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text-align:center; } - .poetry-container { font-size:1em; - margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em; - margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; } - .literal-container { margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em } - .dropcap {font-size: 250%; margin:-0.1em 0.0em 0 0; } - .caption {font-size: smaller; margin-bottom:.5em; } - .pindent {margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - div.lgc { margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em } - p { margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; text-align:justify; } - div.blockquote { margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<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 - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TWINS OF EMU PLAINS *** - -***** This file should be named 60447-h.htm or 60447-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/4/4/60447/ - -Produced by Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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