged glances with her +father. + +Jim spoke. + +"There's a string under my plate," said he, faintly puzzled. "At least, +there's one end." + +"Strings always have two ends," said Wally, wisely. "Where's the +other?" + +"I'm blessed if I know," said Jim. "It goes down to the floor." + +Wally came round, investigating. + +"Seems to me it goes out of the window," he said. "Guess you'd better +follow it, Jimmy." + +Jim looked round, a little doubtful. Then he saw Norah's face, and knew +that there was something he did not understand. He laughed a little. + +"Some one pulling my leg?" he asked, good-humouredly. "Oh, well, I'll +chase it." + +The string went somewhere--that was evident. Outside it was at the +height of Jim's hand, and ran along the wall, so that it was easy to +follow. They trooped after him as he went along, Norah completely +unable to walk steadily, but progressing principally on one foot, while +David Linton's eyes were twinkling. The chase was not a long one; the +string suddenly cut across to the door in the high fence dividing the +front and back gardens, and there disappeared. + +"What next?" said Jim. + +"If it was me," said Wally, with a fine disregard of grammar, "I should +open the door." + +"Good for you, Wally," grinned Jim. "Here goes!" He flung the door +open, and then stood as if rooted to the spot. + +The string went on. It ended, however, just through the door, where its +end was spliced to a halter, held by black Billy, whose smile disclosed +every tooth in his head. Fidgeting in the halter was a big bay horse, +showing all Monarch's quality, and all his good looks; a show ring +horse, picked by a keen judge, and built for speed as well as strength. +He looked at Jim with a kind eye, set well in his beautiful head. There +was no flaw in him; from his heels to his fine, straight forelock he +was perfection. + +Jim had no words. He did not need to be told anything--Norah's face had +been enough; but he could not speak. He took refuge with the big bay, +moving forward and putting out a hand, to which the horse responded +instantly, rubbing his head against him in friendly fashion. Then, +across the arched neck, Jim's eyes met his father's, and the colour +flooded into his brown face. + +"Well, old son--will he do?" + +"Do!" said Jim, weakly. "Dad!--by Jove, I--I--" He stopped helplessly; +then his hand went out and took his father's in a grip that made David +Linton realize that this big son of his was nearly a man. + +"Oh, Jimmy, I'm so glad--and isn't he lovely?" + +"Why, he's perfect," Jim said, stepping back and running his eye over +his Christmas box. "My word, Dad, he'll jump!" + +"Yes, he'll jump all right," said David Linton. "Gallop, too, I should +say." + +"Plenty!" said Billy, with unexpected emphasis, whereat every one +laughed. + +"Billy and Norah have had this little joke plotted for some time," Mr. +Linton said--"and the experiences they have undergone in keeping strings +and steed out of your way this morning have, I believe, whitened the +hair of both!" + +Jim looked gratefully round. + +"You're all bricks," he said. "Has he got a name, Dad?" + +"'A tearin' foine wan,' Murty says," responded his father; "since it's +Irish: Garryowen, unless you'd like to change it." + +"Not me!" said Jim. "I like it." He looked round as the sound of the +gong came across the garden. "I say, don't mind me," he said--"go into +breakfast. I don't want any this morning." His eye went back to the +bay. + +"Rubbish!" said his father--"he'll be alive after breakfast! Come +along," and reluctantly Jim saw Billy lead his horse away to the +stable. He discovered, however, on reaching the breakfast room, that he +was remarkably hungry, and distinguished himself greatly with his knife +and fork. + +Afterwards it was necessary to try the bay's paces without delay, and +they all watched Jim take him round the home paddock. Garryowen moved +beautifully; and when Jim finally put him at the highest part of the +old log fence, and brought him back again, he flew it with a foot to +spare. The boy's face was aglow as he rode up. + +"Well, he's perfect!" he said. "I never was on such a horse." He came +close to his father. "Dad," he said in a low tone--"are you sure you +wouldn't like him instead of Monarch? He's far more finished." + +"Not for anything, thanks, old chap--I prefer my pupil," said his +father, his look answering more than his words. "You see he never bucks +with me, Jim!" + +Jim laughed, dismounting. "Like to try him, Cecil?" + +"Thanks," said Cecil, scrambling up and setting off down the paddock, +while Jim watched him and writhed to think of possible damage to his +horse's back and mouth. Billy, who was near, said reflectively, "Plenty +bump!" and Murty O'Toole roundly rebuked Jim for "puttin' up an insult +like that on a good horse!" They breathed more freely when Cecil came +back, albeit the way in which he sawed at the bay's mouth was +calculated to strike woe to the heart of any owner. Then Wally tried +Garryowen, and finally Norah, having flown to the house for a riding +skirt, had a ride also, and sailed over the log fence in a manner fully +equal to Jim's. She came back charged with high compliment. + +"He's nearly as good as Bobs, Jim!" + +"Bobs!" said Jim, loftily. "We don't compare ponies with horses, my +child!" + +"Then he's not to be compared with Bobs!" Norah retorted sturdily, and, +the laugh being on her side, retired quickly to dress for dinner. + +Dinner was typical of Billabong, and an Australian Christmas--one with +the thermometer striving to reach the hundred mark. Everything was +cold, from the mammoth turkey, with which Mr. Linton wrestled, to the +iced peaches that topped off what the boys declared "a corking feed." +There was plum pudding, certainly, but it was cold, too. Wally found in +his piece no fewer than four buttons; and, deeply aggrieved, went +afterwards to remonstrate with Mrs. Brown, who was amazed, declaring +she had put in but one, which to her certain knowledge had fallen to +the unhappy lot of Sarah. Further inquiries revealed the fact that Jim +had come to the table well supplied with buttons, with which he had +contrived to enrich Wally's portion as it travelled past him--which led +to a battle on the lawn, until both combatants, too well fed and weak +with mirth to fight, collapsed, and slept peacefully under a pine tree. + +Later on the horses were saddled, and every one rode out to the river, +where Brownie and the maids had already been driven by Fred Anderson, +and where they picnicked for tea. Afterwards they lay on the soft +grass, with the water murmuring past them, and Mr. Linton told them +stories--for Christmas was ever, and will ever be, the time for stories. +Simple, straightforward tales, like the man himself: old Christmases +overseas, and others in many parts of Australia--some that brought a +sadder note into the speaker's voice, and made Norah draw herself along +the grass until she came within touch of his hand. Words were never +really needed between them--being mates. + +So they stayed until the golden western sky had grown rose colour, and +the rose glow faded into night, that brought with it a little cool +breeze. Then the horses were saddled, and they rode home by the longest +possible way, singing every imaginable chorus, from Good Old Jeff to +the latest medley of pantomime ditties, and ending with a wild scurry +across the paddock home. They all trooped into the house, waking its +quietness to youth and laughter. + +But David Linton called to Norah. + +"Come on," he said, "we'll finish up with the real Christmas songs." + +So they all gathered round the piano while Norah played, and joined in +the old Christmas hymns and carols--none the less hearty in that they +sang of frost and snow with all around them the yellowing plain, dried +up by the scorching sun, and, beyond that, the unbroken line of the +little trodden Bush. The young voices rang out cheerily, David Linton +listening in his armchair, his hand over his eyes. + +Norah was in bed when her father looked in, in passing, to say +good-night. She put up her face to him sleepily. + +"It's been a beautiful Christmas, Daddy dear!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" + + I mind the time when first I came + A stranger to the land. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The house was unusually quiet. It was New Year's Day, and every man on +the place, and most of the maids, had gone off to a bush race meeting, +ten miles away. Even Mrs. Brown had allowed herself to be persuaded to +go and, arrayed in her best silk gown, had climbed laboriously into the +high double buggy, driven by Dave Boone, and departed, waving to Norah +a stout reticule that looked, Wally said, as though it contained +sausages! Only Mary, the housemaid, remained. Mary was a prim soul, and +did not care for race meetings. She had remarked that she would stay at +home and "crocher"! + +Mr. Linton and the boys had ridden away after lunch. A valuable bull +had slipped down the side of a steep gully and injured himself, and +bush surgery was required. David Linton was rather notable in this +direction, and he had seen to it that Jim had had a thorough course of +veterinary training in Melbourne. Together they made, the squatter +remarked, a very respectable firm of practitioners! Cecil and Wally +were ready to perform unskilled labour as required, and it was quite +possible that their help might be needed, since no men were available. +So the picnic planned for the afternoon had had to be abandoned, and +Norah was left somewhat desolate, since she could not take part in the +"relief expedition." + +"Hard on you, old girl," Jim had said; "but it can't be helped." + +"No, of course it can't," Norah replied. She was well trained in the +emergencies of the country, and would probably have been perfectly +cheerful had this particular one only been something that would not +have excluded her. As it was, however, it was certainly disappointing, +and she felt somewhat "at a loose end" as she watched the four ride +off. There seemed nothing for her to do. It was beyond doubt that being +a girl had its drawbacks. + +Within, the silence of the house was depressing, and the rooms seemed +much too large. Norah saw to one or two odd jobs, fed some chickens, +talked for a while to Fudge, the parrot, who was a companionable bird, +with a great flow of eloquence on occasions, wrote a couple of +letters--always a laborious proceeding for the maid of the bush--and +finally arrived at the decision that there was nothing to do. In the +kitchen Mary sat and "crochered" placidly at a fearful and wonderful +set of table mats. Norah watched her for a while, with a great scorn +for the gentle art that could produce such monstrosities. Then she +practised for half an hour, and at length, taking a book, sauntered off +to read by the creek. + +Meanwhile Mary worked on contentedly, unconscious of outer things, +dreaming, perhaps, such dreams as may come to any one who makes +crocheted table mats of green and yellow. Now and then she rose to +replenish the fire, returning to her needle in the far-away corner of +the great kitchen, where Mrs. Brown's cane armchair always stood. She +glanced up in surprise after a while, when a shadow fell across the +doorway. Then, for Mary was a girl with "nerves," she jumped up with a +little scream. + +An Indian hawker stood there--a big, black-bearded fellow, in dusty +clothes that had once been white, and on his head a turban of faded +pink. His heavy pack hung from his shoulder, but as the girl looked, he +slipped it to the ground, and stood erect, with a grunt of relief. Then +he grinned faintly at Mary, who had promptly put the table between +them, and asked the hawker's universal question: + +"Anything to-day, Meesis?" + +The Hindu hawker is still a figure to be met frequently in the +Bush--where he is, indeed, something of an institution. "Remote from +towns he runs" a race that no poetical licence can stretch to complete +the quotation by calling "godly." He carries a queer mixture of goods--a +kind of condensed bazaar-stall from his native land, with silks and +cottons, soaps, scents, boot laces and cheap jewellery, all packed into +a marvellously small space; and so he tramps his way through Australia. +No life can be lonelier. His stock of English is generally barely +enough to enable him to complete his deals; the free and independent +Australian regards him as "a nigger," and despises him accordingly; +while the Hindu, in his turn, has in his inmost soul a scorn far deeper +for his scorners--the pride of tradition and of caste. It is the caste +that keeps him rigidly to himself, since, as a rule, he can touch no +food that others have handled. He sits apart, over his own tiny fire, +baking his unappetising little cakes; and in many cases even the shadow +of a passer-by falling across his cookery is held to defile it beyond +possibility of his eating it. As a rule he has but one idea in life--to +make enough money to carry him back to end his days in comfort by the +waters of the Ganges. + +There are certain well recognized hawkers in many districts--men who +have kept for a long time to a particular beat, and may be regarded as +fairly regular, and likely to turn up at each place at their route +three or four times a year. Such men have generally arrived at the +dignity of a pack-horse--no unmixed benefit in the eyes of people +driving, since most of the country horses are reduced to frenzy by the +sight of the lean screw with his immense white pack--the hawker is +merciless to his horse--led by the "black" man in flapping clothes and +gay turban. Still the regular hawkers are a more respectable class of +men, and their visits are often eagerly welcomed by the housewife in +the lonely country, many miles from a township, who finds herself +confronted with such problems as the necessity for lacing Johnny's +Sunday boots with strips of green hide, or the more serious one of a +dearth of trouser-buttons for his garments. + +It is the casual hawker who is looked on with disfavour, and strikes +terror to the heart of many women. He has very frequently no money and +less principle; and being without reputation to sustain in the +district, is careless of his doings along a route that he probably does +not intend to visit again. He knows perfectly well that women and +children are afraid of him, and as a rule is very willing to work upon +that fear--though the sight of a man, or of a dog with character, is +sufficient to make him the most servile of his race. But where he meets +a lonely woman he is a very apparition of terror. + +There was one hawker who came regularly to Billabong; a cheery old +fellow, well known and respected, whose caste was not strict enough to +prevent his refusing the station hospitality, and whose appearance was +always welcome. He had been coming so long that he knew them all well, +and took an almost affectionate interest in Jim and Norah, always +bringing some little gift for the latter. The men liked him, for he had +been known to "turn to" and work at a bush fire "as hearty as if he +weren't a fat little image av a haythen," said Murty O'Toole; Norah was +always delighted when old Ram Das came up the track, his unwieldy body +on two amazingly lean legs. Even Mary would not have been scared at his +appearance. + +But this was not Ram Das--this Indian who stood looking at her with that +queer little half-smile, so different from the old man's wide and +cheerful grin. It was a strange man, and a terrible one in Mary's +sight. She gaped at him feebly across the table, and he watched her +with keen, calculating eyes. Presently he spoke again, this time a +little impatiently. + +"You ask-a meesis annything to-day?" + +"Nothin' to-day," said Mary, quickly and nervously. + +"You ask-a meesis." + +"She don't want anything," the girl quavered. + +"You ask-a." + +"I tell you she don't want anything--there ain't any missis," Mary said. +He looked at her unbelievingly, and broke into a speech of broken +English that was quite unintelligible to the frightened girl behind the +table. Then, as she did not answer him, he came a few steps nearer. + +It was more than enough for Mary. She gave a terrified shriek and ran +for the nearest cover--the half-open door of the back kitchen behind +her. She banged it violently as she dashed through. There was no lock +on the door, so she could not stay there--but the window stood open, and +Mary went through it with all the nimbleness of fear. She came out into +the yard where the way lay clear to the house; and across the space +went Mary, cometwise, a vision of terror and flying cap strings, each +moment expecting to hear pursuing feet. Puck, the Irish terrier, +sleeping peacefully on the front verandah, leapt to his feet at the +sudden bang of the back door, and came dashing through the house in +search of the cause. Mary, half sobbing, welcomed him with fervour. + +"Good dog, Puck!" she said. She reconnoitred through the nearest +window. + +The Indian had come out of the kitchen, and now stood on the back +verandah, his dark face working. He looked uncertainly about him. Then +the back door opened a few inches--just so far that an enthusiastic +Irish terrier could squeeze through--and Mary's voice came. + +"Good dog, Puck!--sool 'im!" + +The door banged again, and the heavy lock shot home. Mary flew back to +the window, shutting and locking it frantically. She watched. + +Puck wasted no time. He dashed at the hawker, with every fighting +instinct aroused, and the Hindu leaped back quickly, seizing with one +hand a broom that leaned against the wall. He met the terrier's +onslaught with a savage blow that sent the little dog head over heels +yards away. Puck picked himself up and came again like a whirlwind. +Then Mary screamed again, for the Hindu dropped the broom, and +something flashed in the sunlight--a long knife that came swiftly from +some hiding place in his voluminous draperies. He crouched to meet the +dog, his eyes gleaming, his lips drawn back from his teeth. + +Puck was no fool. He arrested himself almost in midair, and planted +himself just out of the hawker's reach, his whole enraged little body a +vision of defiance, and barked madly. The Indian moved backwards, +uttering a flood of furious speech, while for each step that he moved +the terrier advanced another. Then Mary's heart gave a sudden leap; for +the hand that held the knife suddenly went behind him as he reached for +his pack and swung it to his shoulder. Puck was nearly upon him in the +moment that the knife no longer menaced, but the Hindu was quick; and +again the little dog drew back, rending the air with his barking. +Slowly the man backed off the verandah and along the path to the yard +gate, Puck following every step, loathing with all his fury that unfair +advantage of gleaming steel that kept him from his enemy. The Hindu +backed through the gate, and slammed it in the terrier's face, spitting +a volley of angry words as he went. Mary flung the window open and +called her protector anxiously, lest he should find some means of exit +and leave her alone; and Puck came back a few steps, turning again to +bark at his retreating foe. The tall form in the dusty clothes went +slowly down the track. Mary watched him out of sight. Then she fled to +her own room, locked herself in securely, and went, very properly, into +hysterics. + +Meanwhile, at the creek, Norah was nodding sleepily over her book. It +was hot, and naturally a lazy day; everything seemed sleepy, from the +cows lying about under the willows on the banks to the bees droning +overhead. Tait, near her, was snoring gently. Even the water below +seemed to be rippling more lazily than usual; the splash of a leaping +fish made an unusual stir in the stillness. Moreover, her book was not +calculated to keep her awake. It was poetry, and Norah's soul did not +incline naturally to poetry, unless it were one of Gordon's stirring +rhymes, or something equally Australian in character. This was quite +different, but it had been Cecil's Christmas gift, and it had seemed to +Norah that politeness required her to study it. + +"It's the rummiest stuff!" said the Bush damsel, hopelessly. She turned +to the cover, a dainty thing of pale blue and gold. "William Morris? +Didn't we have a stockman once called Bill Morris? But I'm pretty +certain he never wrote this. The name's the same, though!" thought +Norah, uncertainly. She turned back, and read anew, painstakingly: + + No meat did ever pass my lips + Those days. (Alas! the sunlight slips + From off the gilded parclose dips, + And night comes on apace.) + +"Then I'm positive it wasn't our Bill Morris, 'cause I never saw a +stockman who was a vegetarian. But what's a parclose? I'll have to ask +Cecil; but then he'll think me such a duffer not to know, and he'll be +so awfully patronizing. But what on earth does it all mean?" + +She closed the book in despair, let her eyelids droop, and nodded a +little, while the book in its blue and gold cover slipped from her knee +to the grass. It was much easier to go to sleep than to read William +Morris. What a long time Dad and the boys were, doctoring Derrimut! It +was certainly dull. + +A quick bark from Tait startled her. The collie had jumped up, and was +bristling with wrath at an unusual spectacle coming through the trees +towards her--a tall man, with a face of dusky bronze, surmounted by a +pink turban. His face was working angrily, and he muttered as he +walked, slowly, as if the pack on his shoulder were heavy. When Tait +barked he started for a moment, but then came on steadily--a collie is +rarely as formidable as an Irish terrier. + +Norah paled a little. She was not timid, but no Australian girl takes +naturally to an encounter with a Hindu and there was no doubt that this +man was in a very bad temper. The place was lonely, too, and out of +sight of the house, even if she had not been painfully conscious that +there was not a man on the place should she need help. Still, there was +nothing to be gained by running. She backed against the tree, keeping +one hand on Tait's collar as the man came up. + +"What do you want?" + +He stopped, and the pack slipped to the grass. Then he broke into a +flood of rapid speech in his own tongue, gesticulating violently; +occasionally indicating the house with a sweep of his hand in that +direction. As he talked he worked himself up to further wrath--his voice +rose almost to a shout sometimes, and his face was not pleasant to see. +Once or twice he held his left hand out, and Norah saw that it was +bandaged. + +For a minute or two she was badly frightened. Then, watching him, she +suddenly came to the conclusion that she had nothing to fear--that he +was telling her something he wanted her to know. She listened, trying +hard to catch some word in the flood of fluent foreign speech, and +twice she thought she made out the name of Ram Das. Then he finished +abruptly with almost the one word of Hindustani she knew, since it was +one the old hawker had taught her. "SUMJA," ("Do you understand?") he +hurled at her. + +Norah shook her head. + +"No, I don't 'SUMJA,'" she said: but her tone was friendly, and some of +the anger melted from the Indian's face, and was succeeded by a quick +relief. "Can't you speak English? You know Ram Das--Ram Das?" she +repeated, hoping that the name might convey something to him. To her +immense relief, the effect was instantaneous. + +"Know Ram Das," said the man, struggling for words. "Him--him." He swept +the horizon vaguely with his hand. + +"I know Ram Das," Norah put in. "Him good man." + +The Hindu nodded violently. His face was natural again, and suddenly he +smiled at her. "You a meesis?" he asked. "Ram Das say l'il meesis." + +"I'm little meesis," Norah said promptly. It was the old man's title +for her. "Did Ram Das send you?" + +"Him send me," said the man, with evident pleasure in finding the word. +He struggled again for English, but finally gave it up, and held out +his left hand to her silently. + +"Why, you're hurt!" Norah said. "Is that why Ram Das sent you?" + +He nodded again, and began to unroll the long strip of cotton stuff +round his hand and wrist. It took a long time, and at last he had to go +down to the water and bathe the stiffened rag before it would come +away. Then he came back to Norah and held it out again--a long, hideous +gash right up the wrist, torn and swollen and inflamed. + +"Oh!" said Norah, drawing back a pace, instinctively. "You poor fellow! +How did you do it?" + +"Barb wire," said the Indian, simply. "Three days. Him bad. Ram Das, +him say you help." With this stupendous effort of eloquence he became +speechless again, still holding the torn wrist out to her. + +"I should think so!" said Norah, forgetting everything in the sight of +that cruel wound. "Come on up to the house quickly!" She turned to lead +the way, but the man shook his head. + +"Woman there," he stammered. + +"It's all right," Norah told him. "Come along." + +"Small dog," said the Hindu, unhappily. "Them afraid of me." He pointed +towards the house. "Been there." + +"Oh-h!" said Norah, suddenly comprehending. She knew Mary. Then she +laughed. "You come with me; it's all right." She led the way, and the +hawker followed her. A few yards further on, Norah bethought herself of +something, and turned back. + +"You must have that covered up," she told him. "No, not with that awful +rag again," with a faint shudder. She took out her handkerchief and +wrapped it lightly round the man's wrist. "That'll do for the +present--come on." + +Puck, still in a state of profound indignation in the back yard, was +thrown into a paroxysm of fury at the sight of his enemy returning. +Norah had to chain him up before the Hindu would come inside the gate. +Then she led the way to the kitchen and called Mary. + +No Mary answered, so Norah went about her preparations alone--a big +basin of hot water, boracic acid--standby of the Bush--soft rags, and +ointment from the "hospital drawer" Mrs. Brown kept always ready. She +shuddered a little as she began to bathe the wound, while the Indian +watched her with inscrutable face, never flinching, though the pain was +no small thing. It was done at last--cleansed, anointed, and carefully +bandaged. Then he smiled at her gratefully. + +"Ram Das him say you good," he said. "Him truth!" + +Norah laughed, somewhat embarrassed. + +"Hungry?" she asked. "You take my food?" + +It was always a delicate question, since the Hindu is easily offended +over a matter of caste. This man, however, was evidently as independent +as Ram Das, for he nodded, and when Norah brought him food, fell to +work upon it hungrily. + +Thus it was that Mary, brought from the hysterical sanctuary of her +room by the pressing sense of the necessity of looking after the +kitchen fire, and coming back to her duties like a vestal of old, found +her dreaded enemy cheerfully eating in the kitchen, while Norah sat +near and carried on a one-sided conversation with every appearance of +friendliness, with Tait sleepily lying beside her--at which astonishing +spectacle Mary promptly shrieked anew. The Hindu rose, smiling +nervously. + +"Come here, you duffer, Mary!" said Norah, who by this time had arrived +at something of an understanding of the previous happenings. "He's as +tame as tame. Why, old Ram Das sent him!" + +"Miss Norah, he's got a knife on him!" said Mary, in a sepulchral +whisper. "I saw it with me own eyes. He nearly killed Puck with it!" + +"Well, Puck was trying to kill him," said Norah, "and I guess if you +had a wrist like his, you'd defend yourself any way you could, if Puck +was at you! He's terribly sorry he frightened you--you didn't understand +him, that was all. Ram Das sent him to have his wrist fixed up, and his +name's Lal Chunder, and he's quite a nice man!" + +"H'm!" said Mary doubtfully, relaxing so far as to enter the kitchen, +but keeping a respectful distance from the hawker, who took no further +notice of her, going on with his meal. "I don't 'old with them black +creechers in any shape or form, Miss Norah, an' it's my belief he'd +kill us all in our beds as soon as wink! Scarin' the wits out of one, +with his pink top-knot arrangement--such a thing for a man to wear! +Gimme white Orstralia!" + +"Look out, he'll hear you!" said Norah, laughing. "He--" + +"What talk is this?" said a cheerful voice; and Ram Das, very plump, +very hot and very beaming, came in at the kitchen door, and stood +looking at them. "I sent this young man to the li'l meesis, for that he +was hurt and in pain, and I know the fat woman is kind, and has the +brassic-acid." He glanced at Lal Chunder's bandaged wrist, and shot a +quick question at him in their own tongue, to which the other +responded. The old man turned back to Norah, not without dignity. + +"We thank the l'il meesis," he said. "Lal Chunder is as my son: he +cannot speak, but he will not forget." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Norah, turning a lively red. "It wasn't +anything, really, Ram Das--and his wrist was terribly sore. You'll both +camp here to-night, won't you? And have some tea--I'm sure you want it, +it's so hot." + +"It will be good," said Ram Das, gratefully, sitting down. Then voices +and the sound of hoofs and the chink of bits came from outside; and +presently Mr. Linton and the boys came in, hot and thirsty. + +Cecil's eyebrows went up as he beheld his cousin carrying a cup to the +stout old Hindu. + +"It's the most extraordinary place I was ever at," he told himself +later, dressing for dinner, in the seclusion of his own room. From the +garden below came shouts and laughter, as Jim engaged Norah and Wally +in a strenuous set on the tennis court. "Absolutely no class limits +whatever, and no restrictions--why, she kept me waiting for my second +cup while she looked after that fat old black in the dirty white +turban! As for the boys--childish young hoodlums. Well, thank goodness +I'm not condemned to Billabong all my days!" With which serene +reflection Mr. Cecil Linton adjusted his tie nicely, smoothed a +refractory strand of hair in his forelock, and went down to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OF POULTRY + + A man would soon wonder how it's done, + The stock so soon decreases! + A. B. PATERSON + + +"Where are you off to, Norah?" + +"To feed the chickens." + +"May I come with you, my pretty maid?" + +"Delighted!" said Norah. "Here's a load for you." + +"Even to stagger under thy kerosene tin were ever a joy!" responded +Wally, seizing the can of feed as he spoke--the kerosene tin of the +bush, that serves so many purposes, from bucket to cooking stove, and +may end its days as a flower pot, or, flattened out, as roofing iron. +"Anyhow, you oughtn't to carry this thing, Norah; it's too heavy. Why +will you be such a goat?" + +Under this direct query, put plaintively, Norah had the grace to look +abashed. + +"Well, I don't, as a rule," she said. "It's really Billy's job to carry +it for me, but Jim has been coming with me since he came home, so of +course young Billy's got out of hand. And Jim's gone across with Dad to +see old Derrimut, so I had no one. I looked for you and couldn't find +you. And I asked Cecil politely to accompany me, but he put his +eyebrows up, and said fowls didn't interest him. Oh, Wally, don't you +think it's terribly hard to find subjects that do interest Cecil?" + +"Hard!" said Wally expressively. "Well, it beats me, anyhow. But then +Cecil regards me with scorn and contumely, and, to tell you the truth, +Nor., when I see him coming I quiver like--like a blancmange! He's so +awfully superior!" + +"You know, I'm sure he's not enjoying himself," Norah went on; "and it +really worries us, 'cause we hate to think of anyone being here and not +having a good time. But he does keep his nose so in the air, doesn't +he?" + +"Beats me how you're so nice to him," Wally averred. "My word, it would +do that lad good to have a year or two at our school! I guess it would +take some of the nonsense out of him. Was he ever young?" + +"I shouldn't think so," Norah said, laughing--"he has such a lofty +contempt for anything at all juvenile now. Well, at least he's looking +better than when he came, so Billabong is doing him good in one way at +any rate, and that is a comfort. But I'm sure he's counting the days +until he goes away." + +"Well, so am I," said Wally, cheerfully. "So at least there are two of +us, and I should think there were several more. It's pleasant to find +even one subject on which one can be a twin-soul with Cecil. +Norah"--solemnly--"I have counted eleven different pairs of socks on that +Johnny since I came, and each was more brilliant than the last!" + +"I don't doubt it," Norah laughed. "They're the admiration of the +laundry here, and even the men stopped and looked at them as they were +hanging on the line last week. Dave Boone was much interested in that +green pair with the gold stripes, and asked Sarah what football club +they belonged to!" + +"Great Scott!" said Wally explosively. "Can you imagine Cecil playing +football?" + +"I can't--I wish I could," Norah answered. "Well, never mind Cecil--he's +a tiring subject. Tell me what you think of my chicks." + +Norah's special fowl yard was a grassy run divided into two parts, with +small houses and wire-netted enclosures in each. At present one was +devoted to a couple of mothers with clutches of ten and twelve +chickens--all white Orpingtons. The mothers were stately, comfortable +dames, and the chicks, round little creamy balls, very tame and +fascinating. They came quite close to Norah as she stooped to feed +them, and one chick, bolder than his brethren, even stood on the back +of her hand. Wally admired without stint, and proceeded to discharge +the practical duty of rinsing out the water tins and filling them +afresh. + +In the other yard a number of older chickens grew and prospered; these +also were all white, of the Leghorn breed, and Norah was immensely +proud of them. She sat down on the end of a box and pointed out their +varied beauties. + +"I should have more--lots more," she said, dolefully. "But I've had +horrible trouble with pigs. Why anybody keeps pigs at all I can't +imagine!" + +"They're handy when preserved," Wally remarked. "But what did they do +to you?" + +"I had a lot of hens sitting this year," said the owner of the +yard--"sitting on lovely eggs, too, Wally! Some I got from Cunjee, and +some from Westwood, and two special sittings from Melbourne. I was +going to be awfully rich! You couldn't imagine all I'd planned with the +immense sums I was going to make." + +"There's a proverb," said Wally, sententiously, "about counting your +chickens." + +"You're quite the twelfth person who's mentioned that," Norah said, +with some asperity. "Anyhow, I never counted them; I only became rich +in a vague way, and it was very comforting. I'm glad I had that +comfort, for it was all I had." + +"Norah, you thrill my very soul with awful fears," Wally gasped. "Tell +me the worst!" + +"Donkey!" said Norah, unsympathetically. "Well, they were set. I fixed +up the boxes myself, and lined them so beautifully that when they were +ready, and the eggs in, it was all I could do to prevent myself sitting +on them!" + +"I know," Wally nodded. "And then the hens wouldn't sit, would they? +They never do, when you make the nests especially tempting. I had an +old Cochin once who used to sit quite happily for six months at a time +on a clod and a bit of stone, expecting to hatch out a half-acre +allotment and a town hall; but if you put her on twelve beautiful eggs +she simply wouldn't look at them! Makes you vow you'll give up keeping +hens at all." + +"It would," Norah said. "Only mine didn't do that." + +"Oh!" said Wally, a little blankly. "What did they do, then?" + +"Sat--" + +"And ate the eggs--I know," Wally burst in. "My old brute used to eat +one a day if you got her to sit. I remember once it was a race between +her and the eggs, and I used to haunt the nest, wondering would she get +'em all eaten before they hatched. They beat her by one--one poor chick +came out. The shock was too much for the old hen, and she deserted it, +and I poddied it in a box for a week, and called it Moses, and it would +eat out of my hand, and then it died!" He gasped for breath, and Norah +gazed with undisguised admiration at the orator. + +"So I know how you'd feel," Wally finished. + +"I might--but my hens weren't cannibals. They didn't eat any." + +"You had luck," said the unabashed Wally. "Well, what happened?" + +"They sat quite nicely--" + +"And the eggs were addled, weren't they? It's always the way with half +these swagger sittings you buy from dealers. They--" + +"Oh, Wally, I WISH you wouldn't be so intelligent!" said Norah, with +not unnatural heat. "How am I ever going to tell you?" + +"Why, I thought you were telling me as hard as ever you could!" Wally +responded, visibly indignant "Well, fire away; I won't speak another +word!" + +"I don't think you could help it," Norah laughed. "However, I'd eight +hens sitting, and I really do believe that they understood their +responsibilities, for they set as if they were glued, except when they +came off for necessary exercise and refreshment. Even then, they never +gave me any of the usual bother about refusing to go back into the +right box, or scratching the eggs out. They behaved like perfect +ladies--I might have known it was too bright to last!" She heaved a +sigh. + +"I know you're working up to some horrible tragedy, and I'm sure I +won't be able to bear it!" said her hearer, much agitated. "Tell me the +worst!" + +"So they sat--" + +"You said that before!" + +"Well, they sat before--and after," said Norah, unmoved. "Two of them +brought their eggs out, beautiful clutches, twelve in one and thirteen +in the other. Such luck! I used to be like the old woman who pinched +herself and asked, 'Be this I?' They all lived in a fox-proof +yard--fence eight feet high with wire-netting on top. I wasn't leaving +anything to chance about those chicks." + +"Was it cholera? Or pip?" + +"Neither," said Norah. "They were the very healthiest, all of them. The +chickens grew and flourished, and when they were about a week old, the +other six hens were all about to bring out theirs within two days. Oh, +Wally, I was so excited! I used to go down to the yard about a dozen +times a day, just to gloat!" + +"Never gloat too soon," said Wally. "It's a hideous risk!" + +"I'm never going to gloat again at all, I think," said Norah, +mournfully. The recital of her woes was painful. "So I went down one +morning, and found them all happy and peaceful; the six old ladies +sitting in their boxes, and the two proud mammas with their chicks, +scratching round the yard and chasing grasshoppers. It was," said +Norah, in the approved manner of story-tellers, "a fair and joyous +scene!" + +"'Specially for the grasshoppers!" commented her hearer. "And then--?" + +"Then I went out for a ride with Dad, and I didn't get back until late +in the afternoon. I let Bobs go, and ran down to the fowl yard without +waiting to change my habit." Norah paused. "I really don't know that I +can bring myself to tell you any more!" + +"If you don't," said Wally, indignantly, "there'll certainly be +bloodshed. Go on at once-- + + "Am I a man on human plan + Designed, or am I not, Matilda?" + + +"H'm," said Norah. "Well, I'm not Matilda, anyway! However, I opened +the gate of the yard. And then I stood there and just gaped at what I +saw." + +"Dogs?" + +"Our dogs are decently trained," Norah said, much offended. "No, it +wasn't dogs--it was pigs!" + +"Whew-w!" whistled Wally. + +"Pigs. They had burrowed in right under the fence; there was a great +big hole there. And they'd eaten every chicken, and every egg in the +yard. My lovely boxes were all knocked over, and the nests torn to +bits, and there wasn't so much as an eggshell left. The poor old hens +were just demented--they were going round and round the yard, clucking +and calling, and altogether like mad things. And in the middle of it +all, fat and happy and snoring--three pigs!" + +"What did you do?" Wally felt that this case was beyond the reach of +ordinary words of sympathy. + +"Couldn't do anything. I chased the beasts out of the yard, and threw +everything I could find at them--but you can't hurt a pig. And Dad was +horrid--advised me to have them killed, so that at least we could have +eggs and bacon!" Norah laughed, in spite of her woebegone tone. + +"And he calls himself a father!" said Wally, solemnly. + +"Oh, he wasn't really horrid," Norah answered. "He wrote off to town +and bought me a very swagger pair of Plymouth Rocks--just beauties. They +cost three guineas!" + +"Three guineas!" said the awestruck youth. "What awful waste! Where are +they, Norah? Show me them at once!" + +"Can't," Norah responded, sadly. + +"You don't mean--?" + +"Oh, I've had a terrible year with fowls," said the dejected poultry +keeper. "Those Plymouth Rocks came just before the Cunjee show, and Dad +entered them for me, 'cause the dealer had told him they would beat +anything there. And I think they would have--only just after he sold Dad +mine, a Cunjee man bought a pair for five guineas. He showed his, too!" +Norah sighed. + +"Oh!" said Wally. + +"So I got second. However, they were very lovely, and so tame. I was +truly fond of Peter." + +"Why Peter?" + +"Oh, Peter means a Rock," said Norah. "I heard it in a sermon. He was a +beautiful bird. I think he was too beautiful to live, 'cause he became +ill--I don't know what it was, but he pined away. I used to nurse him +ever so; for the last two days of his poor young life I fed him every +hour with brandy and strong soup out of the spout of the invalid +feeder. Brownie was quite annoyed when she found I'd used it for him," +said Norah, reflectively. + +"But he was an invalid, wasn't he?" asked Wally. + +"Of course he was--and it's an invalid feeder. I don't see what it's +for, if not for the sick. But it didn't do him any good. I went out +about ten o'clock one night and wrapped him in hot flannel, and he was +rattling inside his poor chest; and in the morning I went out at five +and he was dead!" + +"Poor old Nor.!" + +"So I tied a bit of black stuff on the gate and went back to bed," said +Norah, pensively. + +Wally grinned. "And what became of Mrs. Peter?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Peter was a lovely hen," Norah said, "and very healthy. She +never seemed to feel any of Peter's delicacy. He was a very refined +bird. There was another show coming on at Mulgoa, and I found among the +other fowls another Mr. Peter, and it struck me I would have a try for +the prize. Mrs. Peter was so good that I felt I'd get it unless the +five-guinea Plymouth Rock man came up. So I fed up the new Peter and +had them looking very well the day before the show. And then--" + +"Yes?" said Wally, as she paused. + +"Then a new dog of Burton's killed Mrs. Peter," said Norah, "so I gave +up showing poultry!" + +"I should think you did," said the sympathetic auditor. "What did your +father say?" + +"He was very nice; and very angry with the dog; but he didn't buy me +any more valuable fowls--and I expect that was just as well," said +Norah, laughing. "I don't seem to have luck when it comes to keeping +poultry. Jim says it's management, but then Jim never kept any himself. +And it does make a difference to your views if you keep them yourself." + +"It does," Wally agreed. "I used to lose ever so many in Queensland, +but then things are really rough on fowls up there--climate and snakes +and lots of odd things, including crocodiles! When I came down to +school I left a lot of hens, and twelve eggs under one old lady hen, +who should have hatched 'em out a few days after I left. And the whole +lot went wandering and found some poison my brother had put out for a +cat!" Wally wiped his eyes elaborately. + +"And died?" + +"It was suicide, I think," said Wally, nodding. "But I always had +comfort about that lot, because I still have hopes that those twelve +eggs hadn't hatched." + +"I don't see what that has to do with it," Norah said, plainly puzzled. + +"Why, don't you understand? If they hatched I must have lost them along +with the others; but if they didn't hatch, I didn't lose so many, for, +not having them to lose, I couldn't very well lose them, could I? +Q.E.D.!" finished Wally, triumphantly. "That's Philosophy!" + +"You're a credit to your teachers, old man," said a new voice; and Jim +made his appearance behind the fence, over which he proceeded to climb +laboriously. + +"Yes, I'm a nice boy," said modest Mr. Meadows. "Sometimes I think you +don't appreciate me--" + +"Perish the thought!" said Jim, solemnly. + +"But I always feel that honest worth will tell in the end," finished +Wally. "Jim, you great, uncivilized rogue, unhand me!" There was a +strenuous interlude, during which the Leghorn chicks fled shrieking to +the farthest corner of their domain. Finally Jim stepped unwittingly, +in the joy of battle, into the kerosene tin, which was fortunately +empty, and a truce was made while he scraped from a once immaculate +brown leather legging the remains of the Leghorns' breakfast. + +"Serve you right," said Wally, adjusting his tie, which had +mysteriously appeared under his right ear. "Norah and I were talking +beautifully, and you hadn't any business to come poke your nose in, if +you couldn't behave, had he Nor.?" Whereat Norah and Jim grinned +cheerfully at each other, and Wally collapsed, remarking with +indignation that you couldn't hope to get justice for either of the +Linton twins when it came to dealing with the other. + +"We're not twins!" said Norah. + +"No," said her guest, "I think you're worse!" Withdrawing, he sat in +melancholy isolation on a hen coop, and gave himself up, very +appropriately, to brooding. + +"Well, I'm sorry if I broke up the party," Jim said, relinquishing the +task of polishing his leggings with marshmallow leaves and looking at +its streaked surface disconsolately. Jim might--and did--scorn coats and +waistcoats in the summer, and revel in soft shirts and felt hats; but +his riding equipment was a different matter, and from Garryowen's bit +and irons to his own boots, all had to be in apple pie order. "Norah, +may I have your hanky to rub this up? No? You haven't one! Well, I'm +surprised at you!" He rubbed it, quite ineffectually, with the crown of +his hat, and still looked pained. "Never mind, I'll get hold of some +tan stuff when I go in. What I came to say when you attacked me, young +Wally--" + +"When I attacked you! I like that!" spluttered the justly indignant +Wally. + +"Didn't you? I thought you did," grinned Jim. "My mistake, I suppose. +Well, anyhow, when you attacked Norah--quiet, Wally, bother you; how can +a fellow get a word out?--what I came to mention was that Dad wants us." + +"Oh!" said Norah, gathering herself up. "Why didn't you say so before?" + +"Too busy, and you and Wal. do prattle so. Anyhow, he's not in a +tearing hurry, 'cause he said he was going to have an hour at his +income-tax--and you know what that means." + +"Solitude is always best for Dad when he's income-taxing," said Norah. +"It has the most horrible effect on his usual serenity. My dear old +Hermit used to help him, of course; but now--well, no wonder he's +starting early! How's Derrimut, Jimmy?" + +"Going on splendidly; Dad and I are quite proud of ourselves as vets.," +said her brother. "We made quite a good job of the old chap; I believe +he'll hardly have a blemish. By George, you should have seen Cecil at +that operation! He had one rope to hold and he was scared to death." + +"So was I," said Wally, grinning. "I was always as timid as a rabbit." + +"You!" said Jim, laughing. "Well, you held three ropes, anyway, and I +didn't notice that you looked pale." + +"My face won't let me," said his chum. "But I FELT pale!" + +"Well Cecil looked and felt it," Jim said. "Of course, you don't +exactly blame a town chap for not taking to that sort of thing like a +duck to water. Still, there's a limit--and I'll swear Norah would have +made a fuss. As far as that goes, Dad says he's known our grandmother, +in the early days, have to help at a much worse job for a beast than +fixing up old Derry's leg. Lots of women had to. They wouldn't like it, +of course, but they certainly wouldn't have made it harder for the man +they were helping by putting on frills!" + +"Well, you'd hate to have to get a woman to do a job like that." + +"Of course you would. You'd never do it unless it came to a question of +saving a beast or easing its pain. But if it did come to the point, a +decent woman with backbone would lend a hand, just as she's help if it +was the man himself that was hurt. At least, most Australian women +would, or most of those in the country, at any rate. I'd disown Norah +if she didn't." + +"I should hope so!" said Norah, quietly. + +"At the same time, I've not the remotest intention of employing you as +a vet., old woman," said Jim, untying her hair ribbons in a brotherly +fashion. "Quite enough for you to act in that capacity for that rum +beggar, Lal Chunder--who's departed, by the way, leaving you his +blessing and a jolly little brass tray. The blessing was rather +unintelligible, but there's no doubt about the tray." + +"Bother!" said Norah, vexedly. "Silly man! I don't want him to give me +presents--and that wound of his ought certainly to have been looked +after for a few days." + +"He said he was going to travel with Ram Das--and old Ram'll see that he +ties it up, I expect," said Jim, with unconcern. "I wouldn't bother, +old first-aid; it looked tip-top when you dressed it before breakfast." + +"I'd have given him rag for it, anyway," said Norah, still troubled. + +"He can always tear half a yard or so off that turban of his," Jim +said. "Don't go out of your way to meet worry, my girl--it'll always +come quickly enough to meet you. Which is philosophy quite equal to +Wally's!" He sighed. "Here's trouble coming to meet us now, that's +certain!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +STATION DOINGS + + I see as I stand at the slip-rails, dreaming, + Merry riders that mount and meet; + Sun on the saddles, gleaming, gleaming, + Red dust wrapping the horses' feet. + W. H. OGILVIE + + +They had turned the corner of the house leading to the verandah off +which Mr. Linton's office opened, and where that gentleman was +presumably to be found, wrestling with the intricacies of his +income-tax schedule--the squatter's yearly bugbear. Along this verandah +came, slowly, Cecil, beautiful to behold in a loose brown suit, with +buff coloured shirt and flowing orange tie. Wally cast a swift glance +at his ankles, and chuckled. + +"He's got new socks on!" he said, in a sepulchral whisper. + +"Shut up, you duffer--he'll hear you!" Jim said. He raised his voice. +"Looking for us, Cecil?" + +"Yes," Cecil drawled. "Uncle David asked me to find you. Fed +the--ah--poultry, Norah?" + +"Yes, thank you," said that damsel. + +"Awfully uninteresting things, fowls," said Cecil, turning and walking +back with them. "Noisy and dirty--I can't imagine you bothering your +head over them." + +"They're not dirty when they're kept properly," Norah said, a little +warmly. "And I don't think any animal's uninteresting if you look after +it yourself. Of course, if you do nothing more than eat them--" + +"I assure you that's all I care to do!" said Cecil. At this point, they +arrived at the door of the office, which was perhaps as well, and found +Mr. Linton half submerged in a sea of stock returns, books, and +bill-files. + +"Oh, here you are," he said, smoothing the furrows out of his brow to +smile at Norah. "I had an idea I sent you for the others some time ago, +Jim." + +Jim looked somewhat sheepish. + +"Yes." He admitted, laughing. "Fact is, I--I got into a kerosene tin!" +He glanced at his left leg expressively. + +"I see," said his father, with a smile. "Well, I don't know that it +matters--only a note has just come out from Anderson, and his chauffeur +is waiting for an answer. It seems Cunjee is playing Mulgoa in a great +cricket match on Thursday, and they're short of men. They want to know +if they can recruit from Billabong." + +"Good business!" said Jim, joyfully, while Wally hurrahed below his +breath. "But will they let us play, Dad--Wal. and me?" + +"Oh, they've fixed that up with the Mulgoa fellows," said his father. +"It's all right. They're kind enough to ask me to play, but it's out of +the question--even if I weren't approaching senile decay"--he smiled--"I +wouldn't be able to go. Mr. Darrell has a buyer coming to look at his +young stock on Friday, and he writes me that if I want any of them--he +knows I did want some--I can have the first pick if I am over at +Killybeg on Thursday. So that means I'll be away from Wednesday +morning--and I think this match will be as efficacious as anything else +in keeping you out of mischief during my absence!" + +"I'm glad we'll have something!" Jim said, his grin belying his meek +voice. "Well, we'll have to see who can play." + +"You two boys, of course," said his father. "And Cecil--do you play?" + +"Not for worlds, thank you," said Cecil, hastily. "It's not in my +line." + +"Oh," said his uncle. "Then you can be Norah's escort--if she wants to +go, that is!" + +"Want to go! Well, Daddy!" said Norah in expostulation--whereat +everybody laughed. + +"Murty can slog, I believe, and of course, Boone is a cricketer," the +squatter said. "They only want four, so if those two fellows are +willing--of which I'm not very doubtful!--that will be just right. You +might go out and see if they're anywhere about, Jim." + +Jim and Wally dashed off, to return presently with the tidings that +Murty would play "wid all the pleasure in loife." Boone was away at +work, but his acquiescence could be taken for granted. + +"Then I'll send a line to the doctor," Mr. Linton said. "He and Mrs. +Anderson want you all to go there for lunch on the day of the match--a +very good arrangement, seeing that you'll have Norah with you. You'd +better get away from here quite early; it's pretty certain to be hot, +and the day will be a fairly long one, in any case. It will be far +better to get the ride over before the sun is very formidable. And if +you'll take my advice, boys, you'll make those fellows have some +practice before Thursday. You two should be in good form, but they +scarcely ever touch a bat." + +Jim and Wally approved of his advice, and each evening before the day +of the match saw the Billabong contingent of the Cunjee eleven hard at +work on a level stretch of ground close to the homestead; while Norah +was generally to be found making herself useful in the outfield. Her +sex did not hinder the daughter of the house from being able to return +balls with force and directness, and when, as a reward for her aid, she +was given a few minutes with the bat, to carefully regulated bowling +from Wally, Norah's cup of joy was full. She was even heard to say that +school might be bearable if they let you play cricket most of the +time!--which was a great admission for Norah, who had kept her word +rigidly about not mentioning the dreaded prospect before her. That she +thought of it continually, Jim knew well and he and his chum were wont, +by all means in their power, to paint school life for girls in +attractive colours without appearing to be directly "preaching" to +Norah; which kindly thought she saw through very well, and was silently +grateful, though it was doubtful if her sentence lost any of its +terrors. + +It was always more or less before her. Her own circle had been too +limited to give Norah much experience of the outer world, and she +shrank instinctively from anything that lay beyond Billabong and its +surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that +she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came +over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to +date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil +were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush. + +For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and +to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly +trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her--which was +prudently when no one else was about--Norah felt a complete rustic, and +was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in +her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them +of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even +wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her, +and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy +evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons +from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on +some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears--until the next +time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of +her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of +manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's +tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the +other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they +done so. + +Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions, +boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much +cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly--at least to most of the +inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across +the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The +Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads; +but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles, +although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles. +Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and +Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him, +the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's +irresponsible bounds--for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and +was full of spirits and suppressed energy. + +"Take care of him, Daddy, won't you?" she said, a little anxiously, as +Monarch executed a more than ordinarily uproarious caper. "He's awfully +fresh." + +"He'll steady down presently," said her father, smiling at the upturned +face. "There's some steep country ahead of him." + +"Yes, but he's such a mad-headed animal--and those paths on the sides of +the gullies are very steep." + +"You sound like the nervous young woman in 'Excelsior,'" David Linton +said, with a laugh. "Cheer up, my girl--there's no need to worry about +Monarch and me. He's only playful; hasn't an atom of vice, and I know +him very well by now. I never put my leg over a better horse." + +"Oh, of course," said Norah, cheered, but not altogether convinced. +"Every one knows he's a beauty--but just look out that he doesn't try to +be too playful on the sidings, Daddy. It would be so easy to slip +down." + +"Not for anything with four good legs and a fair allowance of sense," +said her father. "Do you think you could make Bobs slip down?" + +Norah laughed. + +"Oh, Bobs is like a mountain goat when it comes to sure-footedness," +she said. "You've said yourself, Daddy that it would hardly be possible +to THROW him down! But then, Bobs is Bobs, and he's seven years old, +and ever so sensible--not like that big four-year-old baby. So promise +me you'll be careful, Daddy." + +"I will, little daughter." They were at the boundary fence now, and it +was time for Norah to turn back. "Hurry home--I don't quite like you +being so far afield by yourself." + +"Oh, Bobs will look after me." Norah hugged her father so far as +Monarch would permit--Mr. Linton had got off to wrestle with a stiff +padlock on the seldom-used gate, and the black horse was pulling away, +impatient of the delay. + +"I expect he will," said the father. "That pony is almost as great a +comfort to me as he is to you, I believe! Make haste home, all the +same." He stood still a moment to watch the little white-coated figure +and the handsome pony swinging across the plain at Bobs' long canter; +his face tender as few people ever saw it. Then he mounted the eager +Monarch, and rode off into the rough country that led to the ranges. + +It was comparatively early, but already very hot. Norah was not sorry +when she left the long stretch they called the "Far Plain" behind her, +and came into the welcome shade of a belt of timber. She walked Bobs +through it slowly. Then came the clear stretch to the homestead, and +they cantered steadily across it. + +Near the stockyard a cloud of dust hovered, through which might be seen +dimly the forms of Jim, Wally and O'Toole--all engaged in the engrossing +pursuit of inducing three poddy calves to enter the yard. They had but +one dog, which, being young and "whip shy," had vanished into the +distant landscape at the sound of Murty's stockwhip, leaving them but +their own energies to persuade the calves; and when a poddy calf +becomes obstinate there are few animals less easy to persuade. Each was +possessed of a very respectable turn of speed and a rooted +determination to remain in the paddock. When, as frequently happened, +they made separate rushes away in the direction of freedom it was all +but impossible for those on foot to head them off and keep them in the +corner by the yards. They raced hither and thither like mad things, +cutting wild capers as they fled; backed and twisted and dodged, and +occasionally bellowed as they bolted, much as a naughty child might +bellow. To an onlooker there was something distinctly funny in the +spectacle. + +Murty and the boys, however, might be excused for failing to see the +finer points of the joke. They were hot beyond expression; they were +also extremely dirty, and were verging on becoming extremely cross. To +and fro they darted wildly, striving to head off the cheerful culprits: +lifted up their voices in fruitless shouting, and wasted much necessary +breath in uttering wild threats of what might be expected to happen +when--if ever--they succeeded in yarding the enemy. Not one had a hat; +they had long ago been used as missiles in checking a rush, and now lay +in the dust, trampled under the racing feet of the poddies. Moreover, +it was distressingly evident that they were becoming tired, whilst the +calves remained fresh and in most excellent spirits. The chances, as +Norah arrived, were distinctly in favour of the calves. + +From a comfortable seat on a rail Cecil watch the battle, for once +ceasing to look bored. In his opinion it was funnier than a circus. +Once or twice he shouted words of encouragement to the combatants, and +frequently he laughed outright. As an entertainment this quite outshone +anything that had been offered him on Billabong--and Cecil was not the +man to withhold applause where he thought it due. Finally his attitude +attracted the notice of the perspiring Mr. O'Toole. + +"Yerra, come down out o' that an' len' a hand!" he shouted, panting. +"It is laughin' ye'd be, wid these loonattic images gittin' away on +us--!" Further eloquence on Murty's part was checked by a determined +rush on the part of a red and white calf, which would certainly have +ended in freedom but for a well-aimed clod, which, hurled by the +Irishman, took the poddy squarely between the eyes and induced him to +pull up and meditate. Unfortunately Murty tripped in the act of +delivery, and went headlong, picking himself up just in time to stop a +second rush by the calf, which, on seeing his enemy on the ground, +promptly ceased to meditate. Cecil rocked with laughter. + +"Oh, get off that fence and try and block these brutes, Cecil!" sang +out Jim, angrily. "Another hand would make all the difference, if you'd +exert yourself!" + +Cecil's laughter came to a sudden stop. He looked indignantly at his +grey suit, and with pain at his patent leather shoes; then, apparently +coming to the conclusion that there was no help for it, descended +gingerly, and came into the line of defenders. A sturdy little +Shorthorn singled him out for attention, and charged in his direction. + +"Block him! Block him, I say!" + +Jim's voice rang out. Cecil uttered a feeble yelp as the calf came +racing past, waved his arms, and executed a few mild steps towards +him--attentions which but served to accelerate the Shorthorn's flight. +He went by the city lad like a meteor, rendering useless a wild run by +Wally, who was just too late to head him. Murty O'Toole uttered a shout +of wrath. + +"Howly Ann! He's lost him! The blitherin'--yerra, glory be, there's Miss +Norah!" + +The change from indignation to relief was comical. Norah and Bobs came +like a bolt from the blue upon the vision of the astonished Shorthorn, +which made one last gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, +while gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, while Bobs made +every movement, propping and swinging to cut him off in a manner that +would have disturbed any rider not used to the intricate ways of a +stock horse. Finally the calf gave it up abruptly, and raced back +towards the yard, the pony at his heels. He bolted in at the open gate, +promptly followed by his companions, and Murty cut off their exit with +a grunt of relief. + +"Wisha, it's hot!" he said, mopping his brow. "Sure, Miss Norah, y' kem +in the nick av time--'twas run clane off our legs, we was." + +"They CAN run, can't they?" said Norah, who was laughing. "Did you hurt +yourself, Murty?" + +"Only me timper," said the Irishman, grinning. "But 'twas enough to +make a man angry to see that little omadhaun dancin' an' flapping his +arrums f'r all the world loike a monkey on a stick--an' pardon to ye, +Miss Norah, but I do be forgettin' he's y'r cousin." + +"Oh, he's not used to stock; you mustn't be hard on him, Murty," Norah +laughed. "Are you very hot, you poor boys?"--as Wally and Jim came up, +panting. Cecil had withdrawn towards the house, in offended dignity. + +"Hot!" said Wally, casting himself on the ground-- + + "'Far better in the sod to lie, + With pasturing pig above, + Than broil beneath a copper sky, + In sight of all I love!' + +That's me!" + +"Don't know how you've energy to spout Dr. Watts at that rate," said +Jim, following his example. + +"I don't think it is Dr. Watts; I fancy it's Kendall," said Wally, +uncertainly. "Not that it matters, anyhow; I'm not likely to meet +either of them! Did you ever see anything like the way those little +beggars ran?" + +"Hope I never will again--with the thermometer at this height," Jim +answered. "Norah, no words can say how glad I was to see you return, my +dear!" + +"I can imagine how much of your gladness concerned me, and how much was +due to that Shorthorn calf!" said Norah, laughing. + +"Well, he'd have been fleeing yet into the offing if it hadn't been for +you," said Wally. "Will any one take my hand and lead me for a drink?" + +"We'll go up to the house--it's cool there," Jim said. "I want a lemon +squash three feet long. There'll be one for you, Murty, if you come +up." + +"I will that same," said Mr. O'Toole, promptly. "There's no vegetable +loike the limon on a day loike this!" So they let Bobs go, and all +trooped inside, where Cecil was found, well brushed, and wearing a +martyred expression--which, however, was not proof against refreshments. +He even went so far as to express mild regret for his slowness to +render assistance, remarking that it was against his doctor's advice +for him to run; which remarks were received with fitting demeanour by +his hearers, though, as Wally remarked later, it was difficult to see +how any one who knew Cecil at all could ever have contemplated the +possibility of his running! + +"Well, I must go back and help Murty brand those youngsters," Jim said, +at length, bringing his long form in stages off the sofa. "Coming, +Wal.? And, Norah, just you take things quietly. It's uncommon hot, and +you'll have a long day to-morrow." + +Norah assented with surprising meekness, and the day passed calmly, +enlivened by an enthusiastic cricket practice in the evening; after +which she was called into requisition at the piano, and played to an +audience stretched on basket chairs and lounges on the verandah +outside. Finally the performer protested, coming out through one of the +long windows for a breath of cooler air. + +"Well, then, it's bed," said Jim, yawning prodigiously. "Norah, the men +are going to drive in, with our playing togs, to-morrow; would you +rather go in the buggy?" + +"I'd rather drive, thanks, Jim." + +"Thought so. Then hurry off to bed, for we're going to make an early +start." Jim paused, looking up at the star-filled sky. "And I give you +all warning, it's going to be a caution for heat!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +CUNJEE v. MULGOA + + I remember + What it was to be young, and glad, and strong, + By a creek that rippled the whole day long. + M. FORREST. + + +There was no doubt whatever that the heat was, as Jim had prophesied, +"a caution." Pretty little Mrs. Anderson, walking down to the cricket +ground at Cunjee, between Jim and Cecil, inwardly wondered what had +made her come out of her cool, shaded house to encounter so scorching a +sun--with nothing ahead but a bush cricket match. However, Cunjee was no +more lively than other townships of its class, and even a match was +something. Besides, her husband was playing, and the Billabong +contingent, who did not seem to mind the heat at all, had arrived full +of most infectious high spirits, filling her house with a cheerful +atmosphere of youth and jollity. Norah had at once succumbed to the +charms of the baby, and as the baby seemed similarly impressed with +Norah, it had been hard to remove him from her arms even for purposes +of nourishment for either. She had quite seriously proposed to take him +to the match, and had been a little grieved when his mother hastily +vetoed the proposition. As mother of three babies, Mrs. Anderson knew +precisely their worth at an entertainment--particularly on a hot day. + +Even Cecil was more than usually inclined to be--if not happy, at least +less bored; although he had begun the day badly, and considered himself +scarcely on speaking terms with Jim. This attitude was somewhat +difficult to sustain, because Jim himself ignored it cheerfully, and +addressed to his cousin whatever remarks came into his head--which Cecil +privately considered a demeanour showing the worst of taste. + +Bobs had been the "unhappy cause of all this discord." The bay pony was +always an object of envy to Cecil, and in his heart he was determined +to ride him before leaving Billabong. Particularly he coveted him for +the ride into Cunjee. It was bad enough, he considered, to be condemned +to Brown Betty in the paddocks, but she was certainly not stylish +enough to please him when it came to a township expedition. So he had +sauntered out when the horses were being saddled, and delicately hinted +to Jim that he might ride Bobs. + +Jim, wrestling with Garryowen's girth, had found it the easiest way out +of the difficulty to avoid hearing the hint--which he considered "like +Cecil's cheek," and as nothing short of Norah's own command would have +induced him to accede to it, silence seemed the better plan. Cecil had +waited a moment until his head came up from under the saddle flap, and +repeated his remark. + +"Afraid not," said Jim, driven to bay, and speaking shortly to cover +his annoyance. "Norah's going to ride him herself." He led Garryowen +off to tie him under the shade of the pepper trees, and did not return +to saddle Bobs until Cecil had retreated to the house, looking very +black. + +This little incident--which Jim had not thought is necessary to report +to Norah--had slightly marred the harmony of the early morning. But +Jim's unfailing good humour make it hard to keep up a grievance, and if +Betty were not exactly stylish, her paces were good enough to make her +rider enjoy the trip into Cunjee, especially as Wally and Norah were in +the best of spirits and kept things going with a will. Then had come +lunch at the Andersons', an occasion which called all Cecil's reserve +powers into play. Mrs. Anderson was pretty and smart, and he assumed +his best society manner in talking to her, monopolized most of the +conversation and flattered himself on making a distinct impression on +his country hostess. Possibly he would have been pained had he heard +Mrs. Anderson's remark to her husband while putting on her hat after +lunch. + +"Did you ever see such a contrast, Jack?" she asked--"that conceited +boy, and those nice Grammar School youngsters--they're so jolly and +unaffected!" To which the doctor had responded that if he had his way +he'd boil Cecil, and it was time she had that veil fixed--and had led +her forth, protesting that "half the pins weren't in!" + +Cecil, however, knew nothing of these comments, and was very well +satisfied with himself as they walked slowly along the lane leading to +the cricket ground. Jim, on the other side of Mrs. Anderson, tall and +handsome in his flannels, with his white hat pulled over his eyes, +discoursed cheerfully of school matches, and promised them something +worth seeing if young Wally got going with the bat--conversation which +did not interest Cecil, who turned it as speedily as might be to +matters more to his taste, whereat Jim grew silent, listening with a +smile hovering on his well-cut mouth to society doing in the city, told +with a view to impressing his hearers with a sense of the narrator's +own important share therein. Once Mrs. Anderson met Jim's eye in a +brief glance, and reflected the smile momentarily. Behind them, Norah, +Wally, and the little doctor kept up a flow of chatter which Wally +described as "quite idiotic and awfully comfortable!" The party arrived +at the cricket ground on very good terms with itself. + +The ground boasted no pavilion save a shed used for the preparation of +afternoon tea--a building of which the extreme heat made it almost +possible to boil the kettle without lighting a fire! Naturally, no one +used it for purposes of watching the play, but there was a row of +wattle trees along one side of the ground, and seats placed in their +shade made an excellent natural grand stand. Here the non-players +betook themselves, while the doctor and the two boys went off to the +spot where already most of the other players were gathered--a lean-to +under a huge gum-tree, used as a dressing-room by most of the +combatants, a number of whom arrived on horseback from long distances. +The Billabong boys had changed at the hotel, after putting up their +horses, and before repairing to the Andersons', so that they had no +dressing to do--which was more than fortunate for them, since the +lean-to was so thick with men, boys, valises, discarded garments, +leggings and boots, that it resembled a hive in a strong state of +disorganization. + +Finally, the men were ready; a somewhat motley crowd--not more than +seven or eight in flannels, while the remainder were in ordinary dress, +with occasionally riding breeches and leggings to be seen, and not a +few football jerseys. The Mulgoa men, on being mustered, were found to +be a man short, while Cunjee had one to the good. So Murty O'Toole, to +his intense disgust, was solemnly handed over to Mulgoa. Then Dr. +Anderson, who captained Cunjee, won the toss, and Murty took the field +along with his new allies, amid heartless jeers from Mr. Boone, smoking +comfortably under a tree, who desired to know should he fetch Mr. +O'Toole an umbrella? + +The story in detail of a cricket match is generally of particular +interest to those who have been there; and as, unfortunately, the +number of spectators of the famous battle between Cunjee and Mulgoa was +limited, little would be served by an exhaustive description of each +over bowled on that day of relentless heat. Cunjee shaped badly from +the start. Their two most noted batsmen, a young blacksmith and the +post-master, fell victims, without getting into double figures, to the +crafty bowling of the Mulgoa captain, Dan Billings--who drove a coach in +his spare moments, and had as nice an understanding of how to make a +ball break on a fast wicket as of flicking the off leader on the ear +with the cracker of his four-in-hand whip. Dr. Anderson scored a couple +of fours, and then went out "leg before." He remarked, returning to the +"pavilion" sorrowfully, that when one was as round and fat as he, it +was difficult to keep out of the way of three little sticks! Then Dave +Boone and Wally made a stand that roused the perspiring spectators to +something like enthusiasm, for Mr. Boone was a mighty "slogger," and +Wally had a neat and graceful style that sent the Cunjee supporters +into the seventh heaven. Between them the score mounted rapidly, and +the men of Mulgoa breathed a sigh of relief when at length Dave skied a +ball from Billings, which descended into the ample hands of Murty +O'Toole, who was quite undecided whether to treat his catch as a +triumph or a calamity. There was no doubt, however, on the part of his +colleagues for the day, who thumped him wildly on the back and yelled +again with joy. Mr. Boone retired with a score of forty-five and a wide +grin. + +Then Jim joined Wally, and kept his end up while his chum put on the +runs. Nothing came amiss to Wally that day--slow balls, fast balls, +"yorkers," "googlies"--the science of Mulgoa went to earth before the +thin brown schoolboy with the merry face. Jim, however, was never at +ease, though he managed to remain in a good while; and eventually +Dickenson, a wiry little Mulgoa man, found his middle stump with a +swift ball--to the intense dismay of Norah, to whom it seemed that the +sky had fallen. Cecil smiled serenely. + +"I had an idea Jim fancied himself as a bat!" said he. + +"Jim never fancies himself at anything!" said Jim's sister, +indignantly. "Anyway, he's a bowler far more than a bat." + +"Ah, it's possibly not his 'day out.' What a pity!" Cecil murmured. + +"Well, we can't always be on our best form, I suppose," said Mrs. +Anderson, pacifically. "And, at any rate, Norah, your friend is doing +splendidly. Wasn't that a lovely stroke?" + +Alas! it soon was apparent that Cunjee was not going to support its +ally. One after another the wickets went down, and the batsmen returned +from the field "with mournful steps and slow." Wally, seeing his +chances diminishing, took liberties with the bowling, and hit wildly, +with amazing luck in having catches missed. At last, however, he +snicked a ball into cover-point's hands, and retired, amid great +applause, having made forty-three. The remaining Cunjee wickets went as +chaff before the wind, and the innings closed for 119. + +Then there was a rush for the refreshment shed, and monumental +quantities of tea were consumed by the teams and their supporters, +administered by the admiring maidens of Cunjee. Wally and Jim, prone on +the grass in the shade, were cheerful, but by no means enthusiastic +regarding their chances. Norah had half expected to find Jim cast down +over his batting failure, and was much relieved that he exhibited all +his usual serenity. Jim's training had been against showing feeling +over games. + +"Absolutely fiery out there," said he, accepting a cup gratefully. +"Thanks, awfully, Mrs. Anderson; you people are no end good. Didn't we +make a beautiful exhibition of ourselves?--all except Dave and this kid, +that is." + +"Kid yourself," said Wally, who was sucking a lemon slowly and +luxuriously. "No tea, thanks, Norah. I'm boiling already, and if I took +tea I don't know what might happen, but certainly heat apoplexy would +be part of it. Have half my lemon?" + +"I don't think so, thanks," said Norah, unmoved by this magnificent +offer. "You seem to be getting used to that one, and I'd hate to +deprive you of it. Do you boys think we've any chance?" + +"It's highly doubtful," Jim answered. "The general opinion is that +Mulgoa's good for 150 at the very least--they've got a few rather +superior men, I believe, and of course that Billings chap is a terror. +And the wicket, such as it is, is all in favour for the bat--which +doesn't say much for us And one of our men has gone down with the heat +and can't field--fellow from the hotel with red hair, who made +five--remember him, Wal.? He's out of training, like most hotel chaps, +and as soft as possible, So we're playing a man short." + +"I wish they'd give you Murty back!" said Norah, with feminine +ignorance. + +"Much hope!" returned her brother. "Anyway, Murty's not over good in +the field; he's too much in the saddle to be a quick man on his feet. I +wouldn't mind you as substitute, Nor."--which remark, though futile, +pleased Norah exceedingly. + +She was rather more hopeful when the Cunjee team at length took the +field, with Boone and the blacksmith bowling against Billings and +another noted Mulgoa warrior. But her hopes were rapidly put to flight, +and the spirits of the Cunjee "barrackers" went down to zero as it +became distressingly apparent that Mr. Billings and his partner were +there to stay. Alike they treated the bowling with indifference, +hitting the Billabong stockman with especial success--which soon +demoralized Dave, who appealed to be taken off, and devoted his +energies to short slip fielding. Here he had his revenge presently, for +the second Mulgoa man hit a ball almost into his hands, and Dave clung +to it as a drowning man to a straw--one wicket for thirty-five. + +Then the score mounted with alarming steadiness, and the wickets fell +all too slowly for the home team. Dan Billings appeared as comfortable +at the wickets as though on the box of his couch, and smote the bowling +all round the ground with impartiality. The heat became more and more +oppressive, and several of the Cunjee men were tiring, including plump +little Dr. Anderson, who stuck to his work as wicket-keeper pluckily--to +the unconcealed anxiety of his wife. His reward came when a hot return +from the field by Wally gave him a chance of stumping one of the Mulgoa +cracks. But the enthusiasm was only momentary; the game was considered, +even by the most sanguine small boy of Cunjee, to be "all over bar +shouting." + +Jim had been bowling for some time from one end with fair results. The +batsmen certainly took fewer liberties with him, and he managed to +account for three of them for a comparatively low average. He had +allowed himself to become anxious, which is a bad thing for a bowler +when the score is creeping up and the batsmen are well set. Wally +watched his chum with some anxiety--there was none of the fire in his +bowling that had so often brought down the ground in a School match. + +"Wish he's wake up," said Wally to himself. "I'd like a chance to talk +to him." + +The chance came when the field crossed over, disposed anew to harry a +left-handed batsman. Jim came over with his long, swinging walk, his +head a little bent. He started a little at his friend's voice. + +"You'll snore soon!" said Wally, incisively. "What on earth's the +matter with you? Play up, School!" + +Jim stopped short a moment--and burst out laughing, Wally's indignant +face glanced back over his shoulder as he ran off. There was a new +spring in the bowler's walk as he went to his crease, and the smile +still lingered. + +The left-handed man faced him confidently--not many local bowlers could +trouble him much, and being a large and well-whiskered gentleman, the +tall schoolboy opposite to him sent no thrill of fear through his soul. +But Jim had learned a thing or two at school about left-handed bats. He +took a short run. + +On returning to the pavilion the whiskered one admitted that he knew +really nothing about the ball. It seemed to come from nowhere, and curl +about his bat as he lifted it to strike. How the bails came off was a +mystery to him, though it was unfortunately beyond question that they +had not remained on. The left-hander removed his pads, ruminating. + +Cunjee, meanwhile, had cheered frantically, and Wally sent a School +yell ringing down the field. Jim's eye lit up anew as he heard it. + +"I do believe I've been asleep," he muttered. + +The new man was waiting for him, and he treated his first two balls +with respect. Then he grew bolder; hit him for a single, and snicked +him to the fence for four. There was a perceptible droop in the Cunjee +spirits at the boundary hit. Then Jim bowled the last ball of the over, +and there was a composite yell from Cunjee as the Mulgoa man pushed the +ball gently into the air just over Dr. Anderson's head. The little +doctor was pitifully hot, but he did not fail. The Mulgoa batsman +returned to his friends. + +Dan Billings was a little worried. Much, he felt, depended on him, and +he had never been more comfortably set; but his men--would they be as +reliable? He decided to hit out, and Mulgoa roared as the hundred went +up for a beautiful boundary hit. Six wickets were down, and Mulgoa was +107 at the end of the over. It seemed safe enough. + +Jim took the ball again, his fingers pressing the red surface almost +lovingly. He had quite waked up; his head was buzzing with "theories," +and his old power seemed to have come back to his fingers. The first +ball came with a beautiful leg-break, and the Mulgoan bat swiped at it +wildly, and vainly. Seven for 107. + +Cunjee was getting excited as the eighth man came in--a wiry and long +youth with a stolid face. He contented himself with blocking Jim's +bowling, snatching a single presently so that Billings would have the +responsibility--to which that gentleman promptly responded by smiting +Jim for three. That brought the stolid youth back to power--an honour he +did not wish. He hit the next ball softly back to the bowler. Eight for +111; and Cunjee howling steadily, with all its youth, and some of its +beauty, battering with sticks on tins. A dog ran across the ground, and +was greeted with a yell that made it scurry away in terror, its tail +concealed between its legs. Just then Cunjee had no time for dogs. + +But it was Mr. Billings' turn, and Mr. Billings was busy. He made good +use of the over--the score mounted, and the Cunjee hopes swung lower. It +was still eight--for 115--when a single brought his companion to face +little Harry Blake, the other Cunjee bowler, who was plainly feeling +the weight of his position. He sent the ball down nervously--it slipped +as it left his hand, and the Mulgoan stepped out to meet it, while +Harry gasped with horror. Up, up, it soared--a boundary surely! Then +there was a roar as Wally Meadows gathered himself together, raced, and +sprang for the red disc, spinning over his head just at the fence. It +seemed to hover above him--then his hands closed, and, unable to stop +himself, Wally somersaulted, rolling over and over in the long grass of +the outfield. He sat up, his brown face lit by a wide smile, the ball +still clutched, held above his head. Nine for 115! + +The tension was on bowlers and batsmen alike now--all save Dan Billings, +whose calmness was unimpaired. He greeted the tenth man cheerfully--and +the tenth man was Murty O'Toole, very hot and nervous, and certainly +the most miserable man on the ground as he faced "Masther Jim's" +bowling, and knew that the alien hopes of Mulgoa depended on him. Out +in the open a Mulgoa man shrugged his shoulders, remarking, "He won't +try!" and was promptly attacked furiously by three small boys of +Cunjee, who pelted him with clods and abuse from a safe distance. Murty +looked at Jim with a little half-apologetic gesture, and Jim grinned. + +"Play up, Murty, old chap!" he said. + +It was not in vain that he had schooled the stockman in the paddock at +Billabong. He sent down a treacherous ball, and Murty met it and played +it boldly for two, amid Mulgoan shrieks. Two to tie and three to +win--no, one fewer now, for the Irishman had turned a swift ball to leg, +and only quick fielding had prevented a boundary. A hundred and +seventeen! Murty heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned on his bat at the +bowler's end and glanced across at Jim. + +"Praises be, 'twill be Billings to hit it, an' not O'Toole!" he +muttered. "I have put me fut in it sufficient f'r wance!" + +The ball left Jim's hand with a whizz, and Billings stepped out to meet +it. Just what happened no one saw clearly for a moment, it all came to +pass so quickly. Then an Irish yell from Murty O'Toole woke the echoes, +even as the bowler's hand flashed up above his head--and the big +stockman flung up his bat in an ecstasy of delight. Billings bit off a +sharp word and left his crease; and Cunjee woke to the fact that the +Mulgoan captain was caught and bowled. The match was theirs--by one run! + +When Cunjee woke it became very thoroughly awake. They rushed the +ground, cheering, shouting and hurling hats and caps into the air, +irrespective of their owners' wishes. There was a demonstration to +carry Jim in, which that hero promptly quenched by taking to his heels +and leaving his too affectionate friends far in the rear. Behind him +Cunjee and Mulgoa seethed together, and the air was rent with cheers. +Free fights were in active progress in at least five places on the +ground. It was clearly Cunjee's day out. + +Jim met Wally with a grin that was distinctly sheepish. + +"Knew you could!" said the Mentor, patting him happily on the back. +"Good old School! But what an ass you were, Jimmy!" + +"I was," said Jim, meekly. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RIDE HOME + + In the gathering of night-gloom o'erhead in + The still, silent change. + GORDON. + + +"Well, old girl?" + +Norah laughed up at the big fellow delightedly. + +"Oh, wasn't it lovely, Jimmy?" she said. "I was so excited--and you were +grand! And wasn't Wally's catch a beauty? It's been a lovely match, +hasn't it, Jim?" + +"H'm--in spots," said Jim, a little doubtfully, but laughing back at +her. "Rather like the fellow who said his egg was 'excellent--in parts,' +don't you think? Anyhow, we won, and that's the main thing--and I never +DID see a catch to beat that of Wal's." + +"We're all immensely proud of you, Jim," Mrs. Anderson said. "And +didn't my old man do well?" + +"He did, indeed," Jim agreed heartily. "But I'm not a bit proud of +myself--I think I was asleep most of the time, till old Wal., here, woke +me up with a few well-chosen words. However, it's over now--and Norah, I +want you to get along home." + +"Aren't you coming?" Norah asked, a little blankly. + +"We'll have to catch you up. I don't quite like the look of the +weather; we're in for a storm, that's certain, and you may possibly +escape it if you get away now. I can't start just yet; the Mulgoa +fellows are insisting on 'shouting' for all hands, and we can't very +well refuse; besides"--he dropped his voice--"you know what Boone is--I +must see that he and Murty leave Cunjee. Cecil will look after you, +won't you, Cecil?" + +That gentleman assented without any pleasure. He did not feel impressed +with the prospect of acting as escort to a small girl when he might +have remained in Cunjee. Norah was quick to notice his manner. + +"I needn't bother Cecil, Jim," she said, "I can quite easily ride on by +myself." + +"Indeed you won't," her brother responded. "Why, it'll be dark before +long--let alone the state of the weather. You don't mind, Cecil, do +you?" + +Thus directly questioned, Cecil could do nothing but express his entire +willingness. + +"That's all right, then," Jim said. "Hurry on down to the hotel and get +the saddles on, there's a good chap. Goodness knows whether you'll find +any one there, but I fancy that pretty well the whole township is up at +the match. You'll only escape that storm if you're lucky--don't lose a +minute." He made his farewells to Mrs. Anderson, and turned to Norah +again. "Better look after your own girth," he told her--"run after Cecil +and lend him a hand if he wants it." + +Cecil had already started; his slim, correctly attired figure was +hastening along the dusty lane. He hated rain, and the hint of the +coming storm had made him hurry when no other consideration would have +done so. There was no one visible about the hotel yard, as he entered, +and he called in vain; then, seeing no help for it, he entered the +stables, where the Billabong horses occupied the stalls at one end. +Bobs whinnied sharply as the door opened, and Cecil looked at the +inquiring head; and then, sourly, towards Brown Betty, standing +peacefully, half asleep, in her stall. + +"Wonder if she'd mind?" Cecil muttered, pondering. "Let her, anyhow!" +With which cryptic remarks he moved towards the saddles. + +Norah arrived on the scene a few minutes later, coming straight to the +stables. For a moment she could not see Cecil, then, peering into +Betty's stall, she made him out, busily girthing up. Bobs was already +saddled, and Norah went up to him. + +"Why, you have been quick, Cecil," she said, cheerfully. "I thought I +was going to help you, but there doesn't seem anything for me to do. +Thanks very much for saddling Bobs." She led the pony out, and then +stopped. "Oh, what a pity," she said. "You've got the wrong saddles on, +Cecil." + +Cecil came out, leading the brown mare, and a little flushed. + +"I did it on--ah--purpose," he said. "You don't mind, I suppose if I ride +Bobs home?" + +Norah looked at him a moment, and then flushed in her turn. To let her +cousin ride Bobs seventeen miles was unthinkable. She had the +profoundest regard for her pony's back; and she knew that even Brown +Betty's seasoned hide was giving way under the unskilled horsemanship +of the city boy. It was very doubtful, moreover, that it would be safe +to mount him on Bobs, who was already excited with the coming storm and +the prospect of home. She knew every turn, and thought of the +high-spirited pony--he went quietly for her, but with a new-chum it +might be a different matter. + +Moreover, Norah was distinctly annoyed. She was a sweet-tempered +maiden, but she did not like being treated lightly; and in assuming +that he might coolly appropriate her special property, it seemed to her +that Cecil was treating her very lightly indeed. She had a moment's +swift wish that Jim were there to take her part. It was not quite easy +to oppose any one nearly grown up like Cecil--who in addition was a +guest, and had a special claim on courtesy. She flushed deeply as she +answered him in a low voice. + +"I can't let you ride Bobs, I'm afraid, Cecil." + +"Oh, can't you?" said Cecil, staring. "Why not?" + +"Well, no one rides him but me," said Norah unhappily. "And he's a +queer pony, Cecil. I'm not a bit sure that he'd go nicely with you. You +see, I understand him." + +"You evidently think no one can ride but yourself," Cecil said +disagreeably. "I really think I can manage the famous Bobs." + +"If you knew him it might be all right," Norah answered. "But I'd +really rather not, Cecil. He's eager and impatient, and quite +unaccustomed to strangers. Dad would be awfully annoyed if you had any +trouble with him." + +"I don't fancy Uncle David would be given any need for annoyance," +Cecil replied. "I'm a bit sick of this old mare, and I don't think it +would hurt you to lend me Bobs. It's uncommonly selfish of you to want +to keep him always." + +Norah's flush deepened. + +"I'm awfully sorry you think that," she said. "And I'll speak to Dad +about your riding him, if you like--another time." + +"Another time? Then what's the matter with my riding him now? I +suppose," said Cecil with a sneer, "you want to show off in Cunjee." + +Norah stared at him blankly for a moment. Rudeness had been always so +far from her that she did not for a moment comprehend that this boy was +being deliberately rude. Then she walked round Bobs without replying, +and unbuckled the girth. + +"Please let me have my saddle," she said. Her voice was quite final. + +Cecil was pale with anger. He flung round without a word, tugging at +the buckle until Betty, who was patient but girth-galled, pulled away +in protest. As it yielded Norah laid his saddle on the mare's withers, +and slipped her own away. Their eyes met for a moment as she did so--the +child's steady and a little scornful, the young man's shifty. Then +Norah lifted her saddle across to Bobs, and girthed him up in silence. + +The pony was restless and excited, and objected to the second saddling +out in the space of the yard, when he was keen to get away. It seemed +unreasonable to Bobs, and he ran round and generally behaved in a +frivolous manner, while Norah struggled with the girth. When it was +done, she took her head, somewhat dishevelled, from under the saddle +flap. She laughed a little. + +Cecil, every line of his back showing offended dignity, was riding out +of the yard. As he came to the gate he dug his heel into Betty, who +broke into a canter at once. Norah's escort disappeared round a turn in +the street without looking back. + +"Well, if he isn't a donkey!" was her comment. "He's awfully +unpleasant--I wish he wouldn't make things so uncomfortable." She +mounted Bobs, and subdued that excitable steed's impatience while she +settled her habit. "Jim will be so angry if he finds out. I must get +away before he comes." + +She rode into the street. Some distance away a crowd was moving slowly +in her direction. Cheers and snatches of triumphant choruses were +wafted to her. In the midst she could see some figures in white +flannels. Norah rounded the corner of the street, seeing ahead of her a +fast-receding speck--Brown Betty and her rider. It was evident that she +was not to have the benefit of Cecil's presence on the ride home; and +Norah could not help laughing again, although she was annoyed at the +whole occurrence. For all his airs, he was such a baby, this cousin of +hers. + +"I'll tell Dad all about it," she reflected. "The he can say whether he +thinks Cecil can ride Bobs. Only I won't tell him he cleared out and +left me, 'cause there would be a row straight away." Thus pondering in +the Australian manner, she took the road home. + +Jim's storm was coming up slowly, and though the sun had not yet set, +already it was growing dusk; and still it was very hot. She let Bobs +canter slowly, not wishing to appear to be hurrying after Cecil. Norah +never bore malice, but she had her pride! Often she glanced back over +her shoulder, hoping to see the boys. She knew they would not let the +grass grow under their horses' hoofs, once they were able to take the +road home. But the track lay bare behind her, and ahead Cecil had quite +disappeared. By the time she was five miles out of Cunjee she seemed +the only person in the whole landscape, and the only sound that met her +ear was the steady beat of the cantering hoofs, mingled with the creak +of the saddle leather. + +The metalled road ended, and she struck into the bush track. It was +very lonely now; trees overhung the path, and the eerie light of the +coming storm threw strange shadows, at which Bobs shied constantly. +Once or twice there was a distant roll of thunder. There was just light +enough left to see the way. The road wound in and out among the trees. +By day it was Norah's favourite part of the journey; but now she could +not help wishing that it were possible to look further ahead, or to +watch the road over which she had passed, to catch the first glimpse of +Jim and Wally. There was a pleasant security in feeling that they were +coming. Norah was not a nervous girl; but she had rarely been allowed +to ride any but short distances alone. If Dad and Jim were not +available, it was an understood thing that Billy must act as her +escort. Certainly she had never been in the dark alone, and so far from +home. She was not afraid--she would have laughed at the very notion. +Still, it was a little queer. She knew she would be glad when she was +out of the timber. + +There came a bend in the track, and Bobs swung round it sharply. Then a +dark figure loomed up suddenly in the gloom, and the pony shied +violently, and propped. Norah struck her heel into him, her heart +giving a great bound. He struggled and plunged. A hand was on his +bridle, and a rough voice threatened him savagely. In the gloom Norah +could just make out a brutal-looking man, young, but with something in +his face that made her shudder. Her heart stood still for a moment, +after that first wild leap. Then she realized that he was asking her +for money, and she commanded her voice to answer. + +"I haven't any." + +It was true. When she rode with her father or brother it never occurred +to Norah to carry money, and she wore nothing of value at all to tempt +any thief. Her hunting-crop was silver mounted; she remembered it +suddenly, glad that it was dark and that the man would not be likely to +notice the gift that had been Jim's. + +"I don't believe y'," he said. + +"Well, you can, then," Norah answered. She was beginning to recover +herself, a little ashamed of that first moment of unreasoning terror. +If she had no money he would surely let her go. She scarcely knew the +meaning of fear--how should she, in the free, simple life that had +always been guarded, yet had left her only a little child in mind? "I +haven't so much as a penny," she went on. "Let go my bridle." + +"What are y' doin' here alone?" The slow voice was crafty; something in +it brought back that stupid first fear. She pulled herself together. + +"My people are coming--you'd better let go. If my brother gets hold of +you--" + +"Oh, your brother's comin', is he?" + +"Yes; let go my bridle." + +"Shut up about your bridle!" said the man, and Norah shrank back as if +she had been stung. He began to lead Bobs off the track. + +"What are you doing?" she asked angrily. She kicked Bobs again, and the +pony tried to rear, caught between the sudden blow and that compelling +hand on his rein. The man pulled him down savagely, jerking at his bit +and flinging threats at him and at Norah. + +"Y' might as well stop playin' the fool," he told her. "I want that +pony, an' I'm goin' to have it." + +TO HAVE BOBS! She tried to speak, but the words died before she could +utter them. Bobs! In her bewildered terror she scarcely realized for a +moment what he meant; then she raised her whip and cut with all her +strength at the hand that held the rein. He gave a sharp yell of pain +as the stinging whalebone caught him, but he did not relinquish his +grasp, and Norah struck at him again and again, half blindly in the +darkness, but always with the strength of desperation. It could not +last long--the struggle was too pitifully unequal. It was only a minute +before he had wrested the whip from her and held her wrists in one +vice-like hand. His voice was thick with rage. + +"I'll teach y'," he said, "y' little spitfire! Get off that pony." + +He began to drag her off. She clung to the saddle wildly, knowing how +hopeless it was, but somehow feeling that she must not leave that one +poor haven of safety. Then she felt herself going, and in that +sickening moment screamed for help--a child's piteous cry: + +"Jim! Jim! Jim!" + +There was no Jim to aid her--she knew it, even as she cried. The rough +grasp tightened; she could feel his breath as he dragged her from the +saddle. + +Then from the darkness came a tall, stealthy shadow, and suddenly her +wrists were free, as her assailant staggered back in the grip of the +newcomer. She made a violent effort and found herself back in the +saddle; and Bobs was plunging wildly, his bridle free. The necessity of +steadying him in the timber helped her to calm herself. Before her the +men were swaying backwards and forwards, blocking the way to the track; +her enemy's savage voice mingling with a lower one that was somehow +familiar, though she could not tell what he said. Then she saw that the +struggle was ending--the tall man had the other pinned against a tree, +and turned to her. His dark face was close, and she cried out to him, +knowing him for a friend. + +"Oh, Lal Chunder, it's you!" + +"Him beat," said Lal Chunder, breathlessly. "L'il meesis orright?" + +"I'm all right," she said, struggling with--for Norah--an unaccountable +desire to cry. "Oh, don't let him go!" + +"No," said the Hindu, decidedly. "Him hurt you? Me kill him." + +The last remark was uttered conversationally, and the man against the +tree cried out in fear. Lal Chunder flung at him a flood of rapid +Hindustani, and he collapsed into shivering silence. Probably it was +rather awe-inspiring--the great black-bearded Indian, with his keen, +enraged face and the voice that seemed to cut. But to Norah he was a +very haven of refuge. + +"Oh, you mustn't kill him," she said. "The boys will be here--men +coming--quick! Can you hold him?" + +"Hold him--yes--tight," said Lal Chunder, tightening his grip as he +spoke, to the manifest discomfort of the man against the tree. Then +came distant voices, and a snatch of a School song, mingled with quick +hoofs; and Norah caught her breath in the sharpness of the relief. She +rode out on the track, calling to Jim. + +The boys pulled up, the horses plunging. + +"Norah! What on earth--" + +Norah explained rapidly, and Jim flung himself off, tossing Garryowen's +rein to Wally, and ran to her. + +"Kiddie--you're all right? He didn't hurt you?" The boy's voice was +shaking. + +"Only my wrists," said Norah, and then began to shudder as the memory +of the struggle in the trees came back to her. Jim put his arm about +her. + +"Thank heaven for that blessed Indian!" said he. "Steady, old +girl--you're all right," and Norah recovered herself. + +"Yes, I'm all right, Jimmy," she said, a little shakily. "What about +Lal Chunder?" + +"Here's the buggy," said Wally, and in a moment Murty and Boone were on +the scene, when it was the work of a few minutes to tie the prisoner +with halters and hoist him into the buggy, where he lay very +uncomfortable, with his head close to the splashboard. There was much +explanation, and it would probably have gone hard with the prisoner but +for Jim, as Murty and Boone wanted to deal out instant justice. + +"Not good enough," Jim said. He was rather white, in the glow of the +buggy lamps. "He'll be better safe in gaol." He turned to Lal Chunder, +who had drawn close to Norah, and was contemplating his right hand, +which had been nearly shaken off by the four from Billabong. The +Hindu's English was not equal to his sense of friendship, and +conversation with him lacked fluency. It was some time before Jim could +make him understand that they wanted him to return to the station--and +indeed, it was Norah who made it clear at last. + +"Me want you," she said, taking the dusky hand in hers. "Come back to +my home." She pointed towards the direction of Billabong. Lal Chunder +capitulated immediately. + +"It is an order," he said, gravely; and forthwith climbed into the +buggy, a weird figure between the two stockmen, their faces still +flushed with anger as they looked at the man lying between their feet. + +"We'll put him away in the lock-up, an' be out agin in no time, Masther +Jim," said Murty. "Take care of her me boy." And the stockman, who had +known Norah since her babyhood, choked suddenly as he looked at her +pale face. Norah was herself again, however, and she smiled at him +cheerily. + +"I'm right as rain, Murty!" she said, in the Bush idiom. "Don't you +worry about me." + +"'Tis pluck y' have," said the Irishman. He turned the buggy with some +difficulty, for the track was narrow, and they spun off on the return +journey to Cunjee, while Norah, between the two boys, was once more on +the way to Billabong. + +"You're sure you're all right, Nor.?" Jim said, looking at her keenly. + +"Yes--truly, Jim." Norah had made up her mind not to say too much. There +was nothing to be gained by harrowing them with unnecessary +details--and, child-like, the memory of her terror was already fading, +now that care and safety had again wrapped her about. "I was a bit +scared, but that's all over." + +"Then," said Jim, "can you tell me where is Cecil?" His voice was +dangerously calm. + +"Oh, he--he went on," Norah said. "We had a dispute, and he was a bit +put out." + +"A dispute? What about?" + +"He wanted to ride Bobs." + +"DID he?" Jim said. "And because you wouldn't let him, he cleared out +and left you?" + +"Well, he was offended," Norah replied slowly, "and I dare say he +thought I would catch him up--instead of which I hung back, hoping you +boys would catch ME up. So it wasn't really his fault." + +"He must have known you would be coming through that timber by yourself +in the dark." + +"Oh, most likely he reckoned I'd have you with me by that time. He +doesn't understand very well, does he? He didn't mean any harm, Jim." + +"I don't know what he meant," Jim said, angrily. "But I know what he +did--and what he'd have been responsible for if Lal Chunder hadn't +happened along in the nick of time. Great overgrown calf! Upon my word, +when I see him--" + +"Oh, don't have a row, Jim," Norah pleaded. "He's a guest." + +"Guest be hanged! Do you mean to say that's excuse for behaving like a +cad?" + +"Ah, he wouldn't mean to. Don't tell him about--about Lal Chunder--and +the man." + +"Not tell him?" Jim exclaimed. + +"Well, not to-night, anyhow. Promise me you won't have a row +to-night--and if you tackle him when you get home there will be a row. +Wait until Dad comes home." finished Norah, a little wearily. + +Behind her, Wally leaned across to his chum. They pulled back a little. + +"I say--don't worry her, old man," Wally said. "I guess she's had a bit +of a shock--let's try and keep her mind off it. Do what she asks." And +Jim nodded. + +"All right, old woman," he said, coming alongside again. "I won't slay +him to-night--don't bother your little head. We'll let Dad fix him." + +Norah's grateful look rewarded him. + +"Thanks, Jimmy," she said. "I--I'm feeling like having a little peace. +And he'd never understand, no matter what you said." + +"I suppose he wouldn't," Jim agreed. "But he's a worm! However--the +storm's coming, and if we don't want wet jackets we'd better travel." +They tore homewards through the hot night. Presently Wally started a +chorus, and both boys were relieved when Norah joined in. They nodded +at each other cheerfully behind her back. So, singing very lustily, if +not in the most artistic fashion, they reached the Billagong stables +just as the first heavy drops were falling. + +Within, Cecil met them, a little nervously. + +"I thought you were lost," he said. + +"H'm," said Jim, passing him, and struggling with his promise. "Sorry +you and Norah had any difference of opinion." + +Cecil flushed. + +"Possibly I was--ah--hasty," he said. "I did not consider I asked Norah +much of a favour." + +"That's a matter of opinion. At any rate, Cecil, I may as well tell you +straight out that I don't consider it would be at all wise for you to +ride Bobs." + +"I'm not likely to hurt him." + +"He might very likely hurt you. He's not an easy pony to ride." + +Cecil's little laugh was irritating. + +"What?" he said. "I don't profess to be a jockey, but--a child's pony?" + +Jim very nearly lost his temper. + +"You won't be convinced," he said, "and I've no desire to convince you +with Bobs. But take my advice and let Norah alone about her pony. +You've a very good mare to ride." + +"That old crock!" said Cecil, scornfully. + +Jim stared. + +"Crock!" he said. "Well, you won't find many hacks to beat old Betty, +even if in your mighty judgment she is a crock. And, anyhow, Bobs is +Norah's, and no one else has any say about him. There's the bell; +ready, chaps?" + +The meal was scarcely lively. Cecil maintained an offended silence, and +Jim was too angry to talk, while Norah was silent and a little pale. +However, Cecil retired to his room immediately he had finished; and the +boys set themselves to the task of diverting Norah, fearful lest the +evening's adventure should have any bad effect on her. They succeeded +so well that by bedtime Norah had forgotten all her troubles, and was +weak with laughter. When Wally set out "to blither," as he said, he did +not do things by halves. + +Jim came into Norah's room and switched on her light. + +"Sure you're all right, kiddie?" + +"Rather!" said Norah. "I've laughed too much to be anything else." + +"Then go to sleep laughing," said Jim, practically. "I'm quite close if +you want anything." + +"Oh, I won't want anything, thanks," Norah answered. "Good-night, +Jimmy." + +"Good-night, little chap." + +Norah tumbled hastily into bed and slept dreamlessly. She did not know +that Jim dragged a sofa and some rugs along the corridor, and slept +close to her door. + +"Kid might dream and wake up scared," he said to Wally, a little +apologetically, before mounting guard. It was Jim's way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A CHILD'S PONY + + With the spirit of fire and of dew + To show the road home to them all. + KENDALL. + + +It was quite early next morning when Cecil awoke. One of his grievances +against the country was the way in which the birds acted as alarum +clocks every day, rousing him from his well-earned slumbers fully an +hour before even the earliest milk cart rattling along the suburban +street fulfilled a similar purpose at home. Generally, he managed to +turn over and go to sleep again. This morning, however, he was +unusually wakeful. + +He lay turning in his mind his anger against his cousins. Little causes +for annoyance, simple enough in themselves, had been brooded over until +they made up a very substantial total; and now, last night's happenings +capped everything. In his own heart of hearts he knew that he had small +justification for his childish outbursts of anger; only it was not +Cecil's nature to admit any such thing, and if justification were not +evident, his mind was quite equal to manufacturing it. At the end of +half an hour's gloomy pondering he had worked himself up into a fine +state of ill usage, and into the firm belief that Norah and the boys +had no intention but to insult and humiliate him. + +To some natures there is a certain comfort in nursing a grievance, and +reasoning themselves into a plaintive state of martyrdom. When Cecil +finally rolled angrily out of bed, he was almost cheerful in the +contemplation of his own unhappiness. They were determined to sneer at +him and lessen his pride, were they? Well, they should see. + +Just what they were likely to see, Cecil did not know himself, but the +reflection was soothing. Meanwhile, the birds were maddeningly active, +and an unusual restlessness was upon him. He dressed slowly, putting on +flannels, for the day promised heat, and went downstairs. + +Sarah and Mary were busy in the hall, and lifted astonished eyebrows at +seeing the boy down before the others; as a rule Cecil strolled into +the dining-room barely in time for breakfast, or was late altogether. +He took no notice of them, but wandered out to the back, where Brownie +was found instructing a new kitchen assistant in the gentle art of +cleaning a stove. She, too, showed amazement at the apparition, but +recovered sufficiently to offer him tea and scones, to which Cecil did +justice. + +"Be you all going out early?" Brownie asked. + +"Not that I know of." Cecil's tone did not encourage conversation. + +"Seein' you so unusual early, I thought there was some plan on," said +Brownie. "Master Jim's great on makin' plans, ain't he? (Meriar, elbow +grease is one of the necessariest things in gettin' a shine on a +stove--don't let me catch you merely strokin' it again!) An' Miss +Norah's always ready to back him up--wunnerfull mates them two has alwuz +been, an' Master Jim has ever and alwuz looked after her, from the +d'rekly-minute he could walk!" + +"Ah?" said Cecil. + +"Well may you say so," said Brownie, inspired by her subject. "As +loving-kind a pair as could be, have them two been; and as proud of +each other--! Well, any one who reads may run! An', Master Jim never +mindin' her being on'y a girl; not that that has 'ampered Miss Norah +much, I will say, seein' how she rides an' all. I'm sure it's a picture +to see her on that there Bobs, an' the dumb beast knows every single +word she says to him. They'll fret for each other cruel, Bobs an' her, +when she goes to school." + +Brownie's enthusiasm was ill-timed, as far as Cecil was concerned; +indeed, she could scarcely have hit upon a subject less palatable to +him. Still, it was useless to interfere with the old woman; so he +gulped down his tea hastily, listening with ill-concealed impatience to +her talk of Norah and Bobs, and then escaped abruptly. + +"H'm!" said Brownie, looking after him. "Not a word out of me noble--not +even a thank you! Too much of a fine gentleman for Billabong, like his +ma before him!" + +"Young gent don't seem to cotton to Miss Norah," remarked the astute, +if new, Maria, who had been listening with all her ears. + +"When you're asked for your opinion about your betters, Meriar, it may +be time to shove in your oar; but until then let me advise you to keep +it in your own head," said Brownie severely. "At present your work is +rubbin' that stove, and if it ain't done in remarkable quick time it'll +have to be blackleaded all over again, bein' as how it'll have got too +dry!" Appalled by which awful possibility, Maria fell to work with +wonderful vigour, dismissing all lesser matters from her mind. + +Meanwhile, Cecil strolled across the yard, and thence towards the +stockyards, where a trampling of feet and a light cloud of dust showed +that the men had got in the horses for the day. He selected a clean +place on the top rail carefully, and cast his eye over the little mob +standing in groups about the enclosure--a dozen stock horses; the big +pair of greys that were used in the covered buggy or the express wagon; +the brown ponies that Norah drove; his own mount Betty, and Wally's +mare Nan; and then the aristocrats, Garryowen and, last of all, Bobs. +Norah's pony was standing near an old black horse for which he had a +great affection. They were nearly always to be found together in the +yards or paddocks. Even unbrushed as he was, the sunlight rippled on +his bay coat when he moved, showing the hard masses of muscle in his +arched neck. + +"Beauty, ain't he?" It was Mick Shanahan, on his way to another paddock +to bring in some colts. He pulled up beside Cecil, the youngster he was +riding sidling impatiently. + +"Yes, he's a nice pony," said Cecil, without enthusiasm. + +"Well, I've seen a few, but he beats 'em all," said the horsebreaker. +"A ringer from the time he was a foal--and he's only improved since I +first handled him, four year ago. Worth a pot of money that pony is!" +He laughed. "Not as his particular owner'd sell him, I reckon. Miss +Norah acts more by that chap than by anything else she's got!" + +"I suppose so," Cecil said, seeing that he waited for a reply. + +"Yes, my word! Take 'em all round, they'd be hard to beat as a pair," +said Mick, lighting his pipe in apparent ignorance that his horse was +indulging in caracoles that appeared likely to end in a bucking +demonstration. He threw the match away after carefully extinguishing +it, and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Quiet, y' image, can't y'? Who's +hurtin' y'? Well, I must be goin'--so long." Cecil nodded casually, and +the impatient pupil went off in a series of bounds that struck the city +boy as alarming, although Mick did not appear to notice that his mount +was not walking demurely. + +Several other men came to the stockyard, selected each a horse, and +saddled it, and disappeared in various directions. The old black horse, +Bob's mate, was taken by Joe Burton, who harnessed him into a dray that +stood near, loaded up a number of fence rails, and drove off over the +paddock, evidently to a job of repairing some boundary. Cecil watched +them crawl across the plain, until they were only a speck on the grass. +Then he turned his sullen eyes on Bobs, who, left alone, had come +nearer to the fence where he sat, and was sleepily flicking with his +tail at an intrusive fly, which insisted on walking round his hip. +Cecil stared at him for some minutes before his idea came to him. + +Then he flushed a little, his hand clenching on the post beside him. At +first the idea was fascinating, but preposterous; he tried to put it +from him, but it came back persistently, and his mind held it with a +kind of half-fearful excitement. They had said he could not ride him--a +child's pony! Would he show them? + +Once he entertained the idea at all he could not let it go. It would be +such an easy way of "coming out on top"--of showing them that in one +thing at least their opinion was worthless. That Jim's words were true, +and that he could not master Bobs, he ridiculed loftily. It was +impossible for him to believe that what a child of fourteen did so +easily he might not be able to do. He had never seen Bobs other than +quiet; and though big and well bred and spirited, he was still only a +pony--a child's pony. Visions floated before him of increased respect +paid him by the men, and even by his uncle, when he should have +demonstrated his ability to manage something better than old Brown +Betty, flicking at the flies in her corner of the yard, with +down-drooped head, and then--he wanted to ride Bobs; and all his life +Cecil Linton had done what he wanted. + +He slipped down from the fence and went across to the stables for a +saddle and bridle, entering the harness room a little nervously, but +relieved on finding no men about. Returning, he caught Bobs--who stood +like the gentleman he was--and brought him outside, where his +unaccustomed fingers bungled a little with the saddle. The one he had +chosen in his haste had a breastplate, but this he could not manage at +all; and at last he managed to get the bewildering array of straps off, +and hang it over the fence. He buckled on a pair of spurs he had found +in the harness room. Then he gathered up the reins and clambered into +the saddle. Possibly, had he let Bobs feel the spur, his ride would +have ended there and then, and there would have been no further +developments in Cecil's excursion; and it is certain that he would have +spurred him cheerfully, had not the pony moved off at once. As it was +he sat back and felt exceedingly independent and pleased with himself. +He turned him down the home paddock. + +"Phwat are y' doin' on that pony?" + +Murty O'Toole had come out of the men's quarters, and was gazing +open-mouthed at the unfamiliar figure on Bobs--"the city feller," for +once not apparelled in exaggerated riding clothes, but in loose +flannels; already the legs of the trousers had worked up from his low +shoes, disclosing a vision of brilliant sock. Cecil took no notice. + +"Hallo, there! Shtop a minnit! Who put y' on Bobs?" + +"Mind your own business," said Cecil, between his teeth, looking round. + +"My business, is it? Sure, 'tis my business, if 'tis anny man's on +Billabong! Did Miss Norah say y' could ride her pony?" + +"What's that to you?" + +"Be gob!" said Murty, "'tis more to me than it is to you, seein' 'tis +meself knows Miss Norah's feelin's an' disposition about Bobs! Did she +give y' leave? Tell me, or I'll pull y' off, if y' was the Boss' nevvy +ten times over!" + +"WILL you?" Cecil spat the words at him bitterly. He shook the reins, +and Bobs, impatient enough already, broke into a canter that carried +him away from the good friend who had intervened on his behalf. They +shot across the paddock. + +Murty, left helpless, said a few strong things as he looked after the +retreating pair. + +"It's a guinea to a gooseberry he's taken Frinch lave wid him," he +said, "bitther tongued little whipper-snapper that he is! Sure if Bobs +gets rid av him it'll serve him sorry, so 'twill. But phwat'll I do +about it, at all?" He scratched his head reflectively. "If I go over +'twill only worry Miss Norah to hear--an' it's most likely he'll have +enough av it pretty soon, an' the pony'll come home--an I do not care if +he comes home widout him! I'll lave it be f'r awhile." He went slowly +over to the stockyards. + +Cecil, cantering over the grass with Bobs' perfect stride beneath him, +was, for the moment, completely satisfied with himself. He had routed +the enemy in the first engagement, and, if he had not left him +speechless, at least he had had the last word. Murty and he had been at +daggers drawn from the very first day, when the grinning Irishman had +pulled him out of the wild raspberry clump in the cutting-out paddock; +and the cheerful friendliness with which Jim and Norah treated the +stockman had always irritated him. He was exceedingly pleased that on +this occasion he had scored at his expense. + +Where should he go? There were three gates leading out of the home +paddock--one to the Cunjee road; another to a similar well-cleared plain +to that on which the house stood; and a third into a smaller paddock, +which in its turn led into part of the rougher and steeper part of the +run. Cecil wanted to get out of sight quickly. In his mind there was a +half-formed idea that Murty might saddle a horse and come out in +pursuit; and a hand-to-hand encounter with the justly indignant +Irishman was just at that moment the last thing that the boy wanted. So +he decided upon the bush paddock, and headed in that direction. + +Now, a horse that is always ridden by one person is apt to develop +ideas of his own--possibly through acquiring habits insensibly from his +usual rider. Also, he becomes accustomed to that one rider, and is +quite likely to be annoyed by a change--not alone in weight and in style +of riding, but in the absence of the sympathy that always exists +between a horse so managed and the one who cares for him and +understands him. The alien hand on his mouth had irritated Bobs from +the first; it was heavy, and jerky, where Norah's touch was as a +feather; and the light, firm seat in the saddle was changed for a +weight that bumped and shifted continuously. Further, it was not very +usual for Norah to ride in this direction--he had headed naturally for +the second gate before his tender mouth was suddenly wrenched aside +towards the third. Bobs arrived at the gate in something considerably +removed from his usual contented state of mind. + +The gate was awkward, and Cecil clumsy at shutting it; he hauled the +pony's mouth roughly in his efforts to bring him into position where he +could send home the catch. The same performance was repeated at the +next gate--the one leading into the bush paddock; and when at length +they turned from it Bobs' mouth was feeling the bit in a manner that +was quite new to him, and as unpleasant as new. He sidled off in a +rough, jerky walk, betraying irritation in every movement, had Cecil +been wise enough to know it. + +Cecil, however, was still perfectly content. He was out of sight of the +house, which was comforting in itself; while as for the idea that he +was not completely master of his mount, he would have been highly +amused at it. It was pleasant to be out, in the morning freshness; and +there was no need to hurry home, since the scones and tea in the +kitchen had made him independent of breakfast. The paddock he was in +looked interesting, too; the plain ended in a line of rough, +scrub-grown hills which it occurred to him would be a good place to +explore. He headed towards them. + +Bobs walked on, inwardly seething; jerking his head impatiently at the +unceasing pressure on his bit, and now and then giving a little half +kick that at length attracted Cecil's attention, making him wonder +vaguely what was wrong. Possibly something in the saddle; it had +occurred to him when cantering that his girth was loose. So he +dismounted and tightened it, bringing it up with a jerk that pinched +the pony suddenly, and made him back away. This time Cecil did not find +it so easy to mount. He was a little nervous as he rode on--and there is +nothing that more quickly communicates itself to a horse than +nervousness in the rider. Bobs began to dance as he went, and Cecil, +hauling at his mouth, broke out into a mild perspiration. He decided +that he was not altogether an easy pony to ride. + +A hare jumped up abruptly in the grass just ahead. Bobs shied and +plunged--and missing the hand that always understood and steadied such +mistaken energy, gave a couple of rough "pig-jumps." It was more than +enough for Cecil; mild as they were, he shot on to the pony's neck, +only regaining the saddle by a great effort. The reins flopped, and the +indignant Bobs plunged forward, while his rider clawed for support, his +feet and hands alike flying. As he dropped back into the saddle, the +spurs went home; and Bobs bolted. + +He had never in his life felt the spur; light and free in every pace, +Norah's boot heel was the utmost correction that ever came to him. This +sudden cruel stab on either side was more than painful--it was a sudden +shock of amazement that was sharper than pain. Coming on top of all his +grievances, it was too much for Bobs. Possibly, a mad race would rid +him of this creature on his back, who was so unlike his mistress. His +heels went up with a little squeal as he bounded forward before +settling into his stride. + +Cecil gave himself up for lost from the first. He tugged frantically at +the rein, realizing soon that the pony was in full command, and that +his soft muscles might as well pull at the side of a house as try to +stop him. He lost one stirrup, and clung desperately to the pommel +while he felt for it, and by great good luck managed to get his foot in +again--a piece of good fortune which his own efforts would never have +secured. The pommel was too comforting to be released; he still clung +to it while he tried to steady himself and to see where he was going. + +The plain ended abruptly just before him, and the rough hills sloped +away to the south. Perhaps, if he put Bobs at the steepest it might +calm him a little, and he might be able to pull him up. So he wrenched +the pony's mouth round, and presently they were racing up the face of +the hill, which apparently made no difference whatever to Bobs. Cecil +had not the slightest idea that his heels were spurring the pony at +every stride. He wondered angrily in his fear why he seemed to become +momentarily more maddened, and sawed at the bleeding mouth in vain. +They were at the top of the hill now. The crest was sharp and +immediately over it a sharp drop went down to a gully at the bottom. It +was steep, rough-going, boulder-strewn and undermined with wombat +holes. Perhaps in his calmer moments Bobs might have hesitated, but +just now he knew nothing but a frantic desire to escape from that cruel +agony in his sides. He flung down the side of the hill blindly, making +great bounds over the sparse bracken fern that hid the ground. Cecil +was nearly on his shoulder now--a moment more would set him free. + +Then he put his foot on a loose boulder that gave with him and went +down the slope in a flurry of shifting stones. He made a gallant effort +to recover himself, stumbling to his knees as Cecil left the saddle and +landed in the ferns--but just as he struck out for firmer footing his +forefoot sank into a wombat hole, and he turned a complete somersault, +rolling over and over. He brought up against a big boulder, struggled +to rise and then lay still. + + * * * * * + +Presently Cecil came limping to him, white and angry. + +"Get up, you brute!" he said, kicking him. When there was no response, +he took the bridle, jerking it. Bobs' head gave a little at every jerk, +but that was all. + +Between rage and fear, Cecil lost his head. He kicked the pony +savagely; and finding that useless, sought a stick and thrashed him as +he lay. Once Bobs struggled, but only his head and shoulders came up, +and presently they fell back again. Cecil gave it up at last, and left +him alone, limping down to the gully and out of sight. He sat down on a +log for a long while, until the sun grew hot. Then he pulled his hat +over his eyes and set off towards home. + +Bobs did not know he had gone. He lay quite still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ON THE HILLSIDE + + Never again, when the soft winds blow, + We shall ride by the river. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Wally came into breakfast with a rush and a scramble, bearing traces of +a hasty toilet. At the table Norah and Jim were eating solemnly, with +expressions of deep disapproval. They did not raise their eyes as Wally +entered. + +"Awfully sorry!" said he. "You've no idea of the difficulties I've had +to overcome, Norah, and all along of him!" indicating Jim with a jerk +of his head. "Oh, Norah, do be sympathetic, and forget that he's your +brother. I assure you I'd be a far better brother to you than ever he +could, and you can have me cheap! Look up at me, Norah, and smile--one +perfect grin is all I ask! He took my towel and dressed Tait in it, and +for all he cared I would be swimming in that beastly lagoon yet, and +dying of cramp, and nervous prostration, and housemaid's knee. And she +goes on gnawing a chop!" + +He sat down, and buried his face in his hands tragically, and began to +sob, whereat Norah and Jim laughed, and the victim of circumstances +recovered with promptitude. + +"Cream, please," he said, attacking his porridge. "Oh, he's a beast, +Norah. I'm blessed if I know why you keep him in the family--it can't be +for either his manners or his looks! I have a hectic cough coming on +rapidly. My uncle by marriage three times removed died of consumption, +and it's a thing I've always been nervous about. When I occupy the +family urn with my ashes you'll be sorry!" + +"I should be more than sorry if it were this urn," Jim put in, +grinning. "It might be an honour, of course; but we've other homely +uses for the urn. How long did you swim, Wal.?" + +"Never you mind," returned Wally wrathfully. "I don't see why I should +satisfy any part of your fiendish curiosity--only when Brownie finds +Tait wearing one of the best bath towels as a toga, and makes remarks +about it, I shall certainly refer her to you!" + +"I never saw a dog look so miserable as he did," Norah said, laughing. +"He came straight up to me, with a truly hang-dog air, and folds of +towel ever so far behind him in the grass, and didn't get back his +self-respect until I took it off. Poor old Tait! You really ought to be +ashamed of yourself, Jimmy." + +"I am," said Jim cheerfully. "Toast, please." + +"When I saw Tait last he was disappearing into the landscape with all +his blushing honours thick upon him!" Wally said. "I don't see why you +waste all your sympathy on the brute, and give me none. It's the +greatest wonder I'm here at all!" + +"Where's Cecil, anyhow?" asked Jim, suddenly. + +"Haven't an idea--how should I? He wasn't in the lagoon, which is the +only place I could give an expert opinion on this morning." + +"Oh, he's late as usual," Norah said. "I suppose he's still cross about +last night. Really, Jim, I'm sorry we've managed to rub him up the +wrong way." + +"Why, the difficulty would be to find the right way," Jim retorted. +"He's such a cross-grained beggar--you never know when you're going to +offend him; and of course he's perfectly idiotic about the horses. +Wonder if he thinks we LIKE horses with sore backs and mouths! He'll +have to give poor old Betty a spell, anyhow, for she's a patch on her +back the size of half a crown, thanks to him." + +"Oh, dear!" said Norah, with a little shiver. "That's awfully bad +news--'cause I'd about made up my mind to offer him Bobs!" + +"Offer--him--Bobs!" said Jim slowly. Wally gasped. + +"Just for a ride, Jimmy. He's a guest, you know, and I don't like him +to feel ill-used. And you let him on Garryowen." + +"Only for a moment--and then with my heart in my boots!" said Jim. +"Norah, I think you're utterly mad if you lend him Bobs--after last +night, too! Why, you know jolly well I'VE never asked you for your +pony!" + +"Well, you could have had him," Norah answered, "you know that, Jimmy. +I don't want to lend him to Cecil--I simply hate it; but I don't like +the idea of his thinking we treated him at all badly." + +"He's the sort of chap that would find a grievance if you gave +everything you had in the world," Jim said. "It's all rot--and I tell +you straight, Nor., I don't think it's safe, either. Bobs is all right +with you, of course, but he's a fiery little beggar, and there's no +knowing what he'd do with a sack of flour like that on his back. I wish +you wouldn't." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"Me? Oh, I'm with Jim," Wally answered. "Personally, I think a +velocipede is about Cecil's form, and it's absolute insult to a pony +like Bobs to ask him to carry him! And you'd hate it so, Nor.'!" + +"Oh, I know I would," Norah said. "He's such a dear--" + +"What! Cecil?" + +"No, you donkey--Bobs," Norah continued, laughing. "I'd feel like +begging his pardon all the time. But--" + +"Murty wants to see you, Master Jim," said Mary, entering. "Says he'd +be glad if you could spare him a minute." + +"All right, Mary--thank you," said Jim, getting up lazily and strolling +out. "Back in a minute, you two." + +"What happens to-day, Norah? Marmalade, please," said Wally, in a +breath. + +"The marmalade happens on the spot," laughed Norah, handing it to him. +"Otherwise--oh, I don't know, unless we ride out somewhere and fish. We +haven't been out to Angler's Bend this time, have we?" + +"No, but that's fifteen miles. You'd never let Cecil ride Bobs that +distance?" + +"Oh, I couldn't!" said Norah, hastily. "I don't think I possibly could +ride anything except Bobs out there. Cecil might have him another day, +if Jim doesn't think me quite mad. Perhaps I won't be sorry if he does, +'cause I'd hate to go against Jim! And Bobs is--" + +"Bobs," said Wally gravely; and Norah smiled at him. "Hallo, +Jamesy--what passion hangs these weights upon thy brow?" + +Jim had entered quickly. + +"It's that beauty Cecil," he said, angrily. "My word, Norah, I'll let +that young man know what I think about him! He's taken Bobs!" + +"What!" + +"Gone out on Bobs before breakfast. Must have got him in the yard, and +saddled him himself. Murty saw him just as he was riding off, and tried +to stop him. Here's Murty--he'll tell you." + +"Sure, I towld him to stop, Miss Norah," said the stock-man. "Axed him, +I did, if he'd y'r lave, and he gev me back-answers as free as y' +please. I was perfickly calm, an never losht me timper, an' towld him +I'd pull him off av the little harse if he'd not the lave to take him; +an' he put the comether on me by cantherin' off. So I waited, thinkin' +not to worry y', an' that he'd be comin' back; or more be token Bobs +widout him, an' small loss. But he's elsewhere yit, so I kem in f'r +Masther Jim." + +"Well, I'm blessed!" said Norah, weakly. + +"The mean little toad!" Wally's voice was full of scorn. "I'd like five +quiet minutes with him with coats off when he comes back!" + +"I guess he'll get that--or its equivalent," said Jim, grimly. "Which +way did he go, Murty?" + +"To the bush paddock, Masther Jim. He's that stupid, tin to one he's +bushed in one av thim gullies." + +"Or else Bobs has slung him; but in that case Bobs would be back at the +gate," Jim said. "Perhaps he is." + +"No, he ain't, Masther Jim, I wint over a bit an' had a look. There's +no sign av either av thim." + +"Well, I suppose we'd better go after them," Jim said. "What'll you +ride, Nor? Would you care for Garryowen?" + +Norah smiled at him. + +"No, thanks, old man. I'll have Cirdar," she said. "Can you get him, +Murty?" + +"In two twos, Miss Norah," said the stockman, departing hastily. + +"You're not worried, Norah, old girl?" Jim said. + +"Why, not exactly; he can't hurt Bobs, of course, beyond a sore back," +Norah answered. "I'm more cross than worried--it is such cheek, Jim, +isn't it? All the same, I hope Cecil's all right." + +"Him!" said Jim, with fine scorn. "That sort never comes to any harm. +Well, hurry up, and get your habit on, old chap." + +There was no need to tell Norah to hurry. She flew upstairs, Brownie +plodding after; the news had flown round the house in a few moments, +and there was a storm of indignation against the absent Cecil. + +"If I'd knowed!" said Brownie, darkly, bringing Norah's linen coat out +from the wardrobe, and seeking with vigour for a felt hat that already +was on her head. "Me, givin' him tea and scones, an' talkin' about the +pony, too, no less; little I guessed at the depths of him. Never mind, +my dearie, Master Jim'll deal with him!" + +"Oh, it'll be all right, if Bobs hasn't hurt him. Only there'll be an +awful row when Jim gets him. I never saw Jim so angry," Norah said. + +"A good thing, too!" said the warlike Mrs. Brown. "There you are, +dearie, an' there's your 'unting-crop. Off you go!" and Norah ran +downstairs, finding Jim and Wally waiting, boots and leggings on. They +set off, Murty muttering dark threats against Cecil as he shut the gate +of the stable yard after them. + +Wally had recovered his cheerfulness, never long absent from him, and +was, besides, not unpleasantly excited at the thought of war ahead. He +chattered gaily as they rode through the first two paddocks. But Jim +remained quiet. As Norah said, she had never seen him so angry. Anxiety +in his mind warred with hot anger against the insult to Norah and to +them all. He swept the bush paddock with his eye as they came up to it, +seeing nothing but the scattered bullocks here and there. + +"Wonder which way he'd go," he said. "Suppose you and Wally cut over to +the right, Norah, and see if you can find any trace. I'll go over this +way. We'll coo-ee to each other if we come across him." They separated, +and Jim put Garryowen at a canter across the plain. Here and there he +could see a track--and something made him wish to go on alone. + +He was nearly at the foot of the hills when a figure came out from +their shadow. Jim gave a sudden little sound in his throat as he saw +that it was Cecil--and alone. He was limping a little, and had evidently +been down. Relief that he was safe was the first thought; then, anxiety +being done with, there was no room for anything but anger. Jim rode +towards him. At the sight of his approach Cecil started a little, and +cast a glance round as if looking for a hiding place; then he came on +doggedly, his head down. + +"I've been looking for you," Jim said, controlling his voice with +difficulty. "Where's Bobs?" + +"Over there." Cecil jerked his hand backwards. + +"Where?" + +"Back there." + +"What do you mean? did he get away from you?" + +"He bolted," Cecil said. + +"And threw you?" + +Cecil nodded. "Yes--can't you see I'm limping?" + +"Well, did he clear out again?" + +"No--he's over there." + +Jim's face went grim. "Do you mean--you don't mean the pony's HURT?" + +"He won't get up," said Cecil, sullenly. "I've tried my best." + +For a moment they faced each other, and then Cecil quailed under the +younger boy's look. His eyes fell. + +Jim jumped off. "Go on." + +"Where?" + +"Back to Bobs, of course. Hurry up!" + +"I can't go back there," Cecil said, angrily. "I'm limping, and--" + +"Do you think your limp matters an atom just now?" Jim said, through +his teeth. "Hurry up." + +He followed Cecil, not trusting himself to speak. A dull despair lay on +his heart, and above everything a great wave of pity for the little +sister across the paddock. If he could spare Norah--! + +Then they were in the gully, and he saw Bobs above him, and knew in +that instant that he could spare her nothing. The bay pony lay where he +had fallen, his head flung outwards; helplessness in every line of the +frame that had been a model of strength and beauty an hour ago. As Jim +looked Bobs beat his head three times against the ground, and then lay +still. The boy flung round, sick with horror. + +"Why, you vile little wretch--you've killed him!" + +He had Cecil in a grip of iron, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat--not +knowing what he did in the sick fury that possessed him. Then suddenly +he stopped and hurled him from him into the bracken. He ran down the +gully. + +"Go back, Norah dear--don't come." + +Norah and Wally had come cantering quickly round the shoulder of the +hill. She was laughing at something Wally had said as they rode into +the gully, and the laugh was still on her lips as she looked at Jim. +Then she saw his face, and it died away. + +"What is it, Jim?" + +"Don't come, kiddie," the boy said, wretchedly. "Wally, you take her +home." + +"Why?" said Norah. "We saw Cecil--where's Bobs?" Her eyes were wandering +round the gully. They passed Cecil, lying on his face in the bracken, +and travelled further up the hill. Then she turned suddenly white, and +flung herself off Sirdar. + +Jim caught her as she came blindly past him. + +"Kiddie--it's no good--you mustn't!" + +"I must," she said, and broke from him, running up the hillside. Jim +followed her with a long stride, his arm round her as she stumbled +through the ferns and boulders. When they came to Bobs he held her back +for a moment. + +The pony was nearly done. As they looked his head beat the ground again +unavailingly, and at the piteous sight a dry sob broke from Norah, and +she went on her knees by him. + +"Norah--dear little chap--you mustn't." Jim's voice was choking. "He +doesn't know what he's doing, poor old boy--it isn't safe." + +"He wants me," she said. "Bobs--dear Bobs!" + +At the voice he knew the pony quivered and struggled to rise. It was no +use--he fell back, though the beautiful head lifted itself, and the +brown eyes tried to find her. She sat down and took his head on her +knee, stroking his neck and speaking to him... broken, pitiful words. +Presently she put her cheek down to him, and crouched there above him. +Something of his agony died out of Bobs' eyes. He did not struggle any +more. After a little he gave a long shiver, straightening out; and so +died, gently. + + * * * * * + +"Come on home, old kiddie." + +It seemed a long time after, Norah could not think of a time when she +had done anything but sit with that quiet head on her knee. She +shuddered all over. + +"I can't leave him." + +"You must come, dear." Jim's hands were lifting Bobs' head as tenderly +as she herself could have done it. He picked her up and held her as +though she had been a baby, and she clung to him, shaking. + +"If I could help you!" he said, and there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, +Nor.--you know, don't you?" + +He felt her hand tighten on his arm. Then he carried her down the hill, +where Garryowen stood waiting. + +"The others have gone," he said. "I sent them home--Wally and--that +brute! I've told him to go--I'll kill him if I see him again!" He lifted +her into his saddle, and keeping his arms round her, walked beside the +bay horse down the gully and out upon the plain. + +"Jim," she whispered--somewhere her voice had gone away--"you can't go +home like that. Let me walk." His arm tightened. + +"I'm all right," he said--"poor little mate!" + +They did not speak again until they were nearly home--where, ahead, +Brownie waited, her kind eyes red; while every man about the homestead +was near the gate, a stern-faced, angry group that talked in savage +undertones. Murty came forward as Jim lifted Norah down. + +"Miss Norah," he said. "Miss Norah, dear--sure I'd sooner--" + +The tall fellow's voice broke as he looked at the white, childish face. + +"Thanks, Murty," Norah said steadily. + +"And--all of you." She turned from the pitying faces, and ran indoors. + +"Oh, Brownie, don't let any one see me!" + +Then came a dazed time, when she did not know anything clearly. Once, +lying on her bed, with her face pressed into the pillow, trying not to +see a lean head that beat on the ground, she heard a dull sound that +rose to an angry shout from the men; and immediately the buggy drove +away quickly, as Wally took Cecil away from Billabong. She only +shivered, pressing her face harder. Jim was always near at first; the +touch of his hand made her calm when dreadful, shuddering fits came +over her. All through the night he sat by her bed, watching +ceaselessly. + +Then there was a longer time when she was alone, and there seemed much +going to and fro. But no sounds touched her nearly. She could only +think of Bobs, lying in the bracken, and calling silently to her with +his pain-filled eyes. + +Then, late on, the second evening, Jim came back with a troubled face +and sat on the bed. + +"Norah," he said, "I want you." + +"Yes, Jim?" + +"I want you to be brave, old chap," he said slowly. Something in his +tone made her start and scan his tired face. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"It may be all right," Jim said, "but--but I thought I'd better tell +you, Norah, they--we can't find Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +BROTHER AND SISTER + + We were mates together, + And I shall not forget. + W. H. OGILVIE. + + +Jim had not wanted to tell Norah. It had been Brownie who had +counselled differently. + +"I think she's got enough to bear," the boy had said, sitting on the +edge of the kitchen table, and flicking his boots mechanically with his +whip. He had been riding hard almost all day, but anxiety, not fatigue, +had put the lines into his face. "What's the good of giving her any +more?" + +"I do believe it'd be best for her, the poor lamb!" Brownie had said. +"She's there all day, not speaking--it'll wear her out. An' you know, +Master Jim, dear, she'd never forgive us for keepin' anything back from +her about the master." + +"No--but we've nothing definite. And it may make her really ill, coming +on top of the other." + +"I don't think Miss Norah's the sort to let herself get ill when there +was need of her. It may take her poor mind off the other--she can't help +that now, an' he was only a pony--" + +"Only a pony! By George, Brownie--!" + +"Any horse is only a pony when compared to your Pa," said Brownie, +unconscious of anything peculiar in her remark. "I don't know that real +anxiety mayn't help her, Master Jim. And any'ow, it don't seem to me +we've the right to keep it from her, them bein', as it were, that +partickler much to each other. Take my tip, an' you tell her." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"I'm with Brownie," said Wally, unexpectedly. "It's awful to see Norah +lying there all day, never saying a word, and this'll rouse her up when +nothing else would." So Jim had yielded to the weight of advice, and +had gone slowly up to tell Norah they could not find David Linton. + +"Can't find him?" she echoed, "but isn't he at Killybeg?" + +"He left there yesterday morning," Jim answered. "A telegram came from +him last night, and it was important--something about cattle--so I sent +Burton into Cunjee with it--Killybeg's on the telephone now, you know, +and Burton could ring him up from the post office. But the Darrells +were astonished, and said he'd left there quite early, and meant to +come straight home." + +"Well?" Norah was white enough now. + +"Well, I got worried, and so did Murty; because you know there isn't +any stopping place between here and Killybeg when you come across the +ranges. And Monarch's pretty uncertain--in rough country, especially. So +I got Murty and Wally to go out at daylight this morning, taking the +straight line to the Darrells, and they picked up his tracks pointing +homewards about five miles from the Billabong boundary. Murty made +Monarch's shoes himself, and he could swear to them anywhere. They +followed them awhile, and they came to a place where the ground was +beaten down a lot, as if he'd had trouble with Monarch; I expect +something scared him, and he played the fool. But after that the tracks +led on to some stony rises, and they lost them; the ground was too +hard. They could only tell he'd gone right off the line to Billabong." + +"Jim! Do you think--? Oh, he couldn't be hurt! Monarch would never get +rid of him." + +"He'd stick to Monarch as long as the girth held and Monarch stood up," +Jim said, "but it's rough country, and a young horse isn't handy on +those sidings. Of course it may be all right; but if so, why wasn't he +home twenty-four hours ago?" + +"Have you done anything?" + +"Been out all day," Jim said. "Murty sent Wal. straight home while he +went on looking, and we went back with three of the men. But you know +what that country is, all hills and gullies, and the scrub's so thick +you can scarcely get through it in places. We found one or two hoof +marks, but that was all. If he's not home to-night we're going out at +daybreak with every hand on the place." + +"I'm coming." + +"I knew you'd want to," Jim said, anxiety in his tone. "But I don't +think you're fit to, old girl." + +"Jimmy, I'd go mad if I stayed behind." + +"Oh, I know that, too. But you'll have to stay near me, Norah, and if +you're coming you've got to eat now; Brownie says you've touched +nothing all day." + +Norah shivered a little. "I'm not hungry." + +"No, but you've sense, old chap. You'd be the first to say one of us +couldn't go out without proper food. Try, won't you?" + +"I'll try," Norah said, obediently. + +"Brownie's got dinner for Wally and me in the breakfast-room," Jim +said. "Wouldn't you come down, old girl? It's only old Wal., you know, +and--and he's so awfully sorry for you, Nor. He's been such a brick. I +think it would cheer him up a bit if you came down." + +"All right," Norah said, hesitating a moment. "But I'm bad company, +Jim." + +"We're none of us lively," said the boy. "But we've got to help each +other." And Norah looked at him gently, and came. + +Dinner was quiet, for the shadow hung upon them all. Wally tried to +talk cheerfully, checked by a lump that would rise in his throat +whenever he looked at Norah, who was "playing the game" manfully, +trying hard to eat and to be, as she would have said, "ordinary." They +talked of the plans for the next day, when a systematic search was to +be made through the scrub near where the tracks had been found. + +"Each of us is to take a revolver," Jim said; "there are five +altogether, and the men who haven't got them will have to use their +stockwhips as signals if they find anything. Three shots to be fired in +the air if help is wanted. And Brownie has flasks ready for every one, +and little packets of food with some chocolate; if he's come to grief +it'll be nearly forty-eight hours since he had anything to eat. Two of +the men are to take the express wagon out as far as it can go, with +everything to make him comfortable, if--if he's hurt. Then they can ride +the horses on to help us search." Jim forced a sorry smile. "Won't he +grin at us if he turns up all right? We'll never hear the end of it!" +Then he got up abruptly and walked to the window, looking out across +the moonlit flats; and they were all silent. + +"I keep thinking all the time I hear him coming," Jim said, turning +back into the room. "If you keep still, you can almost swear you can +hear old Monarch's hoofs coming up the track--and half a dozen times +I've been certain I caught the crack of his stockwhip. Of course, +it's--it's all imagination. My word! it's hard to loaf about here and go +to bed comfortably when you want to be hunting out there." + +"You couldn't do any good, though?" asked Wally. + +"No--it would be madness to go straying round those gullies in the +moonlight; it's not even full moon, and there the timber's so thick +that very little light can get through. There's nothing for it but to +wait until daylight." + +"It's hard waiting," Norah said. + +"Yes, it is. But you ought to go to bed, old woman; you had precious +little sleep last night, and the big bell is to ring at daylight." + +"Then won't you boys go, too?" + +"Yes, I guess we'd better," Jim said. "I'll come in and say good-night +to you, Norah." A look passed between them; the boy knew his father +never failed to pay a good-night visit to Norah's room. She smiled at +him gratefully. + +It was very lonely and quiet up there, undressing, with her heart like +lead within her. She hurried over her preparations, so that she might +not keep Jim waiting when he came; she knew he needed sleep--"a big boy +outgrowing his strength like that," thought Norah, with the quaint +little touch of motherliness that she always felt towards Jim. Once she +caught sight of something on the end of the couch; the white rug that +had been Jim's Christmas present, with the scarlet B standing out +sharply in the corner--the rug Bobs would never use. Shivering a little, +she put it away in her wardrobe. Just now she could only think of that +most dear one--perhaps lying out there in the cold shadows of the bush +night. She crept into bed. + +Jim came in in his shirt sleeves. + +"Comfy, little chap?" + +"Yes, thanks, old man. Jim--shall I ride Sirdar tomorrow?" + +"You needn't have asked," the boy said--"he's yours. And, Norah--I know +Dad wouldn't mind. I'd like you to have Garryowen. He's a bit big, but +he'll suit you quite well. I know he won't make up, but you'd get fond +of him in time, dear." + +"Jim!" she said--knowing all that the carelessly spoken words +meant--"Jimmy, boy." And then Jim was frightened, for Norah, who had not +cried at all, broke into a passion of crying. He held her tightly, +stroking her, not knowing what to say; murmuring broken, awkward words +of affection, while she sobbed against him. After a while she grew +quiet, and was desperately ashamed. + +"I didn't mean to make an ass of myself," she said, contritely. "I'm +awfully sorry, and you were such a brick to me, Jimmy. I won't ever +forget it; only I couldn't take your horse. I love you for it. But +Sirdar will do for me quite well." And no arguments could shake her +from that decision. + +Jim put the light out after some time. Then he came back and sat down +on the bed. + +"I wanted to tell you, dear little chap," he said, gently. "I sent Mick +out with Boone to-day, and--and they buried him under that big tree +where he fell, and heaped up stones so that nothing could get at him." +He stopped, his voice uncertain as Norah's hand tightened in his. + +"Mick said there couldn't have been any hope for him, kiddie," he went +on, presently. "His back was broken; no one could have done anything." +He would not tell her of other things Mick had seen--the spur wounds +from hip to shoulder and the marks of the stick that Cecil had thrown +down beside the pony he had ridden to his death. "They carved his name +on the tree in great big letters. Some time--whenever you feel you +can--I'll take you out there. At least"--his hand gripped hers almost +painfully--"Dad and I will take you." + +Norah put her face against him, not speaking. They stayed so, her +breath coming and going unevenly, while Jim stroked her shoulder. +Presently he slipped to his knees by the bed, one arm across her, not +moving until her head nestled closer, and he knew she was asleep. Then +the big, tired fellow put his own head down and went to sleep as he +knelt, waking, stiff and sore, in the grey half light that just +precedes the dawn. He crept away noiselessly, going out on the balcony +for a breath of the chill air. + +Below him, against the stockyard fence, a black shadow stood and +whinnied faintly. Jim's heart came into his throat, and he swung +himself over the edge of the balcony, using his old "fire escape" to +slide to the gravel below. He ran wildly across to the yard. + +A moment later the big bell of the station clanged out furiously. + +Norah, fastening her habit with swift fingers, ran to open the door in +answer to Jim's voice. + +"Hurry all you know, little chap," he said. "I'm off in a few +minutes--breakfast's ready. Wally's going into Cunjee with a telegram to +Melbourne for the black trackers, as hard as he can ride." + +"Jim--there's something you know!" + +He hesitated. + +"I'd better tell you," he said. "Monarch's come home alone, Norah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE LONG QUEST + + The creek went down with a broken song, + 'Neath the she oaks high; + The waters carried the song along, + And the oaks a sigh. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The big black thoroughbred still stood by the rails as they rode away. +He had got rid of the saddle, and the broken bridle trailed from his +head. No one had time to see to him. + +Billabong was humming with activity. Men were running down to the +yards, bridle in hand; others leading their horses up to be saddled; +while those who were ready had raced over to the quarters for a +snatched breakfast. Sirdar and the boys' horses had been stabled all +night, so that they were quickly saddled. Jim was riding Nan; Wally, on +Garryowen, was already a speck in the distance. + +"You'll be quicker if you take him," Jim had said. Then he and Norah +had cantered away together. + +"Monarch wasn't hurt, Jim?" + +"He'd been down, I think," Jim said; "His knees look like it. But he's +all right--why, he must have jumped three fences?" + +After that for a long time they did not speak. Grim fear was knocking +at both their hearts, for with the return of the black horse without +his rider, their worst dread was practically confirmed. It was fairly +certain that Mr. Linton was helpless, somewhere in the bush, and that +meant that he had been so for nearly two days, since it was almost that +time since he had ridden away from Killybeg. + +Two days! They had been days of steady, relentless heat, untempered by +any breeze--when the cattle had sought the shade of the gum trees, and +the dogs about the homestead had crept close in under the tree +lucernes, with open mouths and tongues lolling. The men working on the +run had left their tasks often to go down to the creek or the river for +a drink; in the house, closely shuttered windows and lowered blinds on +the verandahs had only served to make the heat bearable. And he had +been out in it, somewhere, helpless, and perhaps in pain; with nothing +to ease for him the hot hours or to save him from the chill of a +Victorian night, which, even in midsummer, may be sharply cold before +the dawn. The thought gnawed at his children's hearts. + +They passed through the billabong boundary and out into the rough +country beyond, sharply undulating until it rose into the ranges David +Linton had crossed on his way to and from Killybeg. They had been +fairly certain that he had come through them safely on his way home, +and the thought had been a comfort--for to seek a man in those hills was +a hopeless task. But suddenly a sick fear came over Norah. + +"Jim," she said, "we don't know where Monarch got rid of Dad, of +course?" + +"No; but I expect it was near where they picked up his tracks." + +"You don't think it might have been in the ranges?" + +Jim looked suddenly aghast; but his face cleared. + +"No," he said, decidedly; "I don't. That place where Monarch had been +playing up shows Dad must have been on him--a horse alone doesn't go to +market as he seems to have done there. I guess you can put that notion +out of your head, mate." He smiled at Norah, who answered him with a +grateful look. + +Five miles from the boundary they came upon the tracks--to see them gave +Norah a queer sense of comfort, since in a way they brought her in +touch with Dad. Then they separated, beating into the scrub that hemmed +them round everywhere, except when low, stony hills rose naked out of +the green undergrowth. + +"We must shout to each other every few minutes to make sure we're not +getting too far apart," Jim said. "Of course, it's not so risky when +you're riding--if you gave old Sirdar his head anywhere I know he'd take +you home. Still, you don't gain anything by going far apart. A +systematic search is what's necessary in a place like this, where you +might ride half a dozen yards from him and not see him. Keep Tait with +you, Norah." + +"All right," Norah nodded. "What about coo-eeing, Jim? He might hear a +shout and answer it, even if he couldn't see us." + +"Yes, but you can't keep coo-eeing all the time," said Jim, +practically. "I'll tell you what--sing or whistle. You can do that +easily, and it doesn't tire you. And of course, if you find him, fire +the revolver--you're sure you've got it carefully?" + +"Yes, it's all right," Norah replied, showing the revolver in its neat +leather case. Jim and her father had taught her its use long ago, and +she understood it quite well. Mr. Linton held the view that all women +in the bush should know how to handle fire arms, since the bush is a +place where no one ever knows exactly what may turn up, from burglars +to tiger snakes. "Fire three times in the air, isn't it, Jim?" + +"Yes, that's right. Go on then, kiddie, and do take care!" Jim's voice +was strained with anxiety and wretchedness. While Norah was full of +hope, and, indeed, could scarcely realize that they might not find Dad +soon, the boy had the memory of the fruitless search all the previous +day to dispirit him. As he looked at the forbidding wall of green +scrub, his feeling was almost one of despair. + +It did not take long for Norah to realize the difficulty of their task. +She beat up and down among the trees, striving to keep an eye in every +direction, since any one of the big stumps, any clump of brushwood, any +old log or little knoll or grassy hollow might hide the one she +sought--unable, perhaps, to see her or call to her even should she pass +in his sight. She remembered Jim's advice, and began to sing; but the +words died in her throat, and ended in something more like a sob. +Whistling was more possible, and mechanically she took up a tune that +Wally used to sing, and whistled it up and down the scrub as she went. +Soon she did not know that she was doing so; but years after she used +to shudder within herself if she heard that foolish little tune. + +The men came out a little later, and soon the scrub was alive with +voices and the noise of the searching. It was weary work, with many a +flutter at the heart when a sudden call would bring Norah to attention, +rigid and listening--forgetting for the moment that only the three +signals agreed upon were to give evidence of success. Hour after hour +went by. + +They had settled a certain signal to meet for lunch, and when it +finally summoned them the searchers struggled out of the bush one by +one. Jim's heart smote him as he saw Norah's white face, and he begged +her to cease; to stay resting during the hot afternoon, even if she +would not go home. Norah shook her head dully. She could not do it; and +Jim, knowing how he would have felt were he in her place, did not press +her, although he was miserably anxious. They sat down together on an +old log, finding a shred of comfort in each other's nearness. + +It was a silent party that gathered round when black Billy had the big +quart pots of tea ready. No one seemed to have anything to say. Norah +thought, with a catch at her heart, of the last time they had picnicked +in the scrub; the happy talk and laughter, the dear foolish jokes and +merriment. This was indeed a strange picnic--each man eating rapidly and +in silence, and everywhere stern preoccupied faces. There was no +waiting afterwards for the usual "smoke oh"; the men sprang up as soon +as the hurried meal was over, and lit their pipes as they strode away. +Soon the temporary camp was deserted--black Billy, the last to leave, +muttering miserably to himself, hurrying back into the bush. The search +went on. + +There was no riding in the afternoon; they were in country where the +tangle of dogwood and undergrowth was so thick that to take a horse +through it meant only lost time, and hindered the thoroughness of the +quest. Norah fought her way through, keeping her line just as the men +kept theirs; her white coat stained and torn now, her riding skirt +showing a hundred rents, her boots cut through in many places. She did +not know it; there was only room in her heart for one thought. When, +while waiting for lunch, she had heard Dave Boone say something in an +angry undertone about Bobs, she had wondered dully for a moment what he +meant. She had forgotten even Bobs. + +The hours went by, and the sun drooped towards evening. In the dark +heart of the scrub the gloom came early, making each shadow a place of +mystery that gave false hope to the searchers a hundred times. +Gradually it was too dark to look any more; for that day also they must +give it up--the third since Monarch had broken free from his master and +left him lying somewhere in the green fastness about them. There +scarcely seemed a yard of it left unsearched. Despair was written on +most of the faces as the men came one by one to their horses and rode +home, picking up on their way those who were still beating the bush as +far as the Billabong boundary. + +Jim and Norah were the last to leave. They came back to the horses +together, Tait at their heels, his head and tail down. Norah was +stumbling blindly as she walked, and Jim's arm was round her. He put +her up, and turned silently to unfasten his own bridle. + +"Jim," she said, and stopped. "Jim, do you think we'll find him in--in +time?" + +Jim hesitated, trying to bring himself to say what he dared no longer +think. Then he gave way suddenly. + +"No," he said, hoarsely, "I don't; I don't believe we ever will!" He +put his head down on the saddle and sobbed terribly--dry, hard sobs that +came from the bottom of his big heart. And Norah had no word of +comfort. She sat still on Sirdar, staring in front of her. + +Presently Jim stood up and climbed into the saddle, and the impatient +horses moved off quickly towards home, Tait jogging at their heels. +Once Jim turned towards his sister, saying, "Are you quite knocked up, +old girl?" Norah only shook her head--she did not know that she was +tired. Neither spoke again. + +It was perhaps a mile further on that Norah pulled up sharply, and +whistled to Tait. The collie had slipped off into the undergrowth--she +could hear him moving on dry sticks that crackled beneath him. He +whined a little, but did not come. + +"Don't wait," Jim said. "He'll catch us up in a minute." + +"He always comes if I whistle," Norah answered, her brow puckering. "I +don't understand. Wait a moment, Jim." She had slid off her pony and +followed Tait almost before Jim realized that she was gone. + +The dog was nosing along a big log, the ruff on his neck bristling. As +Norah saw him he leaped upon it, and down on the other side. Then she +heard him bark sharply, and flung herself over the log after him. He +was licking something that lay in the shadows, almost invisible at +first, until the dim light showed a white glimmer. It was instinct more +than sight that told Norah it was her father's face. + +"Daddy--oh, Dad!" + +The wild cry turned Jim to stone for a moment--then he was off his horse +and through the scrub like a madman to where Norah knelt beside the +still form, sobbing and talking incoherently, and screwing blindly at +the cap of the flask she carried. They forced a little of the stimulant +between the set teeth, once a terrified examination had told them that +he still breathed; then Jim struck match after match, trying to see the +extent of his injuries--a hopeless task by the flickering light that +lasted only an instant. He put the box in his pocket at last. + +"It's no good," he said, "we can't see. Wonder if the men are out of +hearing." Running to the horses, standing patiently with trailing +bridles, he fired off all his revolver shots in quick succession, and +coo-ed again and again. Then he went back to where Norah sat in the +darkness and held her father's hand. + +"Don't wait," she said. "I'm sure they're out of hearing, Jim, darling. +And we couldn't dare to move him by ourselves. Tear in and bring the +men--and send for the doctor." + +"I don't like to leave you here alone," he said, anxiously. + +"Alone!" Norah said, in amazement. "But I've got Dad!" + +"Yes," he said, "but--" + +"Oh, do fly, Jimmy!" she said. "Leave me the matches. I'm all right." + +She heard him crash back to the horses, and then the swift thud of +Nan's hoofs grew fainter and fainter as he spurred her madly over the +rough ground, galloping off for help. The darkness seemed all at once +to be more complete, and the scrub to come closer, like a curtain round +them--round her and Dad, who was found again. She put her ear close to +his mouth--the breathing was a little more distinct, and so far as she +could tell his head was uninjured. One leg was doubled up beneath him +in an ugly manner. Norah knew she must not try to move it; but even in +the darkness she was sure that it was badly hurt, and the tears were +falling on David Linton's face as Norah crept back after her +examination. It was horrible to see Dad, of all people, helpless and +still. + +Perhaps it was the tears that woke him from his stupor. He stirred a +little, and groaned. At the sound, Norah, on her knees beside him, +trembled very exceedingly, with a mixture of joy and fear that almost +took her breath. She spoke softly. + +"Dad!" + +"Is it--you?" said David Linton, weakly. The darkness hid his face, but +to hear his voice again was wonderful; and Norah's hands shook as she +wrestled with the flask. + +"Yes, it's me," she said. "Oh, Dad, dear old Dad, are you much hurt?" + +"I don't know." The voice was very faint. Her fears surged back. + +"Try to drink some of this--it's weak, and you won't choke," she said. +"Is your head hurt, Daddy? Could I lift it a little?" + +"Not hurt," he managed to say. So she groped in the darkness to lift +the heavy head, and together they made a sorry business of the flask, +spilling far more than he drank. Still, some went the right way; and +presently he spoke again, his voice stronger. + +"I knew you'd come... mate." + +"Tait found you," she said. "And Jim was here, but he's gone for the +men. We'll take care of you, Daddy. Could I move you any way to help?" + +"Better not," he said. "Just--be there." His hand closed on hers, and he +seemed to slip off into unconsciousness again, for when she spoke to +him he did not answer. So Norah sat and held his hand; and the night +crept on. + +"Coo-ee!" Far off a shout. She slipped her hand away gently, and ran a +little way before answering, lest the cry should startle him. Then she +shouted with all her strength; and soon the beat of hoofs came nearer +and out of the darkness Jim came back, Murty galloping with him. + +"He's spoken," said Norah; "but he's gone off again. And he's had some +whisky." + +"Did he know you?" + +"Yes; but he's terribly weak." They were all beside Mr. Linton now, and +Murty struck a match, and carefully shading it, scanned the fallen +man's face by its glimmer. Norah saw his own change as he looked. Then +the match went out, and for a moment it was darker than ever. + +"They're bringing things," Jim said. He took off his coat and spread it +over his father, and Murty did the same. "And the doctor's coming--it's +wonderful luck--he came out from Cunjee with Wally." Jim put his hand on +Norah's. "Were you all right, old kiddie?" + +"Quite right," said she. Then they waited silently until a rattle of +wheels came as the express wagon clattered up. Murty went out to the +track to bring the doctor in. + +Dr. Anderson cast a glance at Norah by the light of the lanterns they +had brought, and spoke to Jim. + +"Take her away," he said. "I don't want you, either. Murty and Boone +will help me." So the two who were only children wandered off into the +scrub together, sitting on a log, silently, in sick anxiety, while the +doctor was busy. A groan came to them once, and Norah shuddered and put +her face into her hands, while Jim, who had himself shivered at the +sound, put his arm round her, and tried to whisper something, only his +voice would not come. Then--ages later, it seemed--the doctor's voice: + +"Are you two there?" + +They hurried to him. + +"We'll get him home," the doctor said. "A risk, moving him; but it's +worse to leave him lying under that log. The men are getting some of +the dogwood down, so that we can carry him out better. He's badly +knocked about, but his head's all right. The leg is the worst; it's +fractured in two places. You'll have a patient for a good while, +Norah." + +"Then--then he won't die?" + +"Die?" said the doctor. "Not a bit of it! He'll--ah, you poor child!" +For Norah had turned and clung to Jim, and was sobbing, while the big +fellow who bent over her and patted her was himself unable to speak. +Little Dr. Anderson patted them both, and choked himself, though he hid +it professionally with a cough. He remarked afterwards that he had not +known that young Norah Linton could cry. + +It was only for a minute, though. The men came back carrying a +stretcher, and Norah and Jim sprang to help. Very gently they lifted +David Linton's unconscious form, and the four bore him slowly to the +wagon, Norah backing in front with two lanterns to light every step. + +"Chancy work through them dorgwood spikes," said Dave Boone. But they +came out safely, and got him into the wagon, where a mattress was in +readiness. The doctor heaved a sigh of relief when the business was +done. So they took him home, the grey horses pulled into a slow walk, +while Jim and Norah rode ahead to find the smoothest track. + +It was past midnight when the lights of the homestead came into view; +but everywhere Billabong was up. The men were round the open gate of +the yard, from Andy Ferguson, the tears running unheeded down his old +face, to Lee Wing, for once without his wide benevolent smile, and in +the background Lal Chunder's dark face. Beyond them was Mrs. Brown, +with the pale-faced girls behind her. There were a score of willing +hands to bring David Linton into his home. + +A little later Jim came out to where Norah waited in the hall, a little +huddled figure in one corner of a leather armchair. + +"He's quite comfortable," he said; "hasn't spoken, but the doctor says +it's a natural sleep, and Brownie and he are going to sit with him. Old +kiddie, are you awfully tired?" + +"I'm not tired one bit!" said Norah, with no idea that she was not +speaking the exact truth. + +"H'm!" said Jim, looking at her. He went into the dining-room, +returning a minute later with a glass of wine. + +"You're to have this," he said authoritatively, "and then I'm going to +put you to--" + +He broke off, looking at her with a little smile on his tired face. +Norah had put her head down on the arm of the big chair, and was fast +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MATES + + The sleepy river murmurs low, + And far away one dimly sees, + Beyond the stretch of forest trees, + Beyond the foothills dusk and dun, + The ranges sleeping in the sun. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Autumn was late that year at Billabong, and the orchard trees were +still green, though a yellow leaf showed here and there in the Virginia +creeper, as David Linton lay on the verandah and looked out over the +garden. From his couch he could see the paddock beyond, and here and +there the roan hides of some of his Shorthorns. They did not generally +graze there; but Jim had brought some into the paddock the day before, +remarking that he was certain his father would recover much more +quickly if he could see a bullock now and then. So they grazed, and lay +about in the yellow grass, and David Linton watched them contentedly. + +From time to time Mrs. Brown's comfortable face peeped out from door or +window, with an inquiry as to her master's needs; but he was not an +exacting patient, and usually met her with a smile and "Nothing, +Brownie, thanks--don't trouble about me." Lee Wing came along, +shouldering a great coil of rubber hose like an immense grey snake, and +stopped for a cheerful conversation in his picturesque English; and +Billy, arriving from some remote corner of the run, left his horse at +the gate and came up to the verandah, standing a black statue in shirt, +moleskins and leggings, his stockwhip over his arm, while Mr. Linton +asked questions about the cattle he had been to see. Afterwards Mrs. +Brown brought out tea, having met and routed with great slaughter +Sarah, who was anxious to have the honour that up to to-day had been +Norah's alone. + +"It's dull for you, sir," she said. "No mistake, it do make a +difference when that child's not in the house!" + +"No doubt of that," Mr. Linton said. "But I'm getting on very well, +Brownie, although I certainly miss my nurses." + +"Oh, we can make you comferable an' all that," Brownie said, +disparagingly. "But when it comes to a mate, we all know there ain't +any one for you like Miss Norah--though I do say Master Jim's as handy +in a sick-room as that high-flown nurse from Melbourne ever was--I'm +glad to me bones she's gone!" said Brownie, in pious relief. + +"So am I," agreed the squatter hastily. "Afraid I don't take kindly to +the imported article--and I'm perfectly certain Norah and she nearly +came to blows many times." + +"An' small wonder," said Brownie, her nose uplifted. "Keepin' her out +of your room, if you please--or tryin' to--till Miss Norah heard you +callin' her, an' simply came in at the winder! An' callin' her 'ducksy +bird.' I ask you, sir," said Brownie, indignantly, "is 'ducksy bird' +the thing anybody with sense'd be likely to call Miss Norah?" + +"Poor Norah!" said Mr. Linton, laughing. "She didn't tell me of that +indignity." + +"Many a trile Miss Norah had with that nurse as I'll dare be sworn, +she'd never menshin to you, sir," Brownie answered. "She wouldn't let a +breath of anything get near you that'd worry you. Why, it was three +weeks and more before she'd let you be told about Bobs!" + +David Linton's brow darkened. + +"I couldn't have done any good, of course," he said. "But I'm sorry I +couldn't have helped her at all over that bad business. Well, I hope +Providence will keep that young man out of my path in future!" + +"An' out of Billabong," said Brownie with fervour. "Mr. Cecil's safer +away. I guess even now he'd have a rough time if the men caught him--an' +serve him right!" + +"He seems penitent," Mr. Linton said, "and even his mother wrote about +him more in sorrow than in anger. The atmosphere of admiration in which +he has always lived seems to have cooled, which should be an uncommonly +good thing for Cecil. But I don't want to see him." + +"Nor more don't any of us," Brownie said, wrathfully. "Billabong had +enough of Mr. Cecil. Dear sakes!--when I think of him clearin' away from +Miss Norah that night, an' what might have 'appened but for that +blessed 'eathen, Lal Chunder, I don't feel 'ardly Christian, that I +don't! Not as she ever made much of it--but--poor little lamb!" + +Mr. Linton's face contracted, and Brownie left the topic hastily. It +always agitated the invalid, who had indeed only been told of Norah's +night adventure because of the risk of his hearing of it suddenly from +outsiders or a newspaper. The district had seethed over the child's +peril, and Lal Chunder had found himself in the embarrassing position +of a hero--which by no means suited that usually mild-mannered Asiatic. +He had developed a habit of paying Billabong frequent, if fleeting, +calls; apparently for the sole purpose of looking at Norah, for he +rarely spoke. There was no guest more welcome. + +Presently Murty O'Toole and Dave Boone came round the corner of the +verandah. + +"Masther Jim gev special insthructions not to be later'n half-past four +in takin' y' in, sir," said the Irishman. "The chill do be comin' in +the air afther that, says he. An' Miss Norah towld me to be stern wid +ye!" + +"Oh, did she?" said Norah's father, laughing. "Well, I suppose I'd +better be meek, Murty, if the orders are so strict--though it's warm +enough out here still." + +"The cowld creeps up from thim flats," Murty said, judicially. "An' +whin y' are takin' things aisy--well, y' are apt to take a cowld aisy as +well." + +"I'm certainly taking things far too easy for my taste," Mr. Linton +said, smiling ruefully. "Five weeks on my back, Murty!--and goodness +knows how much ahead. It doesn't suit me." + +"I will admit there's some on the station 'twould suit betther," Murty +answered. "Dave here, now--sure, he shines best whin he's on his back! +an' I can do a bit av that same meself. ("You can that!" from the +outraged Mr. Boone.) But y' had the drawback to be born widout a lazy +bone in y'r body, so 'tis a hardship on y'. There is but wan thing +that's good in it, as far as th' station sees." + +"What's that, Murty?" + +"Mrs. Brown here do be tellin' me Miss Norah's not to go away--an' +there's not a man on the place but slung up his hat!" said the +Irishman. "Billabong wouldn't be the same at all widout the little +misthress--we had a grudge agin that foine school in Melbourne, so we +had. However, it's all right now." He beamed on his master. + +"Only a postponement, I'm afraid, Murty," said that gentleman, who +beamed himself, quite unconsciously. + +"Yerra, it's no good lookin' ahead--time enough to jump over the bridge +when y' come to it," said Murty, cheerfully. "Annyhow, she'll not be +lavin' on us yit. Well, if y' are ready, sir?" He nodded to Boone and +took up his position at the head of Mr. Linton's couch. + +"I'll go into the dining-room," the squatter said, as they carried him +gently into the hall. "Put me near the window, boys--no, the one looking +down the track. That's all right," as his couch came to anchor in the +bay of a window that gave a clear view of the homestead paddock. He +chatted to them awhile longer before wishing them good-night. + +The stockmen tramped out, making violent efforts to be noiseless. + +"Whisht, can't y'?" said Murty, indignantly, as Dave cannoned into a +chair in the hall. "Have y' not got anny manners at all, thin, Davy? +wid' him lyin' there, an' good luck to him! Did y' see how he made us +put his sofy in that square little winder?" + +"Why?" asked the slower Mr. Boone. + +"An' what but to see the first glimpse av them kids comin' home? Y' do +be an ass, Davy!" said Murty, pleasantly. "Begob, 'tis somethin' f'r a +man's eyes to see how Miss Norah handles that bay horse!" + +Left to himself, David Linton made a pretence at reading a paper, but +his eyes were weary, and presently the sheet crackled to the floor, and +lay unheeded. Brownie, coming in softly, thought he had fallen asleep, +and tiptoed to the couch with a light rug, which she drew over him. +They handled him very carefully; although his clean, hard life had +helped him to make a wonderful recovery, his injuries had been severe; +and it would be many weeks yet before he could use his leg, even with +crutches. The trained nurse from Melbourne, who had been more or less a +necessary evil, or, as Jim put it, "an evil necessary," had been +dispensed with a week before; and now he had as many attendants as +there were inhabitants of Billabong, with Norah as head nurse and +Brownie as superintendent, and Jim as right-hand man. Once there had +been a plan that Jim should go North, for other experience, after +leaving school. But it was never talked of now. + +This was the first day, since they had brought her father home, that +Norah had been induced to leave him; and then it had taken a command on +his part to make her go. She was growing pale and hollow-eyed with the +long watching. + +Dr. Anderson, whose visits were becoming rarer, had prescribed a tonic, +which Norah had taken meekly, and without apparent results. + +"The tonic she wants is her own old life," Brownie had said. "Stickin' +inside the house all day! it's no wonder she's peakin' and pinin'. Make +her go out, sir." So David Linton had asserted himself from his couch; +and Jim had taken Norah for a ride over the paddocks, and to call for +the mail at the Cross Roads, where the Billabong loose bag was left by +the coach three times a week. + +He was lying with his eyes fixed on the track when they came out of the +trees; both horses at a hand gallop and pulling double. Norah was on +Garryowen, her face flushed and laughing, her head thrown back a little +as the beautiful bay reefed and plunged forward, enjoying the speed as +much as his rider. Jim was a length or so behind on Monarch, whose one +ambition at that moment was, in Murty's words, "to get away on him." It +was plain that the boy was exulting in the tussle. The sunlight gleamed +on the black horse's splendid side as they dashed up the track. + +As yet there had been no talk openly of a successor to Bobs--that wound +was still too sore. For the present Norah was to ride Garryowen, since +Monarch was far too frivolous to stand a long spell; Jim would handle +him for the months that must elapse before his father was in the saddle +again. Later on, Jim and Mr. Linton had great plans for something very +special--a new pony that would not disgrace Bobs' memory, and that would +fit the unused rug with the scarlet B that lay locked away in Norah's +wardrobe. Other things were locked away in her heart; she never spoke +of Bobs. But the two who were her mates knew. + +The swift hoofs came thudding up the track and scattered the gravel by +the gate; then there was silence for a moment, voices and laughter, and +quick footsteps, and Jim and Norah came in together, their faces +glowing. + +"How did you get on, Dad? Were we long?" + +"Long!" said David Linton, whose face had grown suddenly contented. +"The conceit of some people! Why, I had so much attention paid me that +I scarcely noticed you had gone." He put up one hand and took Norah's +as she sat on the arm of his couch. "But I'm glad you're back," he +added. They smiled at each other. + +"Conceit's bad enough," said Jim, grinning, "but insanity's worse. Had +the maddest ride of my life, Dad--my poor old Garryowen's absolutely +cowed, and has no tail left to speak of!" He ducked to avoid a cushion +from his sister. "It's a most disastrous experiment to keep Norah off a +horse for five weeks!" + +"We won't repeat it," said her father, "not that Garryowen seemed to be +suffering from nervous prostration as he came up the paddock--or Monarch +either! Any letters?" + +"One from Wally," Norah cried, "poor old boy. He says school is horrid +without Jim, and he's collar-proud, and they lost the match last +Saturday--he carried out his bat for thirty-seven, though!--and he misses +Billabong, and he sends his love and all sorts of messages to you, Dad. +I guess Brownie and I will fix up a hamper for him," concluded Norah, +pensively, weighing in her mind the attractions of plum or seed cake, +and deciding on both. "And mice pies," she added, aloud. + +"What?" said her father, staring. "Oh, I see. Any other mail?" + +"Oh, the usual pile for you, Dad. Agents' letters and bills and things. +Jim has them. We didn't bring the papers." + +"I should think not!" returned her father. "If I catch either of you +carrying loose papers on those horses--well, one broken leg is enough in +a family of this size!" + +"Too much respect for Monarch, to say nothing of my legs," said Jim, +laconically, producing a handful of letters. "There you are, Dad; +that's all. Do you want anything? I'm going down to the little paddock +for a lesson in bullock driving from Burton." + +"How are you getting on in the art?" asked his father, smiling. + +"Oh, slowly. My command of language doesn't seem to be sufficient, for +so far the team looks on me with mild scorn." Jim grinned. "It's +nervous work for Joe, too. I got him with the tail of the whip +yesterday, when I'd every intention of correcting old Ranger! However, +I plod on, and Joe keeps well out of the way now. He yells instructions +at me from some way back in the landscape!" + +"Prudent man, Burton," laughed his father. "A good tutor, too. I don't +know that I ever saw a man handle bullocks better. Most people don't +credit bullocks with souls, but I think Joe gets nearer to finding that +attribute in his beasts than the average driver, and with less +expenditure of energy and eloquence! He's like the man we were reading +about, North: + + "As to a team, over gully and hill, + He can travel with twelve on the breadth of a quill!" + + +"Oh, COULD he?" asked Jim, with much interest. "Well, the width of the +paddock doesn't seem more than enough for me, so far. We wobble +magnificently, the team and I! However, I keep hoping! I'd better be +going. Sure you don't want me, Dad?" + +"Not just now, old chap." + +"Well, I'll be back before long." He smiled at his father and Norah, +swinging out over the window ledge, and whistling cheerily until his +long legs had carried him out of sight. + +"He'll be a good man on the place, Norah." + +"Why, of course," said Norah, a little surprised that statement should +be made of so evident a fact. "Murty says he's 'takin' howld wid' both +hands, an' 'tis the ould man over agin,' though it's like Murty's cheek +to call you that. You won't be able to let him go away, I believe, +Dad." + +"I don't see myself sparing him to any other place now," said Mr. +Linton. "Nor the head nurse either!" + +Norah slipped down beside him. + +"I've been thinking," she said, a little anxiously. "It's been so +lovely to think of no old school until midwinter--but I'd go sooner--when +you're quite well--if you're worried really, Dad. I don't want to be a +duffer--and of course I don't know half that other girls know." + +"Jim will be able to keep you from going back, I expect," her father +said, watching the troubled face. "He won't be exactly a stern tutor, +and possibly lessons may be free and easy; still, after all, Jim was a +prefect, and the handling of unruly subjects is probably not unknown to +him." + +"If Jim attempts to be a prefect with me," said Norah, "things will be +mixed!" She laughed, but the line came back into her forehead. "It's +not the lessons I was thinking of, Dad." + +"Then what is it?" + +"Oh, all the other things I don't know that other girls do. Do you +think it really matters, Dad? I know perfectly well I don't do my hair +properly--" + +"I seem to like it." + +"And I can't talk prettily--you know, like Cecil did; and I don't know a +single blessed thing about fancywork! I'd--I'd hate you to be ashamed of +me, Dad, dear!" + +"Ashamed?" He held her close; and when he spoke again there was +something in his voice that made Norah suddenly content. + +"Little mate!" was all he said. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG *** + +***** This file should be named 4050.txt or 4050.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/5/4050/ + +Produced by Col Choat. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by Col Choat colchoat@yahoo.com.au + + +This etext was first created as part of the BUILD-A-BOOK Initiative at the +Celebration of Women Writers through the combined work of: Carmen Baxter, +Brenda Lambey, Elizabeth Morton, Jessie Hudgins, Mary Crosson, Mary Nuzzo, +Nick Rezmerski, Patricia Heil, Patsy Edmonds, Steve Callis, +Tami Hutchinson, Velvet Van Bueren, and Mary Mark Ockerbloom. +http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/writers.html + + + + + +Title: MATES AT BILLABONG. +Author: Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958). + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I NORAH'S HOME +CHAPTER II TOGETHER +CHAPTER III BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION +CHAPTER IV CUTTING OUT +CHAPTER V TWO POINTS OF VIEW +CHAPTER VI COMING HOME +CHAPTER VII JIM UNPACKS +CHAPTER VIII A THUNDERSTORM +CHAPTER IX THE BILLABONG DANCE +CHAPTER X CHRISTMAS +CHAPTER XI "LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" +CHAPTER XII OF POULTRY +CHAPTER XIII STATION DOINGS +CHAPTER XIV CUNJEE v. MULGOA +CHAPTER XV THE RIDE HOME +CHAPTER XVI A CHILD'S PONY +CHAPTER XVII ON THE HILLSIDE +CHAPTER XVIII BROTHER AND SISTER +CHAPTER XIX THE LONG QUEST +CHAPTER XX MATES + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +NORAH'S HOME + + + The grey old dwelling, rambling and wide, + With the homestead paddocks on either side, + And the deep verandahs and porches tall + Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Billabong homestead lay calm and peaceful in the slanting rays of the +sum that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden in +the surrounding trees--pine and box and mighty blue gums towering above +the tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of the +Virginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls. +If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under the +touch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern bay +window to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but from +the paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and the +mellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance of +rippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon--too +lazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the reed-fringed water. +Towards it a flight of black swans winged slowly, with outstretched +necks, across a sky of perfect blue. Their leader's note floated down, +as if in answer to the magpies that carolled in the pine trees by the +stables. The sound seemed to hang in the still air. + +Beyond the tennis-court, in the farther recesses of the garden, a +hammock swung between two grevillea trees, whose orange flowers made a +gay canopy overhead; and in the hammock Norah swayed gently, and +knitted, and pondered. The shining needles flashed in and out of the +dark blue silk sock. Outsiders--mothers of prim daughters, whom Norah +pictured as finding their wildest excitement in "patting a doll"--were +wont to deplore that the only daughter of David Linton of Billabong was +brought up in an eccentric fashion, less girl than boy; but outsiders +are apt to cherish delusions, and Norah was not without her share of +gentle accomplishments. Knitting was one; the sock grew quickly in the +capable brown fingers that could grip a stock-whip as easily as they +handled the needles. All the while, she was listening. + +About her the coo of invisible doves fell gently, mingling with the +happy droning of bees in the overhead blossoms. Somewhere, not far off, +a sheep bell tinkled monotonously, the only outside sound in the +afternoon stillness. It was very peaceful. To Norah, who knew that the +world held no place like Billabong, it only lacked one person for the +final seal of perfection. + +"Wish Dad would come," she said aloud, puckering her brow over a knot +in the silk. "He's late--and it is jolly dull without him." The knot +came free, and the needles raced as though making up for lost time. + +Two dogs lay on the grass: a big sleepy collie that only moved +occasionally to snap at a worrying fly; and an Irish terrier, plainly +showing by his restlessness that he despised a lazy life, and longed +for action. He caught his mistress's eye at last, and jumped up with a +little whine. + +"If YOU had the heel of a sock to turn, Puck," said Norah, "you'd be +more steady. Lie down, old man." + +Puck lay down again discontentedly, put his nose on his paws, and +feigned slumber, one restless eyelid betraying the hollowness of the +pretence. Presently he rolled over--and chancing to roll on a spiky +twig, rose with a wild yelp of annoyance. Across Norah's laugh came a +stock-whip crack; and the collie came to life suddenly, and sprang up, +as impatient as the terrier. Norah slipped out of the hammock. + +"There's Dad!" she said. "Come along!" + +She was tall for her fourteen years, and very slender--"scraggy," Jim +was wont to say, with the cheerful frankness of brothers. Norah bore +the epithet meekly--she held the view that it was better to be dead than +fat. There was something boyish in the straight, slim figure in the +blue linen frock--perhaps the quality was also to be found in a frank +manner that was the product of years of the Bush and open-air life. The +grey eyes were steady, and met those of others with a straight level +glance; the mouth was a little firm-set for her years, but the child +was revealed when it broke into smiles--and Norah was rarely grave. No +human power had yet been discovered to keep in order the brown curls. +Their distressed owner tied them back firmly with a wide ribbon each +morning; but the ribbon generally was missing early in the day, and +might be replaced with anything that came handy--possibly a fragment of +red tape from the office, or a bit of a New Zealand flax leaf, or haply +even a scrap of green hide. Anything, said Norah, decidedly, was better +than your hair all over your face. For the rest, a nondescript nose, +somewhat freckled, and a square chin, completed a face no one would +have dreamed of calling pretty. In his own mind her father referred to +it as something better. But then there was tremendous friendship +between the master of Billabong and his small daughter. + +The stock-whip cracked again, nearer home this time; and Norah crammed +the blue silk sock hastily into a little work-bag, and raced away over +the lawn, her slim black legs making great time across the buffalo +grass. Beside her tore the collie and Puck, each a vision of embodied +delight. They flashed round the corner of the house, scattered the +gravel on the path leading to the back, and came out into the yard as a +big black horse pulled up at the gate, and the tall man on his back +swung himself lightly to the ground. From some unseen region a black +boy appeared silently and led the horse away. Norah, her father, and +the dogs arrived at the gate simultaneously. + +"I thought you were never coming, Daddy," said the mistress of +Billabong, incoherently. "Did you have a good trip?--and how did Monarch +go?--and did you buy the cattle?--and have you had any dinner?" She +punctuated each query with a hug, and paused only for lack of breath. + +"Steady!" said David Linton, laughing. "I'm not a ready reckoner! I've +bought the bullocks, and Monarch went quite remarkably well, and yes, +I've had dinner, thank you. And how have you been getting on, Norah?" + +"Oh, all right," said his daughter. "It was pretty slow, of course--it +always is when you go away, Daddy. I worked, and pottered round with +Brownie, and went out for rides. And oh, Dad! ever so many letters--and +Jim's coming home next week!" She executed an irrepressible pirouette. +"And he's got the cup for the best average at the sports--best +all-around athlete that means, doesn't it? Isn't it lovely?" + +"That's splendid!" Mr. Linton said, looking as pleased as his daughter. +"And any school prizes?" + +"He didn't mention," Norah answered. "I don't suppose so, bless him! +But there's one thing pretty sickening--the boys can't come with him. +Wally may come later, but Harry has to go to Tasmania with his +father--isn't it unreasonable?" + +"I'm sorry he can't come, but on the whole I've a fellow feeling for +the father," said Jim's parent. "A man wants to see something of his +son occasionally, I suppose. And any news from Mrs. Stephenson?" + +"She's better," Norah answered, her face growing graver. "Dick wrote. +And there's a letter for you from Mrs. Stephenson, too. She says she's +brighter, and the sea-voyage was evidently the thing for her, 'cause +she's more like herself than at any time since--since my dear old Hermit +died." Norah's voice shook a little. "They expect to be in Wellington +all the summer, and perhaps longer." + +"It was certainly a good prescription, that voyage." Mr. Linton said. +"I don't think she would have been long in following her husband--poor +old chap!--if they had remained here. But one misses them, Norah." + +"Horrid," said Norah, with emphasis. "I miss her all the time--and it's +quite rum, Dad, but I do believe I miss lessons. Over five weeks since +I had any! Are you going to get me another tutor?" + +"We'll see," said her father. They were in the big dining-room by this +time, and he was turning over the pile of letters that had come during +his three days' absence from the station. "Any chance of tea, Norah?" + +"Well, rather!" said Norah. "You read your letters, and I'll go and +tell Sarah. And Brownie'll be wanting to see you. I won't be long, +Daddy." She vanished. + +A few minutes later Mr. Linton looked up from a letter that had put a +crease into his brow. A firm, flat step sounded in the hall, and Mrs. +Brown came in--cook and housekeeper to the homestead, the guide, +philosopher and friend of everyone, and the special protector of the +little motherless girl about whom David Linton's life centred. +"Brownie" was not a person lightly to be reckoned with, and her master +was wont to turn to her whenever any question arose affecting Norah. He +greeted her warmly now. + +"We're all glad to welkim you back, sirr," said Brownie. "As for that +blessed child, she's not like the same 'uman bein' when you're off the +place. Passed me jus' now in the passige, goin' full bat, an' turned +'ead over 'eels, she did--I didn't need to be told you'd got 'ome!" She +hesitated: "You heard from Mrs. Stephenson, sir?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Linton, glancing at the letter in his hand. "As I +thought--she confirms our opinion. I'm afraid there's no help for it." + +"I knew she would," said Mrs. Brown, heavily, a shadow falling onto her +broad. pleasant face. "Oh, I know there's no 'elp, sir--it has to be. +But--but--" She put her apron to her eyes. + +"We're really very lucky, I suppose," Mr. Linton said, in tones +distinctly unappreciative, at the moment, of any luck. "Mrs. Stephenson +has been a second mother to Norah, these two years--between you and her +I can't see that the child needed anything; and with Dick as tutor she +has made remarkable progress. Personally, I'd have let the arrangement +go on indefinitely. Now that they've had to leave us, however--" He +paused, folding up the letter slowly. + +"She couldn't stay 'ere, poor lady," Mrs. Brown said;" 'tain't in +reason she'd be able to after the old gentleman's death, with the place +full of memories an' all. An', of course, she'd want Mr. Dick along +with her. Anyway, the precious lamb's getting a big girl to be taught +only by a young gentleman--" and Brownie pursed up her lips, looking +such a model of all the proprieties that Mr. Linton smiled +involuntarily. + +"She's all right," he said shortly. "Of course, her aunt has been at me +for ever so long to send her to school." + +"Beggin' your pardon, sir, Mrs. Geoffrey don't know everythink," said +Mrs. Brown, bridling. "Her not havin' any daughters of 'er own, 'ow can +it be expected that she'd understand? An' town ladies can't never +compre'end country children, any'ow. Our little maid's jus' grown up +like a bush flower, an' all the better she is for it." + +"But the time comes for change, Brownie, old friend," said Mr. Linton. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Brown, "it do. But what the station'll do is more'n I +can see just at present--an' as for you, sir--an' let alone me--" Her +comfortable, fat voice died away, and the apron was at her eyes again. +"What'll Billabong be, with its little girl at school?" + +"At--WHERE?" asked Norah. + +She had come in with the tea-tray in her hands--a little flushed from +the fire, and her brown face alight with all the hundred-and-one things +she had yet to tell Daddy. On the threshold she paused, struck +motionless by that amazing speech. She looked a little helplessly from +one face to the other; and the two who loved her felt the same +helplessness as they looked back. It was not an easy thing to pass +sentence of exile from Billabong on Norah. + +"I--" said her father. "You see, dear--Dick having gone--you know, your +aunt--" He stopped, his tongue tied by the look in Norah's eyes. + +Brownie slipped into the breach. + +"You're so big now, dearie," she said, "so, big--and--and--" With this +lucid effort at enlightenment she put her apron fairly over her head +and turned away to the open window. + +But Norah's eyes were on her father. Just for a moment the sick sense +of bewilderment and despair seemed to crush her altogether. She had +realized her sentence in a flash--that the home that meant all the world +to her, and from which Heaven only differed in that Mother was there, +was to be changed for a new, strange world that would be empty of all +that she knew and loved. Vaguely she had always known that the blow +hung over her--now that it had fallen, for a moment there was no room +for any other thought. Her look, wide with grief and appeal, met her +father's. + +And then she realized slowly that he was suffering too--that he was +looking to her for the response that had never failed him yet. His +silence told her that this thing was unavoidable, and that he needed +her help. Mates such as they must stand by one another--that was part of +the creed that had grown up in Norah's heart. Daddy had always said +that no matter what happened he could rely upon her. She could not fail +him now. + +So, just as the silence in the room became oppressive, Norah smiled +into her father's eyes, and carefully put the tea-tray upon the table. + +"If you say it's got to be, well, that's all about it, Daddy," she +said. The voice was low, but it did not quiver. "Don't worry, darling; +it's all right. Sarah was out, and Mary goodness knows where, so I made +tea myself; I hope it's drinkable." She brought her father's cup to his +side and smiled at him again. + +"My blessed lamb!" said Mrs. Brown, hastily--and fled from the room. + +David Linton did not take the cup; instead he slipped his arm round the +childish body. + +"You think we can stand it, then?" he asked. "It's not you alone, +little mate; your old Dad's under sentence too." + +"I think that makes things a lot easier," said Norah, "'cause you and +I always do things together, don't we, Daddy? And--and--" Just for a +moment her lips trembled. "Must we, Dad?" + +He tightened his arm. + +"Yes, dear." + +There was a pause. + +"After Christmas?" + +"Yes--in February." + +"Then I've got nine weeks," said Norah, practically. "We won't talk +about it more than we can help, I think, don't you? Have your tea, +Daddy, or it'll be cold and horrid." She brought her own cup and sat +down on the arm of his chair. "How many bullocks did you buy?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +TOGETHER + + + And you and I were faithful mates. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +Afterwards--when the blow was a little less heavy as Norah grew +accustomed to it--they talked it over thoroughly. + +Norah's education, in the strict sense of the term, had only been +carried on for about two years. In reality it had gone on all her life, +spent mostly at her father's side; but that was the kind of education +that does not live between the covers of books. Together, David Linton +and his daughter had worked, and played and talked--much more of the +former condition than of either of the latter. All that the bush could +teach her Norah knew, and in most of the work of the station--Billabong +was a noted cattle-run--she was as handy as any of the men. Her father's +constant mate, every day shared with him was a delight to her. They +rode together, fished, camped and explored together; it was the rarest +occurrence for Mr. Linton's movements not to include Norah as a matter +of course. + +Yet there was something in the quiet man that had effectually prevented +any development of roughness in Norah. Boyish and offhand to a certain +extent, the solid foundation of womanliness in her nature was never far +below the surface. She was perfectly aware that while Daddy wanted a +mate he also wanted a daughter; and there was never any real danger of +her losing that gentler attribute--there was too much in her of the +little dead mother for that. Brownie, the ever watchful, had seen to it +that she did not lack housewifely accomplishments, and Mr. Linton was +wont to say proudly that Norah's scones were as light as her hand on +the horse's mouth. There was no doubt that the irregular side of her +education was highly practical. + +Two years before Fate had taken a new interest in Norah's development, +bringing as inmates of the homestead an old friend of her father's, +with his wife and son. The latter acted as Norah's tutor, and found his +task an easy one, for the untrodden ground of the little girl's brain +yielded remarkable results. To Mrs. Stephenson fell the work of gently +moulding her to womanly ways--less easy this, for while Norah had no +desire to be a tomboy, she was firmly of the opinion that once lessons +were over, she had simply no time to stay inside the house and be +proper. Still, the gentle influence told, imperceptibly softening and +toning her character, and giving her a standard by which to adapt +herself; and Norah was nothing if not adaptable. Then, six months +previously, the old man they all loved had quietly faded out of life; +and after he had gone his widow could no longer remain in the place +where he had died. She pined slowly, until Dick Stephenson, the son, +had taken her almost forcibly away. The unspoken fear that the parting +was not merely temporary had merged into certainty. Billabong would +know them no more. The question remaining was what to do with Norah. + +"I want you to have the school training," Mr. Linton said, when they +talked the matter over. "You must mix with other girls--learn to see +things from their point of view, and realize how many points of view +there are outside Billabong. Oh, I don't want you to think there are +any better "--he laughed at the vigorous shake of the brown curls--"but +the world has wider boundaries, and you must find them out. There are +other things, too"--vaguely--"dancing and deportment, and--er--the use of +the globes, and I think there's a thing called a blackboard, but I'm +not sure. Dick didn't know. In fact, there's a regulation mill, and I +suppose you must go through it--I don't feel afraid that they'll spoil +my little girl's individuality in the process." + +"Is it a big school, Daddy?" + +"Yes, I believe so. Several people I know send their girls there. And +it's a great place for sports, Norah. You'll like that. They're keen on +hockey and cricket and all sorts of things girls never dreamed about +when I was young. Possibly I may live to see you a slow bowler yet, and +playing in a match! Honestly, Norah, I believe you'll be very happy at +school." + +"And what'll you do, Daddy?" + +"I don't know," he said, heavily. "I told you I was under sentence." + +They sat awhile in silence. It was evening, and they were on the +verandah; Mr. Linton in a big basket chair, and Norah curled up at his +feet in the way she loved. She could not see his face--just then she did +not want to. She said nothing. The moon climbed up slowly, and the +frogs were merry in the lagoon. Far off the cry of a bittern boomed +across the flats. + +"Well, at least we've got nine weeks," Norah said at length. "Nine +weeks to be mates--and Jim'll be home next week, and he'll be mates, +too. Don't let's get blue about it, Daddy. It'll be so horrid when the +time comes, that it's no good letting it spoil these nine weeks. Can't +we try to forget it?" + +"We can try," said David Linton. + +"Course, we won't do it," Norah said. "But don't let's talk about it. +I'm going to put it out of my head as much as ever I can, and have this +time for just Billabong and us. Will you, Daddy?" + +"I'll do all I can, my girlie," said her father. "You mustn't start off +with any bad memories; we'll have the most crowded nine weeks of our +lives, and make a solemn resolve to 'buck up.' I'd like to plan +something for this week, but, upon my word, I'm too busy to play, +Norah. There's any amount to be done." + +"But I don't want to play," Norah said. "Work's good enough for ME, +Daddy, if I can work with you. Can't I come, too?" + +"I'll be exceedingly glad of your help," said her father--which was +exactly what Norah wanted him to say, and went far to cheer her. She +put the dismal future resolutely from her, and set out upon the present +with a heart as light as possible. + +It was never dull at Billabong. Always there were pets of all kinds to +be seen to. Mr. Linton laid no restriction on pets if they were +properly tended, and Norah had a collection as wide as it was beloved. +Household duties there were, too; but these could be left if +necessary--two adoring housemaids were always ready to step into the +breach if "business on the run" claimed Norah's attention. And beyond +the range of the homestead altogether there lay an enchanted region +that only she and Daddy shared--the wide and stretching plains of +Billabong dotted with cattle, seamed with creeks and the river, and +merging at the boundary into a long low line of hills. Norah used to +gaze at them from her window--sometimes purple, sometimes blue, and +sometimes misty grey, but always beautiful to the child who loved them. +Others might know Billabong--visit it, ride over it, exclaim at its +beauties; but Norah always felt that there were only two who really +understood and cared--Daddy and herself. + +Of course there was Jim--the big brother who was seventeen now, and just +about to leave school. Norah was immensely proud of him, and the +affection between them was a thing that never wavered. Jim loved +Billabong, too; but it was only to be expected that six years of school +in Melbourne would make something of a difference. He knew, in the +words of the old Roman, "There is a world elsewhere." But Norah knew no +world beyond Billabong. + +For all that, Jim was distinctly desirable as a brother. He had always +made a tremendous chum of Norah, and the friends he brought home found +they were expected to do the same. This might cause them surprise at +first, but they very soon found that "the kiddie" was quite excellent +as a mate, and could put them up to a good deal more than they usually +knew about the Bush. Norah was invariably Jim's first thought. He was a +big, quiet fellow, very like his father; not over-brilliant at books, +but a first-rate sport, and without a trace of meanness in his generous +nature. At school he was worshipped by the boys--was not he captain of +the football team, stroke of the eight, and best all-round athlete?--and +liked by the masters, who found him inclined to be careless over work +but absolutely reliable in every other way. Such a fellow does not win +scholarships, but he is a tower of strength to his school. + +For the week preceding Jim's return Norah and her father worked hard, +clearing up various odd jobs so that their time might be free when the +boy arrived. There was a quaint side to this, in that Jim would without +doubt have been delighted to help in any station work, which always +presented itself to him as "no end of a lark" after the strenuous life +at school. But it was a point of honour with those at home to leave +none of their work until the holidays and the last week was invariably +the scene of many labours. + +Not that there were not plenty of hands on the station. It was a big +run, and gave employment in one way or another to quite a band of men. +But Mr. Linton preferred to keep a very close watch over everything, +and he had long realized that the best way of seeing that your business +is done is to take a hand yourself. The men said, "The boss was +everywhere," and they respected him the more in that he was no +kid-glove employer, but was willing to share in any work that was going +forward. Especially he insisted on working among the cattle, and--Norah +was nearly always with him on his rides--they had a more or less +accurate knowledge of every beast on the place. Outside the boundary +fences they went very seldom; the nearest township, seventeen miles +away, Norah regarded as merely a place where you called for the mail, +and save that it meant a ride or drive with her father, she had never +the slightest desire to go there. + +Summer was very late that year, and "burning-off" operations on the +rougher parts of the run had been carried on much longer than was +generally possible. Norah always regarded "burning-off" as an immense +picnic, and used to beg her father to take her out. Night after night +found them down on the flats, getting rid of old dead trees, which up +to the present had refused obstinately to burn. It was picturesque +work, and Norah loved it, though she would have been somewhat +embarrassed had you hinted that the picturesqueness had anything to do +with its attractions. + +One after another, they would light the stumps, some squat and solid, +others rising thirty or forty feet into the air. Once the fires were +lit, it was necessary to keep them going; moving backwards and forwards +among the trees, stoking, picking up fallen bits of burning timber and +adding them to the fires, coaxing sullen embers into a blaze, edging +the fire round a tree, so that the wind might do its utmost in helping +the work--there were no idle moments for the "burners-off." Sometimes it +would be necessary to enlarge a crack or hole in a tough stump, to gain +a hold for the fire. Norah always carried a light iron bar, specially +made for her at the station forge, which she called her poker, and +which answered half a dozen purposes equally well, and though not an +ideal weapon for killing a snake, being too stiff and straight, had +been known to act in that capacity also. Every scrap of loose timber on +the ground would be picked up and added to the flames. Some stumps were +very obstinate and resisted all blandishments to burn; but careful +handling generally ensured the fate of the majority. + +There are few sights more weird, or more typically Australian, than a +paddock at night with burning-off in process. Low and high, the red +columns of fire stand in a darkness made blacker by their lurid glow. +Where the fire has taken hold fairly the flames are fierce, and showers +of sparks fall like streams of gold. Sometimes a dull crack gives +warning of the fall of a long-dead giant; and the burning mass leans +slowly over, and then comes down with a crash, while the curious +bullocks, which have poked as near as they dare to the strange scene, +fling round and lumber off in a heavy gallop, heads down and tails up. +From stump to stump flit the little black figures of the workers, +standing out clearly sometimes, by the light of a blaze so fierce that +to face it is scarcely possible; or half seen in the dull glow of a +smouldering tree poking vigorously--seeming as ants attacking living +monsters infinitely beyond their strength. Perhaps it is there that the +fascination of the work comes in--the triumph of conquering tons of +inanimate matter by efforts so small. At any rate it is always hard to +leave the scene of action, and certainly the first glance next morning +is to see "which are down." + +Then there were days spent among the cattle--days that always meant the +high-water mark of bliss to Norah. She road astride, and her special +pony, Bobs, to whom years but added perfection, loved the work as much +as she did. They understood each other perfectly; if Norah carried a +hunting-crop, it was merely for assistance in opening gates, for Bobs +never felt its touch. A hint from her heel, or a quick word, conveyed +all the big bay pony ever needed to supplement his own common sense, of +which Mr. Linton used to say he possessed more than most men. The new +bullocks arrived, and had to be drafted and branded--during which latter +operation Norah retired dismally to the house and the socks that had to +be finished in time to be Jim's Christmas present. Then, after the +branding, came a most cheerful time, putting the cattle into their +various paddocks. + +One day was spent in mustering sheep, an employment not at all to +Norah's taste. She was frankly glad that Billabong devoted most of its +energies to cattle, and only put up with the sheep work because, since +Daddy was there, it never occurred to her to do anything else but go. +But she hated the slow, dusty ride, and hailed with delight a gallop +that came in their way towards the end of the day, when a hare jumped +up under Bob's nose as they rode homewards from the yards. The dogs +promptly gave chase; and, almost without knowing it, Norah and Bobs +were in hot pursuit, with Monarch shaking the earth behind them. The +average sheep dog is no match for a hare, and the quarry easily escaped +into the next paddock, after a merry run. Norah pulled up, her eyes +dancing. + +"Don't you know it's useless to try to get a hare with those fellows?" +asked Mr. Linton, checking the reeking Monarch, and indicating with a +nod the dogs, which were highly aggrieved at their defeat. + +"But I never wanted to get it," said his daughter, in surprise. "It's +perfectly awful to get a hare; they cry just like a baby, and it makes +you feel horrid." + +"Then why did you go after it?" + +"Why?" asked Norah, opening her eyes. "Well, I knew the dogs couldn't +catch it--and I believe you wanted a gallop nearly as much as I did, +Daddy!" They laughed at each other, and let the impatient horses have +their heads across the cleared paddock to the homestead. + +There a letter awaited them. + +Norah, coming in to dinner in a white frock, with her curls unusually +tidy, found her father looking anything but pleased over a closely +covered sheet of thin notepaper. + +"I wish to goodness women would write legibly," he said, with some +heat. "No one on earth has any right to write on both sides of paper as +thin as this--and then across it! No one but your Aunt Eva would do +it--she always had a passion for small economies, together with one for +large extravagances. Amazing woman! Well, I can't read half of it, but +what she wants is unhappily clear." + +"She isn't coming here, Daddy?" + +"Saints forbid!" ejaculated Mr. Linton, who had a lively dread of his +sister--a lady of much social eminence, who disapproved strongly of his +upbringing of Norah. "No, she doesn't mention such an extreme course, +but there's something almost as alarming. She wants to send Cecil here +for Christmas." + +"Cecil! Oh, Daddy!" Norah's tone was eloquent. + +"Says he's been ill," said her father, glancing at the letter in a vain +effort to decipher a message written along one edge. "He's better, but +needs change, and she seems to think Billabong will prove a +sanatorium." He looked at Norah with an expression of dismay that was +comical. "I shouldn't have thought we'd agree with that young man a +bit, Norah!" + +"I've never seen him, of course," Norah said unhappily, "but Jim says +he's pretty awful. And you didn't like him yourself, did you, Daddy?" + +"On the rare occasions that I've had the pleasure of meeting my nephew +I've always thought him an unlicked cub," Mr. Linton answered. "Of +course it's eighteen months since I saw him; possibly he may have +changed for the better, but at that time his bumptiousness certainly +appeared to be on the increase. He had just left school then--he must be +nearly twenty now." + +"Oh--quite old," said Norah. "What is he like?" + +"Pretty!" said Mr. Linton, wrinkling his nose. "As pretty as his +name--Cecil--great Scott! I wonder if he'd let me call him Bill for +short! Bit of a whipper-snapper, he seemed; but I didn't take very much +notice of him--saw he was plainly bored by his uncle from the Bush, so I +didn't worry him. Well, now he's ours for a time your aunt doesn't +limit--more that that, if I can make a guess at these hieroglyphics, +I've got to send a telegram to say we'll have him on Saturday." + +"And this is Wednesday--oh, Dad!" expostulated Norah. + +"Can't be helped," her father said. "We've got to go through with it; +if the boy has been ill he must certainly have all the change we can +give him. But I'm doubtful. Eva says he's had a 'nervous breakdown,' +and I rather think it's a complaint I don't believe in for boys of +twenty." + +The dinner gong sounded. Amid its echoes Norah might have been heard +murmuring something about "nervous grandmother." + +"H'm," said her father, laughing; "I don't think he'll find much +sympathy with his more fragile symptoms in Billabong--we must try to +brace him up, Norah. But whatever will Jim say, I wonder!" + +"He'll be too disgusted for words," Norah answered. "Poor old Jimmy! I +wonder how they'll get on. D'you suppose Cecil ever played football?" + +"From Cecil's appearance I should say he devoted his time to +wool-work," said Mr. Linton. "However, it may not turn out as badly as +we think, and it's no use meeting trouble halfway, is it? Also, we've +to remember that he'll be our guest." + +"But that's the trouble," said Norah, laughing. "It wouldn't be half so +bad if you could laugh at him. I'll have to be so hugely polite!" + +"You'll probably shock him considerably in any case," said her father. +"Cecil's accustomed to very prim young ladies, and it's not at all +unlikely that he'll try to reform you!" + +"I wish him luck!" said Norah. But there was a glint in her eyes which +boded ill for Cecil's reformatory efforts + + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +A BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION + + + Quiet and shy, as the Bush girls are, + But ready-witted and plucky, too. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +The telegram assuring a welcome to Cecil Linton was duly dispatched, +and the fact of his impending arrival broken to Mrs. Brown, who sniffed +portentously, and gave without enthusiasm directions for the +preparation of his room. "Mrs. Geoffrey" was rather a bugbear to +Brownie, who had unpleasant recollections of a visit in the past from +that majestic lady. During her stay of a week, she had attempted to +alter every existing arrangement at Billabong--and when she finally +departed, in a state of profound disapproval, the relief of the +homestead was immense. Brownie was unable to feel any delight at the +idea of entertaining her son. + +Norah and her father made the utmost of their remaining time together. +Thursday was devoted to a great muster of calves, which meant unlimited +galloping and any amount of excitement; for the sturdy youngsters were +running with their mothers in one of the bush paddocks, and it was no +easy matter to cut them out and work them away from the friendly +shelter and refuge of the trees. A bush-reared calf is an irresponsible +being, with a great fund of energy and spirits--and, while Norah loved +her day, she was thoroughly tired as they rode home in the late +evening, the last straggler yarded in readiness for the branding next +day. Mr. Linton sent her to bed early, and she did not wake in the +morning until the dressing gong boomed its cheerful summons through the +house. + +Mr. Linton was already at breakfast when swift footsteps were heard in +the hall above; a momentary silence indicated that his daughter was +coming downstairs by way of the banisters, and the next moment she +arrived hastily. + +"I'm so sorry, Dad," Norah said, greeting him. "But I DID sleep! Let +me pour out your coffee." + +She brought the cup to him, investigated a dish of bacon, and slipped +into her place behind the tall silver coffee pot. + +"What are we going to do to-day, Dad?" + +"I really don't quite know," Mr. Linton said, smiling at her. "There +aren't any very pressing jobs on hand--we must cut out cattle to-morrow +for trucking, but to-day seems fairly free. Have you any ideas on the +subject of how you'd like to spend it? I've letters to write for a +couple of hours, but after that I'm at your disposal." + +Norah wrinkled her brows. + +"There are about fifty things I want to do," she said. "But most of +them ought to wait until Jim comes home." She thought for a moment. "I +don't want to miss any more time with Bobs than I have to--could we ride +over to the backwater, Dad, and muster up the cattle there? You know +you said you were going to do so, pretty soon." + +"I'd nearly forgotten that I had to see them," Mr. Linton said, +hastily. "Glad you reminded me, Norah. We'll have lunch early, and go +across." + +Norah's morning was spent in helping Mrs. Brown to compound Christmas +cakes--large quantities of which were always made and stored well before +Christmas, with due reference to the appetites of Jim and his friends. +Then a somewhat heated and floury damsel donned a neat divided riding +skirt of dark-blue drill, with a white-linen coat, and the collar and +tie which Norah regarded as the only reasonable neck gear, and joined +her father in the office. + +"Ready? That's right," said he, casting an approving glance at the trim +figure. "I've just finished writing, and the horses are in." + +"So's lunch," Norah responded. "It's a perfectly beautiful day for a +ride, Daddy--hurry up!" + +The day merited Norah's epithet, as they rode over the paddocks in the +afternoon. As yet the grass had not dried up, thanks to the late rains, +and everywhere a green sea rippled to the fences. Soon it would be dull +and yellow; but this day there was nothing to mar the perfection of the +carpet that gave softly under the horses' hoofs. The dogs raced wildly +before them, chasing swallows and ground-larks in the cheerfully +idiotic manner of dogs, with always a wary ear for Mr. Linton's +whistle: but as yet they were not on duty, and were allowed to run +riot. + +An old log fence stretched before them. It was the only one on +Billabong, where all station details were strictly up-to-date. This one +had been left, partly because it was picturesque, and partly at the +request of Jim and Norah, because it gave such splendid opportunities +for jumping. There were not many places on that old fence that Bobs did +not know, and he began to reef and pull as they came nearer to it. + +"I don't believe I'll be able to hold him in, Daddy!" said Norah, with +mock anxiety. + +"Not afraid, I hope?" asked her father, laughing. + +"Very--that you won't want to jump! I'd hate to disappoint him, +Daddy--may I?" + +"Oh, go on!" said Mr. Linton. "If I said 'no' the savage animal would +probably bolt!" He held Monarch back as Norah gave the bay pony his +head, and they raced for the fence; watching with a smile in his eyes +the straight little form in the white coat, the firm seat in the +saddle, the steady hand on the rein. Bobs flew the big log like a bird, +and Norah twisted in her saddle to watch the black horse follow. Her +eyes were glowing as her father came up. + +"I do think he loves it as much as I do!" she said, patting the pony's +neck. + +"He's certainly as keen a pony as I ever saw," Mr. Linton said. "How +are you going to manage without him, Norah?" + +Norah looked up, her eyes wide with astonishment. + +"Do without BOBS!" she exclaimed. "But I simply couldn't--he's one of +the family." Then her face fell suddenly, and the life died out of her +voice. "Oh--school," she said. + +The change was rather pitiful, and Mr. Linton mentally abused himself +for his question. + +"He'll always be waiting for you when you come home, dear," he said. +"Plenty of holidays--and think how fit he'll be! We'll have great rides, +Norah." + +"I guess I'll want them," she said. Silence fell between them. + +The scrub at the backwater was fairly thick, and the cattle had sought +its shade when the noonday sun struck hot. Well fed and sleek, they lay +about under the trees or on the little grassy flats formed by the bends +of the stream. Norah and her father separated, each taking a dog, and +beat through the bush, routing out stragglers as they went. The echoes +of the stock-whips rang along the water. Norah's was only a light whip, +half the length and weight of the one her father carried. It was +beautifully plaited--a special piece of work, out of a special hide; +while the handle was a triumph of the stockman's art. It had been a +gift to Norah from an old boundary rider whose whips were famous, and +she valued it more than most of her possessions, while long practice +and expert tuition had given her no little skill in its use, + +She worked through the scrub, keeping her eyes in every direction, for +the cattle were lazy and did not stir readily, and it was easy to miss +a motionless beast hidden behind a clump of dogwood or Christmas +bush--the scrub tree that greets December with its exquisite white +blossoms. When at length she came to the end of her division and drove +her cattle out of the shelter she had quite a respectable little mob to +add to those with which her father was already waiting. + +It was only to be a rough muster; rather, a general inspection to see +how the bullocks were doing, for the nearest stockyards were at the +homestead, and Mr. Linton did not desire to drive them far. He managed +to get a rough count along a fence--Norah in the rear, bringing the +bullocks along slowly, so that they strung out under their owner's eye. +Occasionally one would break out and try to race past him on the wrong +side. Bobs was as quick as his rider to watch for these vagrants, and +at the first hint of a breakaway he would be off in pursuit. It was +work the pair loved. + +"Hundred and thirty," said Mr. Linton, as the last lumbering beast +trotted past him, and, finding the way clear, with no harrowing +creatures to annoy him and head him back to his mates, kicked up his +heels and made off across the paddock. + +"Did any get behind me, Norah?" + +"No, Daddy." + +"That's a good girl. They look well, don't they?" + +Norah assented. "Did you notice how that big poley bullock had come on, +Dad?" + +"Yes, he's three parts fat," said Mr. Linton. "All very satisfactory, +and the count is only two short--not bad for a rough muster." + +They turned homewards, cantering quickly over the paddocks; the going +was too good, Norah said, to waste on walking; and it was a delight to +feel the long, even stride under one, and the gentle wind blowing upon +one's cheeks. As he rode, Mr. Linton watched the eager, vivid little +face, alight with the joy of motion. If Bobs were keen, there was no +doubt that his mistress was even keener. + +They crossed the log fence again by what Norah termed "the direct +route," traversed the home paddock, and drew up with a clatter of hoofs +at the stable yard. Billy, a black youth of some fame concerning +horses, came forward as they dismounted and took the bridles. But Norah +preferred to unsaddle Bobs herself and let him go; she held it only +civil after he had carried her well. She was leading him off when the +dusky retainer muttered something to her father. + +"Oh, all right, Billy," said Mr. Linton. "Norah, those fellows from +Cunjee have come to see me about buying sheep. I expect I shall have to +take them out to the paddock I don't think you'd better come." + +"All right, Dad." Sheep did not interest Norah very much. "I think I'll +go down to the lagoon." + +"Very well, don't distinguish yourself by falling in," said her father, +with a laugh over his shoulder as he hurried away towards the house. + +Left to herself, Norah paid a visit to Brownie in the kitchen, which +resulted in afternoon tea--there was never a bush home where tea did not +make its appearance on the smallest possible pretext. Then she slipped +off her linen jacket and brown leather leggings and, having beguiled +black Billy into digging her some worms, found some fishing tackle and +strolled down to the lagoon. + +It was a broad sheet of water, at one end thickly fringed with trees, +while in the shallower parts a forest of green, feathery reeds bordered +it, swaying and rustling all day, no matter how soft the breeze. The +deeper end had been artificially hollowed out, and a bathing box had +been built, with a springboard jutting out over the water. Under the +raised floor of the bathing box a boat was moored. Norah pulled it out +and dropped down into it, stowing her tin of worms carefully in the +stern. Then she paddled slowly into the deepest part of the lagoon, +baited her line scientifically, and began to fish. + +Only eels rewarded her efforts; and while eels are not bad fun to pull +out, Norah regarded them as great waste of time, since no one at +Billabong cared to eat them, and in any case she would not let them +come into the boat--for a good-sized eel can make a boat unpleasantly +slimy in a very short time. So each capture had to be carefully +released at the stern--not a very easy task. Before long Norah's white +blouse showed various marks of conflict; and being by nature a clean +person, she was rather disgusted with things in general. When at length +a large silver eel, on being pulled up, was found to have swallowed the +hook altogether, she fairly lost patience. + +"Well, you'll have to keep it," she said, cutting her line; whereupon +the eel dropped back into the water thankfully, and made off as though +he had formed a habit of dining on hooks, and, in fact, preferred them +as an article of diet. "I'm sure you'll have shocking indigestion," +Norah said, watching the swirl of bubbles. + +The boat had drifted some way down the lagoon, and a rustle told Norah +that they were near one of the reedy islands dotted here and there in +the shallows. There was very little foothold on them, but they made +excellent nesting places for the ducks that came to the station each +year. The boat grounded its nose in the soft mud, and Norah jumped up +to push it off. Planting the blade of the oar among the reeds, she +leant her weight upon it and shoved steadily. + +The next events happened swiftly. The mud gave way suddenly with a +suck, and the oar promptly slithered, burying itself for half its +length; and Norah, taken altogether by surprise, executed a graceful +header over the bow of the boat. The mud received her softly, and clung +to her with affection; and for a moment, face downward among the reeds, +Norah clawed for support, like a crab suddenly beached. Then, somehow, +she scrambled to a sitting position, up to her waist in mud and +water--and rocked with laughter. A little way off, the boat swayed +gently on the ruffled surface of the water. + +"Well--of all the duffers!" Norah said. She tried to stand, and +forthwith went up to one knee in the mud. Then, seeing that there was +no help for it, she managed to slip into deeper water--not very easy, +for the mud showed a deep attachment to her--and swam to the boat. To +get into it proved beyond her, but, fortunately, the bank was not far +off, and, though her clothes hampered her badly--a riding skirt is the +most inconvenient of swimming suits--she was as much at home as a duck +in the water, and soon got ashore. + +Then she inspected herself, standing on the grass, while a pool of +water rapidly widened round her. Alas, for the trim maiden of the +morning! soaked to the skin, her lank hair clinging round her face, her +collar a limp rag, the dye from her red silk tie spreading in artistic +patches on her white blouse! Over all was the rich black mud of the +lagoon, from brow to boot soles. Her hat, once white felt, was a sodden +black-streaked mass; even her hands and face were stiff with mud. + +"Thank goodness, Daddy's out!" said the soaked one, returning knee-deep +in the water to try and cleanse herself as much as might be--which was +no great amount, for lagoon mud defies ordinary efforts. She waded out, +still laughing; cast an apprehensive glance at the quarter from which +her father might be expected to return, and set out on her journey to +the house, the water squelching dismally in her boots at every step. + +In the garden at Billabong walked a slim youth in most correct attire. +His exquisitely tailored suit of palest grey flannel was set off by a +lavender-striped shirt, with a tie that matched the stripe. Patent +leather shoes with wide ribbon bows shod him; above them, and below the +turned-up trousers, lavender silk socks with purple circles made a very +glory of his ankles. On his sleek head he balanced a straw hat with an +infinitesimal brim, a crown tall enough to resemble a monument, and a +very wide hat band. His pale, well-featured face betrayed unuttered +depths of boredom. + +The click of the gate made him turn. Coming up the path was a figure +that might have been plaintive but that Norah was so immensely amused +at herself; and the stranger opened his pale eyes widely, for such +apparitions had not come his way. She did not see him for a moment. +When she did, he was directly in her path, and Norah pulled up short. + +"Oh !" she said weakly; and then--"I didn't know anyone was here." + +The strange youth looked somewhat disgusted. + +"I should think you'd--ah--better go round to the back," he said +condescendingly. "You'll find the housekeeper there." + +This time it was Norah's turn to be open-eyed. + +"Thanks," she said a little shortly. "Were you waiting to see anyone?" + +The boy's eyebrows went up. "I am--ah--staying here." + +"Oh, are you?" Norah said. "I didn't know. I'm Norah Linton." + +"You!" said the stranger. There was such a world of expression in his +tone that Norah flushed scarlet, suddenly painfully conscious of her +extraordinary appearance. Then--it was unusual for her--she became angry. + +"Did you never see anyone wet?" she asked, in trenchant tones. "And +didn't you ever learn to take your hat off?" + +"By Jove!" said the boy, looking at the truculent and mud-streaked +figure. Then he did an unwise thing, for he burst out laughing. + +"I don't know who you are," Norah said, looking at him steadily. "But I +think you're the rudest, worst-mannered boy that ever came here!" + +She flashed past him with her head in the air. Cecil Linton, staring +after her with amazement, saw her cross the red-tiled verandah +hurriedly and disappear within a side door, a trail of wet marks behind +her. + +"By Jove!" he said again. "The bush cousin!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +CUTTING OUT + + + And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view, + Well, you know, it's not so often that he sees a swell like you. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Norah did not encounter the newcomer again until dinner-time. + +She was in the drawing-room, waiting for the gong to sound, when Cecil +came in with her father. For a moment he did not recognize the soaked +waif of the garden whom he had recommended "to go round to the back." + +A hot bath and a change of raiment had restored Norah to her usual +self; had helped her also to laugh at her meeting with her cousin, +although she was still ruffled at the memory of the sneer in his laugh. +Perhaps because of that she had dressed more carefully than usual. +Cecil might have been excused for failing to recognize the grave-faced +maiden, very dainty in her simple frock of soft white silk, with her +still-moist curls tied back with a broad white ribbon. + +"As you two have already met, there's no need to introduce you," said +Mr. Linton, a twinkle in his eye. "Sorry your reception was so +informal, Cecil--you took us by surprise." + +"I suppose the mater mixed things up, as usual," Cecil said, in a bored +way. "I certainly intended all along to get here to-day, but she's +fearfully vague, don't you know. I was lucky in getting a lift out." + +"You certainly were," his uncle said, dryly. "However, I'm glad you +didn't have to wait in the township. You'd have found it slow." + +"I'd probably have gone back," said Cecil. + +"Ah--would you?" Mr. Linton looked for a moment very much as though he +wished he had done so. There was an uncomfortable pause, to which the +summons to dinner formed a welcome break. + +Dinner was very different from the usual cheery meal. Cecil was not +shy, and supplied most of the conversation as a matter of course; and +his conversation was of a kind new to Norah. She remained unusually +silent, being, indeed, fully occupied in taking stock of this novel +variety of boy. She wondered were all city boys different from those +she knew. Jim was not like this; neither were the friends he was +accustomed to bring home with him. They were not a bit grown up, and +they talked of ordinary, wholesome things like cricket and football, +and horses, and dormitory "larks," and were altogether sensible and +companionable. But Cecil's talk was of theatres and bridge parties, +and--actually--clothes! Horses he only mentioned in connexion with +racing, and when Mr. Linton inquired mildly if he were fond of dances, +he was met by raised eyebrows and a bored disclaimer of caring to do +anything so energetic. Altogether this product of city culture was an +eye-opener to the simple folks of Billabong. + +Of Norah, Cecil took very little notice. She was evidently a being +quite beneath his attention--he was secretly amused at the way in which +she presided at her end of the table, and decided in his own mind that +his mother's views had been correct, and that this small girl would be +all the better for a little judicious snubbing. So he ignored her in +his conversation, and if she made a remark contrived to infuse a faint +shade of patronage into his reply. It is possible that his amazement +would have been great had he known how profoundly his uncle longed to +kick him. + +Dinner over, Norah fled to Brownie, and to that sympathetic soul +unburdened her woes. Mr. Linton and his nephew retired to the verandah, +where the former preferred to smoke in summer. He smiled a little at +the elaborate cigarette case Cecil drew out, but lit his pipe without +comment, reflecting inwardly that although cigarettes were scarcely the +treatment, though they might be the cause, of a pasty face and a +"nervous breakdown," it was none of his business to interfere with a +young gentleman who evidently considered himself a man of the world. So +they smoked and talked, and when, after a little while, Cecil confessed +himself tired, and went off to bed, he left behind him a completely +bored and rather annoyed squatter. + +"Well, Norah, what do you think of him?" + +Norah, sitting meekly knitting in the drawing-room, looked up and +laughed as her father came in. + +"Think? Why, I don't think much, Daddy." + +"No more do I," said Mr. Linton, casting his long form into an +armchair. "Of all the spoilt young cubs!--and that's all it is, I should +say: clearly a case of spoiling. The boy isn't bad at heart, but he's +never been checked in his life. Well, I'm told it's risky for a father +to bring up his daughter unaided, but I'm positive the result is worse +when an adoring mother rears a fatherless boy! Possibly I've made +rather a boy of you--but Cecil's neither one thing nor the other. Why +didn't you come out, my lass?" + +"Felt too bad tempered!" said Norah; "he makes me mad when he speaks to +you in that condescending way of his, Daddy. I'll be calmer to-morrow." +She smiled up at her father. "Have a game of chess?" + +"It would be soothing, I think," Mr. Linton answered. He laughed. "It's +really pathetic--our Darby and Joan existence to be ruffled like this! +Thank goodness, he's in bed, for to-night, at any rate!" They got out +the chessmen, and played very happily until Norah's bedtime. + +"Do you ride, Cecil?" Mr. Linton asked next morning at breakfast. + +"Ride? Oh, certainly," Cecil answered. "I suppose you're all very keen +on that sort of thing up here?" + +"Well, that's how we earn our living," his uncle remarked. "Norah is my +right-hand man on the run." + +"Ah, how nice! Do you find it hard to get labour here?" + +"Oh, we get them," said Mr. Linton, his eyes twinkling. "But I prefer +to catch 'em young. We're cutting out cattle for trucking to-day. Would +you care to come out?" + +"Delighted," said the nephew, glancing without enthusiasm at his +flannels. "But I didn't dress for riding." + +"Oh, we're not absolute sticklers for costume here," Mr. Linton said, +laughing outright. "Wear what you like--in any case, we shan't start for +an hour." + +It was more than that before they finally got away. The delay was due +to waiting for the visitor, whose toilet was a lengthy proceeding. When +at length he sauntered out, in blissful ignorance of the fact that he +had been keeping them waiting, no one could have found fault with his +clothes--a riding suit of very English cut, with immensely baggy +breeches, topped by an immaculately folded stock, and a smart tweed +cap. + +"That feller plenty new," said black Billy, gazing at him with +astonishment. + +Mr. Linton chuckled as he swung Norah to her saddle. + +"Let's hope his horsemanship is equal to his attire!" + +Norah smiled in answer. Bobs was dancing with impatience, and she +walked him round and round, keeping an eye on her cousin. + +A steady brown mare had been saddled for Cecil--one of the "general +utility" horses to be found on every station. He cast a critical eye +over her as he approached, glancing from her to the horses of his uncle +and cousin. Brown Betty was a thoroughly good stamp of a stock horse, +with plenty of quality; while not, perhaps, of the class of Monarch and +Bobs, she was by no means a mount to be despised. That Cecil +disapproved of her, however, was evident. There was a distinct curl on +his lip as he gathered up the reins. However, he mounted without a +word, and they set off in pursuit of Murty O'Toole, the head stockman, +who was already halfway to the cutting-out paddock. + +The Clover Paddock of Billabong was famous--a splendid stretch of +perfect green, where the cattle moved knee-deep in fragrant blossoming +clovers, with pink and white flowers starring the wide expanse. At one +end it was gently undulating plain, towards the other it came down in a +gradual slope to the river, where tall gums gave an evergreen shelter +from winter gales or summer heat. The cattle were under them as the +riders came up--great, splendid Shorthorns, the aristocracy of their +kind, their roan sides sleek, their coats in perfect condition, and a +sprinkling of smaller bullocks whose inferiority in size was +compensated by their amazing fatness. It was evident that this week +there would be no difficulty in making up the draft for the Melbourne +market. + +The cattle were mustered into one herd; no racing or hastening now, but +with the gentle consideration one should extend to the dignified and +portly. They moved lazily, as if conscious of their own value. Cecil, +hurrying a red-and-white bullock across a little flat, was met by a +glare from Murty O'Toole, and a muttered injunction to "go aisy wid +'em," followed by a remark that "clo'es like thim was only fit to go +mustherin' turkeykins in!" Luckily the latter part of the outbreak was +unheard by Cecil, who was quite sufficiently injured at the first, and +favoured Murty with a lofty stare that had the effect of throwing the +Irishman and black Billy into secret convulsions of mirth. + +Norah rode not far from her father as they brought the cattle out into +the open and to the cutting-out camp--a spot where the beaten ground +showed that very often before such scenes had been enacted. The +bullocks knew it, and huddled there contentedly enough in a compact +body, while slowly Mr. Linton and Murty rode about them, singling out +the primest. Once marked down, O'Toole would slip between the bullock +and his mates and edge him away, where Billy took charge of him, +preventing his returning to the mob. With the first two or three this +was not quite easy: but once a few were together they gave little +trouble, feeding about calmly: and generally a bullock cut out from the +main body would trot quite readily across to the others. + +Privately, Cecil Linton thought it remarkably dull work. All that he +had read of station life was unlike this. He had had visions of far +more exciting doings--mad gallops and wild cattle, thoroughbred horses, +kangaroo hunts and a score of other delights. Instead, all he had to do +was to tail after a lot of sleepy bullocks and then watch them sorted +out by some men whose easy-going ways were unlike anything he had +imagined. He had no small opinion of his riding, and he yearned for +distinction. The very sight of Norah, leaning a little forward, +keenness on every line of her face, was an offence to him. He could see +nothing whatever to be keen about. Yawning, he lit a cigarette. + +Just then a bullock was cut out and pointed in the way he should go. He +lumbered easily past black Billy, apparently quite contented with his +fate; and Billy, seeing another following, gave a crack of his whip to +speed him on his way, and turned to deal with the newcomer. The first +bullock became immediately seized with a spirit of mischief. He +flourished his heels in the air, turned at right angles and made off +towards the river at a gallop. + +Cecil, busy with his cigarette, saw Norah sit up suddenly and tighten +her hand on the bridle. Simultaneously Bobs was off like a shot--tearing +over the paddock a little wide of the fugitive. The race was a short +one. Passing the bullock, the bay pony and his rider swung in sharply +and the lash of Norah's whip shot out. The bullock stopped short, +shaking his head; then, as the whip spoke again, he wheeled and trotted +back meekly to the smaller mob. Behind him Norah cantered slowly. The +work of cutting out had not paused and no one seemed to notice the +incident. But Cecil saw his uncle smile across at the little girl, and +caught the look in Norah's eyes as she smiled back. She and Bobs took +up their station again, silently watchful. + +Cecil was fired with ambition. Norah's small service had seemed to him +ridiculously easy; still, insignificant though everyone appeared to +regard it, it was better than doing nothing. He had not the faintest +doubt of his own ability, and the idea that riding in a decorous suburb +might not fit him for all equine emergencies he would have scouted. He +gathered up his reins, and waited anxiously for another beast to break +away. + +One obliged him presently; a big shorthorn that decided he had stayed +long enough in the mob, and suddenly made up his mind to seek another +scene. Norah had already started in pursuit when she saw her cousin +send his spurs home in Betty, and charge forward. So she pulled up the +indignant Bobs, who danced, and left the field to Cecil. + +Betty took charge of affairs from the outset. There was no move in all +the cattle-game that she did not understand. Moreover, she was justly +indignant at the spur-thrust, which attention only came her way in +great emergencies; and the heavy hand on her mouth was gall and +wormwood to her. But ahead was a flying bullock, and she was a stock +horse, which was sufficient for Betty. + +"That feller brown mare got it all her own way!" said Billy, in +delight. + +She had. Cecil, bumping a little in the saddle, had no very clear idea +of how things were going. He had a moment of amazement that the quiet +mare he had despised could make such a pace. Once he tried to steady +her, but at that instant Betty was not to be steadied. She galloped on, +and Cecil, recovering some of his self-possession, began to think that +this was the thing whereof he had dreamed. + +The bullock was fat and scant of breath. It did not take him very long +to conclude that he had had enough, especially when he heard the hoofs +behind him. It was sad, for close before him was the shade of the trees +and the murmur of the river; but discretion is ever the better part of +valour, particularly if one be not only valorous but fat. He pulled up +short. Betty propped without a second's hesitation, and swung round. + +To Cecil it seemed that the world had dropped from under him--and then +risen to meet him. The brown mare turned, in the bush idiom, "on a +sixpence," but Cecil did not turn. He went on. The onlookers had a +vision of the mare chopping round, as duty bade her, to head off the +bullock, while at right-angles a graceful form in correct English +garments hurtled through the air in an elegant curve. When he came +down, which seemed to be not for some time, it was into a shady clump +of wild raspberries--and only those who know the Victorian wild +raspberry know how clinging and intrusive are its hooked thorns. Two +legs kicked wildly. There was no sound. + +When the rescuing party extricated Cecil from his involuntary botanical +researches he was a sorry sight. His clothes were torn in many places, +and his face and hands badly scratched, while the red stains of the +raspberries had turned his light tweeds into something resembling an +impressionist sketch. It was perhaps excusable that he had altogether +lost his temper. He burst out in angry abuse of the mare, the bullock, +the raspberry clump, and the expedition in general--anger which the +scarcely concealed grins of the stockmen only served to intensify. +Norah, who had choked with laughter at first, but had become +sympathetic as soon as she saw the boy's face, extracted numerous +thorns from his person and clothing, and murmured words of regret, +which fell on unheeding ears. Finally his uncle lost patience. + +"That'll do Cecil," he said. "Everyone comes to grief occasionally--take +your gruel like a man. Come on, Norah. Murty's waiting." Saying which, +he put Norah up, and they rode off, while Billy held the brown mare's +rein for Cecil, who mounted sulkily. Something in his uncle's face +forbade his replying. But in his heart came the beginning of a grudge +against the Bush, Billabong in general, and Norah in particular. Later +on, he promised himself, there might come a chance to work it off. + +For the present, however, there was nothing to be done but nurse his +scratches and his grievance; so he sat sulkily on Betty, and took no +further active part in the morning's work, the consciousness of acting +like a spoilt child not tending to improve his temper. Nobody took any +notice of him. One by one the bullocks were cut out, until between +twenty and thirty were ready, and then the main mob was left to wander +slowly back to the river, while O'Toole and Billy started with the +others to the paddock at the end of the run, which was their first +stage in the seventeen-mile journey to the trucking yards at Cunjee. +They moved off peacefully through the blossoming clover. + +"Luckily they don't be afther knowin' what's ahead av thim!" said +Murty. He lifted his battered felt hat to Norah, as he rode away. + +"We'll go down and see how high the river is before we go home," said +Mr. Linton. + +So they rode down to the river, commented on the unusual amount of +water for so late in the year, inspected the drinking places, paid a +visit to a beast in another paddock, which had been sick, but was now +apparently in rude health, and finally cantered home to lunch. Brownie +prudently refrained from comment on Cecil's scratched countenance, +further than to supply him with large quantities of hot water in his +room, together with a small pair of pliers, which she remarked were +'andy things for prickles. Under this varied treatment Cecil became +more like himself, and recovered his spirits, though a soreness yet +remained at the thought of the little girl who had done so easily what +he had failed so ignominiously in trying to do. He decided definitely +in his own mind that he did not like Norah. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +TWO POINTS OF VIEW + + + You found the Bush was dismal, and a land of no delight-- + Did you chance to hear a chorus in the shearers' nut at night? + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"Dear Mater,--Arrived at Cunjee safely, and, thanks to the way you fixed +up things, found no one to meet me, as Uncle David thought I would not +arrive until next day. However, a friendly yokel gave me a lift out to +Billabong in a very dirty and springless buggy, so that the mistake was +not a fatal one, though it gave me a very uncomfortable drive. + +"The place is certainly very nice, and the house comfortable, though, +of course, it is old-fashioned. I prefer more modern furniture; but +Uncle David seems to think his queer old chairs and table all that can +be desired, and did not appear interested when I told him where we got +our things. I have a large room, rather draughty, but otherwise +pleasant, with plenty of space for clothes, which is a comfort. I do +think it's intensely annoying to be expected to keep your clothes in +your trunk. The view is nice. + +"Uncle David seemed quite prepared to treat me as a small boy, but I +fancy I have demonstrated to him that I know my way about--in fact, as +far as city life goes, I should say he knew exceedingly little. I can't +understand any man with money being content to live and die in a hole +like this out-of-the-way place: but I suppose, as you say, Aunt Helen's +death made a difference. Actually, they have not even one motor! and +when I spoke of it Uncle David seemed almost indignant, and said horses +were good enough for him. That is a specimen of the way they are +content to live. He seems quite idiotically devoted to the small child, +and she lives in his pocket. If she weren't so countrified in her ways +she wouldn't be bad looking; but, of course, she is quite the bush +youngster, and, I should think, would find her level pretty quickly +when she goes to school among a lot of smart Melbourne girls. I should +hope so, at any rate, for she is quite spoilt here. It is exactly as +you said--everyone treats her like a sort of tin god, and she evidently +thinks herself someone, and is inclined to regard those older than +herself quite as equals. When I first saw her she had just fallen into +some mud hole, and her appearance would have given you a fit. But what +can you expect? + +"The fat old cook is still here, and asked after you. It's absolutely +ridiculous to see the way she is treated--quite considers herself the +mistress of the place, and when I told her one morning to let me have +my shaving water she was almost rude. I think if there's one thing +sillier than another it's the sort of superstition some people have +about old servants. + +"So far I find it exceedingly dull, and don't feel very hopeful that +things will be much better when Jim comes home. Of course, he may be +improved, but he appeared to me a great overgrown animal when I last +saw him, without an idea in his head beyond cricket and football. I +don't feel that he will be any companion to me. He will probably suffer +badly from swelled head, too, as every one is making a fuss about his +return. So quaint, to see the sort of mutual admiration that goes on +here. + +"I have had some riding, being given a horse much inferior to either +Uncle David's or Norah's--the latter rides like a jockey, and, of +course, astride, which I consider very ungraceful. She turns out well, +however, and all her get-up is good--her habits come from a Melbourne +tailor. I think I will get some clothes in Melbourne on my way back; +they may not have newer ideas, but it may be useful for purposes of +comparison with the Sydney cut. My riding clothes were evidently a +source of much wonderment and admiration to the yokels. Unfortunately +they have become badly stained with some confounded raspberry juice, +and though I left them out for Mrs. Brown to clean, she has not done so +yet. + +"Well, there is no news to be got in a place like this; we never go +out, except on the run, and there seems absolutely no society. The +local doctor came out yesterday, in a prehistoric motor, but I found +him very uninteresting. Of course, one has no ideas in common with +these Bush people. Where the 'Charm of the Bush' comes in is more than +I can see--I much prefer Town on a Saturday morning to all Billabong and +its bullocks. They wanted me to go out one night and--fancy!--help burn +down dead trees; but, really, I jibbed on that. There is no billiard +room. Uncle David intends building one when Jim comes home for good, +but that certainly won't be in my time here. I fancy a very few weeks +will see me back in town. + +"No bridge played here, of course! Have you had any luck that way? + +"Your affectionate son, + +"CECIL AUBREY LINTON." + +Cecil blotted the final sheet of his letter home, and sat back with a +sigh of satisfaction, as one who feels his duty nobly done. He stamped +it, strolled across the hall to deposit it in the post box which stood +on the great oak table, and then looked round for something to do. + +It was afternoon, and all was very quiet. Mr. Linton had ridden off +with a buyer to inspect cattle, Norah ruefully declining to accompany +him. + +"I'm awfully sorry, Dad," she had said, "But I'm too busy." + +"Busy, are you? What at?" + +"Oh, cooking and things," Norah had answered. "Brownie's not very well, +and I said I'd help her--there's a lot to do just now, you know." She +stood on tiptoe to kiss her father. "Good-bye, Dad--don't be too long, +will you? And take care of yourself!" + +Cecil also had declined to go out, giving "letters to write" as a +reason. The truth was that several rides had told on the town youth, +whose seat in the saddle was not easy enough to prevent his becoming +stiff and sore. Bush people are used to this peculiarity in city +visitors, and, while regarding the sufferers with sympathy, generally +prescribe a "hair of the dog that bit them"--more riding--as the quickest +cure; which Cecil would certainly have thought hard-hearted in the +extreme. However, nothing would have induced him to say that he had +felt the riding, since Cecil belonged to that class of boy that hates +to admit inferiority to others. So he suffered in silence, creaked +miserably at his uprising and down-sitting, and was happily unaware +that everyone in Billabong knew perfectly well what was the matter with +him. + +Cecil and his mother were very good friends in the cool, polite way +that was distinctive of them. They "fitted" together admirably, and as +a general rule held the same views, the one on which they were most in +accord being the belief in Cecil's own superior talents and +characteristics. He wrote to her just as he would have talked, certain +of her absolute agreement. When his letter was finished he felt much +relieved at having, as Jim said, "got it off his chest." Not that Cecil +would ever have said anything so inelegant. + +Sarah crossed the hall at the moment, carrying a tray of silver to be +cleaned, and he called to her-- + +"Where is Norah?" + +"Miss Norah's in the kitchen," said the girl shortly. The Billabong +maids were no less independent than modern maids generally are, but +they had their views about the city gentleman's manner to the daughter +of the house. "On'y a bit of a kid himself," Mary had said to Sarah, +indignantly, "but any one'd think he owned the earth, an' Miss Norah +was a bit of it." So they despised Cecil exceedingly, and refrained +from shaking up his mattress when they made his bed. + +"Er--you may tell her I want to speak to her." + +"Can't, I'm afraid," Sarah said. "Miss Norah's very busy, 'elpin' Mrs. +Brown. She don't care to be disturbed." + +"Can't she spare me a moment?" + +"Wouldn't ask her to." Sarah lifted her tray--and her nose--and marched +out. Cecil looked black. + +"Gad! I wish the mater had to deal with those girls!" he said +viciously--Mrs. Geoffrey Linton was of the employers who "change their +maids" with every new moon. "She'd make them sit up, I'll wager. +Abominable impertinence!" He strolled to the door, and looked out +across the garden discontentedly. "What on earth is there for a man to +do? Well, I'll hunt up the important cousin." + +At the moment, Norah was quite of importance. Mrs. Brown had succumbed +to a headache earlier in the day. Norah had found her, white-faced and +miserable, bending over a preserving pan full of jam, waiting for the +mystical moment when it should "jell." Ordered to rest, poor Brownie +had stoutly refused--was there not more baking to be done, impossible to +put off, to say nothing of the jam? A brisk engagement had ensued, from +which Norah had emerged victorious, the reins of government in her +hands for the day. Brownie, still protesting, had been put on her bed +with a handkerchief steeped in eau-de-Cologne on her throbbing +forehead, and Norah had returned to the kitchen to varied occupations. + +The jam had behaved beautifully; had "jelled" in the most satisfactory +manner, just the right colour; now it stood in a neat array of jars on +a side table, waiting to be sealed and labelled when cold. Then, after +lunch, Norah had plunged into the mysteries of pastry, and was +considerably relieved when her mince pies turned out very closely akin +to those of Brownie, which were famous. Puddings for dinner had +followed, and were now cooling in the dairy. Finally, the joint being +in the oven, and vegetables prepared, the cook had compounded Jim's +favourite cake, which was now baking; during which delicate operation, +with a large dab of flour on her nose, the cook sat at the table, and +wrote a letter. + + +"DEAR OLD JIM,--This must be in pencil, 'cause I'm watching a cake +that's in the oven, and I'm awfully scared of it burning, so I don't +dare to go for the ink. Dad said I was to write and tell you we would +meet you on Wednesday, unless we heard from you again. We are all +awfully glad and excited about you coming. I'm sure Tait and Puck +understand, 'cause I told them to-day, and they barked like anything. +Your room is all right, and we've put in another cupboard. We're all so +sorry about Wally not coming, but we hope he will come later on. Do +make him. + +"Dad and I aren't talking about me going to school. It can't be helped, +and it only makes you jolly blue to talk about it. + +"Cecil's come, and he's the queerest specimen of a boy I ever saw. He's +awfully grown up, but he's small and terribly swagger. His riding +clothes are gorgeous, and you mustn't laugh at them. Dad did, but it +was into Bobs' mane. He came with us cutting-out, and Betty was too +good for him, swinging round, so he came a lovely cropper into some +wild raspberries. It was so funny no one could have helped laughing, +and he wasn't really hurt, only prickled and very wild. I am afraid he +isn't enjoying himself very much, but of course he will be all right +when you come. It's jolly hard to entertain him, 'cause he isn't a bit +keen about anything. He has a tremendous array of shaving tackle. And +he has a hand glass. Do you think he will lend it to you to see your +back hair? + +"Bobs is just lovelier than ever. I never knew him go so well as he is +now, and he perfectly loves a jump. Dad has a new horse he calls +Monarch, and he is a beauty, he is black with a star. OF COURSE, don't +say anything about Cecil's spill to anybody, he could not help it. And +he had a much bigger laugh at me, 'cause I fell into the lagoon the day +he came. I will tell you all about it when you come. + +"The place is looking lovely, and hasn't dried up a bit--" + + +An unfamiliar step came along the passage, and Norah sat up abruptly +from the labours of composition, and then with promptness concealed her +letter under a cookery book. + +"Why Cecil! How did you find your way here?" + +"Oh--looked about me. I had finished my writing, and there was nothing +to do." + +"I'm so sorry," Norah said contritely. "You see, Brownie's sick, and +I'm on duty here." + +"You!" said Cecil, with a laugh. "And what can YOU do in a kitchen?" + +Norah blushed at the laugh more than at the words. + +"Oh, you'll get some sort of a dinner," she said. "Don't be too +critical, that's all." + +"What, you really can cook? Or do you play at it?" + +"Well, there are mighty few girls in the Bush who can't cook a bit," +Norah said. "Of course we're lucky, having Brownie--but you really never +can tell as a rule when you may have to turn to in the kitchen. Dad +says it's one of the beauties of Australia!" + +"Can't say I like the idea of a lady in the kitchen," quoth Cecil +loftily. + +"Can't say I'd like to be one who was scared of it," Norah said. "And I +guess you'd get very bored if you had to go without your dinner!" She +seized a cloth and opened the oven door gingerly, and made highly +technical experiments with her cake, rising presently, somewhat +flushed. "Ten minutes more," she said, with an air of satisfaction. +"And, as Brownie would say, 'he's rose lovely.' Have some tea, Cecil?" + +Cecil assented, and watched the small figure in the voluminous white +apron as she flitted about the kitchen. + +"I like having tea here," Norah confided to him. "Then I use Brownie's +teapot, and don't you always think tea tastes miles better out of a +brown pot? You won't get the proper afternoon cups either--I hope you +don't mind?" She stopped short, with a sudden sense of talking a +language altogether foreign to this bored young man in correct attire; +and a rush of something like irritation to think how different Jim or +Wally would have been--she could almost see Wally sitting on the edge of +the table, with a huge cup of tea in one hand, a scone in the other, +and his thin, eager face alight with cheerfulness. Cecil was certainly +heavy in the hand. She sighed, but bent manfully to her task again. + +"You take sugar, don't you? And cream? Yes, you ought to have cream, +'cause you've been ill." She dashed into the pantry, returning with a +small jug. "The cake's not mine, so I can recommend it; but if you're +not frightened you can have one of my mince pies." + +"Thanks, I'd rather have cake," said Cecil., and again Norah flushed at +his tone, but she laughed. + +"It's certainly safer," she agreed, "I'm sure Brownie thought it was a +hideous risk to leave the pies to me." She supplied her cousin with +cake, and retreated to the oven. + +"Why don't you let one of the girls do this?" he asked. + +"Sarah or Mary? Oh, they're as busy as ever they can be," explained +Norah. "We always do a lot of extra cleaning and rubbing up before +Christmas, and they haven't a moment. Of course they'd do it in a +minute, if I asked them, but I wouldn't--as it is, Sarah's going to dish +up for me. They're the nicest girls; I'm going to take them tea as soon +as I get my cake out!" + +"You!" said Cecil. "You don't mean to say you're going to cart tea to +the servants?" + +"I'd be a perfect pig if I didn't," Norah said, shortly. "I'm afraid +you don't understand the bush a bit, Cecil." + +"Thank goodness I don't then," said Cecil, stiffly. "Who's that tray +for?" + +"Brownie, of course." Norah was getting a little ruffled--criticism like +this had not come to her. + +"Well, I think it's extraordinary--and so would my mother," Cecil said, +with an air of finality. + +"I suppose a town is different," said Norah, striving after patience. +"We like to look after everyone here--and I think it's grand when +everyone's nice to everyone!" She paused; it was hard to be patient and +grammatical, too. + +"School will teach you a number of things," said her cousin loftily. He +rose and put down his cup. "A lady shouldn't lower herself." + +"Dad says a lady can't lower herself by work," retorted Norah. "Anyhow, +if taking tea to dear old Brownie's going to lower me, it'll have to, +that's all!" + +"You don't understand," said Cecil. "A lady has her own place, and to +get on terms of familiarity with the lower classes is bad for both her +and them." He looked and felt instructive. "It isn't exactly the action +that counts--it's the spirit it fosters--er--the feeling--that is, +the--er, in short, it's a mistake to--" + +"Oh, please be careful, Cecil, you're sitting in some dough!" + +Norah sprang forward anxiously, and instructiveness fell from Cecil as +one sheds a garment. He had sat down on the edge of the table in the +flow of his eloquence; now he jumped up angrily, and, muttering +unpleasant things, endeavored to remove dough from his person. Norah +hovered round, deeply concerned. Pastry dough, however, is a clinging +and a greasy product, and finally the wrathful lecturer beat a retreat +towards the sanctuary of his own room, and the cook sat down and shook +with laughter. + +"My cake!" she gasped, in the midst of her mirth. She flew to the oven +and rescued Jim's delicacy. + +"Thank goodness, it's all right!" said she. Her mirth broke out afresh. + +A shadow darkened the doorway. + +"What--cooking and in hysterics?" said Mr. Linton. "May I have some tea? +And what's the matter?" + +"Cecil's begun the reforming process," said his daughter, becoming +solemn with difficulty. "You've no idea how improved I am, Daddy! He +seems to be certain that I'm not a lady, and he's very doubtful if I'm +a cook, so could you tell me what I'm likely to be?" + +"A better all-round man than Cecil, I should hope," said David Linton, +with a sound like a snort of wrath. "Give me some tea, mate, and don't +bother your head about the future. Your old Dad's not scared!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +COMING HOME + + + The top of my desire + Is just to meet a mate o' mine. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +It had suddenly become hot--"truly Christmas" weather, Norah called it, +as she stood waiting on the Cunjee platform for a train which, in +accordance with all railway traditions at Christmas, was already over +an hour late. Norah felt it hard that to-day, of all days in the year, +it should be so--when Jim was actually coming home for good! At the +thought of Jim's arrival she hopped cheerfully on one leg, completely +oblivious of onlookers, and looked up the shining line of rails for the +thousand-and-first time. Would the old train never come? + +"Aren't you contriving to keep warm, with the mercury trying to break +the thermometer? Or do you dance merely because you feel like it?" +asked a friendly voice; and Norah turned with a little flush of +pleasure to greet the Cunjee doctor. She and Dr. Anderson respected +each other very highly. + +"Because I feel like it, I expect," she said, laughing and shaking +hands. + +"Which my wide professional experience leads me to diagnose as the fact +that you're probably waiting for Jim!" said the doctor, gravely. +"There's a certain hectic flush, an intermittent pulse, which convinces +me of your painful state, when coupled with the restlessness of the +eye." + +"Which eye?" asked Norah anxiously. + +"Both," said the doctor. "Don't be flippant with your medical man. So +he's really coming, Norah?" + +"Yes," said Norah, "and I don't care if I am excited--so'd you be, +doctor. Billy's outside with the horses, and he's just as excited as I +am." + +"Billy!" said the doctor. "But he'd never say more than 'Plenty!' no +matter how excited he was." + +"No, of course not, but then he finds it such a useful word," Norah +said a little vaguely. She was peering up the rails. Suddenly she spun +round, her face glowing. "There's the smoke--she's coming!" + +Whatever additional remarks Dr. Anderson may have made fell on deaf +ears, for Norah had no further ideas from that moment. The train came +into view over the brow of the hill, and slid down the long slope into +the station, pulling up with a mighty grinding of brakes. Almost as it +stopped a door was flung open violently, and a very tall boy with the +Grammar School colours on his hat jumped out, cast a hurried glance +around, and then seized the small person in blue linen in an unashamed +bear's hug. + +"Oh, Jim!" said Norah. "Oh, Jimmy--boy!" + +"Well, old kiddie," said Jim. "You all right? My word, I am glad to see +you!" + +"Me, too," said Norah. "It's been just ages, Jim." + +"Hasn't it?" Jim said. He started. "Oh, by Jove! There's someone else +here!" + +Norah wheeled round, and uttered a little cry of joy. Another boy with +the dark-blue hat band was grinning at her in most friendly fashion--a +thin, brown-faced boy, with especially merry dark eyes. Norah's hands +went out. + +"Wally! But, how lovely! I thought you couldn't come." + +"So did I," said Wally Meadows, pumping her hands vigorously. "I was +going home, but my aunt obligingly got measles. I'm awfully sorry for +Aunt. But it's an ill-wind that blows nowhere--old Jim took pity on me, +and here I am!" + +"I should think so," Norah said. "We haven't felt a bit complete +without you. Dad was saying only this morning how sorry he was you +couldn't come. He'll get such a shock! Oh, it's so lovely to have you +two--and isn't it getting like Christmas! I'm so happy!" She jigged on +one foot, regardless of interested faces watching her from the train. + +"You've grown about a foot," said Jim, patting her on the shoulder. +"Pretty thin, too--sure you're all right?" + +Norah reassured him, laughing. + +"Well, you look awfully fit, if you are thin," was Jim's comment. +"Doesn't she, Wally?" + +"Never saw her look fitter," said Wally. "I'm glad as five bob Aunt got +the measles! Oh, what a beast I am--but, you know what I mean! Jim, this +train'll go on, and we've fifty million things in the carriage!" + +"So we have!" Jim said, hurriedly, taking his hand from Norah's +shoulder and diving after his chum into the compartment they had +quitted. They emerged laden with suitcases, parcels, rackets, fishing +rods, golf sticks and other miscellaneous impedimenta. + +"Catch!" Jim said, tossing a big box into Norah's hands. + +"Chocolates!" said Norah blissfully. "Jim, you're an angel!" + +"Always knew that," her brother replied, dropping his load on the +platform with a cheerful disregard of what might break. "Come on, +Wally, we'll get the heavy things out of the van. You watch those, Nor. +Who's in, by the way? And where's Dad?" + +"Dad's in Cunjee; but he had business, and he couldn't wait at the +station, the train was so late. Cecil's with him--they're both riding. +I've got the light buggy with the ponies for you, and Billy's driving +the express for your luggage and heaps of things that Brownie wants for +the house." Norah spoke in one breath and finished with a gasp. + +"Guess people must have thought you were a circus procession!" was +Jim's comment. "All right, we'll cart the things out to Billy." + +Out at the bid express-wagon drawn by a pair of greys, Billy stood, +welcoming them with a smile on his dusky countenance that Wally likened +to a slit in a coconut. The luggage was piled in with special +injunctions to the black boy not to put the bags of flour on anything +that looked delicate--whereat Billy's smile widened to a grin, and he +murmured "Plenty!" delightedly. + +"That's the lot," Jim said. "The buggy's at the hotel, I suppose, +Norah?" + +"Yes--and we're to have lunch there with Dad. And you've got to be +awfully polite to Cecil!" + +"Cecil!" said Jim, lifting his nose. "If Cecil's anything like what he +used to be--" He did not finish the sentence. + +"Do we play with Cecil?" Wally asked, grinning. + +"The question is, if Cecil will condescend to play with you," Norah +said. "He thinks ME too much of a kid to look at--" + +"Oh, does he?" asked Jim resentfully. + +"But you're both ever so much bigger than he is, so perhaps he'll let +you love him!" Norah finished. + +"I'm relieved to my soul," said Wally, with gravity. "Visions of my +unrequited affection poured out on Cecil have been troubling my rest +for days. May I kiss him?" + +"I'd wait a little while, I think," Norah answered. "He may be shy--not +that we've found it out yet. Indeed, he's the unshyest person I ever +met." + +"Is he very awful, Nor?" + +"Oh, he's a bit of a drawback," Norah said. "Dad says he's not bad at +heart, only so spoilt--and he's just terribly bumptious, Jim, and thinks +he can do everything; and his clothes are lovely! He isn't caring for +me a bit to-day, 'cause he gave me a broad hint that he wanted to ride +Bobs, and I didn't take it." + +"Ride Bobs!" exclaimed Jim, in amazement. "Well, I should think you +didn't!" + +"Well, I felt rather a pig, considering he's our guest," Norah said, a +little contritely. "If it were you or Wally, now--but he's really got an +awful seat, Jim, and Murty says he's a hand like a ham on a horse's +mouth! I didn't feel I could let him have Bobs." + +"Bobs is your very special property--no one but an ass would ask for +him, and I told Cecil last year you were the only person who ever rode +him," said Jim indignantly. "Surely there are enough horses on the +place without him wanting to collar your pony!" + +"Well, he didn't get him," said Norah, tranquilly, "so that's all right +and you needn't worry, Jimmy. I do think, if only one could get him off +his high horse, he wouldn't be at all bad--perhaps he'll thaw now you +boys are here. I hope he will, for his own sake, 'cause he'd have such +a much better time." + +"Well, if he's going to be patronizing--" Jim began. + +"Ah, perhaps he won't--I don't believe he could try to patronize you!" +Norah glanced lovingly at her tall brother. "You're nearly as big as +Dad, Jimmy, aren't you? and Wally's going to be too." + +"Ill weeds grow apace," quoted the latter gentleman solemnly. "Jim's a +splendid example of that proverb." + +"M'f!" said Norah. "How about yourself?" + +"I'm coming up as a flower!" Wally replied modestly. "A Christmas lily, +I should think!"--whereat Jim murmured something that sounded "More like +an artichoke!" His exact remark, however, was lost, for at that moment +they arrived at the hotel, just as Mr. Linton emerged from it, and Jim +quickened his pace, his face alight. + +"Dad!" + +"Well, my boy!" They gripped hands, and David Linton's eye kindled as +it dwelt on the big fellow. "Glad to have you back, old son. +Why--Wally!" + +"Turned up like a bad penny, sir," said Wally, having his hand pumped +in turn. "Hope you'll forgive me--it's pretty cool to arrive without an +invitation." + +"As far as I know, you had invitations from all the family," said Mr. +Linton, laughing. "We regard you as one of the oldest inhabitants now, +you know. At any rate, I'm delighted to see you; the mistress of +Billabong must answer for herself, but she doesn't look cast down!" + +"She's been fairly polite," Wally said. "On the whole I don't feel as +shy as I was afraid of feeling! I was horribly scared of having +Christmas with my aunt--but she's chosen measles instead, so I expect +she was just as scared as I was!" + +"It's probable," said his host, laughing. + +"You haven't grown up a bit, Wally, and it's such a comfort!" Norah +said. + +"I'm getting old and reverend," said Wally severely, "and it's up to +you to treat me with respect, young Norah. Sixteen's an awful age to +support with any cheerfulness." His brown face at the moment gave the +impression of never having been serious during the sixteen years he +lamented. "As for this ancient mariner"--indicating Jim--"you can see the +signs of senile decay quite plainly!" + +"Ass!" said Jim affectionately. He broke off. "How are you, Cecil?" + +Cecil, coming out of the hotel, a dapper figure beside the two tall +schoolboys, gave languid greetings. He cast at Jim a glance of +something like envy. Height was the one thing he longed for, and it +seemed to him hard that this seventeen-year-old youngster should be +rapidly approaching six feet, while he, three years older, had stopped +short six inches under that measurement. However, generally speaking, +Cecil was uncommonly well satisfied with himself, and not even the +contemplation of Jim's superior inches could worry him for long. He +asked polite questions about the journey, and laughed at the freely +expressed opinion that the day was hot "You should go to Sydney if you +want to know what heat is," he said, with the superiority of the +travelled man; "Victoria really has no heat to talk about!" + +"Well, I'm a Queenslander," said Wally bluntly, "and we're supposed to +know about heat there. And I do think to-day is beastly hot--look at my +collar, it's like a concertina! Sydney heat is hot, and Brisbane heat +is hotter, but Victorian heat has a hotness all of its own!" Whereat +everybody laughed, and the discussion was adjourned for lunch. + +It was a merry meal; and if the fare was no better than that of most +township hotels, the spirits of the party were too high to trouble +about such trifles as tough meat, watery puddings, and weary butter +that bore out Wally's remarks about the heat by threatening to float +away on a sea of its own oil. Everything was rose colour in Norah's +estimation that day. She sat by Jim and beamed across the table at her +father and Wally. Even Cecil found himself at times included in the +beam, and took it meekly, for the happy face was infectious, while the +frank delight of the boys in having her with them again was to a +certain extent educational to the outsider. There was no lack of +manliness in Jim's strong, handsome face. If he found it worth his +while, Cecil reflected, to make such a fuss over a child, it might be +possible that she was not altogether a person to be snubbed. So he was +unusually affable to his small cousin, and lunch passed off very +successfully. + +Afterwards there was shopping to be done. A long list of groceries had +been made out by Mrs. Brown, who professed herself far too busy with +Christmas preparations to come in person, and had laid the +responsibility on Norah, not without misgivings. It was, perhaps, +fortunate that the storekeepers were able to rise to the contents of +the list unaided, for Norah was scarcely in a condition to grapple with +problems relating to anything so ordinary as groceries, and found it +indeed difficult to read out her list coherently, with Jim standing +sentinel in the doorway and Wally wandering about the shop sampling all +he could find, from biscuits to brooms. On one occasion, when making a +special effort to preserve her dignity, she came to the item "flaked +oatmeal," and asked the shopman in rather frigid tones for "floked +atemeal," which had a paralysing effect on the unoffending storekeeper, +while Wally retired to the shelter of a pile of saucepans, and +shrieked. Thus the business of necessary purchases passed off +cheerfully; and then what Norah termed the more interesting +shops--saddlers' and stationers'--were visited, with a view to Christmas. +Finally Jim brought the buggy from the hotel, and they picked up their +lighter parcels. + +"Surely that's all?" Jim inquired, as Norah and Wally came out of the +fruiterer's laden with bags of assorted sizes, which they dumped +thankfully into the buggy, with the immediate result that a bag of +peaches burst, and had to be rescued from all over the floor. "Nor., +you'll not have a penny left, and we'll all be violently ill if we eat +half you've bought. Come on home." + +"Brownie's laid in large stocks of medicine, she says," Norah answered, +tranquilly, climbing into the buggy. "So you needn't worry, need you? +But we've truly finished now, Jim, I think. Ready, Wally?" + +"Quite," said Wally cheerfully. "I've put these peaches in with the +neatsfoot oil, and it seems a beautiful arrangement!" He hopped up +nimbly. "Right oh, J immy, and pray remember I am nervous!" + +"I will," Jim grinned. He laid the whip on the ponies' backs, and they +shot forward with a bound, unused to such liberties. They went down the +main street of Cunjee in a whirl of dust, and turned over the bridge +spanning the river, where the ponies promptly rose on their hind legs +at the sight of Dr. Anderson's motor, and betrayed a rooted +disinclination to come down from that unusual altitude. Jim handled +them steadily, and presently they were induced to face the snorting +horror, wherein the doctor sat, waving his hand and calling cheery +Christmas greetings as they shot past, to which the three responded +enthusiastically. Cunjee sank into the distance behind them. + +The miles flew past. On the metalled road the rubbered tyres spun +silently, and only the flying hoofs clattered and soon they had left +the made road and turned on to the hard-beaten track that led to +Billabong, where progress was even smoother. The tongues flew almost as +swiftly as the wheels. The hot sun sank gradually, and the evening +breeze sprang up. It was a time for quick questions and answers. Norah +wanted details of the term just over, the sports, the prize-giving, and +had to laugh over messages from those of Jim's boy friends whom she +knew; and Jim had a hundred things to ask about home--the cattle, the +fishing, his horses, his dogs, "Brownie," and the prospects of fun +ahead. They roared over her ducking and subsequent encounter with +Cecil, and chaffed her unmercifully. + +"Such a mud-lark!" said Wally, with glee. "And that prim young man! Oh, +Norah, you are a dream! I'd have given something to see your face." + +"I was altogether worth seeing," Norah remarked modestly. "When I +caught sight of myself in a glass I really didn't wonder at Cecil." But +Jim glowered and referred to the absent Cecil as a "silly ass." + +They turned in at last at the homestead gate, and the ponies fairly +flew up the long paddock, something in the spirits of their drivers +communicating itself to them. The house was not visible until the track +had passed through a thick belt of trees, and as they came to this Jim +fell silent, looking keenly ahead. Then the red roof came into view and +the boy drew a long breath. + +"There's the old place," he said. "My word, I am glad to be home!" + +Under the dust-rug Norah slipped her hand on to his knee. + +"It's just lovely to have you--both of you." she added. "You're glad, +too, aren't you, Wally?" + +"I could sing!" said Wally. + +"Once," said Jim, "you could. But for some years--" + +"Beast!" said Wally. "If you weren't driving--" + +"And you weren't nervous--!" grinned his chum. + +"There'd be wigs on the green," finished Norah, cheerfully. "I'll +drive, if it would be any convenience to either of you." + +"We'll postpone it," said Jim. "There's Brownie at the gate, bless her +old heart!" + +They shot up the last furlong of the drive. At the big gate of the +yard--very few people, not even bishops, go to the front gate of a Bush +homestead--Brownie stood, her broad face beaming. As they pulled up, +Murty O'Toole came forward to take the horses--a marked compliment from +Murty, who, like most head stockmen, was a free and independent soul. + +Jim went over the wheel with a bound, and seized Brownie's hand. + +"How are you, Brownie, dear?" + +"The size of him!" said she. "The shoulders. No wonder they 'ad you for +captin of the football eleven, then, my dear!" The boys grinned widely. +"If not eleven, then it's four," said Brownie placidly. "Strange, I +can't never remember which, an' it don't sinnerfy, any'ow. Welkim +'ome--an' you too, Master Wally." + +"How are you, Murty?" Jim shook hands with the stockman, while Wally +bowed low over Brownie's hand. + +"I've lived for this moment," he said, fervently. "Brownie, you grow +younger every time I go away!" + +"Naturally!" said Norah from the buggy. + +"Be silent, minx!" said Wally, over his shoulder. "Who are you to break +in on a heart-to-heart talk, anyhow? At this present moment, Mrs. +Brown, you look seventeen!" + +"Get along with you, now, do!" said the delighted Brownie. "You're no +better than you was, I'm afraid, Master Wally--alwuz ready for your +joke!" + +"Joke!" exclaimed he, indignantly. "Any one who'd make a joke of you, +Brownie, would rob a church. Jim might, but I--" + +"Perish the idea!" said Jim, tipping the orator's hat over his eyes. +"Come and take things out of the buggy." + +Across the yard came Mr. Linton, surrounded by a mixed assemblage of +dogs. Puck and the collie had already hurled themselves upon Jim in a +delirium of joy. Cecil strolled after his uncle, looking slightly +amused at the scene by the gate. + +"We're quite a family," Mr. Linton said. "I begin to feel like Mr. +Pickwick at a Christmas gathering! Do you think Billabong will stand +the crowd, Mrs. Brown?" + +"It looks to me, sir," said Mrs. Brown contentedly, "as if Billabong's +goin' to 'ave the time of its life!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +JIM UNPACKS + + + Holler-days + Were made for boys to holler! + + +Jim's room was a rather vast place, with two long windows opening upon +the balcony, two exceedingly plain iron bedsteads in different corners, +and in the midst a wide, vacant space, where a punching-ball was fixed +whenever the owner was at home. There was a very shabby old leather +armchair by one window, and near the other an even shabbier leather +couch, very wide and solid. Jim used to declare that they were the most +comfortable in the house, and nothing would have induced him to have +them altered in any way. + +One wall held a medley of various articles: Jim's rifle, the sporting +gun his father had given him when he was fifteen, a revolver that had +been through two wars, and a cavalry sword his grandfather had carried, +together with an assortment of native weapons from various +countries--assegais, spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, sjamboks and +South Sea Island clubs and shields. A special nail held Jim's own +stockwhip, to which Norah always attended after he had gone away, lest +the supple thong should become harsh through disuse. Then there were +weapons of peace--hockey sticks, rackets, cricket-bats--the latter an +assortment of all Jim had used, from the tiny one he had begun with at +the age of eight to the full sized beauty that had split honourably in +an inter-State school match the preceding summer. + +All over the other walls were plainly framed photographs. Mr. Linton +and Norah were there, in many positions, with and without horses; then +there were pictures of all the favourite horses and ponies and dogs on +the place, and a big enlargement of Billabong house itself. The others +were school photographs, mostly football and cricket teams, tennis +fours, the school crew, and some large groups at the yearly sports. In +nearly all you could find Jim himself--if you looked closely enough. Jim +loathed being photographed, and always retired as far out of sight in a +group as his inches would permit. + +The room held many of Jim's own manufactured ideas--his "contraptions," +Brownie used to call them. There was a telephone he had rigged up when +he was twelve, communicating with Norah's room by the balcony; and +outside was a sort of fire escape, by which he could--and generally +did--descend without using the stairs. There were various pieces of bush +carpentry--a table, a candlestick and a book-case of his own +construction, which in Norah's eyes were better than beautiful. There +was an arrangement by which he could open his door or his windows +without getting out of bed--which was ingenious, but quaint, since Jim +was never known to shut his windows, and very rarely his door. +Altogether it was an interesting room, and very typical of Jim. + +At present it resembled a maelstrom, for Wally and Jim were unpacking. +Brownie, putting in her head, described it as "a perfick shambles," and +affected great horror at the havoc occasioned by having boys in the +house--beaming all the while in a manner calculated to destroy the +effect of any lecture. Norah, perched on the end of the sofa, which was +the only free spot in the room, looked on at the operations with deep +interest. Occasionally, when some special parcel was unearthed, one of +the boys diverted her attention laboriously, since it was near +Christmas-time, which is ever a season of mysteries. The parcel stowed +away hastily in a cupboard, Norah was permitted to gaze once more, +unrestricted. + +"What's that, Jim?" she asked, catching a glimpse of silver in the +recesses of a suitcase. + +"Oh, nothing." + +"I believe it's your cup," said his sister excitedly. "Do make him show +me, Wally!" + +"The mug it is!" said Wally, diving in under Jim's nose, and snatching +the article in question. "Don't be an ass, Jimmy--d'you expect to keep +it always in your boot-bag?" + +"Very nice place for it," Jim was understood to mutter. + +"Ripping--but you'll want it for your boots. Catch, Norah!" + +The big silver cup flew across the room, and was deftly fielded by the +lady on the end of the sofa. + +"Oh, isn't it a beauty!" she said delightedly. "Jimmy, I'm so proud to +know you!" + +"You ought to have seen him going up to get it," Wally said. "Lovely +sight--he blushed so prettily!" + +"Blush be hanged!" said the victim. + +"Don't be ashamed, my child; it's a very nice thing to be able to +blush," Wally grinned. "No one would ever dream you could, either, so +it's a happy surprise as well!" + +"There's not a blush about you, that's one thing," said Jim, from the +depths of his big box. + +"Wore out all my powers that way blushing over you!" was Wally's prompt +reply. "Norah, will you use that thing for cocoa, or what?" + +"Don't be disrespectful--I'm admiring it," Norah answered, turning the +cup round. "Dad will like it awfully." + +"Has he shown you his prizes?" + +"Prizes!" Norah exclaimed, falling off the arm of the sofa in +amazement. "Jim, you horrid boy, you never told us. Show me at once!" + +"Never thought about 'em," said the unhappy Jim, un-earthing two +resplendent books. "Here you are, anyhow--and Wally needn't talk; he's +got three!" + +"I'm faint in the presence of so much learning!" Norah said, sitting +down on a golf bag. "Who'd ever have suspected you? French and +Prefect's Prize--oh, l'm so glad you got that one, Jim, dear." Her quick +ear caught a step, and she called her father excitedly. + +Mr. Linton entered, to be greeted by incoherent tidings of his son's +success, to the meaning of which the two books lent aid. + +"That's especially good news, old chap," he said quietly, whereat Jim +grinned happily, blushed with fervour, and muttered something entirely +inaudible. "The cup, too! that's a beauty, and no mistake!" He looked +round the "perfick shambles," and laughed a little. "I don't think +they're very safe here," he said. "With your permission, I'll take +charge of them." He left the room, carrying the books and the cup with +him. + +At the door he paused. + +"Don't forget Cecil," he said quietly, and was gone. + +The trio looked blank. + +"Cecil!" said Wally. + +"Hang Cecil!" from Jim disgustedly. + +"Oh, he's such a bore!" Norah said. "And he'd simply hate to be in +here--he wouldn't see any fun in it. I--I really think I've had an +overdose of Cecil." + +"Poor old kid!" said Jim. "Well, we'll hurry up unpacking and then find +him." They dismissed the "bit of a drawback" airily from their minds, +and proceeded with the business in hand, hampered slightly by much +energetic conversation. Jim's boxes were full of interesting things, +the result of his six years at school; his packing, he said, with +pained recollection, had been a "corker." + +"Lucky I had that extra chest of drawers put in here," remarked Norah, +stowing away numerous small articles. "Jim, how many boys gave you +knives as farewell gifts?" + +"Sorra a one of me knows," said her brother. "I lost count--and lost +some of the knives, too. I've an idea Bill Beresford picked up one I +dropped--the one Lance Western gave me; it's got a tortoise-shell +handle, and a nick out of the big blade--and gave it to me for himself." + +"It sounds the sort of economical thing Bill would do," Wally remarked. + +"Then there are five magnifying glasses, seven pencil cases, and six +pens," said Norah. "All tokens of affection, Jim? I'll put them in the +middle drawer." + +"What on earth I'm going to do with 'em all," said their harassed +owner, "I'm sure I don't know. Does any one chap use five magnifiers in +his life? Never used one yet! I wish the fellows hadn't been so kind--it +was awfully brickish of them, though, wasn't it? And the Doctor gave me +this." He held up a large and solemn--looking book. + +"What is it?" + +"'Self Help,' by a chap named Smiles. Shouldn't have thought there were +many smiles about a book looking like that, but it shows you can't tell +everything by the cover. And Mrs. Doctor gave me this tie--knitted it +herself. It was jolly decent of her, wasn't it? She's always been +awfully kind to me," said the big fellow, who had no idea of what "Mrs. +Doctor" thought of his cheerful habit of picking up two or three of her +babies and treating them to a wild ride round the school grounds on his +back; and who had on one occasion sat up all night with a sick +three-year-old who had cried unreasonably for "Yinton" to come and +carry him. The boy had recovered, somewhat against expectations, and +Jim had thought no more of the matter, except to drop gently and firmly +into a gorse bush a fellow who had chaffed him for being a nursemaid. +He had been amazed, and greatly embarrassed, by the tears in little +"Mrs. Doctor's" eyes as she bade him good-bye. Nothing on earth would +have induced him to mention them. + +"If the Doctor ever gives me anything barring the length of his tongue, +I'll have apoplexy!" remarked Wally. "We don't twin-soul a bit better +than we did. He caught me beautifully the other day. Three or four of +us were going to have a supper. I'd been into town to the dentist, and +was bringing home a lobster. Coming out, that idiot Bob Greenfield was +next me on the train, and he amused himself by rubbing the lobster +gently until the thin brown paper they wrap 'em in had worn through in +places. I was talking cricket for all I was worth, and never noticed +him. I'd bought an evening paper, and given him my lobster to hold +while I looked up some scores." + +"Yes?" said Norah, happily. + +"Well, we came to the school, and off I jumped, and just inside the +gate I ran into the Doctor. He was very affable, and we walked up +together, and he asked me quite affectionately how I'd got on with the +dentist, and altogether he might have been my long lost uncle! +Presently he glanced down at my parcel, and said, 'Been getting a boot +mended, Meadows?' I didn't know what to say for a moment. And while I +was floundering in my mind the string broke, and down went my parcel +with a clatter on the asphalt!" + +"Why do I miss these things?" asked Jim, plaintively. + +"I wish I'd missed it instead of you!" said his chum. "I picked it up +in a hurry, and the paper had burst pretty well all over-and-well, you +know, there's no disguising the colour of a lobster! I just held it, +and looked a fool, and the Doctor put up his eyeglass and looked it and +me all over. Then he said, 'Curious colour for a boot, Meadows'--and I +promptly turned the same shade as the lobster." + +"Did you get into a row?" Norah asked. + +"No; I will say for the old chap that he was a perfect brick," Wally +said. "He just grinned, and walked off, remarking that there was no +need to push investigations too far. And I fled, and the lobster was +tip-top, thank you." + +"I don't see why you've any cause to grumble at the Doctor," was +Norah's comment. + +"That's you, feminine ignorance," returned Wally. "He made me feel +small." + +"Well, if I get a head mistress as easy-going--" said Norah, dolefully. + +"Don't you get the idea into your mind that our revered Head's +easy-going!" Wally retorted. "He thinks nothing of skinning a fellow on +occasion--only he didn't happen to think a lobster was occasion--that +night, anyhow. You see, it was near the end of term, and even Heads get +soft!" + +"Lots of em," said Jim; "look at your own!" He dodged a hairbrush +neatly. "Have a little sense, young Wally; don't you see I'm busy? +Norah, old chap, did you see my blazer?" + +"I hung it in your wardrobe," said Norah promptly "Also your overcoat, +also your straw hat, also your cadet uniform--what are you going to do +with that, by the way, Jim?" + +"Get photographed in it," said Wally, wickedly. + +"I'm likely to!" Jim said, with fine scorn. "Goodness only knows--I may +find some fellow it'll fit. It certainly wouldn't fit me much longer." + +"It's been the anxiety of the whole battalion," said Wally. "It creaked +and began to split whenever he drilled in it, and for the last six +parades we've always taken out a blanket in case we should need to +drape his tattered form on the way home! It's an uncommonly good thing +he's left. Most demoralizing for a young corps to see its corpulent +lieutenant bursting out of his uniform!" + +"He's not corpulent," said Norah indignantly, whereat Jim, who +personified leanness with breadth of shoulder, grinned even more widely +than Wally, and patted her on the head as he passed with an armful of +clothes, which he stowed into his wardrobe much as he might have dumped +sacks of potatoes into a barn. Even Norah's wide and free views on the +subject of garments were not proof against the sight. + +"Are those your good suits, Jim?" + +"Yes," said her brother, cheerfully. "They're used to it. Chuck me that +coat, Wally." + +Wally complied, and the coat--which happened to be the one belonging to +its owner's evening suit--was added to the heap in the wardrobe. + +"I'll sort 'em out some time or other," said Jim. "I'm so jolly sick of +unpacking. Wally, you animal, you're not finished, are you?" + +"Ages ago," said his chum. "Hadn't anything like your quantity, you +see. My clothes are neat and trim, and my pyjamas have blue ribbon in +them and I have put out my lace pin cushion and my tulle slippers, and +all is well! Now I feel I can go and play with Cecil with a quiet +mind!" + +"I really don't know why I brought a lunatic home with me," Jim said, +patiently. "Sorry, Nor.; but we'll take him out in the scrub and lose +him. Meanwhile--" He closed the last drawer with a bang, and advanced +with slow deliberation upon the hapless Mr. Meadows. + +For the next few minutes the air in the room was murky with pillows, +other missiles and ejaculations. Out of the turmoil came yelps, much +energetic abuse, and shrieks to Norah for aid to which that maiden, who +was enjoying herself hugely, lent a deaf ear. Finally, the combat +restricted itself principally to Wally's bed, from which the bedclothes +gradually disappeared, until they formed a tight bundle on the floor, +with Wally in the centre. Jim piled the mattress on top, and retreated +to the door. + +"Beast!" said Wally, disentangling himself with difficulty, until he +sat on the pile, considerably dishevelled, and wearing a broad grin. +"It's only your vile brute force--some day I'll get even with you!" He +rose, hurled the mattress upon the bed, and looked inquiringly at his +blankets. "How do you imagine I'm going to sleep there to-night?" + +"Oh, we'll fix it up when we come to bed," laughed Jim. "Come on--we +ought to go down to Cecil." + +"Hold on till I brush my hair," said Wally, attacking his disturbed +locks, and settling his tie. "All right; lead on, Macduff!" + +"Ready, Nor.?" + +Norah hesitated. + +"I'm going to my room for something," she said. "I'll be after you in a +few minutes, boys." + +She disappeared within her room, and the boys clattered downstairs. +When they had gone, Norah slipped back noiselessly to Jim's apartment, +which gave the impression of having recently been the scene of a +cyclone. She laughed a little, looking at it from the doorway. + +"It certainly is a 'perfick shambles'," she said. "Poor old chaps--and +they'll be so tired when they come up to bed!" + +Moving quietly, she sorted out the tangled bedclothes and made up the +bed, and reduced to order some of the chaos in thc room. Then she +opened the wardrobe and took out the mass of clothes, sorting out the +suits and putting them away carefully, with a shake to the coats to +remove creases. The dress suit she laid in a drawer, running to her own +room for a tiny lavender bag to keep away the moths. She was closing +the drawer when she started at a step, and Jim came in. + +"What on earth are you up to?" was his question. His eye travelled +round the room, taking in the open door of the wardrobe, and the dress +coat in the drawer, where stood his small sister, rather flushed. + +"Well!" he said, and paused. "Weren't we beasts?" + +"No, you weren't," said Norah indignantly. + +"H'm," said Jim. "It's a jolly good thing when a fellow has a sister, +anyhow." He came over to her and put his arm round her shoulders. "Dear +old chap!" he said. They went down the stairs together. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +A THUNDERSTORM + + + The Bush hath moods and changes, as the seasons rise and fall, + And the men who love the Bushland--they are loyal thro' it all. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +"The day after to-morrow is the date of the men's dance," Mr. Linton +said. "Norah mustn't go in for any wild exertion on that day, as she'll +probably want to dance several hundred miles at night. So if you boys +want to plan anything, you had better make your arrangements for +to-morrow." + +"I don't know that I've energy enough to plan anything," said Jim, +lazily. He was lying full length on the lawn, his head on Norah. Wally +was close by, and Cecil and Mr. Linton occupied basket chairs. Peace +would have reigned supreme had not the mosquitoes kept every one busy. + +"Any wishes, Cecil?" + +"None whatever," said Cecil. "There are no people to go and see, I +think you said, Uncle David?" + +"No one that would interest you," Mr. Linton said; and Wally and Jim, +who had groaned internally with fear of being taken "calling," felt +their spirits return. + +"My brain's not equal to planning, as I remarked," Jim said. "But if I +go anywhere, I'd like to do so on a horse. I want to feel a horse under +me again." + +"Hear, hear," from Wally, softly. + +"Well, I can't go out to-morrow," said the squatter. "I've letters to +see to, and Anderson may be out; so you must look after +yourselves--which I believe you to be entirely capable of doing. Norah, +haven't you any ideas?" + +"Loads," said Norah, promptly, "but they're all connected with +mosquitoes!" She aimed a vicious blow into space as she spoke, and +sighed, before rubbing the bite. "Well, suppose we ride out and boil +the billy somewhere along the river? Cecil, would you care for that?" + +"Very much," said Cecil, in the tones that always gave the impression +that he despised the particular subject under discussion. Norah had +quite withdrawn the opinion formed in the first five minutes of their +acquaintance, that he was ill mannered--now she bewailed the fact that +he was so uniformly and painfully polite. + +"Well, if you would--" she said, hesitatingly. "What do you boys think?" + +"Grand idea," responded Wally. Norah loved Wally's way; he was always +so pleased and interested over any plan that might be formed. Jim was +wont to remark that if you arranged to clean out a pigsty, Wally would +probably regard it as a gigantic picnic, and enjoy his day hugely. She +smiled at him gratefully in the darkness. + +"You too, Jim?" + +"Rather--anything you like," said her brother. "What horse can I have, +Dad?" + +Jim had no special horse of his own. His two ponies, Sirdar and Mick, +he had outgrown, although they were still up to anything of a lighter +weight--the former only inferior to Norah's beloved Bobs. His absences +from home were so long that it had not seemed worth while to procure +him a special horse, and for several holidays he had been accustomed to +ride any of the station mounts. Privately, Jim was not altogether +satisfied with the arrangement, although quite admitting its common +sense. Now that he had left school he intended to ask his father if he +could buy a horse. + +"You can try my new purchase, Monarch, if you like," Mr. Linton +answered. "He's quite a decent mover--I think you'll like him." + +Cecil bit his lip, under cover of the darkness. He coveted a ride on +both Bobs and Monarch, and had given hints on the subject, but neither +had been taken. Now Jim, nearly three years his junior, was lent +Monarch without even having asked for him; while he was still, he +presumed, to ride the steady-going Brown Betty, whom he thoroughly +despised, in spite of the fact that she had once got rid of him. He +registered another notch in his general grudge against Billabong. + +Mr. Linton was absolutely ignorant of what passed in his nephew's mind. +To give the city boy, with his uncertain seat and heavy hands, anything +but a steady horse, never occurred to him; he would have regarded it as +little short of inviting disaster to put him on Monarch, thoroughbred +and newly broken in as he was; and, of course, no one but Norah ever +rode Bobs. + +"That's all right," he said, as Jim expressed his pleasure. "And what +about you, Wally? You're too long now for Mick, I think." + +"Oh, anything you like, sir," said Wally, easily. "I haven't met any +bad 'uns on Billabong. Warder, or Brown Betty, or Nan--have you got them +all still?" + +"They're all here," the squatter said. "Cecil generally rides Betty, +and I believe Burton's using old Warder just now. But you can have Nan, +if you like." + +"Thanks very much," said Wally. "I'll take the shine out of you, young +Norah!" + +"I'd like to see you," returned Norah. Monarch might beat Bobs or yes, +perhaps one other horse she knew of, in a small tree-grown paddock; at +the thought of which she smiled happily to herself. But no other horse +on Billabong could see the way Bobs went when he was in earnest. + +"Well, that's all settled," Mr. Linton said. "I hope you'll have a good +day--you're bound to have it hot, so I should advise you to get an early +start. If you go as far as the Swamp Paddock, Norah, you might ride +round the cattle there, and see if they're settling down--I put the new +bullocks there, you know." + +"All right, Dad, we'll do it. I like having an object for a ride." + +"Same here," said Jim sleepily. "Picnics are asinine things!" + +"I don't believe you know much about anything--you're three parts +asleep!" said Wally, flinging a cushion at his chum, which Jim caught +thankfully, and, remarking that Norah was uncommonly scraggy, adjusted +under his head. The result was a vigorous upheaval by the indignant +Norah, who declined to be a head-rest for such ingratitude any longer. +At this point Mr. Linton discovered that it was time for supper; and +the boys, tired after their long journey, were not long in saying +goodnight. + +Jim came up with Norah, and switched on her light. His eye travelled +round the pretty room. + +"I don't know what part of home's HOMIEST," he said--"but I always +reckon your room runs pretty near it! Blest if I know what it will be +like when you're not here, little chap." + +Norah rubbed her face against his coat sleeve. + +"We don't talk of it," she said. "If we did, I'd--I'd be a horrid +coward, Jimmy--boy, and you wouldn't like me a bit!" + +"Wouldn't I?" Jim said. "Well, I can't imagine you a coward, anyhow." +He bent and kissed her. "Good-night, old kiddie." + +They set out in good time next morning, for the sun gave promise of a +scorching day. + +Billy had the horses ready under the shade of a huge pepper-tree; even +there the flies were bad enough to set Monarch and Bobs fretting with +irritation, while the two stock horses lashed unceasingly with their +tails and stamped in the dust. Nan was a long, handsome brown mare, +with two white feet--an old friend of Wally's, who came and patted her +and let her rub her worried head against his coat. Cecil mounted Betty +and looked on sourly, while Jim walked round Monarch and admired the +big black. + +"He ought to carry you like a bird, Dad." + +"He does; a bit green yet, but he'll mend of that," his father +answered. "Now, get away, all of you." He put Norah up and watched, +with a silent look of approval, the way Jim handled his impatient +steed, taking him quietly, as one treats a fractious baby, and mounting +gently. Then he stood under the tree to see them ride down the paddock, +valises containing necessaries for the "asinine picnic" strapped on Nan +and Betty's saddles. Norah, as the lady of the party, was exempt from +carrying burdens, and Monarch brooked no load but his rider. + +They made good time across the shadeless paddocks, anxious for the +pleasanter conditions along the river bank, where a cattle track wound +in and out under the gum trees. It was one of Norah and Jim's favourite +rides; they never failed to take it when holidays brought the boy back +to Billabong. They pushed along it for some time, eventually finding +the slip rails, through which they got into the Swamp Paddock--so called +because of a wide marsh in one corner, where black duck and snipe used +to come freely. The new cattle had taken to the paddock like old hands. +Satisfied with their inspection, Norah and Jim led the way back to the +river, where presently they came to an ideal place to camp; a bend +thickly shaded, with the river bank shelving down to a sandy beach, +where it was easy to get good water. + +Wally volunteered to boil the billy, which he accomplished after much +vigorous fanning with his hat at the fire. The job took some little +time, and if the tea was eventually brewed with water that had not +quite reached boiling point, that was a matter between Wally and his +conscience--certainly the other members of the party were far too +thirsty to be critical! Lunch was lazily discussed close to the water, +after which they lay about on the bank and talked of many things. +Nobody was inclined to move, for the heat, even at the river, was very +great; a still, thunderous day, on which no shade could keep out the +moist heat, that seemed, as Wally put it, "to get into your very bones +and make them lazy." + +At length Jim rolled over. + +"Well, I'm off for a bathe," he said. "Coming, Cecil?" + +"Oh, yes," Cecil answered, a little doubtfully; while Wally jumped up +as a matter of course. + +"Ugh!" groaned Norah. "Pigs! Why was I born a girl?" + +"So's we could lay ourselves at your feet!" said Wally solemnly, +suiting the action to the word, and placing his forehead forcefully in +the dust before her. + +"M'f!" Norah wrinkled her nose. "It's very nice of you, but I don't +quite see what use it would be. Anyhow, I'd far rather go bathing." She +huddled on the ground, and looked tragic. "Go--leave me!" + +"Sorry, old girl," grinned Jim. "We won't be long." + +"Be as long as you like," said the victim of circumstances, cheerfully. +"I'm going to sleep." + +The three boys disappeared along the bank, finding, apparently, some +difficulty in discovering a suitable bathing place, for it was some +time before shouts and laughter from a good way off told Norah that +they were in the water. She sighed, looking ruefully at the river +flowing beneath her, and half decided to go in herself; but her father +did not care for her bathing in the open alone, and she gave up the +idea and shut her eyes so that she would not see temptation rippling +down below. Presently she fell asleep. + +She did not know how long it was before she woke. Then she jumped up +with a start, thinking, for a moment, that it was dark. The sun had +disappeared behind a huge bank of deep-purple cloud that had crept up, +blotting out everything. It was breathlessly hot and quite still--not a +leaf stirred on a tree, and the birds were quiet. + +"Whew!" said Norah. "We're going to have a storm--and a big one!" + +She listened. From far up faint calls and laughter still met her ears. +It was evident that the boys were finding the water very much to their +taste. + +"Duffers!" Norah ejaculated. "We'll have the loveliest soaking--and +Dad'll be anxious." + +She coo-ee'd several times, but no response came. Finally she rose, +with a little wrinkle in her brow. + +"I guess I'd better saddle up," she said. + +The horses were tied up in a clump of trees not far off, the saddles +out of reach of their restless feet. Norah saddled Bobs first, and then +the two stock horses--which was easy. To get Monarch ready, however, was +not such a simple matter: the youngster was uneasy and sweating, and +would not keep still for a moment; to get the saddle on and adjust +breastplate and rings was a fairly stiff task with a sixteen-hands +horse and a groom of fourteen years, hampered by a divided riding +skirt. At length the last buckle went home, and Norah gave a relieved +sigh. + +"Bother you, Monarch!" she said. "You've taken me an awful time. Come +on, Bobs." + +Leaving the other horses tied up, she mounted and cantered down the +bank, calling again and again. An answer came sooner than she had +expected, and the three boys, somewhat hastily arrayed, came running +through the trees. + +"Jimmy, have you seen the weather?" asked his sister, indicating the +blackened sky. + +"Only a few minutes ago," Jim said, visibly annoyed with himself. "We +were diving in a hole with the trees meeting overhead, and the scrub +thick all around us--hadn't an idea it was working up for this. Why +didn't you call us, you old duffer?" + +"I did--but I couldn't make you hear," said Norah, somewhat injured. +"Hurry--I've saddled up." + +"You have? You didn't saddle Monarch?" asked Jim quickly. + +"Yes, he's all ready, and the valises are on. We're in for a ducking, +anyway, don't you think, Jim?" + +"I think you hadn't any business to saddle Monarch," Jim said, soberly. +"I wish you wouldn't do those things, Norah." + +"Oh, it was all right." She smiled down at him. "He was only a bit +fidgety; I believe he's frightened of the weather, Jim." She looked +across at Cecil, seeing that young gentleman, wonderful to relate, with +his stock folded awry, and his hair in wild confusion. "Do you mind +thunderstorms, Cecil?" + +"I--don't care for them much," Cecil panted. Running evidently did not +agree with him, and he was finding his tweed riding suit very unfitted +for the heat of the day. Jim, jogging easily, clad in white silk shirt, +cord breeches and leggings, looked at him pityingly. + +"Carry your coat, Cecil?" he sang out. + +"No, thank you. I'd rather wear it," said Cecil, who disapproved of +being coatless at any time, and had looked with marked disfavour at Jim +and Wally as they set off in the morning. + +"Stupid donkey!" Jim muttered, under his breath. "Ah, there are the +horses!" + +He made for Betty at once, and tossed the breathless Cecil into her +saddle, advising him to ride on quickly. + +Wally was up in a twinkling; but to mount Monarch was no such easy +matter, for the black horse was dancing with restlessness, and a low +growl of thunder far to the west evidently terrified him. Finally, with +a quick movement, Jim was in the saddle, whereat Monarch promptly +reared. He came down, and tried to get his head between his legs, but +the boy was too quick for him, and presently steadied him sufficiently +to move away in the wake of the others. + +"Go on!" Jim shouted. "Don't lose a minute!" + +They went down the river bank at a hand gallop, chafing now and then at +the necessity of striking away from the track to find gates or +slip-rails, as one paddock followed another. At first Monarch gave Jim +all he knew to hold him, and at the gates Wally and Norah had to do all +the work, for the black thoroughbred was too impatient to stand an +instant, and threatened to buck a score of times. Jim watched the sky +anxiously, very disgusted with himself. He knew they had no chance of +getting home dry, but at least they must be out of the timber before +the storm broke. It was coming very near now--the thunder was more +frequent, and jagged lightning tore rents in the inky curtain that +covered the sky. He took Monarch by the head, and sent him tearing +along the track, passing the boys--Wally riding hard on Nan, and Cecil +sitting back on Betty with a pale face. Before him Bobs was galloping +freely, Norah riding with her hands well down, and on her face a smile +that was like a child's laugh of sheer happiness. Norah loved +thunderstorms; they seemed to call to something in her nature that +never failed to respond. She glanced up at Jim merrily as he passed +her. + +"Grand, isn't it?" she said. Then her face changed. "He isn't getting +away with you, Jim?" + +"Not he!" said her brother, grinning. "But we've got to get out of this +jolly soon--hurry your old crock, Norah!" Norah's indignant heel smote +Bobs, and they raced neck and neck for a moment. + +They swung out of the trees just in time, the plain clear for home +before them. Almost simultaneously, the storm broke. There was a mad +flash of lightning across the gloom, and then a rattling peal of +thunder that rang round the sky and finished with a tremendous crack +overhead. The black horse stopped suddenly, wild with terror. Then his +head went down, and he bucked. + +Norah and Wally pulled up, regardless of the rain beginning to fall in +torrents. Monarch was swaying to and fro in mad paroxysms, trying to +get his head between his knees, his back humped in an arch, all his +being centred in the effort to get rid of the weight on his back, and +the iron in his mouth, and the control that kept him near that terrible +convulsion of nature going on overhead. Jim was motionless, each hand +like iron on the rein--yet with gentleness, for he knew the great black +brute was only a baby after all, and a badly frightened baby at that. +Cecil, coming by on Betty, his face white, looked aghast at the +struggle between horse and rider, and fled on homewards. The thunder +pealed, and the lightning lit the sky in forked darts. + +Possibly the rain steadied Monarch, or sense came back to him through +Jim's voice. He stopped suddenly, planting all four feet wide apart on +the ground. Jim patted his neck, and spoke to him, and the tension went +out of the big horse. He stood trembling a little. + +"Slip along," nodded Jim to Norah. + +Bobs and Nan went off together. Behind them, Monarch broke into a +canter, obedient once more. + +Five minutes later they were at the stables, Billy out in the wet to +take the horses. The storm was raging still, but there were coolness +and refreshment in the air. Billy grinned at the three soaked riders as +they slipped to the ground, and then at Brown Betty, trotting down the +hill in the rain. There was no sign of Cecil, who had fled indoors. + +"Him plenty 'fraid," said the black retainer, his grin widening. "Him +run like emu!" His eagle gaze dwelt on Monarch, who was still trembling +and excited. + +"Been buck?" he asked, his eyes round. + +"Plenty!" Jim laughed. "All right, Billy, I'll let him go myself." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +THE BILLABONG DANCE + + + The slope beyond is green and still, + And in my dreams I dream, + The hill is like an Irish hill + Beside an Irish stream. + KENDALL. + + +"Don't dress to-night, if you don't mind, Cecil," said Jim, putting his +head into his cousin's room. + +"Not dress?" Evening clothes were part of Cecil's training, and he kept +to them rigidly, putting on each night for dinner what Murty O'Toole, +having seen in wonder, referred to as "a quare little +cobbed-shwaller-tail jacket." He regarded with fine scorn the cheerful +carelessness of the boys where clothes were concerned. To Jim and Wally +who were generally immensely occupied until dinner-time, and more often +than not had further plans for the time following, putting on +regulation evening dress seemed a proceeding little short of lunatic; +but since Cecil "liked that sort of thing," they let him alone. +To-night, however, was different, and when Cecil repeated his query +half impatiently, Jim nodded. + +"No. Didn't we tell you? It's the dance in the loft." + +"Oh--don't you people ever dress for dances then?" + +"Not for these dances," Jim answered. "It's the men's spree--all the +hands and their friends; and you can be jolly well certain they won't +run to dress clothes. So we make a point of not putting 'em on. Father +did one year, and felt very sorry he had." + +"I don't know that I'm keen on going, anyway," said Cecil. + +"Oh, I think you'd better. Dad likes us to go, and it's really rather +fun," Jim responded, patiently. "Norah's quite excited about it." + +"Norah's young and enthusiastic," said Cecil. + +"Oh, well, you're hardly hoary-headed yourself yet!" Jim grinned. +"Might as well be cheerful while you're alive, Cecil, 'cause you'll be +a long time dead!" He withdrew his head, shut the door with an +unconcerned bang, and his whistle died away up the corridor. + +"Hang it!" said Cecil, disgustedly, looking at his forbidden garments. +"Who wants to go to a beastly servants' ball, anyhow?" He donned a dark +suit reluctantly, a little consoled in that its very recent cut would +certainly be an eye-opener to Billabong, and went down to dinner, +meeting on the way Norah, in a muslin frock, with her hair flying and +her eyes sparkling. + +"Oh! I'm so glad you haven't dressed up!" said she. "It's such fun, +Cecil!--we've been helping to decorate the loft, and really you'd hardly +know it was a loft, it looks so decent. And it's so funny to see the +men; they pretend they don't care a bit, but I do believe they're quite +excited. Murty came in with a trememdous lot of ferns, and he's been +nailing them all on the wall in streaks, and he and Mick Shanahan +nearly had a fight 'cause Mick leaned against one of them and the +erection came down, and the nail tore Mick's coat. Still, it was Murty +who seemed most aggrieved! And the musicians have come out from Cunjee, +and they've been practising--they can play, too!" She paused for lack of +breath. + +"What sort of music does Cunjee supply?" + +"Violin and flute and a funny little piano," said Norah. "They had +quite an exciting time getting the piano up into the loft with the +block and pulley. But the music sounds very well up there. The only +trouble is old Andy Ferguson, the fencer--he's always been accustomed to +fiddle for them, and he's very crushed because we've got out these men. +Dad says he'd never have got them if he'd dreamed how disappointed old +Andy would be." + +Cecil had seen Andy, who struck him as a peculiarly uninteresting old +man. That such consideration should be shown to his wishes and feelings +was a thing beyond him, and he merely stared. + +"However, he's going to play the supper dances and some others," said +Norah, not noticing his silence, "so he's a bit consoled." They entered +the drawing-room at the moment, finding Jim and Wally in armchairs, +tweed clad and unusually tidy, and chafing miserably against the +tyranny of white shirts after days of soft variety. "And a big buggy +load of girls has come out from Cunjee already; and Brownie says +there's a tremendous demand for hot water for shaving from the men's +quarters, and Dave Boone came in for some mutton fat for his hair, but +she wouldn't give it to him. Now she's half sorry she didn't, 'cause +she believes he'll use the black fat they keep in the harness room; +he's so dark no one would be able to tell--from the look! Who are you +going to dance with, Cecil?" + +"You, if I may," drawled Cecil. + +"Why, of course, if you want to," Norah said, laughing. "But we always +dance with every one on these occasions. It's one of the sights of +one's life to see Wally leading Brownie out!" + +Cecil gasped. + +"And am I expected to dance with Mrs. Brown?" + +"Very possibly she won't have a dance to spare you," said Wally +serenely. "Brownie's no end popular, you see. Thank goodness. I've +booked mine with her already!" + +Cecil's stare spoke volumes. + +"And who are your partners, Norah?" + +"Any one who asks me," said that maiden promptly. + +"And your father allows it?" + +"Certainly he does," said Jim. "Don't get tragic, Cecil. The men on the +place are an awfully decent lot, and most of them have been here ever +so long--besides, it's their one night in the year, and they never +overstep their limits. Dad always plans this spree himself specially. +Of course, if you don't like--" + +Jim stopped short, and bit his tongue. It had suddenly occurred to him +that he was host--and he had nearly said something rude. So he whistled +vaguely, and asked Wally if he were going to dance with Lee Wing, who +was the Chinese gardener. + +"Wish I could get the chance," said Wally, his eyes twinkling. "Think +of piloting fat old Lee Wing through a polka--he'd get so beautifully +puffed, and his pigtail would wave in the breeze, and he'd be such an +armful!" + +"Do you mean to say that Chow comes, too?" queried Cecil. + +"No; he's shy," Wally answered. "We've tried to get him, but in vain; +he prefers to go to bed and dream of China. And Billy hangs about like +a black ghost, but he won't come in. So we lose a lot of international +enjoyment; but, even so, what's left is pretty good, itsn't it, Norah?" + +"I love it," said Norah. + +"And you don't get any of your own friends to come? It seems to me the +queerest arrangement," said Cecil. + +"It's the men's dance, don't you see? There wouldn't be much fun for +them if the place were filled up with our friends." + +"Well, I should think a few of your own sort would be better. Aren't +there any girls or boys within reach that you know? I suppose you've a +juvenile sweetheart or two in the district?" + +Norah looked at him blankly. Wally gave an expressive wriggle in his +chair, and Jim sat up suddenly, with a flush on his brown face. + +"We never talk that sort of rot here," he said angrily. "Norah's not a +town girl, and her head isn't full of idiotic, silly bosh. I'll thank +you--" + +Mr. Linton came in at the moment, and the point on which Jim intended +to express his gratitude remained unuttered. Cecil had reddened +wrathfully, and the general atmosphere was electric. Mr. Linton took, +apparently, no notice. He pulled Norah's hair gently as he passed her. + +"You're all remarkably spruce," he commented. "Can any one tell me why +almost every maid I have met in my house this day turns and flees as +though I were the plague? Sarah is the only one who doesn't shun me, +and her mind appears to be taken up with affairs of State, for I asked +her twice if she had seen my tobacco pouch, and she brought me in +response a jug of shaving water, for which I have had no use for some +time!" He laughed, stroking his iron-grey beard. "Can you explain the +mystery, Norah?" + +"It's easy," said his daughter. "Sarah's hair has a natural friz, so +she's the only girl in the house without curling pins concealed--more or +less--in her front hair. Brownie gave permission for the pins to-day; I +guess she thinks it would give Sarah an unfair start if she didn't!" + +"But the shaving water?" + +"Ah, well, I expect Fred Anderson wanted that. She's engaged to him, +you know," said Norah, simply. + +"Well, I hardly see why she should give me his shaving water, either +from Anderson's point of view or mine; but I suppose it's all right," +said Mr. Linton. "The whole place is upset. I really wanted some work +done, but the men who should have been sinking a well were tacking up +ferns, and those whose mission in life is--or ought to be--hoeing out +ragwort were putting French chalk on the floor of my loft! Judging from +my brief inspection, it seemed to me that the latter occupation was far +more strenuous than the ragwort job; but they seemed much happier than +usual, and were working overtime without a struggle!" + +"To hear you talk so patiently," quoth Norah, "no one would imagine +that you'd bought the French chalk yourself!" She perched on the arm of +his chair, and looked at him severely, while the boys laughed. + +"The men are like a lot of kids to-day," Jim said. "Did you hear about +old Lee Wing, Dad? He was standing under the block and pulley after +they'd hoisted up the piano, and I expect the sight of the hook on the +end of the dangling rope was too much for the men, for they slipped it +through Wing's leather belt and hauled him up too! You should have seen +him, with his pigtail dangling, kicking at the end of the rope like the +spider in 'Little Miss Muffet!' They landed him in the loft, and Fred +Anderson insisted on waltzing with him, while one of the musicians +hammered out The Merry Widow on the piano. Poor old Wing was very wild +at first, but they got him laughing finally." + +"Why that long-suffering Chinaman stays here is always a mystery to +me," said his father, laughing. "He's the butt of the whole place; but +he fattens on it." + +"There's the dinner gong!" said Norah, jumping up. "Come on, gentlemen, +we've to hurry to-night, so that the girls can get free early." + +The loft over the stables, which had been built with a view to such +occasions, was quite transformed when the house party entered it a +couple of hours later. The electric light--Billabong had its own plant +for lighting--had been extended to the loft, and gleamed down on a +perfect bower of green--bracken and coral ferns, the tender foliage of +young sapling tops, Christmas bush, clematis and tall reeds from the +lagoon--the latter gathered by Jim and Wally during their morning bathe. +Rough steps had been improvised to lead from outside up to the main +door of the loft, over which still dangled from the block and pulley +the rope that had suspended the irate Lee Wing earlier in the day. It +was also possible to enter by the usual method--a trapdoor in the floor +over a ladder leading from the floor below; but this was considered by +the men scarcely suitable for their partners. All traces of its usual +contents had, of course, been removed from the big room, and the floor +gleamed in the light, mute evidence of the ardour with which Mr. +Linton's French chalk had been applied. At one end, near the railing +guarding the trapdoor, the Cunjee musicians were stationed, and close +to them a queer old figure hovered--old Andy Ferguson, gnarled and +knotted and withered; Irish, for all his Scotch name, and with his old +blue eyes full of Irish fire at the thought of "a spree." He held his +old fiddle tenderly as he might hold a child; it, too, was the worse +for wear, and showed in more than one place traces of repair; but when +Andy wielded the bow its tones were just as mellow to him as the finest +instrument on earth. He kept a jealous eye on the Cunjee men; they +might oust him for most of the night, but at least his was to be the +old privilege of opening the ball. "The Boss" had said so. + +The homestead men had lined up near the door to receive their +guests--to-night they were hosts to Mr. Linton and his children, as to +every one else. They were a fine lot of fellows--Murty O'Toole, and Mick +Shanahan, the horse breaker, and Willis and Blake and Burton--all long +and lean and hard, with deep-set, keen eyes and brown, thin faces; +Evans, who was supposed to be over-seer, and important enough to arrive +late; younger fellows, like Fred Anderson and David Boone (the latter's +hair suspiciously smooth and shiny); Hogg, the dour old man who ruled +the flower garden and every one but Norah; and a sprinkling of odd +rouseabouts and boys, very sleek and well brushed, in garments of +varying make, low collars, and the tie the bushman loves "for +best"--pale blue satin, with what Wally termed "jiggly patterns" on it. +Of the same type were the guests--men from other stations, cocky farmers +and a very small sprinkling of township men. + +The ladies kept rigidly on arrival to the other side of the loft. There +was Mrs. Brown, resplendent in a puce silk dress that Norah remembered +from her earliest childhood, with a lace cap of monumental structure +topped by a coquettish bow of pale pink ribbon. Her kind old face +beamed on every one. Close to her, very meek under her sheltering wing, +were Sarah and Mary, the housemaids--very gay in papery silks, pink and +green, with much adornment of wide yellow lace. Norah had helped to +dress them both, and she smiled delightedly at them as she came in. +There was Mrs. Willis, who ruled over the men's hut, and was reckoned, +as a cook, only inferior to Mrs. Brown; and Joe Burton's pretty wife, +in a simple white muslin--with no doubt in big Joe's heart, as he looked +at her, as to who was the belle of the ball. Then, girls and women from +that vague region the bush calls "about," in mixed attire--from flannel +blouses and serge skirts, to a lady who hurt the eye it looked at, and +made the lights seem pale, in her gorgeous gown of mustard-coloured +velveteen, trimmed with knots of cherry-coloured ribbon. They came +early, with every intention of staying late, and cheerfully certain of +a good time. The Billabong ball was an event for which an invitation +was much coveted. + +Norah kept close to her father's wing, as they entered, shaking hands +gravely with the men by the door, and with Mrs. Brown--which latter +proceeding she privately considered a joke. The boys followed; Jim +quiet and pleasant; Wally favouring Murty O'Toole with a solemn wink, +and Cecil plainly bored by the little ceremony. He let his fingers lie +in each man's hand languidly--and would probably have been injured had +he seen Murty wipe his hand carefully on the side of his trousers after +he had passed on. The men had no love for the city boy. + +"S'lect y'r partners!" It was Dave Boone, most noted "M.C."--in demand +at every ball in the district. Dave knew what he was about, and saw +that other people understood the fact; no shirking when he was in +command, no infringement of rules, no slip-shod dancing. Even as he +kept his eagle eye on the throng, he "selected" one of the prettiest +girls himself, and bore her to the head of the room. There was never +any doubt of Dave's generalship. + +Cecil turned to Norah. + +"May I have this?" + +"Sorry," Norah said, "I always dance with Jim first." + +"P'f!" said Cecil, lightly. "That old brother-and-sister idea is +exploded." + +"Not with Jimmy and me," Norah answered. "Why don't you ask Mary? She +can dance awfully well." + +"No, thank you," said Cecil, with elevated nose. "I'll watch." + +Wally had approached Mrs. Brown, and bowed low. + +"Ours, I think?" + +"Now, Master Wally, me dancin' days are over," said Brownie. "Go an' +get one of the girls, now, dearie, do!" + +"A girl!--when I can get you?" Wally ejaculated. "Not much I" He tucked +her hand into his arm and led her off in triumph. + +"Promen-ayde y'r partners!" + +Dave turned and nodded to Andy Ferguson, who, with fiddle tucked +lovingly under his chin, was waiting for his signal. He broke into a +march--the time a little shaky, the tune a little old, for the hand that +held the bow was old and shaky, too; but still a march, with a swing to +it that set the feet going at once. The dancers promenaded round the +room in a long procession, led proudly by Wally and Mrs. Brown. At one +end a few men, disappointed in obtaining partners, clustered by the +wall; near them stood Mr. Linton, watching in his grave, pleasant way +that was so like Jim's, with Cecil at his elbow, his delicate face dull +and expressionless. Round and round marched the couples. + +"Circular waltz, please!" + +The music swung into a waltz without a break, and simultaneously the +march broke into the dance as every man seized his partner by the waist +and began to revolve solemnly and silently. Cecil gaped. + +"What on earth is a circular waltz?" + +"Blest if I know for certain," replied his uncle, laughing. "Much like +any other waltz--but you mustn't use the middle of the floor. Watch +young Boone." + +Dave was keeping an eagle eye on the dancers. For the most part they +were content to gyrate near the wall; but should any more daring couple +approach the unoccupied space in the middle of the room, they were +instantly detected and commanded to return. As Cecil looked, Wally, who +was dancing with a broad grin of sheer happiness on his face, swung his +ponderous partner right across the centre--and was greeted by the +vigilant M.C. with the stern injunction--"Keep circle!" Quite oblivious +that this outbreak had anything to do with him, while Mrs. Brown, +feeling the most miserable of sinners, was far too breathless to +explain, Wally presently repeated his offence, whereupon Boone pulled +him up gravely, and pointed out his enormity to him. The culprit +grinned the more widely, promised amendment, nodded vigorously, and +danced off, Mrs. Brown remaining speechless throughout. Mr. Linton +smothered a laugh in his beard. + +Presently the music came to an end. Old Andy put his fiddle down and +looked along the loft with a happy little smile. The dancers stopped, +and Mr. Boone's voice rose sonorously. + +"Seats, please!" + +At this, each man rushed with his partner to the side of the loft +previously tenanted by the ladies, and deposited her on the long forms +ranged there. Then the men retreated hastily to the other side. + +There was no conversation, nor had there been any through the dance. It +seemed that the poetry of motion must suffice for enjoyment. + +Norah and Jim, who had been dancing vigorously, pulled up near the +others. + +"Did you see me get hauled over the coals?" asked Wally gleefully. He +had placed Mrs. Brown on a seat, and followed the example of his sex in +retreating. + +"Rather--we were in fits, behind you!" said Jim. "Was Dave cross?" + +"Oh, quite mild; took my assurance that I didn't know I was sinning, +and forgave me like a man and a brother. And why shouldn't a fellow +cross that floor?" + +"Goodness knows; but it's a rule. They dance very strictly, and in many +ways more correctly than we do." + +"There are two lovely couples," said Wally, gleefully. "They hold each +other firmly round the neck, and they revolve on the space of a +threepenny bit. It's beautiful. May I try that way with you, Norah?" + +"No, you mayn't," laughed Norah; "at least, not here. They might think +we were imitating them." + +"Curious penetration on their parts!" rejoined Wally. "Well, can you +tell me why lots of the men hold one arm behind their backs?" + +"In my young days that was quite ordinary," Mr. Linton put in. "I +always danced that way--and I was remarkably run after," he added, +modestly. Whereat Wally meekly assured him that he thought the practice +a highly desirable one, and had serious thoughts of adopting it +himself. + +"I've been looking at the programme nailed up for the musicians," said +Cecil. "There are some dances I never saw--Varsoviana, Circassian +Circle, and Caledonians." + +"In the Varsoviana," said Mr. Linton, retrospectively, "I used to +shine." + +"Well, they beat US," said his son. "We can't dance 'em; but we look +on. The first two are round dances, and the Caledonians is a square. I +suppose they'd be all right, only they're not taught now." + +"And there are no two-steps," said Cecil, in a tone of personal injury. + +Jim laughed outright. + +"It'd be so much simpler for you if you'd remember you're at what's +commonly known as 'a bush hop'," he said. "You can't expect the last +adornments of a city spree. Anyway, they get more honest fun out of +this than most people do at a Melbourne or Sydney ball." + +Cecil looked patient. + +"May I have the next dance, Norah?" + +"I'm sorry, truly, Cecil, but I've promised it to Murty." + +"Oh!" said Cecil. "The next?" + +"That's Mick Shanahan's," said Norah, laughing. "But you may have the +one after that if you like." + +"I must be thankful for small mercies, I suppose," said he, +unthankfully. + +"Won't you dance with any one else?" + +"No, thanks, I don't care to." The tone was final. + +"Well, I'm going to collar Sarah or die!" said Wally, manfully. "I'll +probably die, anyway, 'cause Fred has his eye on her. Still, here +goes!" + +The musicians gave a preliminary blast, on which followed a shout from +the M.C. + +"Select y'r partners for the lancers!" + +At the word there was a general stampede. Youths who had been timid +before, grown bolder now, dashed towards the long row of girls. Where +more than one arrived simultaneously, there was no argument; the man +who failed to speak first shot off to find another damsel. In a moment +every available fair one had been secured firmly, and the dancers +awaited further commands. + +Wally had not waited for permission from Mr. Boone. At the first sound +of the music he had darted towards Sarah, arriving beside the lady with +"the natural friz" a yard in front of Fred Anderson. + +It was not etiquette to refuse to dance, and the fact that he was "the +Boss's" guest, if only a boy, carried weight. Sarah rose, with a rueful +glance at her disappointed swain. The two disconsolate faces moved +Wally to compassion. + +"I say--I'm awfully sorry," he said. "'Fraid I got ahead of you +unfairly, Fred--perhaps you'll excuse me this time, Sarah? You don't +mind? Well, you'll give me the next, won't you? Thanks, awfully." He +relinquished her to the beaming Fred, and returned, partnerless, to Mr. +Linton and Cecil. + +Then it was a marvellous sight to behold young Dave Boone! With Mrs. +Brown on his arm, he "took the floor" at the head of the room, seeing +that the dancers were correctly sorted out in sets; and thence +proceeded to dance and instruct the room simultaneously, in a manner +truly amazing. With what agility did he "set to partner" and "swing +corner," with his eagle eye all the time scanning the sets to make sure +no one mixed up the commands!--how ably bear his part in "First lady and +second gent.," not even put out of step by the necessity of telling the +further end of the room that it was going wrong!--how splendidly issue +the edict to "chassee-crossee" and "gent. solo," finding time, even in +the press of his double occupation, to propel his panting partner in +the way she should go! His voice rang out over the room, indicating +each figure as it came--there was no excuse for making any mistake in a +square dance when Mr. Boone was in command. And all the while he danced +with a wholehearted energy and a face of absolute gravity. No one, +watching him, could have possibly imagined that this was a pastime. + +"I've seen Boone looking infinitely more cheerful when fighting a bush +fire!" said Mr. Linton. + +"Talk about a conjurer!" was Cecil's astonished comment. "I never saw +one man do so many things at once!" + +The music ceased at last, and the "Seats, please!" marked the temporary +termination of the labours of the M.C. Murty brought Norah back to her +father, thanked her gravely, and made off. + +"What happened to you, Wally?" queried Jim, restoring a blushing damsel +in blue to her form and rejoining his relations. "Did Sarah turn you +down?" + +"I resigned gracefully in favour of Fred," Wally said. "He looked +murderous, and Sarah looked woe-begone, so it seemed the best plan. But +she's mine for the next--and ill befall the caitiff that disputes my +claim!" + +"No one'd dare!" said Jim, hastily. "I'm after Brownie, myself." + +"Ah, Jim, be steady with her," said Norah. "It's a polka!" + +"I'll be steady as old Time," Jim told her, smiling. True to his +promise, when the music began he danced mildly and moderately, and +Brownie emerged from the ordeal in far better order than might have +been expected. + +After that the evening flew. Dance after dance went by in rapid +succession--for the guests were out to dance, and where no time is +wasted in talking much may be done with a few hours. Cecil steadfastly +declined any partner but Norah, and as that maiden had no mind to spare +him more than two, his evening was dull, since his sense of humour was +not equal to finding any fun in the entertainment. He was the object of +considerable curiosity among the visitors, and was generally voted +"stuck-up," and "too big for his boots." As for Jim and Wally, they +flung themselves cheerfully into the business of the night, and even +succeeded in making most of their partners talk, albeit this was a +daring proceeding, and not looked upon with favour by the M.C. They +were too popular, however, to come in for any real criticism, and being +regarded by the majority of the men as "just kids," were allowed to do +very much as they liked. + +Supper was a majestic meal, spread on long tables in a big tent. Mr. +Linton led the way to it with Mrs. Brown, followed by Mick Shanahan, +who conveyed Norah much in the way he danced with her--as if she were a +piece of eggshell china, and apt to crack with careless handling. There +was no "head of the table"; every one sat in the place that seemed +good, and tongues flew as fast as the knives and forks. At the end Mr. +Linton made a little speech. + +"My friends," he said, "it's a great pleasure to Billabong to see you +all here. I hope you'll keep it up till morning, and come again next +year; you're always welcome. However, it is time my daughter went to +bed." (Dissent, and cries of "Not her!") "Before she goes, though, I +would like to see one more dance. I move that our old friend Andy +Ferguson play the 'Royal Irish.'" + +There was frantic applause, and supper adjourned hastily, while every +one hurried back to the loft; in the midst old Andy, his quavering +voice a little raised in excitement, his fiddle held firmly in one +hand. "Too old to work," some called him, wondering why David Linton +kept the old fencer, when younger men were always wanting work on +Billabong; and now, as he faced the long room with his faded blue eyes +a little misty, Andy looked an old man indeed. But the pride of work +was in him, and his master knew it--knew how the gnarled hands ceased to +tremble when they grasped the adze and mattock, just as there was now +no quiver in them as he raised the brown fiddle and cuddled it under +his chin. Age would seize on Andy only when he could work and play no +more. The light came back into his eyes as he saw the boys and girls +waiting for the music--his music. + +He drew the bow lovingly across the strings, and swung into the Irish +dance the old, common tune with the little gay lilt to it that grips +the heart and makes the feet beat time, and has the power to wake old +memories across the years. There were no memories to wake in the happy +young hearts in the loft at Billabong that night. But Andy looked over +the heads of the dancers at his master, meeting his eyes as man to man, +and each knew that the mind of the other had gone back to days long +dead. + +The long floor echoed under the dancers' feet--up and down, swing in the +centre, hands across; the pace was always a good one when Andy Ferguson +played the "Royal Irish." One foot tapped out the time, and his grey +head nodded in sympathy with it. They called to him now and again, +"Bravo, Andy! Good man, Andy! Keep it going!" and he smiled at the +friendly voices, watching them with the keenness of the Irishman for a +light foot in a dance. + +Just before him, Mrs. Brown, dancing with Jim, was footing it in and +out of the figures like a girl, holding her skirts quaintly on either +side as she advanced and retired, and came back to sweep a curtsey that +shamed the quick bow of the younger generation, while the tall lad she +had nursed waited for her with a grave gentleness that sat prettily on +his broad shoulders. Near, too, the old man's eyes dwelt lovingly on +Norah, whose eyes were dancing in time with her feet as Wally pranced +her madly up and down, his own brown face glowing.... just for a moment +Andy saw "the little mistress" who had known her baby for so brief a +time fourteen years before; her face looked at him through her child's +grey eyes. He looked across at his master again, a little wistfully. + +The tune broke into "St. Patrick's Day," and Murty O'Toole gave a +sudden involuntary shout, his hand above his head, Mick Shanahan echoed +it; the Irish music was in their blood, and the old man with the brown +fiddle had power to make them boys again. He, too, had gone back on the +lilt of the tune; back to his own green country, where the man with the +fiddle has his kingdom always, and the lads and lasses are his +subjects. There was a girl with blue Irish eyes, coming to meet him on +St. Patrick's morning... the tune wavered ever so little then, as his +heart cried out to her. Then the dream passed, and he knew that he was +a boy no more, but old Andy Ferguson, playing for the boys and girls in +the loft at Billabong. The bow moved faster and faster yet--only a good +pair could see him right through the "Royal Irish." They were panting +when he dropped his hand at last and stood looking at them a little +vaguely. Then they crowded round him, thanking him. Even the Cunjee +musicians were saying that he could beat them all, and Miss Norah had +put her hand into his, and was patting his arm. There was a mist before +him--he could not see them all, though he knew his triumph. + +"'Tis wid the kindness of all of y'," he murmured. "So good to me y' +all are!" + +David Linton's hand was on his shoulder. + +"Come on, old friend," he said, gently; "we're getting old and we're +tired, you and I." He led him away, Norah still holding his hand. +Behind them the music broke out again, cheerily, and the flying feet +made the loft echo until the dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + +CHRISTMAS + + + O mellow air! O sunny light! + O Hope and Youth that pass away, + Print thou in letters of delight + Upon each heart one glorious day! + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Norah woke up early. + +Close outside her open windows a magpie in the magnolia tree was +carolling as though he knew it was a special morning, and that he had a +special message to deliver. The linen blinds were rolled tight up, and +she could see him near one of the great creamy blossoms, each big +enough for his bath; his black and white coat very spruce and smart, +his head thrown back in utter enjoyment of his own song. Norah smiled +at him sleepily from her pillow. + +"Nice old chap!" she said; and then she remembered. + +"Oh!--Christmas." She gave a little happy laugh, for to-day was going to +be such a very good day. There was something that had taxed all her +patience; it was so hard to keep the secret until Christmas. Norah was +not a very patient person by nature, and she was glad that the need for +it was almost over. + +She turned over lazily, and then burst out laughing as something caught +her eye at the foot of the bed--a huge football stocking, assuming +extraordinary shapes by reason of strange packages within it, while +from the top a monkey on a stick grinned at her. Norah jumped up and +brought the stocking back to bed for examination, weak with laughter +when she had finished. A big box of chocolates; a scarlet Christmas +cracker; a very flowery mug of thickest china, with "Love the Giver" on +it, and tied to the handle a label with "For a Good Little Girl" in the +best handwriting of Wally, who evidently considered it not sufficiently +adorned by nature; a live frog in a glass-covered box; a huge bundle, +which took her many minutes to unwrap, and was finally found to contain +a tiny pig of Connemara marble; a Christmas pudding the size of a golf +ball; and finally, in the very toe, a minute bottle labelled "Castor +Oil; Seasonable at Any Time." + +"Oh, you NICE donkeys!" said the recipient of these varied gifts, lying +back and investigating the chocolates. A sound at the window made her +look up, and Jim's laughing face peeped round the curtain. + +"Like 'em?" + +"They're lovely," said Norah, fervently. "Come in, Jimmy, you old +duffer. Merry Christmas!" + +Jim came in, immensely tall and lean in his pyjamas, and sat down on +the bed. + +"Merry Christmas, old kid!" he said, and kissed her. "Taken your oil?" + +"Pudding first--and chocolates," said Norah, solemnly, indicating the +box. "Take lots, Jim, they're beauties. How did you get that thing into +my room?" + +"Waited until I could hear your cheerful snores, and then sneaked in by +the window," said her brother, dodging a chocolate. "My best stocking; +I think I was jolly good to lend it to you--you'll kindly notice that +the frog's box tore a hole in it, and take steps accordingly! It's a +ripping morning--but it's going to be hot. Do you know what time it is?" + +"I don't," said Norah. + +"Five o'clock," said Jim; "isn't it ridiculous!--and you wide awake and +playing with pigs and frogs! I'm off to bed again for a bit--besides, +young Wally's bursting to know how you liked your sock. Go to sleep +again, old chap." + +"I'll try," said Norah, obediently, snuggling down, "Take some +chocolates to Wally--and the castor oil!" + +At the moment Norah was quite convinced that sleep was the last thing +possible for her, and merely laid down to please Jim, just as she would +cheerfully have endeavoured to jump over the moon had he expressed any +wish in that direction. Thus she was considerably surprised on waking +up two hours later to hear the dressing gong pealing through the house. +Further off came the cheerful voices of Jim and Wally on their way to +the lagoon. Cecil preferred the bath in the house, saying that he +considered it cleaner, which remark had incensed Norah at the time. But +they were learning not to worry about Cecil's remarks, but to regard +him with a kind of mild toleration, as one who "could not help it." + +Norah tore in haste to the bath, and returning made a speedy toilet; +breakfast was to be half an hour later than usual, but still there was +much to do. Her gifts to the men's quarters had gone over the night +before, in charge of Mrs. Willis; still there were parcels for the +girls in the house, together with the envelopes containing cheques for +them, which Mr. Linton always gave into Norah's care, and of course +Brownie's gifts, besides the nearer and dearer excitement of the +breakfast table. To the latter she attended first, scattering parcels +at each plate before any one else arrived on the scene. Then she raced +off, just escaping in the hall Jim, who immediately put his hands +behind him and began to whistle with great carelessness. Jim was a man +of tact. + +Mrs. Brown, narrowly watching some fried potatoes, heard flying +footsteps, and turned to receive Norah bodily. + +"Merry Christmas, Brownie, dear!" said the breathless one. She hung +over the stout shoulders a tiny shawl of softest white wool. + +"It's only a shawl-let," Norah explained, "just for when you feel the +summer evenings get cool, you know." + +"An' you made it, my precious!" + +"Why, of course," said Norah, lifting her brows; "do you think I'd buy +it, when you taught me to knit? Ah, Brownie, I'm having such a good +time!" + +"Look at me!" said Mrs. Brown, sitting down in rapture, and forgetting +her frying pan entirely. "This lovely shawl--an' your Pa's cheque--and +here's even Master Wally brung me down a cap, an' Master Jim--don't 'e +always think!--a frame with the photer 'e took of you an' your Pa, an' +it's sollud silver, no less, if you'll believe me, an' then it's none +too good for the photer, but the dear lamb knew wot I'd like more than +anything on earth! Of all the loving--kindest children--" At this point +Brownie's feelings overcame her, and she sniffed and, inhaling a threat +of burnt potato, rushed to conceal her emotions over the stove. + +Sarah and Mary felt delighted with the pretty collars Mrs. Stephenson +had chosen for Norah in Melbourne; the daughter of the house +encountered Jim returning from the back regions, with a broad smile on +his brown face. Jim's invariable gift to Lee Wing was a felt hat, and +as the Celestial still wore the one first given, eight Christmases +before, it was popularly supposed that the intermediate half-dozen went +to support his starving relatives in China! Lee Wing had never +mentioned the existence of any starving relatives, but Wally said it +was well known that all Chinese gardeners had them--speaking, as Norah +remarked, as though it was a new complaint, like measles or mumps! + +"You didn't give Wing another hat, Jim?" queried his sister. + +"I did, though," returned Jim, firmly. "Asked him at midwinter what +he'd have, and he grinned and said, 'Allee same hat!' So he got it--a +lovely green one!" + +"Jim!--not green! For Lee Wing!" + +"There weren't any other colours left," said Jim; "next year it would +have had to be pale blue! He took it with a heavenly smile, and looked +at it all over inside and out; then he looked down at his feet, and I +beheld his toe sticking out of his boot. He didn't say 'Thank you' at +all. What he did say was 'Nex'-Clis'mas-socks,' all in one word, and +you couldn't have widened his smile without shifting his ears further +back!" + +"Merry Christmas, Norah, asthore!" said a cheerful voice, and Norah +turned to greet Wally. So Wally had to hear the story of Lee Wing all +over again, and they were laughing over it when Mr. Linton came out on +the verandah, pausing in the doorway a moment to look at the slender +figure in the blue frock, with white collar and tie, and the tall lads +in white flannels beside her. + +Three greetings flashed at him simultaneously as he came into view. + +"Merry Christmas, every one!" he said, one hand on his small daughter's +shoulder. "Going to be a hot Christmas, too, I believe. Where's Cecil?" + +"Coming," said that gentleman, exchanging good wishes with a languid +air. "Sorry to be late, but I couldn't open the bathroom door." + +Wally started. + +"Good gracious, was it you in there?" he asked anxiously. "I thought it +was Norah--and we wanted her out of the way at the moment, so I +barricaded the door! Then I saw her afterwards, so I reckoned she'd got +out all right, and I never bothered to take down the barricade. I'm +awfully sorry!" + +Every one laughed but Cecil, who saw nothing humorous in having been +obliged to climb through the bathroom window, and said so with point. + +"I'm a fearful ass, truly," said Wally, with contrition. "Norah, you've +no need to laugh like a hyena--you ought to have been there, if you +weren't!" + +"That's why I laugh," Norah explained kindly. "Never mind, it's +Christmas--and there's breakfast!" + +It was the gong, but not breakfast. Mrs. Brown knew better than to send +in the porridge with the gong on Christmas morning. Instead, the table +was heaped with parcels, a goodly pile by every plate. + +"What an abominable litter!" said Mr. Linton, affecting displeasure. +"Norah, kindly oblige me by getting those things out of your way. How +are you going to eat breakfast?" + +"You're as bad as I am, Daddy!" + +"Dear me!" said her father. "I seem to be. Well, yours is decidedly the +most untidy, so you had better begin." + +They watched the eager face as Norah turned to her bundles. Books from +Cecil and his mother; warm slippers made by Brownie; a halter +exquisitely plaited from finest strips of hide by Murty O'Toole, the +sight of which brought the whole gathering to Norah's side; from Wally +a quaint little bronze inkstand, and from Jim the daintiest horse rug +that Melbourne could produce, made to fit Bobs, with a big scarlet B in +one corner, and Norah's monogram in the other. "Not that he needs it +just now," Jim explained, as Norah hugged him--"but a store's no sore, +as Brownie'd say!" Last, a tiny velvet case, which concealed a brooch--a +thin bar of gold with one beautiful pearl. Norah did not need the slip +of paper under it to know it came from Dad. + +Then things became merry, and even Cecil warmed at the gifts on his +plate, while the boys were exclaiming in delight over Norah's knitting, +and Wally was shaking hands with Mr. Linton and looking +half-shamefacedly at the plain gold sleeve links from him and the +silver watch chain from Jim; and Mr. Linton's face was alight with +pleasure at the waistcoat Norah had made for him, and the little oak +bookshelf for his bedside that was the work of Jim's spare hours. +Finally all the bundles were unwrapped, and there was a lull, though +Norah's eyes were still dancing, and she exchanged glances with her +father. + +Jim spoke. + +"There's a string under my plate," said he, faintly puzzled. "At least, +there's one end." + +"Strings always have two ends," said Wally, wisely. "Where's the +other?" + +"I'm blessed if I know," said Jim. "It goes down to the floor." + +Wally came round, investigating. + +"Seems to me it goes out of the window," he said. "Guess you'd better +follow it, Jimmy." + +Jim looked round, a little doubtful. Then he saw Norah's face, and knew +that there was something he did not understand. He laughed a little. + +"Some one pulling my leg?" he asked, good-humouredly. "Oh, well, I'll +chase it." + +The string went somewhere--that was evident. Outside it was at the +height of Jim's hand, and ran along the wall, so that it was easy to +follow. They trooped after him as he went along, Norah completely +unable to walk steadily, but progressing principally on one foot, while +David Linton's eyes were twinkling. The chase was not a long one; the +string suddenly cut across to the door in the high fence dividing the +front and back gardens, and there disappeared. + +"What next?" said Jim. + +"If it was me," said Wally, with a fine disregard of grammar, "I should +open the door." + +"Good for you, Wally," grinned Jim. "Here goes!" He flung the door +open, and then stood as if rooted to the spot. + +The string went on. It ended, however, just through the door, where its +end was spliced to a halter, held by black Billy, whose smile disclosed +every tooth in his head. Fidgeting in the halter was a big bay horse, +showing all Monarch's quality, and all his good looks; a show ring +horse, picked by a keen judge, and built for speed as well as strength. +He looked at Jim with a kind eye, set well in his beautiful head. There +was no flaw in him; from his heels to his fine, straight forelock he +was perfection. + +Jim had no words. He did not need to be told anything--Norah's face had +been enough; but he could not speak. He took refuge with the big bay, +moving forward and putting out a hand, to which the horse responded +instantly, rubbing his head against him in friendly fashion. Then, +across the arched neck, Jim's eyes met his father's, and the colour +flooded into his brown face. + +"Well, old son--will he do?" + +"Do!" said Jim, weakly. "Dad!--by Jove, I--I--" He stopped helplessly; +then his hand went out and took his father's in a grip that made David +Linton realize that this big son of his was nearly a man. + +"Oh, Jimmy, I'm so glad--and isn't he lovely?" + +"Why, he's perfect," Jim said, stepping back and running his eye over +his Christmas box. "My word, Dad, he'll jump!" + +"Yes, he'll jump all right," said David Linton. "Gallop, too, I should +say." + +"Plenty!" said Billy, with unexpected emphasis, whereat every one +laughed. + +"Billy and Norah have had this little joke plotted for some time," Mr. +Linton said--"and the experiences they have undergone in keeping strings +and steed out of your way this morning have, I believe, whitened the +hair of both!" + +Jim looked gratefully round. + +"You're all bricks," he said. "Has he got a name, Dad?" + +"'A tearin' foine wan,' Murty says," responded his father; "since it's +Irish: Garryowen, unless you'd like to change it." + +"Not me!" said Jim. "I like it." He looked round as the sound of the +gong came across the garden. "I say, don't mind me," he said--"go into +breakfast. I don't want any this morning." His eye went back to the +bay. + +"Rubbish!" said his father--"he'll be alive after breakfast! Come +along," and reluctantly Jim saw Billy lead his horse away to the +stable. He discovered, however, on reaching the breakfast room, that he +was remarkably hungry, and distinguished himself greatly with his knife +and fork. + +Afterwards it was necessary to try the bay's paces without delay, and +they all watched Jim take him round the home paddock. Garryowen moved +beautifully; and when Jim finally put him at the highest part of the +old log fence, and brought him back again, he flew it with a foot to +spare. The boy's face was aglow as he rode up. + +"Well, he's perfect!" he said. "I never was on such a horse." He came +close to his father. "Dad," he said in a low tone--"are you sure you +wouldn't like him instead of Monarch? He's far more finished." + +"Not for anything, thanks, old chap--I prefer my pupil," said his +father, his look answering more than his words. "You see he never bucks +with me, Jim!" + +Jim laughed, dismounting. "Like to try him, Cecil?" + +"Thanks," said Cecil, scrambling up and setting off down the paddock, +while Jim watched him and writhed to think of possible damage to his +horse's back and mouth. Billy, who was near, said reflectively, "Plenty +bump!" and Murty O'Toole roundly rebuked Jim for "puttin' up an insult +like that on a good horse!" They breathed more freely when Cecil came +back, albeit the way in which he sawed at the bay's mouth was +calculated to strike woe to the heart of any owner. Then Wally tried +Garryowen, and finally Norah, having flown to the house for a riding +skirt, had a ride also, and sailed over the log fence in a manner fully +equal to Jim's. She came back charged with high compliment. + +"He's nearly as good as Bobs, Jim!" + +"Bobs!" said Jim, loftily. "We don't compare ponies with horses, my +child!" + +"Then he's not to be compared with Bobs!" Norah retorted sturdily, and, +the laugh being on her side, retired quickly to dress for dinner. + +Dinner was typical of Billabong, and an Australian Christmas--one with +the thermometer striving to reach the hundred mark. Everything was +cold, from the mammoth turkey, with which Mr. Linton wrestled, to the +iced peaches that topped off what the boys declared "a corking feed." +There was plum pudding, certainly, but it was cold, too. Wally found in +his piece no fewer than four buttons; and, deeply aggrieved, went +afterwards to remonstrate with Mrs. Brown, who was amazed, declaring +she had put in but one, which to her certain knowledge had fallen to +the unhappy lot of Sarah. Further inquiries revealed the fact that Jim +had come to the table well supplied with buttons, with which he had +contrived to enrich Wally's portion as it travelled past him--which led +to a battle on the lawn, until both combatants, too well fed and weak +with mirth to fight, collapsed, and slept peacefully under a pine tree. + +Later on the horses were saddled, and every one rode out to the river, +where Brownie and the maids had already been driven by Fred Anderson, +and where they picnicked for tea. Afterwards they lay on the soft +grass, with the water murmuring past them, and Mr. Linton told them +stories--for Christmas was ever, and will ever be, the time for stories. +Simple, straightforward tales, like the man himself: old Christmases +overseas, and others in many parts of Australia--some that brought a +sadder note into the speaker's voice, and made Norah draw herself along +the grass until she came within touch of his hand. Words were never +really needed between them--being mates. + +So they stayed until the golden western sky had grown rose colour, and +the rose glow faded into night, that brought with it a little cool +breeze. Then the horses were saddled, and they rode home by the longest +possible way, singing every imaginable chorus, from Good Old Jeff to +the latest medley of pantomime ditties, and ending with a wild scurry +across the paddock home. They all trooped into the house, waking its +quietness to youth and laughter. + +But David Linton called to Norah. + +"Come on," he said, "we'll finish up with the real Christmas songs." + +So they all gathered round the piano while Norah played, and joined in +the old Christmas hymns and carols--none the less hearty in that they +sang of frost and snow with all around them the yellowing plain, dried +up by the scorching sun, and, beyond that, the unbroken line of the +little trodden Bush. The young voices rang out cheerily, David Linton +listening in his armchair, his hand over his eyes. + +Norah was in bed when her father looked in, in passing, to say +good-night. She put up her face to him sleepily. + +"It's been a beautiful Christmas, Daddy dear!" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + +"LO, THE POOR INDIAN!" + + + I mind the time when first I came + A stranger to the land. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The house was unusually quiet. It was New Year's Day, and every man on +the place, and most of the maids, had gone off to a bush race meeting, +ten miles away. Even Mrs. Brown had allowed herself to be persuaded to +go and, arrayed in her best silk gown, had climbed laboriously into the +high double buggy, driven by Dave Boone, and departed, waving to Norah +a stout reticule that looked, Wally said, as though it contained +sausages! Only Mary, the housemaid, remained. Mary was a prim soul, and +did not care for race meetings. She had remarked that she would stay at +home and "crocher"! + +Mr. Linton and the boys had ridden away after lunch. A valuable bull +had slipped down the side of a steep gully and injured himself, and +bush surgery was required. David Linton was rather notable in this +direction, and he had seen to it that Jim had had a thorough course of +veterinary training in Melbourne. Together they made, the squatter +remarked, a very respectable firm of practitioners! Cecil and Wally +were ready to perform unskilled labour as required, and it was quite +possible that their help might be needed, since no men were available. +So the picnic planned for the afternoon had had to be abandoned, and +Norah was left somewhat desolate, since she could not take part in the +"relief expedition." + +"Hard on you, old girl," Jim had said; "but it can't be helped." + +"No, of course it can't," Norah replied. She was well trained in the +emergencies of the country, and would probably have been perfectly +cheerful had this particular one only been something that would not +have excluded her. As it was, however, it was certainly disappointing, +and she felt somewhat "at a loose end" as she watched the four ride +off. There seemed nothing for her to do. It was beyond doubt that being +a girl had its drawbacks. + +Within, the silence of the house was depressing, and the rooms seemed +much too large. Norah saw to one or two odd jobs, fed some chickens, +talked for a while to Fudge, the parrot, who was a companionable bird, +with a great flow of eloquence on occasions, wrote a couple of +letters--always a laborious proceeding for the maid of the bush--and +finally arrived at the decision that there was nothing to do. In the +kitchen Mary sat and "crochered" placidly at a fearful and wonderful +set of table mats. Norah watched her for a while, with a great scorn +for the gentle art that could produce such monstrosities. Then she +practised for half an hour, and at length, taking a book, sauntered off +to read by the creek. + +Meanwhile Mary worked on contentedly, unconscious of outer things, +dreaming, perhaps, such dreams as may come to any one who makes +crocheted table mats of green and yellow. Now and then she rose to +replenish the fire, returning to her needle in the far-away corner of +the great kitchen, where Mrs. Brown's cane armchair always stood. She +glanced up in surprise after a while, when a shadow fell across the +doorway. Then, for Mary was a girl with "nerves," she jumped up with a +little scream. + +An Indian hawker stood there--a big, black-bearded fellow, in dusty +clothes that had once been white, and on his head a turban of faded +pink. His heavy pack hung from his shoulder, but as the girl looked, he +slipped it to the ground, and stood erect, with a grunt of relief. Then +he grinned faintly at Mary, who had promptly put the table between +them, and asked the hawker's universal question: + +"Anything to-day, Meesis?" + +The Hindu hawker is still a figure to be met frequently in the +Bush--where he is, indeed, something of an institution. "Remote from +towns he runs" a race that no poetical licence can stretch to complete +the quotation by calling "godly." He carries a queer mixture of goods--a +kind of condensed bazaar-stall from his native land, with silks and +cottons, soaps, scents, boot laces and cheap jewellery, all packed into +a marvellously small space; and so he tramps his way through Australia. +No life can be lonelier. His stock of English is generally barely +enough to enable him to complete his deals; the free and independent +Australian regards him as "a nigger," and despises him accordingly; +while the Hindu, in his turn, has in his inmost soul a scorn far deeper +for his scorners--the pride of tradition and of caste. It is the caste +that keeps him rigidly to himself, since, as a rule, he can touch no +food that others have handled. He sits apart, over his own tiny fire, +baking his unappetising little cakes; and in many cases even the shadow +of a passer-by falling across his cookery is held to defile it beyond +possibility of his eating it. As a rule he has but one idea in life--to +make enough money to carry him back to end his days in comfort by the +waters of the Ganges. + +There are certain well recognized hawkers in many districts--men who +have kept for a long time to a particular beat, and may be regarded as +fairly regular, and likely to turn up at each place at their route +three or four times a year. Such men have generally arrived at the +dignity of a pack-horse--no unmixed benefit in the eyes of people +driving, since most of the country horses are reduced to frenzy by the +sight of the lean screw with his immense white pack--the hawker is +merciless to his horse--led by the "black" man in flapping clothes and +gay turban. Still the regular hawkers are a more respectable class of +men, and their visits are often eagerly welcomed by the housewife in +the lonely country, many miles from a township, who finds herself +confronted with such problems as the necessity for lacing Johnny's +Sunday boots with strips of green hide, or the more serious one of a +dearth of trouser-buttons for his garments. + +It is the casual hawker who is looked on with disfavour, and strikes +terror to the heart of many women. He has very frequently no money and +less principle; and being without reputation to sustain in the +district, is careless of his doings along a route that he probably does +not intend to visit again. He knows perfectly well that women and +children are afraid of him, and as a rule is very willing to work upon +that fear--though the sight of a man, or of a dog with character, is +sufficient to make him the most servile of his race. But where he meets +a lonely woman he is a very apparition of terror. + +There was one hawker who came regularly to Billabong; a cheery old +fellow, well known and respected, whose caste was not strict enough to +prevent his refusing the station hospitality, and whose appearance was +always welcome. He had been coming so long that he knew them all well, +and took an almost affectionate interest in Jim and Norah, always +bringing some little gift for the latter. The men liked him, for he had +been known to "turn to" and work at a bush fire "as hearty as if he +weren't a fat little image av a haythen," said Murty O'Toole; Norah was +always delighted when old Ram Das came up the track, his unwieldy body +on two amazingly lean legs. Even Mary would not have been scared at his +appearance. + +But this was not Ram Das--this Indian who stood looking at her with that +queer little half-smile, so different from the old man's wide and +cheerful grin. It was a strange man, and a terrible one in Mary's +sight. She gaped at him feebly across the table, and he watched her +with keen, calculating eyes. Presently he spoke again, this time a +little impatiently. + +"You ask-a meesis annything to-day?" + +"Nothin' to-day," said Mary, quickly and nervously. + +"You ask-a meesis." + +"She don't want anything," the girl quavered. + +"You ask-a." + +"I tell you she don't want anything--there ain't any missis," Mary said. +He looked at her unbelievingly, and broke into a speech of broken +English that was quite unintelligible to the frightened girl behind the +table. Then, as she did not answer him, he came a few steps nearer. + +It was more than enough for Mary. She gave a terrified shriek and ran +for the nearest cover--the half-open door of the back kitchen behind +her. She banged it violently as she dashed through. There was no lock +on the door, so she could not stay there--but the window stood open, and +Mary went through it with all the nimbleness of fear. She came out into +the yard where the way lay clear to the house; and across the space +went Mary, cometwise, a vision of terror and flying cap strings, each +moment expecting to hear pursuing feet. Puck, the Irish terrier, +sleeping peacefully on the front verandah, leapt to his feet at the +sudden bang of the back door, and came dashing through the house in +search of the cause. Mary, half sobbing, welcomed him with fervour. + +"Good dog, Puck!" she said. She reconnoitred through the nearest +window. + +The Indian had come out of the kitchen, and now stood on the back +verandah, his dark face working. He looked uncertainly about him. Then +the back door opened a few inches--just so far that an enthusiastic +Irish terrier could squeeze through--and Mary's voice came. + +"Good dog, Puck!--sool 'im!" + +The door banged again, and the heavy lock shot home. Mary flew back to +the window, shutting and locking it frantically. She watched. + +Puck wasted no time. He dashed at the hawker, with every fighting +instinct aroused, and the Hindu leaped back quickly, seizing with one +hand a broom that leaned against the wall. He met the terrier's +onslaught with a savage blow that sent the little dog head over heels +yards away. Puck picked himself up and came again like a whirlwind. +Then Mary screamed again, for the Hindu dropped the broom, and +something flashed in the sunlight--a long knife that came swiftly from +some hiding place in his voluminous draperies. He crouched to meet the +dog, his eyes gleaming, his lips drawn back from his teeth. + +Puck was no fool. He arrested himself almost in midair, and planted +himself just out of the hawker's reach, his whole enraged little body a +vision of defiance, and barked madly. The Indian moved backwards, +uttering a flood of furious speech, while for each step that he moved +the terrier advanced another. Then Mary's heart gave a sudden leap; for +the hand that held the knife suddenly went behind him as he reached for +his pack and swung it to his shoulder. Puck was nearly upon him in the +moment that the knife no longer menaced, but the Hindu was quick; and +again the little dog drew back, rending the air with his barking. +Slowly the man backed off the verandah and along the path to the yard +gate, Puck following every step, loathing with all his fury that unfair +advantage of gleaming steel that kept him from his enemy. The Hindu +backed through the gate, and slammed it in the terrier's face, spitting +a volley of angry words as he went. Mary flung the window open and +called her protector anxiously, lest he should find some means of exit +and leave her alone; and Puck came back a few steps, turning again to +bark at his retreating foe. The tall form in the dusty clothes went +slowly down the track. Mary watched him out of sight. Then she fled to +her own room, locked herself in securely, and went, very properly, into +hysterics. + +Meanwhile, at the creek, Norah was nodding sleepily over her book. It +was hot, and naturally a lazy day; everything seemed sleepy, from the +cows lying about under the willows on the banks to the bees droning +overhead. Tait, near her, was snoring gently. Even the water below +seemed to be rippling more lazily than usual; the splash of a leaping +fish made an unusual stir in the stillness. Moreover, her book was not +calculated to keep her awake. It was poetry, and Norah's soul did not +incline naturally to poetry, unless it were one of Gordon's stirring +rhymes, or something equally Australian in character. This was quite +different, but it had been Cecil's Christmas gift, and it had seemed to +Norah that politeness required her to study it. + +"It's the rummiest stuff!" said the Bush damsel, hopelessly. She turned +to the cover, a dainty thing of pale blue and gold. "William Morris? +Didn't we have a stockman once called Bill Morris? But I'm pretty +certain he never wrote this. The name's the same, though!" thought +Norah, uncertainly. She turned back, and read anew, painstakingly: + +No meat did ever pass my lips +Those days. (Alas! the sunlight slips +From off the gilded parclose dips, +And night comes on apace.) + +"Then I'm positive it wasn't our Bill Morris, 'cause I never saw a +stockman who was a vegetarian. But what's a parclose? I'll have to ask +Cecil; but then he'll think me such a duffer not to know, and he'll be +so awfully patronizing. But what on earth does it all mean?" + +She closed the book in despair, let her eyelids droop, and nodded a +little, while the book in its blue and gold cover slipped from her knee +to the grass. It was much easier to go to sleep than to read William +Morris. What a long time Dad and the boys were, doctoring Derrimut! It +was certainly dull. + +A quick bark from Tait startled her. The collie had jumped up, and was +bristling with wrath at an unusual spectacle coming through the trees +towards her--a tall man, with a face of dusky bronze, surmounted by a +pink turban. His face was working angrily, and he muttered as he +walked, slowly, as if the pack on his shoulder were heavy. When Tait +barked he started for a moment, but then came on steadily--a collie is +rarely as formidable as an Irish terrier. + +Norah paled a little. She was not timid, but no Australian girl takes +naturally to an encounter with a Hindu and there was no doubt that this +man was in a very bad temper. The place was lonely, too, and out of +sight of the house, even if she had not been painfully conscious that +there was not a man on the place should she need help. Still, there was +nothing to be gained by running. She backed against the tree, keeping +one hand on Tait's collar as the man came up. + +"What do you want?" + +He stopped, and the pack slipped to the grass. Then he broke into a +flood of rapid speech in his own tongue, gesticulating violently; +occasionally indicating the house with a sweep of his hand in that +direction. As he talked he worked himself up to further wrath--his voice +rose almost to a shout sometimes, and his face was not pleasant to see. +Once or twice he held his left hand out, and Norah saw that it was +bandaged. + +For a minute or two she was badly frightened. Then, watching him, she +suddenly came to the conclusion that she had nothing to fear--that he +was telling her something he wanted her to know. She listened, trying +hard to catch some word in the flood of fluent foreign speech, and +twice she thought she made out the name of Ram Das. Then he finished +abruptly with almost the one word of Hindustani she knew, since it was +one the old hawker had taught her. "SUMJA," ("Do you understand?" he +hurled at her. + +Norah shook her head. + +"No, I don't 'SUMJA,'" she said: but her tone was friendly, and some of +the anger melted from the Indian's face, and was succeeded by a quick +relief. "Can't you speak English? You know Ram Das--Ram Das?" she +repeated, hoping that the name might convey something to him. To her +immense relief, the effect was instantaneous. + +"Know Ram Das," said the man, struggling for words. "Him--him." He swept +the horizon vaguely with his hand. + +"I know Ram Das," Norah put in. "Him good man." + +The Hindu nodded violently. His face was natural again, and suddenly he +smiled at her. "You a meesis?" he asked. "Ram Das say l'il meesis." + +"I'm little meesis," Norah said promptly. It was the old man's title +for her. "Did Ram Das send you?" + +"Him send me," said the man, with evident pleasure in finding the word. +He struggled again for English, but finally gave it up, and held out +his left hand to her silently. + +"Why, you're hurt!" Norah said. "Is that why Ram Das sent you?" + +He nodded again, and began to unroll the long strip of cotton stuff +round his hand and wrist. It took a long time, and at last he had to go +down to the water and bathe the stiffened rag before it would come +away. Then he came back to Norah and held it out again--a long, hideous +gash right up the wrist, torn and swollen and inflamed. + +"Oh!" said Norah, drawing back a pace, instinctively. "You poor fellow! +How did you do it?" + +"Barb wire," said the Indian, simply. "Three days. Him bad. Ram Das, +him say you help." With this stupendous effort of eloquence he became +speechless again, still holding the torn wrist out to her. + +"I should think so!" said Norah, forgetting everything in the sight of +that cruel wound. "Come on up to the house quickly!" She turned to lead +the way, but the man shook his head. + +"Woman there," he stammered. + +"It's all right," Norah told him. "Come along." + +"Small dog," said the Hindu, unhappily. "Them afraid of me." He pointed +towards the house. "Been there." + +"Oh-h!" said Norah, suddenly comprehending. She knew Mary. Then she +laughed. "You come with me; it's all right." She led the way, and the +hawker followed her. A few yards further on, Norah bethought herself of +something, and turned back. + +"You must have that covered up," she told him. "No, not with that awful +rag again," with a faint shudder. She took out her handkerchief and +wrapped it lightly round the man's wrist. "That'll do for the +present--come on." + +Puck, still in a state of profound indignation in the back yard, was +thrown into a paroxysm of fury at the sight of his enemy returning. +Norah had to chain him up before the Hindu would come inside the gate. +Then she led the way to the kitchen and called Mary. + +No Mary answered, so Norah went about her preparations alone--a big +basin of hot water, boracic acid--standby of the Bush--soft rags, and +ointment from the "hospital drawer" Mrs. Brown kept always ready. She +shuddered a little as she began to bathe the wound, while the Indian +watched her with inscrutable face, never flinching, though the pain was +no small thing. It was done at last--cleansed, anointed, and carefully +bandaged. Then he smiled at her gratefully. + +"Ram Das him say you good," he said. "Him truth!" + +Norah laughed, somewhat embarrassed. + +"Hungry?" she asked. "You take my food?" + +It was always a delicate question, since the Hindu is easily offended +over a matter of caste. This man, however, was evidently as independent +as Ram Das, for he nodded, and when Norah brought him food, fell to +work upon it hungrily. + +Thus it was that Mary, brought from the hysterical sanctuary of her +room by the pressing sense of the necessity of looking after the +kitchen fire, and coming back to her duties like a vestal of old, found +her dreaded enemy cheerfully eating in the kitchen, while Norah sat +near and carried on a one-sided conversation with every appearance of +friendliness, with Tait sleepily lying beside her--at which astonishing +spectacle Mary promptly shrieked anew. The Hindu rose, smiling +nervously. + +"Come here, you duffer, Mary!" said Norah, who by this time had arrived +at something of an understanding of the previous happenings. "He's as +tame as tame. Why, old Ram Das sent him!" + +"Miss Norah, he's got a knife on him!" said Mary, in a sepulchral +whisper. "I saw it with me own eyes. He nearly killed Puck with it!" + +"Well, Puck was trying to kill him," said Norah, "and I guess if you +had a wrist like his, you'd defend yourself any way you could, if Puck +was at you! He's terribly sorry he frightened you--you didn't understand +him, that was all. Ram Das sent him to have his wrist fixed up, and his +name's Lal Chunder, and he's quite a nice man!" + +"H'm!" said Mary doubtfully, relaxing so far as to enter the kitchen, +but keeping a respectful distance from the hawker, who took no further +notice of her, going on with his meal. "I don't 'old with them black +creechers in any shape or form, Miss Norah, an' it's my belief he'd +kill us all in our beds as soon as wink! Scarin' the wits out of one, +with his pink top-knot arrangement--such a thing for a man to wear! +Gimme white Orstralia!" + +"Look out, he'll hear you!" said Norah, laughing. "He--" + +"What talk is this?" said a cheerful voice; and Ram Das, very plump, +very hot and very beaming, came in at the kitchen door, and stood +looking at them. "I sent this young man to the li'l meesis, for that he +was hurt and in pain, and I know the fat woman is kind, and has the +brassic-acid." He glanced at Lal Chunder's bandaged wrist, and shot a +quick question at him in their own tongue, to which the other +responded. The old man turned back to Norah, not without dignity. + +"We thank the l'il meesis," he said. "Lal Chunder is as my son: he +cannot speak, but he will not forget." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Norah, turning a lively red. "It wasn't +anything, really, Ram Das--and his wrist was terribly sore. You'll both +camp here to-night, won't you? And have some tea--I'm sure you want it, +it's so hot." + +"It will be good," said Ram Das, gratefully, sitting down. Then voices +and the sound of hoofs and the chink of bits came from outside; and +presently Mr. Linton and the boys came in, hot and thirsty. + +Cecil's eyebrows went up as he beheld his cousin carrying a cup to the +stout old Hindu. + +"It's the most extraordinary place I was ever at," he told himself +later, dressing for dinner, in the seclusion of his own room. From the +garden below came shouts and laughter, as Jim engaged Norah and Wally +in a strenuous set on the tennis court. "Absolutely no class limits +whatever, and no restrictions--why, she kept me waiting for my second +cup while she looked after that fat old black in the dirty white +turban! As for the boys--childish young hoodlums. Well, thank goodness +I'm not condemned to Billabong all my days!" With which serene +reflection Mr. Cecil Linton adjusted his tie nicely, smoothed a +refractory strand of hair in his forelock, and went down to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +OF POULTRY + + + A man would soon wonder how it's done, + The stock so soon decreases! + A. B. PATERSON + + +"Where are you off to, Norah?" + +"To feed the chickens." + +"May I come with you, my pretty maid?" + +"Delighted!" said Norah. "Here's a load for you." + +"Even to stagger under thy kerosene tin were ever a joy!" responded +Wally, seizing the can of feed as he spoke--the kerosene tin of the +bush, that serves so many purposes, from bucket to cooking stove, and +may end its days as a flower pot, or, flattened out, as roofing iron. +"Anyhow, you oughtn't to carry this thing, Norah; it's too heavy. Why +will you be such a goat?" + +Under this direct query, put plaintively, Norah had the grace to look +abashed. + +"Well, I don't, as a rule," she said. "It's really Billy's job to carry +it for me, but Jim has been coming with me since he came home, so of +course young Billy's got out of hand. And Jim's gone across with Dad to +see old Derrimut, so I had no one. I looked for you and couldn't find +you. And I asked Cecil politely to accompany me, but he put his +eyebrows up, and said fowls didn't interest him. Oh, Wally, don't you +think it's terribly hard to find subjects that do interest Cecil?" + +"Hard!" said Wally expressively. "Well, it beats me, anyhow. But then +Cecil regards me with scorn and contumely, and, to tell you the truth, +Nor., when I see him coming I quiver like--like a blancmange! He's so +awfully superior!" + +"You know, I'm sure he's not enjoying himself," Norah went on; "and it +really worries us, 'cause we hate to think of anyone being here and not +having a good time. But he does keep his nose so in the air, doesn't +he?" + +"Beats me how you're so nice to him," Wally averred. "My word, it would +do that lad good to have a year or two at our school! I guess it would +take some of the nonsense out of him. Was he ever young?" + +"I shouldn't think so," Norah said, laughing--"he has such a lofty +contempt for anything at all juvenile now. Well, at least he's looking +better than when he came, so Billabong is doing him good in one way at +any rate, and that is a comfort. But I'm sure he's counting the days +until he goes away." + +"Well, so am I," said Wally, cheerfully. "So at least there are two of +us, and I should think there were several more. It's pleasant to find +even one subject on which one can be a twin-soul with Cecil. +Norah"--solemnly--"I have counted eleven different pairs of socks on that +Johnny since I came, and each was more brilliant than the last!" + +"I don't doubt it," Norah laughed. "They're the admiration of the +laundry here, and even the men stopped and looked at them as they were +hanging on the line last week. Dave Boone was much interested in that +green pair with the gold stripes, and asked Sarah what football club +they belonged to!" + +"Great Scott!" said Wally explosively. "Can you imagine Cecil playing +football?" + +"I can't--I wish I could," Norah answered. "Well, never mind Cecil--he's +a tiring subject. Tell me what you think of my chicks." + +Norah's special fowl yard was a grassy run divided into two parts, with +small houses and wire-netted enclosures in each. At present one was +devoted to a couple of mothers with clutches of ten and twelve +chickens--all white Orpingtons. The mothers were stately, comfortable +dames, and the chicks, round little creamy balls, very tame and +fascinating. They came quite close to Norah as she stooped to feed +them, and one chick, bolder than his brethren, even stood on the back +of her hand. Wally admired without stint, and proceeded to discharge +the practical duty of rinsing out the water tins and filling them +afresh. + +In the other yard a number of older chickens grew and prospered; these +also were all white, of the Leghorn breed, and Norah was immensely +proud of them. She sat down on the end of a box and pointed out their +varied beauties. + +"I should have more--lots more," she said, dolefully. "But I've had +horrible trouble with pigs. Why anybody keeps pigs at all I can't +imagine!" + +"They're handy when preserved," Wally remarked. "But what did they do +to you?" + +"I had a lot of hens sitting this year," said the owner of the +yard--"sitting on lovely eggs, too, Wally! Some I got from Cunjee, and +some from Westwood, and two special sittings from Melbourne. I was +going to be awfully rich! You couldn't imagine all I'd planned with the +immense sums I was going to make." + +"There's a proverb," said Wally, sententiously, "about counting your +chickens." + +"You're quite the twelfth person who's mentioned that," Norah said, +with some asperity. "Anyhow, I never counted them; I only became rich +in a vague way, and it was very comforting. I'm glad I had that +comfort, for it was all I had." + +"Norah, you thrill my very soul with awful fears," Wally gasped. "Tell +me the worst!" + +"Donkey!" said Norah, unsympathetically. "Well, they were set. I fixed +up the boxes myself, and lined them so beautifully that when they were +ready, and the eggs in, it was all I could do to prevent myself sitting +on them!" + +"I know," Wally nodded. "And then the hens wouldn't sit, would they? +They never do, when you make the nests especially tempting. I had an +old Cochin once who used to sit quite happily for six months at a time +on a clod and a bit of stone, expecting to hatch out a half-acre +allotment and a town hall; but if you put her on twelve beautiful eggs +she simply wouldn't look at them! Makes you vow you'll give up keeping +hens at all." + +"It would," Norah said. "Only mine didn't do that." + +"Oh!" said Wally, a little blankly. "What did they do, then?" + +"Sat--" + +"And ate the eggs--I know," Wally burst in. "My old brute used to eat +one a day if you got her to sit. I remember once it was a race between +her and the eggs, and I used to haunt the nest, wondering would she get +'em all eaten before they hatched. They beat her by one--one poor chick +came out. The shock was too much for the old hen, and she deserted it, +and I poddied it in a box for a week, and called it Moses, and it would +eat out of my hand, and then it died!" He gasped for breath, and Norah +gazed with undisguised admiration at the orator. + +"So I know how you'd feel," Wally finished. + +"I might--but my hens weren't cannibals. They didn't eat any." + +"You had luck," said the unabashed Wally. "Well, what happened?" + +"They sat quite nicely--" + +"And the eggs were addled, weren't they? It's always the way with half +these swagger sittings you buy from dealers. They--" + +"Oh, Wally, I WISH you wouldn't be so intelligent!" said Norah, with +not unnatural heat. "How am I ever going to tell you?" + +"Why, I thought you were telling me as hard as ever you could!" Wally +responded, visibly indignant "Well, fire away; I won't speak another +word!" + +"I don't think you could help it," Norah laughed. "However, I'd eight +hens sitting, and I really do believe that they understood their +responsibilities, for they set as if they were glued, except when they +came off for necessary exercise and refreshment. Even then, they never +gave me any of the usual bother about refusing to go back into the +right box, or scratching the eggs out. They behaved like perfect +ladies--I might have known it was too bright to last!" She heaved a +sigh. + +"I know you're working up to some horrible tragedy, and I'm sure I +won't be able to bear it!" said her hearer, much agitated. "Tell me the +worst!" + +"So they sat--" + +"You said that before!" + +"Well, they sat before--and after," said Norah, unmoved. "Two of them +brought their eggs out, beautiful clutches, twelve in one and thirteen +in the other. Such luck! I used to be like the old woman who pinched +herself and asked, 'Be this I?' They all lived in a fox-proof +yard--fence eight feet high with wire-netting on top. I wasn't leaving +anything to chance about those chicks." + +"Was it cholera? Or pip?" + +"Neither," said Norah. "They were the very healthiest, all of them. The +chickens grew and flourished, and when they were about a week old, the +other six hens were all about to bring out theirs within two days. Oh, +Wally, I was so excited! I used to go down to the yard about a dozen +times a day, just to gloat!" + +"Never gloat too soon," said Wally. "It's a hideous risk!" + +"I'm never going to gloat again at all, I think," said Norah, +mournfully. The recital of her woes was painful. "So I went down one +morning, and found them all happy and peaceful; the six old ladies +sitting in their boxes, and the two proud mammas with their chicks, +scratching round the yard and chasing grasshoppers. It was," said +Norah, in the approved manner of story-tellers," a fair and joyous +scene!" + +"'Specially for the grasshoppers!" commented her hearer. "And then--?" + +"Then I went out for a ride with Dad, and I didn't get back until late +in the afternoon. I let Bobs go, and ran down to the fowl yard without +waiting to change my habit." Norah paused. "I really don't know that I +can bring myself to tell you any more!" + +"If you don't," said Wally, indignantly, "there'll certainly be +bloodshed. Go on at once-- + + +"Am I a man on human plan +Designed, or am I not, Matilda?" + + +"H'm," said Norah. "Well, I'm not Matilda, anyway! However, I opened +the gate of the yard. And then I stood there and just gaped at what I +saw." + +"Dogs?" + +"Our dogs are decently trained," Norah said, much offended. "No, it +wasn't dogs--it was pigs!" + +"Whew-w!" whistled Wally. + +"Pigs. They had burrowed in right under the fence; there was a great +big hole there. And they'd eaten every chicken, and every egg in the +yard. My lovely boxes were all knocked over, and the nests torn to +bits, and there wasn't so much as an eggshell left. The poor old hens +were just demented--they were going round and round the yard, clucking +and calling, and altogether like mad things. And in the middle of it +all, fat and happy and snoring--three pigs!" + +"What did you do?" Wally felt that this case was beyond the reach of +ordinary words of sympathy. + +"Couldn't do anything. I chased the beasts out of the yard, and threw +everything I could find at them--but you can't hurt a pig. And Dad was +horrid--advised me to have them killed, so that at least we could have +eggs and bacon!" Norah laughed, in spite of her woebegone tone. + +"And he calls himself a father!" said Wally, solemnly. + +"Oh, he wasn't really horrid," Norah answered. "He wrote off to town +and bought me a very swagger pair of Plymouth Rocks--just beauties. They +cost three guineas!" + +"Three guineas!" said the awestruck youth. "What awful waste! Where are +they, Norah? Show me them at once!" + +"Can't," Norah responded, sadly. + +"You don't mean--?" + +"Oh, I've had a terrible year with fowls," said the dejected poultry +keeper. "Those Plymouth Rocks came just before the Cunjee show, and Dad +entered them for me, 'cause the dealer had told him they would beat +anything there. And I think they would have--only just after he sold Dad +mine, a Cunjee man bought a pair for five guineas. He showed his, too!" +Norah sighed. + +"Oh!" said Wally. + +"So I got second. However, they were very lovely, and so tame. I was +truly fond of Peter." + +"Why Peter?" + +"Oh, Peter means a Rock," said Norah. "I heard it in a sermon. He was a +beautiful bird. I think he was too beautiful to live, 'cause he became +ill--I don't know what it was, but he pined away. I used to nurse him +ever so; for the last two days of his poor young life I fed him every +hour with brandy and strong soup out of the spout of the invalid +feeder. Brownie was quite annoyed when she found I'd used it for him," +said Norah, reflectively. + +"But he was an invalid, wasn't he?" asked Wally. + +"Of course he was--and it's an invalid feeder. I don't see what it's +for, if not for the sick. But it didn't do him any good. I went out +about ten o'clock one night and wrapped him in hot flannel, and he was +rattling inside his poor chest; and in the morning I went out at five +and he was dead!" + +"Poor old Nor.!" + +"So I tied a bit of black stuff on the gate and went back to bed," said +Norah, pensively. + +Wally grinned. "And what became of Mrs. Peter?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Peter was a lovely hen," Norah said, "and very healthy. She +never seemed to feel any of Peter's delicacy. He was a very refined +bird. There was another show coming on at Mulgoa, and I found among the +other fowls another Mr. Peter, and it struck me I would have a try for +the prize. Mrs. Peter was so good that I felt I'd get it unless the +five-guinea Plymouth Rock man came up. So I fed up the new Peter and +had them looking very well the day before the show. And then--" + +"Yes?" said Wally, as she paused. + +"Then a new dog of Burton's killed Mrs. Peter," said Norah, "so I gave +up showing poultry!" + +"I should think you did," said the sympathetic auditor. "What did your +father say?" + +"He was very nice; and very angry with the dog; but he didn't buy me +any more valuable fowls--and I expect that was just as well," said +Norah, laughing. "I don't seem to have luck when it comes to keeping +poultry. Jim says it's management, but then Jim never kept any himself. +And it does make a difference to your views if you keep them yourself." + +"It does," Wally agreed. "I used to lose ever so many in Queensland, +but then things are really rough on fowls up there--climate and snakes +and lots of odd things, including crocodiles! When I came down to +school I left a lot of hens, and twelve eggs under one old lady hen, +who should have hatched 'em out a few days after I left. And the whole +lot went wandering and found some poison my brother had put out for a +cat!" Wally wiped his eyes elaborately. + +"And died?" + +"It was suicide, I think," said Wally, nodding. "But I always had +comfort about that lot, because I still have hopes that those twelve +eggs hadn't hatched." + +"I don't see what that has to do with it," Norah said, plainly puzzled. + +"Why, don't you understand? If they hatched I must have lost them along +with the others; but if they didn't hatch, I didn't lose so many, for, +not having them to lose, I couldn't very well lose them, could I? +Q.E.D.!" finished Wally, triumphantly. "That's Philosophy!" + +"You're a credit to your teachers, old man," said a new voice; and Jim +made his appearance behind the fence, over which he proceeded to climb +laboriously. + +"Yes, I'm a nice boy," said modest Mr. Meadows. "Sometimes I think you +don't appreciate me--" + +"Perish the thought!" said Jim, solemnly. + +"But I always feel that honest worth will tell in the end," finished +Wally. "Jim, you great, uncivilized rogue, unhand me!" There was a +strenuous interlude, during which the Leghorn chicks fled shrieking to +the farthest corner of their domain. Finally Jim stepped unwittingly, +in the joy of battle, into the kerosene tin, which was fortunately +empty, and a truce was made while he scraped from a once immaculate +brown leather legging the remains of the Leghorns' breakfast. + +"Serve you right," said Wally, adjusting his tie, which had +mysteriously appeared under his right ear. "Norah and I were talking +beautifully, and you hadn't any business to come poke your nose in, if +you couldn't behave, had he Nor.?" Whereat Norah and Jim grinned +cheerfully at each other, and Wally collapsed, remarking with +indignation that you couldn't hope to get justice for either of the +Linton twins when it came to dealing with the other. + +"We're not twins!" said Norah. + +"No," said her guest, "I think you're worse!" Withdrawing, he sat in +melancholy isolation on a hen coop, and gave himself up, very +appropriately, to brooding. + +"Well, I'm sorry if I broke up the party," Jim said, relinquishing the +task of polishing his leggings with marshmallow leaves and looking at +its streaked surface disconsolately. Jim might--and did--scorn coats and +waistcoats in the summer, and revel in soft shirts and felt hats; but +his riding equipment was a different matter, and from Garryowen's bit +and irons to his own boots, all had to be in apple pie order. "Norah, +may I have your hanky to rub this up? No? You haven't one! Well, I'm +surprised at you!" He rubbed it, quite ineffectually, with the crown of +his hat, and still looked pained. "Never mind, I'll get hold of some +tan stuff when I go in. What I came to say when you attacked me, young +Wally--" + +"When I attacked you! I like that!" spluttered the justly indignant +Wally. + +"Didn't you? I thought you did," grinned Jim. "My mistake, I suppose. +Well, anyhow, when you attacked Norah--quiet, Wally, bother you; how can +a fellow get a word out?--what I came to mention was that Dad wants us." + +"Oh!" said Norah, gathering herself up. "Why didn't you say so before?" + +"Too busy, and you and Wal. do prattle so. Anyhow, he's not in a +tearing hurry, 'cause he said he was going to have an hour at his +income-tax--and you know what that means." + +"Solitude is always best for Dad when he's income-taxing," said Norah. +"It has the most horrible effect on his usual serenity. My dear old +Hermit used to help him, of course; but now--well, no wonder he's +starting early! How's Derrimut, Jimmy?" + +"Going on splendidly; Dad and I are quite proud of ourselves as vets.," +said her brother. "We made quite a good job of the old chap; I believe +he'll hardly have a blemish. By George, you should have seen Cecil at +that operation! He had one rope to hold and he was scared to death." + +"So was I," said Wally, grinning. "I was always as timid as a rabbit." + +"You!" said Jim, laughing. "Well, you held three ropes, anyway, and I +didn't notice that you looked pale." + +"My face won't let me," said his chum. "But I FELT pale!" + +"Well Cecil looked and felt it," Jim said. "Of course, you don't +exactly blame a town chap for not taking to that sort of thing like a +duck to water. Still, there's a limit--and I'll swear Norah would have +made a fuss. As far as that goes, Dad says he's known our grandmother, +in the early days, have to help at a much worse job for a beast than +fixing up old Derry's leg. Lots of women had to. They wouldn't like it, +of course, but they certainly wouldn't have made it harder for the man +they were helping by putting on frills!" + +"Well, you'd hate to have to get a woman to do a job like that." + +"Of course you would. You'd never do it unless it came to a question of +saving a beast or easing its pain. But if it did come to the point, a +decent woman with backbone would lend a hand, just as she's help if it +was the man himself that was hurt. At least, most Australian women +would, or most of those in the country, at any rate. I'd disown Norah +if she didn't." + +"I should hope so!" said Norah, quietly. + +"At the same time, I've not the remotest intention of employing you as +a vet., old woman," said Jim, untying her hair ribbons in a brotherly +fashion. "Quite enough for you to act in that capacity for that rum +beggar, Lal Chunder--who's departed, by the way, leaving you his +blessing and a jolly little brass tray. The blessing was rather +unintelligible, but there's no doubt about the tray." + +"Bother!" said Norah, vexedly. "Silly man! I don't want him to give me +presents--and that wound of his ought certainly to have been looked +after for a few days." + +"He said he was going to travel with Ram Das--and old Ram'll see that he +ties it up, I expect," said Jim, with unconcern. "I wouldn't bother, +old first-aid; it looked tip-top when you dressed it before breakfast." + +"I'd have given him rag for it, anyway," said Norah, still troubled. + +"He can always tear half a yard or so off that turban of his," Jim +said. "Don't go out of your way to meet worry, my girl--it'll always +come quickly enough to meet you. Which is philosophy quite equal to +Wally's!" He sighed. "Here's trouble coming to meet us now, that's +certain!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + + +STATION DOINGS + + + I see as I stand at the slip-rails, dreaming, + Merry riders that mount and meet; + Sun on the saddles, gleaming, gleaming, + Red dust wrapping the horses' feet. + W. H. OGILVIE + + +They had turned the corner of the house leading to the verandah off +which Mr. Linton's office opened, and where that gentleman was +presumably to be found, wrestling with the intricacies of his +income-tax schedule--the squatter's yearly bugbear. Along this verandah +came, slowly, Cecil, beautiful to behold in a loose brown suit, with +buff coloured shirt and flowing orange tie. Wally cast a swift glance +at his ankles, and chuckled. + +"He's got new socks on!" he said, in a sepulchral whisper. + +"Shut up, you duffer--he'll hear you!" Jim said. He raised his voice. +"Looking for us, Cecil?" + +"Yes," Cecil drawled. "Uncle David asked me to find you. Fed +the--ah--poultry, Norah?" + +"Yes, thank you," said that damsel. + +"Awfully uninteresting things, fowls," said Cecil, turning and walking +back with them. "Noisy and dirty--I can't imagine you bothering your +head over them." + +"They're not dirty when they're kept properly," Norah said, a little +warmly. "And I don't think any animal's uninteresting if you look after +it yourself. Of course, if you do nothing more than eat them--" + +"I assure you that's all I care to do!" said Cecil. At this point, they +arrived at the door of the office, which was perhaps as well, and found +Mr. Linton half submerged in a sea of stock returns, books, and +bill-files. + +"Oh, here you are," he said, smoothing the furrows out of his brow to +smile at Norah. "I had an idea I sent you for the others some time ago, +Jim." + +Jim looked somewhat sheepish. + +"Yes." He admitted, laughing. "Fact is, I--I got into a kerosene tin!" +He glanced at his left leg expressively. + +"I see," said his father, with a smile. "Well, I don't know that it +matters--only a note has just come out from Anderson, and his chauffeur +is waiting for an answer. It seems Cunjee is playing Mulgoa in a great +cricket match on Thursday, and they're short of men. They want to know +if they can recruit from Billabong." + +"Good business!" said Jim, joyfully, while Wally hurrahed below his +breath. "But will they let us play, Dad--Wal. and me?" + +"Oh, they've fixed that up with the Mulgoa fellows," said his father. +"It's all right. They're kind enough to ask me to play, but it's out of +the question--even if I weren't approaching senile decay"--he smiled--"I +wouldn't be able to go. Mr. Darrell has a buyer coming to look at his +young stock on Friday, and he writes me that if I want any of them--he +knows I did want some--I can have the first pick if I am over at +Killybeg on Thursday. So that means I'll be away from Wednesday +morning--and I think this match will be as efficacious as anything else +in keeping you out of mischief during my absence!" + +"I'm glad we'll have something!" Jim said, his grin belying his meek +voice. "Well, we'll have to see who can play." + +"You two boys, of course," said his father. "And Cecil--do you play?" + +"Not for worlds, thank you," said Cecil, hastily. "It's not in my +line." + +"Oh," said his uncle. "Then you can be Norah's escort--if she wants to +go, that is!" + +"Want to go! Well, Daddy!" said Norah in expostulation--whereat +everybody laughed. + +"Murty can slog, I believe, and of course, Boone is a cricketer," the +squatter said. "They only want four, so if those two fellows are +willing--of which I'm not very doubtful!--that will be just right. You +might go out and see if they're anywhere about, Jim." + +Jim and Wally dashed off, to return presently with the tidings that +Murty would play "wid all the pleasure in loife." Boone was away at +work, but his acquiescence could be taken for granted. + +"Then I'll send a line to the doctor," Mr. Linton said. "He and Mrs. +Anderson want you all to go there for lunch on the day of the match--a +very good arrangement, seeing that you'll have Norah with you. You'd +better get away from here quite early; it's pretty certain to be hot, +and the day will be a fairly long one, in any case. It will be far +better to get the ride over before the sun is very formidable. And if +you'll take my advice, boys, you'll make those fellows have some +practice before Thursday. You two should be in good form, but they +scarcely ever touch a bat." + +Jim and Wally approved of his advice, and each evening before the day +of the match saw the Billabong contingent of the Cunjee eleven hard at +work on a level stretch of ground close to the homestead; while Norah +was generally to be found making herself useful in the outfield. Her +sex did not hinder the daughter of the house from being able to return +balls with force and directness, and when, as a reward for her aid, she +was given a few minutes with the bat, to carefully regulated bowling +from Wally, Norah's cup of joy was full. She was even heard to say that +school might be bearable if they let you play cricket most of the +time!--which was a great admission for Norah, who had kept her word +rigidly about not mentioning the dreaded prospect before her. That she +thought of it continually, Jim knew well and he and his chum were wont, +by all means in their power, to paint school life for girls in +attractive colours without appearing to be directly "preaching" to +Norah; which kindly thought she saw through very well, and was silently +grateful, though it was doubtful if her sentence lost any of its +terrors. + +It was always more or less before her. Her own circle had been too +limited to give Norah much experience of the outer world, and she +shrank instinctively from anything that lay beyond Billabong and its +surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that +she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came +over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to +date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil +were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush. + +For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and +to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly +trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her--which was +prudently when no one else was about--Norah felt a complete rustic, and +was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in +her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them +of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even +wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her, +and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy +evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons +from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on +some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears--until the next +time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of +her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of +manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's +tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the +other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they +done so. + +Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions, +boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much +cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly--at least to most of the +inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across +the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The +Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads; +but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles, +although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles. +Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and +Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him, +the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's +irresponsible bounds--for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and +was full of spirits and suppressed energy. + +"Take care of him, Daddy, won't you?" she said, a little anxiously, as +Monarch executed a more than ordinarily uproarious caper. "He's awfully +fresh." + +"He'll steady down presently," said her father, smiling at the upturned +face. "There's some steep country ahead of him." + +"Yes, but he's such a mad-headed animal--and those paths on the sides of +the gullies are very steep." + +"You sound like the nervous young woman in 'Excelsior,'" David Linton +said, with a laugh. "Cheer up, my girl--there's no need to worry about +Monarch and me. He's only playful; hasn't an atom of vice, and I know +him very well by now. I never put my leg over a better horse." + +"Oh, of course," said Norah, cheered, but not altogether convinced. +"Every one knows he's a beauty--but just look out that he doesn't try to +be too playful on the sidings, Daddy. It would be so easy to slip +down." + +"Not for anything with four good legs and a fair allowance of sense," +said her father. "Do you think you could make Bobs slip down?" + +Norah laughed. + +"Oh, Bobs is like a mountain goat when it comes to sure-footedness," +she said. "You've said yourself, Daddy that it would hardly be possible +to THROW him down! But then, Bobs is Bobs, and he's seven years old, +and ever so sensible--not like that big four-year-old baby. So promise +me you'll be careful, Daddy." + +"I will, little daughter." They were at the boundary fence now, and it +was time for Norah to turn back. "Hurry home--I don't quite like you +being so far afield by yourself." + +"Oh, Bobs will look after me." Norah hugged her father so far as +Monarch would permit--Mr. Linton had got off to wrestle with a stiff +padlock on the seldom-used gate, and the black horse was pulling away, +impatient of the delay. + +"I expect he will," said the father. "That pony is almost as great a +comfort to me as he is to you, I believe! Make haste home, all the +same." He stood still a moment to watch the little white-coated figure +and the handsome pony swinging across the plain at Bobs' long canter; +his face tender as few people ever saw it. Then he mounted the eager +Monarch, and rode off into the rough country that led to the ranges. + +It was comparatively early, but already very hot. Norah was not sorry +when she left the long stretch they called the "Far Plain" behind her, +and came into the welcome shade of a belt of timber. She walked Bobs +through it slowly. Then came the clear stretch to the homestead, and +they cantered steadily across it. + +Near the stockyard a cloud of dust hovered, through which might be seen +dimly the forms of Jim, Wally and O'Toole--all engaged in the engrossing +pursuit of inducing three poddy calves to enter the yard. They had but +one dog, which, being young and "whip shy," had vanished into the +distant landscape at the sound of Murty's stockwhip, leaving them but +their own energies to persuade the calves; and when a poddy calf +becomes obstinate there are few animals less easy to persuade. Each was +possessed of a very respectable turn of speed and a rooted +determination to remain in the paddock. When, as frequently happened, +they made separate rushes away in the direction of freedom it was all +but impossible for those on foot to head them off and keep them in the +corner by the yards. They raced hither and thither like mad things, +cutting wild capers as they fled; backed and twisted and dodged, and +occasionally bellowed as they bolted, much as a naughty child might +bellow. To an onlooker there was something distinctly funny in the +spectacle. + +Murty and the boys, however, might be excused for failing to see the +finer points of the joke. They were hot beyond expression; they were +also extremely dirty, and were verging on becoming extremely cross. To +and fro they darted wildly, striving to head off the cheerful culprits: +lifted up their voices in fruitless shouting, and wasted much necessary +breath in uttering wild threats of what might be expected to happen +when--if ever--they succeeded in yarding the enemy. Not one had a hat; +they had long ago been used as missiles in checking a rush, and now lay +in the dust, trampled under the racing feet of the poddies. Moreover, +it was distressingly evident that they were becoming tired, whilst the +calves remained fresh and in most excellent spirits. The chances, as +Norah arrived, were distinctly in favour of the calves. + +From a comfortable seat on a rail Cecil watch the battle, for once +ceasing to look bored. In his opinion it was funnier than a circus. +Once or twice he shouted words of encouragement to the combatants, and +frequently he laughed outright. As an entertainment this quite outshone +anything that had been offered him on Billabong--and Cecil was not the +man to withhold applause where he thought it due. Finally his attitude +attracted the notice of the perspiring Mr. O'Toole. + +"Yerra, come down out o' that an' len' a hand!" he shouted, panting. +"It is laughin' ye'd be, wid these loonattic images gittin' away on +us--!" Further eloquence on Murty's part was checked by a determined +rush on the part of a red and white calf, which would certainly have +ended in freedom but for a well-aimed clod, which, hurled by the +Irishman, took the poddy squarely between the eyes and induced him to +pull up and meditate. Unfortunately Murty tripped in the act of +delivery, and went headlong, picking himself up just in time to stop a +second rush by the calf, which, on seeing his enemy on the ground, +promptly ceased to meditate. Cecil rocked with laughter. + +"Oh, get off that fence and try and block these brutes, Cecil!" sang +out Jim, angrily. "Another hand would make all the difference, if you'd +exert yourself!" + +Cecil's laughter came to a sudden stop. He looked indignantly at his +grey suit, and with pain at his patent leather shoes; then, apparently +coming to the conclusion that there was no help for it, descended +gingerly, and came into the line of defenders. A sturdy little +Shorthorn singled him out for attention, and charged in his direction. + +"Block him! Block him, I say!" + +Jim's voice rang out. Cecil uttered a feeble yelp as the calf came +racing past, waved his arms, and executed a few mild steps towards +him--attentions which but served to accelerate the Shorthorn's flight. +He went by the city lad like a meteor, rendering useless a wild run by +Wally, who was just too late to head him. Murty O'Toole uttered a shout +of wrath. + +"Howly Ann! He's lost him! The blitherin'--yerra, glory be, there's Miss +Norah!" + +The change from indignation to relief was comical. Norah and Bobs came +like a bolt from the blue upon the vision of the astonished Shorthorn, +which made one last gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, +while gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, while Bobs made +every movement, propping and swinging to cut him off in a manner that +would have disturbed any rider not used to the intricate ways of a +stock horse. Finally the calf gave it up abruptly, and raced back +towards the yard, the pony at his heels. He bolted in at the open gate, +promptly followed by his companions, and Murty cut off their exit with +a grunt of relief. + +"Wisha, it's hot!" he said, mopping his brow. "Sure, Miss Norah, y' kem +in the nick av time--'twas run clane off our legs, we was." + +"They CAN run, can't they?" said Norah, who was laughing. "Did you hurt +yourself, Murty?" + +"Only me timper," said the Irishman, grinning. "But 'twas enough to +make a man angry to see that little omadhaun dancin' an' flapping his +arrums f'r all the world loike a monkey on a stick--an' pardon to ye, +Miss Norah, but I do be forgettin' he's y'r cousin." + +"Oh, he's not used to stock; you mustn't be hard on him, Murty," Norah +laughed. "Are you very hot, you poor boys?"--as Wally and Jim came up, +panting. Cecil had withdrawn towards the house, in offended dignity. + +"Hot!" said Wally, casting himself on the ground-- + + "'Far better in the sod to lie, + With pasturing pig above, + Than broil beneath a copper sky, + In sight of all I love!' + +That's me!" + +"Don't know how you've energy to spout Dr. Watts at that rate," said +Jim, following his example. + +"I don't think it is Dr. Watts; I fancy it's Kendall," said Wally, +uncertainly. "Not that it matters, anyhow; I'm not likely to meet +either of them! Did you ever see anything like the way those little +beggars ran?" + +"Hope I never will again--with the thermometer at this height," Jim +answered. "Norah, no words can say how glad I was to see you return, my +dear!" + +"I can imagine how much of your gladness concerned me, and how much was +due to that Shorthorn calf!" said Norah, laughing. + +"Well, he'd have been fleeing yet into the offing if it hadn't been for +you," said Wally. "Will any one take my hand and lead me for a drink?" + +"We'll go up to the house--it's cool there," Jim said. "I want a lemon +squash three feet long. There'll be one for you, Murty, if you come +up." + +"I will that same," said Mr. O'Toole, promptly. "There's no vegetable +loike the limon on a day loike this!" So they let Bobs go, and all +trooped inside, where Cecil was found, well brushed, and wearing a +martyred expression--which, however, was not proof against refreshments. +He even went so far as to express mild regret for his slowness to +render assistance, remarking that it was against his doctor's advice +for him to run; which remarks were received with fitting demeanour by +his hearers, though, as Wally remarked later, it was difficult to see +how any one who knew Cecil at all could ever have contemplated the +possibility of his running! + +"Well, I must go back and help Murty brand those youngsters," Jim said, +at length, bringing his long form in stages off the sofa. "Coming, +Wal.? And, Norah, just you take things quietly. It's uncommon hot, and +you'll have a long day to-morrow." + +Norah assented with surprising meekness, and the day passed calmly, +enlivened by an enthusiastic cricket practice in the evening; after +which she was called into requisition at the piano, and played to an +audience stretched on basket chairs and lounges on the verandah +outside. Finally the performer protested, coming out through one of the +long windows for a breath of cooler air. + +"Well, then, it's bed," said Jim, yawning prodigiously. "Norah, the men +are going to drive in, with our playing togs, to-morrow; would you +rather go in the buggy?" + +"I'd rather drive, thanks, Jim." + +"Thought so. Then hurry off to bed, for we're going to make an early +start." Jim paused, looking up at the star-filled sky. "And I give you +all warning, it's going to be a caution for heat!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + + +CUNJEE v. MULGOA + + + I remember + What it was to be young, and glad, and strong, + By a creek that rippled the whole day long. + M. FORREST. + + +There was no doubt whatever that the heat was, as Jim had prophesied, +"a caution." Pretty little Mrs. Anderson, walking down to the cricket +ground at Cunjee, between Jim and Cecil, inwardly wondered what had +made her come out of her cool, shaded house to encounter so scorching a +sun--with nothing ahead but a bush cricket match. However, Cunjee was no +more lively than other townships of its class, and even a match was +something. Besides, her husband was playing, and the Billabong +contingent, who did not seem to mind the heat at all, had arrived full +of most infectious high spirits, filling her house with a cheerful +atmosphere of youth and jollity. Norah had at once succumbed to the +charms of the baby, and as the baby seemed similarly impressed with +Norah, it had been hard to remove him from her arms even for purposes +of nourishment for either. She had quite seriously proposed to take him +to the match, and had been a little grieved when his mother hastily +vetoed the proposition. As mother of three babies, Mrs. Anderson knew +precisely their worth at an entertainment--particularly on a hot day. + +Even Cecil was more than usually inclined to be--if not happy, at least +less bored; although he had begun the day badly, and considered himself +scarcely on speaking terms with Jim. This attitude was somewhat +difficult to sustain, because Jim himself ignored it cheerfully, and +addressed to his cousin whatever remarks came into his head--which Cecil +privately considered a demeanour showing the worst of taste. + +Bobs had been the "unhappy cause of all this discord." The bay pony was +always an object of envy to Cecil, and in his heart he was determined +to ride him before leaving Billabong. Particularly he coveted him for +the ride into Cunjee. It was bad enough, he considered, to be condemned +to Brown Betty in the paddocks, but she was certainly not stylish +enough to please him when it came to a township expedition. So he had +sauntered out when the horses were being saddled, and delicately hinted +to Jim that he might ride Bobs. + +Jim, wrestling with Garryowen's girth, had found it the easiest way out +of the difficulty to avoid hearing the hint--which he considered "like +Cecil's cheek," and as nothing short of Norah's own command would have +induced him to accede to it, silence seemed the better plan. Cecil had +waited a moment until his head came up from under the saddle flap, and +repeated his remark. + +"Afraid not," said Jim, driven to bay, and speaking shortly to cover +his annoyance. "Norah's going to ride him herself." He led Garryowen +off to tie him under the shade of the pepper trees, and did not return +to saddle Bobs until Cecil had retreated to the house, looking very +black. + +This little incident--which Jim had not thought is necessary to report +to Norah--had slightly marred the harmony of the early morning. But +Jim's unfailing good humour make it hard to keep up a grievance, and if +Betty were not exactly stylish, her paces were good enough to make her +rider enjoy the trip into Cunjee, especially as Wally and Norah were in +the best of spirits and kept things going with a will. Then had come +lunch at the Andersons', an occasion which called all Cecil's reserve +powers into play. Mrs. Anderson was pretty and smart, and he assumed +his best society manner in talking to her, monopolized most of the +conversation and flattered himself on making a distinct impression on +his country hostess. Possibly he would have been pained had he heard +Mrs. Anderson's remark to her husband while putting on her hat after +lunch. + +"Did you ever see such a contrast, Jack?" she asked--"that conceited +boy, and those nice Grammar School youngsters--they're so jolly and +unaffected!" To which the doctor had responded that if he had his way +he'd boil Cecil, and it was time she had that veil fixed--and had led +her forth, protesting that "half the pins weren't in!" + +Cecil, however, knew nothing of these comments, and was very well +satisfied with himself as they walked slowly along the lane leading to +the cricket ground. Jim, on the other side of Mrs. Anderson, tall and +handsome in his flannels, with his white hat pulled over his eyes, +discoursed cheerfully of school matches, and promised them something +worth seeing if young Wally got going with the bat--conversation which +did not interest Cecil, who turned it as speedily as might be to +matters more to his taste, whereat Jim grew silent, listening with a +smile hovering on his well-cut mouth to society doing in the city, told +with a view to impressing his hearers with a sense of the narrator's +own important share therein. Once Mrs. Anderson met Jim's eye in a +brief glance, and reflected the smile momentarily. Behind them, Norah, +Wally, and the little doctor kept up a flow of chatter which Wally +described as "quite idiotic and awfully comfortable!" The party arrived +at the cricket ground on very good terms with itself. + +The ground boasted no pavilion save a shed used for the preparation of +afternoon tea--a building of which the extreme heat made it almost +possible to boil the kettle without lighting a fire! Naturally, no one +used it for purposes of watching the play, but there was a row of +wattle trees along one side of the ground, and seats placed in their +shade made an excellent natural grand stand. Here the non-players +betook themselves, while the doctor and the two boys went off to the +spot where already most of the other players were gathered--a lean-to +under a huge gum-tree, used as a dressing-room by most of the +combatants, a number of whom arrived on horseback from long distances. +The Billabong boys had changed at the hotel, after putting up their +horses, and before repairing to the Andersons', so that they had no +dressing to do--which was more than fortunate for them, since the +lean-to was so thick with men, boys, valises, discarded garments, +leggings and boots, that it resembled a hive in a strong state of +disorganization. + +Finally, the men were ready; a somewhat motley crowd--not more than +seven or eight in flannels, while the remainder were in ordinary dress, +with occasionally riding breeches and leggings to be seen, and not a +few football jerseys. The Mulgoa men, on being mustered, were found to +be a man short, while Cunjee had one to the good. So Murty O'Toole, to +his intense disgust, was solemnly handed over to Mulgoa. Then Dr. +Anderson, who captained Cunjee, won the toss, and Murty took the field +along with his new allies, amid heartless jeers from Mr. Boone, smoking +comfortably under a tree, who desired to know should he fetch Mr. +O'Toole an umbrella? + +The story in detail of a cricket match is generally of particular +interest to those who have been there; and as, unfortunately, the +number of spectators of the famous battle between Cunjee and Mulgoa was +limited, little would be served by an exhaustive description of each +over bowled on that day of relentless heat. Cunjee shaped badly from +the start. Their two most noted batsmen, a young blacksmith and the +post-master, fell victims, without getting into double figures, to the +crafty bowling of the Mulgoa captain, Dan Billings--who drove a coach in +his spare moments, and had as nice an understanding of how to make a +ball break on a fast wicket as of flicking the off leader on the ear +with the cracker of his four-in-hand whip. Dr. Anderson scored a couple +of fours, and then went out "leg before." He remarked, returning to the +"pavilion" sorrowfully, that when one was as round and fat as he, it +was difficult to keep out of the way of three little sticks! Then Dave +Boone and Wally made a stand that roused the perspiring spectators to +something like enthusiasm, for Mr. Boone was a mighty "slogger," and +Wally had a neat and graceful style that sent the Cunjee supporters +into the seventh heaven. Between them the score mounted rapidly, and +the men of Mulgoa breathed a sigh of relief when at length Dave skied a +ball from Billings, which descended into the ample hands of Murty +O'Toole, who was quite undecided whether to treat his catch as a +triumph or a calamity. There was no doubt, however, on the part of his +colleagues for the day, who thumped him wildly on the back and yelled +again with joy. Mr. Boone retired with a score of forty-five and a wide +grin. + +Then Jim joined Wally, and kept his end up while his chum put on the +runs. Nothing came amiss to Wally that day--slow balls, fast balls, +"yorkers," "googlies"--the science of Mulgoa went to earth before the +thin brown schoolboy with the merry face. Jim, however, was never at +ease, though he managed to remain in a good while; and eventually +Dickenson, a wiry little Mulgoa man, found his middle stump with a +swift ball--to the intense dismay of Norah, to whom it seemed that the +sky had fallen. Cecil smiled serenely + +"I had an idea Jim fancied himself as a bat!" said he. + +"Jim never fancies himself at anything!" said Jim's sister, +indignantly. "Anyway, he's a bowler far more than a bat." + +"Ah, it's possibly not his 'day out.' What a pity!" Cecil murmured. + +"Well, we can't always be on our best form, I suppose," said Mrs. +Anderson, pacifically. "And, at any rate, Norah, your friend is doing +splendidly. Wasn't that a lovely stroke?" + +Alas! it soon was apparent that Cunjee was not going to support its +ally. One after another the wickets went down, and the batsmen returned +from the field "with mournful steps and slow." Wally, seeing his +chances diminishing, took liberties with the bowling, and hit wildly, +with amazing luck in having catches missed. At last, however, he +snicked a ball into cover-point's hands, and retired, amid great +applause, having made forty-three. The remaining Cunjee wickets went as +chaff before the wind, and the innings closed for 119. + +Then there was a rush for the refreshment shed, and monumental +quantities of tea were consumed by the teams and their supporters, +administered by the admiring maidens of Cunjee. Wally and Jim, prone on +the grass in the shade, were cheerful, but by no means enthusiastic +regarding their chances. Norah had half expected to find Jim cast down +over his batting failure, and was much relieved that he exhibited all +his usual serenity. Jim's training had been against showing feeling +over games. + +"Absolutely fiery out there," said he, accepting a cup gratefully. +"Thanks, awfully, Mrs. Anderson; you people are no end good. Didn't we +make a beautiful exhibition of ourselves?--all except Dave and this kid, +that is." + +"Kid yourself," said Wally, who was sucking a lemon slowly and +luxuriously. "No tea, thanks, Norah. I'm boiling already, and if I took +tea I don't know what might happen, but certainly heat apoplexy would +be part of it. Have half my lemon?" + +"I don't think so, thanks," said Norah, unmoved by this magnificent +offer. "You seem to be getting used to that one, and I'd hate to +deprive you of it. Do you boys think we've any chance?" + +"It's highly doubtful," Jim answered. "The general opinion is that +Mulgoa's good for 150 at the very least--they've got a few rather +superior men, I believe, and of course that Billings chap is a terror. +And the wicket, such as it is, is all in favour for the bat--which +doesn't say much for us And one of our men has gone down with the heat +and can't field--fellow from the hotel with red hair, who made +five--remember him, Wal.? He's out of training, like most hotel chaps, +and as soft as possible, So we're playing a man short." + +"I wish they'd give you Murty back!" said Norah, with feminine +ignorance. + +"Much hope!" returned her brother. "Anyway, Murty's not over good in +the field; he's too much in the saddle to be a quick man on his feet. I +wouldn't mind you as substitute, Nor."--which remark, though futile, +pleased Norah exceedingly. + +She was rather more hopeful when the Cunjee team at length took the +field, with Boone and the blacksmith bowling against Billings and +another noted Mulgoa warrior. But her hopes were rapidly put to flight, +and the spirits of the Cunjee "barrackers" went down to zero as it +became distressingly apparent that Mr. Billings and his partner were +there to stay. Alike they treated the bowling with indifference, +hitting the Billabong stockman with especial success--which soon +demoralized Dave, who appealed to be taken off, and devoted his +energies to short slip fielding. Here he had his revenge presently, for +the second Mulgoa man hit a ball almost into his hands, and Dave clung +to it as a drowning man to a straw--one wicket for thirty-five. + +Then the score mounted with alarming steadiness, and the wickets fell +all too slowly for the home team. Dan Billings appeared as comfortable +at the wickets as though on the box of his couch, and smote the bowling +all round the ground with impartiality. The heat became more and more +oppressive, and several of the Cunjee men were tiring, including plump +little Dr. Anderson, who stuck to his work as wicket-keeper pluckily--to +the unconcealed anxiety of his wife. His reward came when a hot return +from the field by Wally gave him a chance of stumping one of the Mulgoa +cracks. But the enthusiasm was only momentary; the game was considered, +even by the most sanguine small boy of Cunjee, to be "all over bar +shouting." + +Jim had been bowling for some time from one end with fair results. The +batsmen certainly took fewer liberties with him, and he managed to +account for three of them for a comparatively low average. He had +allowed himself to become anxious, which is a bad thing for a bowler +when the score is creeping up and the batsmen are well set. Wally +watched his chum with some anxiety--there was none of the fire in his +bowling that had so often brought down the ground in a School match. + +"Wish he's wake up," said Wally to himself. "I'd like a chance to talk +to him." + +The chance came when the field crossed over, disposed anew to harry a +left-handed batsman. Jim came over with his long, swinging walk, his +head a little bent. He started a little at his friend's voice. + +"You'll snore soon!" said Wally, incisively. "What on earth's the +matter with you? Play up, School!" + +Jim stopped short a moment--and burst out laughing, Wally's indignant +face glanced back over his shoulder as he ran off. There was a new +spring in the bowler's walk as he went to his crease, and the smile +still lingered. + +The left-handed man faced him confidently--not many local bowlers could +trouble him much, and being a large and well-whiskered gentleman, the +tall schoolboy opposite to him sent no thrill of fear through his soul. +But Jim had learned a thing or two at school about left-handed bats. He +took a short run. + +On returning to the pavilion the whiskered one admitted that he knew +really nothing about the ball. It seemed to come from nowhere, and curl +about his bat as he lifted it to strike. How the bails came off was a +mystery to him, though it was unfortunately beyond question that they +had not remained on. The left-hander removed his pads, ruminating. + +Cunjee, meanwhile, had cheered frantically, and Wally sent a School +yell ringing down the field. Jim's eye lit up anew as he heard it. + +"I do believe I've been asleep," he muttered. + +The new man was waiting for him, and he treated his first two balls +with respect. Then he grew bolder; hit him for a single, and snicked +him to the fence for four. There was a perceptible droop in the Cunjee +spirits at the boundary hit. Then Jim bowled the last ball of the over, +and there was a composite yell from Cunjee as the Mulgoa man pushed the +ball gently into the air just over Dr. Anderson's head. The little +doctor was pitifully hot, but he did not fail. The Mulgoa batsman +returned to his friends. + +Dan Billings was a little worried. Much, he felt, depended on him, and +he had never been more comfortably set; but his men--would they be as +reliable? He decided to hit out, and Mulgoa roared as the hundred went +up for a beautiful boundary hit. Six wickets were down, and Mulgoa was +107 at the end of the over. It seemed safe enough. + +Jim took the ball again, his fingers pressing the red surface almost +lovingly. He had quite waked up; his head was buzzing with "theories," +and his old power seemed to have come back to his fingers. The first +ball came with a beautiful leg-break, and the Mulgoan bat swiped at it +wildly, and vainly. Seven for 107. + +Cunjee was getting excited as the eighth man came in--a wiry and long +youth with a stolid face. He contented himself with blocking Jim's +bowling, snatching a single presently so that Billings would have the +responsibility--to which that gentleman promptly responded by smiting +Jim for three. That brought the stolid youth back to power--an honour he +did not wish. He hit the next ball softly back to the bowler. Eight for +111; and Cunjee howling steadily, with all its youth, and some of its +beauty, battering with sticks on tins. A dog ran across the ground, and +was greeted with a yell that made it scurry away in terror, its tail +concealed between its legs. Just then Cunjee had no time for dogs. + +But it was Mr. Billings' turn, and Mr. Billings was busy. He made good +use of the over--the score mounted, and the Cunjee hopes swung lower. It +was still eight--for 115--when a single brought his companion to face +little Harry Blake, the other Cunjee bowler, who was plainly feeling +the weight of his position. He sent the ball down nervously--it slipped +as it left his hand, and the Mulgoan stepped out to meet it, while +Harry gasped with horror. Up, up, it soared--a boundary surely! Then +there was a roar as Wally Meadows gathered himself together, raced, and +sprang for the red disc, spinning over his head just at the fence. It +seemed to hover above him--then his hands closed, and, unable to stop +himself, Wally somersaulted, rolling over and over in the long grass of +the outfield. He sat up, his brown face lit by a wide smile, the ball +still clutched, held above his head. Nine for 115! + +The tension was on bowlers and batsmen alike now--all save Dan Billings, +whose calmness was unimpaired. He greeted the tenth man cheerfully--and +the tenth man was Murty O'Toole, very hot and nervous, and certainly +the most miserable man on the ground as he faced "Masther Jim's" +bowling, and knew that the alien hopes of Mulgoa depended on him. Out +in the open a Mulgoa man shrugged his shoulders, remarking, "He won't +try!" and was promptly attacked furiously by three small boys of +Cunjee, who pelted him with clods and abuse from a safe distance. Murty +looked at Jim with a little half-apologetic gesture, and Jim grinned. + +"Play up, Murty, old chap!" he said. + +It was not in vain that he had schooled the stockman in the paddock at +Billabong. He sent down a treacherous ball, and Murty met it and played +it boldly for two, amid Mulgoan shrieks. Two to tie and three to +win--no, one fewer now, for the Irishman had turned a swift ball to leg, +and only quick fielding had prevented a boundary. A hundred and +seventeen! Murty heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned on his bat at the +bowler's end and glanced across at Jim. + +"Praises be, 'twill be Billings to hit it, an' not O'Toole!" he +muttered. "I have put me fut in it sufficient f'r wance!" + +The ball left Jim's hand with a whizz, and Billings stepped out to meet +it. Just what happened no one saw clearly for a moment, it all came to +pass so quickly. Then an Irish yell from Murty O'Toole woke the echoes, +even as the bowler's hand flashed up above his head--and the big +stockman flung up his bat in an ecstasy of delight. Billings bit off a +sharp word and left his crease; and Cunjee woke to the fact that the +Mulgoan captain was caught and bowled. The match was theirs--by one run! + +When Cunjee woke it became very thoroughly awake. They rushed the +ground, cheering, shouting and hurling hats and caps into the air, +irrespective of their owners' wishes. There was a demonstration to +carry Jim in, which that hero promptly quenched by taking to his heels +and leaving his too affectionate friends far in the rear. Behind him +Cunjee and Mulgoa seethed together, and the air was rent with cheers. +Free fights were in active progress in at least five places on the +ground. It was clearly Cunjee's day out. + +Jim met Wally with a grin that was distinctly sheepish. + +"Knew you could!" said the Mentor, patting him happily on the back. +"Good old School! But what an ass you were, Jimmy!" + +"I was," said Jim, meekly. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + + +THE RIDE HOME + + + In the gathering of night-gloom o'erhead in + The still, silent change. + GORDON. + + +"Well, old girl?" + +Norah laughed up at the big fellow delightedly. + +"Oh, wasn't it lovely, Jimmy?" she said. "I was so excited--and you were +grand! And wasn't Wally's catch a beauty? It's been a lovely match, +hasn't it, Jim?" + +"H'm--in spots," said Jim, a little doubtfully, but laughing back at +her. "Rather like the fellow who said his egg was 'excellent--in parts,' +don't you think? Anyhow, we won, and that's the main thing--and I never +DID see a catch to beat that of Wal's." + +"We're all immensely proud of you, Jim," Mrs. Anderson said. "And +didn't my old man do well?" + +"He did, indeed," Jim agreed heartily. "But I'm not a bit proud of +myself--I think I was asleep most of the time, till old Wal., here, woke +me up with a few well-chosen words. However, it's over now--and Norah, I +want you to get along home." + +"Aren't you coming?" Norah asked, a little blankly. + +"We'll have to catch you up. I don't quite like the look of the +weather; we're in for a storm, that's certain, and you may possibly +escape it if you get away now. I can't start just yet; the Mulgoa +fellows are insisting on 'shouting' for all hands, and we can't very +well refuse; besides"--he dropped his voice--"you know what Boone is--I +must see that he and Murty leave Cunjee. Cecil will look after you, +won't you, Cecil?" + +That gentleman assented without any pleasure. He did not feel impressed +with the prospect of acting as escort to a small girl when he might +have remained in Cunjee. Norah was quick to notice his manner. + +"I needn't bother Cecil, Jim," she said, "I can quite easily ride on by +myself." + +"Indeed you won't," her brother responded. "Why, it'll be dark before +long--let alone the state of the weather. You don't mind, Cecil, do +you?" + +Thus directly questioned, Cecil could do nothing but express his entire +willingness. + +"That's all right, then," Jim said. "Hurry on down to the hotel and get +the saddles on, there's a good chap. Goodness knows whether you'll find +any one there, but I fancy that pretty well the whole township is up at +the match. You'll only escape that storm if you're lucky--don't lose a +minute." He made his farewells to Mrs. Anderson, and turned to Norah +again. "Better look after your own girth," he told her--"run after Cecil +and lend him a hand if he wants it." + +Cecil had already started; his slim, correctly attired figure was +hastening along the dusty lane. He hated rain, and the hint of the +coming storm had made him hurry when no other consideration would have +done so. There was no one visible about the hotel yard, as he entered, +and he called in vain; then, seeing no help for it, he entered the +stables, where the Billabong horses occupied the stalls at one end. +Bobs whinnied sharply as the door opened, and Cecil looked at the +inquiring head; and then, sourly, towards Brown Betty, standing +peacefully, half asleep, in her stall. + +"Wonder if she'd mind?" Cecil muttered, pondering. "Let her, anyhow!" +With which cryptic remarks he moved towards the saddles. + +Norah arrived on the scene a few minutes later, coming straight to the +stables. For a moment she could not see Cecil, then, peering into +Betty's stall, she made him out, busily girthing up. Bobs was already +saddled, and Norah went up to him. + +"Why, you have been quick, Cecil," she said, cheerfully. "I thought I +was going to help you, but there doesn't seem anything for me to do. +Thanks very much for saddling Bobs." She led the pony out, and then +stopped. "Oh, what a pity," she said. "You've got the wrong saddles on, +Cecil." + +Cecil came out, leading the brown mare, and a little flushed. + +"I did it on--ah--purpose," he said. "You don't mind, I suppose if I ride +Bobs home?" + +Norah looked at him a moment, and then flushed in her turn. To let her +cousin ride Bobs seventeen miles was unthinkable. She had the +profoundest regard for her pony's back; and she knew that even Brown +Betty's seasoned hide was giving way under the unskilled horsemanship +of the city boy. It was very doubtful, moreover, that it would be safe +to mount him on Bobs, who was already excited with the coming storm and +the prospect of home. She knew every turn, and thought of the +high-spirited pony--he went quietly for her, but with a new-chum it +might be a different matter. + +Moreover, Norah was distinctly annoyed. She was a sweet-tempered +maiden, but she did not like being treated lightly; and in assuming +that he might coolly appropriate her special property, it seemed to her +that Cecil was treating her very lightly indeed. She had a moment's +swift wish that Jim were there to take her part. It was not quite easy +to oppose any one nearly grown up like Cecil--who in addition was a +guest, and had a special claim on courtesy. She flushed deeply as she +answered him in a low voice. + +"I can't let you ride Bobs, I'm afraid, Cecil." + +"Oh, can't you?" said Cecil, staring. "Why not?" + +"Well, no one rides him but me," said Norah unhappily. "And he's a +queer pony, Cecil. I'm not a bit sure that he'd go nicely with you. You +see, I understand him." + +"You evidently think no one can ride but yourself," Cecil said +disagreeably. "I really think I can manage the famous Bobs." + +"If you knew him it might be all right," Norah answered. "But I'd +really rather not, Cecil. He's eager and impatient, and quite +unaccustomed to strangers. Dad would be awfully annoyed if you had any +trouble with him." + +"I don't fancy Uncle David would be given any need for annoyance," +Cecil replied. "I'm a bit sick of this old mare, and I don't think it +would hurt you to lend me Bobs. It's uncommonly selfish of you to want +to keep him always." + +Norah's flush deepened. + +"I'm awfully sorry you think that," she said. "And I'll speak to Dad +about your riding him, if you like--another time." + +"Another time? Then what's the matter with my riding him now? I +suppose," said Cecil with a sneer, "you want to show off in Cunjee." + +Norah stared at him blankly for a moment. Rudeness had been always so +far from her that she did not for a moment comprehend that this boy was +being deliberately rude. Then she walked round Bobs without replying, +and unbuckled the girth. + +"Please let me have my saddle," she said. Her voice was quite final. + +Cecil was pale with anger. He flung round without a word, tugging at +the buckle until Betty, who was patient but girth-galled, pulled away +in protest. As it yielded Norah laid his saddle on the mare's withers, +and slipped her own away. Their eyes met for a moment as she did so--the +child's steady and a little scornful, the young man's shifty. Then +Norah lifted her saddle across to Bobs, and girthed him up in silence. + +The pony was restless and excited, and objected to the second saddling +out in the space of the yard, when he was keen to get away. It seemed +unreasonable to Bobs, and he ran round and generally behaved in a +frivolous manner, while Norah struggled with the girth. When it was +done, she took her head, somewhat dishevelled, from under the saddle +flap. She laughed a little. + +Cecil, every line of his back showing offended dignity, was riding out +of the yard. As he came to the gate he dug his heel into Betty, who +broke into a canter at once. Norah's escort disappeared round a turn in +the street without looking back. + +"Well, if he isn't a donkey!" was her comment. "He's awfully +unpleasant--I wish he wouldn't make things so uncomfortable." She +mounted Bobs, and subdued that excitable steed's impatience while she +settled her habit. "Jim will be so angry if he finds out. I must get +away before he comes." + +She rode into the street. Some distance away a crowd was moving slowly +in her direction. Cheers and snatches of triumphant choruses were +wafted to her. In the midst she could see some figures in white +flannels. Norah rounded the corner of the street, seeing ahead of her a +fast-receding speck--Brown Betty and her rider. It was evident that she +was not to have the benefit of Cecil's presence on the ride home; and +Norah could not help laughing again, although she was annoyed at the +whole occurrence. For all his airs, he was such a baby, this cousin of +hers. + +"I'll tell Dad all about it," she reflected. "The he can say whether he +thinks Cecil can ride Bobs. Only I won't tell him he cleared out and +left me, 'cause there would be a row straight away." Thus pondering in +the Australian manner, she took the road home. + +Jim's storm was coming up slowly, and though the sun had not yet set, +already it was growing dusk; and still it was very hot. She let Bobs +canter slowly, not wishing to appear to be hurrying after Cecil. Norah +never bore malice, but she had her pride! Often she glanced back over +her shoulder, hoping to see the boys. She knew they would not let the +grass grow under their horses' hoofs, once they were able to take the +road home. But the track lay bare behind her, and ahead Cecil had quite +disappeared. By the time she was five miles out of Cunjee she seemed +the only person in the whole landscape, and the only sound that met her +ear was the steady beat of the cantering hoofs, mingled with the creak +of the saddle leather. + +The metalled road ended, and she struck into the bush track. It was +very lonely now; trees overhung the path, and the eerie light of the +coming storm threw strange shadows, at which Bobs shied constantly. +Once or twice there was a distant roll of thunder. There was just light +enough left to see the way. The road wound in and out among the trees. +By day it was Norah's favourite part of the journey; but now she could +not help wishing that it were possible to look further ahead, or to +watch the road over which she had passed, to catch the first glimpse of +Jim and Wally. There was a pleasant security in feeling that they were +coming. Norah was not a nervous girl; but she had rarely been allowed +to ride any but short distances alone. If Dad and Jim were not +available, it was an understood thing that Billy must act as her +escort. Certainly she had never been in the dark alone, and so far from +home. She was not afraid--she would have laughed at the very notion. +Still, it was a little queer. She knew she would be glad when she was +out of the timber. + +There came a bend in the track, and Bobs swung round it sharply. Then a +dark figure loomed up suddenly in the gloom, and the pony shied +violently, and propped. Norah struck her heel into him, her heart +giving a great bound. He struggled and plunged. A hand was on his +bridle, and a rough voice threatened him savagely. In the gloom Norah +could just make out a brutal-looking man, young, but with something in +his face that made her shudder. Her heart stood still for a moment, +after that first wild leap. Then she realized that he was asking her +for money, and she commanded her voice to answer. + +"I haven't any." + +It was true. When she rode with her father or brother it never occurred +to Norah to carry money, and she wore nothing of value at all to tempt +any thief. Her hunting-crop was silver mounted; she remembered it +suddenly, glad that it was dark and that the man would not be likely to +notice the gift that had been Jim's. + +"I don't believe y'," he said. + +"Well, you can, then," Norah answered. She was beginning to recover +herself, a little ashamed of that first moment of unreasoning terror. +If she had no money he would surely let her go. She scarcely knew the +meaning of fear--how should she, in the free, simple life that had +always been guarded, yet had left her only a little child in mind? "I +haven't so much as a penny," she went on. "Let go my bridle." + +"What are y' doin' here alone?" The slow voice was crafty; something in +it brought back that stupid first fear. She pulled herself together. + +"My people are coming--you'd better let go. If my brother gets hold of +you--" + +"Oh, your brother's comin', is he?" + +"Yes; let go my bridle." + +"Shut up about your bridle!" said the man, and Norah shrank back as if +she had been stung. He began to lead Bobs off the track. + +"What are you doing?" she asked angrily. She kicked Bobs again, and the +pony tried to rear, caught between the sudden blow and that compelling +hand on his rein. The man pulled him down savagely, jerking at his bit +and flinging threats at him and at Norah. + +"Y' might as well stop playin' the fool," he told her. "I want that +pony, an' I'm goin' to have it." + +TO HAVE BOBS! She tried to speak, but the words died before she could +utter them. Bobs! In her bewildered terror she scarcely realized for a +moment what he meant; then she raised her whip and cut with all her +strength at the hand that held the rein. He gave a sharp yell of pain +as the stinging whalebone caught him, but he did not relinquish his +grasp, and Norah struck at him again and again, half blindly in the +darkness, but always with the strength of desperation. It could not +last long--the struggle was too pitifully unequal. It was only a minute +before he had wrested the whip from her and held her wrists in one +vice-like hand. His voice was thick with rage. + +"I'll teach y'," he said, "y' little spitfire! Get off that pony." + +He began to drag her off. She clung to the saddle wildly, knowing how +hopeless it was, but somehow feeling that she must not leave that one +poor haven of safety. Then she felt herself going, and in that +sickening moment screamed for help--a child's piteous cry: + +"Jim! Jim! Jim!" + +There was no Jim to aid her--she knew it, even as she cried. The rough +grasp tightened; she could feel his breath as he dragged her from the +saddle. + +Then from the darkness came a tall, stealthy shadow, and suddenly her +wrists were free, as her assailant staggered back in the grip of the +newcomer. She made a violent effort and found herself back in the +saddle; and Bobs was plunging wildly, his bridle free. The necessity of +steadying him in the timber helped her to calm herself. Before her the +men were swaying backwards and forwards, blocking the way to the track; +her enemy's savage voice mingling with a lower one that was somehow +familiar, though she could not tell what he said. Then she saw that the +struggle was ending--the tall man had the other pinned against a tree, +and turned to her. His dark face was close, and she cried out to him, +knowing him for a friend. + +"Oh, Lal Chunder, it's you!" + +"Him beat," said Lal Chunder, breathlessly. "L'il meesis orright?" + +"I'm all right," she said, struggling with--for Norah--an unaccountable +desire to cry. "Oh, don't let him go!" + +"No," said the Hindu, decidedly. "Him hurt you? Me kill him." + +The last remark was uttered conversationally, and the man against the +tree cried out in fear. Lal Chunder flung at him a flood of rapid +Hindustani, and he collapsed into shivering silence. Probably it was +rather awe-inspiring--the great black-bearded Indian, with his keen, +enraged face and the voice that seemed to cut. But to Norah he was a +very haven of refuge. + +"Oh, you mustn't kill him," she said. "The boys will be here--men +coming--quick! Can you hold him?" + +"Hold him--yes--tight," said Lal Chunder, tightening his grip as he +spoke, to the manifest discomfort of the man against the tree. Then +came distant voices, and a snatch of a School song, mingled with quick +hoofs; and Norah caught her breath in the sharpness of the relief. She +rode out on the track, calling to Jim. + +The boys pulled up, the horses plunging. + +"Norah! What on earth--" + +Norah explained rapidly, and Jim flung himself off, tossing Garryowen's +rein to Wally, and ran to her. + +"Kiddie--you're all right? He didn't hurt you?" The boy's voice was +shaking. + +"Only my wrists," said Norah, and then began to shudder as the memory +of the struggle in the trees came back to her. Jim put his arm about +her. + +"Thank heaven for that blessed Indian!" said he. "Steady, old +girl--you're all right," and Norah recovered herself. + +"Yes, I'm all right, Jimmy," she said, a little shakily. "What about +Lal Chunder?" + +"Here's the buggy," said Wally, and in a moment Murty and Boone were on +the scene, when it was the work of a few minutes to tie the prisoner +with halters and hoist him into the buggy, where he lay very +uncomfortable, with his head close to the splashboard. There was much +explanation, and it would probably have gone hard with the prisoner but +for Jim, as Murty and Boone wanted to deal out instant justice. + +"Not good enough," Jim said. He was rather white, in the glow of the +buggy lamps. "He'll be better safe in gaol." He turned to Lal Chunder, +who had drawn close to Norah, and was contemplating his right hand, +which had been nearly shaken off by the four from Billabong. The +Hindu's English was not equal to his sense of friendship, and +conversation with him lacked fluency. It was some time before Jim could +make him understand that they wanted him to return to the station--and +indeed, it was Norah who made it clear at last. + +"Me want you," she said, taking the dusky hand in hers. "Come back to +my home." She pointed towards the direction of Billabong. Lal Chunder +capitulated immediately. + +"It is an order," he said, gravely; and forthwith climbed into the +buggy, a weird figure between the two stockmen, their faces still +flushed with anger as they looked at the man lying between their feet. + +"We'll put him away in the lock-up, an' be out agin in no time, Masther +Jim," said Murty. "Take care of her me boy." And the stockman, who had +known Norah since her babyhood, choked suddenly as he looked at her +pale face. Norah was herself again, however, and she smiled at him +cheerily. + +"I'm right as rain, Murty!" she said, in the Bush idiom. "Don't you +worry about me." + +"'Tis pluck y' have," said the Irishman. He turned the buggy with some +difficulty, for the track was narrow, and they spun off on the return +journey to Cunjee, while Norah, between the two boys, was once more on +the way to Billabong. + +"You're sure you're all right, Nor.?" Jim said, looking at her keenly. + +"Yes--truly, Jim." Norah had made up her mind not to say too much. There +was nothing to be gained by harrowing them with unnecessary +details--and, child-like, the memory of her terror was already fading, +now that care and safety had again wrapped her about. "I was a bit +scared, but that's all over." + +"Then," said Jim, "can you tell me where is Cecil?" His voice was +dangerously calm. + +"Oh, he--he went on," Norah said. "We had a dispute, and he was a bit +put out." + +"A dispute? What about?" + +"He wanted to ride Bobs." + +"DID he?" Jim said. "And because you wouldn't let him, he cleared out +and left you?" + +"Well, he was offended," Norah replied slowly, "and I dare say he +thought I would catch him up--instead of which I hung back, hoping you +boys would catch ME up. So it wasn't really his fault." + +"He must have known you would be coming through that timber by yourself +in the dark." + +"Oh, most likely he reckoned I'd have you with me by that time. He +doesn't understand very well, does he? He didn't mean any harm, Jim." + +"I don't know what he meant," Jim said, angrily. "But I know what he +did--and what he'd have been responsible for if Lal Chunder hadn't +happened along in the nick of time. Great overgrown calf! Upon my word, +when I see him--" + +"Oh, don't have a row, Jim," Norah pleaded. "He's a guest." + +"Guest be hanged! Do you mean to say that's excuse for behaving like a +cad?" + +"Ah, he wouldn't mean to. Don't tell him about--about Lal Chunder--and +the man." + +"Not tell him?" Jim exclaimed. + +"Well, not to-night, anyhow. Promise me you won't have a row +to-night--and if you tackle him when you get home there will be a row. +Wait until Dad comes home." finished Norah, a little wearily. + +Behind her, Wally leaned across to his chum. They pulled back a little. + +"I say--don't worry her, old man," Wally said. "I guess she's had a bit +of a shock--let's try and keep her mind off it. Do what she asks." And +Jim nodded. + +"All right, old woman," he said, coming alongside again. "I won't slay +him to-night--don't bother your little head. We'll let Dad fix him." + +Norah's grateful look rewarded him. + +"Thanks, Jimmy," she said. "I--I'm feeling like having a little peace. +And he'd never understand, no matter what you said." + +"I suppose he wouldn't," Jim agreed. "But he's a worm! However--the +storm's coming, and if we don't want wet jackets we'd better travel." +They tore homewards through the hot night. Presently Wally started a +chorus, and both boys were relieved when Norah joined in. They nodded +at each other cheerfully behind her back. So, singing very lustily, if +not in the most artistic fashion, they reached the Billagong stables +just as the first heavy drops were falling. + +Within, Cecil met them, a little nervously. + +"I thought you were lost," he said. + +"H'm," said Jim, passing him, and struggling with his promise. "Sorry +you and Norah had any difference of opinion." + +Cecil flushed. + +"Possibly I was--ah--hasty," he said. "I did not consider I asked Norah +much of a favour." + +"That's a matter of opinion. At any rate, Cecil, I may as well tell you +straight out that I don't consider it would be at all wise for you to +ride Bobs." + +"I'm not likely to hurt him." + +"He might very likely hurt you. He's not an easy pony to ride." + +Cecil's little laugh was irritating. + +"What?" he said. "I don't profess to be a jockey, but--a child's pony?" + +Jim very nearly lost his temper. + +"You won't be convinced," he said, "and I've no desire to convince you +with Bobs. But take my advice and let Norah alone about her pony. +You've a very good mare to ride." + +"That old crock!" said Cecil, scornfully. + +Jim stared. + +"Crock!" he said. "Well, you won't find many hacks to beat old Betty, +even if in your mighty judgment she is a crock. And, anyhow, Bobs is +Norah's, and no one else has any say about him. There's the bell; +ready, chaps?" + +The meal was scarcely lively. Cecil maintained an offended silence, and +Jim was too angry to talk, while Norah was silent and a little pale. +However, Cecil retired to his room immediately he had finished; and the +boys set themselves to the task of diverting Norah, fearful lest the +evening's adventure should have any bad effect on her. They succeeded +so well that by bedtime Norah had forgotten all her troubles, and was +weak with laughter. When Wally set out "to blither," as he said, he did +not do things by halves. + +Jim came into Norah's room and switched on her light. + +"Sure you're all right, kiddie?" + +"Rather!" said Norah. "I've laughed too much to be anything else." + +"Then go to sleep laughing," said Jim, practically. "I'm quite close if +you want anything." + +"Oh, I won't want anything, thanks," Norah answered. "Good-night, +Jimmy." + +"Good-night, little chap." + +Norah tumbled hastily into bed and slept dreamlessly. She did not know +that Jim dragged a sofa and some rugs along the corridor, and slept +close to her door. + +"Kid might dream and wake up scared," he said to Wally, a little +apologetically, before mounting guard. It was Jim's way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + + +A CHILD'S PONY + + + With the spirit of fire and of dew + To show the road home to them all. + KENDALL. + + +It was quite early next morning when Cecil awoke. One of his grievances +against the country was the way in which the birds acted as alarum +clocks every day, rousing him from his well-earned slumbers fully an +hour before even the earliest milk cart rattling along the suburban +street fulfilled a similar purpose at home. Generally, he managed to +turn over and go to sleep again. This morning, however, he was +unusually wakeful. + +He lay turning in his mind his anger against his cousins. Little causes +for annoyance, simple enough in themselves, had been brooded over until +they made up a very substantial total; and now, last night's happenings +capped everything. In his own heart of hearts he knew that he had small +justification for his childish outbursts of anger; only it was not +Cecil's nature to admit any such thing, and if justification were not +evident, his mind was quite equal to manufacturing it. At the end of +half an hour's gloomy pondering he had worked himself up into a fine +state of ill usage, and into the firm belief that Norah and the boys +had no intention but to insult and humiliate him. + +To some natures there is a certain comfort in nursing a grievance, and +reasoning themselves into a plaintive state of martyrdom. When Cecil +finally rolled angrily out of bed, he was almost cheerful in the +contemplation of his own unhappiness. They were determined to sneer at +him and lessen his pride, were they? Well, they should see. + +Just what they were likely to see, Cecil did not know himself, but the +reflection was soothing. Meanwhile, the birds were maddeningly active, +and an unusual restlessness was upon him. He dressed slowly, putting on +flannels, for the day promised heat, and went downstairs. + +Sarah and Mary were busy in the hall, and lifted astonished eyebrows at +seeing the boy down before the others; as a rule Cecil strolled into +the dining-room barely in time for breakfast, or was late altogether. +He took no notice of them, but wandered out to the back, where Brownie +was found instructing a new kitchen assistant in the gentle art of +cleaning a stove. She, too, showed amazement at the apparition, but +recovered sufficiently to offer him tea and scones, to which Cecil did +justice. + +"Be you all going out early?" Brownie asked. + +"Not that I know of." Cecil's tone did not encourage conversation. + +"Seein' you so unusual early, I thought there was some plan on," said +Brownie. "Master Jim's great on makin' plans, ain't he? (Meriar, elbow +grease is one of the necessariest things in gettin' a shine on a +stove--don't let me catch you merely strokin' it again!) An' Miss +Norah's always ready to back him up--wunnerfull mates them two has alwuz +been, an' Master Jim has ever and alwuz looked after her, from the +d'rekly-minute he could walk!" + +"Ah?" said Cecil. + +"Well may you say so," said Brownie, inspired by her subject. "As +loving-kind a pair as could be, have them two been; and as proud of +each other--! Well, any one who reads may run! An', Master Jim never +mindin' her being on'y a girl; not that that has 'ampered Miss Norah +much, I will say, seein' how she rides an' all. I'm sure it's a picture +to see her on that there Bobs, an' the dumb beast knows every single +word she says to him. They'll fret for each other cruel, Bobs an' her, +when she goes to school." + +Brownie's enthusiasm was ill-timed, as far as Cecil was concerned; +indeed, she could scarcely have hit upon a subject less palatable to +him. Still, it was useless to interfere with the old woman; so he +gulped down his tea hastily, listening with ill-concealed impatience to +her talk of Norah and Bobs, and then escaped abruptly. + +"H'm!" said Brownie, looking after him. "Not a word out of me noble--not +even a thank you! Too much of a fine gentleman for Billabong, like his +ma before him!" + +"Young gent don't seem to cotton to Miss Norah," remarked the astute, +if new, Maria, who had been listening with all her ears. + +"When you're asked for your opinion about your betters, Meriar, it may +be time to shove in your oar; but until then let me advise you to keep +it in your own head," said Brownie severely. "At present your work is +rubbin' that stove, and if it ain't done in remarkable quick time it'll +have to be blackleaded all over again, bein' as how it'll have got too +dry!" Appalled by which awful possibility, Maria fell to work with +wonderful vigour, dismissing all lesser matters from her mind. + +Meanwhile, Cecil strolled across the yard, and thence towards the +stockyards, where a trampling of feet and a light cloud of dust showed +that the men had got in the horses for the day. He selected a clean +place on the top rail carefully, and cast his eye over the little mob +standing in groups about the enclosure--a dozen stock horses; the big +pair of greys that were used in the covered buggy or the express wagon; +the brown ponies that Norah drove; his own mount Betty, and Wally's +mare Nan; and then the aristocrats, Garryowen and, last of all, Bobs. +Norah's pony was standing near an old black horse for which he had a +great affection. They were nearly always to be found together in the +yards or paddocks. Even unbrushed as he was, the sunlight rippled on +his bay coat when he moved, showing the hard masses of muscle in his +arched neck. + +"Beauty, ain't he?" It was Mick Shanahan, on his way to another paddock +to bring in some colts. He pulled up beside Cecil, the youngster he was +riding sidling impatiently. + +"Yes, he's a nice pony," said Cecil, without enthusiasm. + +"Well, I've seen a few, but he beats 'em all," said the horsebreaker. +"A ringer from the time he was a foal--and he's only improved since I +first handled him, four year ago. Worth a pot of money that pony is!" +He laughed. "Not as his particular owner'd sell him, I reckon. Miss +Norah acts more by that chap than by anything else she's got!" + +"I suppose so," Cecil said, seeing that he waited for a reply. + +"Yes, my word! Take 'em all round, they'd be hard to beat as a pair," +said Mick, lighting his pipe in apparent ignorance that his horse was +indulging in caracoles that appeared likely to end in a bucking +demonstration. He threw the match away after carefully extinguishing +it, and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "Quiet, y' image, can't y'? Who's +hurtin' y'? Well, I must be goin'--so long." Cecil nodded casually, and +the impatient pupil went off in a series of bounds that struck the city +boy as alarming, although Mick did not appear to notice that his mount +was not walking demurely. + +Several other men came to the stockyard, selected each a horse, and +saddled it, and disappeared in various directions. The old black horse, +Bob's mate, was taken by Joe Burton, who harnessed him into a dray that +stood near, loaded up a number of fence rails, and drove off over the +paddock, evidently to a job of repairing some boundary. Cecil watched +them crawl across the plain, until they were only a speck on the grass. +Then he turned his sullen eyes on Bobs, who, left alone, had come +nearer to the fence where he sat, and was sleepily flicking with his +tail at an intrusive fly, which insisted on walking round his hip. +Cecil stared at him for some minutes before his idea came to him. + +Then he flushed a little, his hand clenching on the post beside him. At +first the idea was fascinating, but preposterous; he tried to put it +from him, but it came back persistently, and his mind held it with a +kind of half-fearful excitement. They had said he could not ride him--a +child's pony! Would he show them? + +Once he entertained the idea at all he could not let it go. It would be +such an easy way of "coming out on top"--of showing them that in one +thing at least their opinion was worthless. That Jim's words were true, +and that he could not master Bobs, he ridiculed loftily. It was +impossible for him to believe that what a child of fourteen did so +easily he might not be able to do. He had never seen Bobs other than +quiet; and though big and well bred and spirited, he was still only a +pony--a child's pony. Visions floated before him of increased respect +paid him by the men, and even by his uncle, when he should have +demonstrated his ability to manage something better than old Brown +Betty, flicking at the flies in her corner of the yard, with +down-drooped head, and then--he wanted to ride Bobs; and all his life +Cecil Linton had done what he wanted. + +He slipped down from the fence and went across to the stables for a +saddle and bridle, entering the harness room a little nervously, but +relieved on finding no men about. Returning, he caught Bobs--who stood +like the gentleman he was--and brought him outside, where his +unaccustomed fingers bungled a little with the saddle. The one he had +chosen in his haste had a breastplate, but this he could not manage at +all; and at last he managed to get the bewildering array of straps off, +and hang it over the fence. He buckled on a pair of spurs he had found +in the harness room. Then he gathered up the reins and clambered into +the saddle. Possibly, had he let Bobs feel the spur, his ride would +have ended there and then, and there would have been no further +developments in Cecil's excursion; and it is certain that he would have +spurred him cheerfully, had not the pony moved off at once. As it was +he sat back and felt exceedingly independent and pleased with himself. +He turned him down the home paddock. + +"Phwat are y' doin' on that pony?" + +Murty O'Toole had come out of the men's quarters, and was gazing +open-mouthed at the unfamiliar figure on Bobs--"the city feller," for +once not apparelled in exaggerated riding clothes, but in loose +flannels; already the legs of the trousers had worked up from his low +shoes, disclosing a vision of brilliant sock. Cecil took no notice. + +"Hallo, there! Shtop a minnit! Who put y' on Bobs?" + +"Mind your own business," said Cecil, between his teeth, looking round. + +"My business, is it? Sure, 'tis my business, if 'tis anny man's on +Billabong! Did Miss Norah say y' could ride her pony?" + +"What's that to you?" + +"Be gob!" said Murty, "'tis more to me than it is to you, seein' 'tis +meself knows Miss Norah's feelin's an' disposition about Bobs! Did she +give y' leave? Tell me, or I'll pull y' off, if y' was the Boss' nevvy +ten times over!" + +"WILL you?" Cecil spat the words at him bitterly. He shook the reins, +and Bobs, impatient enough already, broke into a canter that carried +him away from the good friend who had intervened on his behalf. They +shot across the paddock. + +Murty, left helpless, said a few strong things as he looked after the +retreating pair. + +"It's a guinea to a gooseberry he's taken Frinch lave wid him," he +said, "bitther tongued little whipper-snapper that he is! Sure if Bobs +gets rid av him it'll serve him sorry, so 'twill. But phwat'll I do +about it, at all?" He scratched his head reflectively. "If I go over +'twill only worry Miss Norah to hear--an' it's most likely he'll have +enough av it pretty soon, an' the pony'll come home--an I do not care if +he comes home widout him! I'll lave it be f'r awhile." He went slowly +over to the stockyards. + +Cecil, cantering over the grass with Bobs' perfect stride beneath him, +was, for the moment, completely satisfied with himself. He had routed +the enemy in the first engagement, and, if he had not left him +speechless, at least he had had the last word. Murty and he had been at +daggers drawn from the very first day, when the grinning Irishman had +pulled him out of the wild raspberry clump in the cutting-out paddock; +and the cheerful friendliness with which Jim and Norah treated the +stockman had always irritated him. He was exceedingly pleased that on +this occasion he had scored at his expense. + +Where should he go? There were three gates leading out of the home +paddock--one to the Cunjee road; another to a similar well-cleared plain +to that on which the house stood; and a third into a smaller paddock, +which in its turn led into part of the rougher and steeper part of the +run. Cecil wanted to get out of sight quickly. In his mind there was a +half-formed idea that Murty might saddle a horse and come out in +pursuit; and a hand-to-hand encounter with the justly indignant +Irishman was just at that moment the last thing that the boy wanted. So +he decided upon the bush paddock, and headed in that direction. + +Now, a horse that is always ridden by one person is apt to develop +ideas of his own--possibly through acquiring habits insensibly from his +usual rider. Also, he becomes accustomed to that one rider, and is +quite likely to be annoyed by a change--not alone in weight and in style +of riding, but in the absence of the sympathy that always exists +between a horse so managed and the one who cares for him and +understands him. The alien hand on his mouth had irritated Bobs from +the first; it was heavy, and jerky, where Norah's touch was as a +feather; and the light, firm seat in the saddle was changed for a +weight that bumped and shifted continuously. Further, it was not very +usual for Norah to ride in this direction--he had headed naturally for +the second gate before his tender mouth was suddenly wrenched aside +towards the third. Bobs arrived at the gate in something considerably +removed from his usual contented state of mind. + +The gate was awkward, and Cecil clumsy at shutting it; he hauled the +pony's mouth roughly in his efforts to bring him into position where he +could send home the catch. The same performance was repeated at the +next gate--the one leading into the bush paddock; and when at length +they turned from it Bobs' mouth was feeling the bit in a manner that +was quite new to him, and as unpleasant as new. He sidled off in a +rough, jerky walk, betraying irritation in every movement, had Cecil +been wise enough to know it. + +Cecil, however, was still perfectly content. He was out of sight of the +house, which was comforting in itself; while as for the idea that he +was not completely master of his mount, he would have been highly +amused at it. It was pleasant to be out, in the morning freshness; and +there was no need to hurry home, since the scones and tea in the +kitchen had made him independent of breakfast. The paddock he was in +looked interesting, too; the plain ended in a line of rough, +scrub-grown hills which it occurred to him would be a good place to +explore. He headed towards them. + +Bobs walked on, inwardly seething; jerking his head impatiently at the +unceasing pressure on his bit, and now and then giving a little half +kick that at length attracted Cecil's attention, making him wonder +vaguely what was wrong. Possibly something in the saddle; it had +occurred to him when cantering that his girth was loose. So he +dismounted and tightened it, bringing it up with a jerk that pinched +the pony suddenly, and made him back away. This time Cecil did not find +it so easy to mount. He was a little nervous as he rode on--and there is +nothing that more quickly communicates itself to a horse than +nervousness in the rider. Bobs began to dance as be went, and Cecil, +hauling at his mouth, broke out into a mild perspiration. He decided +that he was not altogether an easy pony to ride. + +A hare jumped up abruptly in the grass just ahead. Bobs shied and +plunged--and missing the hand that always understood and steadied such +mistaken energy, gave a couple of rough "pig-jumps." It was more than +enough for Cecil; mild as they were, he shot on to the pony's neck, +only regaining the saddle by a great effort. The reins flopped, and the +indignant Bobs plunged forward, while his rider clawed for support, his +feet and hands alike flying. As he dropped back into the saddle, the +spurs went home; and Bobs bolted. + +He had never in his life felt the spur; light and free in every pace, +Norah's boot heel was the utmost correction that ever came to him. This +sudden cruel stab on either side was more than painful--it was a sudden +shock of amazement that was sharper than pain. Coming on top of all his +grievances, it was too much for Bobs. Possibly, a mad race would rid +him of this creature on his back, who was so unlike his mistress. His +heels went up with a little squeal as he bounded forward before +settling into his stride. + +Cecil gave himself up for lost from the first. He tugged frantically at +the rein, realizing soon that the pony was in full command, and that +his soft muscles might as well pull at the side of a house as try to +stop him. He lost one stirrup, and clung desperately to the pommel +while he felt for it, and by great good luck managed to get his foot in +again--a piece of good fortune which his own efforts would never have +secured. The pommel was too comforting to be released; he still clung +to it while he tried to steady himself and to see where he was going. + +The plain ended abruptly just before him, and the rough hills sloped +away to the south. Perhaps, if he put Bobs at the steepest it might +calm him a little, and he might be able to pull him up. So he wrenched +the pony's mouth round, and presently they were racing up the face of +the hill, which apparently made no difference whatever to Bobs. Cecil +had not the slightest idea that his heels were spurring the pony at +every stride. He wondered angrily in his fear why he seemed to become +momentarily more maddened, and sawed at the bleeding mouth in vain. +They were at the top of the hill now. The crest was sharp and +immediately over it a sharp drop went down to a gully at the bottom. It +was steep, rough-going, boulder-strewn and undermined with wombat +holes. Perhaps in his calmer moments Bobs might have hesitated, but +just now he knew nothing but a frantic desire to escape from that cruel +agony in his sides. He flung down the side of the hill blindly, making +great bounds over the sparse bracken fern that hid the ground. Cecil +was nearly on his shoulder now--a moment more would set him free. + +Then he put his foot on a loose boulder that gave with him and went +down the slope in a flurry of shifting stones. He made a gallant effort +to recover himself, stumbling to his knees as Cecil left the saddle and +landed in the ferns--but just as he struck out for firmer footing his +forefoot sank into a wombat hole, and he turned a complete somersault, +rolling over and over. He brought up against a big boulder, struggled +to rise and then lay still. + + * * * * * + +Presently Cecil came limping to him, white and angry. + +"Get up, you brute!" he said, kicking him. When there was no response, +he took the bridle, jerking it. Bobs' head gave a little at every jerk, +but that was all. + +Between rage and fear, Cecil lost his head. He kicked the pony +savagely; and finding that useless, sought a stick and thrashed him as +he lay. Once Bobs struggled, but only his head and shoulders came up, +and presently they fell back again. Cecil gave it up at last, and left +him alone, limping down to the gully and out of sight. He sat down on a +log for a long while, until the sun grew hot. Then he pulled his hat +over his eyes and set off towards home. + +Bobs did not know he had gone. He lay quite still. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + + +ON THE HILLSIDE + + + Never again, when the soft winds blow, + We shall ride by the river. + G. ESSEX EVANS. + + +Wally came into breakfast with a rush and a scramble, bearing traces of +a hasty toilet. At the table Norah and Jim were eating solemnly, with +expressions of deep disapproval. They did not raise their eyes as Wally +entered. + +"Awfully sorry!" said he. "You've no idea of the difficulties I've had +to overcome, Norah, and all along of him!" indicating Jim with a jerk +of his head. "Oh, Norah, do be sympathetic, and forget that he's your +brother. I assure you I'd be a far better brother to you than ever he +could, and you can have me cheap! Look up at me, Norah, and smile--one +perfect grin is all I ask! He took my towel and dressed Tait in it, and +for all he cared I would be swimming in that beastly lagoon yet, and +dying of cramp, and nervous prostration, and housemaid's knee. And she +goes on gnawing a chop!" + +He sat down, and buried his face in his hands tragically, and began to +sob, whereat Norah and Jim laughed, and the victim of circumstances +recovered with promptitude. + +"Cream, please," he said, attacking his porridge. "Oh, he's a beast, +Norah. I'm blessed if I know why you keep him in the family--it can't be +for either his manners or his looks! I have a hectic cough coming on +rapidly. My uncle by marriage three times removed died of consumption, +and it's a thing I've always been nervous about. When I occupy the +family urn with my ashes you'll be sorry!" + +"I should be more than sorry if it were this urn," Jim put in, +grinning. "It might be an honour, of course; but we've other homely +uses for the urn. How long did you swim, Wal.?" + +"Never you mind," returned Wally wrathfully. "I don't see why I should +satisfy any part of your fiendish curiosity--only when Brownie finds +Tait wearing one of the best bath towels as a toga, and makes remarks +about it, I shall certainly refer her to you!" + +"I never saw a dog look so miserable as he did," Norah said, laughing. +"He came straight up to me, with a truly hang-dog air, and folds of +towel ever so far behind him in the grass, and didn't get back his +self-respect until I took it off. Poor old Tait! You really ought to be +ashamed of yourself, Jimmy." + +"I am," said Jim cheerfully. "Toast, please." + +"When I saw Tait last he was disappearing into the landscape with all +his blushing honours thick upon him!" Wally said. "I don't see why you +waste all your sympathy on the brute, and give me none. It's the +greatest wonder I'm here at all!" + +"Where's Cecil, anyhow?" asked Jim, suddenly. + +"Haven't an idea--how should I? He wasn't in the lagoon, which is the +only place I could give an expert opinion on this morning." + +"Oh, he's late as usual," Norah said. "I suppose he's still cross about +last night. Really, Jim, I'm sorry we've managed to rub him up the +wrong way." + +"Why, the difficulty would be to find the right way," Jim retorted. +"He's such a cross-grained beggar--you never know when you're going to +offend him; and of course he's perfectly idiotic about the horses. +Wonder if he thinks we LIKE horses with sore backs and mouths! He'll +have to give poor old Betty a spell, anyhow, for she's a patch on her +back the size of half a crown, thanks to him." + +"Oh, dear!" said Norah, with a little shiver. "That's awfully bad +news--'cause I'd about made up my mind to offer him Bobs!" + +"Offer--him--Bobs!" said Jim slowly. Wally gasped. + +"Just for a ride, Jimmy. He's a guest, you know, and I don't like him +to feel ill-used. And you let him on Garryowen." + +"Only for a moment--and then with my heart in my boots!" said Jim. +"Norah, I think you're utterly mad if you lend him Bobs--after last +night, too! Why, you know jolly well I'VE never asked you for your +pony!" + +"Well, you could have had him," Norah answered, "you know that, Jimmy. +I don't want to lend him to Cecil--I simply hate it; but I don't like +the idea of his thinking we treated him at all badly." + +"He's the sort of chap that would find a grievance if you gave +everything you had in the world," Jim said. "It's all rot--and I tell +you straight, Nor., I don't think it's safe, either. Bobs is all right +with you, of course, but he's a fiery little beggar, and there's no +knowing what he'd do with a sack of flour like that on his back. I wish +you wouldn't." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"Me? Oh, I'm with Jim," Wally answered. "Personally, I think a +velocipede is about Cecil's form, and it's absolute insult to a pony +like Bobs to ask him to carry him! And you'd hate it so, Nor.'!" + +"Oh, I know I would," Norah said. "He's such a dear--" + +"What! Cecil?" + +"No, you donkey--Bobs," Norah continued, laughing. "I'd feel like +begging his pardon all the time. But--" + +"Murty wants to see you, Master Jim," said Mary, entering. "Says he'd +be glad if you could spare him a minute." + +"All right, Mary--thank you," said Jim, getting up lazily and strolling +out. "Back in a minute, you two." + +"What happens to-day, Norah? Marmalade, please," said Wally, in a +breath. + +"The marmalade happens on the spot," laughed Norah, handing it to him. +"Otherwise--oh, I don't know, unless we ride out somewhere and fish. We +haven't been out to Angler's Bend this time, have we?" + +"No, but that's fifteen miles. You'd never let Cecil ride Bobs that +distance?" + +"Oh, I couldn't!" said Norah, hastily. "I don't think I possibly could +ride anything except Bobs out there. Cecil might have him another day, +if Jim doesn't think me quite mad. Perhaps I won't be sorry if he does, +'cause I'd hate to go against Jim! And Bobs is--" + +"Bobs," said Wally gravely; and Norah smiled at him. "Hallo, +Jamesy--what passion hangs these weights upon thy brow?" + +Jim had entered quickly. + +"It's that beauty Cecil," he said, angrily. "My word, Norah, I'll let +that young man know what I think about him! He's taken Bobs!" + +"What!" + +"Gone out on Bobs before breakfast. Must have got him in the yard, and +saddled him himself. Murty saw him just as he was riding off, and tried +to stop him. Here's Murty--he'll tell you." + +"Sure, I towld him to stop, Miss Norah," said the stock-man. "Axed him, +I did, if he'd y'r lave, and he gev me back-answers as free as y' +please. I was perfickly calm, an never losht me timper, an' towld him +I'd pull him off av the little harse if he'd not the lave to take him; +an' he put the comether on me by cantherin' off. So I waited, thinkin' +not to worry y', an' that he'd be comin' back; or more be token Bobs +widout him, an' small loss. But he's elsewhere yit, so I kem in f'r +Masther Jim." + +"Well, I'm blessed!" said Norah, weakly. + +"The mean little toad!" Wally's voice was full of scorn. "I'd like five +quiet minutes with him with coats off when he comes back!" + +"I guess he'll get that--or its equivalent," said Jim, grimly. "Which +way did he go, Murty?" + +"To the bush paddock, Masther Jim. He's that stupid, tin to one he's +bushed in one av thim gullies." + +"Or else Bobs has slung him; but in that case Bobs would be back at the +gate," Jim said. "Perhaps he is." + +"No, he ain't, Masther Jim, I wint over a bit an' had a look. There's +no sign av either av thim." + +"Well, I suppose we'd better go after them," Jim said. "What'll you +ride, Nor? Would you care for Garryowen?" + +Norah smiled at him. + +"No, thanks, old man. I'll have Cirdar," she said. "Can you get him, +Murty?" + +"In two twos, Miss Norah," said the stockman, departing hastily. + +"You're not worried, Norah, old girl?" Jim said. + +"Why, not exactly; he can't hurt Bobs, of course, beyond a sore back," +Norah answered. "I'm more cross than worried--it is such cheek, Jim, +isn't it? All the same, I hope Cecil's all right." + +"Him!" said Jim, with fine scorn. "That sort never comes to any harm. +Well, hurry up, and get your habit on, old chap." + +There was no need to tell Norah to hurry. She flew upstairs, Brownie +plodding after; the news had flown round the house in a few moments, +and there was a storm of indignation against the absent Cecil. + +"If I'd knowed!" said Brownie, darkly, bringing Norah's linen coat out +from the wardrobe, and seeking with vigour for a felt hat that already +was on her head. "Me, givin' him tea and scones, an' talkin' about the +pony, too, no less; little I guessed at the depths of him. Never mind, +my dearie, Master Jim'll deal with him!" + +"Oh, it'll be all right, if Bobs hasn't hurt him. Only there'll be an +awful row when Jim gets him. I never saw Jim so angry," Norah said. + +"A good thing, too!" said the warlike Mrs. Brown. "There you are, +dearie, an' there's your 'unting-crop. Off you go!" and Norah ran +downstairs, finding Jim and Wally waiting, boots and leggings on. They +set off, Murty muttering dark threats against Cecil as he shut the gate +of the stable yard after them. + +Wally had recovered his cheerfulness, never long absent from him, and +was, besides, not unpleasantly excited at the thought of war ahead. He +chattered gaily as they rode through the first two paddocks. But Jim +remained quiet. As Norah said, she had never seen him so angry. Anxiety +in his mind warred with hot anger against the insult to Norah and to +them all. He swept the bush paddock with his eye as they came up to it, +seeing nothing but the scattered bullocks here and there. + +"Wonder which way he'd go," he said. "Suppose you and Wally cut over to +the right, Norah, and see if you can find any trace. I'll go over this +way. We'll coo-ee to each other if we come across him." They separated, +and Jim put Garryowen at a canter across the plain. Here and there he +could see a track--and something made him wish to go on alone. + +He was nearly at the foot of the hills when a figure came out from +their shadow. Jim gave a sudden little sound in his throat as he saw +that it was Cecil--and alone. He was limping a little, and had evidently +been down. Relief that he was safe was the first thought; then, anxiety +being done with, there was no room for anything but anger. Jim rode +towards him. At the sight of his approach Cecil started a little, and +cast a glance round as if looking for a hiding place; then he came on +doggedly, his head down. + +"I've been looking for you," Jim said, controlling his voice with +difficulty. "Where's Bobs?" + +"Over there." Cecil jerked his hand backwards. + +"Where?" + +"Back there." + +"What do you mean? did he get away from you?" + +"He bolted," Cecil said. + +"And threw you?" + +Cecil nodded. "Yes--can't you see I'm limping?" + +"Well, did he clear out again?" + +"No--he's over there." + +Jim's face went grim. "Do you mean--you don't mean the pony's HURT?" + +"He won't get up," said Cecil, sullenly. "I've tried my best." + +For a moment they faced each other, and then Cecil quailed under the +younger boy's look. His eyes fell. + +Jim jumped off. "Go on." + +"Where?" + +"Back to Bobs, of course. Hurry up!" + +"I can't go back there," Cecil said, angrily. "I'm limping, and--" + +"Do you think your limp matters an atom just now?" Jim said, through +his teeth. "Hurry up." + +He followed Cecil, not trusting himself to speak. A dull despair lay on +his heart, and above everything a great wave of pity for the little +sister across the paddock. If he could spare Norah--! + +Then they were in the gully, and he saw Bobs above him, and knew in +that instant that he could spare her nothing. The bay pony lay where he +had fallen, his head flung outwards; helplessness in every line of the +frame that had been a model of strength and beauty an hour ago. As Jim +looked Bobs beat his head three times against the ground, and then lay +still. The boy flung round, sick with horror. + +"Why, you vile little wretch--you've killed him!" + +He had Cecil in a grip of iron, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat--not +knowing what he did in the sick fury that possessed him. Then suddenly +he stopped and hurled him from him into the bracken. He ran down the +gully. + +"Go back, Norah dear--don't come." + +Norah and Wally had come cantering quickly round the shoulder of the +hill. She was laughing at something Wally had said as they rode into +the gully, and the laugh was still on her lips as she looked at Jim. +Then she saw his face, and it died away. + +"What is it, Jim?" + +"Don't come, kiddie," the boy said, wretchedly. "Wally, you take her +home." + +"Why?" said Norah. "We saw Cecil--where's Bobs?" Her eyes were wandering +round the gully. They passed Cecil, lying on his face in the bracken, +and travelled further up the hill. Then she turned suddenly white, and +flung herself off Sirdar. + +Jim caught her as she came blindly past him. + +"Kiddie--it's no good--you mustn't!" + +"I must," she said, and broke from him, running up the hillside. Jim +followed her with a long stride, his arm round her as she stumbled +through the ferns and boulders. When they came to Bobs he held her back +for a moment. + +The pony was nearly done. As they looked his head beat the ground again +unavailingly, and at the piteous sight a dry sob broke from Norah, and +she went on her knees by him. + +"Norah--dear little chap--you mustn't." Jim's voice was choking. "He +doesn't know what he's doing, poor old boy--it isn't safe." + +"He wants me," she said. "Bobs--dear Bobs!" + +At the voice he knew the pony quivered and struggled to rise. It was no +use--he fell back, though the beautiful head lifted itself, and the +brown eyes tried to find her. She sat down and took his head on her +knee, stroking his neck and speaking to him... broken, pitiful words. +Presently she put her cheek down to him, and crouched there above him. +Something of his agony died out of Bobs' eyes. He did not struggle any +more. After a little he gave a long shiver, straightening out; and so +died, gently. + + * * * * * + +"Come on home, old kiddie." + +It seemed a long time after, Norah could not think of a time when she +had done anything but sit with that quiet head on her knee. She +shuddered all over. + +"I can't leave him." + +"You must come, dear." Jim's hands were lifting Bobs' head as tenderly +as she herself could have done it. He picked her up and held her as +though she had been a baby, and she clung to him, shaking. + +"If I could help you!" he said, and there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, +Nor.--you know, don't you?" + +He felt her hand tighten on his arm. Then he carried her down the hill, +where Garryowen stood waiting. + +"The others have gone," he said. "I sent them home--Wally and--that +brute! I've told him to go--I'll kill him if I see him again!" He lifted +her into his saddle, and keeping his arms round her, walked beside the +bay horse down the gully and out upon the plain. + +"Jim," she whispered--somewhere her voice had gone away--"you can't go +home like that. Let me walk." His arm tightened. + +"I'm all right," he said--"poor little mate!" + +They did not speak again until they were nearly home--where, ahead, +Brownie waited, her kind eyes red; while every man about the homestead +was near the gate, a stern-faced, angry group that talked in savage +undertones. Murty came forward as Jim lifted Norah down. + +"Miss Norah," he said. "Miss Norah, dear--sure I'd sooner--" + +The tall fellow's voice broke as he looked at the white, childish face. + +"Thanks, Murty," Norah said steadily. + +"And--all of you." She turned from the pitying faces, and ran indoors. + +"Oh, Brownie, don't let any one see me!" + +Then came a dazed time, when she did not know anything clearly. Once, +lying on her bed, with her face pressed into the pillow, trying not to +see a lean head that beat on the ground, she heard a dull sound that +rose to an angry shout from the men; and immediately the buggy drove +away quickly, as Wally took Cecil away from Billabong. She only +shivered, pressing her face harder. Jim was always near at first; the +touch of his hand made her calm when dreadful, shuddering fits came +over her. All through the night he sat by her bed, watching +ceaselessly. + +Then there was a longer time when she was alone, and there seemed much +going to and fro. But no sounds touched her nearly. She could only +think of Bobs, lying in the bracken, and calling silently to her with +his pain-filled eyes. + +Then, late on, the second evening, Jim came back with a troubled face +and sat on the bed. + +"Norah," he said, "I want you." + +"Yes, Jim?" + +"I want you to be brave, old chap," he said slowly. Something in his +tone made her start and scan his tired face. + +"What is it?" she asked. + +"It may be all right," Jim said, "but--but I thought I'd better tell +you, Norah, they--we can't find Dad!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + + +BROTHER AND SISTER + + + We were mates together, + And I shall not forget. + W. H. OGILVIE. + + +Jim had not wanted to tell Norah. It had been Brownie who had +counselled differently. + +"I think she's got enough to bear," the boy had said, sitting on the +edge of the kitchen table, and flicking his boots mechanically with his +whip. He had been riding hard almost all day, but anxiety, not fatigue, +had put the lines into his face. "What's the good of giving her any +more?" + +"I do believe it'd be best for her, the poor lamb!" Brownie had said. +"She's there all day, not speaking--it'll wear her out. An' you know, +Master Jim, dear, she'd never forgive us for keepin' anything back from +her about the master." + +"No--but we've nothing definite. And it may make her really ill, coming +on top of the other." + +"I don't think Miss Norah's the sort to let herself get ill when there +was need of her. It may take her poor mind off the other--she can't help +that now, an' he was only a pony--" + +"Only a pony! By George, Brownie--!" + +"Any horse is only a pony when compared to your Pa," said Brownie, +unconscious of anything peculiar in her remark. "I don't know that real +anxiety mayn't help her, Master Jim. And any'ow, it don't seem to me +we've the right to keep it from her, them bein', as it were, that +partickler much to each other. Take my tip, an' you tell her." + +"What do you think, Wally?" + +"I'm with Brownie," said Wally, unexpectedly. "It's awful to see Norah +lying there all day, never saying a word, and this'll rouse her up when +nothing else would." So Jim had yielded to the weight of advice, and +had gone slowly up to tell Norah they could not find David Linton. + +"Can't find him?" she echoed. "but isn't he at Killybeg?" + +"He left there yesterday morning," Jim answered. "A telegram came from +him last night, and it was important--something about cattle--so I sent +Burton into Cunjee with it--Killybeg's on the telephone now, you know, +and Burton could ring him up from the post office. But the Darrells +were astonished, and said he'd left there quite early, and meant to +come straight home." + +"Well?" Norah was white enough now. + +"Well, I got worried, and so did Murty; because you know there isn't +any stopping place between here and Killybeg when you come across the +ranges. And Monarch's pretty uncertain--in rough country, especially. So +I got Murty and Wally to go out at daylight this morning, taking the +straight line to the Darrells, and they picked up his tracks pointing +homewards about five miles from the Billabong boundary. Murty made +Monarch's shoes himself, and he could swear to them anywhere. They +followed them awhile, and they came to a place where the ground was +beaten down a lot, as if he'd had trouble with Monarch; I expect +something scared him, and he played the fool. But after that the tracks +led on to some stony rises, and they lost them; the ground was too +hard. They could only tell he'd gone right off the line to Billabong." + +"Jim! Do you think--? Oh, he couldn't be hurt! Monarch would never get +rid of him." + +"He'd stick to Monarch as long as the girth held and Monarch stood up," +Jim said. "but it's rough country, and a young horse isn't handy on +those sidings. Of course it may be all right; but if so, why wasn't he +home twenty-four hours ago?" + +"Have you done anything?" + +"Been out all day," Jim said. "Murty sent Wal. straight home while he +went on looking, and we went back with three of the men. But you know +what that country is, all hills and gullies, and the scrub's so thick +you can scarcely get through it in places. We found one or two hoof +marks, but that was all. If he's not home to-night we're going out at +daybreak with every hand on the place." + +"I'm coming." + +"I knew you'd want to," Jim said, anxiety in his tone. "But I don't +think you're fit to, old girl." + +"Jimmy, I'd go mad if I stayed behind." + +"Oh, I know that, too. But you'll have to stay near me, Norah. and if +you're coming you've got to eat now; Brownie says you've touched +nothing all day." + +Norah shivered a little. "I'm not hungry." + +"No, but you've sense, old chap. You'd be the first to say one of us +couldn't go out without proper food. Try, won't you?" + +"I'll try," Norah said, obediently. + +"Brownie's got dinner for Wally and me in the breakfast-room," Jim +said. "Wouldn't you come down, old girl? It's only old Wal., you know, +and--and he's so awfully sorry for you, Nor. He's been such a brick. I +think it would cheer him up a bit if you came down." + +"All right," Norah said, hesitating a moment. "But I'm bad company, +Jim." + +"We're none of us lively," said the boy. "But we've got to help each +other." And Norah looked at him gently, and came. + +Dinner was quiet, for the shadow hung upon them all. Wally tried to +talk cheerfully, checked by a lump that would rise in his throat +whenever he looked at Norah, who was "playing the game" manfully, +trying hard to eat and to be, as she would have said, "ordinary." They +talked of the plans for the next day, when a systematic search was to +be made through the scrub near where the tracks had been found. + +"Each of us is to take a revolver," Jim said; "there are five +altogether, and the men who haven't got them will have to use their +stockwhips as signals if they find anything. Three shots to be fired in +the air if help is wanted. And Brownie has flasks ready for every one, +and little packets of food with some chocolate; if he's come to grief +it'll be nearly forty-eight hours since he had anything to eat. Two of +the men are to take the express wagon out as far as it can go, with +everything to make him comfortable, if--if he's hurt. Then they can ride +the horses on to help us search." Jim forced a sorry smile. "Won't he +grin at us if he turns up all right? We'll never hear the end of it!" +Then he got up abruptly and walked to the window, looking out across +the moonlit flats; and they were all silent. + +"I keep thinking all the time I hear him coming," Jim said, turning +back into the room. "If you keep still, you can almost swear you can +hear old Monarch's hoofs coming up the track--and half a dozen times +I've been certain I caught the crack of his stockwhip. Of course, +it's--it's all imagination. My word! it's hard to loaf about here and go +to bed comfortably when you want to be hunting out there." + +"You couldn't do any good, though?" asked Wally. + +"No--it would be madness to go straying round those gullies in the +moonlight; it's not even full moon, and there the timber's so thick +that very little light can get through. There's nothing for it but to +wait until daylight." + +"It's hard waiting," Norah said. + +"Yes, it is. But you ought to go to bed, old woman; you had precious +little sleep last night, and the big bell is to ring at daylight." + +"Then won't you boys go, too?" + +"Yes, I guess we'd better," Jim said. "I'll come in and say good-night +to you, Norah." A look passed between them; the boy knew his father +never failed to pay a good-night visit to Norah's room. She smiled at +him gratefully. + +It was very lonely and quiet up there, undressing, with her heart like +lead within her. She hurried over her preparations, so that she might +not keep Jim waiting when he came; she knew he needed sleep--"a big boy +outgrowing his strength like that," thought Norah, with the quaint +little touch of motherliness that she always felt towards Jim. Once she +caught sight of something on the end of the couch; the white rug that +had been Jim's Christmas present, with the scarlet B standing out +sharply in the corner--the rug Bobs would never use. Shivering a little, +she put it away in her wardrobe. Just now she could only think of that +most dear one--perhaps lying out there in the cold shadows of the bush +night. She crept into bed. + +Jim came in in his shirt sleeves. + +"Comfy, little chap?" + +"Yes, thanks, old man. Jim--shall I ride Sirdar tomorrow?" + +"You needn't have asked," the boy said--"he's yours. And, Norah--I know +Dad wouldn't mind. I'd like you to have Garryowen. He's a bit big, but +he'll suit you quite well. I know he won't make up, but you'd get fond +of him in time, dear." + +"Jim!" she said--knowing all that the carelessly spoken words +meant--"Jimmy, boy." And then Jim was frightened, for Norah, who had not +cried at all, broke into a passion of crying. He held her tightly, +stroking her, not knowing what to say; murmuring broken, awkward words +of affection, while she sobbed against him. After a while she grew +quiet, and was desperately ashamed. + +"I didn't mean to make an ass of myself," she said, contritely. "I'm +awfully sorry, and you were such a brick to me, Jimmy. I won't ever +forget it; only I couldn't take your horse. I love you for it. But +Sirdar will do for me quite well." And no arguments could shake her +from that decision. + +Jim put the light out after some time. Then he came back and sat down +on the bed. + +"I wanted to tell you, dear little chap," he said, gently. "I sent Mick +out with Boone to-day, and--and they buried him under that big tree +where he fell, and heaped up stones so that nothing could get at him." +He stopped, his voice uncertain as Norah's hand tightened in his. + +"Mick said there couldn't have been any hope for him, kiddie," he went +on, presently. "His back was broken; no one could have done anything." +He would not tell her of other things Mick had seen--the spur wounds +from hip to shoulder and the marks of the stick that Cecil had thrown +down beside the pony he had ridden to his death. "They carved his name +on the tree in great big letters. Some time--whenever you feel you +can--I'll take you out there. At least"--his hand gripped hers almost +painfully--"Dad and I will take you." + +Norah put her face against him, not speaking. They stayed so, her +breath coming and going unevenly, while Jim stroked her shoulder. +Presently he slipped to his knees by the bed, one arm across her, not +moving until her head nestled closer, and he knew she was asleep. Then +the big, tired fellow put his own head down and went to sleep as he +knelt, waking, stiff and sore, in the grey half light that just +precedes the dawn. He crept away noiselessly, going out on the balcony +for a breath of the chill air. + +Below him, against the stockyard fence, a black shadow stood and +whinnied faintly. Jim's heart came into his throat, and he swung +himself over the edge of the balcony, using his old "fire escape" to +slide to the gravel below. He ran wildly across to the yard. + +A moment later the big bell of the station clanged out furiously. + +Norah, fastening her habit with swift fingers, ran to open the door in +answer to Jim's voice. + +"Hurry all you know, little chap," he said. "I'm off in a few +minutes--breakfast's ready. Wally's going into Cunjee with a telegram to +Melbourne for the black trackers, as hard as he can ride." + +"Jim--there's something you know!" + +He hesitated. + +"I'd better tell you," he said. "Monarch's come home alone, Norah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + + +THE LONG QUEST + + + The creek went down with a broken song, + 'Neath the she oaks high; + The waters carried the song along, + And the oaks a sigh. + HENRY LAWSON. + + +The big black thoroughbred still stood by the rails as they rode away. +He had got rid of the saddle, and the broken bridle trailed from his +head. No one had time to see to him. + +Billabong was humming with activity. Men were running down to the +yards, bridle in hand; others leading their horses up to be saddled; +while those who were ready had raced over to the quarters for a +snatched breakfast. Sirdar and the boys' horses had been stabled all +night, so that they were quickly saddled. Jim was riding Nan; Wally, on +Garryowen, was already a speck in the distance. + +"You'll be quicker if you take him," Jim had said. Then he and Norah +had cantered away together. + +"Monarch wasn't hurt, Jim?" + +"He'd been down, I think," Jim said; "His knees look like it. But he's +all right--why, he must have jumped three fences?" + +After that for a long time they did not speak. Grim fear was knocking +at both their hearts, for with the return of the black horse without +his rider, their worst dread was practically confirmed. It was fairly +certain that Mr. Linton was helpless, somewhere in the bush, and that +meant that he had been so for nearly two days, since it was almost that +time since he had ridden away from Killybeg. + +Two days! They had been days of steady, relentless heat, untempered by +any breeze--when the cattle had sought the shade of the gum trees, and +the dogs about the homestead had crept close in under the tree +lucernes, with open mouths and tongues lolling. The men working on the +run had left their tasks often to go down to the creek or the river for +a drink; in the house, closely shuttered windows and lowered blinds on +the verandahs had only served to make the heat bearable. And he had +been out in it, somewhere, helpless, and perhaps in pain; with nothing +to ease for him the hot hours or to save him from the chill of a +Victorian night, which, even in midsummer, may be sharply cold before +the dawn. The thought gnawed at his children's hearts. + +They passed through the billabong boundary and out into the rough +country beyond, sharply undulating until it rose into the ranges David +Linton had crossed on his way to and from Killybeg. They had been +fairly certain that he had come through them safely on his way home, +and the thought had been a comfort--for to seek a man in those hills was +a hopeless task. But suddenly a sick fear came over Norah. + +"Jim," she said, "we don't know where Monarch got rid of Dad, of +course?" + +"No; but I expect it was near where they picked up his tracks." + +"You don't think it might have been in the ranges?" + +Jim looked suddenly aghast; but his face cleared. + +"No," he said, decidedly; "I don't. That place where Monarch had been +playing up shows Dad must have been on him--a horse alone doesn't go to +market as he seems to have done there. I guess you can put that notion +out of your head, mate." He smiled at Norah, who answered him with a +grateful look. + +Five miles from the boundary they came upon the tracks--to see them gave +Norah a queer sense of comfort, since in a way they brought her in +touch with Dad. Then they separated, beating into the scrub that hemmed +them round everywhere, except when low, stony hills rose naked out of +the green undergrowth. + +"We must shout to each other every few minutes to make sure we're not +getting too far apart," Jim said. "Of course, it's not so risky when +you're riding--if you gave old Sirdar his head anywhere I know he'd take +you home. Still, you don't gain anything by going far apart. A +systematic search is what's necessary in a place like this, where you +might ride half a dozen yards from him and not see him. Keep Tait with +you, Norah." + +"All right," Norah nodded. "What about coo-eeing, Jim? He might hear a +shout and answer it, even if he couldn't see us." + +"Yes, but you can't keep coo-eeing all the time," said Jim, +practically. "I'll tell you what--sing or whistle. You can do that +easily, and it doesn't tire you. And of course, if you find him, fire +the revolver--you're sure you've got it carefully?" + +"Yes, it's all right," Norah replied, showing the revolver in its neat +leather case. Jim and her father had taught her its use long ago, and +she understood it quite well. Mr. Linton held the view that all women +in the bush should know how to handle fire arms, since the bush is a +place where no one ever knows exactly what may turn up, from burglars +to tiger snakes. "Fire three times in the air, isn't it, Jim?" + +"Yes, that's right. Go on then, kiddie, and do take care!" Jim's voice +was strained with anxiety and wretchedness. While Norah was full of +hope, and, indeed, could scarcely realize that they might not find Dad +soon, the boy had the memory of the fruitless search all the previous +day to dispirit him. As he looked at the forbidding wall of green +scrub, his feeling was almost one of despair. + +It did not take long for Norah to realize the difficulty of their task. +She beat up and down among the trees, striving to keep an eye in every +direction, since any one of the big stumps, any clump of brushwood, any +old log or little knoll or grassy hollow might hide the one she +sought--unable, perhaps, to see her or call to her even should she pass +in his sight. She remembered Jim's advice, and began to sing; but the +words died in her throat, and ended in something more like a sob. +Whistling was more possible, and mechanically she took up a tune that +Wally used to sing, and whistled it up and down the scrub as she went. +Soon she did not know that she was doing so; but years after she used +to shudder within herself if she heard that foolish little tune. + +The men came out a little later, and soon the scrub was alive with +voices and the noise of the searching. It was weary work, with many a +flutter at the heart when a sudden call would bring Norah to attention, +rigid and listening--forgetting for the moment that only the three +signals agreed upon were to give evidence of success. Hour after hour +went by. + +They had settled a certain signal to meet for lunch, and when it +finally summoned them the searchers struggled out of the bush one by +one. Jim's heart smote him as he saw Norah's white face, and he begged +her to cease; to stay resting during the hot afternoon, even if she +would not go home. Norah shook her head dully. She could not do it; and +Jim, knowing how he would have felt were he in her place, did not press +her, although he was miserably anxious. They sat down together on an +old log, finding a shred of comfort in each other's nearness. + +It was a silent party that gathered round when black Billy had the big +quart pots of tea ready. No one seemed to have anything to say. Norah +thought, with a catch at her heart, of the last time they had picnicked +in the scrub; the happy talk and laughter, the dear foolish jokes and +merriment. This was indeed a strange picnic--each man eating rapidly and +in silence, and everywhere stern preoccupied faces. There was no +waiting afterwards for the usual "smoke oh"; the men sprang up as soon +as the hurried meal was over, and lit their pipes as they strode away. +Soon the temporary camp was deserted--black Billy, the last to leave, +muttering miserably to himself, hurrying back into the bush. The search +went on. + +There was no riding in the afternoon; they were in country where the +tangle of dogwood and undergrowth was so thick that to take a horse +through it meant only lost time, and hindered the thoroughness of the +quest. Norah fought her way through, keeping her line just as the men +kept theirs; her white coat stained and torn now, her riding skirt +showing a hundred rents, her boots cut through in many places. She did +not know it; there was only room in her heart for one thought. When, +while waiting for lunch, she had heard Dave Boone say something in an +angry undertone about Bobs, she had wondered dully for a moment what he +meant. She had forgotten even Bobs. + +The hours went by, and the sun drooped towards evening. In the dark +heart of the scrub the gloom came early, making each shadow a place of +mystery that gave false hope to the searchers a hundred times. +Gradually it was too dark to look any more; for that day also they must +give it up--the third since Monarch had broken free from his master and +left him lying somewhere in the green fastness about them. There +scarcely seemed a yard of it left unsearched. Despair was written on +most of the faces as the men came one by one to their horses and rode +home, picking up on their way those who were still beating the bush as +far as the Billabong boundary. + +Jim and Norah were the last to leave. They came back to the horses +together, Tait at their heels, his head and tail down. Norah was +stumbling blindly as she walked, and Jim's arm was round her. He put +her up, and turned silently to unfasten his own bridle. + +"Jim," she said, and stopped. "Jim, do you think we'll find him in--in +time?" + +Jim hesitated, trying to bring himself to say what he dared no longer +think. Then he gave way suddenly. + +"No," he said, hoarsely, "I don't; I don't believe we ever will!" He +put his head down on the saddle and sobbed terribly--dry, hard sobs that +came from the bottom of his big heart. And Norah had no word of +comfort. She sat still on Sirdar, staring in front of her. + +Presently Jim stood up and climbed into the saddle, and the impatient +horses moved off quickly towards home, Tait jogging at their heels. +Once Jim turned towards his sister, saying, "Are you quite knocked up, +old girl?" Norah only shook her head--she did not know that she was +tired. Neither spoke again. + +It was perhaps a mile further on that Norah pulled up sharply, and +whistled to Tait. The collie had slipped off into the undergrowth--she +could hear him moving on dry sticks that crackled beneath him. He +whined a little, but did not come. + +"Don't wait," Jim said. "He'll catch us up in a minute." + +"He always comes if I whistle," Norah answered, her brow puckering. "I +don't understand. Wait a moment, Jim." She had slid off her pony and +followed Tait almost before Jim realized that she was gone. + +The dog was nosing along a big log, the ruff on his neck bristling. As +Norah saw him he leaped upon it, and down on the other side. Then she +heard him bark sharply, and flung herself over the log after him. He +was licking something that lay in the shadows, almost invisible at +first, until the dim light showed a white glimmer. It was instinct more +than sight that told Norah it was her father's face. + +"Daddy--oh, Dad!" + +The wild cry turned Jim to stone for a moment--then he was off his horse +and through the scrub like a madman to where Norah knelt beside the +still form, sobbing and talking incoherently, and screwing blindly at +the cap of the flask she carried. They forced a little of the stimulant +between the set teeth, once a terrified examination had told them that +he still breathed; then Jim struck match after match, trying to see the +extent of his injuries--a hopeless task by the flickering light that +lasted only an instant. He put the box in his pocket at last. + +"It's no good," he said, "we can't see. Wonder if the men are out of +hearing." Running to the horses, standing patiently with trailing +bridles, he fired off all his revolver shots in quick succession, and +coo-ed again and again. Then he went back to where Norah sat in the +darkness and held her father's hand. + +"Don't wait," she said. "I'm sure they're out of hearing, Jim, darling. +And we couldn't dare to move him by ourselves. Tear in and bring the +men--and send for the doctor." + +"I don't like to leave you here alone," he said, anxiously. + +"Alone!" Norah said, in amazement. "But I've got Dad!" + +"Yes," he said, "but--" + +"Oh, do fly, Jimmy!" she said. "Leave me the matches. I'm all right." + +She heard him crash back to the horses, and then the swift thud of +Nan's hoofs grew fainter and fainter as he spurred her madly over the +rough ground, galloping off for help. The darkness seemed all at once +to be more complete, and the scrub to come closer, like a curtain round +them--round her and Dad, who was found again. She put her ear close to +his mouth--the breathing was a little more distinct, and so far as she +could tell his head was uninjured. One leg was doubled up beneath him +in an ugly manner. Norah knew she must not try to move it; but even in +the darkness she was sure that it was badly hurt, and the tears were +falling on David Linton's face as Norah crept back after her +examination. It was horrible to see Dad, of all people, helpless and +still. + +Perhaps it was the tears that woke him from his stupor. He stirred a +little, and groaned. At the sound, Norah, on her knees beside him, +trembled very exceedingly, with a mixture of joy and fear that almost +took her breath. She spoke softly. + +"Dad!" + +"Is it--you?" said David Linton, weakly. The darkness hid his face, but +to hear his voice again was wonderful; and Norah's hands shook as she +wrestled with the flask. + +"Yes, it's me," she said. "Oh, Dad, dear old Dad, are you much hurt?" + +"I don't know." The voice was very faint. Her fears surged back. + +"Try to drink some of this--it's weak, and you won't choke," she said. +"Is your head hurt, Daddy? Could I lift it a little?" + +"Not hurt," he managed to say. So she groped in the darkness to lift +the heavy head, and together they made a sorry business of the flask, +spilling far more than he drank. Still, some went the right way; and +presently he spoke again, his voice stronger. + +"I knew you'd come... mate." + +"Tait found you," she said. "And Jim was here, but he's gone for the +men. We'll take care of you, Daddy. Could I move you any way to help?" + +"Better not," he said. "Just--be there." His hand closed on hers, and he +seemed to slip off into unconsciousness again, for when she spoke to +him he did not answer. So Norah sat and held his hand; and the night +crept on. + +"Coo-ee!" Far off a shout. She slipped her hand away gently, and ran a +little way before answering, lest the cry should startle him. Then she +shouted with all her strength; and soon the beat of hoofs came nearer +and out of the darkness Jim came back, Murty galloping with him. + +"He's spoken," said Norah; "but he's gone off again. And he's had some +whisky." + +"Did he know you?" + +"Yes; but he's terribly weak." They were all beside Mr. Linton now, and +Murty struck a match, and carefully shading it, scanned the fallen +man's face by its glimmer. Norah saw his own change as he looked. Then +the match went out, and for a moment it was darker than ever. + +"They're bringing things," Jim said. He took off his coat and spread it +over his father, and Murty did the same. "And the doctor's coming--it's +wonderful luck--he came out from Cunjee with Wally." Jim put his hand on +Norah's. "Were you all right, old kiddie?" + +"Quite right," said she. Then they waited silently until a rattle of +wheels came as the express wagon clattered up. Murty went out to the +track to bring the doctor in. + +Dr. Anderson cast a glance at Norah by the light of the lanterns they +had brought, and spoke to Jim. + +"Take her away," he said. "I don't want you, either. Murty and Boone +will help me." So the two who were only children wandered off into the +scrub together, sitting on a log, silently, in sick anxiety, while the +doctor was busy. A groan came to them once, and Norah shuddered and put +her face into her hands, while Jim, who had himself shivered at the +sound, put his arm round her, and tried to whisper something, only his +voice would not come. Then--ages later, it seemed--the doctor's voice: + +"Are you two there?" + +They hurried to him. + +"We'll get him home," the doctor said. "A risk, moving him; but it's +worse to leave him lying under that log. The men are getting some of +the dogwood down, so that we can carry him out better. He's badly +knocked about, but his head's all right. The leg is the worst; it's +fractured in two places. You'll have a patient for a good while, +Norah." + +"Then--then he won't die?" + +"Die?" said the doctor. "Not a bit of it! He'll--ah, you poor child!" +For Norah had turned and clung to Jim, and was sobbing, while the big +fellow who bent over her and patted her was himself unable to speak. +Little Dr. Anderson patted them both, and choked himself, though he hid +it professionally with a cough. He remarked afterwards that he had not +known that young Norah Linton could cry. + +It was only for a minute, though. The men came back carrying a +stretcher, and Norah and Jim sprang to help. Very gently they lifted +David Linton's unconscious form, and the four bore him slowly to the +wagon, Norah backing in front with two lanterns to light every step. + +"Chancy work through them dorgwood spikes," said Dave Boone. But they +came out safely, and got him into the wagon, where a mattress was in +readiness. The doctor heaved a sigh of relief when the business was +done. So they took him home, the grey horses pulled into a slow walk, +while Jim and Norah rode ahead to find the smoothest track. + +It was past midnight when the lights of the homestead came into view; +but everywhere Billabong was up. The men were round the open gate of +the yard, from Andy Ferguson, the tears running unheeded down his old +face, to Lee Wing, for once without his wide benevolent smile, and in +the background Lal Chunder's dark face. Beyond them was Mrs. Brown, +with the pale-faced girls behind her. There were a score of willing +hands to bring David Linton into his home. + +A little later Jim came out to where Norah waited in the hall, a little +huddled figure in one corner of a leather armchair. + +"He's quite comfortable," he said; "hasn't spoken, but the doctor says +it's a natural sleep, and Brownie and he are going to sit with him. Old +kiddie, are you awfully tired?" + +"I'm not tired one bit!" said Norah, with no idea that she was not +speaking the exact truth. + +"H'm!" said Jim, looking at her. He went into the dining-room, +returning a minute later with a glass of wine. + +"You're to have this," he said authoritatively, "and then I'm going to +put you to--" + +He broke off, looking at her with a little smile on his tired face. +Norah had put her head down on the arm of the big chair, and was fast +asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + + +MATES + + + The sleepy river murmurs low, + And far away one dimly sees, + Beyond the stretch of forest trees, + Beyond the foothills dusk and dun, + The ranges sleeping in the sun. + A. B. PATERSON. + + +Autumn was late that year at Billabong, and the orchard trees were +still green, though a yellow leaf showed here and there in the Virginia +creeper, as David Linton lay on the verandah and looked out over the +garden. From his couch he could see the paddock beyond, and here and +there the roan hides of some of his Shorthorns. They did not generally +graze there; but Jim had brought some into the paddock the day before, +remarking that he was certain his father would recover much more +quickly if he could see a bullock now and then. So they grazed, and lay +about in the yellow grass, and David Linton watched them contentedly. + +From time to time Mrs. Brown's comfortable face peeped out from door or +window, with an inquiry as to her master's needs; but he was not an +exacting patient, and usually met her with a smile and "Nothing, +Brownie, thanks--don't trouble about me." Lee Wing came along, +shouldering a great coil of rubber hose like an immense grey snake, and +stopped for a cheerful conversation in his picturesque English; and +Billy, arriving from some remote corner of the run, left his horse at +the gate and came up to the verandah, standing a black statue in shirt, +moleskins and leggings, his stockwhip over his arm, while Mr. Linton +asked questions about the cattle he had been to see. Afterwards Mrs. +Brown brought out tea, having met and routed with great slaughter +Sarah, who was anxious to have the honour that up to to-day had been +Norah's alone. + +"It's dull for you, sir," she said. "No mistake, it do make a +difference when that child's not in the house!" + +"No doubt of that," Mr. Linton said. "But I'm getting on very well, +Brownie, although I certainly miss my nurses." + +"Oh, we can make you comferable an' all that," Brownie said, +disparagingly. "But when it comes to a mate, we all know there ain't +any one for you like Miss Norah--though I do say Master Jim's as handy +in a sick-room as that high-flown nurse from Melbourne ever was--I'm +glad to me bones she's gone!" said Brownie, in pious relief. + +"So am I," agreed the squatter hastily. "Afraid I don't take kindly to +the imported article--and I'm perfectly certain Norah and she nearly +came to blows many times." + +"An' small wonder," said Brownie, her nose uplifted. "Keepin' her out +of your room, if you please--or tryin' to--till Miss Norah heard you +callin' her, an' simply came in at the winder! An' callin' her 'ducksy +bird.' I ask you, sir," said Brownie, indignantly, "is 'ducksy bird' +the thing anybody with sense'd be likely to call Miss Norah?" + +"Poor Norah!" said Mr. Linton, laughing. "She didn't tell me of that +indignity." + +"Many a trile Miss Norah had with that nurse as I'll dare be sworn, +she'd never menshin to you, sir," Brownie answered. "She wouldn't let a +breath of anything get near you that'd worry you. Why, it was three +weeks and more before she'd let you be told about Bobs!" + +David Linton's brow darkened. + +"I couldn't have done any good, of course," he said. "But I'm sorry I +couldn't have helped her at all over that bad business. Well, I hope +Providence will keep that young man out of my path in future!" + +"An' out of Billabong," said Brownie with fervour. "Mr. Cecil's safer +away. I guess even now he'd have a rough time if the men caught him--an' +serve him right!" + +"He seems penitent," Mr. Linton said, "and even his mother wrote about +him more in sorrow than in anger. The atmosphere of admiration in which +he has always lived seems to have cooled, which should be an uncommonly +good thing for Cecil. But I don't want to see him." + +"Nor more don't any of us," Brownie said, wrathfully. "Billabong had +enough of Mr. Cecil. Dear sakes!--when I think of him clearin' away from +Miss Norah that night, an' what might have 'appened but for that +blessed 'eathen, Lal Chunder, I don't feel 'ardly Christian, that I +don't! Not as she ever made much of it--but--poor little lamb!" + +Mr. Linton's face contracted, and Brownie left the topic hastily. It +always agitated the invalid, who had indeed only been told of Norah's +night adventure because of the risk of his hearing of it suddenly from +outsiders or a newspaper. The district had seethed over the child's +peril, and Lal Chunder had found himself in the embarrassing position +of a hero--which by no means suited that usually mild-mannered Asiatic. +He had developed a habit of paying Billabong frequent, if fleeting, +calls; apparently for the sole purpose of looking at Norah, for he +rarely spoke. There was no guest more welcome. + +Presently Murty O'Toole and Dave Boone came round the corner of the +verandah. + +"Masther Jim gev special insthructions not to be later'n half-past four +in takin' y' in, sir," said the Irishman. "The chill do be comin' in +the air afther that, says he. An' Miss Norah towld me to be stern wid +ye!" + +"Oh, did she?" said Norah's father, laughing. "Well, I suppose I'd +better be meek, Murty, if the orders are so strict--though it's warm +enough out here still." + +"The cowld creeps up from thim flats," Murty said, judicially. "An' +whin y' are takin' things aisy--well, y' are apt to take a cowld aisy as +well." + +"I'm certainly taking things far too easy for my taste," Mr. Linton +said, smiling ruefully. "Five weeks on my back, Murty!--and goodness +knows how much ahead. It doesn't suit me." + +"I will admit there's some on the station 'twould suit betther," Murty +answered. "Dave here, now--sure, he shines best whin he's on his back! +an' I can do a bit av that same meself. ("You can that!" from the +outraged Mr. Boone.) But y' had the drawback to be born widout a lazy +bone in y'r body, so 'tis a hardship on y'. There is but wan thing +that's good in it, as far as th' station sees." + +"What's that, Murty?" + +"Mrs. Brown here do be tellin' me Miss Norah's not to go away--an' +there's not a man on the place but slung up his hat!" said the +Irishman. "Billabong wouldn't be the same at all widout the little +misthress--we had a grudge agin that foine school in Melbourne, so we +had. However, it's all right now." He beamed on his master. + +"Only a postponement, I'm afraid, Murty," said that gentleman, who +beamed himself, quite unconsciously. + +"Yerra, it's no good lookin' ahead--time enough to jump over the bridge +when y' come to it," said Murty, cheerfully. "Annyhow, she'll not be +lavin' on us yit. Well, if y' are ready, sir?" He nodded to Boone and +took up his position at the head of Mr. Linton's couch. + +"I'll go into the dining-room," the squatter said, as they carried him +gently into the hall. "Put me near the window, boys--no, the one looking +down the track. That's all right," as his couch came to anchor in the +bay of a window that gave a clear view of the homestead paddock. He +chatted to them awhile longer before wishing them good-night. + +The stockmen tramped out, making violent efforts to be noiseless. + +"Whisht, can't y'?" said Murty, indignantly, as Dave cannoned into a +chair in the hall. "Have y' not got anny manners at all, thin, Davy? +wid' him lyin' there, an' good luck to him! Did y' see how he made us +put his sofy in that square little winder?" + +"Why?" asked the slower Mr. Boone. + +"An' what but to see the first glimpse av them kids comin' home? Y' do +be an ass, Davy!" said Murty, pleasantly. "Begob, 'tis somethin' f'r a +man's eyes to see how Miss Norah handles that bay horse!" + +Left to himself, David Linton made a pretence at reading a paper, but +his eyes were weary, and presently the sheet crackled to the floor, and +lay unheeded. Brownie, coming in softly, thought he had fallen asleep, +and tiptoed to the couch with a light rug, which she drew over him. +They handled him very carefully; although his clean, hard life had +helped him to make a wonderful recovery, his injuries had been severe; +and it would be many weeks yet before he could use his leg, even with +crutches. The trained nurse from Melbourne, who had been more or less a +necessary evil, or, as Jim put it, "an evil necessary," had been +dispensed with a week before; and now he had as many attendants as +there were inhabitants of Billabong, with Norah as head nurse and +Brownie as superintendent, and Jim as right-hand man. Once there had +been a plan that Jim should go North, for other experience, after +leaving school. But it was never talked of now. + +This was the first day, since they had brought her father home, that +Norah had been induced to leave him; and then it had taken a command on +his part to make her go. She was growing pale and hollow-eyed with the +long watching. + +Dr. Anderson, whose visits were becoming rarer, had prescribed a tonic, +which Norah had taken meekly, and without apparent results. + +"The tonic she wants is her own old life," Brownie had said. "Stickin' +inside the house all day! it's no wonder she's peakin' and pinin'. Make +her go out, sir." So David Linton had asserted himself from his couch; +and Jim had taken Norah for a ride over the paddocks, and to call for +the mail at the Cross Roads, where the Billabong loose bag was left by +the coach three times a week. + +He was lying with his eyes fixed on the track when they came out of the +trees; both horses at a hand gallop and pulling double. Norah was on +Garryowen, her face flushed and laughing, her head thrown back a little +as the beautiful bay reefed and plunged forward, enjoying the speed as +much as his rider. Jim was a length or so behind on Monarch, whose one +ambition at that moment was, in Murty's words, "to get away on him." It +was plain that the boy was exulting in the tussle. The sunlight gleamed +on the black horse's splendid side as they dashed up the track. + +As yet there had been no talk openly of a successor to Bobs--that wound +was still too sore. For the present Norah was to ride Garryowen, since +Monarch was far too frivolous to stand a long spell; Jim would handle +him for the months that must elapse before his father was in the saddle +again. Later on, Jim and Mr. Linton had great plans for something very +special--a new pony that would not disgrace Bobs' memory, and that would +fit the unused rug with the scarlet B that lay locked away in Norah's +wardrobe. Other things were locked away in her heart; she never spoke +of Bobs. But the two who were her mates knew. + +The swift hoofs came thudding up the track and scattered the gravel by +the gate; then there was silence for a moment, voices and laughter, and +quick footsteps, and Jim and Norah came in together, their faces +glowing. + +"How did you get on, Dad? Were we long?" + +"Long!" said David Linton, whose face had grown suddenly contented. +"The conceit of some people! Why, I had so much attention paid me that +I scarcely noticed you had gone." He put up one hand and took Norah's +as she sat on the arm of his couch. "But I'm glad you're back," he +added. They smiled at each other. + +"Conceit's bad enough," said Jim, grinning, "but insanity's worse. Had +the maddest ride of my life, Dad--my poor old Garryowen's absolutely +cowed, and has no tail left to speak of!" He ducked to avoid a cushion +from his sister. "It's a most disastrous experiment to keep Norah off a +horse for five weeks!" + +"We won't repeat it," said her father, "not that Garryowen seemed to be +suffering from nervous prostration as he came up the paddock--or Monarch +either! Any letters?" + +"One from Wally," Norah cried, "poor old boy. He says school is horrid +without Jim, and he's collar-proud, and they lost the match last +Saturday--he carried out his bat for thirty-seven, though!--and he misses +Billabong, and he sends his love and all sorts of messages to you, Dad. +I guess Brownie and I will fix up a hamper for him," concluded Norah, +pensively, weighing in her mind the attractions of plum or seed cake, +and deciding on both. "And mice pies," she added, aloud. + +"What?" said her father, staring. "Oh, I see. Any other mail?" + +"Oh, the usual pile for you, Dad. Agents' letters and bills and things. +Jim has them. We didn't bring the papers." + +"I should think not!" returned her father. "If I catch either of you +carrying loose papers on those horses--well, one broken leg is enough in +a family of this size!" + +"Too much respect for Monarch, to say nothing of my legs," said Jim, +laconically, producing a handful of letters. "There you are, Dad; +that's all. Do you want anything? I'm going down to the little paddock +for a lesson in bullock driving from Burton." + +"How are you getting on in the art?" asked his father, smiling. + +"Oh, slowly. My command of language doesn't seem to be sufficient, for +so far the team looks on me with mild scorn." Jim grinned. "It's +nervous work for Joe, too. I got him with the tail of the whip +yesterday, when I'd every intention of correcting old Ranger! However, +I plod on, and Joe keeps well out of the way now. He yells instructions +at me from some way back in the landscape!" + +"Prudent man, Burton," laughed his father. "A good tutor, too. I don't +know that I ever saw a man handle bullocks better. Most people don't +credit bullocks with souls, but I think Joe gets nearer to finding that +attribute in his beasts than the average driver, and with less +expenditure of energy and eloquence! He's like the man we were reading +about, North: + + +"As to a team, over gully and hill, +He can travel with twelve on the breadth of a quill!" + + +"Oh, COULD he?" asked Jim, with much interest. "Well, the width of the +paddock doesn't seem more than enough for me, so far. We wobble +magnificently, the team and I! However, I keep hoping! I'd better be +going. Sure you don't want me, Dad?" + +"Not just now, old chap." + +"Well, I'll be back before long." He smiled at his father and Norah, +swinging out over the window ledge, and whistling cheerily until his +long legs had carried him out of sight. + +"He'll be a good man on the place, Norah." + +"Why, of course," said Norah, a little surprised that statement should +be made of so evident a fact. "Murty says he's 'takin' howld wid' both +hands, an' 'tis the ould man over agin,' though it's like Murty's cheek +to call you that. You won't be able to let him go away, I believe, +Dad." + +"I don't see myself sparing him to any other place now," said Mr. +Linton. "Nor the head nurse either!" + +Norah slipped down beside him. + +"I've been thinking," she said, a little anxiously. "It's been so +lovely to think of no old school until midwinter--but I'd go sooner--when +you're quite well--if you're worried really, Dad. I don't want to be a +duffer--and of course I don't know half that other girls know." + +"Jim will be able to keep you from going back, I expect," her father +said, watching the troubled face. "He won't be exactly a stern tutor, +and possibly lessons may be free and easy; still, after all, Jim was a +prefect, and the handling of unruly subjects is probably not unknown to +him." + +"If Jim attempts to be a prefect with me," said Norah, "things will be +mixed!" She laughed, but the line came back into her forehead. "It's +not the lessons I was thinking of, Dad." + +"Then what is it?" + +"Oh, all the other things I don't know that other girls do. Do you +think it really matters, Dad? I know perfectly well I don't do my hair +properly--" + +"I seem to like it." + +"And I can't talk prettily--you know, like Cecil did; and I don't know a +single blessed thing about fancywork! I'd--I'd hate you to be ashamed of +me, Dad, dear!" + +"Ashamed?" He held her close; and when he spoke again there was +something in his voice that made Norah suddenly content. + +"Little mate!" was all he said. + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg etext of Mates at Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce + diff --git a/old/mtsbb10.zip b/old/mtsbb10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6499087 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mtsbb10.zip |