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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-27 12:16:23 -0800 |
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+ <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Twins of Emu Plains by Mary Grant Bruce</title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Twins of Emu Plains, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Twins of Emu Plains
+
+Author: Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Release Date: October 7, 2019 [EBook #60447]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TWINS OF EMU PLAINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed
+Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:350px;height:auto;'/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center' style='font-size:.7em;'>
+<colgroup>
+<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/>
+</colgroup>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><hr class='tbk100'/></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'>MARY GRANT BRUCE’S</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span style='font-size:larger'>VERY POPULAR STORIES</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'>Published by</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'>WARD, LOCK & CO., LTD.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'>Uniform with this volume.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'>———</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> A LITTLE BUSH MAID</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> TIMOTHY IN BUSHLAND</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> MATES AT BILLABONG</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> FROM BILLABONG TO LONDON</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> GLEN EYRE</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> NORAH OF BILLABONG</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> GRAY’S HOLLOW</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> JIM AND WALLY</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> ’POSSUM</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> DICK</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> DICK LESTER OF KURRAJONG</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> BACK TO BILLABONG</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> THE STONE AXE OF BURKAMUKK</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> BILLABONG’S DAUGHTER</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'> THE HOUSE OF THE EAGLES</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><hr class='tbk101'/></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illofront.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
+<p class='caption'>“ ‘It’s all right,’ Jean assured him. ‘No one knows you are here.’ ”<br/> (Page 233.)<br/> <span class='it'>The Twins of Emu Plains</span>] [<span class='it'>Frontispiece</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line0' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;'>THE TWINS</p>
+<p class='line0' style='font-size:2em;'>OF EMU PLAINS</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+<p class='line0'><span style='font-size:x-small'>BY</span></p>
+<p class='line0' style='margin-bottom:4em;font-size:1.2em;'>MARY GRANT BRUCE</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+<p class='line0'><span style='font-size:x-small'>ILLUSTRATED</span></p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+<p class='line0' style='margin-top:4em;margin-bottom:.2em;font-size:.9em;'><span class='gesp'>WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED</span></p>
+<p class='line0' style='margin-bottom:2em;font-size:.7em;'>LONDON AND MELBOURNE</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:10em;font-size:.7em;'>Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London</p>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.3em;'>CONTENTS</p>
+
+<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
+<colgroup>
+<col span='1' style='width: 4em;'/>
+<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/>
+<col span='1' style='width: 2.5em;'/>
+</colgroup>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAP.</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>I</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Pleasant Madness of the Twins</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>II</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Midnight</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_17'>17</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>III</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Last Days of Term</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IV</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>A Letter from Home</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>V</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Helen has an Idea</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VI</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Emu Plains</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Twins’ Surprise-Packet</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VIII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Getting on Terms</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_93'>93</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IX</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Programme</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_105'>105</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>X</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Mixed Instructions</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XI</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Path of Knowledge</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Responsibilities</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_146'>146</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>A Jersey Bull</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIV</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Gentlemen Adventurers</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XV</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Sunday Afternoon</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XVI</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Twins take a Holiday</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XVII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>The Turning of the Long Lane</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_232'>232</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XVIII</td><td class='tab2c2 leader-dots tdStyle3'><span><span class='sc'>Conclusion</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1>CHAPTER I<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE PLEASANT MADNESS OF THE TWINS</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>T</span>HE final struggle in the tennis match between
+Merriwa and Kooringal schools was raging,
+and the very air about the court at Merriwa was
+vibrant with excitement. The western side, which
+gave the best view, without the sun in one’s eyes,
+was, by traditional use, given over to the supporters
+of the visiting team; and there the Kooringals massed
+in a solid phalanx, under their green and mauve
+flag, and screamed as one individual at the doughty
+strokes of their champions. Opposite them were
+the long lines of the Merriwiggians, with dark-blue
+favours that matched their silken banner, and with
+voices no less jubilant when a well-placed School
+stroke got past the said champions’ defence. At
+either end of the court the seats of the mighty bore
+the impressive forms of “teachers, parents, and guardians”;
+some watching the play as eagerly as any
+Fourth Form youngster, while others were so lost
+to a sense of their opportunities as to while away
+the time in discussing the latest Russian pianist or
+the result of the State Elections. Afternoon tea
+had already occurred; even now, in the pavilion,
+could be heard the clatter of crockery as the maids
+packed up—a faint and far-away sound, that contrasted
+oddly with the simmering excitement round
+the tennis-court.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The game had been very level, but, on the whole,
+Kooringal felt its star in the ascendant. So far,
+indeed, the match was a tie, but there was good cause
+for the visitors’ comfortable feeling of security, for
+the Merriwa pair for the finals were not seriously
+considered as champions. Their place in the team
+was due only to the fact that Merriwa was short
+of tennis players. Now they had to meet the Kooringal
+cracks, a year older, and winners on many a
+hard-foughten field. It was small wonder if the
+Merriwiggians settled themselves to watch the finals
+with hearts inclined to sink.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They felt rather worse at the end of the first sett,
+and through their ranks ran a feeling of “I-told-you-so!”
+Jean and Josephine Weston, their players,
+had shown from the first that they were oppressed
+by the magnitude of their task. They played carefully,
+without any dash, afraid to take any liberties
+with the tall pair across the net, who seemed so huge
+and so confident. By luck, rather than by play, they
+had managed to win four games to six: that it was
+luck no one knew more clearly than Jean and Jo.
+They exchanged depressed looks when “Game and
+sett!” was called at the end. It had been a “love”
+game, thanks to the appalling series of balls Eva
+Severne had served: unplayable, malevolent streaks
+of grey light, which had merely touched the ground
+in the extreme corners of their courts before disappearing
+into the landscape. Jean and Jo had
+“swiped” at them unavailingly; useful exercise,
+but in no way affecting the balls.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re not going to be even amusement to them!”
+Jean remarked, as they crossed over to change ends.
+“Isn’t it perfectly awful, Jo! And I never tried
+so hard in my life!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Neither did I,” Jo answered. “And, of course,
+the more I try, the worse I play. Look here, Jean,
+it isn’t a bit of use trying—to play a careful game,
+I mean. This isn’t a time to be careful. I’m going
+to be desperate!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, are you?” Jean met her twin’s eyes with
+an answering flash. “Well, I suppose the only thing
+is to be desperate too. We’ll just slog.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right! And there’s another thing—Mona Burton
+isn’t playing nearly as well as that terrible Severne
+girl. She’s muffed a good few balls.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s why the sett was 6-4!” said Jean drily.
+“Well, we’ll give her all we can. Your serve, Jo—slog
+them in!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo slogged accordingly, and had the satisfaction
+of seeing her first ball hit the top of the net. In
+ordinary moments this would have induced a careful
+second service, and Eva Severne moved up closer
+to the net in anticipation. Instead, Jo set her teeth
+and sent the second ball with even more fervour
+than the first. It went true, and Eva was never
+even near it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins grinned at each other as they crossed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go on being desperate!” Jean said. “It pays!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Which may or may not have been why within two
+minutes the Merriwiggians were tumultuously applauding
+a “love” game as emphatic as that which
+only a few moments earlier had been delightedly
+acclaimed by the ranks of Kooringal!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The sett ran to a swift and exciting conclusion.
+The twins’ play was occasionally erratic, but never
+for a moment dull: they had decided upon ways
+of desperation, and they fled wildly from one place
+to another, hitting at everything, possible or impossible;
+occasionally achieving what seemed to be
+impossible, by reason of amazing agility. They
+were a lithe and active pair, built on economical
+lines that suggested that wire and whipcord were
+largely used in their composition. Certainly, both
+whipcord and wire were in evidence in their strokes.
+There was no special science in their method, but
+it was good, hard-hitting play; and as they always
+played together, they knew exactly what to expect
+of each other, and never overlapped.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Kooringal pair were taken aback. The first
+sett had made them feel confident of an easy victory.
+Mona Burton knew that she was not playing well,
+but then Eva seemed to be on her usual superb
+pinnacle of self-confidence, and would be sure to
+pull them through. She had not worried, even when
+she had “muffed” a few strokes. But in the second
+sett the small pair of Merriwiggians seemed to be
+transformed into a couple of inspired imps, who
+bounded and twisted and ran—<span class='it'>how</span> they ran, thought
+Mona, who was inclined to plumpness, and preferred
+a game conducted mainly from the back line! Nothing
+came amiss to them, and they served balls
+that seemed to Mona to be compounded of quicksilver
+and electricity. Even the redoubtable Eva was
+nonplussed; the opening games had not prepared
+her for anything like this. Her own play showed
+distinct signs of being “rattled”: she missed strokes
+that would ordinarily have been easy to her, and
+her service lost a good deal of its “bite.” Silence—dismayed
+silence—fell upon the ranks of Kooringal,
+while among the Merriwiggians rapture and amazement
+mounted until the sett came to a triumphant
+conclusion at 6-3!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can you make it last?” Helen Forester, the
+Merriwa captain, managed to whisper to Jean, as
+the twins changed ends with their opponents.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean gave a rapturous gurgle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>I</span> don’t know,” she answered. “We’re both
+quite mad, of course. It would be an awful lark,
+if only it weren’t so terrible!” She caught her
+twin’s eye and they grinned at each other. In Jo’s
+glance there was something of a look familiar to
+Jean: she had seen it often when they were mustering
+young cattle with their father, and an excited
+bullock had needed determination and hard riding
+to bring him round to the main mob. The twins
+loved such jobs, and Jo used to gallop after a fugitive
+with her jaw set in a firm line, but her eyes alight
+with laughter. So she looked now: the immaculate,
+white-clad girls in the other court might have been
+a pair of unruly steers, bent on breaking away, and
+the racquet she swung loosely, a stock-whip ready
+for use, as she waited for Eva’s service. The familiar
+look gave Jean fresh courage. Terrible the game
+might be, but it was certainly also a lark!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Possibly, had they been girls bred to games, with
+years of school-life behind them, and the importance
+of tennis tournaments ground into their beings by
+tradition and experience, the twins might have been
+unable to tackle that last sett with the cheery courage
+that somehow communicated itself to the tense
+onlookers. They would have been crushed by the
+importance of their task; and in that case they
+would most certainly have gone under. But Jean
+and Jo Weston had had only a year of a Melbourne
+school, and behind that lay a lifetime of the lonely
+country, where games were mere incidents, and where
+recreation meant, for the most part, sharing their
+father’s work on the station. Even after a year of
+school, tennis—even tournament tennis—was only a
+game to the twins. They had taken to it with quick
+natural aptitude, and being unusually tough and
+wiry, with eye and hand trained by the use of stock-whip
+and rifle, they had soon found themselves in
+the front rank, with the consequent responsibility
+of match play. That, if they could but adopt the
+view-point of their school-mates, was rather terrible.
+Jean and Jo obediently echoed them, and said it
+was terrible. But at the back of their minds was
+the conviction that it was only a game after all.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had played the first sett with a due sense
+of responsibility. In the second, they had cast
+responsibility to the winds, and had been merely
+desperate. It had paid, and there was no question
+as to which method was the more enjoyable. Therefore,
+there seemed to the twins no reason why they
+should not continue to be cheerfully insane. They
+did better when they were insane, and it was so very
+much more pleasant!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Eva Severne made a desperate effort to recapture
+the Kooringal lead in that last sett. There were
+times when she played so brilliantly that no mere
+insanity on the part of the twins could enable them
+to meet her balls. But Mona Burton was manifestly
+weighed down by the madness of the flitting pair
+opposite, who never by any chance were where you
+might expect them to be, and who seemed capable
+of acrobatic feats worthy of a circus. They never
+looked worried; in fact, they laughed a great deal,
+until the spectators caught the infection, and rocked
+with laughter themselves. It was a delirious game,
+full of amazing incidents, in which the inferior players
+scored simply by desperate hitting and by taking
+chances that no one would, in sober moments, have
+dreamed of taking. Nine times out of ten, the system—if
+system it could be called—would have failed.
+But this happened to be the tenth time. Luck
+held, and impossibilities happened. Finally, a smashing
+half-volley from Eva, on its way to annihilate
+Jo, was intercepted by Jean, who executed a leap
+into mid-air only comparable to the jump of a performing
+flea! The ball seemed to wobble in the air
+for a moment, and then dropped weakly on the far
+side of the net. Eva and Mona, rushing madly to
+reach it, collided violently; the spent ball dropped:
+and, amid a gale of laughter from all round the court,
+and a crescendo of delirium from the ranks of Merriwa,
+the sett ended in victory for the twins at 6-3!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean and Jo, laughing and half-apologetic, shook
+hands with their opponents.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, it’s the most amazing luck!” Jean
+said. “You’re simply miles beyond us, really: we
+haven’t a scrap of science.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe you have,” said Eva, regarding
+them with an amazed air. “But I hope we’ll meet
+some one scientific next time, that’s all! You’re
+so hopelessly unexpected!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The win was unexpected, at any rate,” Jo laughed.
+“We looked on ourselves as utterly beaten at the
+end of the first sett, so we just went Berserk. It was
+great fun!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fun—to you!” Mona Burton was still panting.
+“I feel as if I should never get my breath again.
+Never—never—never did I play at such a rate!
+Do you ever get tired, you two wild things?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, not often,” Jo answered. “And it was
+far too exciting to think of getting tired.” Then
+suddenly they were swamped in a wild surge of school-fellows,
+their hands pumped, their backs patted.
+Delighted juniors bore their blazers, holding them
+proudly while they donned them, and uttering incoherent
+murmurs of joy. Amidst the general delirium
+two majestic figures detached themselves from the
+throng at the far end of the court. The crowd melted
+like magic at their approach, and presently Jean
+and Jo, blushing like poppies, found themselves
+receiving the dignified congratulations of the two
+principals.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A most interesting game—and a truly energetic
+one!” said Miss Atchison, of Kooringal, in the
+measured tones that made her least remark seem
+like an anthem. “Miss Dampier tells me you are
+twins—and not sixteen yet. You should play well
+when you are a year older.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but it was only luck,” the twins assured
+her. “You wouldn’t really call our play tennis!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it was too good for us!” said Eva Severne,
+laughing. Then Miss Atchison and Miss Dampier
+drifted away into the throng of parents and visitors,
+who were beginning to think of trams and motors,
+and the girls closed once more round the twins.
+Every one discussed points of the play, and most
+people seemed to concur in the view that the twins
+were mad. But it was, as Helen Forester said, a
+pleasant madness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Kooringal boarders formed up presently, and
+marched away, still bearing their banner proudly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Just you wait until next year!” said Eva Severne,
+shaking a threatening fist merrily at the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, next year!” echoed Mona. “I shall have
+left then, but I hope we shall have somebody less
+fat to meet you.” She sighed. “Certainly, no one
+who plays against you should be fat!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We may be fat ourselves!” said the twins—a
+remark greeted with derisive cheers. “At any
+rate we’ll work up ever so much science.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sure you’ll be here next year?” asked a Kooringal
+girl.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, certain. Two more years of school, at least—perhaps
+three. So there’s lots of tennis ahead,”
+Jo uttered, happily. “Next year we must take it
+up in earnest and learn all the technical part. Then
+I suppose we’ll find out why your balls go straight
+through one’s racquet, Eva!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish they had done so a bit more to-day!”
+said Eva ruefully. “Well, it’s time we took our
+battered remnant to the tram. Good-bye—and it
+was a very jolly game, even if you did beat us!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Merriwiggians escorted them to the gate, and
+they marched down the road, in excellent formation
+for “battered remnants.” Then the school closed
+round the Weston twins, and, lifting them shoulder-high,
+carried them up the path to the house, asserting
+loudly and more or less tunefully, that they were
+jolly good fellows. The sudden appearance at a
+window of Miss Dampier disorganized the procession,
+and those responsible for the twins dropped them.
+Miss Dampier disappeared as quickly as she had
+come. She was that pearl among women, a headmistress
+who realized that teachers should occasionally
+have no official existence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean and Jo picked themselves up, remarking
+that the consequences of winning a match seemed
+to be more strenuous than the game itself! They
+turned scared eyes on an attempt to revive the procession,
+and, ducking under admiring arms, fled to
+their dormitory. No one was there, and they sat
+down and looked at each other. In each look there
+was a sudden access of respect.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I didn’t think you had it in you!” remarked
+Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t either,” responded Jo.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='17' id='Page_17'></span><h1>CHAPTER II<br/> <span class='sub-head'>MIDNIGHT</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟W</span>AKE up, Nita!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nita Anderson grunted and buried her
+dark head yet deeper in the pillow.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The bell hasn’t gone yet,” she murmured. “Do
+go away and stop playing the goat!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, if I do, you’ll get no supper,” said the
+caller, not ceasing to be energetic. “Why, no self-respecting
+person goes to sleep at all before a supper,
+and here you are, snoring like a hog!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I <span class='it'>don’t</span> snore!” said Nita indignantly. She cast
+a wrathful glance at her accuser.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thought that would fetch you!” said that damsel
+gaily. “But you can’t be certain, and now you’ll
+never know! Hurry up, or all the éclairs will be
+gone before you get there.” She capered off, and
+Nita, with a huge yawn, jumped out of bed and sought
+for her kimono.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were about a dozen girls in the room to which
+she found her way presently. As a rule, midnight
+suppers were conducted in muffled tones, the only illumination
+a candle-end, and enjoyment was heightened
+by the knowledge that at any moment the dread form
+of a too-inquisitive governess, or even of Miss Dampier
+herself, might appear. It lent zest to the flavour of
+even a shop-made sausage-roll when you knew that
+you might not, as Ellen Webster put it dramatically,
+“be spared to finish it.” But to-night was different,
+by time-honoured custom. It was just at the end
+of term, for one thing: for another, it was match
+night, and every one knew that on match night Miss
+Dampier and the staff made a practice of sleeping
+with such soundness that no untoward noises, such as
+the popping of ginger-beer or lemonade bottles, or
+the clatter of strange crockery hastily assembled as
+goblets, could shake their dreams. Supper arrived
+almost openly on such nights, in proud hampers from
+home, or tempting-looking parcels from the big shops
+in Melbourne: not smuggled in in greasy paper bags,
+the contents of which were apt to become flattened
+and crumby long before they were eaten. And, in
+addition to sleeping soundly, no governess thought of
+alluding, next morning, to heavy eyes or lessons half-prepared.
+Miss Dampier always inculcated tact in
+her staff, especially in the last days of term.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were four beds in the dormitory that Nita
+entered. One, smoothed over and spread with newspapers,
+served as supper-table, while on a chest of
+drawers were ranged the drinks: coffee, that had
+once been iced, and was now faintly lukewarm—the
+night was a hot one in December—raspberry vinegar,
+and a collection of “soft drinks” in bottles. Each
+girl was supposed to bring her own tooth-glass; but
+there had been a more surreptitious supper two nights
+before, at which several of these useful articles had
+been broken, so that to-night there were deficiencies
+which had to be filled by such substitutes as the cups
+of thermos flasks. As may be imagined, a thermos
+cup is sadly insufficient as a vessel for fizzy drinks;
+and bitter was the lot of those who depended on them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On her knees upon the floor, Helen Forester was
+laboriously dissecting a large cold fowl. Her only
+weapon was a penknife, backed by brute force.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is a horrible job!” she observed to the
+company at large, raising a flushed countenance.
+“I should like to wipe my heated brow, only my
+hands are too greasy. Nita, you’re great on physiology—do
+come and tell me where this animal’s joints
+are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Get his side-fixings off,” counselled Nita, coming
+to her assistance. “You hold one leg and wing
+firmly, and I’ll hold the others, and we’ll pull. Something’s
+sure to come apart!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Something did. Nita surveyed the dismembered
+bird with satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There!” she said. “That’s much simpler. Now
+you just go ahead and dig in here and there till you
+weaken the general resistance of the creature, and
+I’ll get the leg-joints apart.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It sounds simple, but when you come to reality
+you need an axe!” said Helen. “I suppose if one
+scrapes the bones until there’s nothing left on them
+one needn’t bother about getting inside?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Indeed, there’s the stuffing—or should be,” said
+Nita, wrestling gallantly with the leg-joint. At
+which Helen groaned, and fell to work anew with her
+inadequate weapon.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father would shudder at the carving, but there’s
+nothing wrong with the result,” she remarked placidly,
+sometime later. “After all, every one seems to have
+got some, and I believe that it really needs a genius to
+feed twelve people off one fowl!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Few could do it,” agreed Nita. “No one is
+sufficiently grateful to us, of course, but——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a chorus of dissent.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We <span class='it'>loved</span> watching you!” said Grace Farquhar,
+in her soft drawl.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t a doubt of it,” Helen laughed. “Well,
+it’s something to have been able to provide a circus
+before supper. Will anyone give me a méringue?
+Thanks, Jo. Have one yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve had all that’s prudent, thanks,” Jo Weston
+answered. “Méringues soon go to your head after
+you’ve been in strict training for tennis. Did you get
+an éclair, Nita?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I did—thanks to you,” Nita laughed. “Nothing
+but the vision of missing them would have dragged me
+from my pillow. I know your mother’s éclairs, you
+see. When are you going to learn to make them,
+Jo?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother might teach me in these hols., she
+said,” responded Jo. “But she’s not very keen on
+teaching us while we’re at school. She says we’re to
+learn all the cookery and domestic science stuff we can
+from Miss Smith, and she’ll see what it amounts to
+after we leave. Then she’ll round off the corners.”
+She laughed. “Personally, I think she’ll find us <span class='it'>all</span>
+corners. Mother hasn’t got any degrees and letters
+after her name, like the worshipful Smithy, but when
+it comes to running a house practically, I think she’d
+leave her cold!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but who would expect Smithy to be practical?”
+demanded Grace. “She looks so exquisite,
+and she wears such fetching uniforms, and she’s
+terribly impressive; but you always have the feeling
+at the back of your mind that she’d expire if the
+gas-stove wouldn’t act!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—I’d love to see her reduced to the cooking
+outfit my grandmother had in the bush,” said Helen.
+“Colonial oven—did any one of you ever see one?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a chorus of “No.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Just a big oven, built in between bricks; you
+put a fire underneath and another on top. Then you
+had a couple of bars across the fire, and balanced your
+saucepans on that. No pretty aluminium saucepans
+in those days; just big heavy iron pots.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gracious!” said the chorus.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You ought to have heard my grandmother’s
+remarks on restaurant food,” remarked Helen. “She
+used to expect to hear of Father’s death any minute
+after she found that he had to get his lunch in Town
+every day. Say, girls, I’m glad we don’t have to live
+up to our grandmothers. Mine used to make all the
+family clothes—by hand, if you please, and you should
+just have seen the tucks!—and do all the cooking,
+when they didn’t have maids, and run the house,
+and doctor her own family and half the district for
+fifty miles round, and take an odd turn at harvesting,
+or bush-fire fighting, or cattle-mustering, or——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they <span class='it'>couldn’t</span>, Helen! It simply wouldn’t
+happen!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it did! They fought blacks too sometimes
+on their own, when the grandfathers were away;
+and they doctored injured cattle, and taught their
+kiddies, and lots of ’em spun their own wool and
+knitted it. And they kept up their accomplishments—painting,
+and music: Grannie played the harp like
+fun, even when she was old. And they hadn’t any
+labour-saving devices at all. What if any of us found
+ourselves up against a job like that!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d be sorry for the person who expected <span class='it'>me</span> to
+keep up accomplishments while I made the family
+clothes by hand!” said Nita firmly. “That would be
+sufficient accomplishment for <span class='it'>me</span>, thank you. Anyhow,
+I agree we’re not what our grandmothers were. What
+are you going to do when you leave, Grace?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m going to the Gallery,” Grace said. “If
+I can’t paint I can’t do anything. Later on, if I show
+signs of its being worth while, they’ll let me go to
+England to study. What about you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tennis, principally, I think,” said Nita, laughing.
+“I haven’t thought of anything else. Golf too, I
+suppose. <span class='it'>And</span> dances. I’m going to have a good
+time for a while, anyhow. Don’t ask me to be serious,
+because it simply can’t occur!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hear, hear!” said several pyjama’d figures, with
+relieved accents. There were others to whom the
+breaking of the school chain meant only “a good
+time.” No one wanted to be serious.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’m going to learn to run the house,” Helen
+said. “Mother says so, and what she says generally
+happens. But we’re going to Ceylon for a year first
+if we can depot Rex.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who’s Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My little brother. He hasn’t been strong, and the
+doctor doesn’t want him to go to Ceylon. But he is
+a bit young for school—only nine. Aunt Ada was to
+have taken charge of him, but now she is going to
+England herself. However, I suppose we’ll find a
+home for him somewhere.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ceylon for a year—how gorgeous!” said Jean Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes; I’m going to learn to plant tea,” laughed
+Helen. “If we have luck we may go on to India:
+Father has cousins in Bombay. But there will be a
+wonder-year, at any rate. What are you going to do,
+Jean? Of course I know you’re not leaving yet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thank goodness, no!” Jean answered. “We
+wanted to go to school from the time we were ten,
+and we didn’t go until we were over fourteen, so it
+would be too awful to have only a year. We’re to be
+left to accumulate learning until we’re eighteen, I
+believe!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You won’t be fit to know!” said Gladys Armstrong
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That depends on how much we accumulate.
+Thank goodness Father isn’t a bit keen on exams for
+us. We’re to learn French thoroughly, so’s we can
+talk it if we ever get to France, and we’re to have a
+good sound education without any frills, and all the
+domestic science Smithy can pack into us. That’s
+Father’s idea: Mother stuck out for a few extras.
+And they both want us to play all the games we can,
+barring football!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They sound extremely satisfactory parents,” said
+Grace, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You ask Helen—<span class='it'>she</span> knows them!” returned Jo
+defiantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, they’re darlings: everybody knows <span class='it'>that</span>!”
+said Helen. “Mr. Weston gave us—the twinses and
+Nita and me—a most gorgeous time when he came to
+Town to sell his wool. Didn’t he, Nita?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” responded that damsel. “I wish he
+had wool to sell once a month!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m afraid he won’t have much next year,” Jean
+said. “The drought is pretty bad up our way;
+Mother’s letters seem a bit worrified.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish Miss Dampier could hear your new English,”
+said Ellen Webster.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, if you say ‘horrified’ why shouldn’t you say
+‘worrified,’ I’d like to know?” Jo demanded. The
+twins always answered for each other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You might say ‘horrid’ to match ‘worried’
+instead,” remarked Nita. “Why not? Some day,
+when I’m not busy, I think I’ll make a new dictionary.
+I know heaps of lovely words that no dictionary-maker
+ever dreams of putting in.” She yawned. “But
+seriously, Jean, I hope your father isn’t having a bad
+time. My uncle is up in your part of the country,
+and he seems to be pretty hard hit by the drought.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Father is sure to be feeling it,” Jean said.
+“But I ’spect it will be like other bad times: they
+come and go, you know, and everybody jogs along
+just the same. Father always says one good year
+makes up for several bad ones. But of course it
+makes you pretty blue to be living in the middle of
+the drought, and seeing the sheep and cattle grow
+poorer and poorer every day. I know what <span class='it'>that’s</span>
+like. So Mother’s letters can’t be very cheery.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jean and I were looking forward to new saddles
+and riding-kit these hols.,” Jo remarked. “Now
+I suppose they won’t be able to manage them for us.
+But it never lasts long. Father will preach economy,
+and look glum when the bills come in, and of course
+we’ll economize, somehow—but he’d be awfully wild
+if he found Mother doing without anything she really
+wanted! And then the rain will come, and everything
+will be all right again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re a cheery old optimist,” Gladys said,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, isn’t life cheery? Things always come
+right again, if you give them time—Mother says so,
+at any rate. We always have good times, don’t we,
+Jo?” And Jo grinned at her twin, and said
+“Rather!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My father says,” observed Grace, “that you often
+get just what you’re looking out for—if you make
+sure you’re going to have a bad time, it comes, and if
+you make up your mind that everything will be
+delightful, then that comes too.” She sighed. “I’ve
+tried to work out that theory when I was going to the
+dentist—planned in my own mind that I was going to
+have something between a pantomime and a picnic.
+It was, too, I think, for the dentist. But not for
+me!” She sighed again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Every one laughed, with a painful absence of
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All the same, I believe in your father’s idea,
+though I think you tried it pretty high,” remarked
+Helen. “I do think if you believe in your luck it’s
+more likely to come than if you make up your mind
+that nothing will go right. It’s the same with people:
+if you’re quite sure they are decent, well they generally
+turn out decent.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s what Father says!” cried Jo. “He
+always believes every one’s all right.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then, when you get let down by some one who
+isn’t all right,” said Grace—“well, you come with a
+bump!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s true, I suppose. But Father says he
+hasn’t had many bumps, and on the whole he’d rather
+have had them than give up believing in people.
+Anyhow, I believe in every one—except Miss Smith!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, go on believing—but keep your eyes about
+you next year, as well,” said Helen, laughing. “You
+two will be seniors next year, and if you’re not awfully
+careful you’ll be prefects before it’s over. A lot of
+seniors are leaving, and Miss Dampier will be so hard
+up for prefects that she may have to promote even
+graceless children like you!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good—gracious!” said the twins, in tones of
+horror.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s true. You can’t expect for ever to blush
+unseen in the murky obscurity of the Middle School—’specially
+when you win tennis matches. Miss Dampier
+has her eagle eye on you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But—but——” gasped Jean, “we shan’t be
+sixteen until next year! And you’re eighteen, Helen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I was a prefect when I was sixteen,” said
+the Captain, drawing her dainty embroidered kimono
+round her. “So were Nita and Ellen. And you two
+are higher in the school for your age than I was.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but you’ve often told us that, being twins,
+we’ve only sense enough for one real person divided
+between us!” said Jo, amidst laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s one of the ways in which one hatches sense
+in the young,” said Helen. “I’ve told you lots of
+other things, for your souls’ good. Captains have
+to.” She smiled at them very kindly; they looked
+such scared children, so ridiculously alike, in their
+pyjamas, with their hair tumbling about their flushed
+faces. “Oh, you’ll be terrors to the wicked juniors
+when you’re prefects, because they’ll never know which
+of you they’re talking to! Fancy being quite certain
+you’d dodged one of the Powers That Be, and then
+seeing her double stalk out before you!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I see a vision!” remarked Ellen Webster solemnly.
+“Two years hence, you and Nita and I will re-visit
+the old school and tread the familiar paths, once
+desecrated by the pelting feet of graceless twinses.
+And lo! we will see droves of demure juniors, damsels
+without guile——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There ain’t none such!” said Nita.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“—and older damsels of staid, not to say cowed,
+aspect; and at the head, two goddess-like figures—</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>‘So like they were, men never</p>
+<p class='line0'>Saw twins so like before’—</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='noindent'>bearing badges of office, and walking statelily
+Even the Fifth, that band without reverence, will
+tremble at their gaze. Slowly, majestically——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The orator’s voice died away in a pained gurgle.
+One twin seized her suddenly from the rear, and
+tilted her backwards, while the other pressed to her
+face a large, wet sponge. It was almost dry when the
+ensuing struggle was over, and most of the water it
+had contained was distributed evenly over Ellen and
+the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ugh!” said Ellen, abandoning all oratory. “You
+little fiends!” She wriggled in her wet pyjamas.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s a nice warm night for a bath!” said Nita,
+weak from laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but this only feels clammy. You two, prefects!
+You’ll never be anything but disgraces!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She glared at the twins, capering safely in the
+distance, soaked and cheerful. Certainly, there was
+nothing about them that suggested prefectorial
+dignity. They danced in a manner only possible in
+those who have no responsibility.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you’re right,” laughed Helen. “Anyhow,
+it’s a good thing it’s match night, or you’d certainly
+have had Miss Dampier in here. And you
+three are far too wet to sit up any longer: come and
+clear up the wreck. Who’s going to dispose of the
+chicken-bones?”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='29' id='Page_29'></span><h1>CHAPTER III<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE LAST DAYS OF TERM</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟Y</span>OU didn’t truly mean it, Helen—last night?
+About being prefects?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins had sought Helen Forester in her study,
+finding her in the throes of packing up. In itself this
+was a distressing sight, and induced seriousness. Every
+one had been proud of the Captain’s pretty room, with
+its dainty furniture. The big, comfortable couch
+looked bare, stripped of its Indian rug and the dark-blue
+cushions embroidered with the School badge.
+Gone were the photographs—hockey and tennis teams,
+girls, past and present, Cingalese pictures, and views of
+Helen’s own people, and of her home in the Western
+District. Gone, too, were the trophies of her five years
+at school: silver cups, won in many a hard-fought
+fight with other schools and other Merriwa champions.
+Their places looked bare and dismal. In the middle
+of the room a packing-case yawned widely to receive
+everything.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen, mounted on a table, was detaching a racquet
+from the wall. She balanced herself on one foot, and
+the table creaked ominously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit on the other edge, will you?” she asked with
+some anxiety. The twins sprang to her aid, and she
+brought down the racquet in safety. Then she sat
+on the table and looked at them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mean it? Why, yes, of course I meant it. You
+can see for yourself, kiddies. There were twelve of
+us at supper last night, and you were the youngest.
+Seven of us are leaving. That’s a big loss out of the
+seniors, isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But there are other seniors,” said Jean, hopefully.
+“Ethel Tarrant wasn’t there, nor Janie Frith, nor
+Doris Harvey.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but look at them. Ethel thinks of nothing in
+the world but music. She lives with her head in a
+cloud composed of Chopin and Debussy and Bach.
+Janie Frith is far too delicate to be counted on, and
+will never be a prefect. And Doris is queer and
+prickly, and won’t take part in anything. Not one of
+them plays games. No, as far as I can see, you two
+will have to make up your minds to it—not at once,
+but in six months’ time. You’ll do it, too, all right,
+because you love the School.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—if loving the School were all——” The
+twins hesitated.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, it’s ninety per cent. You two care awfully
+for the School, and you’ll never let it down. The honour
+of the School means a heap to you, and it will mean
+more. You know how high we stand, and what is
+expected of us. Merriwa isn’t a new thing: lots
+of our mothers were here before us, and we’ve got
+traditions as well as present honour.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But that makes it all the worse!” Jean said. “Of
+course, Mother was here, and she told us about the
+School from the time we could walk. She’s terribly
+proud of it. She regards us as about six, and she’ll be
+horrified if she thinks there is a chance of slumping to
+people like us for prefects!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you have got to see that it isn’t a slump.”
+The Captain swung the dusty racquet slowly to and
+fro, looking at them thoughtfully. “You’ll be sixteen;
+I was only that when I got my prefect’s badge——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but you——!” broke in the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course, I know I was a marvel!” The tall
+girl laughed at their eager faces. “Just between you
+and me, I wasn’t a marvel in the least. I was fairly
+harum-scarum, and the idea of responsibility appalled
+me. I thought the girls would just yell with laughter
+at the idea of my being a prefect.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They certainly will at us!” said Jo, ruefully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, they didn’t—much. And they stop laughing
+after a while, as you’ll find. You don’t want to get
+fussed or worried—only go straight ahead. If you get
+it into everybody’s mind that certain things are done,
+just as certain things aren’t done, simply because it’s
+the School—well, you won’t have much trouble. You
+two have a tremendous start, because your mother
+was here before you, and because you grew up with the
+School in your bones. Just remember that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I thought it was the other way round!”
+Jean said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you owls, how can it be? Who’s likely to do
+best for the School—you, brought up on its traditions,
+or young Pearlie Alexander, who’s not quite happy
+that her people didn’t send her to Kooringal, ’cause she
+thinks it’s a shade smarter than Merriwa? And smartness,
+to her type, simply means richer fathers and
+bigger motors. If she went to Kooringal and thought
+Eversleigh College had a few more Rolls-Royces
+pulling up before it, she’d want to go there. What
+does the school itself matter to the Pearlie type?
+They make me tired!” She laughed. “I can
+say what I like about her because she’s leaving!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins laughed in sympathy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s comforting to think you don’t believe
+we’d make a hopeless mess of it,” Jo said. “We’ll
+try to believe it too, but it’s difficult. And the most
+difficult of all will be to make the School believe it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen slipped off the table and inserted the racquet
+into a crevice in the packing-case.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, the School won’t worry you much,” she said.
+“Don’t start off with thinking about all your problems
+at once; take each day’s work as it comes, and leave
+to-morrow’s to look after itself. Remember, you’re
+not going to be prefects all at once, either, so you’ve
+time to hatch out a good manner!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If ever I see Jo with a prefectorial manner I’ll
+cease to believe that she’s my twin!” uttered Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What about yourself?” demanded Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I could roll the ridiculous pair of you out into
+one large prefect I believe I’d have an excellent one!”
+said Helen, laughing. “Stop worrying over six months
+hence, and help me pack my books; there’s an empty
+box in the corner by the fire-place. Oh, and remember,
+too, Ellen Webster will be Captain, and a jolly good captain
+she’ll be. Keep your eye on her, and pick up points.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right-oh!” said the twins, falling upon the
+empty box and transporting it to the book-case.
+“What goes in first, Helen?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The fat ones—line the box with paper, though.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. If we’d known about this prefect idea
+we’d have spent all this term watching you. I’d have
+followed you about with a note-book.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then thank goodness you didn’t know! At least
+I’ve had my last term in peace,” laughed Helen.
+“And when poor old Ellen finds you trailing her with
+lifted pencil, don’t tell her it was I who put you on to
+watch her, or my memory will be blackened for ever.
+By the way, twinses, you’ll find it quite helpful to talk
+to Miss Dampier if you’re in difficulties.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins looked more round-eyed than ever.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Does one really talk to her—ever?” queried Jean.
+“I merely quake in my shoes when I meet her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, one doesn’t take her actual problems, unless
+it’s absolutely necessary. But a talk about things in
+general helps one on a lot. She’s awfully human
+when you get to know her, really, and you’ve no idea
+how much she understands. Of course I began by
+thinking she was just one’s natural enemy, but I grew
+out of it. You will, too. She remembers your mother,
+too—she was a junior mistress in her time—and so she
+expects things of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It seems to be a big responsibility to be born with
+the School in one’s family, so to speak,” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well it is, in a way. But responsibility’s a jolly
+good thing for every one,” the Captain remarked.
+“Now, that’s enough sermonizing, and I’m sick of
+packing. Thanks ever so for doing the books. I’ve
+got leave to take five girls down to St. Kilda to bathe—will
+you two come?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins gave an ecstatic yelp of acquiescence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then go and collect Gladys and Nita: I’ve collected
+Ellen already. Hurry them up—we’ll all meet
+here in ten minutes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bathing was always a joy, but it generally took
+place in large parties, under the supervision of two
+house-mistresses, so anxious for the safety of the non-swimmers
+that discipline was very strict. Even Nita,
+who was like a fish in the water, was wont to say that
+it made her nervous to feel that Miss Morrison was
+ranging to and fro on the gallery like a panther, holding
+her breath when a girl dived, and emitting a bursting
+sigh of relief when her head at length popped into sight.
+But at the end of the term, when rules and regulations
+were relaxing, parties of senior girls known to swim well
+were sometimes allowed to go down without a mistress
+in charge, if at least two prefects were among their
+number. Invitations to these swims were much prized,
+and the twins felt that even if the cares and responsibilities
+of age were descending upon them, so also
+were some of its delights, as they fled about the business
+of “collecting” Gladys and Nita.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ten minutes later the cheerful band hurried down
+the wide garden path, followed by the envious glances
+of girls who lay here and there under the pepper-trees
+enduring the hot afternoon as best they might. Someone
+begged Jo lazily to bring her back a strawberry
+ice, a dismal pleasantry which evoked groans from its
+hearers. Outside, the pavement felt sticky underfoot
+with the heat. Little eddies of winds swirled here
+and there, scattering dead leaves and scraps of dusty
+paper. On the shady side of the street a few tired
+children toiled home from school, swinging straps of
+books; but there were not many people to be seen.
+Even the tram which the girls boarded presently was
+nearly empty, and the conductor seemed almost too
+tired to collect their fares. He perched on his tiny
+seat at the back of the car, glanced with a covetous
+eye at their rubber bathing-bags, and remarked audibly
+to himself that it was better to be born lucky than rich!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The esplanade at St. Kilda lay grilling under the
+heat, the yellow sand of the beach contrasting sharply
+with the wilted green of the strip of garden and lawn
+that lies between the roadway and the shore. Beyond
+gleamed a grey expanse of sea, its surface not marked
+by the tiniest wave until it broke in lazy ripples on the
+beach, where hundreds of children were bathing and
+paddling. The sands were churned into hills and
+hollows by innumerable feet: greasy lunch-papers
+littered them, with crumpled bags that had once held
+cakes and fruit. Rows of deck-chairs bore the forms
+of slumbering grown-ups; here and there a mother
+roused herself to shout to Tommy and Winnie that they
+were going too far into the water and had better come
+out, now, and behave. Babies crawled everywhere,
+fighting, falling over, and eating sand and strange
+treasure-trove of the littered beach. As the girls
+watched, one crawled straight into the sea, laughing
+gleefully at the warm touch of the shallow water. A
+half-naked little brother pursued it, shouting threats
+and dragged it up the sand, fulfilling his promise
+of a smack. The baby howled distressfully, and the
+mother stirred to say, “Now, Willie, whatcher doin’?
+Couldn’t yer let ’er alone for ’arf a minute?” She gave
+the annoyed baby a cake, and the baby ceased howling,
+and fell upon it wolfishly, its joy in it not at all disturbed
+by the fact that between bites it generally fell into the
+sand. Willie also seized a cake, and departed, with the
+puzzled air of one who, having done his duty, receives
+no commendation. The mother slumbered again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you hate city beaches?” Jo asked; and
+Jean nodded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Think of Anderson’s Inlet beside this,” said Nita,
+“up at the Eagle’s Rest, with the tide coming in and
+filling all those jolly rock-pools. Clean, hard sand
+that you can gallop a horse along; and such bathing.
+It’s like soda-water to bathe in at night, all sparkle
+and foam, and you just tingle all over after it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know,” Gladys said. “I was nearly washed out
+by a wave on those rocks one day: it came unexpectedly
+when I’d just been taking photographs, a sort of lone
+wave that rushed in ever so much farther than any of
+its mates. I had to hang on like grim death, and it
+washed the rock clear of everything but me. Camera,
+book, lunch-basket—they all went off to the Antarctic:
+and I had five miles to walk home, soaked to the skin.
+It <span class='it'>was</span> jolly!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It sounds jolly,” said Helen, laughing. “It’s
+almost hard to believe there are waves like that when
+you’re looking at that tame sea in front of us—it looks
+as if it were made of grey oil.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Grey oil or not, it’s all we’ve got to-day, and I won’t
+have it abused,” Ellen Webster said. “Come on,
+girls; we’re wasting precious time.” She led the way
+along the pier that led out to the baths.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were scores of bobbing heads in the water
+within. At the shallow end the sea seemed full of
+small girls, splashing about within their depths; and
+every inch of the rope that stretched across from side to
+side, where the water was three feet deep, was occupied
+by clinging hands, whose owners swung themselves up
+and down in the waves with shrieks of delight. The
+shallower the water, the more incessant were the
+screams of the bathers. Farther out they became
+quieter, though wild yells rose from one place where a
+band of mermaids played a kind of water-polo with a
+huge ball. In the deep water at the extreme end,
+peace reigned: only a few strong swimmers were to be
+seen there, moving quietly along, or floating lazily. A
+big, black-backed gull perched on a water-worn post,
+crusted with barnacles, and gazed at the scene, probably
+reflecting that nothing so queer was likely to meet his
+vision again between there and the South Pole.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A railed gallery ran round the baths, overlooking the
+water. Dressing-boxes opened from it, trails of wet
+foot-marks leading from them to the flights of steps
+that gave access to the sea. The gallery was crowded
+with onlookers, among whom forms in bathing-suits,
+wet and dry, edged swiftly, with due regard for bare
+feet among the many shod. Occasionally a soaked
+bather, hurrying to dress, cannoned into an immaculate
+damsel in a crisp frock, greatly to the destruction of her
+crispness. The crowd of spectators was thickest near
+a spring-board jutting out over the deep water, where a
+girl capered gaily, making the board leap up and down
+until it fairly bucked her off. She turned a double
+somersault in mid-air before she struck the water.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s Alice Pearce,” said Nita. “I heard she’d
+broken six spring-boards this season. It must be an
+expensive amusement.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wouldn’t you just <span class='it'>love</span> to be able to dive like that,
+Jo?” Jean murmured; and her twin breathed,
+“Rather!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had some difficulty in finding vacant dressing-boxes;
+every one seemed occupied, and sometimes by
+the wet and dry together. Finally they were lucky
+in finding three, in which a party of Kooringal girls were
+dressing after their bathe; and having inherited these
+damp and darksome abodes, were quickly ready for
+the water. Making for the nearest steps, they dived in,
+swam out to a raised platform in the middle of the deep
+part of the baths, and sat on it for a moment to rest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Glorious, isn’t it!” ejaculated Helen. “Look
+at those girls!”—as two swimmers flashed by, using
+a powerful trudgeon stroke. “They’re practising for
+the swimming carnival. Now, I wonder did she mean
+to do that?” she added, as Jo tumbled off the platform
+in a casual manner, and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t know,” Jean answered, laughing. “I’ll
+go and see!” She tumbled in, in the same fashion, and
+fell squarely upon her twin, who was just rising to the
+surface. They vanished together, to reappear, presently,
+having apparently had a heated altercation
+under water.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“With all the sea to jump into, she had to choose
+the exact spot I was using!” grumbled Jo, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s because you’re twinses, and have everything
+alike,” said Nita. “Come on—let’s go out to the deep
+end. I’ll race you!” She went off, with swift overarm
+strokes. Nita was the champion swimmer of the
+private schools, and Merriwa was justly proud of her.
+Therefore they reviled her as they panted after her,
+finally reaching the deep end to find her placidly
+floating on her back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Old leviathan!” grumbled Helen affectionately,
+turning on her back near her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I splash horribly, but I get there—some time or
+other,” panted Gladys. “Nita, how do you manage to
+swim as fast as a porpoise, which you resemble, and
+never make a bubble of splash?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All done by kindness!” said Nita, lazily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let’s lean on you, Nita, darling!” The twins
+arrived on either side of her, and leant, heavily and
+suddenly. Nita went under for an instant, and reappearing,
+with a roll which in truth was like that of a
+porpoise, ducked them both, in a thorough and scientific
+manner. Every one seemed to become involved
+in the process, and the sea was churned by the throes of
+the Merriwiggians. Ellen Webster was the first to emerge
+from the turmoil. She swam to the nearest steps, and
+sat upon the lowest, drawing her knees up to her chin.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You look like a witch brooding over the deep!”
+Gladys told her. Ellen was small, with rather sharp
+features and twinkling eyes, and the insult held a
+certain amount of truth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I were to say what <span class='it'>you</span> all look like it would
+need a vocabulary unbefitting a vice-captain!”
+retorted Ellen. “Remember, young ladies, you are
+not allowed out without a keeper so that you may
+indulge in unseemly horse-play! Your conduct is
+sadly lacking in either deportment or——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s drowning in her own eloquence!” remarked
+Nita. “Come, and we’ll save her, girls!” They
+made a rush at the orator, who tried to escape up the
+steps, but being caught by what Jo termed “the hind
+leg,” was ignominiously hauled back into the water,
+where she became the victim of all known methods
+of rescuing the apparently drowned. Then, not
+because the sea had lost any of its charm, but because
+time was slipping away, they swam back to the dressing-boxes,
+making as quick a toilet as their soaked hair
+would permit.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rubber caps are a delusion and a snare if you once
+happen to go under water,” remarked Helen disgustedly
+as they walked along the pier to the shore. “Ugh!
+another drop has slid down my back!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t be helped.” Gladys shook her own lank
+and dripping locks. “Anyhow, we’re all alike—except
+the twinses. They have an altogether unfair
+advantage!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins grinned. They had worn their hair close-cropped
+until they came to school, following an attack
+of fever in which, like good twins, they had indulged
+together, and their hair had been compulsorily shorn.
+It was growing again now, but the growth was slow,
+and their dark locks clustered about their necks in
+curls that refused to reach their shoulders. It made
+them look younger than they were, and had the effect
+of enhancing a resemblance to each other that the
+School declared little short of criminal. Even Miss
+Dampier often had distressing doubts as to whether
+she were dealing at the moment with Jean or Jo. The
+twins were quick to recognize any signs of doubt as to
+their identity, and had never been known to relieve
+such doubts unless compelled by authority.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never mind,” said Ellen Webster. “We’ll soon
+be hot enough to welcome anything dripping down
+our backs. Who says ices?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Every one said ices, with one voice. They sauntered
+to the café perched half-way down the big pier, and
+voiced their demands, following the ices with tea and
+many cakes, regardless of consequences. Then Helen,
+with the recklessness of one about to leave, ordered
+raspberries and cream all round; and at length,
+sustained and refreshed, the Merriwiggians turned
+their steps homeward. The crowd on the pier was
+beginning to thin: people were going home to tea,
+and only the fishing enthusiasts, who sit on the edge
+of the pier and angle perpetually for fish that never
+bite, showed no signs of moving. On the beach
+mothers were collecting children, wet, sandy, and
+tired. The trams were crowded, and the girls obtained
+places with difficulty, “strap-hanging” until they
+changed from the beach tram into the one that took
+them close to the School.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s been lovely,” Jo said, as the iron gate of
+Merriwa closed behind them. “And I don’t want
+tea one bit!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nobody did. There was, indeed, a general shudder
+at the bare idea of a meal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve got to face it, anyhow,” said Helen. “And
+you’d better all take notice that we’ve only about five
+minutes to change!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The urgency of this discovery mastered any more
+personal feelings. They scattered to their rooms, in a
+wild endeavour to achieve the well-groomed appearance
+that Miss Dampier was unfeeling enough to demand,
+in all circumstances. A junior, still in the flush of
+hero-worship that surrounds tennis championships,
+hailed the twins as they reached their door.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Letter for you in the rack. Shall I get it for you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do, there’s a good kid!” Jo gasped, struggling
+with buttons as she ran. “Give it to us at tea—we
+haven’t time to sneeze!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The letter lay between them throughout tea, while
+they gallantly tried to obey Ellen Webster’s whispered
+injunction at the door—“Assume an appetite, though
+you have it not!” Luckily, the night was hot enough
+to cause a general disinclination for food, and no one
+in authority paid any special attention to the lack of
+interest in the meal manifested by the bathing party.
+Jean and Jo cast longing glances at their letter, wishing
+that the time of release would come, and set them free
+to read it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was a rather thick letter, addressed in their
+father’s firm writing in the style in which he always
+addressed them—“Miss J. Weston.” Mother might
+give them the individual Jean or Josephine, or lump
+them together as “The Misses Weston,” but Father
+held that these distinctions, with twins, were merely
+waste of time, since anything he had to say was sure
+to be said to both. A letter from him was rather a
+rarity, and the twins puzzled a little over it as tea
+dragged slowly on.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Queer that Father should write, when we’ll be
+home in three days,” Jo said. “I wonder what he’s
+writing about.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thank goodness, there’s Miss Dampier standing
+up for grace, so we can cut off and read it,” Jean
+answered, getting to her feet. The School rose, and
+after grace was said, filed out of the long room. As
+the twins passed Miss Dampier, she beckoned to them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have had your father’s letter?” she asked.
+They fancied her face was rather grave.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We got it just before tea,” Jean answered. “We
+haven’t had time to read it yet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I heard from him, also,” the Head remarked.
+“Come and see me in the study when you have read
+yours.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Something in her tone sent swift alarm into the
+twins’ faces.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they’re quite well—don’t worry,” Miss Dampier
+said hastily. “Run along to your room and read your
+letter quietly.”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='43' id='Page_43'></span><h1>CHAPTER IV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>A LETTER FROM HOME</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>T</span>HE twins did not lose a moment. They edged
+through the crowd of girls, dodged one or two
+laughing queries about their bathe, and, gaining the
+staircase, fled up to their eyrie on the second floor.
+It was a little room, with a big window, and a deep
+window-seat from which could be seen the Bay and
+the big liners going up and down on their way backwards
+and forwards across the world. The twins
+loved their window-seat, and generally read their
+home-letters in it. But when they had read this one
+they faced each other with eyes wide with dismay.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Father had gone straight to his point. That was
+like Father: he never wasted time.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote100percent'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“<span class='sc'>My dear little Girls</span>,—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I had meant to keep the news I have to give you
+until you came home. But it occurs to me that it is
+better to let you know at once.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This has been a very bad year for me, as you
+know—not that you have known everything, for
+Mother and I haven’t believed in worrying you unnecessarily.
+You’re only kiddies, and we hoped the
+bad times would pass. But they haven’t passed. The
+drought has hit me very hard: I bought stock dear
+last year, and had to sell them for next to nothing this
+year, because I hadn’t feed for them. The stock I
+have still are as poor as crows, and I am only keeping
+them alive by buying feed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I might have managed, however, but for an extra
+bit of bad luck. Before things got very bad I lent
+an old friend a big sum of money, expecting it to be
+paid back last month; and the long and the short
+of it is, that he’s as hard hit as I am, and hasn’t got
+it to pay back. Goodness knows if he’ll ever be able
+to pay.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So I’ve got to retrench, and I only wish I could
+do it all myself, instead of involving Mother and you
+children. But that’s just what I can’t do. We shall
+have to spend just as little money as possible, and
+it will mean sending away the servants, living very
+simply, and—I must take you two from school. I
+hate to say it, but there’s no help for it. School costs
+me close on £300 a year, and I can’t spare it. Besides,
+we’ll need your help. I know you’ll save
+Mother in the house as much as you can, and I think
+you should be able to teach Billy for a year or so.
+That will save a governess. Possibly you’ll even give
+me a hand on the place now and then, for I must do
+with as little outside labour as I can. I expect I can
+reckon on you two when I need a couple of extra
+hands, mustering.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo gulped at this point. “Isn’t he a darling?”
+she said irrelevantly.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote100percent'>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s all, and I’m afraid it’s an awful
+bombshell for you, little chaps. It might have been
+better to wait to tell you, but we have always faced
+things, and I thought you might prefer to tell your
+mates yourselves, instead of having to write explanations
+and good-byes. I’m writing to tell Miss
+Dampier. I shall always be sorry that Mother’s old
+School had only a year’s chance at you: the School
+that turned out Mother has a big thing to its credit,
+and I was awfully glad to send you there. It is a
+bitter disappointment to us both to have to take you
+away. I wish I’d been able to manage better for
+you, kiddies.</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;'>“Your loving</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'>“<span class='sc'>Father</span>.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, poor old chap!” said Jean. “Poor old chap!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, isn’t it just rotten luck for him!” said Jo.
+“My word, Jean, we’ll have to buck up and help him!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Which remarks Miss Dampier would certainly have
+condemned on principle as unladylike. But it is
+doubtful if Father would have found any fault.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother simply isn’t fit to do much work, of
+course,” said Jean. “I wonder what we can do, Jo.
+Do you suppose we can run things for her?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll have a jolly hard try,” responded her twin.
+“After all, we ought to be able to do a good bit.
+But—Jean—<span class='it'>Sarah</span>? Can you imagine Mother without
+Sarah!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah had been part and parcel of the Weston
+household as long as the twins could remember. There
+had never been a time when she had not ruled unquestioned
+in the kitchen: tall, lean to the point of
+scragginess, dour and short of speech, but with a
+heart of gold that belonged entirely to her mistress.
+Housemaids came and went, after the manner of
+housemaids, but Sarah was as the fixed stars. When
+sickness came she was a tower of strength: nothing
+came amiss to her, and she would sit up all night as
+tirelessly as she would work all day. Mrs. Weston
+was not strong, and Sarah watched over her as a
+warlike hen watches a delicate chick. It was unthinkable
+that Mother should be without her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But—but he said, ‘the servants.’ And there’s
+only Sarah and Amy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then he <span class='it'>must</span> mean Sarah. Well, I guess it will
+take a team of bullocks to drag her away!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father wouldn’t keep her unless he could pay her,”
+Jean said. “My goodness, how poor he must have got!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And I ate three ices this afternoon,” said Jo,
+contritely. “I wish I hadn’t been such a greedy pig!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I did, too,” said Jean. “Why didn’t we get the
+letter a post earlier, and we needn’t have spent all
+that money going to bathe!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s gone now,” Jo said, mournfully. “Anyhow,
+I suppose it’s only a drop in the bucket,” she
+sighed. “And I know he was hoping to be able to
+get a motor for Mother next year. Now I suppose
+it’s doubtful if we’ll even be able to keep the ponies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The <span class='it'>ponies</span>?” Jean exclaimed. “You don’t
+mean to say you think they’ll have to go? Why,
+Jo—I just couldn’t imagine you without Pilot!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo blinked something away rapidly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can’t quite imagine myself,” she said dolefully.
+“Or you without Punch: it’s just as awful. But
+Father will simply <span class='it'>have</span> to keep Cruiser, Jean, ’cause
+he couldn’t work the place without him. That’s one
+comfort, at any rate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Unless his awful sense of duty makes him sell
+Cruiser and ride some old crock,” Jean said. “It
+would be just like him to do that. But we’ll make
+mother put her foot down about it—he won’t do it
+if he realizes how we’d all hate to see him riding any
+horse except Cruiser.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo nodded agreement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder Mother didn’t write,” she said. “But
+I suppose she’s pretty busy: and she’s just waiting
+to talk it all out when we get home. How do you
+think we’ll get on at teaching Billy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there will be a good deal of wool flying, now
+and then,” she said. “Billy hasn’t been exactly
+all jam for the governesses—he won’t be keen
+on obeying a mere pair of sisters. Perhaps it would
+have been as well if we’d had a bit of experience as
+prefects first.” She hesitated, looking out across the
+Bay at the sunset sky, against which the tall masts
+of a wheat-ship showed black and slender. “And
+only this afternoon we were scared blue at the very
+idea of becoming prefects!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it needn’t scare us now,” Jo said, drily.
+“Oh, Jean, it’s going to be hateful to leave!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, isn’t it?” Jean said. “And it’s hateful to
+have to tell every one—so we’d better get it over as
+soon as we can. Let’s go and see Miss Dampier, and
+then tell the girls.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right,” Jo answered. “And if young Pearlie
+Alexander patronizes us I’ll—I’ll—well, I’ll cease to
+be a perfect lady immediately!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll have to begin by being one, first,” responded
+her twin. “And so far, there hasn’t been any sign
+of it!” At which they managed to laugh, and so
+took not uncheerful countenances to the study where
+Miss Dampier sat reading the evening paper.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Head was not at all cheery. She was to be
+bereft of so many of her seniors that next year’s discipline
+presented something of a problem to her; in
+addition, she was genuinely fond of the twins and of
+their mother, and sympathized very heartily in their
+difficulties. She spoke so kindly that Jo and Jean
+found her suddenly more human than they had ever
+imagined that she could be, and talked freely to her
+of their disappointment and their hopes and fears for
+the future. It came upon both with a shock of horror,
+later on, that they had used slang expressions several
+times, and that the Head had never seemed to notice it!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She dismissed them at length, and they went slowly
+down the passage that led to the senior girls’ studies.
+No preparation was done on the last nights of term;
+already the holiday spirit had infected every one.
+From the big schoolroom came the notes of a piano
+and a shouted chorus that showed that the junior
+school was making merry. Several of the studies
+they passed were in darkness, their doors ajar, their
+owners released from the tedium of nightly toil. Helen
+Forester’s door was also ajar, but light streamed from
+it, and the sound of many voices. The twins looked in.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hullo, you two!” Nita Anderson greeted them.
+“We thought you had succumbed to the mingled
+effects of bathing and ice-cream. And then an awestruck
+junior reported that you had gone to Miss
+Dampier’s room. Anything wrong?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pretty awfully wrong—for us,” Jo said. “We’ve
+got to leave school!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—<span class='it'>twinses</span>!” Helen Forester’s voice was a cry
+of distress. She crossed the room quickly, putting
+an arm round each. “Not—not your mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no. Mother’s all right,” Jean answered
+“It’s just horrid old money.” Her face was flushed,
+but she kept her head up, looking bravely at the
+concerned faces round her. “Father’s been awfully
+hard hit by the drought—he kept things from us as
+long as ever he could, hoping they’d pull round, and
+they haven’t. The stock haven’t anything to eat,
+and he’s buying feed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She stopped, on the verge of further revelations.
+Suddenly she realized that her father would not like
+her to speak of the friend to whom he had lent money,
+and who had failed to return it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Got to cut down expenses.” Jo took up the story.
+“School-bills are simply awful, of course, ’specially
+for people as fond of ices as we are! House-expenses,
+too—we’re going to be cooks and bottlewashers, and
+teach Billy in the intervals. Billy doesn’t respect us
+at all, so I don’t know how <span class='it'>that’s</span> going to answer.
+But we shan’t have a dull moment.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She stopped abruptly: so far she had rattled on,
+but she knew that her voice would not carry her much
+farther. She was desperately afraid of pity. But no
+one pitied them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you are bricks!” Helen said, cheerily.
+“Such a chance: we always talk, or think, about
+doing things for our people, but it generally ends in
+their doing everything for us, in the same old way.
+Now you two are really going to do things. You’ll
+have no end of fun.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her eyes sought Ellen Webster’s, saying silently,
+“Back me up!” Ellen responded promptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Woe is me!” she said, dismally. “Here are
+you off to Ceylon, Helen, and all the others to frivol
+or be artistic, and who is going to support me? I’d
+depended on the twinses. They were going to be
+kept under my eagle eye and gradually hatched into
+the perfect prefect! Now they’ll be fully-fledged
+housekeepers, and they’ll look down on me as a little
+schoolgirl. It isn’t fair!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This point of view had very naturally failed to
+present itself to Jean and Jo. It had not occurred
+to them that any one could possibly feel aggrieved at
+their going. Being only human, they found it cheering.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But we don’t want to go a bit——” they began.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you think you don’t. But wait until you’ve
+been home a few months, running things, and see
+how you’d feel at the idea of coming back—back to
+being put in your place by Smithy, and asked at short
+notice for the subjunctive of a hideous irregular French
+verb, or made to walk in a crocodile every day!
+Catch either of you giving up your independence,
+once you’ve got it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But we shan’t be independent—you seem to
+forget there’s Mother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—but I know you two!” said Ellen darkly.
+“I’ve been vice-captain for a year, and I pity your
+hapless parents!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, poor things!” Nita agreed. “Of course,
+they won’t be hapless for ever—the drought will
+break, and stock will go up with a rush, and they’ll
+become horribly rich——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This isn’t a story,” said Jo, regarding her sternly.
+“It’s real life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s what I’m talking about,” said Nita,
+much injured. “This is the way it happens in the
+best circles. I wish you wouldn’t interrupt me just
+as I get thrilling. Where was I?—oh, yes, horribly
+rich, and then they’ll send the twinses to France and
+Switzerland, to finish off, and they’ll be touring the
+world when they ought to be thinking of Junior Public
+Exams. Their characters will be ruined, of course,
+but they’ll have a gorgeous time!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Grace. “Then they’ll come home and
+find me painting for a crust, in a torn overall, and
+they’ll charitably give me three-and-elevenpence for
+my landscapes——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And sell them at a jumble sale!” put in Nita
+cruelly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I suppose so. That’s how great charitable
+reputations are worked up. And they’ll look at me
+through lorgnettes, and say to themselves, ‘Dear me,
+and to think we were at school with that old thing!
+Hasn’t she grown into a perfect haybag?’ Because,
+being purse-proud and ignorant, they won’t know an
+artistic figure when they see it. And they’ll ask me
+what has become of that queer, gawky Nita Anderson,
+and I shall reply, ‘Oh, quite dropped out of decent
+society—she’s taken to golf!’ ”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The soft drawl ceased abruptly, as the outraged
+Nita picked up the artistic one in her muscular arms
+and deposited her on the sofa, where she sat upon
+her, to keep her quiet, she explained. When the
+tumult caused by this interlude had subsided—it had
+managed to include most of those present—the twins
+were so weak with laughter that their troubles seemed
+faint and far-off things. The cheery chaff went on—they
+were somehow the centre of it, and they knew
+that every one else was trying to “buck them up.”
+It was only decent to respond; “blues” were for
+private consumption only, and must not be allowed
+to darken end-of-term gatherings. So the twins
+became as cheerful as anyone, and put away resolutely
+the spectres of drought and unpaid bills and household
+worries. Later on, these would have their place;
+to-night was to-night, and every one must be merry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bed-time came, and, one by one, the girls drifted
+away until there were only Helen and Ellen Webster
+left. The twins were perched, cross-legged, on each
+end of the Chesterfield couch, and Ellen looked at
+them, her queer, elfin face, with its sharp features,
+settling into its accustomed gravity.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ve ragged all the evening, but I’m going
+to be serious for two minutes,” she said: “just long
+enough to say I’m horribly sorry you’re going.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks,” the twins said, nodding at her. “But
+we’d never have made decent prefects, Ellen—truly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve my own opinion about that. But apart from
+being prefects, I’m going to miss you. You don’t
+seem to consider I’ve a thought apart from prefecting!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, we’re going to miss you. Oh, my goodness,
+how we’re going to miss every one!” Jo breathed.
+“Even the irregular verbs and the crocodile. We’ve
+had an awful lot of fun this year!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t look forward to nearly so much as I’ve
+had,” sighed Ellen. “You two cheerful lunatics will
+be gone, for one thing: so will Helen, whom I mustn’t
+call a lunatic, because she’s Captain, but who is very
+cheerful. And nearly all the old set will be gone, and
+I’ll be left like a pelican on the housetop. But it’s
+worst of all for you, because you’ll have worries as
+well. I just wanted you to know I was sorry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ve all been jolly good,” Jean said. “I don’t
+suppose we realize the worries yet. Of course we’ve
+never been rich, but we’ve had all we wanted. That’s
+one way of being rich, I expect. But it’s going to be
+horrid to think Father and Mother have worries we
+can’t help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you <span class='it'>are</span> going to help. Look at all you’ll be
+saving them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but that doesn’t seem like making money.
+If only we could keep Sarah for Mother—’cause Sarah
+understands all about her, and she’s as good as a
+nurse if she’s ill. I wouldn’t care how hard we worked,
+if only we could keep Sarah. But it’s no use wishing.
+No one is much good when they aren’t even sixteen
+yet,” finished Jo, with an utter lack of grammar and
+a woe-begone expression.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—as far as making money goes, you can’t
+expect to be marvels,” Ellen agreed. “But do remember
+that you’re helping when you save, because that
+will help you yourselves—ever so much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re going to help in dozens of ways, and most
+of all by bucking them up,” said Helen firmly. “No
+worries can be half so bad with you cheery twinses
+about. You’ve just got to go home and be Knights
+of the Cheerful Countenance, and that’s something a
+long way better than money. And don’t forget that
+bad times don’t last for ever—especially if you make
+up your mind not to regard them as bad. Now, just
+uncurl yourselves from those sofa-ends and go off to
+bed, or Miss Dampier will ask if I’ve already ceased
+to be Captain!”</p>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illo48.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
+<p class='caption'>“The twins loved their window-seat, and generally read their home-letters in it.”<br/> <span class='it'>The Twins of Emu Plains</span>] [<span class='it'>Page 43</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='54' id='Page_54'></span><h1>CHAPTER V<br/> <span class='sub-head'>HELEN HAS AN IDEA</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟T</span>WINSES, are you awake?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Jean and Jo, together.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had awakened early, and had lain for an hour
+discussing their father’s news, and trying to face
+all that it meant for them. Last night had been a
+kind of whirl, in which it was difficult to realize anything;
+but in the quiet of the summer morning it
+was easier to look steadily at the future. They had
+re-read Mr. Weston’s letter, with a fresh rush of pity
+for the pain that lay between its lines. Dimly they
+realized what it had cost him to write it. It made
+them ache to make things easier for him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen’s voice broke across a wild vision on the part
+of Jo, in which she had just discovered a gold-mine
+in one of the back paddocks, and had so put an end
+for ever to financial shortage. Jean was as thrilled
+as she over this dazzling prospect, and they both
+started violently at the interruption.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen came in, very tall and impressive in her
+kimono, with two long plaits of fair hair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought you’d be awake,” she said, sitting down
+on the edge of a bed. “I’ve had a gorgeous idea,
+and I simply couldn’t wait any longer to tell you
+about it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is it?” burst from the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you know, you mustn’t be offended. But
+you’ve got too much sense to be that. You made me
+think of it by saying you wished you could make
+some money to help your father.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Try us!” said Jo briefly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s my young brother, Rex. You know
+I told you the other day that he was rather a problem
+to us—we don’t know what to do with him when we
+go to Colombo. Mother has been at her wits’ end for a
+place to depot him. He had a bad illness eight months
+ago, and we don’t want to send him to boarding-school
+until he’s twelve. Not that he isn’t strong enough;
+but he just wants a bit of extra care—or Mother
+thinks he does, which comes to the same thing. She
+would like him to run wild for a year or two, with
+just enough teaching to keep him from being too
+much of a dunce.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” said the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—we’re not short of money, you know, but
+it’s one of the places where money doesn’t help one
+much. Mother said in her last letter that she and
+Father wouldn’t care what they paid if only they could
+get the sort of home they want for him. But they
+just couldn’t come across anything, and they’ve been
+ever so worried, for Father simply <span class='it'>must</span> start for
+Colombo this month.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jolly rough on your mother,” said Jo sympathetically.
+“I wish we could help, Helen: I know
+Mother would take Rex like a shot, only I suppose
+I’d better not tell her now, with things as mixed as
+they are. If we were even going to keep Sarah——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But that’s just it!” Helen cried excitedly. “I
+want you to take him. Only you’ll have to make
+Mr. and Mrs. Weston put their pride in their pocket
+and let us pay for him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins’ faces expressed blank amazement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pay? For a friend? Well, you <span class='it'>are</span> queer,
+Helen!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t be horrid and difficult!” Helen begged.
+“Don’t you see that’s the only thing that makes it
+possible even for me to speak of it? We must pay
+for him somewhere: if we can’t find the sort of place
+we want we’ll probably have to send him to some
+boarding-house in the hills with a governess that we
+don’t know anything about—a horrible arrangement,
+and as far as payment goes it would cost ever so much
+more. But to send him to you people would be just
+ideal for us: Mother would know that Mrs. Weston
+would mother the little chap, and Mr. Weston would
+keep him straightened up, and you two could teach
+him—you’re going to teach Billy, and you might just
+as well have another pupil. Mother would go off to
+Colombo feeling as if she hadn’t a care in the world
+if Rex were at your place!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, we’d love to have him,” said Jean. “But—to
+be <span class='it'>paid</span>——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You were saying only last night how you wanted
+to earn money,” Helen interrupted. “Well, does
+it matter from whom you earn it? If you were
+trained nurses, do you mean to say you would only
+go to strangers? I think it’s just splendid if we can
+manage to help each other, and make things simpler
+all round.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She glared triumphantly upon the twins, who sat
+in puzzled silence. She was Captain, and her words
+sounded very like sense: but all their instincts of
+hospitality and friendship were at war with her proposal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Think!” said the artful one. “You needn’t
+even ask your father and mother—they’d never turn
+us down, once you’d made the arrangement. Such
+a chance for you to help them—to say nothing of us!
+Why, it would mean that you could keep old Sarah—and
+think what a difference that would make! Even
+if you aren’t sixteen you can manage it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins drew a long breath. It was a dazzling
+prospect. Hard times with Sarah seemed only a
+circumstance to hard times without that rock of
+defence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder—I wonder if Father would be awfully
+wild!” Jo pondered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not he—once it was done. Your father has
+too much sense: how do you think <span class='it'>he</span> feels about
+parting Mrs. Weston from Sarah?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I guess it’s a nightmare to him,” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you’ve got it in your power to spare him
+that, at any rate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean caught at her twin’s hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Jo, let’s do it!” she begged. “It’s only
+silly pride if we don’t, as Helen says. And we’ll do
+our level best to give him a good time and look after
+him. It will be lovely for Billy, too—he’s always
+wanted a mate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It would be altogether lovely,” said Jo,—“if
+only horrid old money didn’t come into it. But I
+agree with you—we’d be stupid not to take such a
+chance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, thank goodness!” said Helen. “Mother
+will feel simply years younger. Now look here, twinses:
+I’m to meet her in town this afternoon, so you had
+better write her a letter, and then she and I can fix
+everything up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right,” said Jo. “Dig out a dictionary, will
+you, Jean?—we mustn’t spoil our chances by putting
+in bad spelling!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you spelt every other word wrong it wouldn’t
+worry Mother just now,” Helen said, laughing. “It’s
+mothering and a jolly home she wants for Rex, not
+higher flights of knowledge!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There are no higher flights about my spelling!”
+said Jo, with decision. “You ask Miss Allpress!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Whereupon the twins politely hinted that solitude
+would be helpful to them, and applied themselves to
+composition; the result being a document over which
+Mrs. Forester smiled in a Melbourne tea-room that
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote100percent'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“<span class='sc'>Dear Mrs. Forester</span>,—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Helen says you want a home for Rex, and she
+thinks you would let him come to us. We think it
+is perfectly awful to take money for having him,
+which we would love to do without any money at all,
+but Helen says it must not be. So, as Father is
+having hard times with the drought and other things,
+and we must leave school and teach Billy, what would
+you think about trusting Rex to us? Mother and
+Father would act as parents to him, we are sure, and
+we would try to make him happy.” (“I <span class='it'>like</span> the division
+of duties!” murmured Mrs. Forester.) “We do not
+know if we are any good at teaching, but we are up
+to Junior Public work, and we are going to teach
+Billy, so he and Rex could have lessons together.
+We would do our best, and each of us could teach the
+subjects she was best at; as, for instance, I cannot do
+French at all, while Jean is a whale at it, and she
+hates mathematics, which I love. We can both teach
+him riding, swimming, and gym. work, and see that
+he baths himself thoroughly, and cleans his teeth.
+Mother and Father do not know anything about our
+proposal, and we know they will hate taking money,
+so we thought we would fix it up without them, if
+you approve, which Helen says she thinks you will.
+We would give him the best time we could, if you let
+us have him, and take tremendous care of him, and
+Billy would love a mate. Wishing you a happy
+Christmas, we are,</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>“Yours sincerely,</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span class='sc'>Jean</span> and <span class='sc'>Jo Weston</span>.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='pindent'>(Jo had said she didn’t think Christmas wishes
+were correct in a letter that was strictly business.
+But Jean had contended that civility always paid,
+and that kind wishes were only civil. She had carried
+her point, after heated discussion.)</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They sound a most cheerful pair,” Mrs. Forester
+said, folding up the letter and putting it carefully
+away in her hand-bag. “I haven’t seen them for
+years.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they’re priceless!” said her daughter. “Thank
+goodness they didn’t leave during my time—but I’m
+sorry for Ellen. They’re so cheery, and absolutely
+straight; the sort of people who are a good influence
+in the school, without having the least idea of it.
+You’ll let Rex go, won’t you, Mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I must consult your father first. But so far as
+I am concerned, I think it is a splendid opportunity.
+To get him with people we know—and especially
+people like the Westons—well, it’s just a wonderful
+chance. Even if he learned nothing at all, I should
+go away happily if I could leave him with the Westons.
+I’ll see Father to-night, and talk it over with him.
+Now I wonder how much those stiff-necked people
+will let us pay for him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They will try to make it about sixpence a week,
+unless you’re firm,” said Helen.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. And boarding-school, with holiday expenses
+as well, would cost about £150, and it wouldn’t be a
+quarter as satisfactory. Well, I must try to clinch
+a bargain with the girls before they see their parents,
+and bind them down to take a decent sum. Poor
+John Weston! I’m very sorry he’s so hard-hit.
+It’s hard on the girls, too. You say they told all the
+school?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes—with their proud little noses well in
+the air. Every one was awfully nice to them though,
+and no one pitied them except young Pearlie Alexander,
+who reeks of money. And Jean looked at her
+and said, ‘Oh, but it’s so horribly boring to stay at
+school after you’re sixteen!’—with such an air that
+Pearlie actually believed her, and felt quite crushed.
+All the small fry have been weeping on their necks—the
+juniors all love them. Lots of girls might have
+their heads turned, but the twinses are sublimely
+unconscious of being regarded with affection by the
+school. Jo merely remarked to me that it was queer
+how decent everybody was to people in a hole!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are they very good-natured and easy-going,
+Helen? Or will they be firm with Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They have heaps of sense,” Helen said slowly.
+“Of course they haven’t been tried out at school yet,
+but I should think, from their way with the juniors,
+that they wouldn’t stand any nonsense.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rex needs firmness,” Mrs. Forester said, a little
+anxiously. “He has got rather out of hand lately—Father
+has had to be away so much, and I have been
+busy preparing the house for being shut up. He has
+had no lessons since Miss Green left.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, there will be Mr. Weston. I don’t suppose
+he is likely to let Master Rex think he can do as he
+likes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not if he has time to be bothered with him. However,
+Rex is less likely to get his own way in a household
+like the Westons’ than with a governess in a boarding-house;
+and we were beginning to face that possibility.
+If the twins are sensible with him, he will be all right—I
+mean, if they don’t pet him. Not that Rex is
+altogether pettable!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You needn’t worry about that,” Helen said
+decidedly. “They have a little brother of their own—I
+fancy the ways of small boys are quite well known
+to them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that’s a great help,” her mother said. “Well,
+I shan’t worry—except as to the possibility of Mr.
+and Mrs. Weston putting a veto on the proposal
+altogether.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So Helen carried back a hopeful message to the
+anxiously awaiting twins; and next evening they
+rushed into her study with excited faces, waving a
+letter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s all settled, Helen! What a nice mother
+you’ve got!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve suspected it for some years,” remarked Helen,
+laughing. “What has she done now?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Listen! It sounds too splendid to be true.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote100percent'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“ ‘<span class='sc'>My dear Jean and Jo</span>,—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Your letter has relieved my mind of a very pressing
+problem. Of course, I understand that you wrote
+without referring to your parents, but I hope that
+when they realize how much Mr. Forester and I would
+value the arrangement they will not refuse their
+consent. We shall be delighted to leave Rex with you;
+I trust you won’t find him a great nuisance—he has
+had rather too much of his own way lately, and needs
+a firm hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ‘When I hear from your mother I will write more
+fully about him. Just now, I would like to arrange
+the business side with you girls—we wish to pay at
+the rate of £150 a year for the privilege of leaving
+Rex with you all. And I am making so certain that
+Mr. and Mrs. Weston won’t refuse that I have ceased
+making inquiries for a governess or any other way
+of arranging for him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Will you tell your mother that while we are deeply
+sorry that hard times should come to our old friends,
+we find it hard not to feel a selfish gladness that they
+make possible an arrangement which ensures such a
+home for our small boy?</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>“ ‘Yours very sincerely,</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'>“ ‘<span class='it'>Elaine Forester</span>.’</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So there!” said Jo. “Isn’t it scrumptious!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But—a hundred and fifty pounds!” ejaculated
+Jean. “It isn’t worth it—three pounds a week for
+a bit of a shrimp like that!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s rubbish!” said Helen inelegantly. “We
+might easily have had to pay much more, so, you
+see, you’re saving us goodness knows how much.
+And the peace of mind you’ll be giving us is worth
+thousands!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That may be, but we don’t charge for peace of
+mind,” said Jo, laughing. “It’s given in, like the
+coupon with the pound of tea. And it really is a
+ridiculous sum to pay for a little chap.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father’s fixed it,” said Helen stubbornly. “You’d
+better talk to him—if you really feel you must. I
+wouldn’t advise it, because he would simply wipe the
+floor with you; when Father fixes a thing it usually
+remains so. And when you have finished arguing
+with Father there will be Mother to tackle. And you
+can argue and argue, and at the end the sum will still
+be £150!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think you’re a bit nice!” said the twins
+in chorus.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m ever so much nicer than Father will be if
+you try to upset his figures.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But what about <span class='it'>our</span> father? He’ll certainly
+want to upset them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He can’t if you’ve accepted the arrangement.
+It isn’t fair to Father: he has written down the Rex
+page of his ledger as closed, and now he’s off in full
+cry after income-tax arrangements or tea-plantation
+figures, and you want to take him from them and drag
+him back to considering Rex again. And he’s <span class='it'>so</span>
+busy; there’ll be nothing left of him by the time
+we sail. Please—please don’t worry him any more,
+twinses!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She looked so appealing that the twins gave way.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I only hope Father won’t be very angry,”
+said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell him if he tries to alter our very sensible and
+business-like arrangement that Father will make the
+£150 into £200!” said Helen, laughing. “That should
+reduce him to order. And when he’s had Rex for a
+while he’ll think that even £200 wasn’t much!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the moment no one had much time to worry over
+private affairs, however urgent; for it was the last
+evening of the term, and half Melbourne was coming to
+the speech-night. The big schoolroom was gay with
+flags and flowers, with pot-plants massed upon the
+little stage at one end; and every one was getting into
+white frocks, while here and there were the anxious
+faces of the harassed individuals responsible for items
+on the programme. The twins had long looked forward
+to having their father and mother down for
+the great occasion, but a worried little note from Mrs.
+Weston had said plainly that at the moment the expense
+of coming could not be faced. It took away half
+the joy of the evening that the two dear faces were
+not to be among the long rows of parents who were
+coming to beam upon excited daughters. Still, there
+was no help for it, as the twins realized: and Helen
+had wisely kept them so busy that they had no time
+to think. Now, although the evening could not be
+all that they had hoped, it was still their first speech-night;
+and to-morrow there would be home, with
+Mrs. Forester’s wonderful letter to show. The twins
+found it quite beyond their power to feel gloomy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tea was a more or less sketchy meal, at which a
+junior teacher presided, and Miss Dampier made only
+a fleeting appearance. No one really wanted to eat;
+there were still odds and ends of packing to be done,
+farewells to be said, final touches to be put to preparations
+for the evening. Moreover, from time
+immemorial there had been Miss Dampier’s supper
+for the boarders after the guests had gone, and it
+was a supper which made tea beforehand seem a
+mere excrescence. So girls drifted in and out as they
+liked, and the artistes of the evening brought books
+or music to the table, studying the fingering of the
+Moonlight Sonata, or Portia’s remarks on Mercy,
+while they absently consumed weak tea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Day-girls concerned with the programme began to
+arrive soon, and there was much dressing and undressing
+in studies and bedrooms, with anguished appeals
+for forgotten burnt-cork and other aids to a good
+stage-appearance: for there was a little play to be
+given, and in the eyes of the cast Beethoven and
+Shakespeare were unimportant details beside it. The
+twins made a brief but glorious appearance in the play,
+as Corsican bandits—slim figures in tunics and gym.
+knickers, with enormous slouch-hats concealing their
+darkened features and corked moustaches, Neapolitan
+scarves knotted about their necks, and with crimson
+silk sashes, in which were stuck a very arsenal of
+lethal weapons, ranging from ancient duelling-pistols
+to Gurkha kukris and Canary Island daggers—the
+species of outfit, in brief, without which no self-respecting
+Corsican may be found. They fought, were slain,
+died with artistic gurgles, and were dragged out by
+the heels; and the junior school, with sighs of rapture,
+mourned openly that Merriwa was to know them no
+more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They appeared in different guise later on, in soft
+white frocks, their curls clustering about faces scrubbed
+to a fine rosy polish—the burnt-cork had taken some
+getting off. On this occasion it was their fate to
+ascend the daïs modestly and receive prizes at the
+hands of the Distinguished Person presiding—Jean an
+award for the French at which, as has been previously
+stated, she was “a whale,” while Jo, to her own
+amazement, found herself the owner of Miss Smith’s
+prize for cookery. Her bewilderment at this was so
+profound that she almost forgot to bow, and was only
+recalled to a sense of her position by a dig in the
+back from the Domestic Economy prize-winner, who
+was behind her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who’d have thought it!” she ejaculated inelegantly,
+regaining her seat. “Will you ever forget
+Smithy’s remarks on the sausage-rolls that I mixed
+up with sugar?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but that’s ever so long ago,” Gladys said.
+“I know—it’s that Angels’ Food affair you compounded
+last cooking-day. You said yourself it was
+poetic!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but I also said it was a fluke!” rejoined the
+artist. “And I thought no one knew that better than
+Smithy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was still regarding with astonishment the
+huge leather-bound copy of “Mrs. Beeton” that Miss
+Smith had presented as a tribute to the Angels’ Food,
+when her name was again called, this time with Jean’s.
+Jo dumped “Mrs. Beeton” on her neighbour’s knee,
+and the twins went up together to receive little silver
+cups that were to remind them of the tennis victory
+of that week. This time the junior school let itself
+loose. It had been—unfortunately—not permitted
+to them to applaud the spectacular decease of the
+Corsican bandits, since it had occurred at a moment
+when applause would have wrecked the progress of
+the drama; and French and cookery, while all very
+well in their way, made no special appeal to the hordes
+of juniors. But the tennis cups were a different matter—had
+they not palpitated <span class='it'>en masse</span> throughout that
+last wild set when the twins had snatched victory
+from the jaws of Kooringal? Wherefore they made
+the long room ring with the noise of their enthusiasm,
+clapping until their hard young hands rang again.
+The twins stood, flushing, a little taken aback by the
+warmth of their reception. Then they dived for cover
+among the applauding ranks.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Such dear things!” murmured the Distinguished
+Person, looking after them with a twinkle in her
+distinguished eye. “And they were such <span class='it'>lovely</span>
+bandits! Tell me, Miss Dampier, do you ever manage
+to tell them apart?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes,” the Head admitted. “Not always,
+by any means—for their first three months at school
+I never knew whether I was speaking to Jean or Jo.
+Even now, if possible, I begin by saying the name
+of the one I want, in a determined tone; the wrong
+twin won’t respond, to me, though I believe they take
+an awful joy in doing so among their mates, out of
+school. But there are many occasions when I am
+reduced to saying ‘dear’; and I am always in doubt
+as to whether the twin I am addressing isn’t well
+aware that my affection is only an insufficient cloak
+for ignorance!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Distinguished Person bestowed a geography
+prize upon a quaking junior.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder does their mother ever confuse them?’
+she pondered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, quite often, she has told me. The only person
+who never fails to know them apart is a small brother
+who bluntly says that he fails to see any likeness
+between them!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dear me!” said the Distinguished One faintly.
+“How uncanny!” She gave away the next prize
+with a bewildered air that the recipient imagined
+was inspired by the spectacle of so much learning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Visitors, distinguished and otherwise, vanished at
+the end of the prize-giving. Day-girls bade farewell
+to the boarders, exulting in the thought that to them
+the morrow would bring release from early rising
+and racing for trains and trams. Jean and Jo were
+the centre of a cheerful crowd—sorrow at parting
+lost in the overwhelming joy of the Christmas holidays.
+Their arms ached with shaking hands when the last
+farewells had been said, and they found themselves
+trooping with the other boarders to Miss Dampier’s
+supper.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was at these farewell suppers that Miss Dampier
+showed that she fully understood the impossibility
+of making a decent tea on speech-night, and the consequent
+need of later nourishment. The nourishment
+she provided was of a kind that made the most irresponsible
+junior wonder if up till now she had not
+misjudged her head mistress. Moreover, she presided
+with a pleasant tact, bidding every one help herself,
+and restricting her conversation to teachers and
+seniors until it was evident that even the hungriest
+could eat no more. Then she moved about among
+her guests, with an understanding word for each;
+and those who were not coming back found themselves
+singled out for a special little chat and a few words
+that lay warm at their hearts long after they had gone
+away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Somehow, I don’t feel as if it were really good-bye
+to you, twinses,” she said; and Jean and Jo
+found nothing strange in the unfamiliar sound of the
+familiar school nickname on the Head’s lips. “It’s
+more as though you were going home on a visit—a
+long one, perhaps, but it may happen that you will
+come back.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—we’d love to, Miss Dampier. Do you think
+there’s really any chance?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One never knows. Luck turns quickly in Australia.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“O—o—oh!” said the twins, and looked longingly
+at each other. School had never seemed so desirable
+as on this last night. It was a gay and delightful
+place, with not even the spectre of an irregular verb
+or an early-morning bell: full of pleasant people
+and understanding teachers. They caught at the
+hope of returning to it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’d love to come back!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, there would always be a big welcome for
+you. Tell your mother I had counted upon having
+you to help me next term.” She smiled at them,
+knowing she had summed up in those few words the
+answers to a dozen questions that the mother would
+have asked. “And I know you’ll help her through.”
+She drifted away through the throng, her grey head,
+with its exquisitely dressed hair, towering above every
+one.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins were going by a very early train; all
+their good-byes had to be said that night. Helen
+Forester came up with them to their little bedroom.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Got all your packing done?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. The trunks have gone down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It seems queer to think it’s the last night,” Helen
+said. “And to-day I was Captain, and to-morrow
+I’ll be—oh, very small potatoes! What fun it’s all
+been! Oh, you ought to be coming back, twinses!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps we shall, some day. Miss Dampier
+seemed to think so,” Jean said. “After all, we’re
+not so awfully old!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen looked at the eager faces framed in the short
+curls.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, you’re not so awfully old,” she said. “Especially
+to have responsibilities. Don’t grow up too
+soon, kiddies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gracious!” ejaculated Jo. “And you’ve given
+us the biggest responsibility of all, you blessed old
+darling! Aren’t you nervous about trusting us with
+Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I think to-night proves that you’re, together,
+an association capable of dealing with any small boy,”
+she said. “One of you has a prize for learning, and
+the other for cooking, and joint cups for hard-hitting!
+What more could anyone want? Rex ought to come
+back to us re-modelled in mind and body.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—Helen!” protested the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Helen put an arm about each.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t spoil him—that’s the only thing I’m afraid
+of,” she said. “Good-bye, twinses dear: I’m so
+glad I was at school with you, ’cause you’re a nice old
+pair!” She dropped a kiss on each face, and was gone.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='71' id='Page_71'></span><h1>CHAPTER VI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>EMU PLAINS</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟F</span>OR the first time,” said John Weston, “I’m not
+keen on going in to meet my daughters.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself,” said
+his wife briskly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I am. And that’s why.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never heard such nonsense,” Mrs. Weston said.
+“If every one in Australia who had had bad luck on
+top of a drought were to go about feeling ashamed, a
+nice place Australia would be! No one could have
+foreseen all the losses you have had. You certainly
+have no right to blame yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know all that,” said her husband, laughing
+rather grimly. “You needn’t ruffle up all your
+feathers, you fierce old mother-hen! But the youngsters
+may not realize it all; and anyway, it hurts a
+bit to meet them as a failure, and not as the person
+who has generally been regarded as a providing agency
+that always could be relied on. I feel as if I had let
+them down badly; and it isn’t a pleasant feeling,
+Mary. I get it every time Sarah glares at me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But she isn’t glaring because we have lost money—only
+because we won’t let her stay without
+wages.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, of course that’s rank insanity,” said her
+husband. “I wish I hadn’t any pride, for your sake;
+it makes me squirm whenever I think of your being
+without Sarah. But—one can’t do that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do wish you wouldn’t worry your dear old head
+about it,” said Mrs. Weston comfortably. “If I
+can’t manage, with two able-bodied daughters to help
+me, I should be the one to be ashamed. And we <span class='it'>are</span>
+going to manage, and very happily too. I quite look
+forward to running the house with the girls. They
+are such cheery souls—they’ll always make the best
+of things.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, they get that from their mother,” said the
+big man, looking down at her with many things expressed
+in his grey eyes. “To hear you talk, one
+would think that all this trouble I’ve landed you in
+for was just a picnic.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you want to make me really cross,” said his
+wife, looking at the moment as if nothing on earth
+could ruffle her, “you will continue to stand there
+and talk nonsense. I don’t worry when Billy tears
+his trousers, because I know that little boys <span class='it'>will</span> tear
+their trousers, whether one worries or not; and I’m
+not going to worry when bad luck comes along, because
+one can’t expect good luck always. But I shall worry
+if you go about looking miserable: and it will be
+much harder for the girls. So you mustn’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bless you!” said John Weston, his face suddenly
+grown younger. “Well, I suppose I’d better start.”
+He stooped to kiss her. “Where’s Billy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy answered for himself, characteristically. The
+gravel on the path by the window rattled under racing
+feet, and he came in through the window, crossing the
+sill with a swift, lithe movement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t touch the curtains, Mother—truly! I’ve
+been down at the creek, and I was afraid Father would
+be gone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I nearly am,” said his father. “Are you ready,
+or will you have to clean up?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m pretty clean,” said Billy, looking down at
+himself. He was a slender, lightly built little fellow,
+with an elf-like face—with small features, and very
+bright brown eyes. Like his sisters’, his hair curled,
+but his was inclined to be red. Billy despised boys
+with curly hair, and would have had his shorn almost
+to the skin, had his mother permitted. “Do I need
+to put on another coat, Mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Certainly you need, my son. You’ll find a clean
+holland coat on your bed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hurry up, old man,” said his father. The injunction
+was lost on Billy. He dashed from the room,
+pounded down the hall, and returned in an astonishingly
+short space of time, spruce and merry. His
+father was already in the buggy. Billy dropped a
+hurried kiss on top of his mother’s head, and raced
+out to join him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They drove in a high express-waggon, which had
+ample room behind for luggage: the two-wheeled
+“jinker,” or Mrs. Weston’s light hooded buggy, were
+no use when girls with trunks and suit-cases had to
+be brought home. A heavy pair of iron-grey horses
+bowled them along at a good round pace. They were
+horses accustomed to any sort of work: singly or
+together they went in the buggy, the plough, the cart;
+they might draw a disc-harrow to-day, and take a
+turn at rounding up cattle to-morrow. They were
+splendidly matched, and though just now they were
+in poor condition, they held themselves as proudly
+as thoroughbreds, as they trotted along. John Weston
+had bred them himself, and he loved the gentle, honest
+animals. His face was gloomy now as he watched
+them. All the district knew the big greys, and lately
+he had had a good offer for them. It was the kind
+of offer he would have laughed at a year ago. But
+now—money had become a big thing: Prince and
+Captain might have to go.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“May I drive, Father?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy’s voice brought him out of a reverie.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right, Son.” He gave the reins into the eager
+brown hands, and made him hold them correctly,
+watching him as they spun along. Billy took them
+successfully over a rather narrow culvert, kept a wary
+eye upon a noisy motor-van, which did not trouble
+the greys at all, and presently dodged between a
+timber-waggon and a farm-cart in a way that brought
+a gruff word of praise to his father’s lips. This brought
+upon Billy the pride that goes before destruction, and
+in an effort to show how near he could drive to a
+hawker’s van he very nearly removed its wheel—bringing
+upon them the wrath of the hawker, with shouted
+inquiries as to whether they desired to retain the
+whole of the road. Somewhat chastened in spirit,
+Billy drove with great care, and gave other traffic a
+wide berth: so that they arrived in the township
+without further misadventure.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was sale-day, and the little town was busy.
+Farmers’ buggies and motors thronged the streets;
+the shops were crowded with the cheery, brown-faced
+country women, who knew precisely what they wanted
+to buy, and were not to be deceived by the most
+tempting “bargain-lines” displayed at “alarming
+sacrifices” by the drapers. Little boys, in little
+tweed suits, and little girls, with well-frizzed hair,
+accompanied their mothers; while babies were as
+the sands of the sea in number. The fences surrounding
+the sale-yards were black with men; more sellers
+than buyers, for there were few men in the district
+with grass left for their stock. There were many
+hearty greetings for John Weston as he drove up
+the street.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Getting the girls back, John?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. And you’re in to meet Tom, I suppose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—he comes by this train. Now the house will
+wake up again!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The speaker was a short, stout man with a round,
+good-humoured face, who sat in a motor outside the
+station. He was Evan Holmes, of Holmdale, the
+largest station in the district. Like all the other
+landowners, he had felt the drought; but, unlike them,
+he had a well-grassed property in Gippsland, where
+there was no drought, and he had sent his stock there
+until better conditions should come to the northern
+areas. Therefore his good-humour was unfailing, and
+no lines of worry had creased his brow. John Weston
+and he had been to school together, and, so far as was
+possible, he had stood by his old friend, sending some
+of his best cattle to Gippsland with his own. He looked
+up now and spoke concerning these.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Heard from McIntyre this morning, John. He
+says your stock are doing splendidly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s something to be thankful for, at any
+rate,” said Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wonderful season, down there. They grumble,
+of course, and say it’s dry—but compared to here——!”
+The speaker swept a hand round the dry
+landscape. “Green feed—strawberry clover, and all
+the rest of it: running creeks. I sometimes wonder
+we don’t all move down there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This part is good enough for me,” said his friend.
+“We don’t get a drought every year.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s true. And you can’t beat it when we
+don’t. A man likes his own country, especially when
+he was born and brought up in it, as you and I were.
+Oh, well, bad times pass: everything comes right, if
+you give it long enough. How do the girls like coming
+home?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They write as if it were a huge joke: but of course
+I knew they wouldn’t grumble, whatever they might
+feel. The only thing that seemed to worry them was
+that their mother and I wouldn’t go down for the
+breaking-up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that would worry the twins,” said Mr.
+Holmes. “Tom was a bit disgusted that I couldn’t
+get down for his, too: but my wife went. She’ll be
+home on Christmas Eve, but Tom wouldn’t stay: he
+always makes for home as quickly as he can. There’s
+the train now”—as a far-off whistle was heard. “Let
+my man hold your horses—he’s brought the cart in
+for some boxes. Here, Joe!” He whistled to a man
+who was lounging near the entrance-gate. John
+Weston got down from his high seat, and they went
+in together to the platform, where Billy was already
+dancing with impatience.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no difficulty in finding Jean and Jo.
+They had secured an open doorway, and, in complete
+defiance of railway regulations, were projecting their
+persons as far as possible into space, that they might
+the more quickly reach home. They uttered a composite
+shout at the sight of their father and Billy,
+and further defied the regulations by swinging themselves
+down from the train before it had come to a
+standstill. A wail from the station-master floated by
+them unheeded. They darted up the platform together
+and flung themselves upon their father.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you behave like that in Melbourne?” he
+demanded, laughing, an arm round each.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gracious, no! we’re models of deportment,” Jo
+answered. “But then you’re not in Melbourne, and
+you’ve a terribly demoralizing effect, Father. Oh,
+there’s the baby! and he’s grown <span class='it'>yards</span>!” She
+hugged Billy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Baby yourself!” quoth Billy, indignantly. He
+hopped about them on one foot. “Give us something
+to carry—here, I’ll take that!” He grasped a suit-case.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can’t carry that, Billy darling—it’s too
+heavy,” Jean objected. “Take the umbrellas.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Umbrellas!” snorted her brother. “Boys don’t
+cart umbrellas round.” Gripping the suit-case, he
+staggered off, unheeding feminine remonstrances.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How are you, Tom?” Mr. Weston detached
+himself from his daughters to greet a stout youth who
+had followed them from the train. “Glad to see you
+back, though you’ve come to a dry country.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s the best place I know, anyhow,” said Tom
+Holmes, shaking hands all round, and bestowing a shy
+grin upon the twins. “And we’ll get rain some time
+or other, and then every one’ll have a few thumping
+seasons and forget the drought. I wish Dad would
+let me cut school and stay at home to help him: I’ll
+never do a bit of good at school, and I do love messing
+about at home.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lazy young dog!” said his father cheerfully.
+“Another year’s lessons won’t hurt you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tom groaned dramatically.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Latin!” he said, with a resigned shrug. “And
+maths! I try to stick arithmetic, so’s I’ll be able to
+work out interest on mortgages”—he grinned at his
+father—“but I’m blessed if I can see the use of Euclid
+or Horace or Virgil on a cattle-station. I seem to
+spend half my time over Virgil, but I never learn a
+word that’ll be handy in a tight corner with bullocks!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, that’s specialized knowledge, and comes later
+on,” said his father, laughing. “Come along, now,
+and gather up your luggage: we’ve got to have dinner
+at the hotel. Any use asking you and the girls to
+join us, John?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, thanks; my wife will be looking out for us.
+I never can get the girls home quickly enough.” They
+said good-bye, and presently the twins were installed
+on the seat of the express-waggon, their father between
+them, while Billy perched on top of the heap of luggage
+at the back. Jo had the reins: it was an understood
+thing that she always drove when they came home.
+She wheeled the greys out of the crowded yard, dodging
+among motors, carts, and buggies, and in a few
+moments they were spinning along the dusty road
+towards home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whew-w!” said Jean. “<span class='it'>Isn’t</span> everything dry!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The familiar landscape was dreary in its barrenness.
+Nothing green was visible, save the line of trees that
+marked the nearly dry bed of the creek. The paddocks
+were brown stretches, almost bare: little swirls of
+dust rose here and there as the hot breeze blew over
+them. They passed crops—sad little crops of oats
+that had come into ear while only about a foot high,
+and were now not worth the labour of cutting.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Scarcely any stock could be seen. A few dusty
+brown sheep picked up a scant living in the paddocks
+near the creek, and here and there were hungry-looking
+cows, only kept alive by hand-feeding, and
+apparently getting short rations of that. Everywhere
+dust lay thick: on the fences, on the dried-up grass
+by the roadside, on the dull green leaves of the hawthorn
+hedges past which they drove. It was clear
+that many weeks had gone by since a shower of rain
+had fallen to wash the all-covering dust away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—you never saw the country looking like this
+before,” said John Weston sadly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, indeed. It comes home to you with a sort
+of a bang,” Jo agreed. “Poor old Dad!” She put
+her hand on his for a brief moment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wait until you see the stock,” he said sadly.
+“That’s what hurts: to ride out among them day
+after day, watching them getting poorer and poorer,
+and to feel you can’t do anything to help them. I’m
+almost ashamed to go out now—they seem to look at
+me as if they expected me to help. Of course, most
+of them have gone—the cattle, I mean. Some I sold,
+the rest have gone down to Gippsland. Holmes says
+they’re doing well enough there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What about the garden, Dad?” Jean asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’ve still a garden, thank goodness—you see,
+the windmill pumps the water up from the spring,
+and it’s one of those obliging servants that works all
+the twenty-four hours and never asks for pay. So
+we can still keep the vegetables and your mother’s
+garden going. But we’ll have to do it ourselves:
+I’ve been compelled to let the Chinaman go. Sorry,
+too: he had the place in splendid order.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll work,” said Jo cheerfully. “I’m very
+handy with a hoe.” She grinned across her father at
+Jean. “ ‘Member our old gardens, Jean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” said Jean. “We had awful bursts of
+industry, and made them lovely, and planted all sorts
+of seeds, and then some evil influence came along——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Generally Dad, with a job among the cattle,”
+remarked Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, you monkey——!” protested Mr. Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Just so,” Jean went on. “And so we would forget
+them, and the weeds would grow faster than the seeds,
+and presently there’d be nothing left of our poor
+gardens, ’cause Hop Sing would come along and dig
+them all up. Then we’d make another start!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you’d better not grow vegetables on those
+principles,” said Mr. Weston, laughing, “or it will be
+a bad look-out for our dinners. Not that I’m going
+to let you do much work of that kind. I suppose I’ll
+be glad enough of some help with weeding now and
+then—my back isn’t as young as it was—but you’ll
+have plenty to do without that.” He sighed heavily.
+“That’s the worst of it all—so much is going to fall
+on your mother and you two; and I can’t help it.
+If only I could keep old Sarah—and it’s going to take
+a team of bullocks to shift her! She wants to stay
+without pay, bless her—says she’s got enough saved
+up for her old age. But of course we can’t allow that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course you couldn’t,” agreed the twins demurely.
+They exchanged, behind their father’s back, ecstatic
+glances, which greatly puzzled Billy. “But you
+mustn’t worry, Dad: we’re awfully strong, and we
+won’t let Mother do too much. It’s all going to be
+great fun!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope you’ll continue to think so,” said their
+father dryly. “You’re dear kiddies, anyhow, and
+we’ll all try to make things easy for each other.
+Mother’s the one who has to be spared in every way:
+I know you’ll always remember that. Doing without
+Sarah is going to be harder for her than any of us
+can guess—not that she ever says so. But I know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course,” agreed Jean, with a queer little
+giggle that brought an inquiring look from her father.
+It was not quite like Jean to giggle at such a moment.
+Probably, he reflected, she was over-excited at getting
+home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m going to milk with Dad!” announced Billy,
+proudly, from his perch in the rear. “I’ve been practising,
+and I’ve milked old Strawberry three times!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good old Billikens!” said Jo, turning to give
+him a sisterly pat. “Is it hard?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Men don’t find those things hard,” said Billy
+loftily. “You girls will have to be up to give us
+early tea before we start!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It shall be done,” said Jo meekly. “Any other
+orders?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll let you know if there’s anything else,” replied
+Billy, preserving an unruffled masculine dignity.
+“Dad’s going to start teaching me all about the stock
+soon. He says I can be useful to him in no end of
+ways.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—but lessons have got to come first, old son,”
+remarked his father.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, lessons! <span class='it'>They</span> won’t take long,” remarked
+Billy airily. Plainly it could be seen that he regarded
+the prospect of education under his sisters as a huge joke.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You little know,” said Jean darkly. “We mean
+to turn you out a beautiful specimen of Higher Education
+before we’ve done with you. Manners and
+Deportment will be taught—sternly taught, young
+Billy!—and also Respect for Teachers——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, <span class='it'>will</span> you?” responded Billy. He tipped his
+prospective instructor’s hat over her eyes, and scrambled
+off across the luggage to avoid reprisals. They were
+just turning in towards the big gate that opened into
+the homestead paddock. Billy swung himself to the
+ground before the buggy had stopped, and, racing
+ahead of the greys, flung open the gate with a flourish.
+Looking at him, his hat pushed back on his curly head,
+his brown face glowing, and his eyes alight with
+laughter and mischief, it was difficult to imagine him
+as either a station-hand in the making or a docile
+pupil—especially in Deportment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll have your hands full with him, I’m afraid,”
+remarked Mr. Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Billy will be all right,” said Jo confidently.
+Something in the certainty of her voice gave comfort
+to the harassed man at her side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe everything will seem more all right, now
+that you two have come home,” he said. “It’s high
+time you did—we’re almost forgetting how to laugh.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, no one could forget how to laugh with Jean
+about——” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Or with Jo,” put in Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Because she’s such a perfect ass!” finished the
+twins, in complete unison.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='83' id='Page_83'></span><h1>CHAPTER VII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE TWINS’ SURPRISE-PACKET</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>M</span>OTHER was at the gate to meet them—a slender,
+pretty woman, looking not so much older than
+her tall daughters. She disappeared under their onslaught,
+emerging from a bear’s hug presently, dishevelled,
+but cheery.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you dear things,” she said. “It’s good to
+get you home. And you’ve had <span class='it'>such</span> a hot journey—you’ll
+want baths, but you must have some tea first.
+And here’s Sarah.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah had come out to the gate, contrary to her
+usual habit. Generally she prepared to be sought in her
+kitchen, a spotless place where she reigned supreme
+amid the glory of a shining stove, gleaming brass taps,
+and tables and dressers scrubbed to a whiteness that
+was almost past belief. But to-day she chose to come
+out; and there was something in the hard old face
+that made the twins suddenly rush at her and hug her
+almost as thoroughly as they had hugged their mother.
+Sarah had not any words for them. She held them
+tightly and looked over their heads at their mother
+and father with a half-defiant question in her eyes.
+Mrs. Weston could not meet her piteous look. She
+put her hand gently on her shoulder, going past her
+on her way to the house.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come on, children,” she called. “Tea is ready.
+Sarah made it as soon as we heard the buggy coming
+over the bridge. And I’m sure you are both ready
+for it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins rushed to the bathroom, to remove the
+more recent layers of journey grime, and in a few
+moments they were all in the big comfortable dining-room,
+where afternoon tea was on a scale calculated
+to soothe hungry travellers. So far there was no sign
+that they had come to a poverty-stricken home. The
+room was just as well-kept as ever, with big bowls of
+flowers here and there: the glass and silver were
+shining, the table-linen was as exquisite as they had
+always known it. Mother was just as dainty as ever,
+in the soft blue dress that was the colour of her eyes.
+Everything was simply home: home, as they had
+pictured it a thousand times, away at school.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But when they looked more closely, the change was
+there—in the faces of their mother and father. Mr.
+Weston’s eyes were deeply sunken, with dark shadows
+under them, and threads of grey were thickly sown in
+his crisp dark hair; and there were lines in their
+mother’s face that were new, and an unfamiliar hint
+of repression about her mouth. Both tried to talk as
+though nothing was the matter: there were a hundred
+questions to be asked and answered, and the revelation
+that the twins had actually brought home prizes
+elicited satisfactory expressions of awe and respect on
+the part of their family. But through all the cheery
+chatter there was an under-current of something
+wrong—something kept down. It was like a shadow
+lurking in a corner of the room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah came in presently to take away the tea-things.
+She looked approvingly at an empty plate which had
+held scones, and with less good-will at others not
+entirely cleared of cakes. The twins glanced at their
+mother inquiringly as the door closed behind her. It
+was not usual for Sarah to appear in the dining-room.
+Mrs. Weston understood the glance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Amy has gone, you know, girls,” she said placidly,
+taking up her knitting. “She didn’t want to go until
+after Christmas; but Mrs. Holmes needed a housemaid,
+and it was too good a place for her to lose: I persuaded
+her to go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course,” said the twins hurriedly. There fell
+an awkward silence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother and I have made up our minds that it’s
+best to let you know just how we stand,” said Mr.
+Weston, speaking as a man speaks who faces a disagreeable
+task. “It’s only fair, seeing that you
+youngsters are so much affected by our bad luck.
+We’re not going to be permanently ruined, so you
+needn’t worry too much: unless the drought stretches
+out indefinitely I’ll pull round all right, once the rain
+comes. You know, droughts with us generally mean
+extra good seasons afterwards: the ground has had a
+rest, and grass and crops come on splendidly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean and Jo nodded acquiescence. They understood
+the ways of droughts.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I’ll be right enough if I don’t have to
+sacrifice more of my stock. The few I have left on
+the place ought to be able to scratch up a living: those
+I’ve sent to Gippsland will be our salvation, if only I
+can hang on to them. If I am forced to sell, things
+will be very bad, for of course stock are fetching the
+very lowest prices. I could have gone on without
+making any special change in our way of living but
+for the money I told you about—the sum I lent. I
+lent it to a good friend—he’d done me more than one
+good turn years ago—and I don’t regret it. Mother
+says she doesn’t, either.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then nobody does,” said Jo, and Jean nodded
+vehemently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I knew you’d say so,” said Father, and smiled
+at them. “Still—that’s our trouble. It leaves me
+horribly short of ready money. The place is bringing
+in nothing whatever: the small income I have, apart
+from it, isn’t nearly enough to pay household expenses,
+school bills, a governess for Billy, a big wages-list, and
+a dozen other things. So there was nothing for it but
+to cut down expenses in every way, and bring you
+home to help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re jolly glad you did,” said the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we knew we could depend on you. Still,
+we’re awfully sorry. If you could, we’d like you to
+go on with some decent reading, and with your music—you’re
+such kids, to be leaving off studies altogether,
+and we hate it for you; but we quite realize that you
+won’t have much time. Sarah is to go after Christmas,
+and there will be loads for you to do, with Billy’s
+teaching thrown in, and we don’t want life to be all
+work for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We won’t make it all work,” said Mother gently.
+“We’ll try to have lots of fun mixed in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, we couldn’t help it,” said Jean laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know you’ll look after your mother,” said Mr.
+Weston. “I feel pretty desperate at letting Sarah
+go, for she’s a standby in everything, and she takes
+such care of Mother if she’s sick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I decline to be sick—ever!” said Mother firmly.
+At which her husband ran his fingers through his hair,
+and looked at her with an air of desperation that would
+have been almost comical if it had not been so miserable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m afraid of that very thing,” he said. “You’ll
+hang on and hang on, long after you should give in, if
+you do get seedy. Sarah would know at a glance,
+and put you firmly to bed; but the girls and I won’t
+be as quick to see. If I were sure that you would be
+sensible, and take care of yourself, I wouldn’t be half
+so worried. But yourself is the one person about
+whom you haven’t any sense!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, don’t meet trouble half-way,” said Mrs.
+Weston. “We’re going to manage very comfortably,
+girls. I can get a good woman from the township
+for a day each week, for washing and rough cleaning,
+and the rest will be quite easy to us. And if I do feel
+sick, I promise to stay in bed and call loudly for
+nourishment. So——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jean,” said Jo, “if I don’t tell I shall burst.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Me too,” said Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then why don’t you tell?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I was waiting for you. You’re five minutes older.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish you always remembered it!” said Jo
+severely. “Well, we’ll tell together. You see——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s nothing wrong, is there, girls?” queried
+Mrs. Weston anxiously. “You’re not ill, Jo?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do I look it?” asked Jo. “No, but we’ve been
+fixing up a bit of business on our own. We do hope
+you won’t mind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You simply mustn’t mind,” said Jean. “It was
+so dreadful to think we couldn’t earn any money to
+help you——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And when you’re fifteen and a half there doesn’t
+seem <span class='it'>any</span> way to earn money. And we were tearing
+our hair about it at school——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And Helen—er—one of the senior girls happened
+to hear——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The tearing of the hair?” asked Mr. Weston
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, it made an awful row. Like tearing calico.
+And she started thinking, and so she came up in her
+kimono early next morning——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And offered us her little brother!” Jean finished
+triumphantly. She glared at her father and mother
+as if defying them to make any protest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It seems more like a way out of the other girl’s
+difficulties than yours,” remarked Mr. Weston, much
+puzzled. “Did you mention to her that you had a
+little brother of your own? Or perhaps you offered
+Billy in exchange?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy, who had been sitting in a corner of the big
+sofa in unwonted silence, snorted indignantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, we didn’t. But we took hers.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear girls, what <span class='it'>do</span> you mean?” asked Mrs.
+Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I thought we’d made it quite clear,” said
+Jean, rather aggrieved. “You see, they want to get
+rid of her little brother——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That sounds as if he were pretty beastly, but he’s
+not,” said Jo. “Only they’re all going away to
+Colombo, and——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And he can’t go, ’cause of the climate, and——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My beloved daughters,” remarked Mr. Weston,
+“if you would only speak one at a time, and say what
+you really <span class='it'>do</span> mean, we’d know more about it. You
+first, Jo—you’re the eldest.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, but we told you, didn’t we? They’re going
+to Colombo, and they can’t take him, ’cause he’s only
+nine, and not very strong. And they were wondering
+what on earth to do with him—they didn’t want to
+send him to school. They were at their wits’ end. And
+then they thought of us. And we’ve made an arrangement—that
+is, if you approve, only you simply <span class='it'>can’t</span>
+disapprove, or it’ll put them in the most frightful fix—that
+we’re to take him, and look after him and teach
+him with Billy, for——You tell them, Jean.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For £150 a year!” said Jean solemnly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They ceased, and looked for the effect of their bomb.
+It was all they could have desired.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whew-w-w!” whistled their father.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear little girls!” Mrs. Weston put down her
+work and stared at them. “You aren’t joking?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As if we’d joke about anything so amazing as £150
+a year!” uttered Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But who is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We don’t want to tell you until you’ve consented,”
+said Jo. They had decided in the train to keep the
+identity of the new pupil a secret, believing that Mr.
+and Mrs. West on would find it easier to accept a
+stranger than a friend’s son. “It’s all right, of course;
+they’re nice people. Say we may have him, Dad.
+You simply can’t refuse.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But can you teach him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They don’t want him to have many lessons. They
+only want him to learn a little, and play about and
+get strong—and to be made to mind his manners.
+<span class='it'>You</span>’ve got to do that part of the job, Dad.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy got down from the sofa and came forward, his
+eyes dancing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean to say,” he demanded, “that you’re
+going to bring a boy here—a real boy, that I can play
+with and go about with? I never thought sisters
+were so much good before! Oh, Mother, say you’ll
+have him!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and if you do, Sarah needn’t go, need she?”
+exploded Jo. “That’s the loveliest part of it—we
+can keep Sarah to look after Mother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By—Jove!” said John Weston, very slowly. His
+eyes met his wife’s with a passion of relief in them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it’s too much to pay for a child,” she objected.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They won’t pay less,” Jean said. “If they had
+to send him away with a governess it would cost them
+more. And they’re <span class='it'>longing</span> for him to come here.
+They’re counting on your not saying No.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not going to say it,” said John Weston. “If
+you think you can stand another small boy about,
+dear—it will mean we can keep Sarah.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston had taken up her knitting, but there
+were tears falling on it, and she dropped three stitches.
+Suddenly the twins’ arms were round her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t cry, darling! We’re going to look after
+you, but we know we can’t do it as well as Sarah.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Was ever anyone so looked after?” Mrs. Weston
+smiled through her tears. “I don’t know why I’m
+crying, only you’re such darlings. Yes, we’ll have
+your boy, and we’ll keep Sarah——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And bless you both,” said John Weston, putting
+his arms round all his feminine belongings. “Billy,
+go and tell Sarah we want her. By the way, Jo, who
+is he?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rex Forester—only you’re not to mind that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“George Forester’s boy!—whew-w! I wish it
+wasn’t a friend’s son.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it’s that that makes them so happy about it.
+Mrs. Forester wrote us a lovely letter, and she’s writing
+to Mother. They’re just frightfully relieved.” The
+feelings of the twins overcame them, and they jazzed
+frantically together round the room—a demonstration
+that brought them into violent collision with Sarah,
+who entered silently, with Billy, flushed and excited,
+at her heels.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sarah, will you stay with us?” Mrs. Weston
+asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah blinked rapidly thrice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will I stay?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Miss Jean and Miss Jo are to have a pupil,” Mrs.
+Weston said. “A little boy, to teach with Master
+Billy. It gives us a little more money, so—will you
+stay with us, old friend?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah uttered a loud sniff.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wouldn’t have gone,” she declared stoutly.
+“Not if it was ever so. What’s wages, between you
+and me? and who’d know how to treat your brownkities,
+when they come?” She put her apron to her
+eyes. “And why them poor lambs should have to
+teach some ’orrid little boy, just to keep me on the
+place, <span class='it'>I</span> dunno, seein’ I’d never have gone!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can’t afford Amy too, you know, Sarah,” said
+Mrs. Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not conshis of havin’ ever said I needed a
+second pair of ’ands to ’elp me run a place like this,”
+said Sarah stiffly. “The work ain’t nothing. Many a
+time ’ave I said to myself, with Amy talkin’ about her
+boys and the new way of doin’ her ’air, that I’d rather
+be on me own.” Suddenly her hard old face worked,
+and her voice trembled. “I couldn’t never have
+gone!” she cried loudly, and turned swiftly from the
+room. They heard her sobbing as she went.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go after her, girls,” Mrs. Weston said, crying
+softly herself. “Tell her all about it. She has been
+breaking her heart for a month.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Left alone, John Weston looked long at his wife.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I seem to remember Sarah once remarking that
+you’d never know where you were with them twins!”
+he said.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='93' id='Page_93'></span><h1>CHAPTER VIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>GETTING ON TERMS</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>R</span>EX FORESTER arrived three days after Christmas.
+The twins drove in to meet him, well
+charged with pity. A little boy of nine, whose family
+has just sailed in a body for Colombo, may be expected
+to be an object for anyone’s compassion, and Jean
+and Jo fully expected a tear-stained and disconsolate
+individual.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Instead, there stepped from the train a perfectly
+self-possessed young gentleman. Nothing was awry
+about him, and no tear seemed likely to find a lodging
+on his cheek. His light suit was unspotted by a
+journey that reduced most small boys to monuments
+of grime; his sailor hat sat jauntily upon his well-brushed
+head. He wore spectacles, which gave him
+a curious air of dignity. Very fair was he, with large
+blue eyes and a skin of milk and roses. Nature seemed
+to have destined him to sing in a choir; and as there
+was no such opening for him at Emu Plains, the twins
+may be excused for wondering what on earth they
+were going to do with him. They also wondered what
+Billy would think of him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had shopping to do in the township, so Jo
+drove into the little main street and held the horses
+while Jean transacted the commissions. Rex declined
+to get down, saying he would rather stay in the buggy—a
+mode of conveyance which interested him a good
+deal, since he had had no experiences save of motors.
+He had expected a motor, and had been frankly amazed
+at the high, light buggy into which he was expected
+to climb.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t know anyone used these things,” he said.
+“Not—well, not our sort of people, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll find quite a lot here and there,” Jo
+told him. “Some even prefer them. No nasty smell
+of petrol, like motors have.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, not decent cars,” Rex answered, in a pained
+way. “I suppose some smell of petrol, though I
+really don’t know. But not good cars.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And is yours a good car?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ours? Oh, we’ve got three. Yes, they’re all
+good. I can drive a bit. Is it hard to drive horses?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not when you’re used to it,” said Jo. “Or to
+ride them, either. Can you ride, by the way?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I never tried riding. We’ve been in town
+since I was a little kiddie. Helen said she supposed
+I’d learn at Emu Plains.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course you’ll have to—we all learned to
+ride about the time we learned to walk,” Jo told him.
+“It’s half the fun of the bush.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is there much fun in the bush?” asked the small
+boy doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Depends on what you call fun,” Jo answered
+briskly. “Of course, if you’re mad keen on picture-shows
+and theatres and going down to St. Kilda, you
+may find it a bit slow. We have riding and driving,
+and we go for picnics, and there’s ripping bathing in
+the river, and there always seems something to do
+about the place. Billy—that’s my young brother—is
+awfully glad you’re coming. He has never had a
+mate of his own size.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How old is he?” asked Rex, forbearing to make
+any comment on the list of country attractions.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Eight, but he’s as big as you, I think. He’s
+hoping very much that he is, anyway. He rides pretty
+well, and he can swim fairly. Dad thinks it would be
+a good plan to teach you both to box.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d like that,” Rex said eagerly. “My father
+was going to have me taught, but I got sick after
+I’d only had one lesson. I don’t have to wear my
+specs. to box, and that’s a pull. Specs. are an awful
+nuisance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jolly hard on you to have to wear them,” said Jo
+sympathetically. “But perhaps you won’t have to
+always.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope to goodness I shan’t,” said the small boy.
+“A fellow does look such an ass in them. And other
+chaps rag you about them.” He set his teeth and
+looked ferocious. “That’s one of the reasons why I
+want to learn to box!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So that you can take it out of them—good idea!”
+agreed Jo. “Here’s Jean, all bundles. Got everything,
+Jean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I sincerely hope so,” said her twin, who looked
+hot. “The shop’s crowded, and the smell of half-dead
+Christmas decorations is awful.” She glanced
+down her list. “Yes, that’s all, except the mail.
+Drive up, and I’ll meet you at the post-office.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t we go somewhere and have an ice, or a
+drink?” suggested Rex, as they drove up the little
+street. “I’m awfully hot. Is there any place?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo hesitated. In the old days when money had
+not seemed to matter, she and Jean had never failed
+to sample the ice-creams and other delights of hot
+weather supplied by the little fruit-shop. But the
+twins had talked this matter over, and had agreed
+that such luxuries must now be cut out of their programme.
+It was somewhat disconcerting to find that
+their pupil looked on them as one of the ordinary aids
+to existence. She temporized.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—it won’t be long before we get home,” she
+said. “Can’t you wait?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh do let’s come—it won’t take two minutes,”
+Rex begged. “Look, there’s quite a jolly place over
+there and it’s got an ‘Ice-Cream’ sign hanging out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo yielded, with a sigh. They had agreed not to
+take any more pocket-money from their father, and
+Christmas had made a very considerable hole in their
+slender funds. Still, there seemed no way out. She
+beckoned to Jean as her twin came out of the post-office.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jean—take Rex across to Fielding’s, and have an
+ice with him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean’s heated countenance expressed reproach,
+mingled with surprise. She had not time to reply,
+however, before Rex broke in.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but you’ve got to come too,” he said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No! thanks—don’t want any,” Jo returned.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! that’s rubbish—you’ve got to come. Can’t
+you get anyone to hold the horses?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I won’t, if you don’t, Jo,” said Jean firmly.
+To depart from a rule so recently formed was bad
+enough, but it was ten times worse to be expected
+to do it without one’s faithless twin. Mingled with
+her feelings was a guilty consciousness that she wanted
+that ice very badly indeed. “Jimmy Fielding will
+hold the horses. Come on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, all right,” Jo said, capitulating. “After all,”
+she added to herself, “it’s only threepence a head.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it turned out to be rather more than that.
+After the ices, Rex ordered raspberry vinegar before
+the twins could interfere; and then it occurred to
+him that peaches would enliven the journey home,
+and he secured a bag full of rosy-cheeked freestones.
+He picked them up and stood aside, cheerfully unconcerned,
+while Jo paid the bill. Rex had plenty of
+money in his pockets, but it did not occur to him that
+others might not be as well off. Older people always
+paid for him when they shopped together—why not
+the twins?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The superhuman politeness of their pupil continued
+during the drive home, scarcely modified even by the
+consumption of peaches that freely dripped with
+juice. He asked a great many questions, but did not
+appear at all interested in any answers. One gathered
+the impression that he considered it bad manners to
+sit in silence, and that questions were the easiest way
+out. The twins, however, were somewhat paralyzed
+by the rapid-fire nature of his conversation, and found
+their own supply of small-talk quite unequal to his.
+It was something of a relief to them when they reached
+the homestead, and saw their young charge taken over
+by Billy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wonder what Billy’s thinking?” Jo laughed, as
+she perched on the end of the table where their mother
+was sewing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do <span class='it'>you</span> think?” was Mrs. Weston’s rejoinder.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s quite amazing,” Jo answered. “Isn’t he,
+Jean? Frightfully grown-up, and I should think
+he’s had rather too much of his own way all his life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“His manners are lovely,” Jean said. “You should
+have seen him eating peaches, Mother—they were
+the really-drippy sort that ordinary people like Jo
+and me can only eat with comfort in a bath, or in the
+middle of a fifty-acre paddock; but he managed it
+without turning a hair, and I don’t think there’s one
+spot on his coat!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Remarkably prehensile action with his tongue,”
+grinned Jo. “I’m going to practise it—in private.
+The weird part was that it hardly interfered with his
+remarks at all!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It would take years of practice before <span class='it'>I</span> could eat
+a peach and talk at the same time—except to you,”
+said Jean. “It’s one of those occasions when the
+strain of society is a bit too much. But Rex isn’t
+like any small boy I ever met.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m rather leaning back against the fact that he’s
+Helen’s brother,” Jo remarked. “Anyone belonging
+to Helen <span class='it'>must</span> be all right. And of course he’s had
+lots of drawbacks.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He does not seem quite a natural small boy,”
+said Mrs. Weston. “But Billy will make him natural,
+if it’s humanly possible. So don’t worry, girls.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile, Billy and Rex, having looked each other
+over after the fashion of young puppies who meet for
+the first time, had strolled together into the orchard.
+They kept some distance apart, and exchanged sidelong
+glances, looking very much as if they wished
+to growl. Conversation flagged. Billy paused presently
+under a laden apricot tree.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have one?” he asked, jerking his head upwards.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, thanks,” Rex answered. They browsed
+awhile in silence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not many good ones left near the ground,” remarked
+Billy. “Come on up the tree.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex hesitated.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t think I care about climbing trees.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not like climbing trees!” uttered Billy. “Whyever
+not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—I’m not keen on it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But—<span class='it'>fruit</span> trees!” Billy’s eyes were round.
+“How on earth are you going to get fruit if you never
+climb?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I can buy it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can’t buy it more’n once a week, if you’re
+livin’ with us,” affirmed Billy. “An’ fruit in shops
+isn’t half as good as fruit picked off trees. Besides,
+every one climbs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t, so that’s flat.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy surveyed him with amazement. Courtesy to
+guests had been preached to him, but this was a serious
+matter. There surged over his mind the utter impossibility
+of living with a boy who refused to climb.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you’re afraid!” he burst out.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex went scarlet.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ’Fraid, yourself. Don’t you dare say I’m afraid.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, if you aren’t afraid, come on after me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy swung his lithe young body into the lower
+branches of the tree, and went up, hand over hand,
+until he reached a favourite nook near the top. He
+hooked his leg over a branch and looked down, tauntingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There!—why, it’s as easy as easy. Even old
+Sarah can climb an apricot tree—any muff can! And
+you’re afraid!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not afraid,” retorted Rex furiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He gave an awkward little run at the tree and succeeded,
+with a scramble, in gaining the lower branches.
+It was very plain that he was unused to climbing.
+He clung rather desperately to the trunk and turned
+an angry face upward to Billy, who unfeelingly roared
+with laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s right—hang on like fury, or you’ll tumble
+out again! Come on up here and have an apricot—all
+the ripe ones are high up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex set his teeth and tried to copy his tormentor’s
+easy upward swing. It looked the simplest thing,
+but, somehow, it was harder than it looked. He missed
+his grasp at a branch, slipped, and fell with a resounding
+bump. The ground was hard beneath the tree,
+and, though he fell only a few feet, Rex felt considerably
+shaken and damaged. He jumped up—rather
+to the relief of Billy, who promptly laughed anew.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you <span class='it'>are</span> a muff! Fancy falling out of a
+tree like that. Did you ever try to climb before?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I never!” rejoined Rex, red with rage.
+“It’s all very well for you to laugh, when you’ve been
+climbing trees all your life. Anyhow, I wouldn’t have
+silly ginger curls like yours for something. Does your
+mother put them in curl-papers every night?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The bitterness of this insult sent the blood to Billy’s
+face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, she doesn’t—an’ I’ll fight you if you say that
+again!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Every vestige of his society manner had departed
+from Rex. He danced about on the grass, chanting
+derisively.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yah, Curly! Who’s got ginger curls? Silly old
+Curly—won’t the boys laugh at him when he goes to
+school!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not as much as they’ll laugh at you if you try to
+climb!” retorted Billy, at the top of his voice. But
+Rex apparently did not hear. He danced and yelled
+with unabated vigour.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Curly, Curly Weston! Curly, Curly Weston!
+Who goes to bed in curl-papers every night?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll teach you!” said Billy fiercely. He came
+down the tree like an avalanche, dropping from bough
+to bough until he landed on the grass. His fists were
+clenched at his sides. It would have been difficult
+to say which face was the redder.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will you fight?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t fight girls with silly curls,” said Rex—and
+realizing that he had made an unexpected burst of
+poetry, was correspondingly uplifted, and chanted
+wildly, “I—don’t—fight—girls— With—sil-ly—curls”
+again and again, ducking to avoid a sudden blow from
+Billy. Then another, better aimed, caught him on
+the shoulder, and from that instant neither manners
+nor melody remained to Master Rex Forester. He
+became primitive boy. Hammer and tongs they
+fought each other under the tree—slipping on squashed
+apricots, stumbling and recovering, exchanging thudding
+blows with their hard young fists.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>From the shelter of an apple-tree by the gate Mr.
+Weston, who had come to make his guest’s acquaintance,
+watched them, a twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose I ought to interfere,” he murmured,
+smiling under his moustache. “But—I don’t know.
+There certainly doesn’t seem much of the city polish
+left about that youngster: and a little blood-letting
+is a pretty good way to friendship. I think I’ll let
+them be. Anyhow, Billy’s getting the worst of it,
+so my feelings as a host won’t be too badly hurt.”
+He drew back into the shelter of the tree, watching.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy was certainly getting the worst of it. He was
+slightly smaller than Rex, and had very little idea of
+fighting; while the solitary boxing-lesson of which
+Rex had spoken had not failed to leave some impression
+on that hero. There was a trace of science in his
+hitting: a faint trace, it is true, but it was more than
+enough for Billy. Billy’s muscles were hard, and his
+blows were of the sledge-hammer type—the drawback
+being that they so seldom got home. He was almost
+on the point of admitting that he had had enough
+when a swing from Rex’s left arm landed on the point
+of his nose. Blood followed, in quantities sufficiently
+terrifying to an eight-year-old. It was not altogether
+surprising if a few tears came too.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy was desperately ashamed of crying. He leaned
+against a tree, endeavouring to staunch the bleeding—thankful
+that, for once in a way, he had a handkerchief,
+and trusting that his suppressed sobs would be
+unnoticed by his conqueror. He knew he was beaten:
+it would be only a moment, he supposed, before the
+insulting chant about his curls would begin again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It did not come, however. Gradually the bleeding
+slackened, and he became sufficiently master of himself
+to face the world again. He turned from his friendly
+tree, his face doggedly ashamed, ready to meet whatever
+insults his victor might devise.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were none, it seemed, that he was to be
+called upon to meet. Rex lay full-length in the grass,
+his face buried in his arms. His shoulders were shaking:
+there was obvious evidence that Billy was not
+the only one to cry. And suddenly it came to little
+Billy Weston that this conqueror, with his smooth
+hair and his grown-up manner, was only a lonely little
+boy whose mother was very far away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He paused a moment, awkwardly. Then he went
+over and knelt beside him, putting a nervous hand on
+his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I say. Rex, I’m awful sorry. I was a pig.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, so was I,” came in muffled tones.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, but you’re a visitor. Anyhow, you licked me.
+M-made me blub, too.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The last was an heroic effort, and it brought Rex
+round to a sitting position.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did I?” he uttered. His own face was tear-stained,
+and a fine bruise was rapidly developing near
+his eye. “Well, I blubbed, too. I—I guess it’s a bit
+queer, being away from every one you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, we’re no better than each other,” said Billy
+quaintly. “Let’s be pals.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They shook hands solemnly. Mr. Weston slipped
+away, chuckling as he went.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wouldn’t take any notice of anything peculiar
+in the boys’ appearance,” he told his wife and the
+twins. “They’ve been making friends, and it’s a
+process involving bruises. But it’s all right.” He
+told the story.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy guided Rex by devious paths to the bathroom
+presently, there to remove as much evidence of warfare
+as could be treated with soap and water. They
+appeared at tea with extremely red and shiny faces,
+coloured here and there with bruises, and, in Billy’s
+case, with a nose resembling a beetroot in shape and
+colour. No one took any apparent notice of these
+defects. The twins plied their pupil with food—for
+which he had little appetite—and Mrs. Weston asked
+him kindly if he had enjoyed his afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve had a very nice time, thank you, Mrs. Weston,”
+responded Rex politely. “We’ve been in the orchard.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, it’s nice there,” said John Weston gravely.
+His eyes met his son’s for a moment, and Billy flushed
+at something he saw in them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do I look rum?” he demanded of Rex when,
+released from society, they wandered out into the
+garden.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pretty, rum,” Rex said, regarding him critically.
+“Do I?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, rather. I wonder would anyone guess we’d
+been fighting?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t wonder if they did. Would they be
+wild?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, they told me to behave nicely to you—especially
+at first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They told me that, too, at home.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They grinned at each other, comprehendingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well,” said Billy. “Girls an’ grown-ups can’t
+possibly understand everything about boys!”</p>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illo96.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
+<p class='caption'>“ ‘I say, Rex, I’m awful sorry. I was a pig.’ ‘Well, so was I,’ came in muffled tones.”<br/> <span class='it'>The Twins of Emu Plains</span>] [<span class='it'>Page 103</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='105' id='Page_105'></span><h1>CHAPTER IX<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE PROGRAMME</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟A</span>RE you young people aware,” asked Mr. Weston
+severely, “that it is now up to you to map
+out the whole duty of pupil-teachers?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Parents of high-grade pupil-teachers,” remarked
+Jo with equal severity, “don’t use such expressions
+as ‘up to you.’ They employ only the <span class='it'>best</span> English.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It has been sufficiently exhausting to act as the
+parent of low-grade twins without beginning to live
+up to them as high-grade pupil-teachers,” said her
+father, laughing. “However, I’ll try, being of a meek
+spirit. Will you, my children, address yourselves to
+the problem of framing a suitable scheme of educational
+training for——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Daddy, do say something like ‘that blessed
+kid,’ to finish with, and then I’ll know it’s you!”
+cried Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I meant to,” said Mr. Weston with a sigh of relief.
+“I couldn’t have kept it up a second longer. Well,
+what are you going to do about it, anyhow?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve been trying to work out a scheme for a
+week,” Jo said. “There’s such a lot to be thought of.
+Mrs. Forester said specially that she didn’t want him
+to have too many lessons—three hours a day would
+be quite enough for him. Is that enough for Billy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, Billy could stand more. But three hours
+will do for the present,” said Mrs. Weston, who was
+knitting in her armchair by the window, profiting by
+the last gleam of daylight. The long summer day was
+over, and a cool breeze had begun to blow across the
+scorched, bare plains. Rex and Billy, wearied by
+battle, were already in bed, in their corner of the
+verandah, sleeping peacefully. The twins had tucked
+them up, and were now ready for a family conclave.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—lessons, three hours. We’ve got to fit that
+in with our own work,” said Jean. “You see, we’re
+going to do most of the housework. We mean to get
+up at five in the summer, and get most of it done
+before breakfast. That leaves Sarah pretty free. Of
+course, we don’t want Mother to do anything at all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A nice sort of person I should soon become!”
+said Mrs. Weston, laughing. “Disgracefully fat and
+hopelessly lazy! It seems hard that you should
+deliberately conspire to ruin an excellent character
+like mine!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we know well enough you’ll always be busy,
+darling,” Jo said, laughing. “You can have the mending
+of all Billy’s trousers, for one thing: and that’s
+about enough to keep you busy. But we don’t want
+you to have any definite housework. We’ve talked
+it all out with Sarah, and arranged everything. She
+insists on turning out one room every day—so we’re
+going to get it all ready for turning out, and do the rest
+of the housework. It’ll be quite easy, because nothing
+will ever get dirty or untidy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My poor lambs!” murmured Mrs. Weston,
+gazing at this picture of youthful optimism.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you know, Mother, not really bad.” Both
+the twins laughed. “We do really mean to try to
+keep things tidy. We’re going round a bit at night,
+putting everything away before we go to bed—things
+that don’t seem to matter a bit at night do look so
+horribly untidy in the morning. And we’re going to
+plan the work so as to get method. Smithy—Miss
+Smith, I mean—used always to preach about that. Do
+you think it takes long to grow method?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A lifetime isn’t enough for some people,” Mrs.
+Weston said. “But if you really try I think yours
+will soon develop. There are already signs of healthy
+sprouting!” She smiled at them—the smile a little
+tremulous. They were so young, and so tremendously
+in earnest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s comforting,” Jean said. “Now there’s
+another important thing. Do you think it’s our duty
+to teach the boys together? Us together, I mean—not
+the boys, of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A class of two isn’t exactly huge,” said their father.
+“It would be rather over-engined with two teachers,
+I think.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s what we thought,” Jean cried eagerly.
+“It would be silly—we’d be falling over each other.
+So we mapped out a programme, each of us taking an
+hour and a half at a time, and we’ll each give the lessons
+we’re best at ourselves. English isn’t mine, you’ll
+notice! Then the one who isn’t teaching can be free
+for other jobs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Here’s the programme,” Jo said. She displayed
+it triumphantly—a lengthy document, with spaces
+beautifully ruled in red ink, mapping out a week’s
+work. Mr. and Mrs. Weston studied it together.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Drill—15 minutes’?” queried Mr. Weston presently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that’s physical jerks—you know, calisthenics,”
+Jo explained. “We’ll begin with that every morning.
+They were very keen about it at school. Miss Dampier
+says it gets all the brain-machinery going well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good idea,” said their father, relapsing into silence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t there a good deal of time for ‘Reading’?”
+asked Mrs. Weston. “They’re very small for such
+long lessons.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—that’s not only the boys,” Jean said. “We’re
+going to read to them—jolly books, like those ‘High
+Roads’ series, that teach you all about history and
+geography and literature without letting you guess
+that you’re being taught. We had a lot of them ourselves,
+and Mrs. Forester has sent dozens in Rex’s
+trunk. They’ll get absolutely full of knowledge without
+an effort on their own parts!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why wasn’t I taught like that!” groaned Mr.
+Weston. “My ‘High Roads’ were paved with flint—these
+lucky young dogs will have theirs strewn with
+rose-leaves. Well, it seems a pretty comprehensive
+schedule, twinses. I hope you’ll be able to live up
+to it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We mean to have a jolly good try,” Jo said. “I
+expect we’ll slump sometimes, but we’re really going
+to do our best. Now, where do you come in, Dad?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is it me?” queried Mr. Weston blankly. “What
+have I to do with your fell schemes?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rex isn’t a fell scheme, and you have lots to do
+with him,” said his relentless daughter. “You see,
+it was specially mentioned that he needs manly influence.
+Well, we can’t supply that!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not so sure,” remarked the hapless man,
+gazing at the determined young faces. “Still, I’m
+willing to do all I can. What would you suggest?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—boxing for one thing: and of course he has
+to be taught to ride. We can all take a turn at that,
+but we think he ought to begin with you, Dad, ’cause
+he’ll have more confidence with a man than he would
+with us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can do,” said Mr. Weston. “I’ll give him half an
+hour on old Merrilegs after breakfast every morning—if
+I possibly can. Boxing after tea; then they can wash
+off the results and sleep off the soreness! Anything
+else?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—no other accomplishments. But he can go
+about with you and Billy, can’t he, Dad?—when you
+have time, of course. We don’t want them always with
+us, or getting into mischief alone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Billy is very anxious to learn to manage the place,”
+said Mr. Weston, with a twinkle in his eye. “I think
+he has visions of relieving me of any work after a year
+or two—like you two with your mother. I’ve promised
+to teach him all I can, but of course there’s very little to
+show him just now, with the whole place a desert, and
+most of the stock away. When Rex can ride I can
+take them both out with me. Meanwhile, I’ll do what
+I can to instruct him in country ways; and it’s not
+a bad thing to teach them to use their eyes. Quite
+remarkable, how many people can look at things without
+seeing them. To come down to actual deeds, Billy
+is earnestly learning to use an axe, and to milk. Rex
+can share those lessons.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For goodness’ sake, don’t let him chop his feet off!”
+begged Mrs. Weston.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not if I can avoid it,” said her husband. “The
+axe Billy is using isn’t sharp enough to cut anything
+in particular, so I don’t think you need worry. But
+will young Rex want to learn such unfashionable things
+as chopping and milking?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I think he’ll want to join in anything that
+Billy does,” Jean said. “And if you tell him to do
+them as a matter of course, he’ll hardly refuse, even
+if it’s a shock to him. Then there’s swimming.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Am I the swimming teacher too?” demanded Mr.
+Weston. “For I warn you, I shan’t have time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no—we can teach him. We thought of going
+to bathe every afternoon, and he’ll soon learn. I think
+that’s all,” said Jean, wrinkling her brows. “Or can
+you think of anything else we ought to teach him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think you’ve a fairly complete scheme—for a boy
+who has to go slow. Rex will certainly say that he has
+enough to do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It doesn’t appear that there is any job for me in
+the scheme,” remarked Mrs. Weston. “In fact, I
+think you’re steadily planning to make me into a fine
+lady. I don’t think I quite like it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She found herself suddenly hugged by both twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bless you, you’ve got jobs all the time!” said Jo.
+“He’s only nine, and he can’t possibly do without
+mothering. It’s the biggest job of all. And we’ll all
+come to you with our difficulties, as we always do,
+and you’ll get us all out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So long as you all do that I shan’t feel too much on
+the shelf,” said her mother. “And I’m appointing
+myself one job that you needn’t put down on the
+schedule—the last half-hour at night for the boys.
+That is mine, and nobody must take it, please. Also
+it seems to me that the schedule and the oddments
+and the hundred-and-one things that aren’t written
+down won’t leave my twinses much time, so I want it
+to be clearly understood that in case of necessity I can
+take over the lessons occasionally. I’m not going to
+have your poor old noses perpetually at the grindstone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re not going to feel it a grind,” declared Jean.
+“And, Mother, there won’t be much mending for Rex,
+for Mrs. Forester has sent up just the sensiblest things
+for him: scout blouses and whipcord breeches, and all
+sorts of hard-wearing things that look as if they couldn’t
+possibly tear!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t know small boys as well as I do!”
+returned Mrs. Weston, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—you’ll see. And there are ever so many
+things, and all perfectly new. But nothing very
+swagger: our poor old Billy won’t feel that he’s too
+much in the shade.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I was afraid when we met him that Billy would be
+hopelessly out of it,” said Jo. “He was such a dreadfully
+superior young man. And he still shows signs
+of being superior—but not as much. And they went
+off to bed arm in arm—which was far more than I had
+dared to hope for, the very first night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s nothing like a good, honest fight,” said her
+father, laughing. “If you had seen those urchins in
+the orchard, going at each other, hammer and tongs,
+you’d have known that there was no question of
+superiority about either of them. After all, Rex’s
+polish is only skin-deep; there’s normal small boy
+under it. And one small boy is very like another.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m rather troubled about one thing,” Jean said.
+“It doesn’t seem to me that Rex can possibly keep
+his polish up here. Billy will certainly rub it off, even
+if Jo and I don’t. It just couldn’t exist in a place like
+Emu Plains.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It could not,” her father nodded agreement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—when the Foresters come back from Colombo
+and find only unpolished Rex—it sounds rather like
+unpolished rice—do you think they’ll be horrified?
+For all we know Mrs. Forester has spent nine laborious
+years in putting that polish on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s an awful idea!” said Jo anxiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Only, Helen isn’t a bit polished,” Jean said. “She’s
+almost rugged at times, especially when you duck her
+in the baths. Of course her manners are lovely when
+she wants them to be; but then every Captain of the
+School has to have lovely manners for use if required—not
+as a habit. Rex’s polish isn’t like that. He fairly
+wallows in it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He won’t wallow long,” said Mr. Weston. “Not
+if I know Billy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—will Mrs. Forester mind?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She will not,” said Mrs. Weston, coming into the
+discussion with a note of decision in her clear voice.
+“If Mrs. Forester finds that much-too-pretty little boy
+grown into a brown, noisy, healthy ruffian like Billy,
+with horny hands and tough muscles, she won’t worry
+one little bit as to where his polish has gone. The
+mother who sent her son up here with scout suits and
+whipcord breeches doesn’t want him kept in cotton-wool.
+We can’t be always sure of making no mistakes,
+twinses dear: but I think if we have to decide between
+living up to the polish or the breeches, it will certainly
+be best to let the polish go. Elaine Forester won’t
+miss it after her boy has been for a year on Emu
+Plains!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Later, on her way back from bidding good-night to
+the twins, in their end of the verandah, Mrs. Weston
+paused near the boys’ beds. Billy always slept under
+her window: to-night the second little bed was drawn
+near his, and the sleek, fair head showed close to the
+ruddy curls in the moonlight. Billy lay, as always,
+with one arm flung above his head. He did not stir
+when his mother stooped to kiss him, tucking the sheet
+more closely round him. But when she bent above the
+other bed, Rex tossed round uneasily, and spoke in his
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother!” he muttered. The word was almost a
+cry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go to sleep, little sonnie,” Mrs. Weston said
+gently. She put her lips to the smooth cheek, and
+Rex settled down with a little satisfied sigh.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A vision came across Mrs. Weston of that other
+mother, whose ship was bearing her relentlessly away
+from her son.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll take care of him for you,” she murmured. And
+when she leaned from her window later on for the look
+she always gave Billy before blowing out her light, her
+caressing eyes lingered as long on the fair head as on
+the ruddy mass of despised curls.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='114' id='Page_114'></span><h1>CHAPTER X<br/> <span class='sub-head'>MIXED INSTRUCTIONS</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>W</span>ITH the first days of January the twins’
+programme may be said to have got fairly
+into its stride. It worked smoothly enough. An
+alarum-clock, placed on an empty kerosene-tin between
+their beds, shrieked a wild summons at five
+every morning—on the first occasion each twin had
+dived to seize and silence it, with the result that their
+heads had banged together with sufficient violence
+to banish sleep very effectually. After that, they
+put the kerosene-tin near the foot of the beds, a
+plan that had the additional advantage of making
+them leap from their pillows without any chance of
+yielding to the temptation, familiar to us all, of
+“just one minute more.” Then came a quick cold
+shower and a hurried dressing, after which one twin
+attacked the drawing-room and the other the dining-room;
+it was a point of honour to have both rooms
+done before early morning tea, always ready in the
+kitchen soon after six. They had had visions of
+taking in their mother’s morning cup; but they soon
+realized that this was a privilege too dear to Sarah’s
+heart to be deputed to anyone. Therefore the twins
+contented themselves with taking their own tea very
+cheerfully in the kitchen with Sarah, who imagined
+that she concealed, under a grumpy manner, the
+fact that she delighted in their presence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy and Rex used to appear in the kitchen also,
+demanding nourishment. Rex had willingly agreed
+to the plan of learning to milk and to use an axe.
+He never attempted to hint that he cared either for
+cows or for chopping; but it had very soon become
+evident that he was keenly anxious to be as strong
+as other boys of his age, and he welcomed any chance
+of developing his muscles. They would hurriedly
+swallow cups of weak tea, and, their hands full of
+scones, trot off to the paddock near the house, where
+the three milkers, which were all that the drought
+had left of Mr. Weston’s herd, awaited them. It
+was never hard to yard the milkers, for there was
+scarcely anything left for them to eat in the paddock.
+Down by the river there was still some dry, stick-like
+grass, on which they browsed for forms’ sake
+during the day; but green feed welcomed them at
+milking-times—lucerne, from the little patch that
+was irrigated through the efforts of a windmill which
+brought from the spring enough water for household
+purposes, and a little extra. The cows needed no
+bell to summon them when the hours for lucerne
+drew near.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The girls’ room had two long windows, opening
+upon the verandah where their beds were placed.
+It was a cheery place, with little to indicate that it
+was used as anything but a sitting-room: the stained
+floor boasted a couple of good rugs, easily moved
+when necessary, and there was an old sofa, disreputable,
+but astonishingly comfortable when once you
+had learned to accommodate your person to the
+places where its springs were broken. Two or three
+inviting chairs were scattered about; there was a
+business-like writing-table with the drawers on the
+east sacred to Jo, and the western ones Jean’s
+property. A rather good Japanese screen hid the
+dressing-table—not that the twins had much use for
+a dressing-table, since their bobbed curls demanded
+little more than hard brushing, and their frocks were
+of the type that is easiest to slip on hastily. Tennis-racquets
+and hockey-sticks were displayed upon the
+wall, and there were many school photographs, as
+well as those of the home-folk. A long, low cupboard
+ran along one wall. To its kindly recesses
+was due the fact that the twins’ room was nearly
+always tidy. “It’s a mercy we’ve got it!” Jean
+would say, tossing old shoes, or battered hats, or
+half-soiled aprons into its capacious interior. “And
+Mother’s such a brick—she never dreams of looking
+inside it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother’s an awfully understanding person,”
+Jo would answer. “She says if it weren’t for Sarah
+she wouldn’t have any reputation for tidiness herself!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For Mother never failed to understand. Perhaps
+it was because her own gay youth was not so very
+far behind her; perhaps because of her great love
+for these cheery, curly-haired twins, with their merry
+faces. She knew—somehow—when the famous programme
+did not seem to run smoothly: when the
+housework developed unexpected difficulties, or the
+teaching faculty seemed suddenly deficient. Then
+she would make an appearance, as if accidentally,
+and things would smooth out. Her sovereign prescription
+on these occasions was open air. Generally,
+she would take over the small boys, and the twins
+would find themselves suddenly despatched on an
+errand to the township, or, best of all, sent out in
+the paddocks with their father. For though Emu
+Plains might be scorched and bare, and the stock
+weak and starved, so that riding out on the run had
+lost something of its joy, it still remained the chief
+of all pleasures.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it was not often that the programme failed to
+work. After early tea the twins made a triumphal
+progress from one room to another, sweeping and
+dusting. They generally sang, too, loudly and
+cheerily, what their voices lacked being made up in
+enthusiasm. They swept verandahs, and made beds,
+and trimmed lamps, and gathered what flowers the
+drought had spared, which were not many. The
+work, like the songs, was made into a duet, so far as
+was possible, for the twins hated to work apart.
+When they dusted a room together they did it in a
+kind of drill, each taking one half—the work calculated
+so that they finished at the same moment.
+They swept the wide verandah, that ran round three
+sides of the house, in a concerted movement, beginning
+at opposite ends and making a race of it until they
+met in the middle, at the steps leading down from the
+front door. This lent great excitement to the job,
+and Mr. Weston had even been known to appear near
+the finish, to cheer on the panting combatants.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Most of the housework was done before breakfast,
+and then odd jobs took up the time until nine o’clock,
+when Rex and Billy were supposed to be in readiness
+on the verandah, with scrubbed hands and faces,
+and persons displaying as little dust as possible,
+considering that the persons were those of small boys.
+Rex had, by this time, undergone his riding-lessons,
+and his appearance was fairly certain, since Mr.
+Weston used to dismiss him at five minutes to nine,
+telling him to hurry up and get ready for school.
+But Billy was a will-o’-the-wisp creature, and rules
+and regulations meant little to him. He was never
+openly defiant: he was merely oblivious of time and
+space, when engaged in any of the thousand-and-one
+“ploys” in which his soul delighted; and against
+that bland armour of forgetfulness the twins’ wrath
+fell blunted. “I never really <span class='it'>meant</span> not to be there,”
+he used to say, with wide, innocent eyes, after an
+indignant twin, wailing his name disconsolately, had
+run him to earth in the orchard, or the stables, or
+on the river-bank. “It isn’t truly nine yet, is it?”
+When assured in pungent tones that it was long
+after nine, he would exclaim, “My word, I must
+hurry up, then!”—and would take to his heels; so
+that when his teacher, heated in more ways than one,
+arrived on the verandah, it was to find him awaiting
+her, washed and brushed, and with a disarming
+twinkle in his eye. The pursuing twin invariably
+twinkled in response.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s awful, of course,” they would say. “But
+we were young, once, ourselves!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex, so far, committed no breaches of discipline.
+When alone with Billy there were signs that his polish
+was, after all, merely skin-deep, and was even wearing
+off in places; but with the other members of the
+family he maintained a calm correctness of demeanour
+that the twins found almost painful. He drilled
+painstakingly, in a solid fashion; the twins sighed
+over his heavy movements, even while they rebuked
+Billy, who loved to prance through his “physical
+jerks” like the light-footed elf he was. To lessons
+Rex brought a dull hatred that somewhat astonished
+the twins, since it was evident from the first that he
+was by no means deficient in brains. Only when he
+dealt with figures was he at all happy, and as Jean
+put it, resentfully, “he just wallows in sums.” Jean
+herself having a constitutional dislike to adding even
+two and two, mathematics were always left to her
+twin, so that her share of the lessons was rather
+wearying.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There must be a reason for it,” she puzzled,
+one day. “I wonder if he had very frowsy governesses.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll ask him,” Jo declared.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They did, and the boy’s heavy eyes kindled as he
+was gradually induced to describe his former lessons.
+His governess had been one of the old school, severe
+and correct; she exacted absolute stillness and
+obedience, and led the weary feet of her small pupil
+along the dullest paths of old-fashioned learning. He
+used to learn by heart long passages of heavy history
+and geography books and repeat them to her with
+very little idea of their meaning. In the same way
+he would learn poetry, and repeat it, parrot-fashion.
+All lessons were beastly, he said, but poetry was not
+quite so beastly as others, because it had rhymes,
+and was not quite so hard to learn. But it never
+meant anything. You could tell a story better
+without worrying about rhymes, if that was all you
+wanted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But poetry’s gorgeous!” expostulated Billy, open-eyed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Aw, what’s gorgeous?” Rex demanded. “I
+never saw any sense in it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it is. Look at fighting yarns like ‘Horatius,’
+and things like that!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know that ‘Horatius’ thing. It’s one
+of the worst,” declared Rex, loftily—“there’s such
+miles of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Say a bit, Rex,” said Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was lesson-time, and they were all in the schoolroom.
+Rex began at once, obediently.</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“But the Consul’s brow was sad.</p>
+<p class='line0'>  And the Consul’s speech was low,</p>
+<p class='line0'>And darkly looked he at the wall,</p>
+<p class='line0'>  And darkly at the foe.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“ ‘Their van will be upon us</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Before the bridge goes down;</p>
+<p class='line0'>And if they once may win the bridge</p>
+<p class='line0'>  What hope to save the town?’ ”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>He said it in a queer, lifeless, sing-song voice, with
+not the smallest shade of expression. The end of
+each line was a recognized stopping-place, where he
+halted heavily. It was evident that the brave old
+lines conveyed nothing to him. Jo shuddered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hold on!” she said. “Why did you begin there,
+Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s where it began in my book.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And don’t you know anything of the part that
+goes before?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. Is there any?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But there’s lots, and it’s the jolliest lines!”
+cried Billy excitedly. “All about the Etruscan
+Army marching, and coming down on Rome, and all
+that. Didn’t you never have it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Rex. “Thank goodness, I didn’t. I
+reckon I had quite enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—!” said the twins explosively. They
+looked at each other in bewilderment. “Horatius”
+had been part of their lives since they were very
+small people.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jo,” said Jean, “let’s have the ‘Horatius’ play.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And no lessons?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean nodded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t wasting time, if we can make him see it.”
+She turned to the bewildered small boy. “Rex,
+you like stories?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s a simply ripping story, if you get
+it the right way. Will you try and forget that you
+know a bit of it, and that you don’t like it? and we’ll
+make a game of it for school this morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you <span class='it'>can’t</span> make that stuff into a game!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t we!” laughed Jean. “Billy, you’ve got
+all your soldiers, haven’t you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” gasped Billy. “D’you really mean
+to get them? And no lessons?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really and truly!” laughed Jean. “And bring
+any blocks you’ve got. Clear the table, and we’ll go
+back to Ancient Rome!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She darted to the store-room, returning presently
+with half-a-dozen packets of matches.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Must be careful of these, because they’ve got
+to go back,” she said, stripping off the paper
+wrappings. “I know Billy hasn’t enough blocks
+left, now. Come along, Rex, and we’ll build Rome.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They built it at one end of the table, a wobbly
+oblong, enclosed by strong matchbox walls. There
+were turrets and towers here and there, made of
+cotton-reels. Without, ran the Tiber, a noble river
+of yellow ribbon, wide, and doubtless deep. A bridge
+spanned it—a high-walled bridge, long and narrow.
+From the bridge you came out upon a wide plain, the
+rest of the table: it was easy to see it was a plain,
+because it was flat, and there were trees on it, and
+cattle, contributed by an ancient Noah’s Ark. It
+was all workmanlike and comprehensible, and something
+like interest kindled in Rex’s eye.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Atlas, please, Billy,” Jean said. “You know,
+the Ancient History Atlas.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She showed them the scene of the story.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now you’ve got to get that in your head, Rex,
+and remember it’s all real.” Rapidly she sketched
+the story of the downfall of the Tarquins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’d been kings of Rome, but they were absolute
+wasters, and at last the Romans were just fed
+up with them, and they kicked them out. Served
+them jolly well right, too; the Romans were terribly
+proud, and the Tarquins weren’t fit to have in a decent
+city. And they cleared out to a place called Clusium—here
+it is—and asked Lars Porsena, the Etruscan
+king, for help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Was he a swine, too?” asked Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I don’t think so. But he was fierce and warlike,
+and all those old States were jealous of Rome,
+because she was so powerful. They were all anxious
+for a chance to take her down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who’s ‘her’?” queried Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they spoke of Rome as ‘she.’ Well, you
+can just imagine this mouldy Tarquin crowd coming
+to Lars Porsena and telling him all sorts of yarns
+about the way the Romans had treated them, and
+saying what a great man he was, and that they were
+jolly well sure he’d never see them in a hole. I don’t
+suppose Lars Porsena believed half they said, but he
+was quite willing to have a war. All those chiefs
+were. They reckoned fighting was the only game fit
+for a man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So it is,” quoth Billy, in martial tones.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And Lars Porsena was awfully keen on his army.
+He was the biggest man of that part of the country,
+and he could command all the fighting men from ever
+so many cities. And he sent his messengers everywhere
+to muster them all at Clusium. And they came,
+as hard as they could pelt—armies and armies of
+them, until he had ten thousand cavalry and eighty
+thousand infantry. Just you picture that, young
+Rex—all in glittering armour, and with splendid
+flags, and simply gorgeous horses.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whew-w!” whistled Rex. “But this isn’t
+really ‘Horatius,’ is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course it is. It’s the only ‘Horatius.’
+Just you forget that you ever learned it as a lesson—it’s
+a fighting yarn, and old Macaulay told it in
+a top-hole way. You’ve got to listen to it all presently;
+Jo must read it, ’cause she reads better than
+I do, and it’s just all music.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not music when I say it,” Rex said, with a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, ’cause you say it as if you were a lump of
+dough, and you come down with a ‘wop’ at the
+end of each line. You don’t make any sense of it.
+You listen to Jo—and when she comes to the name of
+any place, I’ll show it to you on the atlas. Well, Lars
+Porsena mustered all his crowd—ninety thousand—and
+then he consulted his tame prophets, and asked
+them what he’d better do. There were thirty of them,
+and they were very tame—they always said what they
+were wanted to say. They knew the king wanted
+horribly to go to fight Rome, so they told him it was
+all right, and he must go ahead and bring all the spoils
+of Rome back with him. So off they went, and as
+soon as they got to the Roman country they began to
+burn villages and kill the people. Now you read, Jo.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo read well, and her clear young voice made the
+most of the singing words. The other three heads
+bent over the atlas, following up the story of the
+great muster and then of the fierce swoop on Rome.
+Rex was politely interested, at first. Then the story
+caught him, and his eyes kindled; he sat up, staring
+at Jo.</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“And nearer fast and nearer</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Doth the red whirlwind come:</p>
+<p class='line0'>And louder still, and still more loud.</p>
+<p class='line0'>From underneath that rolling cloud,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Is heard the trumpets’ war-note proud.</p>
+<p class='line0'>  The trampling and the hum.</p>
+<p class='line0'>And plainly and more plainly</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Now through the gloom appears.</p>
+<p class='line0'>Far to left and far to right.</p>
+<p class='line0'>In broken gleams of dark-blue light,</p>
+<p class='line0'>The long array of helmets bright.</p>
+<p class='line0'>  The long array of spears!”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My word!” gasped Rex. “Wouldn’t you have
+given something to see it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll make it,” said Jean, delightedly. “Have
+a rest, Jo, and we’ll get the soldiers.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy had played with soldiers since he was a very
+small boy, and it had been a hobby of his family’s
+to keep him supplied with fresh regiments. Out they
+came from their boxes: horse, foot, and artillery;
+ambulance-waggons, ammunition carts, and all the
+paraphernalia of battle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We can’t make it correctly, of course,” Jo said.
+“They didn’t have our weapons, and we don’t have
+their armour. But we can make a gorgeous and
+glittersome march; and you can just imagine that
+it’s all ancient Etruscan, just as you’ve got to imagine
+that that yellow ribbon is the Tiber, all muddy and
+foaming with flood-water, and that the match-boxes
+are really the great stone walls of Rome.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Beyond doubt, it was a noble march. They headed
+across the plain towards Rome: Cavalry in the lead.
+Horse Guards and Life Guards, Lancers and Dragoons.
+They were brave with bright paint and glittering
+cuirasses, and with waving scarlet pennons. Then
+came guns, with teams of six horses, their officers
+galloping alongside; and there were machine-guns and
+other artillery, cunningly drawn by means of attaching
+a cavalryman to each with a scrap of flower-wire.
+It was hugely realistic. Then the “four-score
+thousand” came marching in solid formation:
+Highlanders and Fusiliers, men in khaki and men in
+scarlet coats, with banners here and there. There
+were officers standing in the empty ambulance-waggons,
+directing the march. Aeroplanes taxied on either
+side, loaded with men; the carts were full of bundles
+that were certainly ammunition and food. One
+mounted officer carried a splendid silken Union Jack,
+and near it a tiny model of a motor bore a seated
+soldier—once the driver of an ambulance-waggon.
+On one side of the car rode a Lifeguardsman; on
+the other, a rather undersized Cavalryman, one from
+a boxful which Billy, in his secret heart, despised,
+since neither in general splendour nor in correctness of
+detail did they come up to most of his army.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who are those fellows?” Rex asked; and Billy
+answered him, from the poem.</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“ ‘Fast by the royal standard,</p>
+<p class='line0'>  O’erlooking all the war,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Lars Porsena of Clusium</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Sat in his ivory car——’</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='noindent'>an’ that’s Mamilius an’ False Sextus on his right an’
+left. Doesn’t False Sextus look a mean little toad?
+I wish Lars Porsena looked prouder—but that driver
+is the only one I’ve got that’s made to sit down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll gild his helmet,” said Jo. “That will make
+him look awfully proud.” She produced gold paint
+from a cupboard, and endowed the Etruscan leader
+with a helmet of pure gold, to the immense delight
+of the small boys.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They laid waste all the country as they came,”
+Jean said. “You can see the cattle clearing out.”
+She withdrew the Noah’s Ark cows to the friendly
+shelter of the trees. “But it will avail them nothing—see,
+there are a couple of cavalrymen galloping out
+on the wing to head them off. They’ll be steak
+before night!” she added, gloomily. “Now we’ll
+fix Rome—you can just imagine how anxious the
+people are there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She manned the walls of Rome with soldiers—a
+detachment of Seaforth Highlanders, made in a lying-down
+position, firing rifles towards the advancing
+Etruscans. Within the city walls were massed the
+casualties of five years—all the damaged and legless
+warriors resulting from natural accidents since Billy
+had first taken to military operations. Billy never had
+the heart to throw away what he termed a “wounded”;
+and when they were packed together, supporting each
+other’s tottering forms, they made an imposing
+enough crowd in the streets of Rome. Jo read on as
+they placed the men in position; and the little boy
+who had known in “Horatius” only the dullest of
+dull lessons felt something of the tense anxiety of
+the doomed city at the steady march of the Etruscan
+hordes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Get Horatius and his mates—quick, Jean!”
+cried Billy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean brought three tall Guardsmen from a box
+and placed them on the bridge. They were officers,
+each with his sword at the “carry”: stiffly standing
+at attention they stared before them, looking loftily
+at the advancing hosts.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Aren’t they dauntless!” breathed Billy. “Come
+on, Jean—here’s the Fathers and the Commons!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>These were kneeling riflemen—Jean placed them
+at the foot of the slope leading up to the main bridge,
+where they might easily be supposed to be working
+for their lives. Jo read:</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“And Fathers mixed with Commons</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Seized hatchet, bar, and crow,</p>
+<p class='line0'>And smote upon the planks above</p>
+<p class='line0'>  And loosed the props below.”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now the chiefs spurring, Jean!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean took out the last three soldiers. They were
+Scots Greys, survivors of a well-loved set. Two of
+the chargers had wooden legs, deftly placed in position
+by Mr. Weston; but, though mended, they were still
+gallant and debonair, and they pranced out in front
+of the advancing army gaily, even as Aunus, Seius
+and Picus had pranced in the brave days of old.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now you’ve got them all, Rex,” Jean said. “Is
+it still dull?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dull!” uttered Rex. “Why, you’d never think
+they were only toys—just wee little bits of lead and
+paint! They look so awful real. My word, I wouldn’t
+’ve like to ’ve been in Rome!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo read slowly:</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Meanwhile the Tuscan army,</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Right glorious to behold,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Came, flashing back the noonday light,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Rank behind rank, like surges bright</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Of a broad sea of gold.</p>
+<p class='line0'>Four hundred trumpets sounded</p>
+<p class='line0'>  A peal of warlike glee,</p>
+<p class='line0'>As that great host, with measured tread,</p>
+<p class='line0'>And spears advanced, and ensigns spread,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Rolled slowly towards the bridge’s head,</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Where stood the dauntless three.”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>She stopped. Rex looked up at her with shining
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, go on!” he begged—“go on! That’s never
+the stuff I used to say!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo read on, putting all her heart into her task. It
+had somehow become the most important thing in
+the world, for the moment, that this little lad, who
+seemed to have missed so much, should get the same
+joy from the poem that they had had. She wanted
+intensely that he should see it as clearly as did Billy,
+who knelt on his chair beside the table, staring at the
+soldiers. Billy knew every word of the story, but
+it was always new to him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And there was soon no doubt that Rex was ensnared.
+There came to Jo the feeling dear above all others
+to the preacher and the actor—the knowledge that the
+audience is caught and held. She felt him thrill to
+the words: she knew, when she reached some verse
+more than usually musical, that every line went home
+to him. He ceased to look at the glittering array
+on the table; it had served its purpose in fixing the
+scene for ever in his brain, but she felt his great eyes
+upon her all the time. It was as though she were
+reading to Rex, and to Rex alone, knowing that in
+reading she was giving him a precious possession
+that could never be taken away from him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They followed the fighting for the bridge, Billy’s
+eyes ecstatic over the downfall of Astur; they heard
+the destroyed bridge crash into the flooded Tiber
+and sweep away with the torrent, leaving Horatius
+alone to face the taunts of his enemies. Jo heard
+Rex draw his breath sharply as the Roman turned
+his back upon the invitation to surrender, looking
+across the swollen river to the dear glimpse of his
+home. Her voice grew low.</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Oh, Tiber! Father Tiber!</p>
+<p class='line0'>  To whom the Romans pray,</p>
+<p class='line0'>A Roman’s life, a Roman’s arms,</p>
+<p class='line0'>  Take thou in charge this day!”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>She felt her lips unsteady. Even to her it was
+more real than ever before. She had a sudden vision
+of the wife who waited in that white porch for her
+fighting man, holding his baby to her heart. There
+was tense silence in the room. Then she steadied
+herself, and the story drew to its triumphant close.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy straightened himself with a jerk that shook
+the table and sent the Etruscan army into a heap.
+But the matchbox walls of Rome, although they
+quivered, stood firm and steadfast.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well!” said Rex, with a great sigh. “If that’s
+poetry, I want it every day!” He raised pleading
+eyes to Jo. “If you aren’t tired, would it bother
+you awfully to read it all over again?”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='131' id='Page_131'></span><h1>CHAPTER XI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>A</span>FTER that, lessons went more easily, because
+both teachers and pupil understood each other
+better. Rex had a good deal of the quick intuition and
+clear brain that had made his sister a successful Captain
+of Merriwa. He realized that it was only a different
+method of teaching that had transformed “Horatius”
+from a dull lesson into something startlingly alive.
+The words had been the same all the time, only he had
+not had the wit to read them until his eyes were opened.
+Possibly, he reasoned, other branches of learning might
+have possibilities; they might not all be mere devices
+for embittering one’s young life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His books, too, were different. To tell the truth,
+Mrs. Forester had been rather horrified when she had
+realized the weary path her young son had trod—a
+discovery not made until Helen, fresh from school, had
+helped her to arrange Rex’s outfit for Emu Plains.
+Helen had gasped in amazement over Rex’s books.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But these aren’t all he has, surely, Mother?
+Wherever did you get them?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t get them,” Mrs. Forester had answered.
+“Miss Green had them. She brought them with her.
+I believe I bought them from her: she told me most of
+them were difficult to obtain now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should think they would be. Poor little kid—just
+fancy having to wade through these! Why,
+they’re fit for boys of fifteen, if they’re fit for anything
+at all—only they’re not! Every one ought to be
+scrapped. Look at the tiny print, and the weary, long
+paragraphs. And to drag a little nine-year-old through
+them!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do feel rather ashamed,” Mrs. Forester had
+admitted, after an examination of Miss Green’s ancient
+literature. “They are really dreadful, aren’t they?
+She came with high recommendations, and I thought
+it wouldn’t matter if she were a bit old-fashioned—I
+was so much away from home that it seemed better
+not to have a very young governess to leave in charge
+of Rex.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And didn’t he tell you he hated his lessons?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he did. But then so had you and Wilfred
+and Arthur before him,” Mrs. Forester had said,
+twinkling. Helen had laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose poor old Rex has paid the penalty of our
+grumbles—although I know the other boys and I never
+had books like that. Well, you’ll let me send up all
+the things he ought to have, won’t you, Mother?”—and
+Mrs. Forester had thankfully consented.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So Rex found his new lessons taken from books that
+were easy to read and pleasant to look at and to handle—books
+that made history a succession of fascinating
+stories, and Geography something more than a weary
+catalogue of place-names and products; and there was
+something new called Literature, so like story-telling
+that it seemed impossible that it should be really a
+lesson. He found new peep-holes into learning that
+were extraordinarily interesting. Punctuation, under
+Miss Green, had meant a collection of horrible things
+called “stops,” traps to catch the unwary, for which
+there was neither rhyme nor reason. With the twins,
+they became kind little bridges over which you stepped
+into understanding just how a sentence should go:
+some places required big bridges, like a full-stop, or
+lesser bridges, like a semi-colon, and others only tiny
+foot-bridges, which were commas: but always when
+you crossed them, the sense of what you read was
+waiting meekly for you, instead of being a will-o’-the-wisp
+thing that dodged away from you and hid itself
+in the mazes of a paragraph. Once you had mastered
+them it was impossible to read poetry badly, and the
+lines sang to you as they were meant to sing. Maps,
+with Miss Green, had been the dreariest species of jigsaw
+puzzles; now they became pictures that helped
+you to make stories wonderfully alive. When you had
+a twin reading you the story of how Hawke chased the
+French fleet into Quiberon Bay, the full thrill of the
+story came home if you followed his course on the map,
+tracing his rush through the quicksands and shallows
+and roaring breakers, his only pilot-light the flash of the
+enemy guns. “It would seem just any old bay, if you
+didn’t see it,” Rex said. “But when the map makes
+you understand what an awful passage it was—and he
+did it at night, and in a howling gale!—well, it just
+makes you squiggle down the back!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And that is an amount of success which does not fall
+to all teachers—perhaps not to many.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Lessons ended at twelve, and there was an interval
+to recruit exhausted nature before the dinner-gong
+sounded at half-past twelve. At half-past two came
+bathing-parade, an institution for which the boys were
+never late. They mustered in the verandah, with light
+coats flung on over infinitesimal swimming-suits; and
+being joined by the twins, went, helter-skelter, down
+the hill to the river. The stream was lower than the
+twins ever remembered to have seen it, and in most
+places very little current ran; but the bathing-pool
+was still good. It was formed by a wide bend in the
+river; on the far side the bank rose high and steep,
+but the bank near the house shelved gently down to the
+water’s edge, in a little beach of fine sand. Mr.
+Weston had the pool always kept clear of snags, and
+it was fenced in, so that the cattle could not drink there.
+Trees overhung part of it: there were always shade and
+coolness there, even in the hottest days. A hut, built
+in bush-fashion of interlaced tea-tree poles, and overgrown
+with clematis and sarsaparilla, formed a dressing-room,
+if needed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Weston children had learned to swim almost as
+babies. They could scarcely remember a time when
+they had not rolled in and out of the water as they
+chose. But Rex could not swim, and, to handicap
+him further, he had an instinctive dread of the water.
+When a tiny boy he had fallen into a creek, and had
+been nearly drowned; and now, even to enter running
+water meant a rather painful effort for him. The twins
+had been warned of this, and they took him very gently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re not going to learn to swim at all just yet,”
+they told him, on his first day, as the small boy stood
+on the sand, looking as if he would have shivered but
+for the heat of the day.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I want to learn to swim,” Rex protested.
+“I’ve got to. I can’t go to school with other fellows
+if I can’t swim.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, of course you can’t,” Jean said. “Don’t
+you worry, old chap; we’ll make a regular Annette
+Kellermann of you before we’ve done with you. But
+we won’t be in a hurry. You’ve got to learn this old
+pool first. Rule I is that you don’t go beyond that
+rope.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She pointed to a cord stretched across the water.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, just you remember that the water is never
+more than three feet deep on this side of that cord;
+and the bottom is all good, firm sand, with no holes or
+snags. That’s quite deep enough for you to practise
+strokes in when you feel like it. Plenty of time. We’ll
+sail Billy’s yacht first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy’s yacht was a noble craft built by Mr. Weston,
+and home-rigged. In a favourable wind she sailed well,
+but had a disconcerting habit of suddenly turning turtle
+with no apparent reason. Her builder stated that it
+must be due to some mysterious flaw in her original
+plan, but, as no one knew what the original plan was,
+this theory was scarcely helpful. Jo’s explanation was
+that she had really meant to be a submarine, and had
+occasional uncontrollable impulses towards this ambition.
+Whatever the reason might be, this curious
+habit of the yacht’s lent considerable excitement to
+sailing her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The boys played with the boat in the shallow water
+during the first bathing days, Billy heroically stifling
+his longing for deep water so that Rex might not feel
+himself an outsider; and gradually the boy lost his
+first nervous terror of the cool touch of the river.
+Then, as the twins saw that he was gaining confidence,
+they proposed a new game. They brought to the river
+one afternoon a huge rubber ball, at the sight of which
+Billy yelled with joy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Water-polo!” he shouted. “Wherever did you
+get it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He gave the ball a mighty kick, and it rose high in
+the air, to fall in the deepest part of the pool. Billy was
+after it like a flash. He darted across the pool with
+swift strokes, and then, turning on his back, kicked the
+ball before him as he swam out again. Rex watched
+him enviously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wish I could do that,” he muttered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you will, soon,” Jo said. “Come along, and
+we’ll have water-tennis; you and Billy can keep the
+ball on the shallow side, and Jean and I will go out in
+the deep part. It’s no end of fun.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was indeed a glorious game for a blazing January
+day. At first Rex kept prudently near the bank; but
+as the excitement of keeping the ball going backwards
+and forwards grew upon him, he forgot himself more and
+more, and a few splashing tumbles gave him increased
+confidence, since he found that he always emerged
+safely. Soon he was as keen as Billy, laughing, shouting,
+and racing hither and thither after the elusive ball.
+Backwards and forwards across the rope it flew, a wet
+and slippery thing that never took the direction it
+might reasonably be expected to take; and after it
+plunged and splashed and scrambled and flopped the
+small boys, yelling with glee. The twins bobbed about
+in the deep water, like cheery young seals, returning
+the boys’ erratic services, and keeping a keen eye on the
+movements of their pupil.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Working like a charm,” Jo said, nodding sagely.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, isn’t it?” responded her fellow-plotter.
+“Look at him!—he went right under then, and never
+minded a bit. He’ll be like a dabchick soon.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And indeed, after three days of water-tennis, Rex
+revolted against the limitations of the non-swimmer.
+The ball had bobbed away from him at an unexpected
+angle into deep water; he flopped after it, missed his
+footing, and went under. Scarcely had his head disappeared
+when a twin was by his side, her hand on his
+arm. Rex came up, shaking the water from his eyes,
+and bursting into a flood of incoherent speech.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, you’re not frightened, Rex?” demanded Jo,
+the twin in question. “You weren’t really in deep
+water, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Frightened? No, of course I’m not frightened,”
+said Rex crossly. “I’m wild, that’s all! It’s just
+too silly, not being able to swim—I’d have had that
+ball as easy as wink if I could have swum two strokes.
+Do teach me, Jo!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My, rather!” said Jo delightedly. “Here you
+go—I’ll hold you.” She swung him off his feet, her
+hands under his chest. “Now kick away: hands too.
+I won’t let you down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex kicked manfully, thrashing the water until the
+splashing almost hid his teacher and himself. Gradually
+Jo induced him to calm his movements, and they
+progressed up and down beside the rope.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t try to go too quickly—you aren’t trying to
+increase your number of strokes per minute, you’re
+learning to swim. Bring your hands well back—remember
+you’re using them and the soles of your feet
+to push you through the water—that’s right, now
+you’re doing better. Slowly does it—now, don’t you
+begin to feel you’re shoving yourself along?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not really, am I?” Rex panted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course you are; do you think I’d walk
+about in the water carrying a great lump like you?”
+demanded his instructor, pithily. “Not much; and
+soon you’ll be doing all the work for yourself, and I’ll
+only be keeping one finger under your chin; and then
+I’ll forget you, when I want to scratch my nose, and
+take it away; and you’ll never notice, ’cause you’ll be
+swimming along merrily by yourself. All that keeps
+most people from swimming is the idea that it’s dreadful
+to go under the water; now you’ve found out that it’s
+really quite pleasant and homely under there, and you
+won’t mind a bit. And I’ll write to your mother and
+tell her you’ve developed into a young human porpoise,
+and she’ll be ever so proud! And now I think we’ll
+have a rest,” Jo finished, panting herself. “Stick
+your feet down: you’re only within your depth.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Like it. Rex?” demanded Billy, swimming
+happily on the other side of the rope.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Only I don’t know that I’ll ever go by
+myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll swim by yourself just as soon as you believe
+that you can,” stated Jo. “You know all the movements
+now—that comes of practising them on land.
+It’s only a question of believing you can swim—and
+there you’ll be!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m an awful hen in the water, you know, Jo.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, that’s the very thing you’re <span class='it'>not</span> to believe,”
+Jo said, positively. “The fellow who thinks he’s a
+hen in anything will act like a hen—and I simply decline
+to teach hens! But we aren’t going to hurry you, old
+chap: we’ll have a few days of practising like this
+before we let you go alone, and then it will only be
+inside the rope, and facing towards the bank, so that
+you’ll know you’ve only to put your feet down and bob
+your head up, if you go under. So don’t worry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re an awful brick, Jo!” said the small boy
+gratefully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not—I’m a high-class instructor!” said Jo,
+laughing. “Come on, and we’ll have some more
+tennis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They practised tennis and swimming alternately during
+that day and the next, Jo and Jean taking turns in
+supporting their kicking pupil. On the way up to the
+house, and at intervals throughout the day, he was to
+be seen vigorously employing the breast-stroke; he
+was even discovered face downwards across a log in the
+paddock, practising with his feet as well as his arms,
+and gasping heavily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s nothing in it, you know,” he said in his
+old-fashioned manner to Billy. “Any ass could do
+the movements. Then why can’t I swim?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But p’rhaps you can,” said Billy, grinning. “Jo
+says you can do anything if you only believe you can.
+You’d better practise believing, instead of breast-stroke!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe I’d better,” said Rex solemnly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy awoke next morning earlier than usual. He
+fancied he had heard a step: and yet there was no
+sound in the house. He leaned on his elbow, and
+looking across towards Rex’s bed, saw that it was
+empty.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was unusual, for Rex loved his bed, and, as a
+rule, it was hard to withdraw him from it. Billy was
+mildly surprised. There was another sound, inside
+their room, and he went to the window and peeped in.
+Rex, in his little coat and sandals, a towel over his arm,
+was just going out into the passage.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great Scott!” said Billy. “He’s off to bathe by
+himself!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A moment’s reflection showed him that this was a
+proceeding that should not be allowed. He hesitated
+a moment over the point of calling Jean and Jo: then he
+decided that he could deal with it himself. He slipped
+on his bathing-knickers and coat, and trotted down
+the hill after Rex, just as the twin’s alarum-clock
+brought them painfully from their beds.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ambition had been striving within Rex for four-and-twenty
+hours. He wanted to swim alone: he felt
+within himself that he <span class='it'>could</span> swim, if only he might
+try without anyone there to witness his preliminary
+struggles. Overnight he had made up his mind to go
+down alone to the river, if only he could awake early
+enough. He had gone to sleep urgently repeating,
+“I’m going to wake up at four”; he had given himself
+four hard knocks on the head, a plan which—so he had
+heard—never failed to rouse you at the time indicated
+by the number of knocks. And whether the fact was
+due to one of these charms, or to his own determination,
+he had certainly waked up in the early dawn.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bathing did not seem half so tempting then as in the
+heat of the day, although it had been a hot night, and
+he had lain with only a sheet as covering. Still, his
+mind was made up, and it was an obstinate enough
+little mind; so, after a few moments’ hesitation, he
+got up noiselessly, and slipped away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He ran down the hill as hard as he could, trying to
+get hot enough to be anxious for the cool touch of the
+water. But he was not very thoroughly warmed when
+he reached the river; and it looked lonely and dark
+under its overhanging trees. He flung off his sandals
+and coat without giving himself time to think, and
+ran in.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Whew-w! it was cold. At the first touch of the still
+water his courage almost melted. This would not do,
+he knew. Stooping, he splashed water over his head
+and face, as the twins had taught him, and then flung
+himself full-length in the shallows, knowing that once
+he was wet all over, one terror would have passed.
+That was better. He stood up and waded sturdily out
+towards the rope—just as Billy gained the bank and
+dived into the dressing-hut for purposes of observation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex turned when he reached the rope and faced the
+bank from which he had come, telling himself, over and
+over, that if he did go under he was only within his
+depth. It was a comforting thought, but it needed
+constant repetition, or it seemed to slip away from him—so
+dark and unpleasant seemed the water. It was
+not at all like the warm, cheery pool in which they
+frolicked daily after dinner. There was no small
+effort of heroism, at length, in his sudden, clumsy dive
+forward.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He went under, lost his head for a moment, and came
+up, gasping and spluttering, all his courage gone, for
+a moment. Then he realized that he had not tried to
+swim at all—that from the first his feet had been seeking
+for the bottom. “Silly ass I am!” he remarked—and
+dived forward again, kicking vigorously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Hurrah! he was swimming. One, two, three—yes,
+that was certainly three strokes, and he was almost in
+the shallows. Another, and his knees touched the
+bottom. He turned on his back, digging his hands
+into the oozy sand, and kicked in an ecstasy of triumph.
+The rope was really quite a decent distance away, and
+he had swum from it—he, Rex Forester, who had
+always been scared of water! It was almost beyond
+belief.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Won’t Jo yell!” he said aloud. “I—I think I’ll
+swim out to the rope again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He rose and waded a few steps, and cast himself
+forward again. It was quite easy this time: he made
+a huge splashing, but certainly the rope was getting
+nearer. Then almost within reach of it, he missed his
+stroke and tried to clutch the rope, losing his head for a
+moment. The impetus of his kick carried him forward,
+under the rope. There was nothing but deep water
+before him, and he did not know how to turn. Terror
+seized him, and he went under.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He rose, choking, clawing at the air. Then a leg,
+lean and brown and scarred, came beside him, and, as
+he clutched it, a cool voice spoke cheerily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My word, that was bonza!” said Billy. “Told
+you you’d swim. Hang on to my leg and turn now,
+and I’ll give you a start and race you in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex grasped him, panting. Billy, on his back, was
+holding the taut rope with both hands and stiffening his
+young body in the water, kicking gently towards him.
+He drew him quietly back until the rope was within his
+reach. A faint sigh of relief escaped the rescuer as
+Rex caught the cord and pulled himself in until his
+feet were on the bottom once more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re a nice sort of chap, scooting off to go swimming
+all alone,” said Billy, bobbing up and down
+cheerily beside him. “Anyhow, now you know that
+you can swim all right, and we’ll have no end of larks.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can’t,” Rex shivered, his teeth chattering. “I’d
+have drowned if you hadn’t come.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not you!” Billy’s voice was reassuring. “You
+only thought you couldn’t swim for a moment. Come
+along and we’ll swim in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I will,” Rex quivered. “I’ll just
+wade in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, don’t,” Billy begged. “You can’t say that,
+after the way you were swimming about before I came
+in. Have a go, now—I’ll be just behind you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Thus adjured, Rex gripped his waning courage in
+both hands and plunged in again. This time it was
+quite easy: in a moment he was near the bank and
+Billy was crowing gently beside him, triumphant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s top-hole. Cold?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” chattered Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you what, then—come and have a race on
+the bank to get warm, and we’ll have another practice
+afterwards.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They splashed out and tore round the dry slopes
+like a couple of young puppies. The sun was well up
+now: already it was warm with the promise of a blazing
+day. In a few minutes they were glowing with heat.
+Down the bank again and into the water, tumbling
+over each other in the shallows; then they swam out
+to the rope, and back again, and round and round in
+a circle, Rex’s confidence developing at every stroke.
+He tingled with the joy that comes with the first
+knowledge that deep water has lost its mystery and
+terror and has become merely a playfellow.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe I could swim right across, now!” he
+said, looking longingly at the deep side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but you better hadn’t—it must be nearly cow-time,”
+said Billy prudently. “Come along home, or
+the girls will be hunting for us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They trotted home gently, hugging the prospect of
+surprising the twins. A knowledge of the early-morning
+habits of those energetic damsels enabled them
+to slip into their room unperceived, and when they
+appeared presently in the kitchen, ready for milking,
+their hats concealing their damp heads, no one suspected
+them of anything more than being rather later than
+usual. Faint surprise was excited by their appetites,
+which seemed remarkable for the early morning, even
+for small boys.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Them’s the two to eat,” remarked Sarah, looking
+after them as they ran off to milk, their hands full of
+food. “Here was me thinkin’ I’d enough scones to
+do breakfast—but they’ve made ’em look silly. Well,
+you’d sooner see ’em eatin’ than not eatin’.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and Rex is looking ever so much better
+already,” said Jo, with satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“H’m,” sniffed Sarah, who adored Billy and viewed
+with distrust and suspicion any small boy so completely
+unlike him. “I dunno that you’ll ever make a man of
+him. He’s built wrong. Think he’ll ever swim?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes—after a bit,” Jo said. “One can’t expect
+too much all at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had agreed between themselves that it would be
+extremely unwise to try to hurry Rex’s development
+in the water; and as they followed the boys down to the
+river that afternoon they reminded each other of his
+disadvantages, deciding that for a week or two they
+would not think of allowing him to try to swim alone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d rather wait a month than risk him losing his
+nerve,” Jo remarked, as they neared the river-bank.
+“It’s one thing to paddle round with someone holding
+you, and quite another to find yourself with nothing
+but cold water as a support. And he’s such a scared
+little kid. We’d never forgive ourselves if——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She broke off, gaping. They had come within sight
+of the pool; and there, beside the rope, the “scared
+little kid” was swimming solemnly, his earnest face,
+with very tightly-shut lips, held stiffly away from the
+water, his eyes anxiously watching for them, to make
+sure they missed no detail of his prowess. At the sight
+of their amazed faces he uttered a kind of triumphant
+snort, and promptly sank—emerging a second later,
+grinning broadly. Beside him, Billy swung upon the
+rope, chanting a gleeful song.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I—never!” gasped the twins, in unison.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We couldn’t wait for you,” called Billy patronizingly.
+“You’re so jolly slow at teaching a chap to
+swim!”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='146' id='Page_146'></span><h1>CHAPTER XII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>RESPONSIBILITIES</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>M</span>OTHER had gone to Melbourne, much against
+her will, to see the dentist—that useful person
+who secures for many Bush mothers their only chance
+of a holiday to the city. But on this occasion Mrs.
+Weston was not in the least grateful for the trip.
+In better times, when a visit to Town meant pretty
+clothes, theatres and smart restaurants, the necessity
+for a few painful hours in the dentist’s chair never
+seemed a high price to pay. But now, with so little
+money to spare that her beloved twins had to work
+at home, the journey was merely a nuisance, and she
+resented having to spend so much upon herself—after
+the fashion of mothers. Melbourne was hot, dusty,
+and empty of all the people she knew: they were
+all at the seaside or in the cool shelter of the hills.
+Mrs. Weston harried the dentist until he consented
+to hurry through her treatment, and thankfully
+sent a telegram to Emu Plains to announce her speedy
+return.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tom Holmes brought the telegram out, driving
+his father’s car. A long trail of dust marked his
+dash up the track through the grassless paddock.
+The twins, just returned from bathing, met him on
+the verandah.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lucky people—you look disgustingly cool,” said
+the stout youth, pushing his broad Panama back
+from his hot forehead. “How do you manage it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Swimming,” said Jean, shaking her damp curls.
+“There’s still water in the bathing-pool, though
+very little in the other part of the river.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’ll soon be the only place in this district
+that isn’t solid dust, if we don’t get rain before long,”
+declared Tom. “Our billabong and creek are bone-dry,
+and the river’s only a trickle. Father says
+he’ll have to send every hoof off the place—not that
+he’s got many left.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The whole country looks awful,” Jo said. “It
+doesn’t seem possible that there was ever thick green
+grass on those bare paddocks—or that there ever
+would be any again. How are your horses, Tom?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor as crows, except two or three that we keep
+in the stable. Of course, there are hardly any here
+now; they’ve all gone away for change of air,” said
+Tom, laughing rather bitterly. “Well, I’m generally
+keen enough on being at home, but I’m beginning to
+feel I can stand a change of scene myself; it gives
+a fellow the blues to see nothing but dust and half-starved
+stock. For once in my life I’d rather drive
+the car than ride; one gets about the country more
+quickly. That reminds me. I thought I’d bring
+out your mail. There’s a wire for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father’s out, so we’d better open it—I expect
+it’s from Mother,” Jo said. “Yes; and she’ll be
+home to-morrow, Jean—hooray! It seems an age
+since she went away, and it’s only four days. Thanks,
+ever so, Tom. Do you feel like tea? Or a lemon
+squash?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I’m to be strictly truthful,” said Tom, “I
+feel like both. A squash would make me less like
+a sandy desert, and then I’d enjoy some tea. At
+present, tea would be wasted on me: it would merely
+hiss when it struck me, and immediately vanish in
+steam!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor boy!” laughed Jo. “Come along, and
+we’ll brew the squash before tea comes in. Thank
+goodness Father planted lemon-trees near the spring;
+they haven’t the least idea there’s a drought on.
+Would you like a wash first, Tom?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I was afraid I looked like that,” said Tom
+unhappily. “Yes, please. Bathroom on the verandah?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. And you really didn’t look like it, only
+I thought it might make you feel a bit happier. Is
+it necessary to say, ‘Don’t waste the water,’ or
+would you be insulted?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should think I would,” declared Tom; “we’ve
+got a drought of our own, haven’t we?” He strode
+off, returning presently to find a brimming tumbler
+awaiting him in the cool dimness of the shaded dining-room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s gorgeous!” he declared, putting down
+the empty glass. “I had a drink from the tap in
+the bathroom first, because, of course, no drink is
+really long enough in weather like this, and——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shouldn’t have drunk that water,” stated
+Jean anxiously. “It isn’t drinking-water. Now we
+ought to sterilize you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Any water’s drinking-water in weather like this,”
+said Tom, unmoved. “Besides, it will get thoroughly
+boiled when I go out into the heat again, so why
+worry? Water is always purified if you submit
+it to a high enough temperature—and goodness
+knows the thermometer is doing its best to break
+records to-day. How’s your pupil-teaching going,
+Jean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well enough,” Jean answered. “We’re beginning
+to feel we’re making some progress. At first
+we were very scared of our job, but we are plucking
+up courage now. Rex is getting much more like
+an ordinary boy, and that’s a comfort. We were
+afraid he’d never be ordinary, but it’s surprising
+to see how soon polish like his disappears among
+plain and honest folk!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that what you are?” Tom demanded, round-eyed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—very plain and honest. Don’t you dare
+to say we’re not, Tom Holmes!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right,” said Tom, meekly; “I won’t; only
+just you remember it wasn’t me that said you were
+plain. And what about the riding-lessons? Is the
+kid shaping well at that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, rather. Father says he took to it from the
+start like a duck to water. He goes cantering round
+the home-paddock now on old Merrilegs, with Billy
+on one of our ponies. Sits well too, and he has
+good hands. He tried to jump a log the other day,
+and came to grief, but he didn’t mind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He wasn’t hurt?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no. You see, Merrilegs has ideas of his
+own about jumping, now: he thinks he’s too old,
+and it takes Billy all he knows to get him over a
+log. So, when Rex rode him at this one—it was
+only a wee little log—he just propped. And Rex
+shot over the log all right, except that the pony didn’t
+go with him. Rex was awfully disgusted, but he
+wasn’t hurt.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And, of course, Billy yelled with laughter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s what Billy <span class='it'>would</span> do,” said Jo. “All
+the same, I think it’s very likely that Master Rex
+will go off by himself some fine morning and get
+Merrilegs over that log—just as he did with swimming.”
+She told the story of the boys’ early-morning bathe,
+and Tom nodded approvingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shows he’s got something in him. Well, I went
+to school with the other Forester boys, and they
+certainly weren’t the kind of chaps to be beaten
+by anything.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And, of course, his sister Helen is the same.
+Why, she was Captain of Merriwa!” said Jo, as
+though that assertion implied every possible virtue.
+“Only, Rex hasn’t had a fair chance, between illnesses
+and being handed over to a prim old governess
+who did her best to make an Early Victorian young
+lady of him. He was like nothing earthly when
+he came, but there’s a good deal of commonplace
+small boy cropping out now, thank goodness!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And how about you two?” demanded Tom,
+with a grin. “How’s work suiting you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, work’s all right,” said Jo shortly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Not even Jean knew how her twin longed in secret
+for the school-life they had lost. School had always
+been a glad prospect ahead of them, for Mrs. Weston
+had loved her years at Merriwa and she had brought
+up the twins in happy anticipation of just as good
+a time when their own turn should come. And it
+had been all, and more, that they had hoped. Lessons,
+thanks to their mother’s good grounding, had been
+not too difficult: out of school hours the time had
+been all too brief for the packed interests, the jolly
+friendships, the long, intimate talks. Their first
+year had gone in a happy whirl: they had looked
+forward to others as good. And now it was all over.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Not that Jo was discontented with home-life.
+It was not in her nature to be discontented with
+anything for more than five minutes at a time. She
+loved her home, and there was plenty of interest
+in each day’s work and play, besides the solid satisfaction
+of knowing that she and her twin were doing
+something really worth while—something that helped
+to lift the burden from her father’s shoulders. But
+they were not yet sixteen: and sometimes there
+came over her a wave of longing for the care-free days
+when there had been no worries, no responsibilities.
+“We were just kids, last year,” she thought, sometimes.
+“It’s a bit sudden to be grown-up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she would wonder if Jean thought the same.
+But, whatever Jean thought, she made no sign.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Something of this longing for the life of last year
+came over Jo at Tom’s careless question. She looked
+at him half-resentfully: he was so unconscious of
+any real worries, although he grumbled cheerfully
+at the heat and the drought. They really touched
+him very little: he would go back to school, bored
+at going, feeling certain that before he returned the
+drought would be broken and the country smiling
+again. He was a year and a half older than they,
+and yet he was only a child, playing: and they
+were workers——</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She gave herself a mental shake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you are a pig, Jo Weston!” she addressed
+herself silently. “Jealous and bad-tempered, and
+altogether piggish! Be ashamed of yourself!”—and
+forthwith smiled cheerfully at the unconscious
+Tom.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Work’s really rather a lark when you get going,”
+she stated unconcernedly. “We get a lot of fun
+out of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you both look as if you were always on
+the grin,” said Tom. “Goodness knows, there’s
+not much laughing going on at our place. Father’s
+always growling at the drought, and Mother says
+she’s tired of looking at bare paddocks and she means
+to have a flat in Town. And Father says he’d rather
+be shot than live in a flat. So there it is, and I’m
+beginning to think it won’t be so bad to go back
+to school, though the bare idea of swotting over
+Latin gives me the creeps. Hullo, Sarah! how are
+you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been better, and I’ve been worse,” said
+Sarah, non-committally, putting down a loaded
+tea-tray. “And how’s yourself, Master Tom?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, first-rate,” Tom said. “Is it hot enough
+for you, Sarah?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s one of them questions as ought to be
+put down by an Ack of Parlyment,” said Sarah testily.
+“I druv into the township with Miss Jean yesterday,
+an’ it was just as ’ot as ’ot: an’ every one arsked
+the same thing, no matter what shop I went into.
+A body knows she ain’t lookin’ ’er best with ’er face
+the colour of a tomato an’ perspiration droppin’
+off ’er forehead, an’ it sort of rubs it in to be arsked
+all the time, ‘Is it ’ot enough for you?’ Anyone
+lookin’ at me with ’alf an eye could see it was a
+good deal more’n ’ot enough for me. But they kep’
+on arskin’, all the same.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sorry,” said Tom, laughing. “Stupid of me,
+Sarah—but when it’s as hot as this all one’s brain
+turns to dough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, ’ot!” said Sarah, with scorn. “It makes
+me tired to hear every one growlin’ about the ’eat,
+and sayin’ there was never such a drought.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you said yourself it was hot yesterday,”
+protested the bewildered Tom.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I did; an’ it <span class='it'>was</span> ’ot. But I don’t go
+growlin’ all the time. Summers ain’t nothing to
+what they was: I tell you, in my young days ’eat
+was ’eat, an’ drought was drought, an’ no mistake.
+Just you think what summers was twenty years
+ago—oh, well, of course you can’t”—as her hearers
+shouted with laughter—“but any’ow, you can take
+my word for it we knew what temp’rashur was!
+Soarin’ well above the ’undred for a fortnight on
+end. An’ droughts lasted years. Nowadays, every
+one thinks they’re killed if they get a few days’ ’eat,
+an’ a bit of a drought like this makes ’em think the
+world’s comin’ to an end.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I don’t know about that, Sarah. But it’s
+bad enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Aw, bad!” sniffed Sarah. “Them old droughts
+was bad, if you like, when the ground was as bare
+as Collins Street, an’ all the sheep got boiled down
+for tallow. An’ there wasn’t the grumblin’ then
+that there is now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gammon!” said Tom unexpectedly. “Don’t
+tell me people didn’t growl, Sarah. Why, anyone
+on the land will growl even in a good season, let
+alone a bad one. Did you ever know a man on the
+land who was satisfied with the weather?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, no, I don’t suppose I did,” admitted Sarah,
+gazing with some amazement at her opponent. “Farmers
+an’ sich especially: you can’t please ’em with
+weather, not if you made it to order. But what
+I do say is, that it’s no good grumblin’ an’ grousin’,
+even if there is a bit of a drought. Keep smilin’,
+an’ it’ll rain some day.” With which philosophy
+Sarah collected her temporarily scattered forces and
+withdrew.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She didn’t say that, at all, of course,” remarked
+Tom. “At least, I don’t think she did, but Sarah’s
+so eloquent, when she gets going, that I’m really
+not sure. I’d love to take her last bit of advice
+home to Father and give it to him when he was
+being really excited about the drought. ‘Keep
+smilin’, an’ it’ll rain some day!’ But I’d wish
+to be well out of his reach when I delivered it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’d think Sarah was such a Tartar, just to
+listen to her, wouldn’t you?” laughed Jean, pouring
+out tea. “And she’s really so mild she’d eat out
+of your hand. She’s been teaching us the proper
+way to turn out rooms, and polish floors, and to
+keep the silver, in the hope of making us what she
+calls ‘house-proud.’ She says no woman is any
+good unless she’s house-proud.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whatever’s that?” asked the bewildered masculine
+hearer.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, being mad keen on one’s house, and having
+everything ‘just-so.’ It’s really rather fun, too,
+only poor old Sarah’s so quaint over it; she shows
+us how to do a thing with heaps of ‘elbow-grease,’
+and then she sighs over our doing it at all, and begs
+us to go and rub cold cream on our hands or they’ll
+never be as nice as Mother’s! Which they certainly
+never will,” added Jean, placing a brown paw on
+the table near her twin’s. “And then she goes
+and hurriedly cooks something we like for tea. But
+if we thank her she only looks down her nose and
+mutters something, and, if you didn’t know her
+well, you’d think she was offended at being thanked
+at all. But she’s a darling when you do happen
+to know her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a pounding of horses’ feet in the paddock,
+and Jo ran to the window. .</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father and the boys are coming!” she cried.
+“They’ve been out to one of the back paddocks.
+Look at Rex, Tom—doesn’t he ride decently, for
+a new-chum?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a cloud of dust, out of which the forms
+of the riders were looming indistinctly. Old grey
+Merrilegs came along at a smooth, easy canter, his
+rider bumping a little, but clearly happy. Mr. Weston
+rode a little to the right, on a big, good-looking
+bay, and Billy scampered in front on Punch, Jean’s
+pony. He rode as if he were part of the little black
+he was on: his hands down, his head up, all his
+merry face flushed with excitement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rex’ll never ride like Billy,” said Tom, watching
+him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but Billy has been on a horse ever since he
+was six months old and Father used to take him
+out in front of him,” Jo said. “Billy can’t help
+riding. But Rex is not bad, now, is he?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, indeed, he’s not. And with goggles, too—I
+always think glasses must be terribly hampering
+to a kid,” remarked Tom. “Oh, he’ll do, if only
+you people can keep him for a bit. It would be
+no end of a pity if he wasn’t able to follow up his
+big brothers at Grammar: they’ve been such good
+all-round men.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s going to be just as good as they are,” declared
+Jo hotly. “When he gets stronger he’ll probably
+be able to leave off the glasses altogether—the oculist
+said so. And his muscles are developing already.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and he can box, too,” chimed in Jean.
+“Father gives them lessons every night, and he
+says Rex will have a punch like the kick of a mule!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you’re just like a pair of old hens with a
+turkey-chick,” grinned Tom. “You know what
+delicate little squeakers they are at first—have to
+be fed every hour, and all that sort of thing. And
+then, suddenly, they get big and strong and turn
+into proud gobblers! Take care, or that’s what
+young Rex will be doing—and proud gobblers have
+no sort of a time when they go to school.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins laughed, but they accepted the big
+fellow’s warning meekly enough.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re going to be awfully careful, really. He’s
+such a nice kid—when he isn’t polished—that it
+would be easy to spoil him; and then, it does feel
+as if he really were our own turkey-chick. And we
+keep remembering how small he is, and that his
+mother’s thousands of miles away. But we’re trying
+hard to keep our feelings to ourselves, when he’s
+about: and Father has promised to come down on
+us heavily if he sees any signs of molly-coddling.
+So perhaps there’s hope.” The twins, who had
+rendered these remarks in a composite fashion peculiarly
+their own, paused, and looked anxiously at
+Tom, who suddenly loomed before them as a possible
+Grammar School senior what time Rex might be
+joining as a palpitating junior.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tom nodded, aware of his masculine superiority.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if Mr. Weston’s keeping an eye on him he
+won’t go far wrong,” he said—and then Sarah stalked
+in, tall and grim, with a loaded tray.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I made the biggest pot of tea,” she explained,
+“seein’ as ’ow they’ll all be dusty and thirsty. They’ll
+be in in a minute; they’re washin’ themselves up
+now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks, Sarah dear,” said Jean. “Oh, and,
+Sarah—Mother’s coming home to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah’s dour face suddenly softened.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s good news!” she said. “Some’ow the
+place is just an ’owlin’ desert when she’s away. Did
+she say if the dentist ’ad ’urt her much?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She didn’t say—there’s only a telegram,” Jean
+answered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish she ’ad,” said Sarah anxiously. She
+left the room, evidently dissatisfied with the deficiencies
+of telegrams. They heard her joyfully informing
+Mr. Weston, in the hall, of the news.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother coming home!—that’s great!” he said,
+coming in. “You’re the mail-man, I suppose, Tom—many
+thanks. We didn’t expect her so soon.
+Yes, I’ll be glad of tea, twinses: it’s awfully hot
+and dusty in the paddocks, and my two boundary-riders
+must be as thirsty as I am. Here they come”—as
+the boys clattered up the hall. “Any news,
+Tom?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nothing that I know of—barring drought,” Tom
+answered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s not news now, worse luck!” Mr. Weston
+said. “It’s what you might call ancient history
+turned into an established fact. Well, I heard some
+news, and it isn’t good news, either: a man who
+was mending a fence next ours told me there are
+big fires at Gulgong Flat, fifteen miles away. Several
+poor souls have been burned out, and a lot of damage
+done. Of course, with such a season, it’s a wonder
+that we have not had fires in the district before this:
+had there been more grass to carry them they would
+certainly have come, for the whole country is as
+dry as a stick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father was saying a good many fires have started,
+but they have been quickly got under,” Tom remarked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—that’s one advantage of a drought. Fires
+won’t run over bare ground, and most of the paddocks
+are bare enough. Even the roadsides have been
+eaten right out by travelling stock. But there is
+plenty of lightly timbered country about Gulgong
+Flat, and of course fire will travel very fast in that.
+We can only hope they will get it under before it
+comes our way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, Emu Plains is safe enough, Mr. Weston,”
+said Tom.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The house is, of course. There’s scarcely any
+chance of danger here, for there’s no grass to carry
+a fire up to us, and no timber to speak of. But I
+don’t want my back paddocks burned out—that’s
+about all the grass I’ve got left; and I can’t afford
+to lose fencing. We may have to move the cattle
+in a hurry, if the fire spreads; the boys and I rode
+round them to-day, and drove them out of the timber,
+to accustom them to the move, in case it has to be
+made.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It was grand fun,” said Rex. “And, Jean—I
+jumped a log, and I didn’t fall off!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t I tell you you would?” said Jean, smiling
+at him. “How are the cattle, Father?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, they’re holding their own, and that’s about
+all one can say,” her father answered. “The water
+is good, of course: that helps a lot. Goodness
+knows, there can’t be much nourishment in the sort
+of grass that’s left, but, somehow, they are managing
+to pick up a living. I suppose, some day, if rain
+doesn’t come, they’ll decide that it really isn’t worth
+while, and they’ll lie down and die. But there’s
+always hope that rain will come.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then we’ll all go and sit and watch the grass
+grow and the cattle get fat,” said Jo. “Won’t it
+be fun, Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will they really get fat while you look at them?”
+asked the small boy, round-eyed behind his spectacles.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather,” said Tom. “Of course, there are a
+few shy ones, which don’t like getting fat in front
+of people, and they make for the scrub!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think that’s true!” said Rex solemnly.
+At which everybody laughed, and Jean offered him
+a cake, which he ate in puzzled silence, pondering
+on the queer ways of country folk. They were very
+jolly, Rex thought, and he had quite made up his
+mind that when he was grown-up he would own
+a station and manage it himself. But there was
+no doubt that they were sometimes difficult to understand,
+and occasionally they talked a language all
+their own, full of words that were quite unfamiliar
+to him. He had mental notes of several queer expressions
+he would ask the twins to explain: Why bullocks
+were “poor as crows,” and why a crow was poor,
+anyhow; and what it was that cattle held when
+they were said “to hold their own,” and how did
+they hold anything? Rex had ridden that afternoon
+round more cattle than he had ever been near
+before, but none of them were attempting to hold
+things, their own or anyone else’s. He longed to
+catch a twin by herself, that he might ask her. Other
+people might—and did—laugh at him; but never
+the twins.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tom said good-bye presently, and they all went
+out to the gate with him, after the friendly Bush
+fashion, and watched him disappear in a cloud of
+dust. The twins hurried back to take out the tea-tray.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In the kitchen they came suddenly upon Sarah,
+who straightened up guiltily at their approach. But
+the twins had seen, for a moment, a bowed head,
+her face hidden in her hands; and as she turned
+from them to stir a saucepan which obviously contained
+only hot water they saw that she was pale,
+with heavy rings under her eyes. Jean looked a
+minute, and then put down her tray.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter, Sarah?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There ain’t nothing the matter,” Sarah said.
+“What would there be?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” said Jean. “But there’s something,
+all the same. Tell us, Sarah dear—let’s help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ve just a little ’eadache,” admitted the
+gaunt handmaiden.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It must be a pretty big headache, to make you
+look like that,” Jo said. “You might as well tell
+us, Sarah, old thing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s me rubbishy old neuralgy,” Sarah said, capitulating.
+“I do get it ’ot an’ strong, an’ that’s a
+fack. Comes all over me ’ead. I been tryin’ to
+beat it all day, but it’s near got me down. It’s
+like a red-’ot knife goin’ in an’ out of me left eye.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, you poor old dear!” cried the twins.
+“Why didn’t you tell us?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I ’ates makin’ a fuss,” said the sufferer.
+“I did ’ave thoughts of goin’ to tell you, when I
+seen you come back from bathin’: an’ then Mr.
+Tom came, an’ on top of ’im the news of the Missus
+comin’ ’ome. An’ I can’t go an’ get sick just as
+she comes. So I determined not to be. But the
+pain seems a bit ahead of the determination: I
+expect it got a start.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you’re just going to lie down now,” Jean
+said firmly. “Real lie-down—dress and shoes off:
+and you’re not to come out again to-night, or to-morrow,
+or until you’re better. I’ll come in ten
+minutes with a cup of tea and some aspirin.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But the tea!” groaned Sarah. “I got a potato
+pie made, but, of course, it ain’t time to put it in.
+Lemme stay till I’ve washed up after tea——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins each took an arm, and propelled her,
+gently but firmly, towards the door.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I guess we’ll manage the pie,” Jo said, with
+the firmness possible to a cookery prize-winner. “Now,
+we’re coming in ten minutes, Sarah, and just you
+be lying down, or there’ll be awful trouble.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They found her, pale, but protesting, when they
+visited her room, and having administered tea and
+aspirin, bathed her throbbing brows with eau-de-Cologne.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s lovely,” she admitted. “My word, it’s
+great to be lyin’ down—but I do ’ate leavin’ everything
+to you. It don’t seem fair, when you’ve all
+the work you ’ave.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, will you just be a sensible old thing and
+not talk rubbish!” Jean said, giving a final dab
+with her little sponge. “What do you think Mother
+would say to us if she came home and found you
+doing the work and looking like a demented ghost?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Demented I was beginnin’ to feel, an’ no mistake,”
+said poor Sarah wearily. “You really won’t
+do any more than you ’ave to, will you, me dears?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We won’t start cleaning the kitchen, if that’s
+what you mean,” said Jo, laughing. “Go to sleep,
+if you can, and forget about everything until you
+wake up better.” They tiptoed out, closing the
+door gently, and softly danced down the passage
+to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/illo160.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
+<p class='caption'>“ ‘Oh, we’re quite all right,’ Jo replied. ‘It’s really great fun, Father, and we’re enjoying it. And we <span class='it'>do</span> want to have things nice for Mother.’ ”<br/> <span class='it'>The Twins of Emu Plains</span>] [<span class='it'>Page 166</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='163' id='Page_163'></span><h1>CHAPTER XIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>A JERSEY BULL</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟H</span>OW’S Sarah?” demanded Mr. Weston, coming
+into the kitchen next morning with a bucket
+of milk in either hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, she’s better,” Jean answered, turning from
+a pan of fried potatoes. “She says the neuralgia has
+quite gone. But you can see that she has had an
+awful night—the poor old soul is so white, with big
+black rings under her eyes. We couldn’t dream of
+letting her get up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And she’s really too tired to fight us about it,”
+said Jo, who was compounding a stew. “She says
+she feels as if she could sleep all day, and of course it’s
+the best thing for her. So we’ve given her some tea
+and toast, and darkened her room, and we’re not
+going near her until dinner-time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s right—sleep is probably all the treatment
+she needs,” Mr. Weston said. “But it’s a bit hard
+on you, twinses. Do you think you can manage?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, rather!” said his daughters cheerfully.
+“We’re going to have no end of a day. Mother’s not
+going to dream, when she comes in, that there isn’t a
+staff of liveried servants!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So I should think,” said Father dryly. “What
+time did you two get up?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—five-ish,” said Jean, with studied carelessness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather more ‘ish’ than five, I fancy. Truth now,
+twinses.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s going to be hot, so we thought we might
+as well start early. And it truly was after half-past
+four.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“H’m!—not much after,” said Mr. Weston, laughing.
+“However, I don’t mind, if you’ll take a rest after
+lunch. See here, girls; I’ve got business in Barrabri,
+and I want to be at the sales, besides meeting Mother’s
+train: I intended driving in after breakfast. Suppose
+I take the boys with me? a holiday won’t do them
+any harm, and you’ll have no dinner to get—except
+for yourselves. That, I know, means that you’ll dine
+on scraps off a corner of the kitchen table, but I
+believe women like that sort of thing!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father, you are just the most scrumptious person!”
+ejaculated Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We won’t say we’d love to get rid of you all, but
+yes—well, it would be rather gorgeous to have the day
+to ourselves,” Jo agreed. “We want to make cakes,
+and have everything as nice as nice. Bless you! Did
+you say you would like to hurry away after breakfast?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t say so, but of course I will,” said Mr.
+Weston, laughing. “Never say I’m not a well-trained
+parent!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll never say you’re not an understanding one,”
+Jean said. “Breakfast will be ready whenever you
+and the boys are. Won’t the urchins be delighted at
+a day in Barrabri!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We want a lot of stores, Father,” said Jo. “Luckily
+Sarah has them down on the kitchen slate, or we
+wouldn’t know what was needed. I’ll make a list
+presently.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do—and put down what sort of sweets you like.
+I don’t believe you’ve had any for a month.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No sweets until rain comes,” said Jean determinedly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who says so?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I haven’t said it yet,” remarked Mr. Weston,
+with a twinkle. “However, we won’t discuss the
+point; it’s too hot. I’ll be ready in ten minutes, if
+that will do, girls.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Breakfast over, and the boys arrayed in garments
+suitable for a day in Barrabri—“and what’s more
+important, for meeting Mother, so just you keep clean,
+young Billy!” warned his sisters—the remaining
+housework was swiftly accomplished, and the twins
+retired to the kitchen. There was a savoury odour
+of hot scones when Mr. Weston put his head in half
+an hour later.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m off, girls,” he said. “Sure you have put
+everything on the list?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I hope so,” said Jean, taking floury hands
+from a yellow mixing-bowl, and endeavouring fruitlessly
+to rub her eye with her elbow. “Aren’t the
+flies awful! The list is so long that you won’t want
+any additions to it, Father. Whatever you do, bring
+the seventy-pound bag of sugar; there are only a few
+pounds in the house, and we have to make jam to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t forget,” Father nodded. “Poor little
+cooks, you do look hot! Josephine, my daughter,
+are you trying to bake yourself?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It happens without any trying, in this weather,”
+Jo answered. She was kneeling in front of the open
+oven, which gave back her voice with a hollow sound.
+“I wish they’d taught us at school <span class='it'>why</span> a cake suddenly
+rises in the middle and explodes! It looks weird, and
+I’m sure it won’t be wholesome.” Shutting the oven-door
+carefully, she scrambled to her feet. “It is so
+simple to cook things in class, with gas-stoves and
+Miss Smith—this oven seems to have the Equator
+in the middle and the North Pole at one side!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you worry,” said Father consolingly. “It
+smells tremendously good, and the scones are splendid.”
+He looked at his daughters, a little wrinkle in his brow.
+“Don’t work too hard, twinses. Mother will be vexed
+if she finds you knocked up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’re quite all right,” Jo replied. “It’s
+really great fun, Father, and we’re enjoying it. And
+we <span class='it'>do</span> want to have things nice for Mother. It would
+be so horrid for her to come home from Melbourne
+to find everything at sixes and sevens just because
+Sarah was sick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She won’t do that,” said Father—“you have the
+house like a new pin. Well, I must go: there’s plenty
+to do in Barrabri before Mother’s train gets in.” He
+closed the door with a cheery farewell; and immediately
+re-opened it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By Jove, I nearly forgot something! That
+Jersey bull I sold to Joe Harrison is in the stock-yard,
+and he’ll send for him during the day. Don’t go into
+the yard, for he’s a nasty-tempered beast. You can
+tell Harrison’s man where he is; and give the man a cup
+of tea when he comes, and something to eat, for he’ll
+have had a twelve-mile ride.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right,” said the twins, together.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks,” said Father. He smiled at them in the
+way that made it feel most uplifting to be able to do
+anything for him. “Now, don’t forget to eat some
+lunch yourselves. We’ll be back before four o’clock.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll have the kettle boiling; Mother will want
+her tea badly,” Jean said. They went out upon the
+kitchen verandah to watch him get into the buggy,
+where Billy and Rex were awaiting him, swishing
+with the whip at the clustering flies. “Take great
+care of yourself!” they called. It was always their
+good-bye to him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Outside, the blazing February sun beat down on
+the dust-coloured paddocks, above which a heat-haze
+shimmered. The road ran right and left beyond the
+homestead fences, here and there a little cloud of dust
+showing where a horseman rode slowly. A deeper
+cloud marked the passage of a flock of starving sheep,
+on their way to be trucked to Gippsland—many of
+them doomed to die from sheer weakness on the road
+before ever they should see the train. In the fruit
+trees outside the kitchen window locusts shrilled
+ceaselessly, and grey miners—greediest of birds—hopped
+and pecked, uttering long, screaming cries.
+The twins took advantage of the break in their work
+to refresh themselves with a cool drink from the
+canvas water-bag hanging under the shade of a great
+walnut-tree, Jo obligingly holding the cup for Jean,
+whose hands were too encumbered by flour to do so
+for herself. Then they dived anew into the hot kitchen.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was an hour later that Jo was carrying a freshly
+baked cake across to the larder—a cool room, looking
+south, under the walnut-tree. She regarded her cake
+with a motherly eye as she went. It had baked
+a trifle peculiarly as to shape; still, it bore indications
+of being an excellent cake. The odour it
+exhaled was tempting enough to the hungry cook, and
+sent her thoughts in the hopeful direction of lunch.
+She put her burden carefully on a shelf, and came back
+across the verandah.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A low sound met her ear; a long, growling bellow,
+which had come at intervals during the morning. The
+Jersey bull was resenting his imprisonment in the stock-yard,
+and venting his ill-temper by making unpleasant
+remarks and pawing up the ground in one corner.
+Jo stopped to glance in the direction of the yard.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As she did so, the bull found a weak spot in the
+fence. He put his great head under, and lifted; and
+the top rail shot into the air. It left a gap that was
+far too much temptation for a wrathful Jersey. Jo
+uttered a startled exclamation as the big brown beast
+suddenly rose in the air, jumping lazily over the broken
+fence. He stood irresolutely for a moment, and then
+trotted up the road, keeping close beside the fence, and
+bellowing morosely as he went.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo’s voice brought her twin hurriedly out to her
+side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good gracious!” Jean exclaimed. “The wicked
+old horror! Whatever can we do?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We can’t let him go,” Jo said. “Mr. Harrison’s
+man must have him, or Father wouldn’t get the money
+for him. And anyhow, he isn’t safe, Jean; he simply
+mustn’t be left on the road. Why, he might meet
+some children. You never know who may be on that
+track.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe we could yard him again,” Jean
+said doubtfully. “Father said yesterday that it took
+him all his time to handle him: his temper’s abominable.
+Mother has wanted Father to sell him for ever so long,
+’cause he isn’t to be trusted.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If only a man would come along!” Jo uttered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They ran to the fence and looked up and down the
+road. No one was in sight: the lane the bull had
+taken was a quiet one, and it was empty save for his
+fast-retreating form. He trotted briskly, hugging the
+fence and uttering his long, growling bellow. The
+twins looked at each other blankly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s worth such a lot of money, too!” Jean said.
+“Father’s going to get ever so much for him. It’s
+perfectly awful, Jo!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo was thinking.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There are men at Moncrieff’s, of course,” she said.
+“But he’d be out of sight long before we could get
+them, and once he gets to the cross-roads we wouldn’t
+be able to tell which way he went. Besides, he might
+jump into any paddock; you know, Father said that
+no fence would stop him except the stock-yard. And
+if he did any damage he might get shot. A policeman
+shot a stray bull in Barrabri last month.” She
+wrinkled her forehead. “Jean, I don’t see how we’re
+to hold up our heads if anything happens to him—he
+was left in our charge!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he’s left it now,” said Jean dolefully. “And
+Father would know we couldn’t stop him. He wouldn’t
+be angry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, of course he wouldn’t: he’d never say a
+word about it to us. And that would make it all the
+worse, because we’d know how bad he felt about it,”
+Jo answered. “Jean, it’s no use talking, while the old
+beast gets further and further away every minute.
+I’m going after him!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“After Father?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, stupid, after the Jersey! I believe I can
+stop him, on Pilot. At least, I’m going to try!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You aren’t going to do any such thing, Jo
+Weston!” said Jean desperately. “You’ll get killed,
+and Father would be furious!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t get killed at all,” said Jo, laughing. “And
+I’d never have any peace of mind if I didn’t go, and
+the old beast killed some poor little youngster by the
+roadside. And neither would you, and you know
+it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then we’ll both go,” said Jean decidedly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We can’t—some one must stay with Sarah and the
+house. And I’m the eldest!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Five minutes!” said her twin, resentfully. “That’s
+not fair, Jo!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, it isn’t, I know,” admitted Jo, hugging her
+penitently. “I didn’t mean it, Jeanie darling. But
+you know Pilot is just a bit handier with cattle than
+Punch is, and I’m used to him—I know I’d better go.
+Oh, we mustn’t waste time arguing about it. You
+run and get Pilot, and I’ll fly into my riding things.”
+And Jean, silenced, but inwardly protesting, ran.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The ponies were in the little paddock near the
+house. They were accustomed to being caught in
+the open; even if Pilot felt puzzled at being bridled
+by the wrong twin he made no objection. By the
+time Jo, in coat and breeches, came running from the
+house, he was ready; a handsome, eager little black
+pony, dancing with impatience and with disgust at
+the swarming flies. Jo swung herself into the saddle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do be careful, old girl!” Jean called.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I will,” Jo answered briskly. “Put the
+sliprails of the yard down, in case I bring him back,
+will you, Jeanie?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She waved her hand gaily, and in another moment
+was galloping up the road.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Far ahead, the Jersey bull was only a little dot upon
+the wayside. He was travelling fast, and probably
+his temper was, as yet, none the better for the exercise.
+Jo shuddered to think of what might happen if he
+encountered any of the Bush children, who are, as a
+rule, fearless of any animals. Little children would
+very certainly not think of getting out of his way.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She dug her heel into Pilot, giving him his head:
+and the black pony, glad to be out again, after long
+days in the paddock, answered promptly. His long
+stride soon lessened the distance separating them
+from the blur of dust ahead. From the house, Jean
+watched them anxiously, until a bend in the road hid
+them from sight. Then she turned with a little sigh,
+and hurried back to the neglected kitchen, resolving
+to have all the work done before Jo’s return. But it
+was certainly hard to be the one to stay at home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was near a little clump of trees that Jo first came
+up with the Jersey. The shade had tempted him to
+pause; he stood under a wattle, his angry head low,
+until the sound of galloping hoofs startled him. Quite
+well he knew that hoofs would come; but he had not
+the smallest intention of waiting for them. As Pilot
+and his rider came into view he went off again, this
+time at a heavy gallop.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bother the old thing!” said Jo, pulling up. “We’ll
+let him run a bit, Pilot: he’ll stop much sooner then.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She waited until the bull dropped once more into a
+jog-trot. Then she cantered on, keeping this time on
+the opposite side of the road, in the somewhat vain
+hope of inducing the fugitive to think she was merely
+out for a ride, with no intention whatever of interfering
+with his excursions. But the bull knew the
+pony, and he was not easy to deceive; he quickened
+his pace whenever the hoofs came nearer, and so the
+miles steadily increased between them and the Emu
+Plains homestead, now far out of sight. Jo set her
+teeth at last.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, this may go on all day,” she said. “We’ve
+simply got to head him, Pilot. Come on, boy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Pilot was very willing. He was galloping before
+the bull realized it. There was a minute of uncertainty,
+and then the pony forged steadily ahead, still
+keeping on the far side of the road—not turning until
+they were a hundred yards in the lead. Then Jo
+swung round suddenly, pulling up across the bull’s
+path. The Jersey came on steadily. She swung her
+light stock-whip free, with a sharp crack, and, shouting,
+rode to meet him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The bull was in much too evil a frame of mind to
+care for a girl on a small black pony. He bellowed
+defiance, keeping close to the fence, and scattering the
+dust as he came. The stock-whip spoke again, the
+lash falling across his face; but it was not the heavy
+thong to which he was accustomed, and, while it made
+him angrier, it did not turn him in the least. He put
+his head down and charged, making a savage thrust
+with his cruel little horns at the pony, missing Jo’s leg
+by a hair’s breadth. Pilot danced aside; and then
+they were once more in the rear, and the broad,
+brown back, with the switching, angry tail, seemed
+to fill the road in front of them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you are an old pig!” said Jo, in heartfelt
+accents, to the bull. “Come on. Pilot!” They
+galloped in pursuit again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>An hour later, they were still pursuing. Four times
+they had managed to head the bull, and each time he
+had beaten them, becoming, with each victory, more
+and more unmanageable. Only a man on a good horse
+could have turned him now, for all his wicked fury
+was aroused, and from being merely bad-tempered he
+was actively vicious. Twice, Pilot’s quickness alone
+had saved Jo from disaster. Now, she was very tired,
+and her arm felt almost useless, so cruelly did it ache
+from trying to use the stock-whip. Tears were not
+usual with the twins; but Jo was not far off them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll never get him back, Pilot!” she said miserably.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They rounded a bend in the road, and ahead a little
+cottage came into view. At sight of it Jo caught her
+breath. Out in the road before it, two little blue figures
+were playing happily in the dusty grass.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>No one else was in sight: before her loomed only
+the bull, bearing steadily down on the children. Jo
+forgot her weariness; forgot everything but those little,
+helpless figures. Next moment Pilot was going at
+racing pace—up the road, past the galloping bull, on
+and on, his rider shouting as she bent forward on his
+neck. “Run! Get inside the fence!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They were very little children; too young to understand
+or to be afraid. They looked up at the flying
+pony with wide, interested eyes, never thinking of
+moving; unheeding Jo’s wild cries to run within the
+shelter of the garden fence so near to them. The
+sound of the racing hoofs and the wild cries brought a
+man to the cottage door—and in a moment he also
+was shouting, running wildly; knowing himself too
+far off to be of any use.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The bull was very close as Jo flung herself from
+Pilot’s back, leaving him, with a little dry sob,
+to shift for himself. She caught a child in each hand
+and raced for the garden gate, as the bull, bellowing,
+put down his head and charged.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was so near a thing that the father, running
+madly down the path, held his breath in despair;
+so near that Jo felt the bull’s hot breath as she flung
+herself at the gate. Had it been latched, all had
+been over with them; but the children had left it
+unfastened—it gave as they touched it, and in a
+second they were through. Jo freed one hand to
+bang it behind them. She heard the latch click—heard
+the thud of the bull’s shoulder as he came
+heavily upon the stout gate-post. Then her foot
+caught, and all three went down in a heap.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The man who came, racing, picked her up even
+before he looked at the badly frightened children. His
+breath came and went in gasps—even as Jo’s did.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well!” he said, and stopped at that.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m sorry,” Jo said apologetically. “Father
+would be awfully annoyed if he knew that horrid old
+Jersey had given anyone a fright!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s thanks to you I’ve got my two kids,” said the
+man, gasping. “There, that’ll do, Jimmy—you’re
+not hurt, lad. I—I never saw anything like it. Sure
+you’re all right, Miss Weston?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m all right, I think,” Jo said. Suddenly she felt
+queer, and sat down on the grass. “I’ll just sit here a
+moment. How did you know my name?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bless you, I know the pony,” he said, looking at
+Pilot, standing quietly by the road. The bull was
+already a hundred yards away, trotting steadily.
+“I’ll go and catch him.” He went out and secured
+Pilot, putting his bridle over a post, in the shade of a
+grevillea tree.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re sure he’s all right?” Jo questioned
+anxiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right as rain.” The man’s ruddy face was still
+queerly white. “If I’m not mistaken that’s the bull
+I was going to take to Harrison’s this very day. Was
+you bringing him yourself?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I?” said Jo. “Good gracious, no! I didn’t even
+know that Mr. Harrison lived in this direction. The
+bull was left in our charge, and he got out. I was
+trying to get him back.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You!—you mite of a thing!” said the man,
+staring. “Well, he’s brought himself not far from
+Harrison’s, and saved me a nice, hot ride—but it’s
+you that’ve had the worst of it. Just you come in,
+and my missus’ll make you a cup of tea while I take
+after the old brute. I’ll have him in his new paddock
+inside of half an hour. Sure you’re all right?” he
+queried, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m all right, thanks,” Jo said, getting up
+stiffly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll be better when you’ve had a cup of tea.
+I’ll give the pony a feed while you’re resting, and you
+can ride back comfortable when he’s had it. Come
+along, now.” He swung a child aloft on each shoulder.
+“My missus’ll have something to say to you when she
+hears about this!—the very pluckiest——”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His voice stopped uncertainly, and Jo, suddenly
+aware that she was very tired, followed him up the
+garden path.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The wife proved to be not excitable—which was,
+perhaps, as well for Jo. Her motherly eyes took in
+the girl’s strained face at a glance—she had quietly
+established her on an old sofa in the kitchen before
+her husband had finished the story. Even then, she
+said little. She caught the babies to her for a moment:
+then, putting them aside, brought water and bathed
+Jo’s face and hands, and presently had a cup of tea
+beside her—the universal medicine of the Bush. As
+she put it down she stooped suddenly, and kissed the
+girl’s hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There ain’t no sayin’ ‘thank you’ for what you’ve
+done for us,” she said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When her husband came back, within an hour,
+he brought with him a man who greeted Jo as an
+old friend. She had drunk five cups of tea, and
+was feeling rested, and both babies were sitting on
+top of her. Jo adored babies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, Dr. Lawrence!” she said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Barrabri doctor patted her on the head.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tim Conlan’s been telling me all about you, young
+lady,” said he. “Nice hot day you’ve chosen to
+chase a bad-tempered bull twelve miles! How are
+you, Mrs. Conlan? and the youngsters? You all
+look very fit. Look here, twin—which are you? I
+never know!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jo,” said that lady meekly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve only your word for it,” said the doctor,
+laughing. “Anyhow, Conlan and I have agreed that
+you’re not going to ride back in this heat. He was
+going to drive you; but he ran across me, and I’m
+going past your place in the car. You come home
+with me, and Conlan will bring your pony over in a
+day or two. Will that do?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that’s giving Mr. Conlan an awful lot of
+trouble,” Jo protested. Whereat Tim Conlan uttered
+a kind of smothered snort, and Dr. Lawrence laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think Mr. Conlan will be annoyed if you talk to
+him about trouble,” he said. “Well, that’s settled.
+Feel well enough to start now?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” said Jo, giving in. “I would like to
+get back before Mother and Father get home—Mother’s
+coming back from Town to-day. And poor old Jean
+will be awfully anxious. She wanted to come after
+the bull too, but there was no one to look after Sarah—she’s
+sick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was curious to see one of you without
+the other,” said the doctor. “Be thankful you
+haven’t got twins, Mrs. Conlan, that you can’t tell
+apart!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m thankful I’ve got any children at all this day!”
+said Mrs. Conlan, with a smothered sob.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The doctor’s swift little car made short work of the
+miles to Emu Plains, where they found a distraught
+Jean, on the point of setting out on Punch, in search
+of her twin.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I simply couldn’t stand it!” she said. “How did
+I know if that old beast of a bull hadn’t killed you?
+I had awful visions of you lying on the road, hurt, in
+all the heat—I just couldn’t face Father and Mother
+when I didn’t know where you were. And Sarah’s well
+enough to be up, so I was coming.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor old Jean!” said Jo. “I guess you had all
+the worst of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The doctor stayed to tea, partly that he might give
+Mrs. Weston a word of warning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s had rather a shock,” he said, when Jo was
+out of the room. “Of course, she thinks she’s all right,
+being fifteen, and Jo into the bargain, but I’d advise
+you to take care of her for a few days, and make her
+lie down a bit, and go to bed early. No need whatever
+to fuss, but just keep your eye on her. She’s had a
+heavy strain, finishing with a sudden call on every
+ounce of physical and mental strength she possessed.
+Conlan said it was almost a miracle that they escaped—only
+extraordinary quickness did it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So Jo found herself gently taken care of, for a few
+days, which embarrassed her greatly. She rather
+wondered that she felt listless and heavy-eyed; and
+her sleep was broken by bad dreams, in which she
+was perpetually snatching babies from the jaws of
+unpleasant prehistoric animals, rather like Chinese
+dragons. Always after one of these dreams it seemed
+that Mother was beside her, soothing her with a gentle
+voice. Mother had taken to sleeping on the verandah
+near them, declaring it was too hot in the house. Jo
+found herself very glad of her nearness. And after a
+few days the dreams went away, and she was a mere
+twin again, much to her relief.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tim Conlan had brought Pilot back, and had found
+speech difficult when he talked to Jo’s parents.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never saw the man who’d ’ve done it,” he said.
+“Not in me life. The brute wasn’t twenty yards
+away, and he was fair wicked: them little kids of
+mine wouldn’t ’ve had the ghost of a show. All he
+wanted was something to kill, and he’d ’ve done them
+in but for that little slip of a girl.” He was silent a
+moment, his rugged face working. Like Jo, he had had
+bad dreams since.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t suppose I’ll ever be able to pay her
+back,” he said. “There’s no payment for that sort
+of thing. But if I can do her, or any of her people, a
+good turn, any time in me life—well, me missus an’
+me would walk barefoot fifty mile to do it, an’ glad of
+the chance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s no question of payment, as you say,” Mr.
+Weston answered. “We’re thankful it was our girl
+who saved them. Remember, the bull was mine—I’d
+never have forgiven myself if he’d hurt them. I’ve
+been wishing to goodness I’d shot the brute instead
+of selling him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, that’s simple waste,” said Tim Conlan,
+amazed. “You gotter remember he’s a real good
+Jersey!”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='180' id='Page_180'></span><h1>CHAPTER XIV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>GENTLEMEN ADVENTURERS</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟M</span>OTHER, could Rex and I go for a picnic?”
+Billy’s eager face showed at the dining-room
+window. Behind him Rex peeped in, more sober, but
+evidently just as anxious.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A picnic?” Mrs. Weston said, bewildered. “What,
+all by yourselves?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, there’s no one to go with us,” Billy said.
+“The Lawrences are coming out to play tennis, and
+<span class='it'>we</span> can’t play when big people are there. You know
+it’s always a case of picking the balls up, for Rex and
+me, and a bit of extra cake is all we get out of it! And
+we’d love a ride. Couldn’t we take some lunch and
+go out? It would be no end of fun.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But is Rex safe? You know, he has never gone
+far without Father.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, abso-lutely!” said Billy, with evident pride
+in the long word. “He really rides quite decently
+now, don’t you, Rexona?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll give you a hiding if you call me that,” stated
+his guest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sorry—it was a slip,” Billy said, grinning. “Forgot
+you didn’t like soap. But he can ride all right,
+Mother; Father says so. And we’d be awfully
+careful, and keep our weather-eye out for snakes,
+and all that sort of thing. Anyhow, the ground’s so
+bare you can see a snake half a mile off. Oh, do let’s
+go!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you say, girls?” Mrs. Weston asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think they could damage themselves, do
+you, Jean?” Jo asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I don’t think so,” her twin answered. “They’re
+really quite safe, if they promise to be sensible. I’d
+rather you didn’t jump, Rex, when you’re by yourselves.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All right, I won’t,” Rex promised eagerly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then may we go, Mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you must ask Father. I couldn’t let you go
+without his consent.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But may we say you say we may?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that a poem?” asked Rex solemnly, “or just
+a ‘hidden-word’ competition?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, be quiet, donkey!” said Billy, joining in the
+general laugh. “You know what I mean, Mother—may
+we?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Weston. “If you’ll really
+promise to be careful.” Then, as the racing feet of
+the petitioners carried them out of earshot, “You
+really think it’s safe, girls?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t see how they can get into any trouble,”
+Jean said: “Rex can ride quite decently, and Merrilegs
+is so steady. And they can swim—not that there’s
+enough water in the river to drown them, even if they
+couldn’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And I do like to see Rex getting independent,”
+added Jo. “He’s twice the boy he was, in that respect.
+They’ll feel just like men, going off together on their
+own account, bless them!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father says we may!” shrilled a high, ecstatic
+voice from afar off: and in a moment Rex was back
+at the window, flushed and eager.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right, Mrs. Weston! And Billy’s gone to
+run the ponies up, and he says, please, twins, will you
+fix up some grub for us—lots of grub, please? I’m off
+to help him.” He was gone, like an arrow.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come along, Jo,” said Jean, laughing. “Good
+old thick sandwiches, with the crust left on, I suppose.
+It’s a mercy we made extra cake!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They stood together at the yard gate, twenty minutes
+later, to watch the pair ride away, each boy with a
+respectable parcel of lunch tied to his saddle. Their
+Scout blouses bulged in a peculiar way that suggested
+apples. They dug their heels into their ponies’ sides,
+and departed at full gallop, uttering demoniacal yells
+after the approved fashion of Red Indians.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nice kids!” said Jo inelegantly. “Hurry up,
+Jean; I’ve got a frock to iron, and there’s heaps to do.
+The Lawrences said they’d be out early.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was Saturday, and the spell of heat still lay upon
+the land. Everywhere was the thick blue haze that
+told of far-off bush-fires; although the Gulgong Flat
+fires had been checked, there had been other outbreaks,
+and there were miles of burnt country where charred
+logs and trees were smouldering; ready, should a wind
+spring up, to send burning fragments far enough to
+start a fresh blaze. Day after day the water shrank
+in the creeks and rivers, and the little remnant of dried
+grass grew less and less; day after day the worry-lines
+deepened on the faces of the men who saw their sheep
+and cattle grow weaker and weaker. The household
+at Emu Plains was cheery enough, to all outward
+seeming, for Mr. and Mrs. Weston had determined that
+the shadow should not lie heavily on the boys and
+girls there, if they could keep it from them awhile yet.
+But at night, when the children were in bed, they talked
+long together; and often it was hard next morning to
+follow the Scout prescription,—“Keep smiling!”—which
+they had adopted as the rule of the house.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no shadow resting on the small boys’
+solitary picnic. Beyond doubt, it was a great adventure
+to ride out alone into the wide paddocks where a hundred
+interesting things might happen. They were Red
+Indians first; braves armed with deadly weapons and
+intent on scalps: they rode stealthily in the timber,
+keeping a keen look-out for palefaces and wolves;
+ejaculating “Hist!” when a leaf rustled, and stalking
+the sound in single file, prepared for anything, from a
+grizzly bear to a hostile Choctaw. Then a fox slipped
+away into the open, and on the instant they were pig-stickers,
+bursting out of the Indian jungle. They
+raced after him across a bare plain, Merrilegs hopelessly
+outdistanced by the swifter Punch, until an unexpected
+turn on the part of the quarry gave Rex a chance of
+cutting across and getting in the lead, where he
+remained until the fox dived under a fence to safety.
+This was triumph, and he exulted openly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yah! Beat you!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He beat both of us,” said Billy, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but I was nearest to him when he got away.
+Good old Merrilegs!” boasted Rex, patting his ancient
+steed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They ate their lunch in a shady hollow near the river.
+It was a noble lunch, with a solid foundation of sandwiches
+and cake, and such added details as mince-pies,
+dried figs and prunes, and a package of toffee!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s no mistake, the girls do know how to pack
+a lunch!” said the sated Billy, lying back on the ground.
+A large lump of toffee impeded, but by no means
+prevented, speech.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’re great!” agreed Rex, similarly employed.
+“D’you know, I used to hate girls!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you now?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not like I used to, since I knew Jean and Jo.
+They’ve made me think better of girls!” said the
+philosopher of nine. “The sort I used to see at home
+were awful! They were all pretty old—about seventeen
+or eighteen—and they used to put powder on
+their noses. And some of ’em wanted to kiss me.
+Now that’s a thing Jean and Jo have never done!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I s’pecs they don’t think you’d be up to much to
+kiss,” said Billy, grinning. “I don’t, either!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nobody wants you to, smarty!” returned Master
+Forester. “I was awfully afraid they would, though.
+But they’re so jolly and so sensible. They really
+don’t seem to me like girls at all!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, they’ve really got as much sense as if
+they were boys,” Billy agreed. “I thought I’d be
+able to do as I jolly well liked when I heard they
+were going to teach me. But——” he paused, with a
+grin.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you don’t, do you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not much!” said Billy. “And all the same, they
+never get exactly wild. I don’t know how it is.
+They’ve got a queer way of just expecting you to be
+decent, and so it just happens.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and they’re never bossy,” Rex remarked.
+“Old Miss Green, now—she just <span class='it'>was</span> bossy. She used
+to finish up everything with, ‘Now, Rex, obey me
+instantly!’ ” He imitated Miss Green’s high falsetto
+squeak.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And so you never did, I suppose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, not if I could help it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And didn’t you get into rows?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—not much.” Rex shrugged his thin little
+shoulders. “She hardly ever told Mother, and if she
+did, I didn’t get much done to me, ’cause I was nearly
+always sick.” He paused, and his face grew red.
+“You know, I didn’t mind taking advantage of that
+then. It didn’t seem to matter, with old Miss Green.
+But if I did it now, with the twins, I’d feel awfully
+low-down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should think you would,” agreed Billy. “But
+then, you aren’t sick now, ever, so it wouldn’t be any
+good.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. But I guess I wouldn’t do it, anyhow,”
+said Rex, reddening more deeply.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was as far as soul-analysis would reasonably
+take small boys, and they fell silent, pitching dry
+grass-roots sleepily at the little brown lizards that ran
+over some big stones near them. Presently they
+grew tired of inaction, and went roaming along the
+river-bank. Rex had long ago fought down his fear
+of climbing; they “shinned up” wattle-trees in search
+of gum, and practised gymnastics on the low, swinging
+branches of other trees. Then a rabbit darted out
+of a hole near by, and they chased it wildly, dodging
+hither and thither among the stones: the chase
+coming to an end when the rabbit found another hole,
+and whisked down it with a final twist of his white
+tail. They wandered aimlessly back towards the ponies
+and Rex almost trod on a big black snake, which lay
+sunning itself in a dusty patch. He jumped back,
+with a little cry. It was the first snake he had seen,
+and he had all the town boy’s dread of the evil thing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Watch-him-while-I-get-a-stick!” said Billy, all in
+one word.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He darted aside, and in a moment came racing
+back with a stick. The snake was just slipping away
+through the grass; Billy brought down the stick with
+a quick blow that broke its back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run, Billy! Oh, do run!” Rex cried, shrinking
+back from the creature that thrashed wildly round
+on the ground. He caught at Billy’s sleeve. “You’ll
+only be killed. Do run!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run!” ejaculated Billy, in huge scorn. “Whatever
+for? He can’t move, bless you. He’s done—his
+back’s broken.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You never broke it, did you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather! He’d be a mile away by now if I hadn’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you couldn’t break it with a little hit like that!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, I s’pose you know all about it!” Billy
+uttered. “Think I never killed a snake before?
+How many’ve you killed yourself, I’d like to know?
+That chap’s never going to bite any one again, anyhow!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But he’s not dead! He’s moving!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Indeed, “moving” was a mild term to apply to the
+struggles of the black snake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ’Course he’s moving, you little silly!” said Billy,
+in superb scorn. “But he isn’t getting anywhere,
+is he? Only his head ’n’ his tail’s moving: ’n’ that’s
+only what’s called nerfs. Nerfs are things that keep
+wriggling long after a snake’s dead.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But he isn’t safe!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he isn’t if you go near the business end of
+him,” Billy answered, keenly pleased with his mastery
+of the situation. Rex could beat him at boxing, but
+when it came to dealing with a snake, he, too, was
+evidently a prey to “nerfs.” “Only no one but an
+idjit goes near a snake’s head, even if he’s dead. Father
+puts his heel on the heads of the snakes he kills, but
+he made me promise not to. That chap’s back’s
+broken, an’ he couldn’t never move from where he
+is till he died. ’Course, it would be cruel not to finish
+killing him: I’d have finished ever so long ago if you
+hadn’t kept grabbing at me!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His stick sang in the air again, and came down
+just behind the snake’s head.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s done for a lot of his ole nerfs!” said Billy,
+darkly. He continued the slaying of the reptile,
+with the thoroughness dear to every boy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tisn’t hard. You have a hit and see if it is. You
+only got to keep your hair on an’ hit straight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can I really?” Rex asked. Gingerly he took
+the stick and whacked the unpleasant remnant of
+the snake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t hard, is it? Do you think I killed a bit
+of him?” he asked, his face glowing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I s’pecs you did,” admitted Billy, who felt
+he could afford to be generous. “Now you can say
+you aren’t quite a new-chum any more. Next snake
+we meet you’ll have to tackle on your own!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shall I, really? I believe I’d be scared.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not you. It’s dead easy. Why, I killed my first
+when I was six, and you’re nine!” They moved on,
+Rex feeling that the sum of his out-back experiences
+had been considerably developed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The ponies awaited them under a shady light-wood
+tree, drooping sleepy heads in the hot afternoon stillness.
+They saddled them and rode on, looking for
+new worlds to conquer.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where’ll we go?” Rex said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I d’no. There’s so much smoke about that every
+place looks the same,” Billy answered. He suddenly
+broke out in youthful impatience of the long drought.
+“My word, I’ll be glad when we get rain! It just is
+sickenin’, seeing the place all burnt up to a cinder
+with heat and dryness! By rights there ought to be
+green grass everywhere, all thick ’n’ long, ’n’ simply
+scrumptious to gallop over. I’ve seen it on these
+flats many a time so high I could tie it over Merrilegs’
+neck!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go on! Is that a yarn?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, it isn’t. It’s plain truth. An’ everywhere
+you could see cattle and sheep, thick as anything,
+an’ all rolling fat. ’Cept the stores, of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What’s stores?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Cattle that aren’t fat,” said Billy, in blank amazement
+at such ignorance. “They’re stores when you
+buy ’em first, an’ then you put ’em on good paddocks
+an’ watch ’em fatten. Then you sell ’em for heaps of
+money.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that how your father gets his living?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course it is.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then how does he get a living now?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He doesn’t,” said Billy simply.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, but . . . but . . . he’s going <span class='it'>on</span>
+living, isn’t he, silly?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, you don’t expect him to turn up his toes
+an’ die as soon as a drought comes,” Billy said, laughing.
+“Of course, every one has money in Banks and
+things. That’s what Banks are for. You stick money
+in ’em when times are good, and then there’s something
+to live on when they’re bad.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And do the Banks just shell it out when you want
+it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You bet they do. Why, they wouldn’t dare to
+keep it—the police would get them. It isn’t really
+their money—it’s the money people have put in.
+They’d just better try to stick to it, an’ I bet they’d
+see!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t see what the Banks get out of it,”
+Rex said doubtfully. “Who pays ’em?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Blessed if I know,” Billy answered, without any
+sympathy for the difficulties of financial institutions.
+“I s’pecs they’ve got their own ways of making a living.
+The one in Barrabri must be jolly fond of Father,
+’cause I heard Mr. Holmes say to him, ‘Don’t you
+worry, old man: the Bank will stick to you.’ But I
+know Father reckons he hasn’t got enough money in it,
+an’ that’s why we’re so jolly poor now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you poor?” queried Rex, round-eyed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, horrid poor,” Billy answered lightly. “But
+it doesn’t seem to matter much: we have lots of fun,
+I say, Rex, s’pose we ride round the back paddock
+where we went with Father that day, an’ have a look
+at the bullocks. I s’pect he’d be glad to know how
+they are; I heard him say he must go out there next
+week, so we might save him the trouble.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right-oh!” Rex agreed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They shook the ponies into a canter, and, after following
+the winding of the river for a time, struck across
+the paddock to a gate. Passing through this, they
+found themselves in the back paddock of the Emu
+Plains run. It was a wide stretch of plain, sloping
+gently back to the river that formed Mr. Weston’s
+southern boundary, and at present it represented
+almost all the grazing land on which he could still
+run cattle. There was coarse grass on it, rough
+and poor: still, it meant something of a living for
+cattle, dry as it was, for the water in the river was good,
+and good water helps stock to live on very poor fare.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were very few cattle in sight on the plain,
+and the boys trotted across to the timber near the river,
+where they knew they would find the bullocks sheltering
+from the fierce sun. It was not very easy to distinguish
+anything, so thick was the smoke-haze.
+Dense as it had been all day, in this corner of the run
+it was worse than anywhere else.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My word, you’d think the fires were close!”
+Billy uttered. “Let’s go over to the corner by Moncrieff’s,
+Rex, and see if we can see any sign of ’em.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What if we did?” queried Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’d mean we’d have to fly round,” said
+Billy, speaking as one might speak of an earthquake,
+without any real belief that such a thing might happen.
+“Fight it, if we could: but I don’t s’pose we could
+do anything to stop it. We’d have to get the cattle
+out, and get word to Father. It would be rather a
+lark, if it didn’t do much damage. They’ve never
+let me go out if there was a fire, an’ I’ve always wanted
+to.” He broke off, peering through the haze: then
+he spoke excitedly. “Rex, I’m not sure, but I could
+nearly swear I saw flames! Did you see anything?
+Over there in Moncrieff’s.” He pointed to the southeast.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t see anything but smoke,” said Rex, straining
+his eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Neither do I, now, but I’ll swear I saw a flash of
+flames—high up. Let’s gallop over and see!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They raced over the dry grass, keeping just outside
+the timber. The boundary fence loomed up presently
+out of the haze, and then Billy uttered a cry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My word, it is burning, Rex! Look—can’t you
+see men working at it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were red flashes of fire coming out of the smoke-drift
+in the next paddock, and, as they looked, a burning
+tree sent a tongue of flame skyward. Here and
+there they could make out the forms of men, beating
+out the fire in the grass. It was difficult to see how
+much fire there was: but presently a blazing stick
+fell from the top of a tree, and, caught by a sudden
+eddy of wind high up, sailed towards them for a
+moment and then dropped, a blaze springing up the
+moment it touched the grass. A man on a smart
+pony came tearing across to it, and beat it out. Then
+he caught sight of the two little figures at the fence
+and galloped to them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s Mr. Moncrieff!” Billy exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that you, Billy?” The man peered at them
+with smoke-reddened eyes. “Is your father about?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No; he’s at home, Mr. Moncrieff,” Billy said.
+“Is the fire very bad?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bad enough. We’re holding it at present, and,
+luckily, what wind there is is helping us. But we may
+not be able to keep it back—if the wind changed to
+the east your place will go like smoke. I’d have
+moved your cattle, only we can’t spare a hand.”
+He looked at them doubtfully. “Are you boys by
+yourselves? I suppose you couldn’t get the cattle
+out?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll jolly well try,” cried Billy. “Oh, Mr.
+Moncrieff, keep it back if you can—it’s all the grass
+Father’s got left!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know that well enough,” the neighbour said.
+“Every one of us would keep it off your father’s place
+if work will do it. But it’s most likely it will beat
+us. Shift the stock if you can, Billy, and get word
+to your father as soon as you do it: we want all the
+help we can get. My word, there’s another blaze
+starting——!” He wheeled his pony and went off
+at full gallop.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come on, Rex!” Billy said, pulling his pony round.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What have we got to do?” Rex kicked Merrilegs
+into a gallop, racing beside him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Get the cattle out of the paddock, through that
+gate we came through. You know how we mustered
+’em with Father that day we came out? Well, we’ve
+got to do the same, and as hard as we can lick, ’cause
+the fire may be here any minute. If it does, I don’t
+know what we ought to do,” said poor Billy, feeling
+suddenly that he was only a very small boy. “Cut
+for the gate ourselves, I suppose: we mustn’t get trapped
+in the timber. Ride all you know, Rex, an’ yell like
+the mischief! I’ll go in near the river, an’ you keep
+towards this edge of the timber. Drive ’em in front
+of you, an’ try to edge ’em out on the plain if you can,
+like we did with Father.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The cattle were standing about among the trees,
+uneasy with the smoke and with the all-pervading
+smell of fire. To them suddenly appeared two small
+demons on ponies, who rushed at them, shouting and
+waving threatening arms. Hither and thither through
+the trees the demons rushed, and the noise of their
+yelling was as the noise of ten. It was no use to try
+to evade them: no use to slink into the shelter of a
+clump of bushes, or to pretend to gallop clumsily off
+for a few yards in the hope of persuading them that
+you were an obedient bullock. Both were bad demons:
+but the smaller one was infinitely the more horrible
+of the two, for he was like a will-o’-the-wisp among
+the trees, and he rode a black pony that was a demon
+in itself, and just as alive as its rider to the ways of
+bullocks. The other invader was slower, but he had
+a high, shrill voice that was very terrible, and his eyes
+seemed to be of glass, and reflected the light in a most
+alarming manner. The bullocks decided that their
+only salvation lay in flight. The infection of their
+terror spread quickly among them, and the timber
+was soon full of the sound of frightened bellowing and
+pounding hoofs, with the high shrill cries of the boys
+sounding over all.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Keep looking behind you,” Billy panted, meeting
+Rex for a moment. “Don’t let any of ’em break
+back if you can help it.” He shot off again, yelling
+at a bullock that had dropped from a gallop into a
+jog-trot: and the bullock shook his head in terror
+and galloped anew.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As for Rex, Merrilegs had taken possession of him.
+Every horse on Emu Plains was thoroughly trained
+to stock work, and Merrilegs was the oldest of them
+all. What he lacked in speed he made up in cunning:
+he had an uncanny fore-knowledge of what a beast
+would do, and his twistings and turnings and sudden
+rushes were more like the work of a dog than a horse.
+A hundred times Rex was nearly off, saving himself
+only by desperate clutching at the pommel: a
+hundred times he barely saved his leg from the trunk
+of a tree, or ducked just in time to avoid an overhanging
+limb. At first he was sick with fear: and then
+the wild excitement of the moment took hold of him,
+and he forgot himself altogether, and let Merrilegs
+take him where he would. The pony did the work:
+the boy clung to the pommel and drummed with his
+heels on the lean grey sides, and yelled!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In their inexperience and comparative helplessness
+the little fellows accomplished what men, with quieter
+methods, might have failed to do. They actually
+started a stampede among the cattle; and the quick
+sense of overmastering fear leaped from beast to beast
+until every bullock in the paddock was on the run.
+They burst out of the timber in a whirlwind, converging
+to a point on the plain where they could see their
+galloping leaders. Behind them Rex and Billy raced,
+with scarlet faces and very little voices left.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can you keep ’em going?” Billy gasped. “I’ll
+get round ’em and open the gate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He shot off to one side, crouching low on his pony’s
+neck; and for a moment Rex felt blank terror. What
+should he do, if the cattle turned and came charging
+back to the shelter of the timber? What power had
+he to stop them? Luckily, the problem was not
+given to him to solve. Billy kept well away from the
+cattle, swinging round them in a wide half-circle;
+and Merrilegs dropped to a canter, keeping them moving
+in the right direction, while Rex continued to utter
+mechanical yells in a kind of cracked yelp. Billy
+swung the gate open to its fullest extent, and then
+came racing back as he had gone, well out from the
+bullocks, until he could swing in behind them and push
+them on.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To the bullocks the open gate and the sun-dried
+plain beyond offered respite from the demons in the
+rear. They jostled each other through the opening,
+and lumbered away at full gallop, spreading out as
+they went.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve done it, Rex!” Billy gasped: “an’ I
+never thought we would. <span class='it'>They</span> can’t be burnt anyhow.”
+His face was scarlet, and his hat was gone, but
+his eyes were dancing. He held the gate for Rex to
+pass through. “I say, do you think you can hurry
+home an’ take word to Father? I’m going back to
+help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not to the fire?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Some one ought to be there to help
+keep it off Emu Plains. You can get home all right,
+can’t you, Rex? Merrilegs will take you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can get home all right,” Rex said. “But you—will
+you be safe, Billy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ’Course I will.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you said they didn’t let you go to fires.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m letting myself go to this one,” Billy returned.
+“Think I’m going home now—to sit down an’ have
+tea? My word, no—I’m goin’ back with the
+men!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t I come too?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We can’t both go—some one must take word to
+Father. Oh, do go, Rex!” Billy begged.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t even got your hat!” said poor Rex,
+in a final protest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know where I dropped it—I’ll get it. Cut
+along, old chap!” He latched the gate as he spoke,
+and, swinging round, went off at a hard gallop, Punch’s
+little hoofs drumming over the baked ground. Rex
+looked after him enviously, feeling suddenly lonely.
+Then it came to him that after all he had a job of
+importance: was he not a despatch-rider? If you
+cannot be in the firing-line, it is at least something to
+bear despatches. The small boy cheered, and sent
+Merrilegs galloping for home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was a queer version of the usually spic-and-span
+Master Forester who came, a little later, on the tennis-party
+at home. Afternoon tea was in progress, and
+Jo was just handing her father a cup when the little
+boy came up the path. He was still scarlet-faced,
+and his fair hair drooped in a lank lock over his forehead:
+there was an angry red mark from brow to chin
+where a branch of a sapling had struck him, swinging
+back after the rush of a bullock. One sleeve of his
+blouse hung in tatters, and there was a big triangular
+tear in his trousers, while his stockings, in rags, hung
+round his ankles. His knees were scarred and cut.
+But he was undeniably happy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston was the first to catch sight of him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good gracious!” she ejaculated. “Whatever is
+the matter, Rex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Every one was looking at him. He stammered a
+little as he tried to speak.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s a fire,” he said. “Near your back paddock,
+Mr. Weston. I ’specs it’s in it by now!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good heavens!” uttered John Weston, putting
+down his cup hurriedly. “The cattle!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’ve got the cattle out,” Rex said, doing
+his best to speak unconcernedly. “Billy and me.
+We had a great time. They’re all right—I think we
+got them all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where is Billy?” put in Billy’s mother sharply.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s fighting the fire. There’s a lot of men there.
+Billy went back to help them. He told me to come
+and tell you. They’re going to do their level best
+to keep it out of your paddock.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“John!” Mrs. Weston’s voice was a cry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll be all right, dear,” Mr. Weston said. “The
+men will take care of him. I’ll go out at once. Jump
+on Merrilegs, Jean, and run up Cruiser for me while
+I change: I won’t be five minutes.” He went off
+across the grass with long strides, turning just for a
+moment to Rex. “Good boy, Rex: you’re a real
+man!” he said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, Rex dear,” Mrs. Weston said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The despatch-rider sat down. Other bearers of despatches,
+he knew, from the stories he had read, finished
+with great excitement: generally their horses dropped
+dead in the last furlong, or they themselves swooned
+on delivering their message. But Merrilegs was already
+tearing off, with Jean on his back: and he himself
+had no desire to swoon: no desire for anything, indeed,
+except for tea. He eyed Mr. Weston’s untasted cup
+wolfishly, and licked his dry lips. There was no sort
+of polish left to him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My word, I’d like that cup of tea!” he said.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='198' id='Page_198'></span><h1>CHAPTER XV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>SUNDAY AFTERNOON</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟J</span>UST as close a shave as anything could be,” John
+Weston said. “It came into our paddock and
+burned about a chain of fencing: and then the wind
+changed. It had been chopping about a bit, they said:
+not much of it: but suddenly it blew steadily from the
+west. And so we’ve still got our grass, Mary girl!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thank goodness!” she said. “And thanks to
+every one who worked for us!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, indeed,” said her husband. “Half the district
+seemed to be there when I got out; it’s queer how
+the news of a fire will travel quickly in some directions.
+Some one passing in a motor saw it in Moncrieff’s, and
+sent the word along. That big fellow Conlan—Jo’s
+friend—was there, working like a tiger. Was Billy
+very done?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, absolutely. The man who brought him
+home said he had almost to hold him on his pony: he
+was just dead with sleep and fatigue. He drank two
+cups of hot milk and was asleep before he had fairly
+swallowed the second. I undressed him and put him
+to bed without even washing his dear old dirty face;
+and he’s asleep yet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor little chap!” The man’s voice was very
+tender. “They said he worked splendidly, galloping
+from place to place to beat out fires from flying embers:
+they wouldn’t let him beat near the main fire, much to
+his disgust. Mary, how on earth those kiddies managed
+to get the cattle out beats me! Moncrieff said it
+seemed no time after they went after them that Billy
+was back, saying all the bullocks were out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As far as I can gather from Rex they just got them
+on the run and kept them running,” Mrs. Weston said.
+“Rex mentioned that they both yelled like fury:
+and certainly he has no voice left to-day. You must
+be very tired, John.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not: I’m too thankful,” he said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was noon, and he had just ridden in, after having
+spent the night at the fire: for although the most
+acute danger was over, trees were still blazing in Moncrieff’s
+paddock, and a change of wind might have
+carried sparks into the dry grass on Emu Plains. It
+would be necessary to watch until the last tree was
+burned out.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought the twins might go out and keep guard
+this afternoon, while I have a sleep,” he went on.
+“They would like to be in it: and there’s no hard work
+required, only watchfulness. I’ll go out again to-night.
+Conlan’s chopping down two of the worst trees.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What—is he still working?” Mrs. Weston asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t hunt him away. He says he has nothing
+particular to do—he has a farm of his own, you know,
+and does odd work occasionally for Harrison. I believe
+the poor chap thinks he’s working off a bit of his debt
+to Jo. As things stand, Mary, it’s a very lucky fire
+for us. It means that we have a big break of burned
+country between us and further danger. It has done
+Moncrieff good, too—cleared up a very dirty paddock,
+all over fallen trees and rubbish—a harbour for rabbits.
+He had no stock there, so he’s lost nothing except a
+little fencing. Moncrieff is jubilant.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the luck is turning,” his wife said, smiling.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>John Weston sighed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s taken a long time to turn,” he said; “and
+there’s no sign yet. Half the district will be ruined
+if rain doesn’t come while there’s still warmth enough
+to bring on the grass. It’s over a year since we had
+a good rain. Do you know, I almost thought it was
+coming this morning: it was very cloudy, and there
+was a sort of feel of rain in the air. But it blew over,
+as it’s done hundreds of times.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know,” said Mrs. Weston. “I was up at daylight,
+looking out for you: and I was almost hopeful.
+But my toe wasn’t aching!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her husband laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your old toe!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it always ached for rain, John!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then it’s had such a long spell it must have forgotten
+to ache,” said he. “For which you should be
+thankful.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not,” she replied. “It’s better to have my
+toe aching because of rain coming than the whole of
+me—mind and body—aching because rain doesn’t
+come. You’ll see me dancing with joy if my toe ever
+aches again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston’s private barometer was a standing
+joke to her family. As a girl, her toe had been broken
+in an accident: and ever since, when rain was coming,
+it ached, more or less. Now, however, it had not
+manifested itself for over a year, and its queer warnings
+had been almost forgotten.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“May I see the dance soon!” said her husband,
+almost solemnly. “By the way, that fellow Conlan
+was giving me a chance of buying sheep last night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And feed with them?” Mrs. Weston queried, drily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Feed? Well, yes, as it happens. It would be
+rather a chance, if one had ready money—and pluck.
+A cousin of his named Murphy, a queer old chap, has
+just been left a property in Ireland, and he’s anxious
+to clear out at once and go back to take possession of
+it. He rents a place ten miles away, on Reedy Creek,
+where he runs sheep. His lease has only a couple of
+months to run, and he’s willing to forfeit that, or to
+give it in to any one who’ll buy his sheep. Dirt cheap,
+too, they are. But, of course, no one’s buying stock
+now, especially for ready money, which is what old
+Murphy wants. In two months’ time this country will
+be like the Sahara, unless we get rain.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What a chance—if rain should come!” said his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. But it would be simply a gamble: of
+course the sheep are as poor as crows, Conlan says.
+They can scratch up a sort of a living, but they couldn’t
+travel. That’s the sort of gamble a man can face if
+he has a good fat balance in the Bank: not unless.
+Conlan was very sorry. He brought me the offer first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What did you tell him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Told him I guessed he had as much ready money
+as I had, just now. He grinned at that, and said,
+‘Well, indeed, I bought a pair of Injinrubber ducks
+for the Missus last week, but it took some scratching
+up to raise the cash!’ I told him to go to Holmes
+about Murphy’s sheep. But I don’t suppose even
+Evan Holmes has any spare cash now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He rose, yawning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I must see to some things,” he said. “I’ll
+lie down after dinner, and have a sleep. I don’t suppose
+Sarah has enough wood to go on with for the
+kitchen stove.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, she has,” his wife answered, with a smile.
+“The twins got it. They chopped mightily. Jean
+remarked that she hoped you wouldn’t notice any
+logs, or you would certainly think a dog had gnawed
+them off! And they milked.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did they, indeed?” her husband said. “Good
+old twinses! I quite forgot that the little chaps were
+still asleep.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Rex isn’t. But he was late: the twins
+wouldn’t call him. He was very disgusted to find that
+they had done the outside work, and at once went and
+chopped another barrow-load of wood! I think he
+would have liked to milk again, but Jean pointed out
+that the cows wouldn’t have been of the same opinion!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A quaint figure came round the corner of the verandah:
+Billy, in his pyjamas, with his ruddy curls
+ruffled all over his head, and with his face startlingly
+dirty. He came towards his father, rubbing blackened
+fists into his sleepy eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is the fire out?” he asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All that matters is out,” John Weston said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did we get burned out, Father?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, we didn’t. And I’m proud of you, old son.”
+John Weston sat down, drawing the boy into his arms;
+and Billy snuggled down on his knee, cuddling his
+sleepy head into his father’s neck. Over the rumpled
+curls the father and mother smiled at each other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Round the corner came the twins, with Rex between
+them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father! Is everything all right?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite all right,” Mr. Weston said. He held out
+his hand to Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve got to thank you, old chap. You and Billy
+did men’s work yesterday.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex flushed to the roots of his fair hair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Indeed, it wasn’t me, Mr. Weston. It was all Billy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bosh!” said Billy briefly, without raising his head.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, it wasn’t all Billy—though I’ll admit Billy
+did his share. Billy couldn’t have moved those cattle
+single-handed. I’m blessed if I know how you got
+them out as it is.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t think we had any chance myself,” said
+Billy, sitting up suddenly, “with no dogs, and no
+stock-whips, nor nothing. So we just went mad ’n’
+yelled. And then the jolly old bullocks went mad, too,
+an’ put their tails in the air an’ galloped. So we got
+’em out quite easy. It was no end of fun, if we hadn’t
+been anxious about the grass.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re good kids,” said Mr. Weston, laughing.
+“I must say I’d like to have seen that muster. Billy,
+my son, have you any idea how dirty your face is?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, really, is it?” Billy asked, greatly surprised.
+He caught sight of his blackened hands. “Why—look!”
+He held them out for his family’s benefit.
+The family shouted with laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your face matches them, sonnie,” said his mother.
+“Go and look at yourself; and then be off to the
+bathroom as fast as you can. Dinner will be ready as
+soon as you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At dinner it transpired that Mrs. Weston would
+like to see the scene of the fire, and that the boys
+were much aggrieved at the idea of not going out:
+so it was decided to give the ponies a rest, and Jo drove
+the whole party out in the big express-waggon, leaving
+Mr. Weston to sleep in the silent house, in charge of
+Sarah. They offered to take Sarah too, but the gaunt
+handmaiden received the invitation with a snort.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What ’ud I do, picnickin’ on a burnt log? An’ no
+one to look after the master if he wanted anything.
+No, thanks. You’d better boil the billy out there;
+if there’s men workin’ they’d be glad of a drink of tea.
+I’ll fix it—you go on an’ get ready.” And when the
+iron-greys were harnessed, she came out with a huge
+billy and a package of food almost as huge. She held
+the gate open as they drove through—tall, erect, and
+bony, in her stiffly-starched print dress, her hair screwed
+back from her knobby forehead.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good-bye, Sarah, old girl!” sang out Billy.
+“Wish you were coming!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know when I’m well orf!” responded Sarah,
+loftily. But her eyes were very tender.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no buggy track across the paddock: the
+express-waggon bumped and rattled over the bare,
+uneven ground, and the water splashed from under the
+lid of the billy with such persistence that it seemed as
+if there would be very little left to boil by the time they
+reached their journey’s end. The cattle were all back
+in their feeding-ground—the gate into the next paddock
+tied back, in case a fire should spring up. They looked
+sleepily at the rattling buggy, failing to recognize, in
+the small boys sitting in the back, with dangling legs,
+the two demons who, only yesterday, had chased them
+through the timber with horrid yells.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Moncrieff’s paddock stretched away to the east,
+blackened and bare. Smoke rose lazily from the
+charred timber on the ground, but only one burning
+tree still stood erect. There was a steady sound of
+chopping near its base, where could be seen a man,
+whose axe rose and fell with machine-like regularity.
+As Jo pulled up the horses, a warning crack came from
+the tree, and he stepped quickly backwards, looking
+up. Slowly the tree swayed to one side, seemed to
+hesitate for a moment, and then toppled lazily over,
+coming to earth with a crash. It broke into three pieces,
+showers of sparks and burning fragments rising from
+it. The greys leaped beneath Jo’s restraining hand;
+and then, deciding that they had made a mistake,
+settled to calmness again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s Mr. Conlan,” Jo said. “Isn’t he a brick,
+working here like this—and on Sunday, too! And
+there’s Mr. Moncrieff. We must send them home—if
+they’ll go. Come on, Jean, and we’ll get the horses out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They unharnessed the greys and tied them in a
+patch of shade, while Billy and Rex hunted for sticks
+to boil the billy. Moncrieff came riding towards them
+as they returned to the buggy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good-day, Mrs. Weston. Nice and hot, as usual,
+isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It was hotter for you, yesterday, Mr. Moncrieff,
+I believe,” Mrs. Weston answered, laughing. “You
+have had a great burn.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, thoroughly satisfactory, since it didn’t finish
+by getting the Emu Plains grass,” said Moncrieff, a
+burly man with a keen, rugged face. “I certainly was
+afraid that it was going to. It has done me hundreds
+of pounds worth of good, in clearing up my paddock.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve come to relieve you, Mr. Moncrieff,” Jean
+said. “Father sent us out. We’re to stay until he
+comes, so you mustn’t wait, after you’ve had a cup
+of tea.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t wait for that, then, if you don’t mind, Miss
+Jean,” Moncrieff said. “I’ll not be sorry to get a
+sleep, for I’ve been on the go for two nights now. My
+wife will have tea for me when I get home.” He yawned
+openly, looking at them with tired blue eyes, inflamed
+from the smoke. “Great kid you’ve got there,” he
+said, nodding towards Billy, busily gathering sticks a
+little way off. “I never saw anything quicker than
+he was last night. Well, I’ll be going.” He lifted his
+hat—they saw a long red burn across his hand as he
+did so—and, wheeling his pony, rode away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run and tell Mr. Conlan to come for some tea,
+Billy,” Jean called presently. “The billy’s boiling.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tim Conlan was busy with the tree he had felled,
+piling the lighter pieces about the heavier, that all
+might burn quickly. He came in a few moments
+greeting them all cheerfully, with a special smile for Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re to bathe your eyes before you have tea,
+Mr. Conlan,” Mrs. Weston said. She produced a bottle
+of boracic lotion and an eye-bath, and showed him how
+to use it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Smarts like fury, but it makes ’em better, don’t
+it?” said the big man, with tears streaming down his
+cheeks, making curious patterns in the smoky dust that
+covered his face. “If you don’t mind, I’ll slip over to
+the river for a wash: I’ll feel more comfortable-like.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have one cup of tea first, Mr. Conlan,” suggested
+Jo, handing him a brimming cup. “Then you can
+really have tea when you come back!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The big man grinned, and obeyed her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s too big a temptation for a thirsty man to
+resist, Miss Weston. My word, it’s good!” He drained
+it at a draught, and then went off with great strides
+to the river: returning presently much freshened.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s more respectable—though I don’t think
+my old woman would think I looked respectable, if
+she could see me. Fire-fighting isn’t clean and tidy
+work,” he said, laughing. Suddenly his eye fell on
+Jean, who was proffering him a plate of scones: and
+then wavered to Jo, who was handing him tea. “Holy
+Ann!” he ejaculated. “I say, excuse me, but which
+of you is which?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins, who were dressed alike in blue print
+frocks, chuckled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is my sister!” they said, together, each
+indicating the other. The girls at school used to say
+that only twins could have made remarks with the
+absolute unanimity of Jean and Jo. It happened
+without any previous preparation, as though the two
+bodies were informed by one mind. Rex and Billy
+shouted with laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ve met one of you—and good reason I
+have to know it,” said the bewildered man. “But
+I’m hanged if I can say which it is. Do <span class='it'>you</span> know them
+apart, Mrs. Weston?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, nearly always,” said that lady. “I have
+my moments of uncertainty, but they seldom last long.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ve a right to brand them!” murmured Mr.
+Conlan, gazing distressfully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When they were smaller, I used to put different
+coloured ribbons on them,” Mrs. Weston said, laughing.
+“But I regret to say that they used to change the
+ribbons!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They look as if they might do that,” remarked
+Tim. “Take pity on me, and tell me which is the one
+I know!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Make a guess, Mr. Conlan!” sang out Billy
+delightedly. “I don’t believe you’re game!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Thus adjured, Tim Conlan favoured each twin with
+a searching glance, and then, indicating Jo with an
+accusing forefinger, said, “You’re her!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good guess!” said Billy approvingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, ’tis no credit to me,” remarked Tim, at
+length accepting nourishment at the hands of the
+laughing twins. “ ’Tis only that I noticed she’d a
+scar on her hand, the day she was at my place: and,
+by good luck, I remembered to look for it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He ate a vast meal, punctuated by many cups of
+tea. Though he had been up all night, and working
+hard for twenty-four hours, he disclaimed any idea of
+being tired. He kept a wary eye on the smouldering
+fires, until the twins sent Billy and Rex to patrol them:
+then he allowed his long limbs to relax, lit his pipe,
+and “yarned” in the manner dear to the bushman.
+All the time he covertly watched Jean and Jo. They
+strolled across to the fires presently, and he watched
+them go, with a little smile.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’re wonderful alike,” he said. “But I’ve
+got ’em placed now. Their hair don’t grow quite the
+same way, an’ my Miss Jo has a tiny mole near her
+eye.” He ran over half a dozen other differences:
+some that Mrs. Weston herself could not remember
+noticing. “I’ll not mix them up again,” he finished.
+And he never did.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish the Boss could have seen his way to buyin’
+old man Murphy’s sheep,” he said, as he was preparing
+for his long ride home. “They’re dirt cheap, and no
+mistake: if only rain comes they’ll be easy money for
+the man who buys them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—but if rain does not come, Mr. Conlan?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, rain’s sure to come some day,” said Tim, with
+the easy optimism of his Irish blood. “And there’s
+two months’ feed, of a sort, where they are. It’d be
+worth the risk, if a man only had the money. Murphy’s
+pretty near ready to give them away, for cash!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But cash is what no one has.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“More’s the pity, for it’s a real bargain. I’d like
+Mr. Weston to have been the one to make a pile out of
+’em. But of course no one’s buyin’ sheep now, nor
+cattle either, barrin’ the chaps down Gippsland way.
+He’d truck ’em there, only they’d never stand the trip.”
+He put his bridle over his horse’s head. “Well, I’ll
+say good-bye, Mrs. Weston.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She put her hand into his.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can’t thank you enough for helping us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve done nothing,” he said. “Nothing that any
+neighbour wouldn’t be glad to do. An’ where Miss
+Jo’s concerned—well, you can guess it’s a relief to me
+to try an’ work off a bit of my debt.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There is no debt, Mr. Conlan. Jo would be the
+first to tell you so.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t there?” he said. “Well, I see it pretty
+plain every time I look at them little kids of mine.”
+He swung his long form to the saddle, and she watched
+him ride carefully over the burnt ground to say good-bye
+to the others; she noticed that, though he shouted
+cheerily to the boys from his horse, he dismounted
+when he spoke to the twins. Then he jumped the
+broken fence and cantered off, leaving them to patrol
+the dying fires.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='210' id='Page_210'></span><h1>CHAPTER XVI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE TWINS TAKE A HOLIDAY</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>‟R</span>EX, it’s a perfectly dreadful copy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Rex shuffled his feet uneasily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I can’t make it any better.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s just nonsense,” Jean said. “It’s almost
+the last page in your copy-book, and it’s quite the
+worst copy you’ve done. You just haven’t tried.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did try,” said Rex sullenly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t see how you expect me to believe that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t care if you don’t believe it!” said Rex,
+under his breath: not so low, however, but Jean
+caught the words. She looked at him steadily, and
+the small boy had the grace to redden.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s impertinence,” she said. “You mustn’t
+think that you can speak to me like that, or that you
+can show me that sort of copy. Write the next one,
+please.” She pushed the hair from her forehead with
+a tired gesture. “Now, Billy—let me see yours.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy was laboriously finishing, the end of a very
+pink tongue appearing at the corner of his mouth as
+he made his way along the last line. He completed
+the final word, and, seizing his blotting-paper, banged
+it down on his copy, smudging it hopelessly. The
+bang brought an angry growl from Rex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you keep from jolting? How d’you expect
+a fellow to write a copy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—Billy!” Jean said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>What could be seen of Billy’s copy showed that it
+was rather worse than Rex’s. It was scrawled carelessly
+throughout, with an easy disregard of the finer
+flights of penmanship provided by the copy-book
+maker.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I couldn’t help smudging it, could I?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course you could if you’d tried,” Jean
+said. “But it wasn’t decently written before you
+smudged it. You haven’t even looked at the copy
+after the first line.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I did. What else would I look at?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, you’ve looked at your own disgraceful
+writing. You’ve spelt ‘glitters’ with one ‘t’ in the
+second line, and copied it throughout, with every other
+mistake. I believe you boys have just been larking
+while I was out of the room. I won’t trust you
+again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was bitter, and the sulkiness deepened on each
+rebellious face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Write another,” Jean said. “I won’t pass work
+like that. And this time I must watch you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Under this infliction both boys wrote with deliberate
+slovenliness, and the second copies were rather worse
+than the first. Billy had recorded that “All is not
+gold that gliters” in the first; now he stated “Honistey
+is the best pollicy,” and stuck to the assertion throughout
+five lines; while Rex scrawled his quickly, and,
+having made a huge blot in the middle of the page,
+devoted himself to turning it into a fat-bodied spider
+by the addition of sundry hairy legs. Jean flushed
+as she took the books.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose you’re both seeing how far you can go,”
+she said. “I don’t know what has come to you both;
+as a rule you don’t seem to want to behave like little
+pigs. Well, you’ll write another copy after school.
+Get the geography books, Billy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was a sultry morning in March, and from the first
+the day had begun badly. The twins’ alarum-clock
+had failed to do its duty, and instead of jumping up
+at five they had slumbered peacefully until Sarah,
+outwardly amazed, but inwardly rather pleased, had
+brought tea to their bedsides at half-past six. Sarah
+considered that they got up far too early, and worked
+far too much; she chuckled to herself because they
+had had an extra allowance of sleep with, in the end,
+tea in bed—as she would willingly have brought it to
+them every morning. But the twins were horrified
+at the failure of their programme. For once their
+cheerfulness failed them, and they may be said to
+have got out of bed on the wrong side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Possibly the weather had something to do with it.
+February had closed in a blaze of still heat, and March
+showed no signs of bringing better weather. Not in
+the memory of man had such steady heat been known
+in the district; the men talked of it when they met in
+Barrabri, and shook their heads over the near approach
+of ruin to many. It was “sticky” weather; humid
+sultriness, not like their usual dry heat; people longed
+for a breeze, even a hot wind, rather than these endless
+days when even the lightest of clothing seemed to
+cling to the prickly skin, and perspiration made it
+almost impossible to handle a pen or to use a needle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never remember such a season,” Evan Holmes
+said. “We’re used to decent, clean hot weather here,
+that nobody minds; but this is like living in a perpetual
+vapour-bath. Everybody’s temper is getting
+on edge!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The nights were not much better. Often, at sundown,
+clouds rolled up, and growls of thunder were
+heard, bringing hopes of rain: then it would all disperse,
+and the still, clammy heat would do its best to
+make sleep an impossibility. The twins, generally
+asleep five minutes after they were in bed, found themselves,
+to their disgust, tossing and turning in unaccustomed
+wakefulness. It was small wonder if
+they overslept themselves when the alarum-clock
+failed to act.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Everything seemed to go wrong that morning—partly
+because they tried to carry out the programme
+in full, not realizing that a lost hour and a half takes
+too much catching. Older people would have shrugged
+and let some things go, for once; the twins, being
+young and stiff-necked, refused to do so, would not
+take time to eat a reasonable breakfast, and, by the
+time lessons began, were thoroughly on edge.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The boys, too, had had an unfortunate morning.
+They had been late, and had rushed the cows up to
+the milking-shed—bringing a sharp word of reproof
+from Mr. Weston. Then old Strawberry, infuriated
+by the clustering flies, had kicked just as Rex had
+almost finished milking her, and had knocked over half
+a bucket of milk, most of which bespattered Rex.
+Billy had unfeelingly howled with laughter, and even
+Mr. Weston had smiled, though he was annoyed at
+the loss of the milk—milk was getting scarce as
+the lucerne crop shrank and the remnant of feed
+in the paddock dwindled. Rex himself had been
+astonished at the wave of hot anger that swept over
+him, and at the dull resentment that followed it. He
+did not generally feel like that, even if things did
+go awry. Certainly the clerk of the weather was
+responsible for much that morning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy’s troubles had come to him after breakfast,
+when he was sent to clean his father’s brown boots,
+and absent-mindedly began operations with the tin
+containing blacking. Mr. Weston had found him
+gazing at the ruin in a dreamy fashion, which lent the
+final spark to his father’s just wrath. He lost his
+temper—in itself an occurrence so rare as to be
+amazing, and Billy departed hurriedly from the scene,
+tingling both in mind and body.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was clearly an unlucky day, and the boys were
+in no mood for lessons, especially when they found that
+Jean was busy cleaning the lamps and was only too
+glad to leave them to write copies alone. The pens
+were unruly, and stuck to their moist hands; it was
+ever so much pleasanter to make paper darts and throw
+them, than laboriously to inscribe obvious truths like
+“All is not gold that glitters.” As if people didn’t
+know that! And then Jean had been “snarly,” and
+it was horribly easy, this morning, to be snarly in
+response.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The geography lesson fared little better. It was
+rather a dull lesson—or possibly Jean, being oppressed
+by unusual dignity, did not feel equal to making it
+bright. The boys were frankly bored, and Rex
+remarked, in an audible undertone, that it was just
+like Miss Green’s sort of lesson! Somehow, the remark
+stung Jean more than open rudeness. She found tears
+very near her eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mother came in quietly, looking at the flushed,
+resentful faces, but apparently noticing nothing. She
+brought with her, as always, a sense of restfulness.
+No one would have guessed that she had been sitting
+on the verandah, listening to the stumbling feet on
+the path of knowledge—waiting for the exact moment
+to interfere. It was near Jo’s time for taking over
+the schoolroom; and Jo, she knew, was polishing
+linoleum, having resisted any suggestion to leave it
+until another day: rubbing hard, with one eye on
+the clock, and with a red spot on otherwise white
+cheeks.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Father wants a telegram sent, Jean,” she said.
+“And he wants the afternoon mail brought out. I
+think you and Jo had better ride into Barrabri, and
+have lunch at the Bank or at the Lawrences’; they
+have been asking you a long while. Then you can get
+the mail, and ride out when it is cooler. I’ll take over
+the boys.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sure you want to. Mother? Jo could go by herself.”
+But Jean had flushed with anticipation. The
+prospect of a holiday was very tempting.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’d rather you went together. And the boys
+and I will quite enjoy ourselves.” She looked at them
+with a little smile. “You won’t give me a bad time,
+will you, boys?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Both urchins flushed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve been rather brutes this morning,” Rex
+said frankly. “Haven’t we, Billy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perfect swine!” agreed Billy. “I’m blessed if I
+know why. I say, Jean, I’m sorry!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So’m I, Jean,” from Rex. “An’ I’ll do that
+extra copy my very best.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, bother the extra copy!” Jean said. “I
+expect I was cross, too. Every one’s cross but you,
+Mother, and you’re a miracle! Have you told Jo?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—get her yourself. Be off, both of you!”
+And Jean was gone like a flash.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston looked hard at the two boys.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want you two to remember,” she said, “that
+Jean and Jo aren’t very old; not so tremendously older
+than you two. But they are responsible for your
+lessons, and it isn’t quite playing the game for you to
+make lesson-time hard for them. Please don’t.” She
+smiled at the downcast little faces. “Now come
+along: this room is really too hot. We’ll go out on
+the south verandah, and you two can cut up French
+beans for dinner, and I’ll read you a history story.
+Run and get the beans from Sarah.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Billy hesitated.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother, could we get the ponies ready first for
+the girls?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston patted his head.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—good idea. But hurry up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So when Jean and Jo came out presently, dressed
+for riding, they found Mrs. Weston in a rocking-chair
+on the verandah. A table near her bore a tray of
+glasses and a tall jug full of cool lemonade; and close
+at hand, under a pepper-tree, Pilot and Punch awaited
+them, groomed and saddled, and each in charge of a
+small boy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you little bricks!” Jean said. “That <span class='it'>is</span> a let-off—I
+was looking forward to a blazing walk down the
+paddock after the ponies. Bless you!” They drank
+their lemonade thankfully, and set off, while Mrs.
+Weston and the boys established themselves on the
+verandah, and the preparation of beans went on
+contentedly to the accompaniment of “Westward
+Ho!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To be on a horse was always a tonic for either Jean
+or Jo. Even in the blaze of noonday they enjoyed the
+ride to Barrabri. It was a journey they always liked
+to make on horseback, since it was then possible to
+go across country for most of the way, cutting through
+the corner of the Emu Plains run, and then crossing
+a wide tract of rough country known as the Barrabri
+Common. There were gullies in the Common, up
+and down which it was necessary to scramble, following
+narrow cattle-tracks; and there were logs to jump,
+and, in ordinary seasons, watercourses, so that a
+gallop there presented something between a steeple-chase
+and an obstacle-race, and was tremendous fun.
+Now, alas! the watercourses were dry and the galloping
+ground, instead of being well-grassed, was bare,
+dusty earth; but still the Common was shady, and
+more interesting than the long, straight roads, where
+passing motors made conditions anything but pleasant
+for other folk.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They reached the township in good time, finding it
+wrapped in mid-day calm; and, having sent their
+telegram, made their way to the doctor’s house, where
+Eva and Maisie Lawrence greeted them with delight,
+mingled with amazement at their heroism in taking a
+long ride on such a hot day.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it’s always hot now,” Jo said; “so if we
+didn’t go out in heat we should never go out at all.
+And anyhow, I believe you’ve been playing tennis!”
+She glanced at the girl’s rubber-soled shoes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, we have, though we know it’s mad,” Maisie
+said, laughing. “Tom Holmes was over, and he never
+thinks it’s too hot to play, so he fairly dragged us out.
+He wouldn’t stay to lunch, though. He heard about
+this escaped prisoner, and he thought he’d do a bit of
+detective work.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But who is the escaped prisoner?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, haven’t you heard? He was being moved
+from one gaol to another, and he gave the slip to the
+policeman who was in charge of him. I forget what
+he was; a burglar or something—nothing so thrilling
+as a murderer! He got away two stations up the
+line, and he’s supposed to have been seen making
+across country this way. A whole lot of policemen
+are after him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, how exciting!” exclaimed Jo. “Poor
+wretch—I wonder if he’s got a wife and children?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Eva Lawrence laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are a funny old soul, Jo,” she said; “you
+always think of queer, sentimental things. All the
+more shame for him to be a criminal if he <span class='it'>has</span> got a
+wife and children. But I believe he’s quite a young
+man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who’s that? the runaway?” Dr. Lawrence
+asked, coming in. “Why, how are you, twins?
+did you actually ride in, on such a day! Well, I have
+to go out, to earn my living, but otherwise I would sit
+in a bath all day and drink iced things! Yes, the
+prisoner’s quite a young man. He was a bank clerk,
+and managed to get away with about £5,000, and he’s
+got a pretty long sentence to serve. He’ll get more
+when they catch him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps they won’t get him,” Jean said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there’s very little chance of that. Nowadays
+an escaped criminal can be so easily tracked in the
+country; it’s all so opened-up, and the telegraph and
+telephone are everywhere. If ever people find out that
+you’re a criminal, Jean, and you want to escape, hide
+in a big city; don’t try a district like this, where every
+strange face is noticed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll remember,” Jean said, twinkling. “But
+couldn’t he get into the ranges, Doctor? It’s lonely
+and rough enough in the country back of our place.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But how would a man live? There’s mighty
+little game there, even if he dared carry a gun; and
+scarcely any houses. And criminals have such
+appetites, you know!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I suppose that would be the difficulty, unless
+he had friends,” she said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, given friends, a man could hide in the ranges
+well enough, unless they brought the black-trackers
+up,” the doctor said. “Very few people know much
+about that part of the district; the only men who ever
+go there are odd station-hands, looking for lost cattle.
+Anyhow, this man comes from the other side of Melbourne,
+so he’s not likely to try the ranges. I’d give
+him, at the outside, two days’ run; then they’ll find
+him under a culvert or a haystack, or he’ll have sense
+enough to come in and give himself up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wouldn’t you just hate to do that!” Jo ejaculated.
+“It would make you feel so small!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t know. There’s a certain amount of
+dignity in it; more, anyway, than in being dragged
+by the heels from under a haystack. No one can look
+dignified with straws in his hair! Poor wretch, I
+expect he’s feeling sorry for himself now. Liberty
+must look pretty good to you when you see a sudden
+chance of escaping from a constable; but I’ll guarantee
+he doesn’t know what to do with his liberty now he’s
+got it. Rather like Dead Sea apples—rosy enough on
+the outside, but dust and ashes when you bite them.
+However, there’s lunch, and I’m glad I’m not an
+escaped gaol-bird, especially if it’s been in the ice-chest—come
+along, girls!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Lunch <span class='it'>had</span> been in the ice-chest; the twins, enjoying
+crisp salad and firm, quivering jelly, openly envied the
+township opportunities of combating the hot weather.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You just don’t know how lucky you are!” Jo
+said. “We have all sorts of bush dodges, of course;
+Coolgardie drip-safes and holes in the ground, and all
+that sort of thing; but, especially since this horrible
+sticky weather began, nothing seems to make much
+difference. The butter’s always oil, and everything
+else is warm and flabby. I’d love to take a pat of this
+butter home to Mother! Her appetite has gone to
+simply nothing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can have the butter!” said Mrs. Lawrence,
+laughing. “But why not send your mother in to us
+for a week? We should love to have her, and we’d take
+great care of her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She wouldn’t leave home, I’m afraid,” Jo said.
+“Father wants her to go down to the Harlands’, at
+the Lakes’ Entrance, but she won’t go. I expect it’s
+because she doesn’t like to leave Father, when he’s so
+worried over the drought.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’d be wiser to go,” said the doctor, gravely.
+“No one knows how long this drought is going to
+hold out. And your mother has had a long spell of
+it now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They lounged in the darkened drawing-room after
+lunch: Maisie and Eva played snatches from the new
+musical comedy, and there were English illustrated
+papers to look at, full of pictures of snow and ice,
+which seemed like a fairy-tale in the throbbing heat.
+Afternoon tea came in early, to suit the twins; and
+when it was over they said good-bye, and walked down
+to the post-office to get the mail before going to the
+stables for the ponies. As they came out of the post-office,
+the Barrabri policeman detached himself from
+a knot of men and came to meet them. He wore a
+look of unusual importance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good afternoon, Miss Weston.” He looked
+straight between them, a method of greeting with
+which the twins were familiar among those who were
+puzzled by their uncanny resemblance. “You came
+in this morning, didn’t you? Did you happen to see
+any unusual character about?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the twins. “We didn’t notice anyone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a man, for instance?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No one we didn’t know,” Jean answered. “Is it
+the escaped prisoner, Mr. Ransome?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The constable nodded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he won’t be escaped long, Miss Weston.
+There’s some very smart men lookin’ for him. Of
+course there’ll be a search out your way, but I was just
+wondering if you’d seen anyone suspicious. Well,
+not as he looks suspicious; I believe he’s rather a nice-lookin’
+young feller. P’raps, if he’d looked more like
+a criminal the chap in charge of him would ’a’ been
+more suspicious himself, instead of bein’ caught
+nappin’. I bet he’s pretty sorry now. Well, it’s a
+lesson to us!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose so,” said Jo, feeling rather sorry for
+future “prisoners and captives.” “Have you any
+idea which way he went?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he’s given us the slip altogether at present,”
+admitted the policeman. “Oh, we’ll get him, right
+enough. Well, you keep your eyes open, Miss Weston—a
+delicate-lookin’ feller in a grey suit. Did you
+come by the road this morning?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—through the paddocks, and across the Common.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’d ’a’ been more likely to see him there—he
+won’t be troublin’ the highroads much,” said the
+constable. “Oh, well, good afternoon, Miss Weston.”
+He smiled between them and strode off, his chest well
+out, and his step martial; and the twins, themselves
+feeling a little important, went in search of their
+ponies, and rode out of the township.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At first they were on the alert to scan every unfamiliar
+face—not that unfamiliar faces were plentiful
+in Barrabri, where the twins knew everybody. They
+were like a person who, having encountered a snake,
+sees one in every bush. Twice they turned down cross-roads
+in pursuit of a suspicious figure: the first turning
+out to be a grizzled rabbiter, and the second, Tom
+Holmes, who, covered with dust, was returning from a
+long afternoon spent fruitlessly as a sleuth-hound.
+Tom’s return to school had been delayed, owing to an
+untimely attack of chicken-pox; an undignified disease,
+which had caused him bitter shame. His period of
+quarantine had almost expired, and he was off on
+Monday, he explained; it would have been some set-off
+to a fool complaint like chicken-pox if he could
+have captured a criminal off his own bat!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I had my usual luck,” he said wrathfully.
+“Never saw a sign of him all the afternoon, and
+finished up by letting my horse get a box-thorn in his
+fetlock! He’s dead lame, and I’ve had to leave him
+at the stables. Tried to get a horse in the township,
+and couldn’t, so I’ve got to walk home!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Teach you to let poor prisoners alone!” said
+Jean unsympathetically. “Why do you want to hunt
+the poor fellow down?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tom stared.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why ever not?” he demanded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he’s got plenty of people after him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He ought to have kept his hands off other people’s
+money.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, that’s not our business,” Jean said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But, good gracious!” ejaculated Tom, “you said
+you came down this road because you thought I was
+him! What did you mean to do if I had been?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I don’t know,” Jean said, laughing. “Look
+at him, I suppose. Criminals don’t come our way
+every day, you know!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We certainly wouldn’t have laid violent hands
+on him, remarking, ‘Come and be killed!’ anyhow!”
+said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I should say you wouldn’t—kids like you!
+But you’d have gone in for Ransome, I suppose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that’s the last thing we’d have thought of
+doing!” Jean assured him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, girls are beyond me!” said Tom heavily.
+He said good-bye, evidently considering them unworthy
+of his further attention; and set off on his
+dusty tramp home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Their excursions and discussions had made the
+twins late, and they abandoned further ideas of
+chasing suspicious characters for purposes of inspection,
+and cantered briskly across the Common. The
+thunderous clouds, so usual now towards evening,
+were rolling up over the western sky, and the heat was
+breathless; when, in pity for the ponies, they reined in
+to a walk, they almost gasped in the still, heavy air.
+They were thankful when at length the roofs of the
+Emu Plains homestead showed through the trees.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The paddock through which they were riding was
+next to the homestead block. A creek ran through
+one corner, its banks thickly fringed with scrub; and
+in a little nook near the dividing fence there was an
+old hut, built long ago by men on a timber-felling
+contract. It was half in ruins now, held together by
+the sarsaparilla and clematis that festooned it; the
+children used it sometimes as a place to picnic. Something
+moving near it caught Jean’s eye, and she
+brought Punch to a standstill.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you see anything there, Jo? Down by the
+old hut?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jo looked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” she said. “There couldn’t be anything.
+Oh, you are an old duffer, Jeanie; you’ve got that
+escaped man on the brain!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I did see something,” Jean persisted. “And
+there are no sheep or cattle in this paddock at all, so
+it couldn’t have been a beast. Let’s ride down and
+see, Jo.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think it’s mad,” said Jo. “You really couldn’t
+have seen anything.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it won’t take us more than three minutes
+to go and see,” Jean said. “Come on, old girl.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She turned Punch from the gate and cantered towards
+the creek, followed by her twin—who, however
+she might protest, never thought of not joining in.
+They drew up near the hut.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no sign of anything there, and everything
+was very quiet. Jean was just about to turn her pony
+when something caught her eye—a freshly broken
+stalk of bracken.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That didn’t break itself, Jo,” she said, pointing
+to it. “Hold Punch a moment: I’m going to have a
+peep in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re not to get off,” Jo said quickly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ll peep in, anyhow.” She rode up to the
+doorway of the hut. The pony shied violently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jo!—there’s a man there. He’s lying down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then you come away,” said Jo decidedly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He looks queer: I think he’s sick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Drunk, more likely. Don’t be a donkey, Jean—you
+know Father would be wild with us if——” She
+stopped uncertainly, looking at her twin. A low
+moan had come from the hut. There was something
+very pitiful in the sound.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I say,” Jean called clearly: “are you ill?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no answer, but presently the low sound
+came again. The twins rode to the doorway, controlling
+their frightened ponies, and looked in.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The man lay quite near the doorway. There were
+tracks in the dust that seemed to show that he had
+crawled there, and had then collapsed. His face was
+partly turned towards them—a delicate face, begrimed
+with dust, but showing traces of refinement. It was
+very white under the dust, and his lips were bloodless.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And he’s got a grey suit!” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The lad—he seemed little more than a boy—opened
+his eyes slowly and looked out. At first his gaze saw
+only the ponies’ legs: then the eyes slowly travelled
+upwards until they rested on the two faces—and saw
+nothing but pity in them. He tried to speak, but only
+one word came clearly—“Water!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he’s thirsty, Jo!” Jean cried.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was off her pony in a moment. There were old
+tins about the hut, relics of the contractors; not ideal
+vessels for a sick man’s use, but there was no choice.
+Jean fled down to the creek, where a little runnel of
+water yet trickled over mossy stones; she rinsed and
+filled the tin, and hurried back with it—to find Jo
+bending over the man in the grey suit.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“His head’s hurt, Jean, and I think his leg is too.
+I’ll help him—you hold the tin.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Even with Jo’s help it was not easy to give him the
+drink he longed for; the tin was awkward, and they
+splashed a good deal of it over his face and neck. But
+they managed to get it to his craving lips at last, and
+he drank deeply. They laid him down again, and his
+eyes closed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s had an awful bump on the head, Jean—look!”
+Jo said. “And see—he’s been trying to get one
+boot off.” She touched his leg gingerly, and the lad
+winced.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe we ought to get that boot off,” Jean said—and
+then started, for an unmistakable sound of
+acquiescence had come from their patient.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll do it,” Jean said, answering the sound.
+“I hope we shan’t hurt you much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>That they hurt him was evident, for the ankle was
+cruelly swollen, and to draw the boot off was quite
+impossible. Neither twin had a knife, but it occurred
+to them that the patient might be better equipped,
+and they searched his pockets, with the result that
+an excellent knife came to light. With this they
+gradually cut the boot to pieces, and slit the sock.
+The ankle was puffed and swollen, and beginning to
+turn black.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, I wonder if that’s broken!” Jo pondered.
+“They taught us in first-aid to waggle it, didn’t
+they?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She “waggled” it, very badly afraid of damaging
+it further, and prodded it here and there, while its
+owner lay motionless, with set lips.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it’s broken, Jean. There’s no
+sign of grating or anything. I fancy it’s just a very
+bad sprain.” She bathed it, using the torn sock as a
+sponge, and finally as a cold-water bandage, while Jean
+bathed his head with her handkerchief. It seemed
+to give him relief; something of the pain died out of
+his face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whatever are we going to do with him?” Jo
+queried, when they had finished.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll have to tell Father,” Jean answered. “And
+if we do, Father will have to tell the police.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There came from the half-conscious lad a sharp,
+protesting sound.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s awful,” Jo said. “I simply couldn’t bear
+to let the police have him! He—he looks so young,
+and not really wicked. But Father is different;
+he’d be sterner. Besides, he’d get into bad trouble
+himself if he didn’t give him up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But we can’t leave him here. He’s too ill.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The patient made a great effort to speak.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m all right. Don’t tell——” His voice became
+indistinct, but they caught the muttered word,
+“police.” The twins looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We might leave him until the morning,” Jean
+said—and there was an answering sound of gratitude
+from the patient. “After all, I don’t suppose he
+could be moved to-night, and it’s so hot he might as
+well be here as—as in gaol,” she finished, dropping her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m—not going—to gaol,” said the patient indistinctly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t understand,” said Jean, speaking as
+one would to a baby. “They’re looking for you
+everywhere: I’m afraid we can’t hide you. But we
+won’t say anything to-night, if you’d like to stay here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The patient grunted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And we’ll bring you food early in the morning,”
+added Jo, who had been rapidly turning over ways
+and means in her mind. “Do you think there’s anything
+wrong with you besides your head and ankle?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The grunt said “No.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, we’ll just leave you to-night, and if there’s
+any way we can help you in the morning, we’ll do it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They collected a few armfuls of bracken and put
+them against the wall of the hut for a bed, helping the
+lad to move there; Jean bathed his head again, and
+made a wet bandage for it of his other sock, and they
+put two full tins of water near him. Then they
+remembered that they were bringing home a surprise
+for Rex and Billy in the shape of two slabs of chocolate,
+and, with some regret, gave him these. He lay with
+closed eyes, but they felt that he was dimly conscious
+of all they did. Once he muttered something that
+sounded like “Thanks.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They left him at last, and cantered rapidly homewards,
+conscious that they were very late. No one
+seemed to mind, however; the breathless heat was
+sufficient excuse for anything. Even Sarah sat on
+the kitchen verandah, fanning herself with the milk-skimmer.
+The twins handed over the mail-bag and
+ran off to change for tea—not sorry for a chance to
+discuss their amazing find.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You know, I don’t see what we really can do,”
+Jo said. “He couldn’t be hidden down there for
+more than a few days, even if we could get food to
+him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose not.” Jean looked perplexed. “Anyhow,
+let’s do our best, Jo. He looks so young and
+miserable. Perhaps, if he escaped, he might never
+steal again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I’d help him to escape, quick enough—if
+I could see how,” Jo said, with calm disregard of the
+law. “But that’s the trouble. And we mustn’t
+land Father in a hole—if we can help it, that is.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” agreed her twin. “Not if we can help it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was distressingly clear that if the choice came
+between inconveniencing their father or the patient,
+Mr. Weston might have to go to the wall.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps we could keep him fed for a few days,
+and then let him take his chance of escaping,” Jo
+pondered. “But we just couldn’t hand him over
+to the police, Jeanie.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And what if the police come out here and question
+us?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was a horrible possibility which had not occurred
+to Jo. She thought a moment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll make for the bathing-pool!” said she.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They can’t question us if we’re swimming round in
+bathing-suits!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Weston had carried the mail-bag out to the
+verandah, where his wife lay back in a long chair. For
+once, her busy fingers were idle, and she was very pale.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Two for you, Mary,” he said, sorting the letters.
+“The usual assortment of bills and agents’ circulars
+for me, I suppose.” He tore open an envelope, and
+fell silent, while Mrs. Weston became immersed in her
+own letters. Presently she heard him give a stifled
+exclamation. She looked up inquiringly. He was
+staring at the page in his hand, amazement on his face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is it, John?” she asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The most unexpected thing!” he answered, his
+voice shaking. “Ahearne has paid up!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not the borrowed money!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Every penny. Poor old chap, he’s glad to be
+able to do it. He’s had a legacy; some old aunt in
+Sydney has died, leaving him enough to clear away
+his difficulties.” Mr. Weston held out a pink slip of
+paper. “There’s his cheque—we haven’t seen so
+much money for ages, Mary-girl!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston took the cheque and turned it over
+slowly, looking at the figures on it. It seemed an
+incredible thing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m glad for his sake, too,” she said. “He was
+unhappier about the money than we were, John.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know he was. But I’ll never regret having lent
+it to him, even if it did land us in a hole. He’s a good
+friend.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He stood up, straightening his shoulders as if a
+weight had fallen from them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that clears away some difficulties,” he said.
+“I’ll put it in the Bank to-morrow. It won’t put us
+on our feet, of course, but it will help our credit; and
+we’ll want all the credit with the Bank that we can
+get, even if the drought does break.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose we shall,” his wife said, slowly. Then
+she was silent; and all through the evening she said
+little, looking before her with brooding eyes. Her
+husband watched her anxiously. When the children
+had gone to bed, he spoke.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is anything wrong, Mary?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” she said—“there’s nothing wrong. But I
+want you to do something for me, John. I don’t want
+it put into the Bank—that money of Mr. Ahearne’s.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not put into the Bank!” he said. “But why,
+Mary? What else do you want to do with it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want you to buy Murphy’s sheep,” she said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Murphy’s sheep!” He looked at her with
+amazed eyes. “But, Mary—it’s an utter gamble!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s a month’s grass with them yet. I met Tim
+Conlan on Saturday, and he told me they were not
+sold, and that Murphy would take even less for them.
+And, John—nothing but a gamble will put us on our
+feet now, even if the drought does break.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know,” he said heavily: “I know. And of
+course, if it breaks, sheep will go up like sky-rockets—every
+one will be wanting to buy. But—look at it!”
+He swept his hand vaguely towards the hot darkness,
+seeing, as plainly as in daylight, the bare, scorched
+land. “How do we know it will break this year!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston looked at him, and a little whimsical
+smile came at the corners of her mouth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My toe is aching,” she said. “It has ached for
+three days!”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='232' id='Page_232'></span><h1>CHAPTER XVII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE TURNING OF THE LONG LANE</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>I</span>T was barely dawn next morning when the twins’
+alarum-clock roused them. They sprang up,
+dressed with swift movements, and tiptoed to the
+larder. No one else was astir.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whatever we do, we mustn’t wake Sarah!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—and we mustn’t take what will be noticed
+too much,” Jean said. “Here’s a tin of sheep’s
+tongue, and another of sardines.” She rummaged
+among the spare foodstuffs that are to be found in
+every station store-room. “A pot of peach jam,
+Jean—I hope he likes peach; and a tin of tomatoes.
+There’s a jar of anchovy paste here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—make him too thirsty,” objected Jo. “He
+can’t crawl up and down the bank for water, with
+that ankle. Look, I’ll pack butter into this little
+pot—it’s got a screw-top, and he can put it in a tin
+of water if it gets too soft. We must take a spare
+billy and a cup—oh, and grab a tin-opener! And a
+knife.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right!” whispered her twin. “Plenty of bread,
+thank goodness: Sarah baked yesterday. No wonder
+she was cooked at night, poor old dear! I believe
+we can spare him some cake.” They progressed to
+the meat-safe under the walnut-tree, and abstracted
+some cold beef. A bottle of milk finished their
+depredations, and they set off, laden, across the
+paddock. The house still slumbered peacefully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So, apparently, did their patient when they appeared
+at the door of the hut; but he woke with a terrified
+start.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right,” Jean assured him. “No one knows
+you are here. How are you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Better,” he whispered. Speech seemed difficult
+to him; he lay quietly while they bathed his injuries.
+They gave him milk, which he drank thirstily, but he
+refused food.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll bring you more milk as soon as we can,”
+Jean said. “It was no use bringing more now,
+because it would only go sour—it’s going to be another
+blazing day. Sour milk would be bad for you, so
+finish that soon.” She spoke in the tone of an understanding
+mother to a fractious child, and he looked at
+her gratefully for a moment. Then his heavy lids
+drooped over his eyes again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s hard to believe he’s a criminal; he looks such
+a boy,” Jean said, as they hurried home. “Oh, I
+do hope the police won’t come this way. I feel
+as if I’d do anything to keep him out of their
+clutches!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So do I,” Jo said. “After all, the police have
+so many criminals that they could easily spare one!
+And if he gets a chance now he may live a good life
+for ever after. But I do wonder, Jean, if he oughtn’t
+to have a doctor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But that means the police!” Jean cried. “Dr.
+Lawrence never could visit him without letting the
+police know.” She thought a moment. “I’ll tell
+you what, Jo: we’ll see how he is this evening, and if
+he’s not better we’ll get Sarah to see him. She’s as
+good as a doctor, and we could swear her to secrecy.”
+The phrase struck her with a pleasant flavour of
+conspiracy and mystery: she repeated it to herself,
+ending with a little chuckle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It really is fun, Jo! To think of the police
+scouring the country for that poor fellow, and you and
+I have him planted in that hut! Don’t you wish we
+could tell them at school!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” Jo agreed. “Wouldn’t there be excitement!
+By the way, I wonder if we’re likely to get
+into a jolly row!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, there’s a pretty good chance, I suppose,”
+Jean said. “But it’s worth it. Goodness me, Jo,
+there’s Father!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Weston, in riding-breeches and shirt, was in
+full view, going to the house-paddock, a bridle over
+his arm. The twins ducked guiltily behind a bush,
+waiting until a high fence hid him; then they rose
+and bolted to the garden, and climbed over its pittosporum
+hedge with the kindly aid of an overhanging
+pepper-tree. They gained the house without being
+seen—it was only a little after five o’clock; and were
+soon hard at work. Presently Sarah appeared.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tea’s ready,” she informed them. “Yes, it’s
+early, but the Master’s wanting breakfast; he’s off
+to Reedy Creek, after some sheep. I thought you
+would ’ave your tea in the dining-room with ’im an’
+see that he eats somethin’; there was mighty little
+eaten in this ’ouse yesterday!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Too hot to eat, Sarah,” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Too ’ot <span class='it'>not</span> to eat,” responded Sarah. “People’s
+gotter keep up their strength in weather like this.
+Just you go an’ bully the Master, now: he told me to
+give ’im just some bre’n’butter, but I’ve done ’im
+some bacon the way ’e likes it. You two go an’ be
+firm with ’im.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They found their father rather ruefully contemplating
+the bacon-dish, and induced him to eat by representing
+Sarah’s wounded feelings should he send it out
+untouched.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose I’d better; but it’s too early to eat,”
+he said. “And later it will be too hot, so Sarah’s
+cookery doesn’t get a fair chance. However, I’ve a
+twenty-mile ride, so it really would be wiser to have
+something.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you going to buy sheep, Father?” Jo asked,
+pouring out tea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe I am. It’s a gamble, of course—but
+they’re very cheap, and I need not move them for a
+month. Your mother will tell you about it. It’s
+going to be a worse day than yesterday, I believe:
+I’m going to get back as soon as I can, and get the
+trip over. Take care of your mother, girls: she was
+awfully done yesterday.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll take her a nice little breakfast-tray before
+she gets up,” Jean said. “Perhaps she may eat
+something if we do. I’ll make her an omelette à la
+Smithy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do,” he said, smiling at her. “And have one for
+me when I come back. I’ll need it after spending as
+much money as I’ve got to spend this morning!”
+He pushed his chair back. “Well, Cruiser’s had his
+feed by now, I expect: I’ll be off.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean’s brow had a little furrow as she gathered up
+the breakfast dishes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor darling!” she said. “Jo, did you notice
+how grey he’s getting?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you wonder?” Jo said. “Oh, I do wish we
+could get a few more small boys to teach!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was a day of blistering heat. Lessons were voted
+impossible, and teachers and pupils spent the morning
+in the river, accompanied, for once, by Mrs. Weston,
+whom the twins conveyed carefully on Merrilegs. The
+bathe refreshed her, and afterwards she sat in the
+shade and laughed to watch their porpoise-like gambols
+at water-polo. But she was restless and uneasy, and
+before they were ready to come out she mounted the
+grey pony and rode back to the house, declaring that
+her stock-riding days were not so far behind her that
+she should need assistance now.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As she neared the garden, she saw her husband
+coming. He was riding up the track slowly, his head
+bent down. She turned and rode to meet him,
+laughing at his astonished face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You!” he said. “Whatever are you out for, on
+such a day?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’ve been with the children,” she answered.
+“I couldn’t rest, John: I had to know. Did you get
+the sheep?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I got them,” he said. “But, Mary, what is
+it? Aren’t you well? Why are you troubling about
+it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m all right,” she said. “But I wanted you
+desperately to buy those sheep, and I couldn’t rest
+until I knew. I don’t know why—perhaps because my
+silly toe still aches! Tell me about them, dear. Was
+Murphy glad to sell?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Murphy’s gone!” her husband answered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t wait any longer: he cleared out two days
+ago, and I believe he sails for the old country to-day.
+He left the sheep in the agents’ hands to sell, if possible:
+if they were not sold when the lease of his place
+expired they were to put them in the yards and let
+them go for what they’d fetch. The agents didn’t
+expect to get rid of them: neither did Murphy himself.
+But he said, ‘Is it a mob of sheep will be keeping
+me from Ireland? Begob, it is not!’—and went.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And they’re really ours?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really and truly—signed, sealed, and delivered.
+I saw them first—they’re not bad sheep, considering—and
+then fixed up the deal with the agents, in Reedy
+Creek. They’ve got my cheque, and I’ve got their
+receipt. Now, are you satisfied, you worrying woman!”
+He smiled down upon her from Cruiser’s back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I’m satisfied,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll be
+sorry afterwards, but I’ve faith in my old toe!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope we shan’t all be sorry afterwards,” he said
+gravely. “But it’s a big thing, Mary-girl.” He
+helped her to the ground. “Go on to the house while
+I let the horses go: it’s far too hot for you to be
+out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The long day dragged to evening—an evening that
+brought little relief from the overpowering heat.
+There was something almost malignant in the heavy
+air. Even Billy and Rex were subdued by it: they
+lay on the floor in their room, in the minimum of
+clothing, and would not face the short journey to
+the river, declaring that one couldn’t actually <span class='it'>live</span>
+in the water, and that one felt worse on coming out.
+The twins tried to read, and found it impossible to
+keep their attention on a book: slept, lying on the
+floor, and awoke in a bath of perspiration, acutely
+sorry they had slept. Mrs. Weston would not come
+into the house. She lay on a lounge on the verandah,
+pretending to read; but whenever her husband looked
+at her, her eyes were fixed upon the western sky, where
+the sun, a ball of lurid fire, was sinking into the bank
+of dull cloud that waited for it every evening.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sarah—who had ironed all the afternoon with steady
+persistency—made no attempt to induce people to
+eat what she termed a “proper” meal. She marched
+through the house towards evening with a tray of
+sandwiches and a huge jug of cold coffee—the said
+coffee having been immersed, in bottles, in the underground
+tank. Jean and Jo nibbled their sandwiches,
+and then, taking a bottle of milk with them, slipped
+away to the hut by the creek.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was evident that their patient was ill. He lay
+in the stifling little hut, his breath coming in gasps,
+his face deadly white. But he was more alive now:
+he looked at them with more recognition, and muttered
+thanks as they bathed his head and foot; and he
+drank the milk greedily. They conferred together in
+low tones.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure he needs a doctor,” Jean said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll get Sarah,” said Jo.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t get anyone,” begged the patient, unexpectedly.
+“I’m all right—want sleep—brute of a
+headache—sorry!” He closed his eyes and seemed
+to sleep. They watched him for a little while, and
+then, as he made no movement, they set off home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll simply have to be moved,” said Jean.
+“It’s enough to kill him, to be in that awful little
+hut. We couldn’t risk another day of it for him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” Jo agreed. She heaved a sigh. “Better
+to let the police have him than for him to die—and
+he looks awful to-night. But who wouldn’t look
+awful, to have spent to-day in that hut!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’ll beg and beg Father!” said Jean. “Perhaps
+he’ll take the risk and not tell the police. No
+one would think of looking for the prisoner in the
+homestead; as far as that went, he’d be safer than in
+the hut.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But if we have to get the doctor?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I forgot the doctor,” Jean admitted gloomily.
+“He’s a magistrate himself: he’d simply <span class='it'>have</span> to
+tell. Well, we’ve done our best, Jo: we can’t do
+any more. And look here: we’d better tell Father
+at once, for he’ll have to be brought up to the house
+before dark, and Sarah couldn’t do it—Father would
+have to help.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that’s true,” Jo said. “There’s Father,
+coming across from the lucerne patch. Let’s go and
+tell him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Weston heard their story in utter astonishment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, if you aren’t the most amazing twins!” he
+ejaculated. “And I was assuring a very hot policeman
+at Reedy Creek, only this morning, that no strangers
+had been out our way! I’ll go down at once. No,
+I’m not angry: I don’t see what else you could have
+done. Tell Sarah to get a room ready, but don’t
+say anything to your mother: she isn’t well enough
+to be worried. Do you think we can move him on
+a pony?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” Jean said. “But if you can’t,
+how can you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s just what I don’t know: we can’t get a
+buggy down to that corner.” He thought for a
+moment. “Look, Jean: send Sarah out here to me,
+and you go on getting the room ready. I’ll need
+Sarah’s help to lift him. Jo, get Merrilegs and bring
+him down to the hut. You’d better go first: I don’t
+want to startle the poor wretch.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So it was that Mrs. Weston, moving restlessly about
+the garden, caught sight of a queer little procession:
+Jo, slowly leading the grey pony, on whose bare back
+was a white-faced young man with his head tied up in
+a sock, and one foot curiously wrapped in its fellow.
+On one side her husband supported him, and on the
+other, Sarah: he wobbled rather painfully between
+them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s all right, Mother darling,” said Jean’s voice
+behind her. “It’s only our prisoner!” She explained
+briefly. “And oh, Mother!—do you think we’ll have
+to give him up to the police?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t see how we can get out of it,” her mother
+said. “But the main thing is, to get him better.
+Poor fellow! what a dreadful day he must have had!”
+She hurried to the verandah to meet him, all her
+weariness forgotten.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was half an hour later when she came out to the
+anxious twins on the verandah.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s asleep,” she said. “We have fixed him up
+comfortably, and I hope he’ll sleep all night; Father
+means to camp near his room. Poor fellow—he’s
+only a boy! But we must tell the police, twinses
+dear; Father says there’s no help for it. We’ll get
+the doctor in the morning and let the police know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The twins sighed heavily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose it’s got to be,” Jean said. “It’s hard:
+but I don’t think he can have a wife and children, as
+I was afraid he had—he’s too young.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He certainly is,” said Mrs. Weston, smiling.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And, perhaps, after he’s served his sentence he’ll be
+a reformed character, and Father will give him a job.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And he’ll marry Sarah!” finished Billy, who,
+with Rex, had been hugely interested in the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And meanwhile, we’ll look out for our valuables!”
+said Mr. Weston, who had come out, unperceived—darkness
+had fallen suddenly. “Sorry, twinses, when
+he’s your pet criminal—but really, it’s as well to be
+careful. However, he’s helpless enough to-night,
+poor wretch!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m thankful he’s out of that horrid little hut,”
+Jo said. “We were awfully keen on taking care of
+him; but the job got a bit too big for us. Of course,
+in books, he’d get better and escape in the night,
+leaving a note of thanks on the pin-cushion!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And taking the spoons with him!” finished her
+father, callously. “No, he won’t do any escaping:
+his head and his ankle will see to that.” He drew a
+long breath. “My word, isn’t it hot! Are you
+all right, Mary? I can hardly see you, it’s so dark—but
+you’re very quiet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Weston did not answer him for a moment.
+She stood up and moved a few steps into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“John—I smell rain!” she said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Something in her voice made him suddenly anxious.
+He came quickly and put his arm round her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sure you’re all right, dear?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She did not seem to notice the question. Her face
+was raised to the western sky.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Listen!” she said. “It’s coming—it’s coming,
+John! I’ve been feeling it for three days. I know
+it’s coming—now!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A scorching breath of wind swept across their faces.
+Then, as they stood in tense silence, a great flash of
+lightning cut across the blackness of the night: and
+suddenly big drops fell around them. They heard
+them splash heavily on the iron roof of the verandah:
+they felt them through their thin clothes on their
+heated bodies. The boys gave a great shout, springing
+forward, and suddenly Sarah came running through
+the house.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did ye hear it?” she was saying. “Are ye there,
+ma’am?—did ye hear it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then it was on them in a sudden torrent—blinding,
+rushing rain. They heard it drumming on the baked
+earth, beating furiously on the echoing roof. In a
+moment they were soaked to the skin, but no one
+noticed it: they stood together on the lawn, with
+faces upraised to the wonder of it, afraid to speak. It
+seemed to hiss round them, beating through the hot
+air. Then, as the thirsty ground grew damp, the
+smell of it came up to them: the unforgettable smell
+of rain after long drought. Another vivid flash of
+lightning showed them standing together, with Sarah
+peering anxiously from the verandah.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come in!” she cried. “Make her come in, sir!
+Are ye all gone mad?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think so,” John Weston said. His arm was
+round his wife: he picked her up suddenly and carried
+her to the verandah. “There you are, Sarah—take
+care of her,” he said. “She’s soaking wet—soaking
+wet, thank God! Go in, kiddies!” He turned and
+strode out into the storm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come in yourself, sir!” Sarah cried. “Aren’t
+ye wet enough?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I’ll be wet enough if it goes on for
+a week!” he said. He felt Billy beside him, catching
+at his hand. “Go in, Sonnie—it’s enough for one of
+us to be mad!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m goin’ to stay with you!” Billy uttered.
+“I’ll get wet with you. I’m wet already!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His father put his arm round the thin little shoulders
+in the soaked shirt.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, well, then, we’ll go in together, old Son,” he
+said gently. “Go and change now, all of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He stood awhile on the verandah, looking out into
+the storm. The lightning flashed, and thunder followed
+it in long rattling peals: but the drumming of the
+rain never ceased, and every drop was music to him.
+Presently he turned and went through the hall to his
+wife’s room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She lay on a couch near the window, listening to the
+roar on the roof. Her face was very pale, but she
+smiled up at him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well!” she said. “And you bought Murphy’s
+sheep to-day!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He bent down and kissed her foot.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks to your old toe!” he said.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='244' id='Page_244'></span><h1>CHAPTER XVIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>CONCLUSION</span></h1></div>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='dropcap'>J</span>OHN WESTON slept but little that night. It was
+as though he were afraid to close his eyes for fear
+the rain might stop. Too well he knew that the breaking
+of the drought could be no affair of a thunderstorm!
+many inches of rain must fall before they could
+hope to recover from the long months of heat and
+dryness. He woke every half-hour, dreading to find
+the rain had stopped; but always there was the steady
+drumming on the roof—no music had ever been so
+sweet to him. He would go to the window and look
+out into the blackness: sometimes he went out to the
+verandah, and walked up and down, all his being
+rejoicing in the rain, just as the thirsty earth was
+rejoicing. There was splashing now, mingled with the
+steady pelting on the roof: splashing from leaking
+spouting, untried for a year; splashing of deluged trees,
+discharging their burden of water on the ground;
+splashing of a miniature torrent, running past the
+house on the gravel path. And towards morning the
+ceaseless downpour began to conquer the heat, and
+cold fresh air seemed to rush to greet him when he came
+out of the still, stifling house. He flung on a coat,
+and then tiptoed round the verandah to put blankets
+on the children. Jean woke as he covered her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is it still raining, Father?” she asked sleepily.
+She could just see his face in the growing dawn.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Still raining, thank God!” he said. “Go to
+sleep, little daughter.” He watched her for a moment
+as she turned over, snuggling her face into the pillow.
+When he tiptoed away he took the alarum-clock with
+him. There should be no programme that morning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Daylight showed leaden skies and a drenched landscape.
+Not for a moment did the rain cease; it fell
+as though determined to make up long arrears. The
+fowls, many of which had never seen rain, cowered
+under any available shelter, draggled and miserable:
+the ducks paddled about happily, swam in the big
+pools that had formed in the hollows by the gates,
+and quacked their complete approval of the weather.
+Every garden path, its surface baked to the hardness
+of cement, was a torrent. The underground tank
+gave back a thunderous echo as the water from the
+roof rushed into it. Already the garden looked freshened
+and more green, washed clean from the coating
+of dust that had covered everything; the dahlias
+and chrysanthemums lifted revived heads, sparkling
+under their veil of moisture, and spoke mutely of
+blossoms to come. The boys had dashed out early,
+clad in shirt and trousers, and now were rather like
+the ducks, splashing in every pool for the mere joy of
+splashing. They raced to the bathing-pool, shouting
+with glee to see the river already rising and flowing
+with something like a current once more: they flung
+themselves in, just as they were, since it was impossible
+to be more thoroughly soaked: then, coming up,
+caught Punch and Merrilegs, and went galloping
+madly round the paddock—until Merrilegs, finding
+a baby watercourse that had long been only a dry
+hollow, jumped it, and finished up with a long slither
+on the wet ground, whereat Rex, unprepared for such
+acrobatics, shot over his head, landing in a pool, while
+Billy yelled with laughter. They capered back to the
+house, turning somersaults on the flooded lawn; then,
+discovering that it was breakfast-time, and that they
+were very muddy, brought out the long-disused garden
+hose and sluiced each other thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Wish we could, too,” said the twins enviously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The prisoner awoke, evidently better, but still unable
+to say more than one or two disconnected words.
+It puzzled them that he seemed happiest when anyone
+except the twins was with him: the sight of Jean and
+Jo invariably brought a look of worry to his face, so
+that after a time they reluctantly decided to keep
+away from him. This was sad, seeing that he was their
+very own prisoner. He fell into a sound sleep after
+breakfast; and when the doctor arrived—summoned
+by a passing neighbour, who had called in on his way
+to Barrabri to mention that the rain was glorious—he
+was still sleeping soundly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Concussion, of course,” Dr. Lawrence said. “He’s
+had a fall. Sleep’s the best thing for him; I don’t
+want to rouse the poor beggar. Keep him very quiet:
+your old Sarah can nurse him.” He grinned. “Fancy
+the twins getting him, with all the police in the district
+after him! Did you send word to Ransome, by the
+way?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I didn’t,” Mr. Weston said. “I didn’t want
+the police out here worrying him before you had been
+out. He can’t run away, that’s certain. I suppose
+you must tell them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I’d better. I’ll wait until to-morrow,
+though; I fancy they’ll have to put a constable on
+here, to watch him, and there’s no need to give you that
+bother to-day. I’ll come out in the morning. Great
+rain, isn’t it, old man? I said that before, didn’t
+I?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Three times, I think,” said John Weston, laughing.
+“You could say it three times a minute, and it
+wouldn’t be too much for me. Listen to it!” as a
+sudden downpour, heavier than usual, suddenly pelted
+on the roof. “Was there ever such a sound!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m resenting having the hood on the car,” the
+doctor said. “Naturally, it wouldn’t be common-sense
+to arrive at my patients’ bedsides as soaked as
+Billy and young Rex, whom I met in a puddle on the
+track—but I understand how they feel. I want the
+rain on my skin. We all do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been wet through twice this morning,” said
+his friend, laughing. “It’s a gorgeous feeling. Of
+course, I’m not counting on the rain yet; we haven’t
+had anything like what we need. But it really does
+look like keeping on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s every sign of it. Well, I’ll have a word
+with Mrs. Weston and the girls, and be off: I’d two
+cases of sunstroke yesterday. Worst day I ever
+knew.” He spoke to Mrs. Weston, and immediately
+prescribed a tonic for her, saying he would bring it
+with him next day: and chaffed the twins on their
+ability as detectives. “I’ll have to bring a constable
+out to stay with your friend to-morrow,” he said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jean made a little face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d hide him from you, if I could,” she defied him.
+“We were going to help him to escape, only he was too
+sick. We’re awfully sorry for him—he’s so young!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re a nice young law-breaking person!” said
+the doctor, with mock severity. “Don’t forget I’m
+a magistrate—I believe there’s a special penalty for
+harbouring criminals. And he was old enough to
+annex quite a nice little sum of other people’s money!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—he may have had his reasons!” said Jo—a
+mild sentiment which evoked mirth among her
+hearers.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A good many people have—that’s why magistrates
+exist,” said the doctor. “Well, I’m afraid you’ll
+have to lose your friend as soon as he’s well enough to
+be moved.” He said good-bye, splashing out to his
+car through the pouring rain.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was still pouring when he returned next day, this
+time with two policemen: a senior man from an
+adjoining town, and a tall, downcast young constable,
+the unlucky wight who had been careless enough to
+lose his prisoner.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s conscious, I think, but still very stupid,”
+Mr. Weston told them. “He doesn’t attempt to
+speak, but he has taken a little nourishment. You
+can’t move him yet, surely, Sergeant.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s for the doctor to say,” said the sergeant.
+“But I’ll have to leave a man in charge of him: we
+can’t run the risk of losing him again. Constable
+Wilkins will relieve you of some of the care of him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lemme have a look at him!” said Constable
+Wilkins sourly. “I’ll bet he don’t give me the slip
+again!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll see him first,” said the doctor.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He came out presently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can go in, to identify him,” he said. “But
+don’t worry him with talk yet; he’s not fit for it.
+Don’t take your helmets in, either—no need to make
+him feel he’s in the hands of the police. I’m not
+keen on his having a shock. . . . And the sight of that
+chap’s sulky face is enough to give anyone assorted
+shocks!” he added to himself, as he followed the
+policemen in. In the background Jean and Jo hovered
+with downcast looks.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If Constable Wilkins’s face had been sour when he
+entered the room, it was frankly furious as he turned
+and strode out. Only the doctor’s lifted finger had
+prevented the angry words that sprang to his lips.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whose little joke is this?” he queried wrathfully.
+“That’s not my man!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not your man?” queried the Sergeant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a criminal?” yelped Jean.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m jolly well hanged if I know what he is,” quoth
+the angry policeman. “But he’s no more Dawson than
+I am! Why, he ain’t even like him! Not remotely.
+And we’ve wasted half a day on a wild-goose chase!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>What more Constable Wilkins might have said was
+lost in a curious demonstration. The twins, who had
+been staring, with shining eyes, suddenly seized each
+other and executed a wild two-step down the hall.
+The door stood open; they danced through, and disappeared;
+the sound of their prancing feet died away
+upon the verandah. The doctor shook with silent
+laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But who said he was Dawson?” demanded the
+Sergeant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, I’m afraid we’d rather taken it for granted,”
+Mr. Weston admitted. “Perhaps I adopted my daughters’
+view too readily; they seemed to have no doubt.
+Of course, he has been practically unconscious since
+they found him. He was a stranger—a delicate-looking
+man in a grey suit—and he seemed to be a
+fugitive.” He smiled a little. “Possibly I might
+have asked more questions if the rain hadn’t come
+just as we brought him home. But the rain seemed
+so much more important!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It did,” said the doctor. “After all, the circumstantial
+evidence was good enough to go on:
+you’d have censured them for not reporting their find,
+Sergeant.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I would,” admitted that officer. “Matter of fact,
+we’ve been calling them the ’uman sleuth-hounds
+since we heard! Oh, well, he’s not our man, so we
+needn’t worry you further, Mr. Weston.” They said
+good-bye, Constable Wilkins’s face still a study in
+mingled emotions.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On the verandah, the twins faced each other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But there’s no doubt he didn’t want the police on
+his track, Jo,” Jean said. “Do you think we ought to
+tell them?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t!” said Jean obstinately. “He’s our
+discovery, and he’s sick, even if he <span class='it'>is</span> a criminal—and
+I don’t believe he is! We’ll tell Father, when the
+poor fellow is better. Fancy imagining any one ever
+would get better, with a horror like that Wilkins
+creature looking at one. He’d be clinking the handcuffs
+at you all the time!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The mystery, however, was cleared up two days
+later, when a hue-and-cry was suddenly raised for one
+of two young Englishmen who were farming together
+five miles up the river. He had gone out with his gun,
+intending to reach a neighbour’s place and remain all
+night, so that his mate felt no anxiety when he did not
+return. It was not until the third day that he discovered
+that nothing had been seen of the absentee,
+and at once raised the alarm. Therefore a very
+harassed young man arrived on a very tired horse at
+Emu Plains, and begged to be allowed to see the
+Westons’ guest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s sure to be Harry,” he said. “The police in
+Barrabri described him to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The guest was by that time regaining full consciousness,
+and greeted his friend with a faint grin,
+although he showed no disposition to talk to him. It
+was several days before he was able to give a coherent
+account of himself. He had put his gun down on a
+log while he pursued a wounded rabbit into some
+thick scrub, and then had been unable to find it again.
+In the search he had lost his way completely, and had
+wandered all day in the heat, until, in the evening, he
+had found himself near the ruined hut at Emu Plains.
+He had climbed a tree to get his bearings: and, just
+as he caught sight of the homestead roofs, a limb
+had given way with him, and he had fallen, damaging
+his head and ankle. He had managed to crawl to
+the hut when the twins found him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You were godsends, of course,” he said. “But
+you worried me dreadfully.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We didn’t mean to,” Jean said, rather pained.
+“We only did what we could for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I don’t mean that!” Harry Jeffries said,
+rather appalled at his own apparent ingratitude.
+“Why, if ever a fellow had two ministering angels
+looking after him it was I! But it was the fact that
+you were two that worried me—especially when I
+came up here, and began to feel better.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But why?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Because I thought I was off my head permanently.
+I could see your mother and father, and Sarah, all right:
+they were normal and natural. But whenever I looked
+at you I thought I was seeing double!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good gracious!” said the twins in chorus.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And each said to the other, ‘That’s your fault!’ as
+Kipling has it,” put in Mr. Weston, laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But there’s another thing,” Jean said. “Why
+were you so worried in the hut when we spoke of the
+police?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The patient reddened.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you mustn’t give me away,” he said. “The
+fact is, I’d been making a collection of platypus skins—the
+little beggars are very thick in the creek near
+our place. And it was only the day before that I
+found out they were strictly protected, and that I was
+liable to imprisonment, or beheading, or something,
+for having the skins in my possession. So, when you
+talked police, of course I thought it was my poor old
+platypi!”</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But this was after the rain had stopped—it had
+poured for four days and nights without cessation—and
+already there was a green tinge all over Emu
+Plains. The river was running almost a banker: the
+creeks had overflowed for miles, and the flood-waters
+were beginning to recede, leaving the paddocks covered
+with a muddy silt, as good as a dressing of fertilizer.
+All over the country, thankful men spoke of the wonderful
+rain, and predicted wonderful grass to follow; the
+land had rested for a year, and now there would be
+such a season as would wipe out the memory of the
+evil time. Already there was talk of bringing back
+the stock from Gippsland: owners were beginning
+to plan to stock up their places again, and sheep and
+cattle had risen sharply in price.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m going to make a hatful of money over those
+sheep of Murphy’s,” John Weston told his wife. “By
+the time I’m ready to sell them sheep will be four or
+five times what they are to-day! and they’re worth
+twice what I gave for them now.” He looked down
+at her very tenderly. “You can begin to choose the
+colour of your motor—I reckon that old toe of yours
+has earned a car! It shall be carried in luxury for
+the rest of its time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then it might not do its duty so well,” she said,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It has done its job,” he answered. “I don’t want
+it ever to ache again!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They looked out across the paddocks, faintly green.
+About them was the smell of growing things: although
+the land was still bare, it was different—there was no
+longer the feeling of barren desolation. The garden
+was already bursting into new life, and new life was
+stirring in every one.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t want a motor particularly, John,” she
+said. “But I want to give a good time to my
+twinses!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’ll have their good time,” he said masterfully.
+“Your motor will be part of it. And we’re all going
+away for a holiday, as soon as I get things settled—a
+real holiday—Sydney, Tasmania, or wherever you
+like, where we’ll forget about droughts. We’ll let
+the twins choose, shall we? They’ve been great little
+daughters to us when we needed them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great little daughters!” Mrs. Weston echoed
+softly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then we’ll get a tutor for the boys, and the twins
+can go back to Merriwa next term. We’ll tell Miss
+Dampier not to make them prefects yet awhile. I
+want them to be kiddies again—to forget they ever
+had responsibilities.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He was silent for a moment, pulling hard at his pipe.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t so much what they did for us,” he said;
+“though goodness knows they did enough. It was
+how they did it: how they brought youth and freshness
+and laughter back to us—how they ‘kept smiling.’
+Will you ever forget how they sang as they
+swept the verandahs?—the little bricks! And never
+a whine or a murmur from them, though I’ll bet they
+often ached for the old good times!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know they ached,” the mother said. “Please
+God we’ll keep that sort of ache from them in future—at
+least while they are children.”</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>* * * * *</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the moment the twins were not manifesting any
+ache, unless it were the ache that comes from overmuch
+laughter. They had dismissed Rex and Billy
+after morning school, and had watched those graceless
+urchins tear down the paddock on their ponies. Then
+they had turned to tidy up the schoolroom table, and
+in doing so a sheet of paper had fluttered from an
+exercise book. It was covered with Rex’s small, neat
+writing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not a letter,” Jo said, picking it up. “I don’t
+suppose it’s private. Oh, my goodness, Jean, he’s
+dropped into poetry!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They bent delighted heads over Master Forester’s
+outpourings. The path of spelling was always strewn
+with rocks to Rex, but his sentiments were definite.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, it’s an ode to you, Jean,” said Jo, chuckling.
+“Prepare to blush!”</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Girls are fat and girls are lean,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Just allright is danety Jean.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“She has prety curly hair,</p>
+<p class='line0'>And she has a lovely stare!</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Once I swetted with Miss Green,</p>
+<p class='line0'>She was a cat, but now I’ve Jean.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Other chaps may plump for Jo,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Phurmly I would anser ‘No.’</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“I have known ful many a girl,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Danety Jean she is the purl!”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And I’m the plain, I suppose!” commented Jo
+ecstatically. But Jean frowned.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The little villain!” she said. “I must say he’s
+managed to conceal his sentiments pretty well. I don’t
+believe he likes me a bit better than you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shows his sense if he does,” said Jo, laughing.
+“What on earth does it matter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t suppose it does,” said her twin. “And
+it’s a gorgeous poem! Did you know I had ‘a lovely
+stare’?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose that’s your look of fixed horror when he
+shows up a bad copy. Next time you can remember
+that he’s wallowing in enjoyment of it!” Jo laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll wallow him!” said Jean. “How dare he
+make any difference between us—aren’t we twins?
+He wants spanking!” She flipped the paper contemptuously
+away.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, that’s foolish!” Jo said. “Remember,
+you’re never likely to have an ode written to you
+again!” She picked up the sheet of paper. “Why,
+my stars, Jeanie! there’s another ode on the back!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They read together:</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Pharest of all girls I’ve seen</p>
+<p class='line0'>Is the joly Josypheen.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“She is very tall and slim.</p>
+<p class='line0'>Like a porpus she can swim.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Just to see her makes you glad.</p>
+<p class='line0'>Chasing savige bulls like mad.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“She is nerely always kind.</p>
+<p class='line0'>To play the gote she does not mind.</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Fokes may say the best is Jean—</p>
+<p class='line0'>Me for joly Josypheen!”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s all things to all men, isn’t he!” gasped Jo,
+when she could speak.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever see anything so priceless!” Jean
+uttered, wiping her eyes. “Twin odes to twinses!
+Look, he’s grouped us in a grand finale at the bottom—in
+his best writing, and flourishes all round it, too!”</p>
+
+
+ <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
+ <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“I have known ful many a girl,</p>
+<p class='line0'>Danety Jean she is the purl!</p>
+<p class='line'> </p>
+</div>
+<div class='stanza-outer'>
+<p class='line0'>“Fokes may say the best is Jean—</p>
+<p class='line0'>Me for joly Josypheen!”</p>
+</div>
+</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:4em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected.
+Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been
+employed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious
+printer errors occur.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Some illustrations were moved to facilitate page layout.</p>
+
+<p class='line'> </p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Twins of Emu Plains, by Mary Grant Bruce
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+</pre>
+
+ </body>
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