initial commit of ebook 7047HEADmain

11 files changed, 37551 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/7047-0.txt b/7047-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1be582c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8864 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Back To Billabong
+
+Author: Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Release Date: June 6, 2006 [EBook #7047]
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+By Mary Grant Bruce
+
+
+
+1921
+
+
+
+
+    “Beyond the distant sky-line
+     (Now pansy-blue and clear),
+     We know a land is waiting,
+     A brown land, very dear:
+     A land of open spaces,
+     Gaunt forest, treeless plain:
+     And if we once have loved it
+     We must come back again.”
+
+     (Dorothea Mackellar.)
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAP.
+
+I.    LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+II.   THE RAINHAMS
+
+III.  PLAYING TRUANT
+
+IV.   COMING HOME
+
+V.    THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+VI.   SAILING ORDERS
+
+VII.  THE WATCH DOGS
+
+VIII. HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+IX.   THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+X.    BILLABONG
+
+XI.   COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+XII.  ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+XIII. THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+XIV.  THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+XV.   HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+XVI.  BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+
+“Do the beastly old map yourself, if you want it. I shan't, anyhow!”
+
+“Wilfred!”
+
+“Aw, Wil-fred!” The boy at the end of the schoolroom table, red-haired,
+snub-nosed and defiant, mimicked the protesting tone. “I've done it
+once, and I'm blessed if I do it again.”
+
+“No one would dream that it was ever meant for Africa.” The young
+teacher glanced at the scrawled and blotted map before her. “It--it
+doesn't look like anything earthly. You must do it again, Wilfred.”
+
+“Don't you, Wilf.” Wilfred's sister leaned back in her chair, tilting it
+on its hind legs.
+
+“You have nothing to do with Wilfred's work, Avice. Go on with your
+French.”
+
+“Done it, thanks,” said Avice. “And I suppose I can speak to my own
+brother if I like.”
+
+“No, you can't--in lesson time,” said the teacher.
+
+“Who's going to stop me?”
+
+Cecilia Rainham controlled herself with an effort.
+
+“Bring me your work,” she said.
+
+She went over the untidy French exercise with a quick eye. When she had
+finished it resembled a stormy sky--a groundwork of blue-black, blotted
+writing, lit by innumerable dashes of red. Cecilia put down her red
+pencil.
+
+“It's hopeless, Avice. You haven't tried a bit. And you know it isn't
+hard--you did a far more difficult piece of translation without a
+mistake last Friday.”
+
+“Yes, but the pantomime was coming off on Saturday,” said Wilfred, with
+a grin. “Jolly little chance of tickets from Bob if she didn't!”
+
+“You shut up!” said Avice.
+
+“Be quiet, both of you,” Cecilia ordered, a spot of red in each pale
+cheek. “Remember, there will be other Saturdays. Bob will do nothing for
+you if I can't give him a decent report of you.” It was the threat she
+hated using, but without it she was helpless. And the red-haired pair
+before her knew to a fraction the extent of her helplessness.
+
+For the moment the threat was effective. Avice went back to her seat,
+taking with her the excited-looking French exercise, while Wilfred
+sullenly recommenced a dispirited attack upon the African coastline.
+Cecilia leaned back in her chair, and took up a half-knitted sock--to
+drop it hastily, as a long-drawn howl came from a low chair by the
+window.
+
+“Whatever is the matter, Queenie?”
+
+“I per-ricked my finger,” sobbed the youngest Miss Rainham. She stood
+up, tears raining down her plump cheeks. No one, Cecilia thought, ever
+cried so easily, so copiously, and so frequently as Queenie. As she
+stood holding out a very grubby forefinger, on which appeared a minute
+spot of blood, great tears fell in splashes on the dark green linoleum,
+while others ran down her face to join them, and others trembled on her
+lower eyelids, propelled from some artesian fount within.
+
+“Oh, dry up, Queenie!” said Wilfred irritably. “Anyone 'ud think you'd
+cut your silly finger off!”
+
+“Well--it'th bleed-in'!” wailed Queenie. She dabbed the injured member
+with the pillow case she was hemming, adding a scarlet touch in pleasant
+contrast to its prevailing grime.
+
+“Well--you're too big a girl to cry for a prick,” said Cecilia wearily.
+“People who are nearly seven really don't cry except for something
+awfully bad.”
+
+“There--I'll tell the mater you said awfully!” Avice jeered. “Who bites
+our heads off for using slang, I'd like to know?”
+
+“You wouldn't have much head left if I bit for every slang word you
+use,” retorted her half-sister. “Do get on with your French, Avice--it's
+nearly half-past twelve, and you know Eliza will want to lay the table
+presently. Come here, Queenie.” She took the pillow case, and unpicked
+a few stitches, which clearly indicated that the needle had been taking
+giant strides. “Just hem that last inch or two again, and see if you
+can't make it look nice. I believe the needle only stuck into your
+finger because you were making it sew so badly. Have you got a
+handkerchief?--but, of course, you haven't.” She polished the fat,
+tear-stained cheek with her own. “Now run and sit down again.”
+
+Queenie turned to go obediently enough--she was too young, and possibly
+too fat, to plan, as yet, the deliberate malice in which her brother and
+sister took their chief pleasure. Unfortunately, Wilfred arrived at the
+end of Africa at the wrong moment for her. He pushed the atlas away from
+him with a jerk that overturned the ink bottle, sending a stream of ink
+towards Avice--who, shoving her chair backwards to escape the deluge,
+cannoned into Queenie, and brought her headlong to the floor. Howls
+broke out anew, mingled with a crisp interchange of abuse between the
+elder pair, while Cecilia vainly sought to lessen the inky flood with a
+duster. Upon this pleasant scene the door opened sharply.
+
+“A nice way you keep order at lessons,” said Mrs. Mark Rainham acidly.
+“And the ink all over the cloth. Well, all I can say is, you'll pay for
+a new one, Cecilia.”
+
+“I did not knock it over,” said Cecilia, in a low tone.
+
+“It's your business to look after the children, and see that they do not
+destroy things,” said her stepmother.
+
+“The children will not obey me.”
+
+“Pouf!” said Mrs. Rainham. “A mere question of management. High-spirited
+children want tact in dealing with them, that is all. You never
+trouble to exercise any tact whatever.” Her eyes dwelt fondly on her
+high-spirited son, whose red head was bent attentively over Africa
+while he traced a mighty mountain range along the course of the Nile.
+“Wilfred, have you nearly finished your work?”
+
+“Nearly, Mater,” said the industrious Wilfred, manufacturing mountains
+tirelessly. “Just got to stick in a few more things.”
+
+“Say 'put,' darling, not 'stick.' Cecilia, you might point out those
+little details--that is, if you took any interest in their English.”
+
+“Thethilia thaid 'awfully' jutht now,” said Queenie, in a shrill pipe.
+
+“I don't doubt it,” said Mrs. Rainham, bitterly. “Of course, anyone
+brought up in Paris is too grand to trouble about English--but we think
+a good deal of these things in London.” A little smile hovered on
+her thin lips, as Cecilia flushed, and Avice and her brother grinned
+broadly. The Mater could always make old Cecilia go as red as a
+beetroot, but it was fun to watch, especially when the sport beguiled
+the tedium of lessons.
+
+A clatter of dishes on a tray heralded the approach of Eliza.
+
+“It is time the table was clear,” Mrs. Rainham said. “Wilfred, darling,
+I want you to post a letter. Put up your work and get your cap. Cecilia,
+you had better try to clean the cloth before lunch; it is ruined, of
+course, but do what you can with it. I will choose another the next time
+I am in London. And just make sure that the children's things are all in
+order for the dancing lesson this afternoon. Avice, did you put out your
+slippers to be cleaned?”
+
+“Forgot all about it, Mater,” said Avice cheerfully.
+
+“Silly child--and it is Jackson's day off. Just brush them up for her,
+Cecilia. When the children have gone this afternoon, I want you to see
+to the drawing-room; some people are coming in to-night, and there are
+fresh flowers from Brown's to arrange.”
+
+Cecilia looked up, with a sudden flush of dismay. The children's dancing
+lesson gave her one free afternoon during the week.
+
+“But--but I am going to meet Bob,” she stammered.
+
+“Oh, Bob will wait, no doubt; you need not keep him long, if you hasten
+yourself. Yes, Eliza, you can have the table.” Mrs. Rainham left the
+room, with the children at her heels.
+
+Cecilia whisked the lesson books hastily away; Eliza was waiting with a
+lowering brow, and Eliza was by no means a person to be offended. Maids
+were scarce enough in England in the months after the end of the
+war; and, even in easier times, there had been a dreary procession
+of arriving and departing servants in the Rainham household--the
+high-spirited characteristics of the children being apt to pall quickly
+upon anyone but their mother. In days when there happened to be no
+Eliza, it was Cecilia who naturally inherited the vacant place, adding
+the duties of house-maid to those of nurse, governess, companion and
+general factotum; all exacting posts, and all of them unpaid. As Mrs.
+Rainham gracefully remarked, when a girl was not earning her own living,
+as so many were, but was enjoying the comfort of home, the least she
+could do was to make herself useful.
+
+“Half a minute, Eliza.” She smiled at the slatternly girl. “Sorry to
+keep you waiting; there's a river of ink gone astray here.” She placed
+the soaked cloth on the waste-paper basket and polished the top of the
+table vigorously.
+
+“I'll bet it worn't you wot spilt it--but it's you wot 'as the cleanin'
+up,” muttered Eliza. “Lemme rub that up now, Miss.” She put down her
+tray and took the cloth from Cecilia's hand.
+
+“Thanks, ever so, Eliza--but you've got plenty to do yourself.”
+
+“Well, if I 'ave, I ain't the on'y one wot 'as,” said Eliza darkly.
+Her wizened little face suddenly flushed. “Lor, Miss,” she said
+confidentially, “you doan't know wot a success that 'at you trimmed for
+me is. It's a fair scream. I wore it larst night, an' me young man--'im
+wot's in the Royal Irish--well, it fair knocked 'im! An' 'e wants me to
+go out wiv 'im next Benk 'Oliday--out to 'Ampstead 'Eath. 'E never got
+as far as arstin' me that before. I know it was that 'at wot done it.”
+
+“Not it, Eliza,” Cecilia laughed. “It was just your hair under the hat.
+I told you how pretty it would be, if you would only brush it more.”
+
+“Well, I never 'ad no brush till you give me your old one,” said Eliza
+practically. “I did brush it, though, a nundred times every night, till
+Cook reckoned I was fair cracked. But 'air's on'y 'air, an' anyone 'as
+it--it's not every one 'as an 'at like that.” She clattered plates upon
+the table violently. “You goin' out this awfternoon, Miss?”
+
+“As soon as I can, Eliza.” Cecilia's face fell. “I must arrange flowers
+first.”
+
+“I'll 'ave the vawses all ready wiv clean water for you,” said Eliza.
+“An' don't you worry about the drorin'-room--I'll see as it's nice.”
+
+“Oh, you can't, Eliza--you have no time. I know it's silver-cleaning
+afternoon.”
+
+“Aw, I'll squeeze it in some'ow.” Eliza stopped suddenly, at a decided
+footstep in the passage, and began to rattle spoons and forks with a
+vigour born of long practice. Cecilia picked up the inky cloth, and went
+out.
+
+Her stepmother was standing by the hall-stand, apparently intent on
+examining Wilfred's straw hat. She spoke in a low tone as the girl
+passed her.
+
+“I wish you did not find so much pleasure in gossiping with servants,
+Cecilia. It is such a bad example for Avice. I have spoken about it to
+you before.”
+
+Cecilia did not answer. She went upstairs with flaming cheeks, and
+draped the cloth across the hand basin in the bathroom, turning the tap
+vengefully. A stream of water flowed through the wide stain.
+
+“There's more real kindness in that poor little Cockney's finger than
+there is in your whole body!” Cecilia whispered, apparently addressing
+the unoffending cloth--which, having begun life as a dingy green and
+black, did not seem greatly the worse for its new decoration. “Hateful
+old thing!” A smile suddenly twitched the corners of her mouth.
+“Well, she can't stop the money for a new cloth out of this quarter's
+allowance, because I've just got it. That's luck, anyhow. I'll give it
+to Bob to keep, in case she goes through my desk again.” She poured some
+ammonia upon the stain, and rubbed gingerly, surveying the result with a
+tilted nose. It was not successful. “Shall I try petrol? But petrol's
+an awful price, and I've only got the little bottle I use for my gloves.
+Anyhow, the horrible old cloth is so old and thin that it will fall to
+pieces if I rub it. Oh, it's no use bothering about it--nothing will
+make it better.” She squeezed the water from the cloth and spread the
+stained area over a chair to dry, looking disgustedly at her own dyed
+finger-nails. “Now for Avice's shoes before I scrub my hands.”
+
+Avice's shoes proved a lengthy task, since the younger Miss Rainham had
+apparently discovered some clay to walk through in Regent's Park on her
+way home from the last dancing lesson; and well-hardened clay resists
+ordinary cleaning methods, and demands edged tools. The luncheon bell
+rang loudly before Cecilia had finished. She gave the shoes a final
+hurried rub, and then fell to cleansing her hands; arriving in the
+dining-room, pink and breathless, some minutes later, to find a dreary
+piece of tepid mutton rapidly congealing on her plate.
+
+“I think you might manage to be down in time for meals, Cecilia,” was
+Mrs. Rainham's chilly greeting.
+
+Cecilia said nothing. She had long realized the uselessness of any
+excuses. To be answered merely gave her stepmother occasion for further
+fault-finding--you might, as Cecilia told Bob, have a flawless defence
+for the sin of the moment, but in that case Mrs. Rainham merely changed
+her ground, and waxed eloquent about the sin of yesterday, or of last
+Friday week, for which there might happen to be no defence at all. It
+was so difficult to avoid being a criminal in Mrs. Rainham's eyes that
+Cecilia had almost given up the attempt. She attacked her greasy
+mutton and sloppy cabbage in silence, unpleasantly conscious of her
+stepmother's freezing glance.
+
+Mrs. Rainham was a short, stout woman, with colourless, rather pinched
+features, and a wealth of glorious red hair. Some one had once told her
+that her profile was classic, and she still rejoiced in believing it,
+was always photographed from a side view, and wore in the house loose
+and flowing garments of strange tints, calculated to bring out the
+colour of her glowing tresses. Cecilia, who worshipped colour with every
+bit of her artist soul, adored her stepmother's hair as thoroughly as
+she detested her dresses. Bob, who was blunt and inartistic, merely
+detested her from every point of view. “Don't see what you find to rave
+about in it,” he said. “All the warmth of her disposition has simply
+gone to her head.”
+
+There was certainly little warmth in Mrs. Rainham's heart, where her
+stepdaughter was concerned. She disapproved very thoroughly of Cecilia
+in every detail--of her pretty face and delicate colouring, of the fair
+hair that rippled and curled and gleamed in a manner so light-hearted as
+to seem distinctly out of place in the dingy room, of the slender grace
+that was in vivid contrast to her own stoutness. She resented the very
+way Cecilia put on her clothes--simple clothes, but worn with an air
+that made her own elaborate dresses cheap and common by comparison. It
+was so easy for her to look well turned out; and it would never be easy
+to dress Avice, who bade fair to resemble her mother in build, and had
+already a passion for frills and trimmings, and a contempt for plain
+things. Mrs. Rainham had an uneasy conviction that the girl who bore all
+her scathing comments in silence actually dared to criticize her in
+her own mind--perhaps openly to Bob, whose blue eyes held many unspoken
+things as he looked at her. Once she had overheard him say to Cecilia:
+“She looks like an over-ornamented pie!” Cecilia had laughed, and Mrs.
+Rainham had passed on, unsuspected, her mind full of a wild surmise.
+They would never dare to mean her--and yet--that new dress of hers was
+plastered with queer little bits of purposeless trimmings. She never
+again wore it without that terrible sentence creeping into her mind.
+And she had been so pleased with it, too! An over-ornamented pie. If she
+could only have been sure they meant her!
+
+She thought of it again as she sat looking at Cecilia. The new dress was
+lying on her bed, ready to be worn that afternoon; and Cecilia was going
+to meet Bob--Bob, who had uttered the horrible remark. Well, at least
+there should be no haste about the meeting. It would do Bob no harm to
+cool his heels for a little. She set her thin lips tightly together, as
+she helped the rice pudding.
+
+The meal ended, amidst loud grumbles from Wilfred that the pudding was
+rice; and Cecilia hurried off to find the flowers and arrange them. The
+florist's box was near the vases left ready by the faithful Eliza; she
+cut the string with a happy exclamation of “Daffodils!” as she lifted
+the lid. Daffodils were always a joy; this afternoon they were doubly
+welcome, because easy to arrange. She sorted them into long-necked vases
+swiftly, carrying each vase, when filled, to the drawing-room--a painful
+apartment, crowded with knick-knacks until it resembled a bazaar stall,
+with knobby and unsteady bamboo furniture and much drapery of a would-be
+artistic nature. It was stuffy and airless. Cecilia wrinkled her pretty
+nose as she entered. Mrs. Rainham held pronounced views on the subject
+of what she termed the “fresh-air fad,” and declined to let London
+air--a smoky commodity at best--attack her cherished carpets; with the
+result that Cecilia breathed freely only in her little attic, which had
+no carpet at all.
+
+The lady of the house rustled in, in her flowing robe, as Cecilia put
+the last vase into position on the piano--finding room for it with
+difficulty amid a collection of photograph frames and china ornaments.
+She carried some music, and cast a critical eye round the room.
+
+“This place looks as if it had not been properly dusted for a week,”
+ she remarked. “See to it before you go, Cecilia.” She opened the
+piano. “Just come and try the accompaniment to this song--it's rather
+difficult, and I want to sing it to-night.”
+
+Cecilia sat down before the piano, with woe in her heart. Her
+stepmother's delusion that she could sing was one of the minor trials of
+her life. She had been thoroughly trained in Paris, under a master who
+had prophesied great things for her; now her hours at the Rainhams'
+tinkly piano, playing dreary accompaniments to sentimental songs with
+Mrs. Rainham's weak soprano wobbling and flattening on the high notes,
+were hours of real distress, from which she would escape feeling her
+teeth on edge. Her stepmother, however, had thoroughly enjoyed herself
+since the discovery that no accompaniment presented any difficulty to
+Cecilia. It saved her a world of trouble in practising; moreover, when
+standing, it was far easier to let herself go in the affecting passages,
+which always suffered from scantiness of breath when she was sitting
+down. Therefore she would stand beside Cecilia, pouring forth song after
+song, with her head slightly on one side, and one hand resting lightly
+on the piano--an attitude which, after experiment with a mirror, she had
+decided upon as especially becoming.
+
+The song of the moment did make some demands upon her attention. It
+had a disconcerting way of changing from sharps to flats; trouble being
+caused by the singer failing to change also. Cecilia took her through it
+patiently, going over and over again the tricky passages, and devoutly
+wishing that Providence in supplying her stepmother with boundless
+energy, a tireless voice and an enormous stock of songs, had also
+equipped her with an ear for music. At length the lady desisted from her
+efforts.
+
+“That's quite all right,” she said, with satisfaction. “I'll sing it
+to-night. The Simons will be here, and they do like to hear what's new.
+Go on with your dusting; I'll just run through a few pieces, and you can
+tell me if I go wrong.”
+
+Cecilia hesitated, glancing at the clock.
+
+“It is getting very late,” she said. “Eliza told me she could dust the
+room.”
+
+“Eliza!” said Mrs. Rainham. “Why, it's her silver day; she had no
+business to tell you anything of the sort--and neither had you, to ask
+her to do it. Goodness knows it's hard enough to make the lazy thing do
+her own work. Just get your duster, and make sure as you come down that
+the children are properly dressed for the dancing class.” She broke into
+a waltz.
+
+Cecilia ran. Sounds of woe greeted her as she neared Avice's room,
+and she entered, to find that damsel plunged in despair over a missing
+button.
+
+“It was on all right last time I wore the beastly dress,” wailed she.
+“If you'd look after my clothes like Mater said you had to, I wouldn't
+be late. Whatever am I to do? I can't make the old dress shut with a
+safety pin.”
+
+“No, you certainly can't,” said her half-sister. “Never mind; there are
+spare buttons for that frock, and I can sew one on.” She accomplished
+the task with difficulty, since Avice appeared quite unable to stand
+still.
+
+“Now, are you ready, Avice? Shoes, hat, gloves--where are your gloves?
+How do you ever manage to find anything in that drawer?” She rooted
+swiftly in a wild chaos, and finally unearthed the gloves. “Yes, you'll
+do. Now, where's Wilfred?” Search revealed Wilfred, who hated dancing,
+reading a “penny dreadful” in his room--ready to start, save for the
+trifling detail of having neglected to wash an extremely dirty face.
+Cecilia managed to make him repair the omission, after a struggle,
+and saw them off with a thankful heart--which sank anew as she heard
+a neighbouring clock strike three. Three--and already she should be
+meeting Bob in Hyde Park. She fled for a duster, and hurried to the
+drawing-room. Eliza encountered her on the way.
+
+“Now, wotcher goin' to do wiv that duster, Miss?” she inquired. “I told
+yer I'd do it for yer.”
+
+“Mrs. Rainham is waiting for me to do it, Eliza. I'm sorry.”
+
+“Ow!” Eliza's expression and her tilted nose spoke volumes. “Suppose
+she finks I wouldn't clean 'er old silver proper. Silver,
+indeed!--'lectrer-plyte, an' common at that. Just you cut and run as
+soon as she's out of the 'ouse, Miss; I know she's goin', 'cause 'er
+green and yaller dress is a-airin' on 'er bed.”
+
+“It's not much good, Eliza. I ought to be in the Park now.” Cecilia
+knew she should not allow the girl to speak of her mistress so
+contemptuously. But she was disheartened enough at the moment not to
+care.
+
+“Lor!” said Eliza. “A bloomin' shyme, I calls it!”
+
+Cecilia found her stepmother happily engaged upon a succession of wrong
+notes that made her wince. She dusted the room swiftly, aware all the
+time of a watchful eye. Occasionally came a crisp comment: “You didn't
+dust that window-sill.” “Cecilia, that table has four legs--did you only
+notice two?”--the effort to speak while playing generally bringing the
+performer with vigour upon a wrong chord. The so-called music became
+almost a physical torment to the over-strained girl.
+
+“If she would only stop--if she would only go away!” she found herself
+murmuring, over and over. Even the thought of Bob waiting in Hyde Park
+in the chill east wind became dim beside that horrible piano, banging
+and tinkling in her ear. She dusted mechanically, picking up one cheap
+ornament after another--leaving the collection upon the piano until the
+last, in the hope that by the time she reached it the thirst for
+music would have departed from the performer. But Mrs. Rainham's tea
+appointment was not yet; she was thoroughly enjoying herself, the charm
+of her own execution added to the knowledge that Cecilia was miserable,
+and Bob waiting somewhere, with what patience he might. She held on
+to the bitter end, while the girl dusted the piano's burden with a set
+face. Then she finished a long and painful run, and shut the piano with
+a bang.
+
+“There--I've had quite a nice practice, and it isn't often the
+drawing-room gets really decently dusted,” she remarked. “Nothing like
+the eye of the mistress; I think I must practise every day while you are
+dusting, Cecilia. Oh, and, Cecilia, give the legs of the piano a good
+rubbing. Dear me, I must go and dress.”
+
+Cecilia dragged herself upstairs a few minutes later. All the spring was
+gone out of her; it really did not seem to matter much now whether she
+met Bob or not; she was too tired to care. This was only a sample of
+many days; so it had been for two years--so it would be for two more,
+until she was twenty-one, and her own mistress. But it did not seem
+possible that she could endure through another two years.
+
+She reached her own room, and was about to shut the door, when the harsh
+voice rasped upwards.
+
+“Cecilia! Cecilia! Come here a minute.”
+
+The girl went down slowly. Mrs. Rainham was standing before her mirror.
+
+“Just come and hook my dress, Cecilia. This new dressmaker has a knack
+of making everything hard to fasten. There--see that you start with the
+right hook and eye.”
+
+At the moment, physical contact with her stepmother was almost the last
+straw for the girl. She obeyed in silence, shrinking back as far as she
+could from the stout, over-scented body and the powdered face with the
+thin lips. Mrs. Rainham watched her with a little smile.
+
+“Yes, that's all right,” she said. “Now, my hat, Cecilia--it's in the
+bandbox under the bed. I can't stoop in this dress, that's the worst
+of it. And my gloves are in that box on the chest of drawers--the white
+pair. Hurry, Cecilia, my appointment is for four o'clock.”
+
+“Mine was for three o'clock,” said the girl in a low voice.
+
+“Oh, well, you should manage your work better. I always tell you that.
+Nothing like method in getting through every day. However, Bob is only
+your brother--it would be more serious if it was a young man you were
+meeting. Brothers don't matter much.”
+
+Cecilia flamed round upon her.
+
+“Bob is more to me than anyone in the world,” she cried. “And I would
+rather keep any other man waiting.”
+
+“Really? But I shouldn't think it very likely that you'll ever have to
+trouble about other young men, Cecilia; you're not the sort. Too thin
+and scraggy.” Mrs. Rainham surveyed her own generous proportions in the
+glass, and gathered up her gloves with a pleased air. For the moment she
+could not possibly believe that anyone could have referred to her as “an
+over-ornamented pie.” “Good-bye, Cecilia; don't be late for tea.” She
+sailed down the stairs.
+
+Even the bang of the hall door failed to convey any relief to Cecilia.
+For the second time she toiled upstairs, to the bare freshness of her
+little room. Generally, it had a tonic effect upon her; to-day it seemed
+that nothing could help her. She leaned her head against the window,
+a wave of homesick loneliness flooding all her soul. So deep were its
+waters that she did not hear the hall door open and close again, and
+presently swift feet pounding up the stairs. Someone battered on her
+door.
+
+“Cecilia! Are you there?”
+
+She ran to open the door. Bob stood there, a short, muscular fellow, in
+Air Force blue, with twinkling eyes. She put out her hands to him with a
+little pitiful gesture.
+
+“Don't say that horrible name again,” she whispered. “If anyone else
+calls me Cecilia I'll just go mad.”
+
+Bob came in, and flung a brotherly arm round her shoulders.
+
+“Has it been so beastly?” he said. “Poor little Tommy. Oh, Tommy, I saw
+the over-ornamented pie sailing down the street, and I dived into a side
+alley until she'd gone out of range. I guessed from her proud and happy
+face that you'd been scarified.”
+
+“Scarified!” murmured Cecilia. But Bob was not listening. His face was
+radiant.
+
+“I couldn't wait in the park any longer,” he said. “I had to come and
+tell you. Tommy, old thing--I'm demobilized!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE RAINHAMS
+
+
+It was one of Mrs. Mark Rainham's grievances that, comparatively late
+in her married life, she should suddenly find herself brought into
+association with the children of her husband's first marriage. They were
+problems that Fate had previously removed from her path; she found it
+extremely annoying--at first--that Fate should cease to be so tactful,
+casting upon her a burden long borne by other shoulders. It was not
+until she had accepted Mark Rainham, eleven years before, that she found
+out the very existence of Bob and Cecilia; she resented the manner of
+the discovery, even as she resented the children themselves. Not that
+she ever dreamed of breaking off her engagement on their account. She
+was a milliner in a Kensington shop, and to marry Mark Rainham, who
+was vaguely “something in the city,” and belonged to a good club, and
+dressed well, was a distinct step in the social scale, and two unknown
+children were not going to make her draw back. But to mother them was
+quite another question.
+
+Luckily, Fate had a compassionate eye upon the young Rainhams, and was
+quite willing to second their stepmother's resolve that they should come
+into her life as little as possible. Their father had never concerned
+himself greatly about them. A lazy and selfish man, he had always been
+willing to shelve the care of his small son and daughter--babies were
+not in his line, and the aunt who had brought up their mother was only
+too anxious to take Bob and Cecilia when that girl-mother had slipped
+away from life, leaving a week-old Cecilia and a sturdy, solemn Bob of
+three.
+
+The arrangement suited Mark Rainham very well. Aunt Margaret's house
+at Twickenham was big enough for half a dozen babies; the children went
+there, with their nurse, and he was free to slip back into bachelor
+ways, living in comfortable chambers within easy reach of his club and
+not too far, with a good train service, from a golf links. The regular
+week-end visits to the babies suffered occasional interruptions, and
+gradually grew fewer and fewer, until he became to the children a vague
+and mysterious person named Papa, who dropped from the skies now
+and then, asked them a number of silly questions, talked with great
+politeness to Aunt Margaret--who, they instinctively felt, liked him
+no better than they did--and then disappeared, whereupon every one
+was immensely relieved. Even the fact that he generally brought them a
+packet of expensive sweets was as nothing beside the harrowing knowledge
+that they must kiss him, thereby having their faces brushed with a large
+and scrubby moustache. Aunt Margaret and nurse did not have to endure
+this infliction--which seemed to Bob and Cecilia obviously unfair. But
+the visits did not often happen--not enough to disturb seriously an
+existence crammed with interesting things like puppies and kittens, the
+pony cart, boats on the river that ran just beyond the lawn, occasional
+trips to London and the Zoo, and delirious fortnights at the seaside
+or on Devonshire moors. Cecilia had never known even Bobby's shadowy
+memories of their own mother. Aunt Margaret was everything that
+mattered, and the person called Papa was merely an unpleasant incident.
+Other little boys and girls whom they knew owned, in their houses,
+delightful people named Daddy and Mother; but Cecilia and Bob quite
+understood that every one could not have the same things, for possibly
+these fortunate children had no puppies or pony carts. Nurse had pointed
+out this, so that it was perfectly clear.
+
+It was when Cecilia was eight and Bob eleven, that their father married
+again. To the children it meant nothing; to Aunt Margaret it was a bomb.
+If Mark Rainham had happened to die, or go to the North Pole, she would
+have borne the occurrence calmly; but that he should take a step which
+might mean separating her from her beloved babies shook her to her
+foundations. Even when she was assured that the new Mrs. Rainham
+disliked children, and had not the slightest intention of adding Bob and
+Cecilia to her household, Aunt Margaret remained uneasy. The red-haired
+person, as she mentally labelled her, might change her mind. Mark
+Rainham was wax in her hands, and would always do as he was told. Aunt
+Margaret, goaded by fear, became heroic. She let the beloved house at
+Twickenham while Mr. and Mrs. Rainham were still on their honeymoon;
+packed up the children, her maids, nurse, the parrot and most of the
+puppies; and kept all her plans a profound secret until she was safely
+established in Paris.
+
+To the average Londoner, Paris is very far off. There are, of course,
+very many people who run across the Channel as easily as a Melbourne man
+may week-end in Gippsland or Bendigo, but the suburban section of
+London is not fond of voyaging across a strip of water with unpleasant
+possibilities in the way of choppiness, to a strange country where most
+of the inhabitants have the bad taste not to speak English. Neither Mark
+Rainham nor his new wife had ever been in France, and to them it seemed,
+as Aunt Margaret had shrewdly hoped it would, almost as though the
+Twickenham household had gone to the North Pole. A great relief fell
+upon them, since there could now be no question of assuming duties
+when those duties were suddenly beyond their reach. And Aunt Margaret's
+letter was convincing--such a good offer, suddenly, for the Twickenham
+house; such excellent educational opportunities for the children, in
+the shape of semi-English schools, where Bob and Cecilia might mix with
+English children and retain their nationality while acquiring Parisian
+French. If Mark Rainham felt any inward resentment at the summary
+disposal of his son and daughter, he did not show it; as of old, it was
+easier to let things slide. Aunt Margaret was given a free hand, save
+that at fourteen Bob returned to school in England; an arrangement that
+mattered little, since all his holidays were spent at the new home at
+Fontainebleau--a house which, even to the parrot, was highly reminiscent
+of Twickenham.
+
+Bob and Cecilia found life extremely interesting. They were cheery,
+happy-go-lucky youngsters, with an immense capacity for enjoyment; and
+Aunt Margaret, while much too shrewd an old lady to spoil children,
+delighted in giving them a good time. They found plenty of friends in
+the little English community in Paris, as well as among their French
+neighbours. Paris itself was full of fascination; then there were
+wonderful excursions far afield--holidays in Brussels, in the South
+of France, even winter sporting in Switzerland. Aunt Margaret was
+determined that her nurselings should miss nothing that she could give
+them. The duty letters which she insisted on their writing, once a
+month, to their father told of happenings that seemed strangely remote
+from the humdrum life of London. “By Jove, the old lady gives those
+youngsters a good time!” Mark Rainham would comment, tossing them across
+the table to his wife. He did not guess at the dull rage that filled her
+as she read them--the unreasoning jealousy that these children should
+have opportunities so far beyond any that were likely to occur for her
+own, who squabbled angrily over their breakfast while she read.
+
+“She seems to have any amount of money to spend on gadding about,” she
+would say unpleasantly.
+
+“Oh, pots of money. Wish to goodness I had some of it,” her husband
+would answer. Money was always scarce in the Rainham household.
+
+When the thunderbolt of war fell upon the world, Aunt Margaret, after
+the first pangs of panic, stiffened her back, and declined to leave
+France. England, she declared, was not much safer than anywhere else;
+and was it likely that she and Cecilia would run away when Bob was
+coming back? Bob, just eighteen, captain of his school training corps,
+stroke of its racing boat, and a mighty man of valour at football, slid
+naturally into khaki within a month of the outbreak of war, putting
+aside toys, with all the glad company of boys of the Empire, until such
+time as the Hun should be taught that he had no place among white men.
+Aunt Margaret and Cecilia, knitting frantically at socks and mufflers
+and Balaclava helmets, were desperately proud of him, and compared his
+photograph, in uniform, with all the pictures of Etienne and Henri and
+Armand, and other French boys who had played with him under the trees at
+Fontainebleau, and had now marched away to join him at the greater game.
+It was difficult to realize that they were not still little boys in
+blouses and knickerbockers--difficult even when they swooped down from
+time to time on short leave, filling the quiet houses with pranks and
+laughter that were wholly boyish. Even when Bob had two stars on
+his cuff, and wore the ribbon of the Military Cross, it would have
+astonished Aunt Margaret and Cecilia very much had anyone suggested that
+he was grown up.
+
+Indeed, Aunt Margaret was never to think of him as anything but “one of
+the children.” Illness, sudden and fierce, fell upon her after a long
+spell of duty at the hospital where she worked from the first few months
+of the war--working as cook, since she had no nursing experience, and
+was, she remarked, too old to learn a new trade. Brave as she was, there
+was no battling for her against the new foe; she faded out of life after
+a few days, holding Cecilia's hand very tightly until the end.
+
+Bob, obtaining leave with much difficulty, arrived a few days later, to
+find a piteous Cecilia, white-faced, stunned and bewildered. She pleaded
+desperately against leaving France; amidst all the horror and chaos that
+had fallen upon her, it seemed unthinkable that she should put the sea
+between herself and Bob. But to remain was impossible. Aunt Margaret's
+English maids wanted to go back to their friends, and a girl of
+seventeen could scarcely stay alone in a country torn by two years of
+war. Besides, Aunt Margaret's affairs were queerly indefinite; there
+seemed very little money where there had formerly been plenty. There was
+no alternative for Cecilia but England--and England meant the Rainham
+household, and such welcome as it might choose to give her.
+
+She was still bewildered when they made the brief journey across the
+Channel--a new Channel, peopled only with war-ships of every kind, from
+grim Dreadnoughts to submarines; with aircraft, bearing the red, white
+and blue circles of Britain, floating and circling overhead. Last time
+Cecilia had crossed, it had been with Aunt Margaret on a big turbine
+mail boat; they had reached Calais just as an excursion steamer from
+Margate came up, gay with flags and light dresses, with a band playing
+ragtime on the well-deck, and people dancing to a concertina at the
+stern. Now they zig-zagged across, sometimes at full speed, sometimes
+stopping dead or altering their course in obedience to the destroyer
+nosing ahead of them through the Channel mist; and she could see the
+face of the captain on the bridge, strained and anxious. There were
+so few civilians on board that Cecilia and the two old servants were
+greeted with curious stares; nearly all the passengers were in uniform,
+their boots caked with the mud of the trenches, their khaki soiled with
+the grime of war. It was all rather dream-like to Cecilia; and London
+itself was a very bad dream; darkened and silent, with the great beams
+of searchlights playing back and forth over the black skies in search of
+marauding Zeppelins. And then came her father's stiff greeting, and the
+silent drive to the tall, narrow house in Lancaster Gate, where Mrs.
+Rainham met her coldly. In after years Cecilia never could think without
+a shudder of that first meal in her father's house--the struggle to
+eat, the lagging talk round the table, with Avice and Wilfred, frankly
+hostile, staring at her in silence, and her stepmother's pale eyes
+appraising every detail of her dress. It was almost like happiness again
+to find herself alone, later; in a dingy little attic bedroom that smelt
+as though it had never known an open window--a sorry little hole, but
+still, out of the reach of those unblinking eyes.
+
+For the first year Cecilia had struggled to get away to earn her own
+living. But a very few weeks served to show Mrs. Rainham that chance
+had sent her, in the person of the girl whose coming she had sullenly
+resented, a very useful buffer against any period of domestic stress.
+Aunt Margaret had trained Cecilia thoroughly in all housewifely virtues,
+and her half-French education had given her much that was lacking in
+the stodgy damsels of Mrs. Rainham's acquaintance. She was quick
+and courteous and willing; responding, moreover, to the lash of the
+tongue--after her first wide-eyed stare of utter amazement--exactly as a
+well-bred colt responds to a deftly-used whip. “I'll keep her,” was Mrs.
+Rainham's inward resolve. “And she'll earn her keep too!”
+
+There was no doubt that Cecilia did that. Wilfred and Avice saw to it,
+even had not their mother been fully capable of exacting the last ounce
+from the only helper she had ever had who had not the power to give her
+a week's notice. Cecilia's first requests to be allowed to take up work
+outside had been shelved vaguely. “We'll find some nice war-work for
+you presently”. . . and meanwhile, the household was short-handed, Mrs.
+Rainham was overstrained--Cecilia found later that her stepmother was
+always “overstrained” whenever she spoke of leaving home--and duties
+multiplied about her and hemmed her in. Mrs. Rainham was clever; the net
+closed round the girl so gradually that she scarcely realized its meshes
+until they were drawn tightly. Even Bob helped. “You're awfully young
+to start work on your own account,” he wrote. “Can't you stick it for
+a bit, if they are decent to you?” And, rather than cause him any extra
+worry, Cecilia decided that she must “stick it.”
+
+Of her father she saw little. He was, just as she remembered him in her
+far-back childhood at Twickenham, vague and colourless. Rather to her
+horror, she found that the ordeal of being kissed by his large and
+scrubby moustache was just as unpleasant as ever. Cecilia had no idea
+of how he earned his living--he ate his breakfast hurriedly, concealed
+behind the Daily Mail, and then disappeared, bound for some mysterious
+place in the city--the part of London that was always full of mystery to
+Cecilia. Golf was the one thing that roused him to any enthusiasm, and
+golf was even more of a mystery than the city. Cecilia knew that it
+was played with assorted weapons, kept in a bag, and used for smiting
+a small ball over great expanses of country, but beyond these facts her
+knowledge stopped. Mrs. Rainham had set her to clean the clubs one day,
+but her father, appearing unexpectedly, had taken them from her hands
+with something like roughness. “No, by Jove!” he said. “You do a good
+many odd jobs in this house, but I'm hanged if you shall clean my golf
+sticks.” Cecilia did not realize that the assumed roughness covered
+something very like shame.
+
+Money matters were rather confusing. A lawyer--also in the city--paid
+her a small sum quarterly--enough to dress on, and for minor expenses.
+Bob wrote that Aunt Margaret's affairs were in a beastly tangle. An
+annuity had died with her, and many of her investments had been hit by
+the war, and had ceased to pay dividends--had even, it seemed, ceased to
+be valuable at all. There was a small allowance for Bob also, and some
+day, if luck should turn, there might be a little more. Bob did not say
+that his own allowance was being hoarded for Cecilia, in case he “went
+west.” He lived on his pay, and even managed to save something out of
+that, being a youth of simple tastes. His battalion had been practically
+wiped out of existence in the third year of the war, and after a
+peaceful month in a north country hospital, near an aerodrome, the call
+of the air was too much for him--he joined the cheerful band of flying
+men, and soon filled his letters to Cecilia with a bewildering mixture
+of technicalities and aviation slang that left her gasping. But he
+got his wings in a very short time, and she was prouder of him than
+ever--and more than ever desperately afraid for him.
+
+The children's daily governess, a down-trodden person, left after
+Cecilia had been in England for a few months, and the girl stepped
+naturally into the vacant position until some one else should be found.
+She had no idea that Mrs. Rainham made no effort at all to discover any
+other successor to Miss Simpkins. Where, indeed, Mrs. Rainham
+demanded of herself, would she be likely to find anyone with such
+qualifications--young, docile, with every advantage of a modern
+education, speaking French like a native, and above and beyond all else,
+requiring no pay? It would be flying in the face of Providence to ignore
+such a chance. Wherefore Cecilia continued to lead her step-sisters
+and brother in the paths of learning, and life became a thing of utter
+weariness. For Mrs. Rainham, though shrewd enough to get what she
+wanted, in the main was not a far-sighted woman; and in her unreasoning
+dislike and jealousy of Cecilia she failed to see that she defeated her
+own ends by making her a drudge. Whatever benefit the girl might have
+given the children was lost in their contempt for her. She had no
+authority, no power to enforce a command, or to give a punishment,
+and the children quickly discovered that, so long as they gave her the
+merest show of obedience in their mother's presence, any shortcomings in
+education would be laid at Cecilia's door. Lesson time became a period
+of rare sport for the young Rainhams; it was so easy to bait the new
+sister with cheap taunts, to watch the quick blood mount to the very
+roots of her fair hair, to do just as little as possible, and then to
+see her blamed for the result. Mrs. Rainham's bitter tongue grew more
+and more uncontrolled as time went on and she felt the girl more fully
+in her power. And Cecilia lived through each day with tight-shut lips,
+conscious of one clear thing in her mist of unhappy bewilderment--that
+Bob must not know: Bob, who would probably leave his job of skimming
+through the air of her beloved France after the Hun, and snatch an hour
+to fly to England and annihilate the entire Rainham household, returning
+with Cecilia tucked away somewhere in his aeroplane. It was a pleasant
+dream, and served to carry her through more than one hard moment. But it
+did not always serve; and there were nights when Cecilia mounted to her
+attic with dragging footsteps, to sit by her window in the darkness,
+gripping her courage with both hands, afraid to let herself think of the
+dear, happy past; of Aunt Margaret, whose very voice was love; least of
+all of Bob, perhaps even now flying in the dark over the German lines.
+There was but one thing that she could hold to: she voiced it to
+herself, over and over with clenched hands, “It can't last for ever! It
+can't last for ever!”
+
+And then, after the long years of clutching anxiety, came the Armistice,
+and Cecilia forgot all her troubles in its overwhelming relief. No one
+would shoot at Bob any longer; there were no more hideous, squat guns,
+with muzzles yawning skywards, ready to shell him as he skimmed high
+overhead, like a swallow in the blue. Therefore she sang as she went
+about her work, undismayed by the laboured witticisms of Avice
+and Wilfred, or by Mrs. Rainham's venom, which increased with the
+realization that her victim might possibly slip from her grasp, since
+Bob would come home, and Bob was a person to be reckoned with. Certainly
+Bob had scarcely any money; moreover, Cecilia was not of age, and,
+therefore, still under her father's control. But Mrs. Rainham felt
+vaguely uneasy, and visions floated before her of the old days when
+governesses and maids had departed with unpleasant frequency, leaving
+her to face all sorts of disagreeable consequences. She set her thin
+lips, vowing inwardly that Cecilia should remain.
+
+Nevertheless it was a relief to her that early demobilization did
+not come for Bob. At the time of the Armistice he was attached to an
+Australian flying squadron, and for some months remained abroad; then he
+was sent back to England, and employed in training younger fliers at a
+Surrey aerodrome. This had its drawbacks in Mrs. Rainham's eyes, since
+he was often able to run up to London, and, to Bob, London merely meant
+Cecilia. It was only a question of time before he discovered something
+of what life at Lancaster Gate meant--his enlightenment beginning upon
+an afternoon when, arriving unexpectedly, and being left by Eliza to
+find Cecilia for himself, he had the good fortune to overhear Mrs.
+Rainham in one of her best efforts--a “wigging” to which Avice and
+Wilfred were listening delightedly, and which included not only
+Cecilia's sin of the moment, but her upbringing, her French education,
+her “foreign fashion of speaking,” and her sinful extravagance in
+shoes. These, and other matters, were furnishing Mrs. Rainham with
+ample material for a bitter discourse when she became aware of another
+presence in the room, and her eloquence faltered at the sight of Bob's
+astonished anger.
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not recall with any enjoyment the interview which
+followed--Cecilia and the children having been brushed out of the way
+by the indignant soldier. Things which had been puzzling to Bob
+were suddenly made clear--traces of distress which Cecilia had often
+explained away vaguely, the children's half-contemptuous manner towards
+her, even Eliza's tone in speaking of her--a queer blend of anger and
+pity. Mrs. Rainham held her ground to some extent, but the brother's
+questions were hard to parry, and some of his comments stung.
+
+“Well, I'll take her away,” he stormed at length. “It's evident that she
+does not give you satisfaction, and she certainly isn't happy. She had
+better come away with me to-day.”
+
+“Ah,” said his stepmother freezingly, “and where will you take her?”
+
+Bob hesitated.
+
+“There are plenty of places--” he began.
+
+“Not for a young girl alone. Cecilia is very ignorant of England;
+you could not be with her. Your father would not hear of it. You must
+remember that Cecilia is under his control until she is twenty-one.”
+
+“My father has never bothered about either of us,” Bob said bitterly.
+“He surely won't object if I take her off your hands.”
+
+“He will certainly not permit any such thing. Whatever arrangement he
+made during your aunt's lifetime was quite a different matter. If you
+attempt to take Cecilia from his control you commit an illegal action,”
+ said Mrs. Rainham--hoping she was on safe ground. To her relief Bob did
+not contradict her. English law and its mysteries were beyond him.
+
+“I don't see that that matters,” he began doubtfully. His stepmother cut
+him short.
+
+“You would very soon find that it matters a good deal,” she said coldly.
+“It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind of legal
+injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister. Home training
+is what she needs, and we are determined that she shall get it. You will
+only unsettle and injure her by trying to induce her to disobey us.”
+
+The hard voice fell like lead on the boy's ears. He felt very helpless;
+if he did indeed snatch his sister away from this extremely unpleasant
+home, and their father had only to stretch out a long, legal tentacle
+and claw her back, it was clear that her position would be harder than
+ever. He could only give in, at any rate, for the present, and in his
+anxiety for the little sister whom Aunt Margaret had always trained him
+to protect, he humbled himself to beg for better treatment for her. “No
+one ever was angry with her,” he said. “She'll do anything for you if
+you're decent to her.”
+
+“She might give less cause for annoyance if she had had a little
+more severity,” said Mrs. Rainham with an unspoken sneer at poor Aunt
+Margaret. “You had better advise her to do her best in return for the
+very comfortable home we give her.” With which Bob had to endeavour
+to be content, for the present. He went off to find Cecilia, with a
+lowering brow, leaving his stepmother not nearly so easy in her mind as
+she seemed. For Bob had a square jaw, and was apt to talk little and do
+a good deal; and his affection for Cecilia was, in Mrs. Rainham's eyes,
+little short of ridiculous.
+
+Thereafter, the brother and sister took counsel together and made great
+plans for the future, when once the Air Force should decide that it had
+no further wish to keep Captain Robert Rainham from earning his living
+on terra firma. What that future was to be for Bob was very difficult to
+plan. Aunt Margaret had intended him for a profession; but the time for
+that had gone by, even had the money been still available. “I'm half
+glad that it isn't,” Bob said; “I don't see how a fellow could go back
+to swotting over books after being really alive for nearly five years.”
+ There seemed nothing but “the land” in some shape or form; they were
+not very clear about it, but Bob was strenuously “keeping his ears
+open”--like so many lads of his rank in the early months of 1919,
+when the future that had seemed so indefinite during the years of war
+suddenly loomed up, very large and menacing. Cecilia had less anxiety;
+she had a cheerful faith that Bob would manage something--a three-roomed
+cottage somewhere in the country, where he could look after sheep, or
+crops, or something of the kind, while she cooked and mended for
+him, and grew such flowers as had bloomed in the dear garden at
+Fontainebleau. Sheep and crops, she was convinced, grew themselves, in
+the main; a person of Bob's ability would surely find little difficulty
+in superintending the process. And, whatever happened, nothing could be
+worse than life in Lancaster Gate.
+
+Neither of them ever thought of appealing to their father, either for
+advice or for help. He remained, as he had always been to them, utterly
+colourless; a kind of well-bred shadow of his wife, taking no part in
+her hard treatment of Cecilia, but lifting not a finger to save her. He
+did not look happy; indeed, he seldom spoke--it was not necessary,
+when Mrs. Rainham held the floor. He had a tiny den which he used as a
+smoking-room, and there he spent most of his time when at home, being
+blessed in the fact that his wife disliked the smell of smoke, and
+refused to allow it in her drawing-room. Nobody took much notice of him.
+The younger children treated him with cool indifference; Bob met him
+with a kind of strained and uncomfortable civility.
+
+Curiously enough, it was only Eliza who divined in him a secret
+hankering after his eldest daughter--Cecilia, who would have been very
+much astonished had anyone hinted at such a thing to her. The sharp eyes
+of the little Cockney were not to be deceived in any matter concerning
+the only person in the house who treated her as if she were a human
+being and not a grate-cleaning automaton.
+
+“You see 'im foller 'er wiv 'is eyes, that's all,” said Eliza to
+Cook, in the privacy of their joint bedroom. “Fair 'ungry he looks,
+sometimes.”
+
+“No need for 'im to be 'ungry, if 'e 'ad the sperrit of a man,” said
+Cook practically. “Ain't she 'is daughter?”
+
+“Well, yes, in a manner of speakin',” said Eliza doubtfully. “But there
+ain't much of father an' daughter about them two. I'd ruther 'ave my
+ole man, down W'itechapel way; 'e can belt yer a fair terror, w'en 'e's
+drunk, but 'e'll allers tike yer out an' buy yer a kipper arterwards.
+Thet's on'y decent, fatherly feelin'.”
+
+“Well, Master don't belt 'er, does 'e?”
+
+“No; but 'e don't buy 'er the kipper, neither. An' I'd ruther 'ave the
+beltin' from my ole man, even wivout no kipper, than 'ave us allers
+lookin' at each other as if we was wooden images. Even a beltin' shows
+as 'ow a man 'as some regard for 'is daughter.”
+
+“It do,” said Cook. “Pity is, you ain't 'ad more of it, that's the only
+thing!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PLAYING TRUANT
+
+
+“Demobilized! Oh, Bob--truly?”
+
+“Truly and really,” said Bob. “At least, I shall be in twenty-seven
+days. Got my orders. Show up for the last time on the fifteenth of next
+month. Get patted on the head, and told to run away and play. That's the
+programme, I believe, Tommy. The question is--What shall we play at?”
+
+Cecilia brushed the hair from her brow.
+
+“I don't know,” she said vaguely. “It's too big to think of; and I can't
+think in this awful house, anyhow. Take me out, quick, please, Bobby.”
+
+“Sure,” said Bob, regarding her with an understanding eye. “But you want
+to change or something, don't you, old girl?”
+
+“Why, yes, I suppose I do,” said Cecilia, with a watery smile, looking
+at her schoolroom overall. “I forgot clothes. I've had a somewhat packed
+morning.”
+
+“You look as if this had been your busy day,” remarked Bob. “Right-oh,
+old girl; jump into your things, and I'll wait on the mat. Any chance of
+the she-dragon coming back?”
+
+“No; she's gone out to tea.”
+
+“More power to her,” said Bob cheerfully. “And the dragon puppies?”
+
+“Oh, they're safely out of the way. I won't be five minutes, Bob. Don't
+shut the door tight--you might disappear before I opened it.”
+
+“Not much,” said Bob, through the crack of the door. “I'm a fixture.
+Want any shoes cleaned?”
+
+“No, thanks, Bobby dear. I have everything ready.”
+
+“From what the other fellows say about their sisters, I'm inclined to
+believe that you're an ornament to your sex,” remarked Bob. “When you
+say five minutes, it really does mean not more than five and a half, as
+a rule; other girls seem to mean three-quarters of an hour.”
+
+“I get all my things ready the night before when I'm going to meet you,”
+ said Cecilia. “Catch me losing any time on my one day out. You can come
+back again--my coat's on the hanger there, Bobby.” He put her into it
+deftly, and she leaned back against him. “If you knew how good it is
+to see you again--and you smell of clean fresh air and good tobacco and
+Russia leather, and all sorts of nice things.”
+
+“Good gracious, I'll excite attention in the street!” grinned Bob. “I
+didn't imagine I was a walking scent-factory!”
+
+“Neither you are--but everything in this house smells of coal-smoke and
+cabbage-water and general fustiness, and you're a nice change, that's
+all,” said Cecilia. They ran downstairs together light-heartedly, and
+let themselves out into the street.
+
+“Do we catch a train or a 'bus?”
+
+“Oh, can't we walk?” Cecilia said. “I think if I walked hard I might
+forget Mrs. Rainham.”
+
+“I'd hate you to remember her,” Bob said. “Tell me what she has been
+doing, anyhow, and then we won't think of her any more.”
+
+“It doesn't sound much,” Cecilia said. “There never is anything very
+much. Only it goes on all the time.” She told him the story of her day,
+and managed to make herself laugh now and then over it. But Bob did not
+laugh. His good-humoured young face was set and angry.
+
+“There isn't a whole lot in it, is there?” Cecilia finished. “And no
+one would think I was badly off--especially when the thing that hit me
+hardest of all was just dusting that awful drawing-room while she plays
+her awful tunes. Yes, I know I shouldn't say awful, and that no lady
+says it--that must be true because Mrs. Rainham frequently tells me
+so--but it's such a relief to say whatever I feel like.”
+
+“You can say what you jolly well please,” said Bob wrathfully. “Who's
+she, I'd like to know, to tell us what to say? And she kept you there
+all the afternoon, when she knew you were due to meet me!--my hat, she
+is a venomous old bird! And now it's half-past four, and what time does
+she expect you back?”
+
+“Oh--the usual thing; the children's tea-time at six. She told me not to
+be late.”
+
+Bob set his jaw.
+
+“Well, you won't be late, because you won't be there,” he said. “No
+going back to tea for you. We'll have dinner at the Petit Riche in Soho,
+and then we'll do a theatre, and then I'll take you home and we'll face
+the music. Are you game?”
+
+Cecilia laughed.
+
+“Game? Why, of course--but there will be awful scenes, Bobby.”
+
+“Well, what can she do to you?” asked Bob practically. “You're too big
+to beat, or she'd certainly do it; she can't stop your pay, because you
+don't get any; and as you have your meals with the youngsters, she can't
+dock your rations. That doesn't leave her much beside her tongue. Of
+course, she can do a good deal with that; do you think you can stand
+it?”
+
+“Oh, yes,” said Cecilia. “You see, I generally have it, so it really
+doesn't matter much. But if she forbids me to go out with you again,
+Bobby?”
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+“Well--you're nineteen,” he said. “And the very first minute I can, I'm
+going to take you away from her altogether. If you were a kid I wouldn't
+let you defy her. But, hang it all, Tommy, I'm not going to let her
+punish you as though you were ten. If she forbids you to meet me--well,
+you must just take French leave, that's all.”
+
+“Oh, Bob, you are a satisfying person!” said Cecilia, with a sigh.
+
+“Well, I don't know--it's you who will have to stand the racket,” said
+Bob. “I only wish I could take my share, old girl. But, please goodness,
+it won't be for long.”
+
+“Bob,” said Cecilia, and paused. “What about that statement of
+hers--that it would be illegal for you to take me away? Do you think
+it's true?”
+
+“I've asked our Major, and he's a bit doubtful,” said Bob. “All the
+other fellows say it's utter nonsense. But I'm going to ask the old
+lawyer chap who has charge of Aunt Margaret's money--he'll tell me. We
+won't bother about it, Tommy; if I can't get you politely, I'll steal
+you. Just forget the she-dragon and all her works.”
+
+“But have you thought about what you are going to do?”
+
+“I don't think of much else, and that's the truth, Tommy,” said her
+brother ruefully. “You see, there's mighty little in sight. I could get
+a clerkship, I suppose. I could certainly get work as a day labourer.
+But I don't see much in either of those possibilities towards a
+little home with you, which is what I want. I'm going to answer every
+advertisement I can find for fellows wanted on farms.” He straightened
+his square shoulders. “Tommy, there must be plenty of work for any chap
+as strong as an ox, as I am.”
+
+“I'm sure there's work,” said Cecilia. “But the men who want jobs don't
+generally advertise themselves as 'complete with sister.' I'm what's
+technically known as an encumbrance, Bob.”
+
+“You!” said Bob. “You're just part of the firm, so don't you forget it.
+Didn't we always arrange that we should stick together?”
+
+“We did--but it may not be easy to manage,” Cecilia said, doubtfully.
+“Perhaps we could get some job together; I could do inside work, or
+teach, or sew.”
+
+“No!” said Bob explosively. “If I can't earn enough for us both, I ought
+to be shot, Aunt Margaret didn't bring you up to work.”
+
+“But the world has turned upside down since Aunt Margaret died,” said
+Cecilia. “And I have worked pretty hard for the last two years, Bob; and
+it hasn't hurt me.”
+
+“It has made you older--and you ought to be only a kid yet,” said Bob
+wistfully. “You haven't had any of the fun girls naturally ought to
+have. I don't want you to slave all your time, Tommy.”
+
+“Bless you!” said his sister. “But I wouldn't care a bit, as long as it
+was near you--and not in Lancaster Gate.”
+
+They had turned across Hyde Park, where a big company of girl guides
+was drilling, watched by a crowd of curious on-lookers. Across a belt of
+grass some boy scouts were performing similar evolutions, marching with
+all the extra polish and swagger they could command, just to show the
+guides that girls were all very well in their way, but that no one with
+skirts could really hope to do credit to a uniform. Cecilia paused to
+watch them.
+
+“Thank goodness, the children can come and drill in the park again!” she
+said. “I hated to come here before the armistice--soldiers, soldiers,
+drilling everywhere, and guns and searchlight fixings. Whenever I saw a
+squad drilling it made me think of you, and of course I felt sure you'd
+be killed!”
+
+“I do like people who look on the bright side of life!” said Bob
+laughing. “And whenever you saw an aeroplane I suppose you made sure I
+was crashing somewhere?”
+
+“Certainly I did,” said his sister with dignity.
+
+“Women are queer things,” Bob remarked. “If you had these unpleasant
+beliefs, how did you manage to write as cheerfully as you did? Your
+letters were a scream--I used to read bits of 'em out to the fellows.”
+
+“You had no business to do any such thing,” said Cecilia, blushing.
+
+“Well, I did, anyhow. They used to make 'em yell. How did you manage
+them?”
+
+“Well, it was no good assuring you you'd be killed,” said Cecilia
+practically. “I thought it was more sensible to try to make you laugh.”
+
+“You certainly did that,” said Bob. “I fancied from your letters that
+life with the she-dragon was one huge joke, and that Papa was nice and
+companionable, and the kids, sweet little darlings who ate from your
+hand. And all the time you were just the poor old toad under the
+harrow!”
+
+“I'm not a toad!” rejoined his sister indignantly. “Don't you think you
+could find pleasanter things to compare me to?”
+
+“Toads aren't bad,” said Bob, laughing. “Ever seen the nice old fellow
+in the Zoo who shoots out a tongue a yard long and picks up a grub every
+time? He's quite interesting.”
+
+“I certainly never had any inclination to do any such thing,” Cecilia
+laughed.
+
+They had turned into Piccadilly and were walking down, watching the
+crowded motor traffic racing north and south. Suddenly Bob straightened
+up and saluted smartly, as a tall staff officer, wearing a general's
+badges, ran down the steps of a big club, and nearly cannoned into
+Cecilia.
+
+“I beg your pardon!” he said--and then, noticing Bob--“How are you,
+Rainham?” He dived into a waiting taxi, and was whisked away.
+
+“Did he bump you?” inquired Bob.
+
+“No--though it would be almost a privilege to be bumped by anyone as
+splendid as that!” Cecilia answered. “He knows you, too!--who is he,
+Bobby?”
+
+“That's General Harran, the Australian,” said Bob proudly. “He's a great
+man. I've run into him occasionally since I've been with the Australians
+in France.”
+
+“He looks nice.”
+
+“He is nice,” replied Bob. “Awful martinet about duty, but he treats
+every one under him jolly well. Never forgets a face or a name, and he's
+always got a decent word for everybody. He's had some quite long talks
+to me, when we were waiting for some 'plane or other to come back.”
+
+“Why wouldn't he?” asked Cecilia, who considered it a privilege for
+anyone to talk to her brother.
+
+Bob regarded her in amazement.
+
+“Good gracious!” he ejaculated. “Why, he's a major-general; I can tell
+you, most men of his rank haven't any use for small fry like me--to talk
+to, that is.”
+
+Cecilia had a flash of memory.
+
+“Isn't he the general who was close by when you brought that German
+aeroplane down behind our lines? Didn't he say nice things to you about
+it?”
+
+“Oh, that was only in the way of business,” said Bob somewhat confused.
+“The whole thing was only a bit of luck--and, of course, it was luck,
+too, that he was there. But he is just as nice to fellows who haven't
+had a chance like that.”
+
+Out of the crowd two more figures in Air Force uniform came, charging at
+Bob with outstretched hands.
+
+“By Jove, old chap! What luck to meet you!”
+
+They shook hands tumultuously, and Bob made them known to
+Cecilia--comrades he had not seen for months, but with whom he had
+shared many strange experiences in the years of war. They fell into
+quick talk, full of the queer jargon of the air. The newcomers, it
+appeared, had been with the army of occupation in Germany; there seemed
+a thousand things they urgently desired to tell Bob within the next
+few minutes. One turned to Cecilia, presently, with a laughing
+interpretation of some highly technical bit of slang.
+
+“Oh, you needn't bother to translate to Tommy,” Bob said. “She knows all
+about it.”
+
+The other boys suddenly gave her all their attention.
+
+“Are you Tommy? But we know you awfully well.”
+
+“Me?” Cecilia turned pink.
+
+“Rather. We used to hear your letters.”
+
+The pink deepened to a fine scarlet.
+
+“Bob!” said his sister reproachfully. “You really shouldn't.”
+
+“Oh, don't say that,” said the taller boy, by name Harrison. “They were
+a godsend--there used to be jolly little to laugh about, pretty often,
+and your letters made us all yell. Didn't they, Billy?”
+
+“They did,” said Billy, who was small and curly-haired--and incidentally
+a captain, with a little row of medal ribbons. “Jolliest letters ever.
+We passed a vote of thanks to you in the mess, Miss Tommy, after old Bob
+here had gone. Some one was to write and tell him about it, but I don't
+believe anyone ever did. I say, you must have had a cheery time--all the
+funny things that ever happened seemed to come your way.”
+
+Cecilia stammered something, her scarlet confusion deepening. A rather
+grim vision of the war years swept across her mind--of the ceaseless
+quest in papers and journals, and wherever people talked, for “funny
+things” to tell Bob; and of how, when fact and rumour gave out, she used
+to sit by her attic window at night, deliberately inventing merry jests.
+It had closely resembled a job of hard work at the time; but apparently
+it had served its purpose well. She had made them laugh; and some one
+had told her that no greater service could be rendered to the boys who
+risked death, and worse than death, during every hour of the day and
+night. But it was extremely difficult to talk about it afterwards.
+
+Bob took pity on her.
+
+“I'll tell you just what sort of a cheery time she had, some time or
+other,” he remarked. “What are you fellows doing this evening?”
+
+“We were just going to ask you the same thing,” declared Billy. “Can't
+we all go and play about somewhere? We've just landed, and we want to be
+looked after. Any theatres in this little town still?”
+
+“Cheer-oh!” ejaculated Billy. “Let's all go and find out.”
+
+So they went, and managed very successfully to forget war and even
+stepmothers. They were all little more than children in enjoyment of
+simple pleasures still, since war had fallen upon them at the very
+threshold of life, cutting them off from all the cheery happenings that
+are the natural inheritance of all young things. The years that would
+ordinarily have seen them growing tired of play had been spent in grim
+tasks; now they were children again, clamouring for the playtime they
+had lost. They found enormous pleasure in the funny little French
+restaurant, where Madame, a lady whose sympathies were as boundless
+as her waist, welcomed them with wide smiles, delighting in the
+broken French of Billy and Harrison, and deftly tempting them to fresh
+excursions in her language. She put a question in infantile French to
+Bob presently, whereupon that guileless youth, with a childlike smile,
+answered her with a flood of idiomatic phrases, in an accent purer than
+her own--collapsing with helpless laughter at her amazed face. After
+which, Madame neglected her other patrons to hover about their table
+like a stout, presiding goddess, guiding them gently to the best dishes
+on the menu, and occasionally putting aside their own selection with a
+hasty, “Mon-non; you vill not like that one to-day.” She patted Cecilia
+in a motherly fashion at parting, and their bill was only about half
+what it should have been.
+
+They found a musical comedy, and laughed their way through it--Billy and
+Harrison had apparently no cares in the world, and Bob and Cecilia were
+caught up in the whirl of their high spirits, so that anything became
+a huge joke. The evening flew by on airy wings, when Billy insisted
+on taking them to supper after the theatre. Cecilia allowed herself a
+fleeting vision of Mrs. Rainham, and then, deciding that she might as
+well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, followed gaily. And supper was so
+cheery a meal that she forgot all about time--until, just at the end,
+she caught sight of the restaurant clock.
+
+“Half-past eleven! Oh, Bobby!”
+
+“Well, if it is--you poor little old Cinderella,” said Bob.
+
+But he hurried her away, for all that, amid a chorus of farewells and
+efforts, on the part of Billy and Harrison, to arrange further meetings.
+They ran to the nearest tube station, and dived into its depths; and,
+after being whisked underground for a few minutes, emerged into the cool
+night. Cecilia slipped her arm through her brother's as they hurried
+along the empty street.
+
+“Now, you keep your nose in the air,” Bobby told her. “You aren't
+exactly a kid now, and she can't really do anything to you. Oh, by
+Jove--I was thinking, in the theatre, she might interfere with our
+letters.”
+
+“She's quite equal to it,” said Cecilia.
+
+“Just what she'd revel in doing. Well, you can easily find out. I'll
+write to you to-morrow, and again the next day--just ordinary letters,
+with nothing particular in them except an arrangement to meet next
+Saturday. If you don't get them you'll know she's getting at the mail
+first.”
+
+“What shall I do, then?”
+
+“Drop me a line--or, better still, wire to me,” said Bob. “Just say,
+'Address elsewhere.' Then I'll write to you at Mr. M'Clinton's; the old
+solicitor chap in Lincoln's Inn; and you'll have to go there and get the
+letters. You know his address, don't you?”
+
+“Oh, yes. I have to write to him every quarter when he sends me my
+allowance. You'll explain to him, then, Bob, or he'll simply redirect
+your letters here.”
+
+“Oh, of course. I want to go and see the old chap, anyhow, to talk over
+Aunt Margaret's affairs. I might as well know a little more about them.
+Tommy, the she-dragon can't actually lock you up, can she?”
+
+“No--it couldn't be done,” said Cecilia. “Modern houses aren't built
+with dungeons and things. Moreover, if she tried to keep me in the house
+she would have to take the children out for their walks herself; and she
+simply hates walking.”
+
+“Then you can certainly post to me, and get my letters, and I'll be up
+again as soon as ever I can. Buck up, old girl--it can't be for long
+now.”
+
+They turned in at the Rainhams' front gate, and Cecilia glanced up
+apprehensively. All the windows were in darkness; the grey front of the
+house loomed forbiddingly in the faint moonlight.
+
+“You're coming in, aren't you?” she asked, her hand tightening on his
+arm.
+
+“Rather--we'll take the edge off her tongue together.” Bob rang the
+bell. “Wonder if they have all gone to bed. The place looks pretty
+dark.”
+
+“She's probably in the little room at the back--the one she calls her
+boudoir.”
+
+“Horrible little den, full of bamboo and draperies and pampas grass--I
+know,” nodded Bob. “Well, either she's asleep or she thinks it's fun to
+keep us on the mat. I'll try her again.” He pressed the bell, and the
+sound of its whirring echoed through the silent house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+COMING HOME
+
+
+The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as
+the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared
+in the aperture. She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
+
+“So you have come home?” she said at last. The chain fell, and the door
+opened. “I wonder you trouble to come home at all. May I ask where you
+have been?”
+
+“She has been with me, Mrs. Rainham,” Bob said cheerfully. “May I come
+in?”
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not move. She held the door half open, blocking the
+way.
+
+“It is far too late for me to ask you in,” she answered frigidly.
+“Cecilia can explain her conduct, I presume.”
+
+“Oh, there's really nothing to explain,” Bob answered. “It was so late
+when she got out this afternoon that I kept her--why, it was after
+half-past four before she was dressed.”
+
+“I told her to be in for tea.”
+
+“Yes; but I felt sure you couldn't realize how late she was in getting
+out,” said Bob in a voice of honey.
+
+“That was entirely her own mismanagement--” began the hard tones.
+
+“Oh, no, Mrs. Rainham; really it wasn't,” said Cecilia mildly. “Your
+accompaniments, you remember--your dress--your music,” she stopped,
+in amazement at herself. It was rarely indeed that she answered any
+accusation of her stepmother's. But to be on the mat at midnight, with
+Bob in support, seemed to give her extraordinary courage.
+
+“You see, Mrs. Rainham, there seems to have been quite a number of
+little details that Cecilia couldn't mismanage,” said Bob, following
+up the advantage. It was happily evident that his stepmother's rage was
+preventing her from speaking, and, as he remarked later, there was no
+knowing when he would ever get such a chance again. “She really needed
+rest. I'm sure you'll agree that every one is entitled to some free
+time. Of course, you couldn't possibly have realized that it was a week
+since she had been off duty.”
+
+“It's her business to do what I tell her,” said Mrs. Rainham, finding
+her voice, in an explosive fashion that made a passing policeman glance
+up curiously. “She knew I had company, and expected her help. I had
+to see to the children's tea myself. And how do I know where she's
+been?--gallivanting round to all sorts of places! I tell you, young
+lady, you needn't think you're going to walk in here at midnight as if
+nothing was the matter.”
+
+“I never expected to,” said Cecilia cheerfully. “But it was worth it.”
+
+Bob regarded her in solemn admiration.
+
+“I don't think we gallivanted at all reprehensibly,” he said. “Just
+dinner and a theatre. I haven't made much claim to her time during the
+last four years, Mrs. Rainham; surely I'm entitled to a little of it
+now.”
+
+“You!” Mrs. Rainham's tone was vicious. “You don't give her a home, do
+you? And as long as I do, she'll do what I tell her.”
+
+“No; I don't give her a home--yet,” said Bob very quietly. “But I very
+soon will, I assure you; and meanwhile, she earns a good deal more than
+her keep in her father's house. You can't treat her worse than your
+servants--”
+
+Cecilia suddenly turned to him.
+
+“Ah, don't, Bob darling. It doesn't matter--truly--not a bit.” With the
+end of the long penance before her, it seemed beyond the power of the
+angry woman in the doorway to hurt her much. What she could not bear was
+that their happy evening should be spoiled by hard and cruel words at
+its close. Bob's face, that had been so merry, was sterner than she
+had ever seen it, all its boyishness gone. She put up her own face, and
+kissed him.
+
+“Good night--you mustn't stay any longer. I'll be all right.” She
+whispered a few quick words of French, begging him to go, and Bob,
+though unwillingly, gave in.
+
+“All right,” he said. “Go to bed, little 'un. I'll do as I promised
+about writing.” He saluted Mrs. Rainham stiffly. “You'll remember,
+Mrs. Rainham, that she stayed out solely at my wish--I take full
+responsibility, and I'll be ready to tell my father so.” The door closed
+behind Cecilia, and he strode away down the street, biting his lip. He
+felt abominably as though he had deserted the little sister--and yet,
+what else could he do? One could not remain for ever, brawling on a
+doorstep at midnight--and Tommy had begged him to go. Still--
+
+“Hang it!” he said viciously. “If she were only a decent Hun to fight!”
+
+In the grim house in Lancaster Gate Cecilia was facing the music alone.
+She listened unmoved, as she had listened many times before, to
+the catalogue of her sins and misdeeds--only she had never seen her
+stepmother quite so angry. Finally, a door above opened, and Mark
+Rainham looked out, his dull, colourless face weakly irritable.
+
+“I wish you'd stop that noise, and let the girl go to bed,” he said.
+“Come here, Cecilia.”
+
+She went to him hesitating, and he looked at her with a spark of
+compassion. Then he kissed her.
+
+“Good night,” he said, as though he had called her to him simply to say
+it, and not to separate her from the furious woman who stood looking
+at them. “Run off to bed, now--no more talking.” Cecilia ran upstairs
+obediently. Behind her, as she neared her attic, she heard her
+stepmother's voice break out anew.
+
+“Just fancy Papa!” she muttered. Any mother sensations were lost in
+wonder at her father's actually having intervened. The incredible thing
+had happened. For a moment she felt a wave of pity for him, left alone
+to face the shrill voice. Then she shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“Ah, well--he married her,” she said. “I suppose he has had it many a
+time. Perhaps he knows how to stop it--I don't!” She laughed, turning
+the key in the lock, and sitting down beside the open window. The
+glamour of her happy evening was still upon her; even the scene with her
+stepmother had not had power to chase it away. The scene was only to be
+expected; the laughter of the evening was worth so every-day a penalty.
+And the end of Mrs. Rainham's rule was nearly in sight. Not even to
+herself for a moment would she admit that there was any possibility of
+Bob failing to “make good” and take her away.
+
+She went downstairs next morning to an atmosphere of sullen resentment.
+Her father gave her a brief, abstracted nod, in response to her
+greeting, and went on with his bacon and his Daily Mail; her
+stepmother's forbidding expression checked any attempt at conversation.
+The children stared at her with a kind of malevolent curiosity; they
+knew that a storm had been brewing for her the night before, and longed
+to know just how thoroughly she had “caught it.” Eliza, bringing
+in singed and belated toast, looked at her with pity, tinged with
+admiration. Cook and she had been awakened at midnight by what was
+evidently, in the words of Cook, “a perfickly 'orrible bust-up,” and
+knowing Cecilia to have been its object, Eliza looked at her as one may
+look who expects to see the scars of battle. Finding none, but receiving
+instead a cheerful smile, she returned to the kitchen, and reported to
+Cook that Miss Cecilia was “nuffink less than a neroine.”
+
+But as that day and the next wore on, Cecilia found it difficult to be
+cheerful. That she was in disgrace was very evident, Mrs. Rainham said
+no more about her sins of the night before; instead, she showed her
+displeasure by a kind of cold rudeness that gave a subtle insult to her
+smallest remark. The children were manifestly delighted. Cecilia was
+more or less in the position of a beetle on a pin, and theirs was the
+precious opportunity of seeing her wriggle. Wherefore they adopted
+their mother's tone, openly defied her, and turned school-hours into a
+pandemonium.
+
+Cecilia at last gave up the attempt to keep order. She opened her desk
+and took out her knitting.
+
+“Well, this is all very pleasant,” she said, calmly. “You seem
+determined to do no work at all, so I can only hope that in time you
+will get tired of being idle. I can't attempt to teach you any more. I
+am quite ready, however, if you bring your lessons to me.”
+
+“You'll get into a nice row from the Mater,” jeered Wilfred.
+
+“Very possibly. She may even punish me by finding another governess,”
+ said Cecilia, with a twinkle. “However that may be, I do not feel
+compelled to talk to such rude little children as you any more. When
+you are able to speak politely you may come to me for anything you
+want; until then, I shall not answer you.” She bent her attention to the
+mysteries of heel-turning.
+
+The children were taken aback. To pinprick with rudeness a victim who
+answered back was entertaining; but there was small fun in baiting
+anybody who sat silently knitting with a half-smile of contempt at the
+corners of her mouth. They gave it up after a time, and considered the
+question of going out; a pleasant thing to do, only that their mother
+had laid upon them a special injunction not to leave Cecilia, and she
+was in a mood that made disobedience extremely dangerous. Cecilia quite
+understood that she was being watched. No letters had yet come from Bob,
+and she knew that her stepmother had been hovering near the letter-box
+whenever the postman had called. Mrs. Rainham had accompanied them on
+their walk the day before; a remark of Avice's revealed that she meant
+to do so again to-day.
+
+“It's all so silly,” the girl said to herself. “If I chose to dive into
+a tube station or board a motor-bus she couldn't stop me; and she can't
+go on watching me and intercepting my letters indefinitely. I suppose
+she will get tired of it after a while.” But meanwhile she found the
+spying rather amusing. Avice popped up unexpectedly if she went near the
+front door; Wilfred's bullet head peeped in through the window whenever
+she fancied herself alone in the schoolroom. Only her attic was
+safe--since to spy upon it would have required an aeroplane.
+
+The third day brought no letter from Bob. Cecilia asked for her mail
+when she went down to breakfast, and was met by a blank stare from her
+stepmother--“I suppose if there had been any letters for you they would
+be on your plate.” She flushed a little under the girl's direct gaze,
+and turned her attention to Queenie's table manners, which were at all
+times peculiar; and Cecilia sat down with a faint smile. It was time to
+obey orders and telegraph to Bob.
+
+She planned how to do it, during a long morning when the children
+actually did some work--since to be rude or idle meant that their
+teacher immediately retired into her shell of silence, and knitted, and
+life became too dull. To employ Eliza was her first thought--rejected,
+since it seemed unlikely that Eliza would be able to get time off to go
+out. If Mrs. Rainham's well-known dislike for walking proved too strong
+for her desire to watch her stepdaughter, it would be easy enough to
+do it during the afternoon; but this hope proved vain, for when she
+appeared in the hall with her charges at three o'clock the lady of the
+house sailed from the drawing-room, ready for the march. They moved off
+in procession; Mrs. Rainham leading the way, with Avice and Wilfred,
+while Cecilia brought up the rear, holding Queenie's podgy hand.
+
+She had telegraph forms in her desk, and the message, already written,
+and even stamped, was in the pocket of her coat. There was nothing for
+it but to act boldly, and accordingly, when they entered a street in
+which there was a post office, she let Queenie lag until they were
+a little distance behind the others. Then, as they reached the post
+office, she turned sharply in.
+
+“Wait a minute, Queenie.”
+
+She thrust her message across the counter hurriedly. The clerk on duty
+was provokingly slow; he finished checking a document, and then lounged
+across to the window and took the form, running over it leisurely.
+
+“Oh, you've got the stamps on. All right,” he said, and turned away just
+as quick steps were heard, and Mrs. Rainham bustled in, panting.
+
+“What are you doing?”
+
+Cecilia met her with steady eyes.
+
+“Nothing wrong, I assure you.” She had had visions of covering her real
+purpose by buying stamps--but rejected it with a shrug.
+
+“Thethilia gave the man a pieth of paper!” said Queenie shrilly.
+
+“What was it? I demand to know!” cried Mrs. Rainham. She turned to the
+clerk, who stood open-mouthed, holding the telegram in his hand. “Show
+me that telegram. I am this young lady's guardian.”
+
+The clerk grinned broadly. The stout and angry lady made no appeal to
+him, and Cecilia was a pretty girl, and moreover her telegram was for
+a flying captain. The clerk wore a returned soldier's badge himself. He
+fell back on Regulations.
+
+“Can't be done, ma'am. The message is all in order.”
+
+“Let me see it.”
+
+“Much as my billet's worth, if I did,” said the clerk. “Property of the
+Postmaster-General now, ma'am. Couldn't even give it back to the young
+lady.”
+
+“I'll report you!” Mrs. Rainham fumed.
+
+“Do, ma'am. I'll get patted on the head for doin' me duty.” The clerk's
+grin widened. Cecilia wished him good afternoon gravely, and slipped out
+of the office, pursued by her stepmother.
+
+“What was in that telegram?”
+
+“It was to my brother.”
+
+“What was in it?”
+
+“It was to Bob, and that is guarantee that there was nothing wrong in
+it,” Cecilia said steadily. “It was on private business.”
+
+“You have no right to have any business that I do not know about.”
+
+Cecilia found her temper rising.
+
+“My father may have the power to say that--I do not know,” she said.
+“But you have none, Mrs. Rainham.”
+
+“I'll let you see whether I have the right!” her stepmother blazed. “For
+two pins, young lady, I'd lock you up.”
+
+Cecilia laughed outright.
+
+“Ah, that's not done now,” she said. “You really couldn't, Mrs.
+Rainham--especially as I have done nothing wrong.” She dropped her
+voice--passers-by were looking with interest at the elder woman's
+face. “Why not let me go? You do not approve of me--let me find another
+position.”
+
+“You'll stay in your father's house,” Mrs. Rainham said. “We'll see what
+the law has to say to your leaving with your precious Bob. Your
+father's your legal guardian, and in his control you stay until you're
+twenty-one, and be very thankful to make yourself useful. The law will
+deal with Bob if he tries to take you away--you're a minor, and it'd
+be abduction.” The word had a pleasantly legal flavour; she repeated it
+with emphasis. “Abduction; that's what it is, and there's a nice penalty
+for it. Now you know, and if you don't want to get Bob into trouble,
+you'd best be careful.”
+
+Cecilia had grown rather white. The law was a great and terrible
+instrument, of which she knew nothing. It seemed to have swallowed up
+Aunt Margaret's money; it might very well have left her defenceless. Her
+stepmother seemed familiar with its powers, and able to evoke them at
+will; and though she did not trust her, there was something in her glib
+utterance that struck fear into the girl's heart. She did not answer,
+and Mrs. Rainham followed up her advantage.
+
+“We'll go home,” she said. “And you make up your mind to tell me what
+was in that telegram, and not to have any secrets from me. One thing I
+can tell you--until you decide to behave yourself--Bob shan't show his
+nose in my house, and you shan't go out to meet him, either. He only
+leads you into mischief; I don't consider he has at all a good influence
+over you. The sooner he's away somewhere, earning his own living in a
+proper manner, the better for every one; and it'll be many a long day
+before he can give you as good a home as you've got now.” She paused
+for breath. “Anyhow, he's not going to have the chance,” she finished
+grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+
+“Is Mr. M'Clinton in?”
+
+The clerk, in a species of rabbit hutch, glanced out curiously at the
+young flying officer.
+
+“Yes; but he's very busy. Have you an appointment?”
+
+“No--I got leave unexpectedly. Just take him my card, will you?”
+
+The clerk handed the card to another clerk, who passed it to an
+office-boy, who disappeared with it behind a heavy oaken door. He came
+back presently.
+
+“Mr. M'Clinton will see you in ten minutes, if you can wait, sir.”
+
+“I'll wait,” said Bob, sitting down upon a high stool. “Got a paper?”
+
+“To-day's Times is here, sir.” He whisked off, to return in a moment
+with the paper, neatly folded.
+
+“You'll find a more comfortable seat behind the screen, sir.”
+
+“Thanks,” said Bob, regarding him with interest--he was so dapper, so
+alert, so all that an office-boy in a staid lawyer's establishment ought
+to be. “How old might you be?”
+
+“Fourteen, sir.”
+
+“And are you going to grow into a lawyer?”
+
+“I'm afraid I'll never do that, sir,” said the office-boy gravely. “I
+may be head clerk, perhaps. But--” he stopped, confused.
+
+“But what?”
+
+“I'd rather fly, sir, than anything in the world!” He looked
+worshippingly at Bob's uniform. “If the war had only not stopped before
+I was old enough, I might have had a chance!”
+
+“Oh, you'll have plenty of chances,” Bob told him consolingly. “In five
+years' time you'll be taking Mr. M'Clinton's confidential papers across
+to Paris in an aeroplane--and bringing him back a reply before lunch!”
+
+“Do you think so, sir?” The office-boy's eyes danced. Suddenly he
+resumed his professional gravity.
+
+“I must get back to my work, sir.” He disappeared behind another
+partition; the office seemed to Bob to be divided into water-tight
+compartments, in each of which he imagined that a budding lawyer or head
+clerk was being brought up by hand. It was all rather grim and solid and
+forbidding. To Bob the law had always been full of mystery; this grey,
+silent office, in the heart of the city, was a fitting place for it.
+He felt a little chill at his heart, a foreboding that no comfort could
+come of his mission there.
+
+The inner door opened, after a little while, and a woman in black came
+out. She passed hurriedly through the outer office, pulling down her
+veil over a face that showed traces of tears. Bob looked after her
+compassionately.
+
+“Poor soul!” he thought. “She's had her gruel, evidently. Now I suppose
+I'll get mine.”
+
+A bell whirred sharply. The alert office-boy sprang to the summons,
+returning immediately.
+
+“Mr. M'Clinton can see you now, sir.”
+
+Bob followed him through the oaken door, and along a narrow passage to a
+room where a spare, grizzled man sat at a huge roll-top desk. He rose as
+the boy shut the door behind his visitor.
+
+“Well, Captain Rainham. How do you do?”
+
+Bob gripped the lean hand offered him--it felt like a claw in his great
+palm. Then he sat down and looked uncomfortably at the lawyer.
+
+“I had thought to have seen you here before, Captain.”
+
+“I suppose I should have shown up,” said Bob--concealing the fact that
+the idea had never occurred to him. “But I've been very busy since I've
+been back to England.”
+
+“And what brings you now?”
+
+“I'm all but demobilized,” Bob told him, “and I'm trying to get
+employment.”
+
+“What--in this office?”
+
+“Heavens, no!” ejaculated Bob, and at once turned a fine red. “That
+is--I beg your pardon, sir; but I'm afraid I'm not cut out for an
+office. I want to get something to do in the country, where I can
+support my sister.”
+
+“Your sister? But does not your father support her? She is an inmate of
+his house, is she not?”
+
+“Very much so,” said Bob bitterly. “She's governess, and lady-help, and
+a good many other things. You couldn't call it a home. Besides, we have
+always been together. I want to take her away.”
+
+“And what does your father say?”
+
+“He says she mustn't go. At least, that's what my stepmother says, so my
+father will certainly say it too.”
+
+“Your sister is under age, I think?”
+
+“She's just nineteen--I'm over twenty-two. Can my father prevent her
+going with me, sir?”
+
+“Mph,” said the lawyer, pondering. “Do I gather that the young lady is
+unhappy?”
+
+“If she isn't, it's because she has pluck enough for six people, and
+because she always hopes to get away.”
+
+“And do you consider that you could support her?”
+
+“I don't know,” said Bob unhappily. “I would certainly have thought
+I could, but there seems mighty little chance for a fellow whose only
+qualification is that he's been fighting Huns for nearly five years.
+I've answered advertisements and interviewed people until my brain
+reels; but there's nothing in it, and I can't leave Tommy there.”
+
+“Tommy?” queried the lawyer blankly.
+
+Bob laughed.
+
+“My sister, I mean, sir. Her name's Cecilia, but, of course, we've never
+called her that. Even Aunt Margaret called her Tommy.”
+
+Mr. M'Clinton made no reply. He thought deeply for a few moments. Then
+he looked up, and there was a glint of kindness in his hard grey eyes.
+
+“I think you had better tell me all about it, Captain Rainham. Would it
+assist you to smoke?”
+
+“Thanks awfully, sir,” said Bob, accepting the proffered cigarette.
+He plunged into his story; and if at times it was a trifle incoherent,
+principally from honest wrath, yet on the whole Cecilia's case
+lost nothing in the telling. The lawyer nodded from time to time,
+comprehendingly.
+
+“Aye,” he said at last, when Bob paused. “Just so, just so. And why did
+you come to me, Captain?”
+
+“I want your advice, sir,” Bob answered. “And I should like to know
+something about my aunt's property--if I can hope for any help from that
+source. I should have more chance of success if I had a little capital
+to start with. But I understand that most of it was lost. My father
+seemed very disappointed over the small amount she left.” He hesitated.
+“But apart from money, I should like to know if I am within the law in
+taking my sister away.”
+
+Mr. M'Clinton thought deeply before replying.
+
+“I had better speak frankly to you, Captain Rainham,” he said. “Your
+aunt, as you probably know, did not like your father. I am not sure that
+she actually distrusted him. But she considered him weak and indolent,
+and she recognized that he was completely under the thumb of his second
+wife. Your late aunt, my old friend, had an abhorrence for that lady
+that was quaint, considering that she had scarcely ever seen her.” He
+permitted himself the ghost of a smile. “She was deeply afraid of any of
+her property coming under the control of your father--and through him,
+of his wife. And so she tied up her money very carefully. She left
+direct to you and your sister certain assets. The rest of her property
+she left, in trust, to me.”
+
+“To you, sir?”
+
+“Aye. Very carefully tied up, too,” said Mr. M'Clinton, with a twinkle.
+“I can't make ducks and drakes of it, no matter how much I may wish to.
+It is tied up until your sister comes of age. Then my trust ceases.”
+
+“By Jove!” Bob stared at him. “Then--do we get something?”
+
+“Certainly. Unfortunately, many of your aunt's investments were very
+hard hit through the war. Certain stocks which paid large dividends
+ceased to pay altogether; others fell to very little. The sum left to
+you and your sister for immediate use should have been very much larger,
+but all that is left of it is the small allowance paid to you both.
+I imagine that a smart young officer like yourself found it scarcely
+sufficient for tobacco.”
+
+“I've saved it all,” said Bob simply. “A bit more, too.”
+
+“Saved it!” said the lawyer in blank amazement. “Do you tell me, now?
+You lived on your pay?”
+
+“Flying pay's pretty good,” said Bob. “And there was always Tommy to
+think of, you know, sir. I had to put something away for her, in case I
+crashed.”
+
+“Dear me,” said Mr. M'Clinton. “Your aunt had great confidence in you
+as a boy, and it seems she was justified. I'm very glad to hear this,
+Captain, for it enables me to do with a clear conscience something which
+I have the power to do. There is a discretionary clause in your aunt's
+will, which gives me power to realize a certain sum of money, should you
+need it. I could hand you over about three thousand pounds.”
+
+“Three thousand!” Bob stared at him blankly.
+
+“Aye. And I see no reason why I should not do it--provided I am
+satisfied as to the use you will make of it. As a matter of form I
+should like a letter from your commanding officer, testifying to your
+general character.”
+
+“That's easy enough,” said Bob. “But--three thousand! My hat, what a
+difference it will make to Tommy and me! Poor old Aunt Margaret--I might
+have known she'd look after us.”
+
+“She loved you very dearly. And now, Captain, about your sister.”
+
+“She's the big thing,” said Bob. “Can I kidnap her?”
+
+“It's rather difficult to say just how your father might act. Left
+to himself, I do not believe he would do anything. But urged by your
+stepmother, he might make trouble. And the good lady is more likely
+to make trouble if she suspects that there is any money coming to your
+sister.”
+
+“That's very certain,” Bob remarked. “I wish to goodness I could get her
+right out of England, sir. How about Canada?”
+
+The lawyer pondered.
+
+“Do you know any one there?”
+
+“Not a soul. But I suppose one could get introductions. And one can
+always get Government expert advice there, I believe, to prevent one
+chucking away one's money foolishly.”
+
+Mr. M'Clinton nodded approvingly.
+
+“I don't know, but you might do worse,” he said. “I believe in these
+new countries for young people; the old ones are getting overcrowded
+and worn out. And your relations are likely to give trouble if you
+are within their reach. A terrible woman, that stepmother of yours; a
+terrible woman. She came to see me with your father; he said nothing,
+but she talked like a mill-race. Miss Tommy has my full sympathy.
+A brawling woman in a wide house, as the Scripture says. I reproach
+myself, Captain, that I did not inquire personally into Miss Tommy's
+well-being. She told you nothing of her trials, you say, during the
+war?”
+
+“Not a word. Wrote as if life were a howling joke always. I only found
+out for myself by accident a few months ago.”
+
+“A brave lassie. Well, I'll do what I can to help you, Captain.
+I'll keep a lookout for a likely land investment for your money, and
+endeavour to prepare a good legal statement to frighten Mrs. Rainham
+if she objects to your taking your sister away. Much may be done by
+bluffing, especially if you do it very solemnly and quietly. So keep a
+good heart, and come and see me next time you're in London. Miss Tommy
+will be in any day, I presume, after the telegram you told me about?”
+
+“Sure to be,” said Bob. “She'll be anxious for her letters. I'm leaving
+one for her, if you don't mind, and I'll write to her again to-night.”
+ He got up, holding out his hand. “Good-bye--and I don't know how to
+thank you, sir.”
+
+“Bless the boy--you've nothing to thank me for,” said the lawyer. “Just
+send me that letter from your commanding officer, and remember that
+there's no wild hurry about plans--Miss Tommy can stand for a few weeks
+longer what she has borne for two years.”
+
+“I suppose she can--but I don't want her to,” Bob said.
+
+The brisk office-boy showed him out, and he marched down the grey
+streets near Lincoln's Inn with his chin well up. Life had taken a
+sudden and magical turn for the better. Three thousand pounds!--surely
+that meant no roughing it for Tommy, but a comfortable home and a
+chance of success in life. It seemed a sum of enormous possibilities.
+Everything was very vague still, but at least the money was certain--it
+seemed like fairy gold. He felt a sudden desire to get away somewhere,
+with Tommy, away from crowded England to a country where a man could
+breathe; his heart rejoiced at the idea, just as he had often exulted
+when his aeroplane had lifted him away from the crowded, buzzing camp,
+into the wide, free places of the air. Canada called to him temptingly.
+His brain was seething with plans to go there when, waiting for a chance
+to cross a crowded thoroughfare, he heard his own name.
+
+“Asleep, Rainham?”
+
+Bob looked up with a start. General Harran, the Australian, was beside
+him, also waiting for a break in the crawling string of motor-buses and
+taxi-cabs. He was smiling under his close-clipped moustache.
+
+“I beg your pardon, sir,” stammered the boy, coming to the salute
+stiffly. “I was in a brown study, I believe.”
+
+“You looked it. I spoke to you twice before you heard me. What is
+it?--demobilization problems?”
+
+“Just that, sir,” said Bob, grinning. “Most of us have got them, I
+suppose--fellows of my age, anyhow. It's a bit difficult to come down to
+earth again, after years spent in the air.”
+
+“Very difficult,” Harran agreed gravely. He glanced down with interest
+at the alert face and square-built figure of the boy beside him. There
+were so many of them, these boys who had played with Death for years.
+They have saved their country from horror and ruin, and now it seemed
+very doubtful if their country wanted them. They were in every town in
+England, looking for work; their pitiful, plucky advertisements greeted
+the eye in every newspaper. The problem of their future interested
+General Harran keenly. He liked his boys; their freshness and pluck and
+unspoiled enthusiasm had been a tonic to him during the long years of
+war. Now it hurt him that they should be looking for the right to live.
+
+“I'm just going to lunch, Rainham,” he said. “Would you care to come
+with me?”
+
+Bob lifted a quaintly astonished face.
+
+“Thanks, awfully, sir,” he stammered.
+
+“Then jump on this 'bus, and we'll go to my club,” said the General,
+swinging his lean, athletic body up the stairs of a passing motor-'bus
+as he spoke. Bob followed, and they sped, rocking, through the packed
+traffic until the General, who had sat in silence, jumped up, threaded
+his way downstairs, and dropped to the ground again from the footboard
+of the hurrying 'bus--with a brief shake of the head to the conductor,
+who was prepared to check the speed of his craft to accommodate a
+passenger with such distinguished badges of rank. Bob was on the ground
+almost as quickly, and they turned out of the crowded street into
+a quieter one that presently led them into a silent square, where
+dignified grey houses looked out upon green trees, and the only traffic
+was that of gliding motors. General Harran led the way into one of the
+grey houses, up the steps of which officers were constantly coming
+and going. A grizzled porter in uniform, with the Crimean medal on his
+tunic, swung the door open and came smartly to attention as they passed
+through. The General greeted him kindly.
+
+“How are you, O'Shea? The rheumatism better?”
+
+“It is, sir, thank you.” They passed on, through a great hall lined with
+oil-paintings of famous soldiers, and trophies of big game from all
+over the world; for this was a Service club, bearing a proud record of
+soldier and sailor members for a hundred years. Presently they were in
+the dining-room, already crowded. The waiter found them a little table
+in a quiet corner.
+
+There was a sprinkling of men whom Bob already knew; he caught several
+friendly nods of recognition us he glanced round. Then General Harran
+pointed out others to him--Generals, whose names were household words in
+England--a notable Admiral, and a Captain with the V.C. ribbon--earned
+at Zeebrugge. He seemed to know every one, and once or twice he left his
+seat to speak to a friend--during which absence Bob's friends shot him
+amazed glances, with eyebrows raised in astonishment that he should be
+lunching with a real Major-General. Bob was somewhat tongue-tied with
+bewilderment over the fact himself. But when their cold beef came,
+General Harran soon put him at his ease, leading him to talk of himself
+and his plans with quiet tact. Before Bob fairly realized it he had
+unfolded all his little story--even to Tommy and her hardships. The
+General listened with interest.
+
+“And was it Tommy I saw you with on Saturday?”
+
+“Yes, sir. She was awfully interested because it was you,” blurted Bob.
+“You see, she and I have always been pals. I'm jolly keen to get some
+place to take her to.”
+
+“And you think of Canada. Why?”
+
+“Well--I really don't know, except that it would be out of reach of
+England and unpleasantness,” Bob answered. “And my money would go a lot
+further there than here, wouldn't it, sir? Three thousand won't buy much
+of a place in England--not to make one's living by, I mean.”
+
+“That's true. I advise every youngster to get out to one of the new
+countries, and, of course, a man with a little capital has a far greater
+chance. But why Canada? Why not Australia?”
+
+“There's no reason why not,” said Bob laughing. “Only it seems further
+away. I don't know more of one country than the other--except the sort
+of vague idea we all have that Canada is all cold and Australia all
+heat!”
+
+General Harran laughed.
+
+“Yes--the average Englishman's ideas about the new countries are pretty
+sketchy,” he said. “People always talk to me about the fearfully hot
+climate of Australia, and seem mildly surprised if I remark that we have
+about a dozen different climates, and that we have snow and ice, and
+very decent winter sports, in Victoria. I don't think they believe me,
+either. But seriously, Rainham, if you have no more leaning towards one
+country than the other, why not think of Australia? I could help you
+there, if you like.”
+
+“You, sir!” Bob stammered.
+
+“Well, I can pull strings. I dare say I could manage a passage out for
+you and your sister--you see, you were serving with the Australians,
+and you're both desirable immigrants--young and energetic people with
+a little capital. That would be all right, I think, especially now that
+the first rush is over. And I could give you plenty of introductions in
+Australia to the right sort of people. You ought to see something of the
+country, and what the life and work are, before investing your money.
+It would be easy enough to get you on to a station or big farm--you to
+learn the business, and your sister to teach or help in the house. She
+wouldn't mind that for about a year, with nice people, would she?”
+
+“Not she!” said Bob. “It was her own idea, in fact; only I didn't want
+to let her work. But I can see that it might be best. Only I don't know
+how to thank you, sir--I never imagined--”
+
+General Harran cut him short.
+
+“Don't worry about that. If I can help you, or any of the flying boys,
+out of a difficulty, and at the same time get the right type of settlers
+for Australia--she needs them badly--then I'm doing a double-barrelled
+job that I like. But see here--do I understand that what you really
+want to do is to take your sister without giving your father warning? To
+kidnap her, in short?”
+
+“I don't see anything else to do, sir. I spoke to him a while ago about
+taking her away, and he only hummed and hawed and said he'd consult Mrs.
+Rainham. And my stepmother will never let her go as long as she can keep
+her as a drudge. We owe them nothing--he's never been a father to us,
+and as for my stepmother--well, she should owe Tommy for two years' hard
+work. But honestly, to all intents and purposes, they are strangers
+to us--it seems absolutely ridiculous that we should be controlled by
+them.”
+
+“You say your aunt's family lawyer approves?”
+
+“Yes, or he wouldn't let me have the money. I could get him to see you,
+sir, if you like; though I don't see why you should be bothered about
+us,” said Bob flushing.
+
+“Give me his address--I'll look in on him next time I'm in Lincoln's
+Inn,” said the General. “Your own, too. Now, if I get you and your
+sister passages on a troopship, can you start at short notice--say
+forty-eight hours?”
+
+Bob gasped, but recovered himself. After all, his training in the air
+had taught him to make swift decisions.
+
+“Any time after the fifteenth, sir. I'll be demobilized then, and a free
+agent. I'll get my kit beforehand.”
+
+“Don't get much,” counselled the General. “You can travel in
+uniform--take flannels for the tropics; everything you need in Australia
+you can get just as well, or better, out there. Most fellows who go out
+take tons of unnecessary stuff. Come into the smoking-room and give me a
+few more details.”
+
+They came out upon the steps of the club a little later. Bob's head was
+whirling. He tried to stammer out more thanks and was cut short, kindly
+but decisively.
+
+“That's all right, my boy. I'll send you letters of introduction to
+various people who will help you, and a bit of advice about where to go
+when you land. Tell your sister not to be nervous--she isn't going to a
+wild country, and the people there are much the same as anywhere else.
+Now, good-bye, and good luck”; and Bob found himself walking across the
+Square in a kind of solemn amazement.
+
+“This morning I was thinking of getting taken on as a farm hand in
+Devonshire, with Tommy somewhere handy in a labourer's cottage,” he
+pondered. “And now I'm a bloated capitalist, and Tommy and I are going
+across the world to Australia as calmly as if we were off to Margate
+for the day! Well, I suppose it's only a dream, and I'll wake up soon.
+I guess I'd better go back and tell Mr. M'Clinton; and I've got to see
+Tommy somehow.” He bent his brows over the problem as he turned towards
+Lincoln's Inn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAILING ORDERS
+
+
+“Are you there, miss?”
+
+The sepulchral whisper came faintly to Cecilia's ears as she sat in her
+little room, sewing a frock of Queenie's. The children were out in the
+garden at the back of the house. Mrs. Rainham was practising in the
+drawing-room. The sound of a high trill floated upwards as she opened
+the door.
+
+“What is it, Eliza?”
+
+“It's a letter, miss. A kid brought it to the kitchen door--a bit of a
+boy. Arsked for me as if 'e'd known me all 'is life--called me Elizer!
+'E's waitin' for an answer. I'll wait in me room, miss, till you calls
+me.” The little Cockney girl slipped away, revelling in furthering any
+scheme to defeat Mrs. Rainham and help Cecilia.
+
+Cecilia opened the letter hurriedly. It contained only one line.
+
+“Can you come at once to Lincoln's Inn? Important.--BOB.”
+
+Cecilia knitted her brows. It was nearly a month since the memorable
+evening when she and Bob had revolted; and though she was still made
+to feel herself in disgrace, and she knew her letters were watched, the
+close spying upon her movements had somewhat relaxed. It had been
+too uncomfortable for Mrs. Rainham to keep it up, since it made heavy
+demands upon her own time, and interfered with too many plans; moreover,
+in spite of it, Cecilia had slipped away from the house two or three
+times, going and coming openly, and replying to any questions by the
+simple answer that she had been to meet Bob. Angry outbreaks on the part
+of her stepmother she received in utter silence, against which the waves
+of Mrs. Rainham's wrath spent themselves in vain.
+
+Indeed, the girl lived in a kind of waking dream of happy anticipation,
+beside which none of the trials of life in Lancaster Gate had power to
+trouble her. For on her first stolen visit to Mr. M'Clinton's office the
+wonderful plan of flight to Australia had been revealed to her, and the
+joy of the prospect blotted out everything else. Mr. M'Clinton, watching
+her face, had been amazed by the wave of delight that had swept over it.
+
+“You like it, then?” he had said. “You are not afraid to go so far?”
+
+“Afraid--with Bob? Oh, the farther I can get from England the better,”
+ she had answered. “I have no friends here; nothing to leave, except the
+memory of two bad years. And out there I should feel safe--she could not
+get a policeman to bring me back.” There was no need to ask who “she”
+ was.
+
+Cecilia had made her preparations secretly. She had not much to do--Aunt
+Margaret had always kept her well dressed, and the simple and pretty
+things she had worn two years before, and which had never been unpacked
+since she put on mourning for her aunt, still fitted her, and were
+perfectly good. It had never seemed worth while to leave off wearing
+mourning in Lancaster Gate--only when Bob had come home had she unpacked
+some of her old wardrobe. Much was packed still, and in store under Mr.
+M'Clinton's direction, together with many of Aunt Margaret's personal
+possessions. It was as well that it was so, since Mrs. Rainham had
+managed to annex a proportion of Cecilia's things for Avice. To
+Lancaster Gate she had only taken a couple of trunks, not dreaming of
+staying there more than a short time. So packing and flitting would be
+easy, given ordinary luck and the certain co-operation of Eliza. Her few
+necessary purchases had been made on one of her hurried excursions with
+Bob; she had not dared to have the things sent home, and they had been
+consigned in a tin uniform case to Bob's care.
+
+She pondered over his note now, knitting her brows. It would be easy
+enough to act defiantly and go at once; but if this meant that the
+final flight were near at hand she did not wish to excite anew her
+stepmother's anger and suspicion. Then, as she hesitated, she heard a
+heavy step on the stairs, and she crushed the note hurriedly into her
+pocket.
+
+Mrs. Rainham came into the room without the formality of knocking--a
+formality she had never observed where Cecilia was concerned. The
+afternoon post had just come, and she carried some letters in her hand.
+
+“Cecilia, I want you to put on your things and go to Balding's for me,”
+ she said, her voice more civil than it had been for a month. “I'm asked
+up to Liverpool for a few days; my sister there is giving a big At
+Home--an awfully big thing, with the Lady Mayoress and all the Best
+People at it--and she wants me to go up. I suppose she'll want me to
+sing.”
+
+“That is nice,” said Cecilia, speaking with more truth than Mrs. Rainham
+guessed. “What will you wear?”
+
+“That's just it,” said her stepmother eagerly. “My new evening dress
+isn't quite finished--we ran short of trimming. I can't go out, because
+the Simons are coming in to afternoon tea; so you just hurry and go over
+to Balding's to match it. I got it there, and they had plenty. Here's
+a bit.” She held out a fragment of gaudy sequin trimming. “I think you
+could finish the dress without me getting in the dressmaker again--she's
+that run after she makes a regular favour of coming.”
+
+“Very well,” said Cecilia--who would, at the moment, have agreed to sew
+anything or everything that might hasten her stepmother's journey. “When
+do you go?”
+
+“The day after to-morrow. I'll stay there a few days, I suppose; not
+worth going so far for only one evening. Mind, Cecilia, you're not to
+have Bob here while I'm away. When I come back, if I'm satisfied with
+you, I'll see about asking him again.”
+
+“That is very good of you,” said the girl slowly.
+
+“Well, that's all right--you hurry and get ready; there's always a
+chance they may have sold out, because it was a bargain line, and if
+they have you'll have to try other places. I don't know what on earth
+I'll do if you can't match it.” She turned to go, and then hesitated. “I
+was thinking you might take Avice with you--but you'll get about quicker
+alone, and she isn't ready. The tubes and buses are that crowded it's
+no catch to take a child about with you.” In moments of excitement
+Mrs. Rainham's English was apt to slip from her. At other times
+she cultivated it carefully, assisted by a dramatic class, which an
+enthusiastic maiden lady, with leanings towards the stage, conducted
+each winter among neighbouring kindred souls.
+
+Cecilia had caught her breath in alarm, but she breathed a sigh of
+relief as the stout, over-dressed figure went down the narrow stairs,
+with a final injunction to hurry. There was, indeed, no need to give
+Cecilia that particular command. She scribbled one word, “Coming,” on
+Bob's note, thrust it into an envelope and addressed it hastily, and
+then tapped on the wall between the servants' room and her own.
+
+Eliza appeared with the swiftness of a Jack-in-the-box, full of
+suppressed excitement.
+
+“Lor! I fought she was never goin',” she breathed. “Got it ready, Miss?
+The boy'll fink I've gorn an' eloped wiv it.” She took the envelope and
+pattered swiftly downstairs.
+
+A very few moments saw Cecilia flying in her wake--to Balding's first,
+as quickly as tube and motor-bus could combine to take her, since
+she dared not breathe freely until Mrs. Rainham's commission had been
+settled. Balding's had never seemed so huge and so complicated, and when
+she at length made her way to the right department the suave assistant
+regretted that the trimming was sold out. It was Cecilia's face of blank
+dismay that made him suddenly remember that there was possibly an odd
+length somewhere, and a search revealed it, put away in a box of odds
+and ends. Cecilia's thanks were so heartfelt that the assistant was
+mildly surprised.
+
+“For she don't seem the sort to wear ghastly stuff like that,” he
+pondered, glancing after the pretty figure in the well-cut coat and
+skirt.
+
+Outside the great shop Cecilia glanced up and caught the eye of a
+taxi-driver who had just set down a fare.
+
+“I'll be extravagant for once,” she thought. She beckoned to the man,
+and in a moment was whirring through the streets in the peculiar comfort
+a motor gives to anyone in a hurry in London--since it can take
+direct routes instead of following the roundabout methods of buses and
+underground railways. She leaned back, closing her eyes. If this summons
+to Bob indeed meant that their sailing orders had come, she would need
+all her wits and her coolness. For the first time she realized what her
+stepmother's absence from home might mean--a thousandfold less plotting
+and planning, and no risk of a horrible scene at the end. Cecilia
+loathed scenes; they had not existed in Aunt Margaret's scheme of
+existence. Since Bob's plans had become at all definite, she had looked
+forward with dread to a final collision with Mrs. Rainham--it was untold
+relief to know that it might not come.
+
+She hurried up the steps of Mr. M'Clinton's office. The alert office
+boy--who had been Bob's messenger to Lancaster Gate--met her.
+
+“You're to go straight in, miss. The Captain's there.”
+
+Bob was in the inner sanctum with Mr. M'Clinton. They rose to meet her.
+
+“Well--are you ready, young lady?” the old man asked.
+
+“Is it--are we to sail soon?”
+
+“Next Saturday--and this is Monday. Can you manage it, Tommy?” Bob's
+eyes were dancing with excitement.
+
+“Oh, Bobby--truly?” She caught at his coat sleeve. “When did you hear?”
+
+“I had a wire from General Harran this morning. A jolly good ship, too,
+Tommy; one of the big Australian liners--the Nauru. You're all ready,
+aren't you?”
+
+“Oh, yes. And there's the most tremendous piece of luck, Bobby--Mrs.
+Rainham's going away on Wednesday!”
+
+“Going away! How more than tactful!” ejaculated Bob. “Where is she
+going?”
+
+“To Liverpool.”
+
+“Liverpool? Oh, by Jove!” Bob ended on a low whistle, while his face
+assumed a comical expression of dismay. He turned to the lawyer. “Did
+you ever hear of anything so queer?”
+
+“Queer? Why?” demanded Cecilia.
+
+“Well, it looks as if she wanted to see the last of you, that's all. The
+Nauru sails from Liverpool.”
+
+“Bobby!” Cecilia's face fell. “I thought we went from Gravesend or
+Tilbury, or somewhere.”
+
+“So did I. But the General's wire says Liverpool, so it seems we don't,”
+ said Bob. “And that she-dragon is going there too!”
+
+“I don't think you need really worry,” Mr. M'Clinton said drily.
+“Liverpool is not exactly a village. The chances are that if you went
+there, trying to meet some one, you would hunt for him for a week in
+vain. And you'll probably go straight from the train to the docks, so
+that you won't be in the least likely to encounter Mrs. Rainham.”
+
+“Why, of course, we'd never run into her in a huge place like
+Liverpool,” Bob said, laughing. “Don't be afraid, Tommy--you'll have
+seen the last of her when you say good-bye on Wednesday.”
+
+“It seems too good to be true,” said Cecilia solemnly. “I remember how
+I felt once before, when she went away to visit her sister in Liverpool;
+the beautiful relief when one woke, to think that not all through the
+day would one even have to look at her. It's really very terrible to
+look at her often; her white face and hard eyes seem to fascinate one.
+Oh, I don't suppose I ought to talk like that, especially here.” She
+looked shamefacedly at Mr. M'Clinton, and blushed scarlet.
+
+Both men laughed.
+
+“The good lady had something of the same effect on me,” Mr. M'Clinton
+admitted. “I found her a very terrible person. Cheer up, Miss Tommy,
+you've nearly finished with her. And, now, what about getting you away?”
+
+Cecilia turned to her brother.
+
+“What am I to do, Bob?”
+
+“We'll have to go to Liverpool on Friday,” Bob replied promptly. “I
+can't find out the Nauru's sailing time, and it isn't safe to leave it
+until Saturday. There's a train somewhere about two o'clock that gets up
+somewhere about seven or eight that evening. Mr. M'Clinton and I don't
+want to leave it to the last moment to get your luggage away from
+Lancaster Gate. Can you have it ready the night before?”
+
+“It would really be safer to take it in the afternoon,” Cecilia said
+after a moment's thought. “Mrs. Rainham's absence will make that quite
+easy, for I know I can depend upon Eliza and Cook. I can get my trunks
+ready, leave them in my room, and tell Eliza you will be there to call
+for them, say, at four o'clock. Then I take the three children out for a
+walk, and when we return everything is gone. Will that do?”
+
+“Perfectly,” said Bob, laughing. “And four o'clock suits me all right.
+Then you'll saunter out on Friday morning with an inoffensive brown
+paper parcel containing the rest of your worldly effects, and meet me
+for lunch at the Euston Hotel. Is that clear?”
+
+“Quite. I suppose I had better put no address on my trunks?”
+
+“Not a line--I'll see to that. And don't even mention the word
+'Australia' this week, just in case your eye dances unconsciously, and
+sets people thinking! I think you'd better cultivate a downtrodden look,
+at any rate until Mrs Rainham is out of the house; at present you look
+far too cheerful to be natural--doesn't she, sir?”
+
+“You have to see to it that she does not look downtrodden again, after
+this week,” said Mr. M'Clinton. “Remember that, Captain--she's going a
+long way, and she'll have no one but you.”
+
+“I know, sir. But, bless you, it's me that will look downtrodden,” said
+Bob with a grin. “She bullies me horribly--always did.” He slipped his
+hand through her arm, and they looked up at him with such radiant faces
+that the old man smiled involuntarily.
+
+“Ah, I think you'll be all right,” he said. “Remember, Miss Tommy, I'll
+expect to hear from you--fairly often, too. I shall not say good-bye
+now--you'll see me on Friday at luncheon.”
+
+They found themselves down in the grey precincts of Lincoln's Inn,
+which, it may be, had rarely seen two young things prancing along so
+dementedly. In the street they had to sober down, to outward seeming;
+but there was still something about them, as they hurried off to find a
+teashop to discuss final details, that made people turn to look at
+them. Even the waitress beamed on them, and supplied them with her
+best cakes--and London waitresses are a bored race. But at the moment,
+neither Cecilia nor Bob could have told you whether they were eating
+cakes or sausages.
+
+“The money is all right,” Bob said. “It'll be available at a Melbourne
+bank when we get there; and meanwhile, there's plenty of ready money,
+with what I've saved and my war gratuity. So if you want anything,
+Tommy, you just say so, and don't go without any pretties just because
+you think we'll be in the workhouse.”
+
+“Bless you--but I don't really need anything,” she told him gratefully.
+“It would be nice to have a little money to spend at the ports, but I
+think we ought to keep the rest for Australia, don't you, Bob?”
+
+“Oh, yes, of course; but you're not to go without a few pounds if you
+want 'em,” said Bob. “And, Tommy, don't leave meeting me on Friday until
+lunch time. I'll be worrying if you do, just in case things may have
+gone wrong. Make it eleven o'clock at the Bond Street tube exit, and if
+you're not there in half an hour I'll jolly well go and fetch you.”
+
+“I'll be there,” Cecilia nodded. “You had better give me the half-hour's
+grace, though, in case I might be held up at the last moment. One never
+knows--and Avice and Wilfred are excellent little watchdogs.”
+
+“Anyhow, you won't have the she-dragon to reckon with, and that's a
+big thing,” Bob said. “I don't see how you can have any trouble--Papa
+certainly will not give you any.”
+
+“No, he won't bother,” said Cecilia slowly. “It's queer to think how
+little he counts--our own father.”
+
+“A pretty shoddy apology for one, I think,” Bob said bitterly. “What has
+he ever done for us? But I'd forgive him that when I can't forgive him
+something else--the way he has let you be treated these two years.”
+
+“He hasn't known everything, Bobby.”
+
+“He has known quite enough. And if he had the spirit of a man he'd have
+saved you from it. No; we don't owe him any consideration, Tommy; and
+he saw to it years ago that we should never owe him any affection. So
+we really needn't worry our heads about him. By the way, there are to be
+some Australians on the Nauru who General Harran says may be of use to
+us--I don't remember their names, but he's going to give me a letter
+to them. And probably there will be some other flying people whom I may
+know. I think the voyage ought to be rather good fun.”
+
+“I think so, too. It will be exciting to be on a troopship,” Cecilia
+said. “But, then, anything will be heavenly after Lancaster Gate!”
+
+She hurried home, as soon as the little meal was over, knowing that
+Mrs. Rainham would be impatiently awaiting her. Luckily, her success in
+matching the trimming made her stepmother forget how long she had been
+away; and from that moment until a welcome four-wheeler removed the
+mistress of the house on Wednesday, she sewed and packed for her
+unceasingly. Her journey excited Mrs. Rainham greatly. She talked
+almost affably of her sister's grandeur, and of the certainty of meeting
+wealthy and gorgeously dressed people at her party.
+
+“Not that I'll be at all ashamed of my dress,” she added, looking at
+the billowy waves on which Cecilia was plastering yet more trimming.
+“Unusual and artistic, that's what it is; and it'll show off my hair.
+Don't forget the darning when I'm gone, Cecilia. There's a tablecloth to
+mend, as well as the stockings. I'll be home on Saturday night, unless
+they persuade me to stay over the week-end.”
+
+Cecilia nodded, sewing busily.
+
+“And just see if you can't get on a bit better with the children. You've
+got to make allowances for their high spirits, and treat them tactfully.
+Of course you can't expect them to be as obedient to you as they would
+be to a regular governess, you being their own half-sister, and not so
+much older than Avice, after all. But tact does wonders, especially with
+children.”
+
+“Yes,” said Cecilia, and said no more.
+
+“Well, just bear it in mind. I don't suppose you'll see much of your
+father, so you needn't worry about him. But don't let Eliza gossip and
+idle; she never does any work if she's not kept up to it, and you know
+you're much too familiar with her. Always keep girls like her at a
+distance, and they'll work all the better, that's what I say. Treat her
+as an equal, and the next thing you know she'll be trying on your hats!”
+
+“I haven't caught Eliza at that yet,” said Cecilia with the ghost of a
+smile.
+
+“It'll come, though, if you're not more stand-offish with her--you mark
+my words. Keep them in their place--that's what I always do with my
+servants and governesses,” said Mrs. Rainham without the slightest idea
+that she was saying anything peculiar. “Now, I'll go and put my things
+out on my bed, and as soon as you've finished that you can come up and
+pack for me.”
+
+Cecilia stood at the hall door that afternoon to watch her go--bustling
+into the cab, with loud directions to the cabman, her hard face full of
+self-importance and satisfaction. The plump hand waved a highly scented
+handkerchief as the clumsy four-wheeler moved off.
+
+“To think I'll never see you again!” breathed the girl. “It seems too
+good to be true!”
+
+A kind of wave of relief seemed to have descended upon the house. The
+children were openly exulting in having no one to obey; an attitude
+which, in the circumstances, failed to trouble their half-sister. Eliza
+went about her work with a cheery face; even Cook, down in the basement,
+manifested lightness of heart by singing love songs in a cracked soprano
+and by making scones for afternoon tea. Mark Rainham did not come home
+until late--he had announced his intention of dining at his club. Late
+in the evening he sauntered into the dining-room, where Cecilia sat
+sewing.
+
+“Still at it?” he asked. He sat down and poked the fire. “What are you
+sewing?”
+
+“Just darning,” Cecilia told him.
+
+He sat looking at her for a while--at the pretty face and the
+well-tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull
+brain?
+
+“You look a bit pale,” he said at last. “Do you go out enough?”
+
+“Oh, yes, I think so,” Cecilia answered in astonishment. Not in two
+years had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her to a
+sudden resolve. She had never been quite satisfied to leave him without
+a word; whatever he was, he was still her father. She put her darning on
+her knee, and looked at him gravely.
+
+“You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?”
+
+“Yes--he told me so,” Mark Rainham answered.
+
+“And you know he wants to take me away?”
+
+Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.
+
+“Oh, yes--but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid. You're under age, and
+your stepmother won't hear of it.” He poked the fire savagely.
+
+“But if Bob could make a home for me! We have always been together, you
+know, Papa.”
+
+“Oh, well--wait and see. Time enough when you're twenty-one, and your
+own mistress; Bob will have had a chance to make good by then. I--I
+can't oppose my wife in the matter--she says she's not strong enough to
+do without your help.”
+
+“But she never seems satisfied with me.”
+
+Mark Rainham rose with an irritably nervous movement.
+
+“Oh, no one is ever perfect. I suspect, if each of you went a little
+way to meet the other, things would be better. Your stepmother says her
+nerves are all wrong, and I'm sure you do take a great deal of trouble
+off her shoulders.”
+
+“Then you won't let me go?” The girl's low voice was relentless, and
+her father wriggled as though he were a beetle and she were pinning him
+down.
+
+“I--I'm afraid it's out of the question, Cecilia. I should have to be
+very satisfied first that Bob could offer you a home--and by that time
+he'll probably be thinking of getting married, and won't want you. Why
+can't you settle down comfortably to living at home?”
+
+“There isn't any home for me apart from Bob,” said the girl.
+
+“Well, I can't help it.” Mark Rainham's voice had a hopeless tone. He
+walked to the door, and then half turned. “If you can make my wife agree
+to your going, I won't forbid it. Good night.”
+
+“Good night,” said Cecilia. The slow footsteps went up the stairs, and
+she turned to her darning with a lip that curled in scorn.
+
+“Well, that let's me out. I don't owe you anything--not even a good-bye
+note on my pincushion,” she said presently; and laughed a little. She
+folded a finished pair of socks deliberately, and, rising, stretched
+her arms luxuriously above her head. “Two more days,” she whispered. She
+switched off the light, and crept noiselessly upstairs.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE WATCH DOGS
+
+
+“Well, if you ask me, she's up to something,” said Avice with
+conviction.
+
+“How d'you mean?” Wilfred looked up curiously.
+
+“Lots of things. She looks all different. First of all--look how red she
+is all the time, and the excited look in her eyes.”
+
+“That's all look--look!” jeered her brother. “Girls always have those
+rotten ideas about nothing at all. Just because Cecilia's got a bit
+sunburnt, and because she's havin' an easy time 'cause Mater's away--”
+
+“Oh, you think because you're a boy, you know everything,” retorted his
+sister hotly. “You just listen, and see if I've got rotten ideas. Did
+you know, she's kept her room locked for days?”
+
+“Well--if she has? That's nothing.”
+
+“You shut up and let me go on. Yesterday she forgot, and left it open
+while she was down talking to Cook, and I slipped in. And there was
+one of her great big trunks, that she always keeps in the box room,
+half-packed with her things. I nicked this necklace out of it, too,”
+ said Avice with triumph, producing a quaint string of Italian beads.
+
+“Good business,” said Wilfred with an appreciative grin. “Did she catch
+you?”
+
+“Not she--I can tell you I didn't wait long, 'cause she always comes
+upstairs as quick as lightning. She did come, too, in an awful hurry,
+and locked up the room--I only got out of the way just in time. And
+every minute she could, yesterday, she was up there.”
+
+“Well, I don't see much in that.”
+
+“No, but look here, I got another chance of looking into her room this
+morning, and that trunk was gone!”
+
+“Gone back to the box-room,” said Wilfred with superiority.
+
+“No, it wasn't--I went up and looked. And her other trunk's not there,
+either.”
+
+“Oh, you're dreaming! I bet she'd just pushed it under her bed.”
+
+“Pooh!” said Avice. “That great big trunk wouldn't go under her bed--you
+know she's only got a little stretcher-bed. And I tell you they'd both
+gone. I bet you anything she's going to run away.”
+
+“Where'd she run to?”
+
+“Oh, somewhere with Bob.”
+
+“Well, let her go.”
+
+“Yes, and Mater 'd have to spend ever so much on a new governess; and
+most likely she'd be a worse beast than Cecilia. And no governess we
+ever had did half the things Mater makes Cecilia do to help in the
+house. Why she's like an extra servant, as well as a governess. Mater
+told me all about it. I tell you what, Wilfred, it's our business to see
+she doesn't run away.”
+
+“All right,” said Wilfred, “I suppose we'd better watch out. When do you
+reckon she'd go? People generally run away at night, don't they?”
+
+“Well, anyone can see she's just taking advantage of Mater being away.
+Yes, of course she'd go at night. She might have sent her boxes away
+yesterday by a carrier--I bet that horrid little Eliza would help her.
+Ten to one she means to sneak out to-night--she knows Mater will be home
+to-morrow.”
+
+“What a sell it will be for her if we catch her!” said Wilfred with
+glee. “I say, what about telling Pater?”
+
+Avice looked sour.
+
+“I did tell him something yesterday, and he only growled at me. At
+least, I said, 'Do you think Cecilia would ever be likely to run away?'
+And he just stared at me, and then he said, 'Not your business if she
+does.' So I'm not going to speak to him again.”
+
+“Well, we'd better take it in turns to watch her,” Wilfred said. “After
+dark's the most likely time, I suppose, but we'd better be on the
+look-out all the time. Where's she now, by the way?”
+
+“Why, I don't know. I say, she's been away a long time--I never
+noticed,” said Avice, in sudden alarm. “She said we were to go on with
+our French exercises--and that's ages ago.”
+
+“Come on and see,” said Wilfred jumping up.
+
+Outside the room he caught Avice by the arm.
+
+“Kick off your shoes,” he said. “We'll sneak up to her room.”
+
+They crept up silently. The door of Cecilia's room was ajar. Peeping in,
+they saw her standing before her tiny looking-glass, pinning on her
+hat. A small parcel lay upon her bed, with her gloves and parasol. The
+children were very silent--but something struck upon the girl's tightly
+strung nerves. She turned swiftly and saw them.
+
+“What are you doing?” she demanded. “How dare you come into my room?”
+
+“Why, we thought you were lost,” said Avice. “We finished our French
+ages ago. Where are you going?”
+
+“I am going out,” said Cecilia. “I'll set you more work to do while I'm
+away.”
+
+“But where are you going?”
+
+“That has nothing to do with you. Come down to the schoolroom.”
+
+Avice held her brother firmly by the arm. Together they blocked the way.
+
+“Mater wouldn't let you go out in lesson time. I believe you're going to
+run away!”
+
+A red spot flamed in each of Cecilia's white cheeks.
+
+“Stand out of my way, you little horrors!” she said angrily. She caught
+up her things and advanced upon them.
+
+“I'm hanged if you're going,” said Wilfred doggedly. He pushed her back
+violently, and slammed the door.
+
+The attic doors in Lancaster Gate, like those of many London houses,
+were fitted with heavy iron bolts on the outside--a precaution against
+burglars who might enter the house by rooms ordinarily little used. It
+was not the first time that Cecilia had been bolted into her room by her
+step-brother. When first she came, it had been a favourite pastime to
+make her a prisoner--until their mother had made it an offence carrying
+a heavy penalty, since it had often occurred that Cecilia was locked up
+when she happened to need her.
+
+But this time Cecilia heard the heavy bolt shoot home with feelings of
+despair. It was already time for her to leave the house. Bob would
+be waiting for her in Bond Street, impatiently scanning each crowd of
+passengers that the lift shot up from underground. She battered at the
+door wildly.
+
+“Let me out! How dare you, Wilfred? Let me out at once!”
+
+Wilfred laughed disagreeably.
+
+“Not if we know it--eh, Avice?”
+
+“Rather not,” said Avice. “What d'you think Mater'd say to us if we let
+you run away?”
+
+“Nonsense!” said Cecilia, controlling her voice with difficulty. “I was
+going to meet Bob.”
+
+There was silence, and a whispered consultation. Then Avice spoke.
+
+“Will you give us your word of honour you weren't going to run away?”
+
+Words of honour meant little to the young Rainhams. But they knew that
+Cecilia held it as a commonplace of decent behaviour that people did not
+tell lies. They had, indeed, often marvelled that she preferred to “take
+her gruel” rather than use any ready untruth that would have shielded
+her from their mother's wrath. Avice and Wilfred had no such scruples on
+their own account: but they knew that they could depend upon Cecilia's
+word. They were, indeed, just a little afraid of their own action in
+locking her up; their mother might have condoned it as “high spirits,”
+ but their father was not unlikely to take a different view. So they
+awaited her reply with some anxiety.
+
+Cecilia hesitated. Never in her life had she been so tempted. Perhaps
+because the temptation was so strong she answered swiftly.
+
+“No--I won't tell you anything of the kind. But look here--if you will
+let me out I'll give you each ten shillings.”
+
+Ten shillings! It was wealth, and the children gasped. Wilfred, indeed,
+would have shot back the bolt instantly. It was Avice who caught at his
+arm.
+
+“Don't you!” she whispered. “It'll cost heaps more than that to get
+a new governess--and we'll make Mater give us each ten shillings for
+keeping her. I say, we'll have to get the Pater home.”
+
+“How?” Wilfred looked at her blankly.
+
+“Easy. You go to the post office and telephone to him at his office.
+Tell him to come at once. I'll watch here, in case Eliza lets her out.
+Run--hard as you can. Mater'll never forgive us if she gets away.”
+
+Wilfred clattered off obediently, awed by his sister's urgency. Avice
+sat down on the head of the stairs, close to the bolted door; and when
+Cecilia spoke again, repeating her offer, she answered her in a voice
+unpleasantly like her mother's:
+
+“No, you don't, my fine lady. Wilfred's gone for the Pater--he'll be
+here presently. You just stay there quietly till he comes.”
+
+“Avice!” The word was a wail. “Oh, you don't know how important it
+is--let me out. I'll give you anything in the world.”
+
+“So'll Mater if I stop your little game,” said Avice. “You just keep
+quiet.”
+
+Eliza's sharp little face appeared at the foot of the flight of stairs.
+
+“Wot's up, Miss Avice? Anyfink wrong with Miss 'Cilia?”
+
+“Nothing to do with you,” said Avice rudely. “I'm looking after her.”
+ But Cecilia's sharp ears had caught the new voice.
+
+“Eliza! Eliza!” she called.
+
+The girl came up the stairs uncertainly. Avice rose to confront her.
+
+“Now, you just keep off,” she said. “You're not coming past here. The
+master'll be home directly, and till he comes, no one's going up
+these stairs.” She raised her voice, to drown that of Cecilia, who was
+speaking again.
+
+Eliza looked at her doubtfully. She was an undersized, wizened little
+Cockney, and Avice was a big, stoutly-built girl--who held, moreover,
+the advantage of a commanding position on the top step. In an encounter
+of strength there was little doubt as to who would win. She turned
+in silence, cowed, and went down to the kitchen, while Avice sang a
+triumphant song, partly as a chant of victory, and partly to make sure
+that no one would hear the remarks that Cecilia was steadily making. She
+herself had caught one phrase--“Tell my brother”--and her sharp little
+mind was busy. Did that mean that Bob would be coming, against its
+mistress's orders, to Lancaster Gate.
+
+In the kitchen Eliza poured out a frantic appeal to Cook.
+
+“She's got Miss 'Cilia locked up--the little red-'eaded cat! An' Master
+Wilfred gorn to fetch the Master! Oh, come on, Cookie darlin', an' we'll
+let 'er out.”
+
+Cook shook her head slowly.
+
+“Not good enough,” she said. “I got a pretty good place. I ain't goin'
+to risk it by 'avin' a rough-an'-tumble with the daughter of the 'ouse
+on the hattic stairs. You better leave well alone, Liza. You done your
+bit, 'elpin' 'er git them trunks orf yes'day.”
+
+“Wot's the good of 'avin the trunks off if she can't go, too?” demanded
+Eliza.
+
+“Oh, she'll git another chance. Don't worry your 'ead so much over other
+people's business. If the Master comes 'ome an' finds us scruffin' 'is
+daughter, 'e'll 'and us both over to the police for assault--an' then
+you'll 'ave cause for worry. Now you git along like a good gel--I got to
+mike pastry.” Cook turned away decisively.
+
+Wilfred had come home and had raced up the stairs.
+
+“Did you get him?” Avice cried.
+
+“No--he was out. So I left a message that he was to come home at once,
+'cause something was wrong.”
+
+“That'll bring him,” said Avice with satisfaction. “Now, look here,
+Wilf--I believe Bob may come. You go and be near the front door, to
+block Eliza, if he does. Answer any ring.”
+
+“What'll I say if he comes?”
+
+“Say she's gone out to meet him--if he thinks that, he'll hurry back to
+wherever they were to meet. Don't give him a chance to get in. Hurry!”
+
+“Right,” said Wilfred, obeying. He sat down in a hall chair, and took
+up a paper, with an eye wary for Eliza. Half an hour passed tediously,
+while upstairs Cecilia begged and bribed in vain. Then he sprang to his
+feet as a ring came.
+
+Bob was at the door; and suddenly Wilfred realized that he had always
+been afraid of Bob. He quailed inwardly, for never had he seen his
+half-brother look as he did now--with a kind of still, terrible anger in
+his eyes.
+
+“Where's Cecilia?”
+
+“Gone out,” said the boy.
+
+“Where?”
+
+“Gone to meet you.”
+
+“Did she tell you so?”
+
+“Yes, of course--how'd I know if she didn't?”
+
+“Then that's a lie, for she wouldn't tell you. Let me in.”
+
+“I tell you, she's gone out,” said Wilfred, whose only spark of
+remaining courage was due to the fact that he had prudently kept the
+door on the chain. “And Mater said you weren't to come in here.”
+
+From the area below a shrill voice floated upwards.
+
+“Mr. Bob! Mr. Bob! Daon't you believe 'im. They got Miss 'Cilia locked
+up in 'er room.”
+
+“By Jove!” said Bob between his teeth. “Bless you, Eliza! Open that
+door, Wilfred, or I'll make it hot for you.” He thrust a foot into the
+opening, with a face so threatening that Wilfred shrank back.
+
+“I shan't,” he said. “You're not going to get her.”
+
+“Am I not?” said Bob. He leaned back, and then suddenly flung all his
+weight against the door. The chain was old and the links eaten with
+rust--it snapped like a carrot, and the door flew open. Bob brushed
+Wilfred out of his way, and went upstairs, three at a time.
+
+Avice blocked his path.
+
+“You aren't coming up.”
+
+“Oh, yes, I think so,” Bob said. He stooped, with a quick movement,
+and picked her up, holding her across his shoulder, while she beat and
+clawed unavailingly at his back. So holding her, he thrust back the bolt
+of Cecilia's door and flung it open.
+
+“Did you think they had got you, Tommy?”
+
+She could only cling to his free arm for a moment speechless. Then she
+lifted her face, her voice shaking, still in fear.
+
+“We must hurry, Bob. They've sent for Papa.”
+
+“Have they?” said Bob, with interest. “Well, not a regiment of papas
+should stop you now, old girl. Got everything?”
+
+Cecilia gathered up her things, nodding.
+
+“Then we'll leave this young lady here,” said Bob. He placed Avice
+carefully on Cecilia's bed, and made for the door, having the pleasure,
+as he shot the bolt, of hearing precisely what the younger Miss
+Rainham thought of him and all his attributes, including his personal
+appearance.
+
+“A nice gift of language, hasn't she?” he said. “Inherits it from
+her mamma, I should think.” He put his arm round Cecilia and held her
+closely as they went downstairs, his face full of the joy of battle.
+Wilfred was nowhere to be seen, but by the door Eliza waited. Bob
+slipped something into her hand.
+
+“I expect you'll lose your place over this, Eliza,” he said. “Well,
+you'll get a better--I'll tell my lawyer to see to that. He'll write to
+you--by the way, what's your surname? Oh, Smithers--I'll remember. And
+thank you very much.”
+
+They shook hands with her, and passed out into the street. Cecilia was
+still too shaken to speak--but as Bob pulled her hand through his arm
+and hurried her along, her self-control returned, and the face that
+looked up at his presently was absolutely content. Bob returned the look
+with a little smile.
+
+“Didn't you know I'd come?” he asked. “You dear old stupid.”
+
+“I knew you'd come--but I thought Papa would get there first,” Cecilia
+answered. “Somehow, it seemed the end of everything.”
+
+“It isn't--it's only the beginning,” Bob answered.
+
+There was a narrow side street that made a short cut from the tube
+station to the Rainhams' home; and as they passed it Mark Rainham came
+hurrying up it. Bob and Cecilia did not see him. He looked at them for
+a moment, as if reading the meaning of the two happy faces--and then
+shrank back into an alley and remained hidden until his son and daughter
+had passed out of sight. They went on their way, without dreaming that
+the man they dreaded was within a stone's throw of them.
+
+“So it was that,” said Mark Rainham slowly, looking after them. “Out of
+gaol, are you--poor little prisoner! Well, good luck to you both!” He
+turned on his heel, and went back to his office.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+
+“We're nearly in, Tommy.”
+
+Cecilia looked up from her corner with a start, and the book she had
+been trying to read slipped to the floor of the carriage.
+
+“I believe you were asleep,” said Bob, laughing. “Poor old Tommy, are
+you very tired?”
+
+“Oh, nothing, really. Only I was getting a bit sleepy,” his sister
+answered. “Are we late, Bob?”
+
+“Very, the conductor says. This train generally makes a point of being
+late. I wish it had made a struggle to be on time to-night; it would
+have been jolly to get to the ship in daylight.” Bob was strapping up
+rugs briskly as he talked.
+
+“How do we get down to the ship, Bob?”
+
+“Oh, no doubt there'll be taxis,” Bob answered. “But it may be no end of
+a drive--the conductor tells me there are miles and miles of docks, and
+the Nauru may be lying anywhere. But he says there's always a military
+official on duty at the station--a transport officer, and he'll be able
+to tell me everything.” He did not think it worth while to tell the
+tired little sister what another man had told him, that it was very
+doubtful whether they would be allowed to board any transport at night,
+and that Liverpool was so crowded that to find beds in it might be an
+impossibility. Bob refused to be depressed by the prospect. “If the
+worst came to the worst, there'd be a Y.W.C.A. that would take in
+Tommy,” he mused. “And it wouldn't be the first time I've spent a night
+in the open.” Nothing seemed to matter now that they had escaped. But,
+all the same, there seemed no point in telling Tommy, who was extremely
+cheerful, but also very white-faced.
+
+They drew into an enormous station, where there seemed a dense crowd
+of people, but no porters at all. Bob piled their hand luggage on
+the platform, and left Cecilia to guard it while he went on a tour of
+discovery. He hurried back to her presently.
+
+“Come on,” he said, gathering up their possessions. “There's a big
+station hotel opening on to the platforms. I can leave you sitting in
+the vestibule while I gather up the heavy luggage and find the transport
+officer. I'm afraid it's going to take some time, so don't get worried
+if I don't turn up very soon. There seem to be about fifty thousand
+people struggling round the luggage vans, and I'll have to wait my turn.
+But I'll be as quick as I can.”
+
+“Don't you worry on my account,” Cecilia said. “This is ever so
+comfortable. I don't mind how long you're away!” She laughed up at him,
+sinking into a big chair in the vestibule of the hotel. There were heavy
+glass doors on either side that were constantly swinging to let people
+in or out; through them could be seen the hurrying throng of people
+on the station, rushing to and fro under the great electric lights,
+gathered round the bookstall, struggling along under luggage, or--very
+occasionally--moving in the wake of a porter with a barrow heaped with
+trunks. There were soldiers everywhere, British and Australian, and
+officers in every variety of Allied uniform.
+
+An officer came in with a lady and two tiny boys--Cecilia recognized
+them as having been passengers on their train. With them came an old
+Irish priest, who had met them, and the officer left them in his
+care while he also went off on the luggage quest. The small boys were
+apparently untired by their journey; they immediately began to use the
+swinging glass doors as playthings to the imminent risk of their own
+necks, since they were too little to be noticed by anyone coming in
+or out, and were nearly knocked flat a dozen times by the swing of the
+doors. The weary mother spent a busy time in rescuing them, and was not
+always entirely successful--bumps and howls testified to the doors being
+occasionally quicker than the boys. Finally, the old priest gathered
+up the elder, a curly-haired, slender mite, into his arms and told him
+stories, while his plump and solemn brother curled up on his mother's
+knee and dozed. It was clearly long after their bed-time.
+
+The procession of people came and went unceasingly, the glass doors
+always aswing. In and out, in and out, men and women hurried, and just
+beyond the kaleidoscope of the platforms moved and changed restlessly
+under the glaring arc lights. Cecilia's bewildered mind grew weary of it
+all, and she closed her eyes. It was some time later that she woke with
+a start, to find Bob beside her.
+
+“Sleepy old thing,” he said. “Oh, I've had such a wild time, Tommy; to
+get information of any kind is as hard as to get one's luggage. However,
+I've got both. And the first thing is we can't go on board to-night.”
+
+“Bob! What shall we do?”
+
+“I was rather anxious about that same thing myself,” said Bob, “since
+everyone tells me that Liverpool is more jammed with people than even
+London--which is saying something. However, we've had luck. I went to
+ask in here, never imagining I had the ghost of a chance, and they'd
+just had telegrams giving up two rooms. So we're quite all right; and so
+is the luggage. I've had all the heavy stuff handed over to a carrier to
+be put on the Nauru to-morrow morning.”
+
+“You're the great manager,” said Cecilia comfortably. “Where is the
+Nauru, by the way?”
+
+“Sitting out in the river, the transport officer says. She doesn't come
+alongside until the morning; and we haven't to be on board until three
+o'clock. She's supposed to pull out about six. So we really needn't have
+left London to-day--but I think it's as well we did.”
+
+“Yes, indeed,” said Cecilia, with a shiver. “I don't think I could have
+stood another night in Lancaster Gate. I've been awake for three nights
+wondering what we should do if any hitch came in our plans.”
+
+“Just like a woman!” said Bob, laughing. “You always jump over your
+hedges before you come to them.” He pulled her gently out of her chair.
+“Come along; I'll have these things sent up to our rooms, and then we'll
+get some dinner--after which you'll go to bed.” It was a plan which
+sounded supremely attractive to his sister.
+
+Not even the roar and rattle of the trains under the station hotel kept
+Cecilia awake that night. She slept, dreamlessly at first; then she had
+a dream that she was just about to embark in a great ship for Australia;
+that she was going up the gangway, when suddenly behind her came her
+father and her stepmother, with Avice, Wilfred and Queenie, who all
+seized her, and began to drag her back. She fought and struggled with
+them, and from the top of the gangway came Mr. M'Clinton and Eliza, who
+tugged her upwards. Between the two parties she was beginning to think
+she would be torn to pieces, when suddenly came swooping from the clouds
+an areoplane, curiously like a wheelbarrow, and in it Bob, who leaned
+out as he dived, grasped her by the hair, and swung her aboard with him.
+They whirred away over the sea; where, she did not know, but it did not
+seem greatly to matter. They were still flying between sea and sky when
+she woke, to find the sunlight streaming into her room, and some one
+knocking at her door.
+
+“Are you awake, Tommy?” It was Bob's voice. “Lie still, and I'll send
+you up a cup of tea.”
+
+That was very pleasant, and a happy contrast to awakening in Lancaster
+Gate; and breakfast a little later was delightful, in a big sunny room,
+with interesting people coming and going all the time. Bob and Cecilia
+smiled at each other like two happy children. It was almost unbelievable
+that they were free; away from tryanny and coldness, with no more
+plotting and planning, and no more prying eyes.
+
+Bob went off to interview the transport officer after breakfast, and
+Cecilia found the officer's wife with the two little boys struggling to
+attend to her luggage, while the children ran away and lost themselves
+in the corridors or endeavoured to commit suicide by means of the lift.
+So Cecilia took command of them and played with them until the harassed
+mother had finished, and came to reclaim her offspring--this time with
+the worry lines smoothed out of her face. She sat down by Cecilia and
+talked, and presently it appeared that she also was sailing in the
+Nauru.
+
+“Indeed, I thought it was only wives who were going,” she said. “I
+didn't know sisters were permitted.”
+
+“I believe General Harran managed our passages,” Cecilia said. “He has
+been very kind to my brother.”
+
+“Well, you should have a merry voyage, for there will be scarcely any
+young girls on board,” said Mrs. Burton, her new friend. “Most of the
+women on the transports are brides, of course. Ever so many of our men
+have married over here.”
+
+“You are an Australian?” Cecilia asked.
+
+“Oh, yes. My husband isn't. He was an old regular officer, and returned
+to his regiment as soon as war broke out. I don't think there will be
+many women on board: the Nauru isn't a family ship, you know.”
+
+“What is that?” Cecilia queried.
+
+“Oh, a ship with hundreds of women and children--privates' wives and
+families, as well as officers'. I believe they are rather awful to
+travel on--they must be terrible in rough weather. The non-family ships
+carry only a few officers' wives, as a rule: a much more comfortable
+arrangement for the lucky few.”
+
+“And we are among the lucky few?”
+
+“Yes. I only hope my small boys won't be a nuisance. I've never been
+without a nurse for them until last night. However, I suppose I'll soon
+get into their ways.”
+
+“You must let me help you,” Cecilia said. “I love babies.” She stroked
+Tim's curly head as she spoke: Dickie, his little brother, had suddenly
+fallen asleep on his mother's knee.
+
+Mrs. Burton smiled her thanks.
+
+“Well, it is pleasant to think we shan't go on board knowing no one,”
+ she said. “I hope our cabins are not far apart. Oh, here is my husband;
+I hope that means all our luggage is safely on board.”
+
+Colonel Burton came up--a pleasant soldierly man, bearing the
+unmistakable stamp of the regular officer. They were still chatting
+when Bob arrived, to be introduced--a ceremony which appeared hardly
+necessary in the case of the colonel and himself.
+
+“We've met at intervals since last night in various places where they
+hide luggage,” said the colonel. “I'm beginning to turn faint at the
+sight of a trunk!”
+
+“It's the trunks I can't get sight of that make me tremble,” grinned
+Bob. “One of mine disappeared mysteriously this morning, and finally,
+after a breathless hunt, turned up in a lamp-room--your biggest
+Saratoga, Tommy! Why anyone should have put it in a lamp-room seems to
+be a conundrum that is going to excite the station for ever. But there
+it was.”
+
+“And have they really started for the ship?” asked Cecilia.
+
+“Well--I saw them all on a lorry, checked over my list with the
+driver's, and found everything right, and saw him start,” said Bob,
+laughing. “More than that no man may say.”
+
+“It would simplify matters if we knew our cabin numbers,” said Colonel
+Burton. “But we don't; neither does anyone, as far as I can gather,
+since cabins appear to be allotted just as you go on board--a peculiar
+system. Can you imagine the ghastly heap of miscellaneous luggage that
+will be dumped on the Nauru, with frenzied owners wildly trying to sort
+it out!”
+
+“It doesn't bear thinking of,” said Bob, laughing. “Come along, Tommy,
+and we'll explore Liverpool.”
+
+They wandered about the crowded streets of the great port, where may,
+perhaps, be seen a queerer mixture of races than anywhere in England,
+since ships from all over the world ceaselesly come and go up and down
+the Mersey. Then they boarded a tram and journeyed out of the city,
+among miles of beautiful houses, and, getting down at the terminus,
+walked briskly for an hour, since it would be long before there would
+be any land for them to walk on again. They got back to the hotel rather
+late for lunch, and very hungry; and afterwards it was time to pack up
+their light luggage and get down to the docks. General Harran had warned
+them to take enough hand-baggage to last them several nights, since
+it was quite possible that their cabin trunks would be swept into the
+baggage room, and fail to turn up for a week after sailing.
+
+A taxi whisked them through streets that became more and more crowded.
+The journey was not a long one; they turned down a slope presently, and
+drew up before a great gate across the end of a pier where two policemen
+were on duty to prevent the entrance of anyone without a pass. Porters
+were there in singular numbers--England had grown quite used to being
+without them; and Bob had just transferred their luggage to the care of
+a cheerful lad with a barrow when Cecilia gave a little start of dismay.
+
+“Bob, I've left my watch!”
+
+“Whew!” whistled her brother. “Where?”
+
+“I washed my hands just before I left my room,” said the shamefaced
+Cecilia. “I remember slipping it off my wrist beside the basin.”
+
+“Well, there's no need to worry,” said Bob cheerfully. “Ten to one it's
+there still. You'll have to take the taxi and go back for it, Tommy:
+I can't leave the luggage, and I may be wanted to show our papers,
+besides; but you won't have any difficulty. Come along, and I'll see
+that the policeman lets you through when you come back.”
+
+The constable was sympathetic. He examined Cecilia's passport, declared
+that he would know her anywhere again, and that she had no cause for
+anxiety.
+
+“Is it time? Sure, ye'll be tired of waitin' on the ould pier hours
+afther ye get back,” he said cheerfully. “I know thim transports. Why,
+there's not one of the throops marched in yet. There comes the furrst
+lot.”
+
+A band swung round the turn of the street playing a quickstep: behind
+it, a long line of Australian soldiers, marching at ease, each man with
+his pack on his shoulder. A gate with a military sentry swung wide to
+admit them, and they passed on to where a high overhead bridge carried
+them aboard a great liner moored to the pier.
+
+“'Tis the soldiers have betther treatment than the officers whin it
+comes to boardin' transports,” said the friendly policeman. “They get
+marched straight on board. The officers and their belongin's has to wait
+till they've gone through hivin knows what formalities. So you needn't
+worry, miss, an' take your time. The ould ship'll be there hours yet.”
+
+The taxi driver appeared only too glad of further employment, and
+Cecilia, much cheered, though still considerably ashamed of herself,
+leaned back comfortably in the cab as they whisked through the streets.
+At the hotel good fortune awaited her, for a chambermaid had just found
+her watch and had brought it to the office for safe keeping. Cecilia
+left her thanks, with something more substantial, for the girl, and
+hurried back to the cab.
+
+The streets seemed more thronged than ever, and presently traffic was
+blocked by a line of marching men--more “diggers” on their way to the
+transport. Cecilia's chauffeur turned back into a side street, evidently
+a short cut. Half-way along it the taxi jarred once or twice and came to
+a standstill.
+
+The chauffeur got out and poked his head into the bonnet, performing
+mysterious rites, while Cecilia watched him, a little anxiously.
+Presently he came round to the door.
+
+“I'm awful sorry, miss,” he said respectfully. “The old bus has broke
+down. I'm afraid I can't get another move out of 'er--I'll 'ave to get
+'er towed to a garage.”
+
+“Oh!” said Cecilia, jumping out. “Do you think I can find another near
+here?”
+
+“You oughter pick one up easy in the street up there,” said the
+chauffeur. “Plenty of 'em about 'ere. Even if you shouldn't, miss, you
+can get a tram down to the docks--any p'liceman 'll direct you. You
+could walk it, if you liked--you've loads of time.” He touched his cap
+as she paid him. “Very sorry to let you down like this, miss--it
+ain't my fault. All the taxis in England are just about droppin' to
+pieces--it'll be a mercy when repair shops get goin' again.”
+
+“It doesn't matter,” Cecilia said cheerfully. She decided that she would
+walk; it would be more interesting, and the long wait on the pier would
+be shortened. She set off happily towards the main street where the tram
+lines ran, feeling that short cuts were not for strangers in a big city.
+
+Even in the side street the shops were interesting. She came upon a
+fascinating curio shop, and stopped a moment to look at the queer medley
+in its window; such a medley as may be seen in any port where sailor-men
+bring home strange things from far countries. She was so engrossed
+that she failed to notice a woman who passed her, and then, with an
+astonished stare, turned back. A heavy hand fell on her wrist.
+
+“Cecilia!”
+
+She turned, with a little cry. Mrs. Rainham's face, inflamed with sudden
+anger, looked into her own. The hard grasp tightened on her wrist.
+
+“What are you doing here, you wicked girl? You've run away.”
+
+At the moment no speech was possible to Cecilia. She twisted her arm
+away fiercely, freeing herself with difficulty, and turning, ran, with
+her stepmother at her heels. Once, Mrs. Rainham gasped “Police!” after
+which she required all the breath to keep near the flying girl. The
+street was quiet; only one or two interested passers-by turned to
+look at the race, and a street urchin shouted: “Go it, red 'ead--she's
+beatin' yer!”
+
+It follows naturally, when one person pursues another through city
+streets, that the pursued falls under public suspicion and is liable to
+be caught and held by any officious person. Cecilia felt this, and her
+anxiety was keen as she darted round the corner into the next street,
+looking about wildly for a means of escape. A big van, crawling across
+the road, held Mrs. Rainham back for a moment, giving her a brief
+respite.
+
+Just in front of her, a block in the traffic was beginning to move. A
+taxi was near her. She held up her hand desperately, trying to catch the
+driver's eye. He shook his head, and she realized that he was already
+engaged--there was a pile of luggage beside him with big labels, and
+a familiar name struck her--“H.M.T. Nauru.” A girl, leaning from the
+window of the taxi, met her glance, and Cecilia took a sudden resolve.
+She sprang forward, her hand on the door.
+
+“I am a passenger by the Nauru. Could you take me in your car?” she
+gasped.
+
+“Why, of course,” said the other girl. “Plenty of room, isn't there,
+dad?”
+
+“Yes, certainly,” said the other occupant of the cab--a big, grizzled
+man, who looked at the new-comer in blank amazement. He had half risen,
+but there was no time for him to assist his self-invited guest; she had
+opened the door and jumped in before his daughter had finished speaking.
+Leaning forward, Cecilia saw her stepmother emerge from the traffic,
+crimson-faced, casting wild and wrathful glances about her. Then her
+wandering eye fell upon Cecilia, and she began to run forward. Even as
+she did the chauffeur quickened his pace, and the taxi slid away, until
+the running, shouting figure was lost to view.
+
+Cecilia sat back with a gasp, and began to laugh helplessly. The others
+watched her with faces that clearly showed that they began to suspect
+having entertained a lunatic unawares.
+
+“I do beg your pardon,” said Cecilia, recovering. “It was inexcusable.
+But I was running away.”
+
+“So it seemed,” said the big man, in a slow, pleasant voice. “I hope it
+wasn't from the police?”
+
+“Oh no!” Cecilia flushed. “Only from my stepmother. My own taxi had just
+broken down, and she found me, and she would have made a scene in the
+street--and scenes are so vulgar, are they not? When I saw Nauru on your
+luggage, you seemed to me to have dropped from heaven.”
+
+She looked at them, her pretty face pink, her eyes dancing with
+excitement. There was something appealing about her, in the big childish
+eyes, and in the well-bred voice with its faint hint of a French accent.
+The girl she looked at could hardly have been called pretty--she was
+slender and long-limbed, with honest grey eyes and a sensitive mouth
+that seemed always ready to break into smiles. A little smile hovered at
+its corners now, but her voice held a note of protection.
+
+“I don't think we need bother you to tell us,” she said. “In our country
+it's a very ordinary thing to give anyone a lift, if you have a seat to
+spare. Isn't it, daddy?”
+
+“Of course,” said her father. “And we are to be fellow-passengers, so it
+was very lucky that we were there in the nick of time.”
+
+Cecilia looked at them gratefully. It might have been so different, she
+thought; she might have flung herself on the mercy of people who would
+have been suspicious and frigid, or of others who would have treated her
+with familiarity and curious questioning. These people were pleasantly
+matter-of-fact; glad to help, but plainly anxious to show her that they
+considered her affairs none of their business. There was a little catch
+in her throat as she answered.
+
+“It is very good of you to take me on trust--I know I did an
+unwarrantable thing. But my brother, Captain Rainham, will explain
+everything, and he will be as grateful to you as I am. He is at the ship
+now.”
+
+“Then we can hand you over to his care,” said her host. “By the way,
+is there any need to guard against the--er--lady you spoke of? Is she
+likely to follow you to the docks?”
+
+“She doesn't know I'm going,” said Cecilia, dimpling. “Of course, if
+it were in a novel she would leap into a swift motor and bid the driver
+follow us, and be even now on our heels--”
+
+“Goodness!” said the other girl. She twisted so that she could look out
+of the tiny window at the back; turning back with a relieved face.
+
+“Nothing near us but a carrier's van and a pony cart,” she said. “I
+shouldn't think you need worry.”
+
+“No. I really don't think I need. My stepmother did see me in the
+taxi, but her brain doesn't move very swiftly, nor does she, for that
+matter--and I'm sure she wouldn't try to follow me. She knows, too, that
+if she found me she couldn't drag me away as if I were two years old.
+Oh, I'm sure I'm safe from her now,” finished Cecilia, with a sigh of
+relief.
+
+“At any rate, if she comes to the docks she will have your brother to
+deal with,” said the big man. “And here we are.”
+
+They got out at the big gate where the Irish policeman greeted Cecilia
+with a friendly “Did ye find it now, miss?” and beamed upon her when she
+held up her wrist, with her watch safely in its place. He examined her
+companions' passports, but let her through with an airy “Sure, this
+young lady's all right,” which made Cecilia feel that no further proof
+could be needed of her respectability. Then Bob came hurrying to meet
+her.
+
+“I was just beginning to get uneasy about you,” he said. “Did you have
+any trouble?”
+
+“My taxi broke down,” Cecilia answered. “But this lady and gentleman
+most kindly gave me a seat, and saved me ever so much trouble. I'll tell
+you my story presently.”
+
+Bob turned, saluting.
+
+“Thanks, awfully,” he said. “I wasn't too happy at letting my little
+sister run about alone in a strange city, but it couldn't be helped.”
+
+“I'm very glad we were there,” said the big man. “Now, can you tell me
+where luggage should go? My son and a friend are somewhere on the pier,
+I suppose, but it doesn't seem as though finding them would be an easy
+matter.”
+
+The pier, indeed, resembled a hive in which the bees have broken loose.
+Beside it lay the huge bulk of the transport, towering high above all
+the dock buildings near. Already she swarmed with Australian soldiers,
+and a steady stream was still passing aboard by the overhead gangway to
+the blare and crash of a regimental march. The pier itself was crowded
+with officers, with a sprinkling of women and children--most of them
+looking impatient enough at being kept ashore instead of being allowed
+to seek their quarters on the ship. Great heaps of trunks were stacked
+here and there, and a crane was steadily at work swinging them aboard.
+
+“We can't go aboard yet, nobody seems to know why,” Bob said. “An
+individual called an embarkation officer, or something of the kind, has
+to check our passports; he was supposed to be here before three
+o'clock, but there's no sign of him yet, and every one has to wait his
+convenience. It's hard on the women with little children--the poor mites
+are getting tired and cross. Luggage can be left in the care of the
+ship's hands, to be loaded; I'll show you where, sir, if you like. Is
+this yours?” His eye fell on a truck-load of trunks, wheeled up by a
+porter, and lit up suddenly as he noticed the name on their labels.
+
+“Oh--are you Mr. Linton?” he exclaimed. “I believe I've got a letter for
+you, from General Harran.”
+
+“Now, I was wondering where I'd heard your name before, when your sister
+happened to say you were Captain Rainham,” said the big man. “How stupid
+of me--of course, I met Harran at my club this week, and he told me
+about you.” He held out his hand, and took Bob's warmly; then he turned
+to his daughter. “Norah, it's lucky that we have made friends with Miss
+Rainham already, because you know she's in our care, after a fashion.”
+
+Norah Linton turned with a quick smile.
+
+“I'm so glad,” she said. “I've been wondering what you would be like,
+because we didn't know of anyone else on board.”
+
+“General Harran told my brother that you would befriend us, but I did
+not think you would begin so early,” Cecilia said. “Just fancy, Bob,
+they rescued me almost from the clutches of the she-dragon!”
+
+Bob jumped.
+
+“You don't mean to say you met her?”
+
+“I did--as soon as my cab broke down. And I lost my head and ran from
+her like a hare, and jumped into Mr. Linton's car!”
+
+Bob regarded her with solemn amazement.
+
+“So this is what happens when I let you go about alone!” he ejaculated.
+“Why, you might have got yourself into an awful mess--it might have been
+anybody's car--”
+
+“Yes, but it wasn't,” said his sister serenely. “You see, I looked at
+Miss Linton first, and I knew it would be all right.”
+
+The Lintons laughed unrestrainedly.
+
+“That's your look of benevolent old age, Norah,” said her father. “I've
+often noticed it coming on.”
+
+“I wish you'd mention it to Wally,” Norah said. “He might treat me with
+more respect if you did.”
+
+“I doubt it; it isn't in Wally,” said her father. “Now, Rainham, shall
+we see about this luggage?”
+
+They handed it over to the care of deck hands, and watched it loaded,
+with many other trunks, into a huge net, which the crane seized, swung
+to an enormous height and then lowered gently upon the deck of the
+Nauru. Just as the operation was finished two figures threaded their way
+through the crowd towards them; immensely tall young officers, with the
+badge of a British regiment on their caps.
+
+“Hullo, dad,” said the taller--a good-looking grave-faced fellow, with a
+strong resemblance to Norah. “We hardly expected you down so early.”
+
+“Well, Norah and I had nothing to do, so we thought we might as well
+come; though it appears that we would have been wiser not to hurry,”
+ said Mr. Linton. “Jim, I want to introduce you to two courageous
+emigrants--Miss Rainham, Captain Rainham--my son.”
+
+Jim Linton shook hands, and introduced his companion, Captain Meadows,
+who was dark and well built, with an exceedingly merry eye.
+
+“We've been trying to get round the powers that be, to make our way on
+board,” he said. “The chief difficulty is that the powers that be
+aren't there; everything is hung up waiting for this blessed official. I
+suppose the honest man is sleeping off the effects of a heavy lunch.”
+
+“If he knew what hearty remarks are being made about him by over two
+hundred angry people, it might disturb his rest,” said Wally Meadows.
+“Come along and see them--you're only on the fringe of the crowd here.”
+
+“Wally's been acting as nursemaid for the last half hour,” Jim said, as
+they made their way along the pier. “He rescued a curly-haired kid from
+a watery grave--at least, it would have been in if he hadn't caught it
+by the hind leg--and after that the kid refused to let him go.”
+
+“He was quite a jolly kid,” said Wally. “Only he seems to have
+quicksilver in him, instead of blood. I'm sorry for his mother--she'll
+have a packed time for the next five weeks.” He sighed. “Hide me,
+Norah--there he is now!”
+
+The curly-haired one proved to be little Tim Burton, who detached
+himself from his mother on catching sight of Wally, and trotted across
+to him with a shrill cry of “There's mine officer!”--whereat Wally swung
+him up on his shoulder, to his infinite delight. Mrs. Burton hurried up
+to claim her offspring, and was made known to every one by Cecilia.
+
+“It's such an awful wait,” she said wearily. “We came here soon after
+two o'clock, thinking we would get the children on board early for their
+afternoon sleep; now it's after four, and we have stood here ever since.
+It's too tantalizing with the ship looking at us, and the poor babies
+are so tired. Still, I'm not the worst off. Look at that poor girl.”
+
+She pointed out a white-faced girl who was sitting in a drooping
+attitude on a very dirty wooden case. She was dainty and refined in
+appearance; and looking at her, one felt that the filthy case was the
+most welcome thing she had found that afternoon. Her husband, an officer
+scarcely more than a boy, stood beside, trying vainly to hush the cries
+of a tiny baby. She put up her arms wearily as they looked at her.
+
+“Oh, give her to me, Harry.” She took the little bundle and crooned over
+it; and the baby wailed on unceasingly.
+
+“Oh!” said Norah Linton. She took a quick stride forward. They watched
+her accost the young mother--saw the polite, yet stiff, refusal on the
+English girl's face; saw Norah, with a swift decided movement stoop down
+and take the baby from the reluctant arms, putting any protest aside
+with a laugh. A laugh went round the Linton party also.
+
+“I knew she'd get it,” said Jim.
+
+“Rather!” his friend echoed. “But she hasn't arms enough for all the
+babies who want mothering here.”
+
+There were indeed plenty of them. Tired young mothers stood about
+everywhere, with children ranging from a few months to three or four
+years, all weary by this time, and most of them cross. Harassed young
+husbands, unused to travelling with children--unused, indeed, to
+anything but War--went hither and thither trying to hasten the business
+of getting on board--coming back, after each useless journey, to try and
+soothe a screaming baby or restrain a tiny boy anxious to look over the
+edge of the pier. It was only a few minutes before Cecilia had found a
+mother exhausted enough to yield up her baby without much protest; and
+Jim and Wally Meadows and Bob “adopted” some of the older children, and
+took them off to see the band; which diversions helped to pass the time.
+But it was after five o'clock before a stir went round the pier, and a
+rush of officers towards a little wooden room at the foot of the gangway
+told that the long-waited-for official had arrived.
+
+“Well, we won't hurry,” said Mr. Linton. “Let the married men get on
+first.”
+
+There were not many who did not hurry. A few of the older officers kept
+back; the majority, who were chiefly subalterns, made a dense crowd
+about the little room, their long-pent impatience bursting out at
+last. Passports examined, a procession began up the gangway; each man
+compelled to halt at a barrier on top, where two officers sat allotting
+cabins. It was difficult to see why both these preliminaries could not
+have been managed before, instead of being left until the moment
+of boarding; the final block strained every one's patience to
+breaking-point.
+
+The Lintons and the Rainhams were almost the last to board the ship,
+having, not without thankfulness, relinquished their adopted babies. The
+officers allotting berths nodded comprehendingly on hearing the names of
+the two girls.
+
+“Oh yes--you're together.” He gave them their number.
+
+“Together--how curious!” said Cecilia.
+
+“Not a bit; you're the only unmarried ladies on board. And they're
+packed like sardines--not a vacant berth on the ship. Over two thousand
+men and two hundred officers, to say nothing of wives and children.” He
+leaned back, thankful that his rush of work was over. “Well, when I make
+a long voyage I hope it won't be on a trooper!”
+
+“Well, that's a bad remark to begin one's journey on,” said Jim
+Linton, following the girls up the gangway. “Doesn't it scare you, Miss
+Rainham?”
+
+“No,” she said, with a little laugh. “Nothing would scare me except not
+going.”
+
+“Why, that's all right,” he said. His hand fell on his sister's
+shoulder. “And what about you, Nor?”
+
+The face she turned him was so happy that words were hardly needed.
+
+“Why--I'm going back to Billabong!” she said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+
+A path of moonlight lay across the sea. Into it drifted a great ship,
+her engines almost stopped, so that only a dull, slow throb came up from
+below, instead of the swift thud-thud of the screw that had pounded for
+many weeks. It was late; so late that most of the ship's lights were
+extinguished. But all through her was a feeling of pulsating life, of
+unrest, of a kind of tense excitement, of long-pent expectation.
+There were low voices everywhere; feet paced the decks; along the port
+railings on each deck soldiers were clustered thickly, looking out
+across the grey, tossing sea to a winking light that flashed and
+twinkled out of the darkness like a voice that cried “Greeting!” For it
+was the Point Lonsdale light, at the sea gate of Victoria; and the men
+of the Nauru were nearly home.
+
+There was little sleep for anyone on board on that last night. Most of
+the Nauru's great company were to disembark in Melbourne; the last two
+days had seen a general smartening up, a mighty polishing of leather and
+brass, a “rounding-up” of scattered possessions. The barber's shop had
+been besieged by shaggy crowds; and since the barber, being but human,
+could not cope with more than a small proportion of his would-be
+customers, amateur clipping parties had been in full swing forward,
+frequently with terrifying results. Nobody minded. “Git it orf, that's
+all that matters!” was the motto of the long-haired.
+
+No one knew quite when the Nauru would berth; it was wrapped in mystery,
+like all movements of troopships. So every one was ready the night
+before--kit bags packed, gear stowed away, nothing left save absolute
+necessaries. Then, with the coming of dusk, unrest settled down upon
+the ship, and the men marched restlessly, up and down, or, gripping
+pipe stems between their teeth, stared from the railings northwards. And
+then, like a star at first, the Point Lonsdale light twinkled out of the
+darkness, and a low murmur ran round the decks--a murmur without words,
+since it came from men whose only fashion of meeting any emotion is with
+a joke; and even for a “digger” there is no joke ready on the lips, but
+only a catch at the heart, at the first glimpse of home.
+
+Norah Linton had tucked herself away behind a boat on the hurricane
+deck, and there Cecilia Rainham found her just after dusk. The two
+girls had become sworn friends during the long voyage out, in the close
+companionship of sharing a cabin--which is a kind of acid test that
+generally brings out the best--and worst--of travellers. There was
+something protective in Norah's nature that responded instantly to the
+lonely position of the girl who was going across the world to a strange
+country. Both were motherless, but in Norah's case the blank was
+softened by a father who had striven throughout his children's lives to
+be father and mother alike to them, while Cecilia had only the bitter
+memory of the man who had shirked his duty until he had become less than
+a stranger to her. If any pang smote her heart at the sight of Norah's
+worshipping love for the tall grey “dad” for whom she was the very
+centre of existence, Cecilia did not show it. The Lintons had taken them
+into their little circle at once--more, perhaps, by reason of Cecilia's
+extraordinary introduction to them than through General Harran's
+letter--and Bob and his sister were already grateful for their
+friendship. They were a quiet quartet, devoted to each other in their
+undemonstrative fashion; Norah was on a kind of boyish footing with Jim,
+the huge silent brother who was a major, with three medal ribbons to
+his credit, and with Wally Meadows, his inseparable chum, who had been
+almost brought up with the brother and sister.
+
+“They were always such bricks to me, even when I was a little scrap of a
+thing,” she had told Cecilia. “They never said I was 'only a girl,' and
+kept me out of things. So I grew up more than three parts a boy. It was
+so much easier for dad to manage three boys, you see!”
+
+“You don't look much like a boy,” Cecilia had said, looking at the tall,
+slender figure and the mass of curly brown hair. They were getting ready
+for bed, and Norah was wielding a hair-brush vigorously.
+
+“No, but I really believe I feel like one--at least, I do whenever I
+am with Jim and Wally,” Norah had answered. “And when we get back
+to Billabong it will be just as it always was--we'll be three boys
+together. You know, it's the most ridiculous thing to think of Jim and
+Wally as grown-ups. Dad and I can't get accustomed to it at all. And as
+for Jim being a major!--a major sounds so dignified and respectable, and
+Jim isn't a bit like that!”
+
+“And what about Captain Meadows?”
+
+“Oh--Wally will simply never grow up.” Norah laughed softly. “He's like
+Peter Pan. Once he nearly managed it--in that bad time when Jim was a
+prisoner, and we thought he was killed. But Jim got back just in time to
+save him from anything so awful. One of the lovely parts of getting Jim
+again was to see the twinkle come back into Wally's eyes. You see, Wally
+is practically all twinkle!”
+
+“And when you get back to Australia, what will you all do?”
+
+Norah had looked puzzled.
+
+“Why, I don't know that we've ever thought of it,” she said. “We'll just
+all go to Billabong--we don't seem to think further than that. Anyway,
+you and Bob are coming too--so we can plan it all out then.”
+
+Looking at her, on this last night of the voyage, Cecilia wondered
+whether the unknown “Billabong” would indeed be enough, after the long
+years of war. They had been children when they left; now the boys were
+seasoned soldiers, with scars and honours, and such memories as only
+they themselves could know; and Norah and her father had for years
+conducted what they termed a “Home for Tired People,” where broken and
+weary men from the front had come to be healed and tended, and sent
+back refitted in mind and body. This girl, who leaned over the rail and
+looked at the Point Lonsdale light, had seen suffering and sorrow; the
+mourning of those who had given up dear ones, the sick despair of young
+and strong men crippled in the very dawn of life; and had helped them
+all. Beside her, in experience, Cecilia felt a child. And yet the
+old bush home, with its simple life and the pleasures that had been
+everything to her in childhood, seemed everything to her now.
+
+Cecilia went softly to her side, and Norah turned with a start.
+
+“Hallo, Tommy!” she said, slipping her arm through the
+new-comer's--Cecilia had become “Tommy” to them all in a very short
+time, and her hated, if elegant, name left as a legacy to England. “I
+didn't hear you come. Oh, Tommy, it's lovely to see home again!”
+
+“You can't see much,” said Tommy, laughing.
+
+“No, but it's there. I can feel it; and that old winking eye on Point
+Lonsdale is saying fifty nice things a minute. And I can smell the gum
+leaves--don't you tell me I can't, Tommy, just because your nose isn't
+tuned up to gum leaves yet!”
+
+“Does it take long to tune a nose?” asked Tommy, laughing.
+
+“Not a nice nose like yours.” Norah gave a happy little sigh. “Do you
+see that glow in the sky? That's the lights of Melbourne. I went to
+school near Melbourne, but I never loved it much; but somehow, it seems
+different now. It's all just shouting welcomes. And back of beyond that
+light is Billabong.”
+
+“I want to see Billabong,” said the other girl. “I never had a home that
+meant anything like that--I want to see yours.”
+
+“And I suppose you'll just think it's an ordinary, untidy old place--not
+a bit like the trim English places, where the woods look as though they
+were swept and dusted before breakfast every morning. I suppose it is
+all ordinary. But it has meant just everything I wanted, all my life,
+and I can't imagine its meaning anything less now.”
+
+“And what about Homewood--the Home for Tired People?”
+
+“Oh, Homewood certainly is lovely,” Norah said. “I like it better than
+any place in the world that isn't Billabong--and it was just wonderful
+to be able to carry it on for the Tired People: dad and I will always be
+thankful we had the chance. But it never was home: and now it's going to
+run itself happily without us, as a place for partly-disabled men, with
+Colonel Hunt and Captain Hardress to manage it. It was just a single
+chapter in our lives, and now it is closed. But we're--all of us--parts
+of Billabong.”
+
+Some one came quietly along the deck and to the vacant place on her
+other side.
+
+“Who's talking Billabong again, old kiddie?” Jim Linton's deep voice was
+always gentle. Norah gave his shoulder a funny little rub with her head.
+
+“Ah, you're just as bad as I am, so you needn't laugh at me, Jimmy.”
+
+“I wasn't laughing at you,” Jim defended himself. “I expected to find
+you ever so much worse. I thought you'd sing anthems on the very word
+Billabong all through the voyage, especially in your bath. Of course I
+don't know what Tommy has suffered!”
+
+“Tommy doesn't need your sympathy,” said that lady. “However, she wants
+to look her best for Melbourne, so she's going to bed. Don't hurry,
+Norah; I know you want to exchange greetings with that light for hours
+yet!”
+
+She slipped away, and Norah drew closer to Jim. Presently came Wally, on
+her other side, and a few moments later a deep voice behind them said,
+“Not in bed yet, Norah?”--and Wally made room for Mr. Linton.
+
+“I couldn't go to bed, dad.”
+
+“Apparently most of the ship is of your mind--I didn't feel like bed
+myself,” admitted the squatter, letting his hand rest for a moment
+on his daughter's shoulder. He gave a great sigh of happiness. “Eh,
+children, it's great to be near home again!”
+
+“My word, isn't it!” said Jim. “Only it's hard to take in. I keep
+fancying that I'll certainly wake up in a minute and find myself in
+a trench, just getting ready to go over the top. What do you suppose
+they're doing at Billabong now, Nor?”
+
+“Asleep,” said Norah promptly. “Oh, I don't know--I don't believe
+Brownie's asleep.”
+
+“I know she's not,” Wally said. He and the old nurse-housekeeper of
+Billabong were sworn allies; though no one could ever quite come up to
+Jim and Norah in Brownie's heart, Wally had been a close third from the
+day, long years back, that he had first come to the station, a lonely,
+dark-eyed little Queenslander. “She's made the girls scrub and polish
+until there's nothing left for them to rub, and she's harried Hogg and
+Lee Wing until there isn't a leaf looking crooked in all the garden,
+and she and Murty have planned all about meeting you for the hundred and
+first time.”
+
+“And she's planning to make pikelets for you!” put in Norah.
+
+“Bless her. I wouldn't wonder. She's planning the very wildest cooking,
+of course--do you remember what the table used to be the night we came
+home from school? And now she's gone round all the rooms to make sure
+she couldn't spend another sixpence on them, and she's sitting by her
+window trying to see us all on the Nauru. 'Specially you, old Nor.”
+
+“'Tis the gift of second sight you have,” said Jim admiringly. “A
+few hundred years ago you'd have got yourself ducked as a witch or
+something.”
+
+“Oh, Wally and Brownie were always twin souls; no wonder each knows what
+the other is thinking of,” Norah said, laughing. “It all sounds exactly
+true, at any rate. Boys, what a pity you can't land in uniform--wouldn't
+they all love to see you!”
+
+“Can't do it,” Jim said. “Too long since we were shot out of the army;
+any enterprising provost-marshal could make himself obnoxious about it.”
+
+“I know--but I'm sorry,” answered Norah. “Brownie won't be satisfied
+unless she sees you in all your war paint.”
+
+“We'll put it on some night for dinner,” Jim promised. He peered
+suddenly into the darkness. “There's a moving light--it's the pilot
+steamer coming out for us.”
+
+They watched the light pass slowly from the dim region that meant the
+Heads, until, as the pilot boat swung out through the Rip to where the
+Nauru lay, her other lights grew clear, and presently her whole outline
+loomed indistinctly, suddenly close to them. She lay to across a little
+heaving strip of sea, and presently the pilot was being pulled across
+to them by a couple of men and was coming nimbly up the Nauru's ladder,
+hand over hand. He nodded cheerily at his welcome--a fusillade of
+greetings from every “digger” who could find a place at the railings,
+and a larger number who could not, but contented themselves with
+shouting sweet nothings from behind their comrades. A lean youngster
+near Jim Linton looked down enviously at the retreating boat.
+
+“If I could only slide down into her, an' nick off to the old Alvina
+over there, I'd be home before breakfast,” he said. “Me people live at
+Queenscliff--don't it seem a fair cow to have to go past 'em, right up
+to Melbourne?”
+
+The pilot's head appeared above on the bridge, beside the captain's, and
+presently the Nauru gathered way, and, slowly turning, forged through
+the tossing waters of the Rip. Before her the twin lights of the Heads
+opened out; soon she was gliding between them, and under the silent guns
+of the Queenscliff forts, and past the twinkling house lights of the
+little seaside town. There were long coo-ees from the diggers, with
+shrill, piercing whistles of greeting for Victoria; from ashore came
+faint answering echoes. But the four people from Billabong stood
+silently, glad of each other's nearness, but with no words, and in David
+Linton's heart and Norah's was a great surge of thankfulness that, out
+of many perils, they were bringing their boys safely home.
+
+The Nauru turned across Port Phillip Bay, and presently they felt the
+engines cease, and there came the rattle of the chain as the anchor shot
+into the sea.
+
+“As the captain thought,” said Jim. “He fancied they'd anchor us off
+Portsea for the night and bring us up to Port Melbourne in the morning,
+after we'd been inspected. Wouldn't it be the limit if some one
+developed measles now, and they quarantined us!”
+
+“You deserve quarantining, if ever anyone did,” said Norah, indignantly.
+“Why do you have such horrible ideas?”
+
+“I don't know--they just seem to waft themselves to me,” said Jim
+modestly. “Anyhow, the quarantine station is a jolly little place for
+a holiday, and the sea view is delightful.” He broke off, laughing, and
+suddenly flung his arm round her shoulders in the dusk of the deck. “I
+think I'm just about insane at getting home,” he said. “Don't mind me,
+old kiddie--and you'd better go to bed, or you'll be a ghost in the
+morning.”
+
+They weighed anchor after breakfast, following a perfunctory medical
+inspection--so perfunctory that one youth who, having been a medical
+student, and knowing well that he had a finely-developed feverish
+cold, with a high temperature, and not wishing to embarrass his
+fellow-passengers, placed in his mouth the wrong end of the clinical
+thermometer handed him by the visiting nurse. He sucked this gravely
+for the prescribed time, reversing it just as she reappeared; and, being
+marked normal and given a clean bill of health, returned to his berth
+to shiver and perspire between huge doses of quinine. More than one such
+hero evaded the searching eye of regulations; until finally the Nauru,
+free to land her passengers, steamed slowly up the Bay.
+
+One by one the old, familiar landmarks opened out--Mornington,
+Frankston, Mordialloc, while Melbourne itself lay hidden in a mist cloud
+ahead. Then, as the sun grew stronger the mist lifted, and domes and
+spires pierced the dun sky, towering above the jumbled mass of the grey
+city. They drew closer to Port Melbourne, and lo! St. Kilda and all the
+foreshore were gay with flags, and all the ships in the harbour were
+dressed to welcome them; and beyond the pier were long lines of motors,
+each beflagged, waiting for the fighting men whom the Nauru was bringing
+home.
+
+“Us!” said a boy. “Why, it's us! Flags an' motors--an' a blessed band
+playin' on the pier! Wot on earth are they fussin' over us for? Ain't it
+enough to get home?”
+
+The band of the Nauru was playing Home, Sweet Home, very low and
+tenderly, and there were lumps in many throats, and many a pipe went out
+unheeded. Slowly the great ship drew in to the pier, where officers in
+uniform waited, and messengers of welcome from the Government. Beyond
+the barriers that held the general public back from the pier was a
+black mass of people; cheer upon cheer rose, to be wafted back from
+the transport, where the “diggers” lined every inch of the port side,
+clinging like monkeys to yards and rigging. Then the Nauru came to rest
+at last, and the gangways rattled down, and the march off began, to the
+quick lilt of the band playing “Oh, it's a Lovely War.” The men took
+up the words, singing as they marched back to Victoria--coming back, as
+they had gone, with a joke on their lips. So the waiting motors received
+them, and rolled them off in triumphal procession to Melbourne, between
+the cheering crowds.
+
+From the top deck the Lintons, with the Rainhams, watched the men
+go--disembarkation was for the troops first, and not till all had gone
+could the unattached officers leave the ship. The captain came to them,
+at last a normal and friendly captain--no more the official master of
+a troopship, in which capacity, as he ruefully said, he could make no
+friends, and could scarcely regard his ship as his own, provided he
+brought her safely from port to port. He cast a disgusted glance along
+the stained and littered decks.
+
+“This is her last voyage as a trooper, and I'm not sorry,” he said.
+“After this she'll lie up for three months to be refitted; and then I'll
+command a ship again and not a barracks. You wouldn't think now, to see
+her on this voyage, that the time was when I had to know the reason why
+if there was so much as a stain the size of a sixpence on the deck. Oh
+yes, it's been all part of the job, and I'm proud of all the old ship
+has done, and the thousands of men she's carried; and we've had enough
+narrow squeaks, from mines and submarines, to fill a book. But I'm
+beginning to hanker mightily to see her clean!”
+
+The Lintons laughed unfeelingly. A little mild grumbling might well be
+permitted to a man with his record; few merchant captains had done finer
+service in the war, and the decoration on his breast testified to his
+cool handling of his ship in the “narrow squeaks” he spoke of lightly.
+
+“Oh yes. I never get any sympathy,” said the captain, laughing himself.
+“And yet I'll wager Miss Linton was 'house-proud' in that 'Home for
+Tired People' of hers, and she ought to sympathize with a tidy man. You
+should have seen my wife's face when she came aboard once at Liverpool,
+and saw the ship; and she's never had the same respect for me since!
+There--the last man is off the ship, and the gangways are clear; nothing
+to keep all you homesick people now.” He said good-bye, and ran up the
+steps to his cabin under the bridge.
+
+It was a queer home-coming at first, to a vast pier, empty save for a
+few officials and policemen--for no outsiders were allowed within the
+barriers. But once clear of customs officials and other formalities
+they packed themselves into cabs, and in a few moments were outside
+the railed-off space, turning into a road lined on either side with
+people--all peering into the long procession of cabs, in the hope of
+finding their own returning dear ones. It was but a few moments before a
+posse of uncles, aunts and cousins swooped down upon the Lintons, whose
+cab prudently turned down a side street to let the wave of welcome
+expend itself. In the side street, too, were motors belonging to the
+aunts and uncles; and presently the new arrivals were distributed among
+them, and were being rushed up to Melbourne, along roads still crowded
+by the people who had flocked to welcome the “diggers” home. The
+Rainhams found themselves adopted by this new and cheery band of
+people--at least half of whose names they never learned; not that this
+seemed to matter in the least. It was something new to them, and very
+un-English; but there was no doubt that it made landing in a new country
+a very different thing from their half-fearful anticipations.
+
+“And you really came out all alone--not knowing anyone!” said an aunt.
+“Aren't you English people plucky! And I believe that most of you think
+we're all black fellows--or did until our diggers went home, and proved
+unexpectedly white!”
+
+“I don't think we're quite so bad as that!” Bob said, laughing. “But
+certainly we never expected quite so kind a welcome.”
+
+“Oh, we're all immensely interested in people who take the trouble to
+come across the world to see us,” said Mrs. Geoffrey Linton. “That is,
+if they don't put on 'side'; we don't take kindly to being patronized.
+And you have no idea how many new chums do patronize us. Did you know,
+by the way, that you're new chums now?”
+
+“It has been carefully drilled into us on the ship,” Bob said gravely.
+“I think we know pretty well all we have to face--the snakes that creep
+into new chums' boots and sleep under their pillows, the goannas that
+bite our toes if we aren't watchful, and the mosquitoes that sit on the
+trees and bark!”
+
+“Also the tarantulas that drop from everywhere, especially into food,”
+ added Tommy, dimpling. “And the bush fires every Sunday morning, and the
+blacks that rush down--what is it? Oh yes, the Block, casting boomerangs
+about! There is much spare time on a troopship, Mrs. Linton, and all of
+it was employed by the subalterns in telling us what we might expect!”
+
+“I can quite imagine it,” Mrs. Geoffrey laughed. “Oh well, Billabong
+will be a good breaking-in. Norah tells me you are going up there at
+once?”
+
+“Well, not quite at once,” Bob said. “We think it is only fair to let
+them get home without encumbrances, and as we have to present other
+letters of introduction in Melbourne, we'll stay here for a few days,
+and then follow them.”
+
+“Then you must come out to us,” said Mrs. Geoffrey firmly. “No use to
+ask my brother-in-law, of course; he has just one idea, and that is to
+stay at Scott's, get his luggage through the customs, see his bankers as
+quickly as possible, and then get back to his beloved Billabong. If we
+get them out to dinner to-night, it's as much as we can hope for. But
+you two must come to us--we can run you here and there in the car to see
+the people you want.” She put aside their protests, laughing. “Why, you
+don't know how much we like capturing bran-new English people--and think
+what you have done for our boys all these four years! From what they
+tell us, if anyone wants to go anywhere or do anything he likes in
+England, all he has to do is to wear a digger's slouched hat!”
+
+They stopped in Collins Street, and in a moment the new-comers, slightly
+bewildered, found themselves in a tea-room; a new thing in tea-rooms
+to Tommy and Bob, since it was a vision of russet and gold--brown wood,
+masses of golden wattle and daffodils, and of bronze gum leaves; and
+even the waitresses flitted about in russet-brown dresses. David Linton
+hung back at the doorway.
+
+“It isn't a party, Winifred?”
+
+“My dear David, only a few people who want to welcome you back. Really,
+you're just as bad as ever!” said his sister-in-law, half vexed. “The
+children's school friends, too--Jim and Wally's mates. You can't expect
+us to get you all back, after so long--and with all those honours,
+too!--and not give people a chance of shaking hands with you.” At which
+point Norah said, gently, but firmly, “Dad, you mustn't be naughty,” and
+led him within.
+
+Some one grasped his hand. “Well, Linton, old chap!” And he found
+himself greeting the head of a big “stock and station” firm. Some one
+else clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to meet his banker;
+behind them towered half a dozen old squatter friends, with fellow
+clubmen, all trying at once to get hold of his hand. David Linton's
+constitutional shyness melted in the heartiness of their greeting.
+Beyond them Norah seemed to be the centre of a mass of girls, one of
+whom presently detached herself, and came to him. He said in amazement,
+“Why, it's Jean Yorke--and grown up!” and actually kissed her, to the
+great delight of Jean, who had been an old mate of Norah's. As for Jim
+and Wally, they were scarcely to be seen, save for their heads, in
+a cluster of lads, who were pounding and smiting them wherever space
+permitted. Altogether, it was a confused and cheerful gathering, and,
+much to the embarrassment of the russet-brown waitresses, the last thing
+anybody thought of was tea.
+
+Still, when the buzz of greetings had subsided, and at length “morning
+tea”--that time-honoured institution of Australia--had a chance to
+appear, it was of a nature to make the new arrivals gasp. The last four
+years in England had fairly broken people in to plain living; dainties
+and luxuries had disappeared so completely from the table that every one
+had ceased to think about them. Therefore, the Linton party blinked in
+amazement at the details of what to Melbourne was a very ordinary tea,
+and, forgetting its manners, broke into open comment.
+
+“Cakes!” said Wally faintly. “Jean, you might catch me if I swoon.”
+
+“What's wrong with the cakes?” said Jean Yorke, bewildered.
+
+“Nothing--except that they are cakes! Jim!”--he caught at his chum's
+sleeve--“that substance in enormous layers in that enormous slice is
+called cream. Real cream. When did you see cream last, my son?”
+
+“I'm hanged if I know,” Jim answered, grinning. “About four years ago, I
+suppose. I'd forgotten it existed. And the cakes look as if they didn't
+fall to pieces if you touched 'em.”
+
+“What, do the English cakes do that?” asked a pained aunt.
+
+“Rather--when there are any. It's something they take out of the war
+flour--what is it, Nor?”
+
+“Gluten, I think it's called,” said Norah doubtfully. “It's something
+that ordinarily makes flour stick together, but they took it all out of
+the war flour, and put it into munitions. So everything you made with
+war flour was apt to be dry and crumbly. And when you made cakes with
+it, and war sugar, which was half full of queer stuff like plaster of
+paris, and egg substitute, because eggs--when you could get them--were
+eightpence halfpenny, and butter substitute (and very little of
+that)--well, they weren't exactly what you would call cakes at all.”
+
+“Butter substitute!” said the aunt faintly. “I could not live without
+good butter!”
+
+“Bless you, Norah and dad hadn't tasted butter for nearly three years
+before they came on board the Nauru,” said Jim. “It was affecting to see
+Nor greeting a pat of butter for the first time!”
+
+“But you had some butter--we read about it.”
+
+“Two ounces per head weekly--but they put all their ration into the
+'Tired People's food,'” said Wally.
+
+“It wasn't only dad and I,” said Norah quickly. “Every soul we employed
+did that--Irish maids, butler, cook-lady and all. And we hadn't to ask
+one of them to do it. The Tired People always had butter. They used to
+think we had a special allowance from Government, but we hadn't.”
+
+“Dear me!” said the aunt. “It's too terrible. And meat?”
+
+“Oh, meat was very short,” said Norah, laughing. “Of course we were
+fairly well off for our Tired People, because they had soldiers'
+rations; but even so, we almost forgot what a joint looked like. Stews
+and hot pots and made dishes--you call them that because you make them
+of anything but meat! We became very clever at camouflaging meat dishes.
+Somehow the Tired People ate them all. But”--she paused, laughing--“you
+know I never thought I could feel greedy for meat. And I did--I just
+longed, quite often, for a chop!”
+
+“And could you not have one?”
+
+“Gracious, no!” Norah looked amazed. “Chops were quite the most
+extravagant thing of all--too much bone. You see, the meat ration
+included bone and fat, and I can tell you we were pretty badly worried
+if we got too much of either.”
+
+“To think of all she knows,” said the aunt, regarding her with a tearful
+eye. Whereat Norah laughed.
+
+“Oh, I could tell you lots of homely things,” she said. “How we always
+boiled bones for soup at least four times before we looked on them as
+used up; and how we worked up sheep's heads into the most wonderful
+chicken galantines; and--but would you mind if I ate some walnut cake
+instead? It's making me tremble even to look at it.”
+
+After which Jean Yorke and the russet-brown waitresses vied in plying
+the new-comers with the most elaborate cakes, until even Jim and Wally
+begged for mercy.
+
+“You ought to remember we're not used to these things,” Wally protested,
+waving away a strange erection of cream, icing and wafery pastry. “If
+I ate that it would go to my head, and I'd have to be removed in an
+ambulance. And the awful part of it is--I want to eat it. Take it out of
+my sight, Jean, or I'll yield, and the consequences will be awful.”
+
+“But it is too dreadful to think of all you poor souls have gone
+through,” said an aunt soulfully. “How little we in Australia know of
+what war means!”
+
+“But if it comes to that, how little we knew!” Norah exclaimed, “Why,
+there we were, only a few miles from the fighting--you could hear the
+guns on a still day, when a big action was going on; and except for the
+people who came directly in the way of air raids, England knew little or
+nothing of war: I mean, war as the people of Belgium and Northern France
+knew it. The worst we had to admit was that we didn't get everything we
+liked to eat, and that was a joke compared to what we might have had.
+Hardly anyone in England went cold or hungry through the war, and so
+I don't think we knew much about it either.” She broke off blushing
+furiously, to find every one listening to her. “I didn't mean to make a
+speech.”
+
+“It's quite true, though,” said her father, “even if you did make a
+speech about it. There were privations in some cases, no doubt--invalids
+sometimes suffered, or men used to a heavy meat diet, whose wives had
+not knowledge--or fuel--enough to cook substitutes properly. On the
+other hand, there was no unemployment, and the poor were better fed than
+they had ever been, since every one could make good wages at munitions.
+The death rate among civilians was very much lower than usual. People
+learned to eat less, and not to waste--and the pre-war waste in England
+was terrific. And I say--and I think we all say--that anyone who
+grumbles about 'privations' in England deserves to know what real war
+means--as the women of Belgium know it.”
+
+He stopped, and Norah regarded him with great pride, since his remarks
+were usually strictly limited to the fewest possible words.
+
+“Well, it's rather refreshing to hear you talk,” remarked another
+squatter. “A good many people have come back telling most pathetic tales
+of all they had to endure. I suppose, though, that some were worse off
+than you?”
+
+“Oh, certainly,” David Linton said. “We knew one Australian, an
+officer's wife, who was stranded in a remote corner of South Wales
+with two servants and two babies; it was just at the time of greatest
+scarcity before compulsory rationing began, when most of the food
+coming in was kept in the big towns and the Midlands. That woman could
+certainly get milk for her youngsters; but for three months the only
+foods she and her maids were sure of getting were war bread, potatoes,
+haricot beans and salt herrings. She was a good way from the nearest
+town, and there was deep snow most of the time. There was no carting out
+to her place, and by the time she could get into the town most of the
+food shops would be empty.”
+
+“And if you saw the salt herrings!” said Norah. “They come down from
+Scotland, packed thousands in a barrel. They're about the length and
+thickness of a comb, and if you soak them for a day in warm water and
+then boil them, you can begin to think about them as a possible food.
+But Mrs. Burton and her maids ate them for three months. She didn't seem
+to think she had anything to grumble about--in fact, she said she still
+felt friendly towards potatoes, but she hoped she'd never see a herring
+or a bean again!”
+
+“She had her own troubles about coal, too,” remarked Jim. “The only coal
+down there is a horrible brownish stuff that falls into damp slack if
+you look at it; it's generally used only for furnaces, but people had
+to draw their coal allowance from the nearest supply, and it was all she
+could get. The only way to use the beastly stuff was to mix it with wet,
+salt mud from the river into what the country people call culm--then you
+cut it into blocks, or make balls of it, and it hardens. She
+couldn't get a man to do it for her, and she used to mix all her culm
+herself--and you wouldn't call it woman's work, even in Germany. But she
+used to tell it as a kind of joke.”
+
+“She used to look on herself as one of the really lucky women,” said
+David Linton, “because her husband didn't get killed. And I think she
+was--herrings and culm and all. And we're even luckier, since we've all
+come back to Australia, and to such a welcome as you've given us.” He
+stood up, smiling his slow, pleasant smile at them all. “And now I
+think I've got to go chasing the Customs, if I'm ever to disinter our
+belongings and get home.”
+
+The girls took possession of Norah and Tommy, who left their menfolk
+to the drear business of clearing luggage, and thankfully spent the
+afternoon in the Botanical Gardens, glad to have firm ground under
+their feet after six weeks of sea. Then they all met at dinner at Mrs.
+Geoffrey Linton's, where they found her son, Cecil, who greeted Norah
+with something of embarrassment. There was an old score between Norah
+and Cecil Linton, although they had not seen each other for years;
+but its memory died out in Norah's heart as she looked at her cousin's
+military badge and noted that he dragged one foot slightly. Indeed,
+there was no room in Norah's heart for anything but happiness.
+
+The aunts and uncles tried hard to persuade David Linton to remain a few
+days in Melbourne, but he shook his head.
+
+“I've been homesick for five years,” he told them. “And it feels like
+fifty. I'll come down again, I promise--yes, and bring the children, of
+course. But just now I can't wait. I've got to get home.”
+
+“That old Billabong!” said Mrs. Geoffrey, half laughing. “Are you going
+to live and die in the backblocks, David?”
+
+“Why, certainly--at least I hope so,” he said. “I suppose there must
+be lucid intervals, now that Norah is grown up, or imagines she is--not
+that she seems to me a bit different from the time when her hair was
+down. Still I suppose I must bring her to town, and let her make her
+curtsy at Government House, and do all the correct things--”
+
+Some one slipped a hand through his arm.
+
+“But when we've done them, daddy,” said Norah cheerfully, “there will
+always be Billabong to go home to!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BILLABONG
+
+
+“Will it be fine, Murty?”
+
+The person addressed made no answer for a moment, continuing to stare
+at the western horizon with his eyes wrinkled and his face anxious. He
+turned presently; a tall, grizzled man, with the stooping shoulders
+and the slightly bowed legs that are the heritage of those who spend
+nine-tenths of their time in the saddle.
+
+“Sorra a one of me knows,” he said. “It's one of thim unchancy days that
+might be annything. Have ye looked at the glass?”
+
+“It's mejum,” replied the first speaker. She was a vast woman, with a
+broad, kindly face, lit by shrewd and twinkling blue eyes, dressed, as
+was her custom, in a starched blue print, with a snowy apron. “Mejum
+only. But I don't feel comferable at that there bank of clouds, Murty.”
+
+“I'd not say meself it was good,” admitted Murty O'Toole, head stockman
+on the Billabong run. He looked again at the doubtful sky, and then back
+to Mrs. Brown. “Have ye no corns, at all, that 'ud be shootin' on ye if
+rain was coming?”
+
+“Corns I 'ave, indeed,” said Mrs. Brown, with the sigh of one who admits
+that she is but human. “But no--they ain't shootin' worth speakin'
+about, Murty. Nor me rheumatic knee ain't givin' tongue, as Master Jim
+would say.”
+
+“Yerra, that's all to the good,” said the stockman, much cheered. “I'll
+not look at the ould sky anny longer--leastways, not till I have that
+cup of tea ye were speakin' about.”
+
+“Come in then,” said Mrs. Brown, leading the way into the kitchen--a
+huge place so glittering with cleanliness and polish that it almost hurt
+the eye. “Kettle's boilin'--I'll have it made in a jiffy. No, Murty,
+you will not sit on that table. Pounds of bath-brick 'ave gone into me
+tables this last week.”
+
+“Ye have them always that white I do not see how ye'd want them to be
+whiter,” remarked Murty, gazing round him. “But I niver see anything to
+aiqual the shine ye have on them tins an' copper. And the stove is that
+fine it's a shame to be cookin' with it.” He looked with respect at the
+black satin and silver of the stove, where leaping flames glowed redly.
+“Well, I'll always say there isn't a heartsomer place to come into than
+the Billabong kitchen. And isn't it the little misthress that thinks
+so?”
+
+“Bless her, she was always in and out of it from the time she could
+toddle,” said Mrs. Brown, pausing with the teapot in her hand. “And
+she wasn't much more than toddlin' before she was at me to teach her
+to cook. When she was twelve she could cook a dinner as well as anyone
+twice her age. I never see the beat of her--handy as a man out on the
+run, too--”
+
+“She was that,” said Murty solemnly. “Since she was a bit of a thing I
+never see the bullock as could get away from her. And the ponies she'd
+ride! There was nothin' ever looked through a bridle that cud frighten
+her.”
+
+“Poof! Miss Norah didn't know what it was to be afraid,” said Mrs.
+Brown, filling the huge brown teapot. “Sometimes I've wished she was,
+for me heart's been in me mouth often and often when I see her go
+caperin' down the track on some mad-'eaded pony.”
+
+“An' there was niver a time when they was late home but you made sure
+the whole lot of 'em was killed,” said Murty, grinning. “I'd come in
+here an' find you wit' all the funerals planned, so to speak--”
+
+“Ah, go on! At least, I alwuz stayed at home when I was nervis,” said
+Mrs. Brown. “Who was it I've known catch an 'orse in the dark, an' go
+off to look for 'em when they were a bit late? Not me, Mr. O'Toole!” She
+filled his cup and handed it to him with a triumphant air.
+
+“Yerra, I misremember doin' any such thing,” said Murty, slightly
+confused. “'Tis the way I was most likely goin' afther a sick bullock,
+or it might be 'possum shootin'.” He raised his cup and took a deep
+draught; then, with a wry face, gazed at its contents. “I dunno is this
+a new brand of tea you're afther usin', now? Sure, it looks pale.”
+
+Mrs. Brown cast a glance at the cup he held out, and gave a gasp of
+horror.
+
+“Well, not in all me born days 'ave I made tea an' forgot to put the tea
+in!” she exclaimed, snatching it from his hand. “Don't you go an' tell
+Dave and Mick, Murty, or I'll never hear the end of it. Lucky there's
+plenty of hot water.” She emptied the teapot swiftly, and refilled it,
+this time with due regard to the tea-caddy.
+
+“Now, Murty, don't you sit there grinnin' at me like a hyener--it isn't
+every day I get Miss Norah home.”
+
+“It is not,” said Murty, taking his renewed cup and a large piece of
+bread and butter. “Sure, I'd not blame ye if ye fried bacon in the
+tea-pot--not this morning. I dunno, meself, am I on me head or me heels.
+All the men is much the same; they've been fallin' over each other,
+tryin' to get a little bit of extra spit-an'-polish on the whole place.
+I b'lieve Dave Boone wud 'a' set to work an' whitewashed the paddock
+fences if I'd encouraged him at all.”
+
+“There's that Sarah,” said Mrs. Brown. “Ornery days it takes me, an
+alarum clock, an' Mary, to say nothin' of a wet sponge, to get her out
+of bed. But bless you--these last three days she's up before the pair
+of us, rubbin' an' polishin' in every corner. An' she an' 'Ogg at each
+other's throats over flowers; she wantin' to pick every one to look
+pretty in the 'ouse, an' 'Ogg wantin' every one to look pretty in the
+garden.”
+
+“Well, Hogg's got enough an' to spare,” was Murty's comment. “No union
+touch about his work. I reckon he's put in sixteen hours a day at that
+garden since we heard they were comin'.”
+
+“But there never was any union touch about Billabong,” said Mrs. Brown.
+
+“Not much! We all know when we're well off,” said Murty. “I'll bet no
+union was ever as good a boss as David Linton.”
+
+Two other men appeared at the kitchen door--Mick Shanahan and Dave
+Boone--each wearing, in defiance of regulations, some battered remnant
+of uniform that marked the “digger,” while Mick, in addition, would walk
+always with a slight limp. He was accustomed to say 'twas a mercy it
+didn't hinder his profession--which, being that of a horsebreaker, freed
+him, as a rule, from the necessity of much walking. Other men Billabong
+had sent to the war, and not all of them had come back; the lonely
+station had been a place of anxiety and of mourning. But to-day the
+memories of the long years of fighting and waiting were blotted out in
+joy.
+
+“Come in, boys,” Mrs. Brown nodded at the men. “Tea's ready. What's it
+going to be?”
+
+“Fine, I think,” said Boone, replying to this somewhat indefinite
+question with complete certainty as to the questioner's meaning. “I
+seen you an' Murty pokin' your heads up at them clouds, but there ain't
+nothin' in them.” A smile spread over his good-looking, dark face.
+“Bless you, it couldn't rain today, with Miss Norah comin' home!”
+
+“I don't believe, meself, that Providence 'ud 'ave the 'eart,” said Mrs.
+Brown. “Picksher them now, all flyin' round and gettin' ready to start,
+and snatchin' a bite of breakfast--”
+
+“If I know Master Jim 'twill be no bite he'll snatch!” put in Mick.
+
+“Well, all I 'ope is that the 'otel don't poison them,” said Mrs.
+Brown darkly. “I on'y stopped in a Melbin' 'otel once, and then I got
+pot-o'-mine poisoning, or whatever they call it. I've 'eard they never
+wash their saucepans!”
+
+“No wonder you get rummy flavours in what you eat down there, if that's
+so,” said Dave. “Surprisin' what the digestions of them city people
+learn to put up with. Well, I suppose you won't be addin' to their risks
+by puttin' up much of a dinner for them to-day, Mrs. Brown.” He grinned
+wickedly.
+
+“You go on, imperence!” said the lady. “If I let you look into the
+larder now (w'ich I won't, along of knowin' you too well), there'd be
+no gettin' you out to work to-day. Murty, that turkey weighed
+five-and-thirty pound!”
+
+“Sure he looked every ounce of it,” said Murty. “I niver see his
+aiqual--he was a regular Clydesdale of a bird!”
+
+“I rose him from the aig meself,” said Mrs. Brown, “and I don't think
+I could 'a' brung meself to 'ave 'im killed for anythink less than them
+comin' 'ome. As it was, I feel 'e's died a nobil death. An' 'e'll eat
+beautiful, you mark my words.”
+
+“Well, it'll be something to think of the Boss at the head of his table,
+investigatin' a Billabong turkey again,” said Boone, putting down his
+empty cup. “And as there's nothing more certain than that they'll all be
+out at the stables d'reckly after dinner, wantin' to see the 'orses, you
+an' I'd better go an' shine 'em up a bit more, Mick.” They tramped out
+of the kitchen, while Mrs. Brown waddled to the veranda and cast further
+anxious glances at the bank of clouds lying westward.
+
+Norah was watching them, too. She was sitting in the corner of the
+compartment, as the swift train bore them northward, with her eyes glued
+to the country flying past. Just for once the others did not matter to
+her; her father, Jim, and Wally, each in his own corner, as they had
+travelled so many times in the past, coming back from school. Then she
+had had eyes only for them; to-day her soul was hungry for the dear
+country she had not seen for so long. It lay bare enough in the early
+winter--long stretches of stone-walled paddocks where the red soil
+showed through the sparse, native grass; steep, stony hillsides, with
+little sheep grazing on them--pygmies, after the great English sheep;
+oases of irrigation, with the deep green of lucerne growing rank among
+weed-fringed water-channels; and so on and on, past little towns
+and tiny settlements, and now and then a stop at some place of more
+importance. But Norah did not want the towns; she was homesick for the
+open country, for the scent of the gum trees coming drifting in through
+the open window, for the long, lonely plains where grazing cattle raised
+lazy eyes to look at the roaring engine, or horses flung up nervous
+heads and went racing away across the grass--more for the fun of it than
+from fear. The gum trees called to her, beckoned to her; she forgot the
+smooth perfection of the English landscape as she feasted her eyes on
+the dear, untidy trees, whose dangling strips of bark seemed to wave to
+her in greeting, telling her she was coming home. They passed a great
+team of working bullocks in a wagon loaded with an enormous tree trunk;
+twenty-four monsters, roan and red and speckled, with a great pair of
+polled Angus in the lead; they plodded along in their own dust, their
+driver beside them with his immense whip over his shoulder. Norah
+pointed them out to the others with a quick exclamation, and Jim and
+Wally came to look out from her window.
+
+“By Jove, what a team!” said Jim. “Well, just at this moment I'd rather
+see those fellows than the meet of the Coaching Club in Hyde Park--and I
+had a private idea that that was the finest sight in the world!”
+
+“Aren't you a jungly animal!” quoth Wally.
+
+“Rather--just now,” Jim rejoined. “Some day, I suppose, I'll be glad to
+go back to London, and look at it all again. But just now there doesn't
+seem to be anything to touch a fellow's own country--and that team of
+old sloggers there is just a bit of it. Isn't it, old Nor?” She nodded
+up at him; there was no need of words.
+
+The morning was drawing towards noon when they came in sight of their
+own little station: Cunjee, looking just as they had left it years ago,
+its corrugated iron roofs gleaming in the sunlight, its one street green
+with feathery pepper trees along each side. The train pulled up, and
+they all tumbled out hastily; presumably the express wasted no more time
+upon Cunjee than in days gone by, when it was necessary to hustle out
+of the carriage, and to race along to the van, lest the whistle should
+sound and your trunks be whisked away somewhere down the line.
+
+There were many people on the platform, and, wonderful to relate, a band
+was playing--Home Sweet Home; a little band, some of its musicians still
+in the aprons in which they had rushed from their shop duties; with
+instruments few and poor, and with not much training, so that the cornet
+was apt to be half a bar ahead of the euphonium. The Lintons had heard
+many bands since they had been away, and some had played before the King
+himself; but no music had ever gripped at their heartstrings like the
+music of the little backblocks band that stood on the gravelled platform
+of Cunjee and played to welcome them home.
+
+Suddenly, as they stood bewildered, there seemed people all round them;
+kindly, homely faces, gripping their hands, shouting greetings. Evans,
+the manager of Billabong, showed a delighted face for a moment, said,
+“Luggage in the van. I'll see to it; don't you bother,” and was gone.
+Little Dr. Anderson and his wife, friends of long years, were trying to
+shake hands with all four at once. They were the centre of an excited
+little crowd--and found it hard to believe that it was really for them.
+The train roared away, unnoticed, and the station-master and the porter
+ran up to add their voices to the chorus. Somehow they were outside the
+station, gently propelled; and there was a great arch of gum leaves,
+with a huge WELCOME in red letters, and beneath it were the shire
+president and his councillors, and other weighty men, all with speeches
+ready. But the speeches did not come to much, for the shire president
+had lads himself who had gone to the war, and a lump came in his throat
+as he looked at the tall boys from Billabong, whom he had known as
+little children; so that half the fine things he had prepared were never
+said--which did not matter, since he had it all written out and gave
+it to the reporter of the local paper afterwards! Something of
+speech-making there undoubtedly was, but no one could have told you much
+about it--and suddenly it ended in some one calling for “Three cheers!”
+ which every one gave with a will, while the band played that they were
+Jolly Good Fellows--and some of the band cheered while they played, with
+very curious results. Then David Linton tried to speak, and that was a
+failure also, as far as eloquence went; but nobody seemed to mind. So,
+between hand grips and cheers, they made their way through the welcome
+of Cunjee to where the big double buggy of Billabong stood, with three
+fidgeting brown horses, each held by a volunteer. Beyond that was the
+carry-all of the bush; an express wagon, with a grinning black boy at
+the horses' heads--and Norah went to him with outstretched hands.
+
+“Why, Billy!” she said.
+
+Billy's grin expanded in a perfectly reckless fashion.
+
+“Plenty glad!” he stammered--and thereby doubled his usual output of
+words.
+
+Willing hands were tossing their luggage into the wagon--unfamiliar
+luggage to Cunjee, with its jumble of ship labels, Continental hotel
+brands, and the names of towns all over England, Ireland and Scotland.
+There were battered tin uniform cases of Jim and Wally's, bearing their
+rank and regiment in half effaced letters: “Major J. Linton”; “Captain
+W. Meadows”--it was hard to realize that they belonged to the two
+merry-faced boys, who did not seem much changed from the days when
+Cunjee had seen them arrive light-heartedly from school. Mr. Linton ran
+his eye over the pile, pronouncing it complete. Then Evans was at his
+side.
+
+“The motor you sent is ready at the garage in the township if you want
+it,” he said. “But you wired that I was to bring the buggy.”
+
+“I did,” said David Linton, with a slow smile. “I suppose for
+convenience sake we'll have to shake down to using the motor. But I
+drove the old buggy away from Billabong, and I'll drive home now. Jump
+in, children.”
+
+He gathered up the reins, sitting, erect and spare, with one foot on the
+brake, while the brown horses plunged impatiently, and the volunteers
+found their work cut out in holding them. Norah was by him, Evans on her
+other hand; Jim and Wally “tumbled up” into the back seat, as they had
+done so many times. David Linton looked down at the crowd below.
+
+“Thank you all again,” he said. “We'll see you soon--it's not good-bye
+now, only 'so-long.' Let 'em go, boys.”
+
+The volunteers sprang back, thankfully. The browns stood on their hind
+legs for a moment, endeavouring to tie themselves in knots; then the
+whip spoke, and they came to earth, straightened themselves out with a
+flying plunge, and wheeled out of the station yard and up the
+street. Behind them cheers broke out afresh, and the band blared once
+more--which acted as a further spur to the horses; they were pulling
+double as the high buggy flashed along the street, where every house and
+every shop showed smiling faces, and handkerchiefs waved in welcome. So
+they passed through Cunjee, and wheeled to the right towards the open
+country--the country that meant Billabong.
+
+There were seventeen miles of road ahead, but the browns made little of
+them. They had come into the township the evening before, and had done
+nothing since but eat the hotel oats and wish to be out of a close
+stable and back in their own free paddocks. They took the hills at a
+swift, effortless trot, and on the down slopes broke into a hand-gallop;
+light-hearted, but conscious all the time of the hand on the reins, that
+was as steel, yet light as a feather upon a tender mouth. They danced
+merrily to one side when they met a motor or a hawker's van with
+flapping cover; when the buggy rattled over a bridge they plainly
+regarded the drumming of their own hoofs as the last trump, and fled
+wildly for a few hundred yards, before realizing that nothing was really
+going to happen to them. But the miles fled under their swift feet. The
+trim villas near the township gave place to scattered farms. These in
+their turn became further and further apart, and then they entered a
+wide belt of timber, ragged and wind-swept gums, with dense undergrowth
+of dogwood and bracken fern. The metalled road gave place to a hard,
+earthern track, on which the spinning tyres made no sound; it curved in
+and out among the trees, which met overhead and cast upon it a waving
+pattern of shadows. Grim things had once happened to Norah in this belt
+of trees, and the past came back to her as she looked at its gloomy
+recesses again.
+
+They were all silent. There had been few questions to ask of Evans, a
+few to be answered; then speech fled from them and the old spell of the
+country held them in its power. Every yard was familiar; every little
+bridge, every culvert, every quaint old skeleton tree or dead grey log.
+Here Jim's pony had bolted at sight of an Indian hawker, in days long
+gone, and had ended by putting his foot into a hole and turning a
+somersault, shooting Jim into a well-grown clump of nettles. Here Norah
+had dropped her whip when riding alone, and her fractious young mare had
+succeeded in pulling away when she dismounted, and had promptly departed
+post-haste for home; leaving her wrathful owner to follow as she might.
+A passing bullock-wagon had given her a lift, and the somewhat anxious
+rescue party, setting out from Billabong, had met its youthful mistress,
+bruised from much bumping, but otherwise cheerful, progressing in slow
+majesty towards its gates. Here--but the memories were legion, even to
+the girl and the two boys. And David Linton's went further back, to the
+day when he had first driven Norah's mother over the Billabong track;
+little and dainty and merry, while he had been as always, silent, but
+unspeakably proud of her. The little mother's grave had long been green,
+and the world had turned topsy-turvy since then, but the old track was
+the same, and the memory, and the pride, were no less clear.
+
+They emerged from the timber at last, and spun across a wide plain,
+scattered with clumps of gum-trees. Then another belt of bush, a narrow
+one this time; and they came out within view of a great park-like
+paddock where Shorthorn bullocks, knee-deep in grass, scarcely moved
+aside as the buggy spun past, with the browns pulling hard. The track
+ran near the fence, and turned in at a big white gate glistening with
+new paint. It stood wide open, and beside it was a man on a splendid bay
+horse.
+
+“There's Murty, and he's on Garryowen,” spoke Jim quickly. “The old
+brick!”
+
+“I guess if anyone else had wanted to open the gate for you to-day, he'd
+have had to fight Murty for the job,” said Evans. “And Garryowen's been
+groomed till he turns pale at the sight of a brush, Great horse he's
+made, Mr. Jim.”
+
+“He's all that,” said his owner, leaning out to view him better, with
+his eyes shining. He raised his voice in a shout as they swung in
+through the gateway. “Good for you, Murty! Hurroo!”
+
+“Hurroo for ye all!” said Murty, and found to his amazement that his
+voice was shaky. “Ah, don't shtop, sir, they're all waitin' on ye. I'll
+be up as soon as ye.”
+
+Norah had tried to speak, and had found that she had no voice at all.
+She could only smile at him, tremulously--and be sure the Irishman did
+not fail to catch the smile. Then, as they dashed up the paddock, her
+hand sought for her father's knee under the rug, in the little gesture
+that had been hers from babyhood. The track curved round a grove of
+great pines, and suddenly they were within sight of Billabong homestead,
+red-walled and red-roofed, nestled in the deep green of its trees.
+
+“By Jove!” said Jim, under his breath. “I thought once I'd never see the
+old place again.”
+
+They flashed through mighty red gums and box trees, Murty galloping
+beside them now. There was a big flag flying proudly on Billabong
+house--they found later that the household had unanimously purchased it
+on the day they heard that Jim had got his captaincy. The gate of the
+great sanded yard stood open, and near it, on a wide gravel sweep, were
+the dear and simple and faithful people they loved. Mrs. Brown first,
+starched and spotless, her hair greyer than it had been five years
+before, with Sarah and Mary beside her--they had married during the war,
+but nothing had prevented them from coming back to make Billabong ready.
+Near them the storekeeper, Jack Archdale, and his pretty wife, with
+their elfish small daughter; and Mick Shanahan and Dave Boone, with the
+Scotch gardener, Hogg, and his Chinese colleague--and sworn enemy--Lee
+Wing. They were all there, a little welcoming group--but Norah could see
+them only through a mist of happy tears. The buggy stopped, and Evans
+sprang out over the wheel; she followed him almost as swiftly, running
+to the old woman who had been all the mother she had known.
+
+“Oh, Brownie--Brownie!”
+
+“My precious lamb!” said Brownie, and held her tightly. She had no hands
+left for Jim and Wally, and they did not seem to mind; they kissed her,
+patting her vast shoulders very hard. Then Mrs. Archdale claimed Norah,
+and Brownie found herself looking mistily up at David Linton and he was
+gripping her hand tightly, the other hand on her shoulder.
+
+“Why, old Brownie!” he said. “Dear old Brownie!”
+
+They were shaking hands all round, over and over again. Nobody made any
+speeches of welcome--there were only disjointed words, and once or
+twice a little sob. Indeed, Brownie only found her tongue when they had
+drifted across the yard in a confused group, and had reached the wide
+veranda. Then she looked up at Jim and seemed suddenly to realize his
+mighty height and breadth.
+
+“Oh!” she said. “Oh! Ain't 'e grown big an' beautiful!” Whereat Wally
+howled with laughter, and Jim, scarlet, kissed her again, and told her
+she was a shameful old woman.
+
+No one on Billabong could have told you much of that day, after
+the first wonderful moment of getting home. It was a day of blurred
+memories. The new-comers had to wander through the house where every big
+window stood open to the sunlight, and every room was gay with flowers;
+and from every window it was necessary to look out at the view across
+the paddocks and down at the gardens, and to follow the winding course
+of the creek. The gong summoned them to dinner in the midst of it, and
+Brownie's dinner deserved to be remembered; the mammoth turkey flanked
+by a ham as gigantic, and somewhat alarming to war-trained appetites;
+followed by every sweet that Brownie could remember as having been a
+favourite. They drifted naturally to the stables afterwards, to find
+their special horses, apparently little changed by five years, though
+some old station favourites were gone, and the men spoke proudly of some
+new young ones that were going to be “beggars to go,” or “a caution to
+jump.” Then they wandered down to the big lagoon, where the old boat
+yet lay at the edge of the reed-fringed water; and on through the home
+paddock to look at the little herd of Jerseys that were kept for the
+use of the house, and some great bullocks almost ready for the Melbourne
+market. So they came back to the homestead, wandering up from the creek
+through Lee Wing's rows of vegetables, and came to rest naturally in the
+kitchen, where they had afternoon tea with Brownie, who beamed from ear
+to ear at the sight of Jim and Wally again sitting on her table.
+
+“I used to think of you in them 'orrible trenches, an' wonder wot you
+got to eat, an' if it was anything at all,” she said tremulously.
+
+“We got something, but it was apt to be queer,” said Jim, laughing.
+“We used to think of sitting on the table here, Brownie, and eating hot
+scones--like this. May I have another?”
+
+“My pore dears!” said Brownie, hastily supplying him with the largest
+scone in sight. “Now, Master Wally, my love, ain't you ready for
+another? Your appetite's not 'alf wot it used to be. A pikelet, now?”
+
+“I believe I've had six!” said Wally, defending himself.
+
+“An' wot used six pikelets to be to you? A mere fly in the ointment,”
+ said Brownie, whose similes were always apt to be peculiar. “Just
+another, then, my dear. An' I've got your fav'rite sponge cake, Miss
+Norah--ten aigs in it!”
+
+“Ten!” said Norah faintly. “Hold me, daddy! Doesn't it make you feel
+light-headed to think of putting ten eggs in one cake again?”
+
+“An' why not?” sniffed Brownie. “Ah, you got bad treatment in that old
+England. I never could see why you should go short, an' you all 'elpin'
+on the war as 'ard as you could.” Brownie's indifference to national
+considerations where her nurselings were concerned was well known, and
+nobody argued with her. “Any'ow, the cake's there, an' just you try
+it--it's as light as a feather, though I do say it.”
+
+Once in the kitchen Norah and the boys went no further. They remained
+sitting on the tables, talking, while presently David Linton went away
+to his study, and, one by one, Murty and Boone and Mick Shanahan drifted
+in. There was so much to tell, so much to ask about; they talked until
+the dusk of the short winter afternoon stole into the kitchen, making
+the red flames in the stove leap more redly. It was time to dress for
+tea. They went round the wide verandas and ran upstairs to their rooms,
+while old Brownie stood in the kitchen doorway listening to the merry
+voices.
+
+“Ain't it just 'evinly to 'ear 'em again!” she uttered.
+
+“It is that,” said Murty. “We've been quare an' lonesome an' quiet these
+five years.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+
+Cecilia--otherwise Tommy--and Bob Rainham came up to Billabong three
+days later, and were met by Jim, who had ridden into Cunjee with Black
+Billy, and released the motor from inglorious seclusion in the local
+garage. Billy jogged off, leading Garryowen, and Jim watched them half
+wistfully for a minute before turning to the car. Motors had their uses
+certainly; but no Linton ever dreamed of giving a car the serious and
+respectful consideration that naturally belonged to a horse.
+
+Nevertheless, it was a good car; a gift to Norah from an Irishman
+they had known and loved; and Jim drove well, having developed the
+accomplishment over Flemish roads that were chiefly a succession of
+shell holes. He took her quietly up to the station, and walked on to the
+platform as the train thundered in.
+
+Tommy and Bob were looking eagerly from their carriage window, and
+hailed him with delight; they had been alone, for the first time since
+leaving England, and had begun to feel that Australia was a large and
+slightly populated country, and that they were inconsiderable atoms,
+suddenly dumped into its vacant spaces. Jim was like a large and
+friendly rock, and Australia immediately became less wide and desolate
+in their eyes. He greeted them cheerily and helped Bob to pack their
+luggage into the car.
+
+“Now, I could get you afternoon tea here,” he said; “and I warn you,
+it will be bad. Or I could have you home in well under an hour, and you
+wouldn't be too late for tea there. Which is it to be, Tommy?”
+
+“Oh--home,” said Tommy. “I don't care a bit about tea; and I want to see
+this Billabong of yours. Do let's go, Jim.”
+
+“I hoped you wouldn't choose tea here,” said Jim, striding off to the
+car. “Bush townships don't run to decent tea places, as a rule; the
+hotel is the only chance, and though they can give you a fair dinner,
+tea always seems to be a weak spot.” He packed them in, and they moved
+off down the winding street.
+
+“Do you know,” Jim said, “that I never went down this street before
+except on a horse, or behind one? It seems quite queer and unnatural
+to be doing it in a car. I suppose I'll get used to it. Had a good trip
+up?”
+
+“Oh, quite,” Tommy told him. “Jim, how few people seem to be living in
+Australia!”
+
+Jim gave a crack of laughter.
+
+“Well, you saw a good many in Melbourne, didn't you?” he asked.
+
+“Oh, yes. But Melbourne isn't Australia. It's only away down in a wee
+little corner.” Tommy flushed a little. “You see, I haven't seen much of
+any country except France and the England that's near London,” she said.
+“And there isn't much waste space there.”
+
+“No, there isn't,” Jim agreed. “I suppose we'll fill up Australia some
+day. But the people who come out now seem to have a holy horror of going
+into the 'waste spaces,' as you call 'em, Tommy. They want to nestle up
+to the towns, and go to picture theatres.”
+
+“Well, I want to go and find a nice waste space,” said Tommy. “Not too
+waste, of course, only with room to look all round. And I'd like it
+to be not too far from Norah, 'cause she's very cheering to a lone
+new-chum. But don't you go planning to settle in one of those horrid
+little tin-roofed towns, Bobby, for I should simply hate it.”
+
+“Certainly, ma'am,” said Bob cheerfully. “We'll get out into the open. I
+can always run you about in an aeroplane, if you feel lonesome, provided
+we make enough money to buy one, that is. Only new-chums don't always
+make heaps of money, do they, Jim?”
+
+“Not at first, I'm afraid,” Jim said. “The days of picking up fortunes
+in Australia seem to be over; anyway, there's no more gold lying about.
+Nowadays, you have to put your back into it extremely hard, if you've no
+capital to start with; and even if you have, you can't loaf. How did you
+get on in Melbourne? I hope you didn't buy a station without consulting
+us.”
+
+“Rather not,” Bob answered. “We raced round magnificently in your aunt's
+car and presented our letters, and had more invitations to sundry meals
+than we could possibly accept. Every one was extraordinarily kind to us.
+I've offers and promises of advice in whatever district we settle; three
+squatters asked me up to their places, to stay awhile and study the
+country; and one confiding man--I hadn't a letter to him at all, by the
+way, only some one introduced us to him in Scott's--actually offered me
+a job as jackeroo on a Queensland run. But he was a lone old bachelor,
+and when he heard I had a sister he shied off in terror. I think he's
+running yet.”
+
+Jim shouted with laughter.
+
+“Poor old Tommy!” he said.
+
+“Yes, is it not unfair?” said Tommy. “I told Bob I was a mere
+encumbrance, but he would bring me.”
+
+“You wait until you've settled, and Bob wants some one to run his house,
+and then see how much of an encumbrance you are,” rejoined Jim. “Then
+you'll suddenly stop being meek and get swelled head.”
+
+“And not be half so nice,” interjected Bob.
+
+“But so useful!” said Tommy demurely. “Only sometimes I become
+afraid--for you seem always to kill a whole sheep or bullock up in the
+bush, and how I am to deal with it I do not know!”
+
+“It sounds as if you preferred some one to detach an occasional limb
+from the sheep as it walked about!” said Jim, laughing.
+
+“Much easier for me--if not for the sheep,” said Tommy.
+
+“Well, don't you worry--the meat problem will get settled somehow,” Jim
+told her cheerfully. “All problems straighten out, if you give 'em time.
+Now we're nearly home--that's the fence of our home-paddock. And there
+are Norah and Wally coming to meet you.”
+
+“Oh--where?” Tommy started up, looking excitedly round the landscape.
+“Oh--there she is--the dear! And isn't that a beautiful horse!”
+
+“That's Norah's special old pony, Bosun,” said Jim. “We're making her
+very unhappy by telling her she's grown too big for him, but he really
+carries her like a bird. A habit might look too much on him, but not
+that astride kit. You got yours, by the way, Tommy, I hope?”
+
+“Oh yes. I look very strange in it,” said Tommy. “And Bob thinks I might
+as well have worn out his old uniforms. But I shall never ride like
+that--as Norah does.”
+
+She looked at Norah, who was coming across the paddock with Wally, at a
+hard canter. Her pony was impatient, reefing and plunging in his desire
+to gallop; and Norah was sitting him easily, her hands, well down,
+giving to the strain on the bit, her slight figure, in coat and
+breeches, swaying lightly to each bound. The sunlight rippled on Bosun's
+glossy, bay coat, and on the big black horse Wally rode. They pulled
+up, laughing, at the gateway, just as the car turned off the road. There
+were confused and enthusiastic greetings, and the car dashed on up the
+track, with an outrider on each side--both horses strongly resenting
+this new and ferocious monster. The years had brought a good deal of
+sober sense to Bosun and Monarch, but motors were still unfamiliar
+objects on Billabong. Indeed, no car of the size of Norah's Rolls-Royce
+had ever been seen in the district, and the men gaped at it open-mouthed
+as Jim drove it round to the stable after unloading his passengers.
+
+“Yerra, but that's the fine carry-van,” said Murty. “Is that the size
+they have them in England, now?”
+
+“No, it isn't, Murty--not as a rule,” Jim answered. “This was built
+specially for a man who was half an invalid; he used to go for long
+tours, and sleep in the car because he hated hotels. So it's a special
+size. It used to be jolly useful taking out wounded men in England.”
+
+“Sure, it would be,” Murty said. “Only--somehow, it don't seem to fit
+into Billabong, Mr. Jim!”
+
+“So big as that! I say, Murty!”
+
+“Yerra, there's room enough for it,” grinned the Irishman. “Only, motors
+and Billabong don't go hand in hand--we've always stuck to horses,
+haven't we, Mr. Jim?”
+
+“We'll do that still,” Jim said. “But it will be useful, all the same,
+Murty.” He laughed at the stockman's lugubrious face. “Oh, I know it's
+giving you the sort of pain you had when dad had the telephone put on--”
+
+“Well, 'tis the quare onnatural little machine, an' I niver feel anyways
+at home with it, Mr. Jim,” Murty defended himself.
+
+“There's lots like you, Murty. But you'll admit that when we've got
+to send a telegram, it's better to telephone it than make a man ride
+thirty-four miles with it?”
+
+“I suppose it is,” said the Irishman doubtfully. “I dunno, though--if
+'twas that black imp of a Billy he'd as well be doing that as propping
+up the stable wall an' smokin'!”
+
+Jim chuckled.
+
+“There's no getting round an Irishman when he makes up his mind,” he
+said. “And if you had to catch the eight o'clock train to Melbourne
+I believe you'd rather get up at three in the morning and run up the
+horses to drive in, than leave here comfortably in the car at seven.”
+
+“Is it me to dhrive in it?” demanded Murty, in horror. “Begob, I'd lose
+me life before I'd get into one of thim quare, sawed-off things. Give
+me something with shafts, Mr. Jim, and a dacint horse in them. More by
+token, I would not get up at three in the morning either, but dhrive in
+aisy an' comfortable the night before.” He beamed on Jim with so clear
+a conviction that he was unanswerable that Jim hadn't the heart to
+argue further. Instead he ran the car deftly into a buggy-shed whence
+an ancient double buggy had been deposed to make room for her, and then
+fell to discussing with Murty the question of building a garage, with
+a turn-table and pit for cleaning and repairs. To which Murty gave
+the eager interest and attention he would have shown had Jim proposed
+building anything, even had it been an Eiffel Tower on the front lawn.
+
+Brownie came out through the box-trees to the stables, presently.
+
+“Now, Master Jim, afternoon tea's in these ten minutes.”
+
+“Good gracious! I forgot all about tea!” Jim exclaimed. “Thanks awfully,
+Brownie. Had your own?” He slipped his arm through hers as they turned
+back to the house.
+
+“Not yet, my dear,” said Brownie, beaming up at him. That this huge
+Major, with four years of war service to his credit, was exactly the
+same to her as the little boy she had bathed and dressed in years gone
+by, was a matter of nightly thanksgiving in her prayers. “I was just
+goin' to settle to it when it come over me that you weren't in--and the
+visitors there an' all.”
+
+“I'd come and have mine with you in the kitchen if they weren't there,”
+ Jim told her. “Tea in your kitchen is better than anything else.” He
+patted her shoulders as he left her at the door of her domain, going off
+with long strides to wash his hands.
+
+“We didn't wait for you,” Norah said, as he came into the drawing-room;
+a big cheery room, with long windows opening out upon the veranda, and a
+conservatory at one end. A fire of red gum logs made it pleasantly
+warm; the tea table was drawn near its blaze, and the arm-chairs made
+a semicircle round it. “These poor people looked far too hungry to
+wait--to say nothing of Wally and myself. How did the car go, Jimmy?”
+
+“Splendidly,” Jim said, taking his cup, and retiring from the tea-table
+with a scone. “Never ran better; that man in Cunjee knows his job, which
+I didn't expect. Are you tired, Tommy?”
+
+“Tired?--no,” said Tommy. “I was very hungry, but that is getting
+better. And Norah is going to show me Billabong, so I could not possibly
+dream of being tired.”
+
+“If Norah means to show you all Billabong before dark, she'll have
+to hurry,” said Jim lazily. “Don't you let yourself be persuaded into
+anything so desperate, Tommy.”
+
+“Don't you worry; I'll give her graduated doses,” Norah said. “I'll
+watch the patient carefully, and see if there is any sign of strength
+failing. When do you begin to teach Bob to run a station?”
+
+“I never saw anyone in such a hurry,” said Jim. “Why, the poor beggar
+hasn't had his tea yet--give him time.”
+
+“But we are in a hurry,” said Tommy. “We're burning to learn all about
+it. Norah is to teach me the house side, while you instruct Bob how to
+tell a merino bullock--is it not?--from an Ayrshire.” Everybody ate with
+suspicious haste, and she looked at them shrewdly. “Now, I have said
+that all wrong, I feel sure, but it's just as well for you to be
+prepared for that. Norah will have a busy time correcting my mistakes.”
+
+“You aren't supposed to know anything about cattle and things like
+that,” said Norah. “And when it comes to the house side, I don't think
+you'll find I can teach you much--if anyone brought up to know French
+cooking and French housekeeping has much to learn from a backblocks
+Australian, I'll be surprised.”
+
+“In fact,” said Mr. Linton, “I should think that the lessons will
+generally end in the students of domestic economy fleeing forth upon
+horses and studying how to deal with beef--on the hoof. Don't you,
+Wally?”
+
+“Rather,” said Wally. “And Brownie will wash up after them, and say,
+'Bless their hearts, why would they stay in a hot kitchen!' And so poor
+old Bob will go down the road to ruin!”
+
+“It's a jolly prospect,” said Bob placidly. “I think we'll knock a good
+deal of fun out of it!”
+
+They trooped out in a body presently on their preliminary voyage
+of discovery; touring the house itself, with its big rooms and wide
+corridors, and the broad balconies that ran round three sides, from
+which you looked far across the run--miles of rolling plains, dotted
+with trees and clumps of timber, and merging into a far line of low,
+scrub-grown hills. Then outside, and to the stables--a massive red brick
+pile, creeper-covered, where Monarch and Garryowen, and Bosun, and the
+buggy ponies, looked placidly from their loose boxes, and asked for--and
+got--apples from Jim's pockets. Tommy even made her way up the steep
+ladder to the loft that ran the whole length of the stables--big enough
+for the men's yearly dance, but just now crammed with fragrant oaten
+hay. She wanted to see everything, and chatted away in her eager,
+half-French fashion, like a happy child.
+
+“It is so lovely to be here,” she told Norah later, when the keen
+evening wind had driven them indoors from a tour of the garden. She was
+kneeling on the floor of her bedroom, unpacking her trunk, while Norah
+perched on the end of the bed. “You see, I am no longer afraid; and I
+have always been afraid since Aunt Margaret died. In Lancaster Gate I
+was afraid all the time, especially when I was planning to run away.
+Then, on the ship, though every one was so kind, the big, unknown
+country was like a wall of Fear ahead; even in Melbourne everything
+seemed uncertain, doubtful. But now, quite suddenly, it is all right. I
+just know we shall get along quite well.”
+
+“Why, of course you will,” Norah said, laughing down at the earnest
+face. “You're the kind of people who must do well, because you are so
+keen. And Billabong has adopted you, and we're going to see that you
+make a success of things. You're our very own immigrants!”
+
+“It's nice to be owned by some one who isn't my step-mother,” said Tommy
+happily. “I began to think I was hers, body and soul--when she appeared
+on that awful moment in Liverpool. I made sure all hope was over. Bob
+says I shouldn't have panicked, but then Bob had not been a toad under
+her harrow for two years.”
+
+“I'm very glad you panicked, since it sent you straight into our arms,”
+ said Norah. “If we had met you in an ordinary, stodgy way--you and Bob
+presenting your letter of introduction, and we saying 'How do you do?'
+politely--it would have taken us ages to get to know you properly.
+And as it was, we jumped into being friends. You did look such a poor,
+hunted little soul as you came dodging across that street!”
+
+“And you took me on trust, when, for all you know, the police might have
+been after me,” said Tommy. “Well, we won't forget; not that I suppose
+Bob and I will ever be able to pay you back.”
+
+“Good gracious, we don't want paying back!” exclaimed Norah, wrinkling
+her nose disgustedly. “Don't talk such utter nonsense, Tommy Rainham.
+And just hurry up and unpack, because tea will be ready at half-past
+six.”
+
+“My goodness!” exclaimed the English girl, to whom dinner at half-past
+seven was a custom of life not lightly to be altered. “And I haven't
+half unpacked, and oh, where is my blue frock? I don't believe I've
+brought it.” She sought despairingly in the trunk.
+
+“Yes, you have--I hung it up for you in the wardrobe ages ago,” said
+Norah. “And it doesn't matter if you don't finish before tea. There's
+lots of time ahead. However, I certainly won't be dressed if I don't
+hurry, because I've to see Brownie first, and then sew on a button for
+Jim. You'll find me next door when you're ready.” Tommy heard her go,
+singing downstairs, and she sighed happily. This, for the first time for
+two years, was a real home.
+
+The education of the new-chums began next morning, and was carried out
+thoroughly, since Mr. Linton did not believe in showing their immigrants
+only the pleasanter side of Australian life. Bob was given a few days of
+riding round the run, spying out the land, and learning something about
+cattle and their handling as he rode. Luckily for him, he was a good
+horseman. The stockmen, always on the alert to “pick holes” in a
+new-chum, had little fault to find with his easy seat and hands, and
+approved of the way in which he waited for no one's help in saddling up
+or letting go his horse; a point which always tells with the man of the
+bush.
+
+“We've had thim on this run,” said Murty, “as wanted their horses led
+gently up to thim, and then they climb into the saddle like a lady.
+And when they'd come home, all they'd be lookin' for 'ud be some one to
+casht their reins to, the way they cud strowl off to their tay. Isn't
+that so, Mick?”
+
+“Yairs,” said Mick. He was riding an unbroken three-year-old, and had no
+time for conversation.
+
+After a few days of “gentle exercise,” Bob found himself put on to
+work. He learned something of cutting out and mustering, both in cleared
+country and in scrub; helped bring home young cattle to brand, and
+studied at first hand the peculiar evilness of a scrub cow when
+separated from her calf. They gave him jobs for himself, which
+he accomplished fairly well, aided by a stock horse of superhuman
+intelligence, which naturally knew far more of the work than its rider
+could hope to do. Bob confided to Tommy that never had he felt so
+complete a fool as when he rode forth for the first time to cut out a
+bullock alone under the eyes of the experts.
+
+“Luckily, the old mare did all the work,” he said. “But I knew less
+about it than I did the first time I went up alone at the flying
+school!”
+
+His teaching went on all the time. Mr. Linton and Jim were tireless in
+pointing out the points of cattle, and the variations in the value of
+feed on the different parts of the run, with all the details of bush
+lore; and the airman's eyes, trained to observe, and backed by keen
+desire to learn, picked up and retained knowledge quickly. Billabong
+was, in the main, a cattle run, but Mr. Linton kept as well a flock of
+high class sheep, with the usual small mob for killing for station use,
+and through these a certain amount of sheep knowledge was imparted to
+the new-chum. To their surprise, for all his instructors were heart and
+soul for cattle, Bob showed a distinct leaning towards mutton.
+
+“They're easier to understand, I think,” he said. “Possibly it's because
+they're not as intelligent as cattle, and I don't think I am, either!”
+
+“Well, I know something about bullocks, but these woolly objects have
+always been beyond me,” said Jim. “Necessary evils, but I can't stand
+them. I used to think there was nothing more hopeless than an old merino
+ewe, until I met a battery mule--he's a shade worse!”
+
+“Wait till you've worked with a camel in a bad temper, Mr. Jim,” said
+Dave Boone darkly; he had put in a weary time in Egypt. “For downright
+wickedness them snake-headed beggars is the fair limit!”
+
+“Yes, I've heard so,” said Jim. “Anyhow, we haven't added mules and
+camels to our worries in Victoria yet; sheep are bad enough for me.
+Norah says turkey hens are worse, and she's certainly tried both; there
+isn't much about the run young Norah doesn't know. But you aren't going
+to make a living out of turkeys.”
+
+“No--Tommy can run them as a side line,” said Bob. “I fancy sheep will
+give me all I want in the way of worry.”
+
+“And you really think you'll go in for sheep, old man?” asked Jim with
+pity.
+
+Bob set his lips obstinately.
+
+“I don't think anything yet,” he said. “I don't know enough. Wait until
+I've learned a bit more--if you're not sick of teaching such an idiot.”
+
+“Yerra, ye're no ijit,” said Murty under his breath.
+
+Education developed as the weeks went on. Wally had gone to Queensland,
+to visit married brothers who were all the “people” he possessed; and
+Jim, bereft of his chum, threw himself energetically into the training
+of the substitute. Bob learned to slaughter a bullock and kill a
+sheep--being instructed that the job in winter was not a circumstance to
+what it would be in summer, when flies would abound. He never pretended
+to like this branch of learning, but stuck to it doggedly, since it was
+explained to him that the man who could not be his own butcher in the
+bush was apt to go hungry, and that not one hired hand in twenty could
+be trusted to kill.
+
+More to Bob's taste were the boundary riding expeditions made with Jim
+to the furthest corners of the run; taking a pack horse with tucker and
+blankets, and camping in ancient huts, of which the sole furniture was
+rough sacking bunks, a big fireplace, and empty kerosene cases for
+seats and tables. It was unfortunate, from the point of view of
+Bob's instruction, that the frantic zeal of Murty and the men to have
+everything in order for “the Boss” had left no yard of the Billabong
+boundary unvisited not a month before. Still, winter gales were always
+apt to bring down a tree or two across the wires, laying a few panels
+flat; the creeks, too, were all in flood, and where a wire fence crossed
+one, floating brushwood often damaged the barrier, or a landslip in
+a water-worn bank might carry away a post. So Jim and his pupil found
+enough occupation to make their trips worth while; and Bob learned to
+sink post holes, to ram a post home beyond the possibility of moving,
+and to strain a wire fence scientifically. He was not a novice with an
+axe, though Jim's mighty chopping made him feel a child; still, when it
+was necessary to cut away a fallen tree, he could do his share manfully.
+His hands blistered and grew horny callouses, even as his muscles
+toughened and his shoulders widened; and all the time the appeal of the
+wide, free country called to his heart and drew him closer and closer to
+his new life.
+
+“But he's too comfortable, you know,” David Linton said to Jim one
+night. “He's shaping as well as anyone could expect; but he won't always
+have Billabong at his back.”
+
+Jim nodded wisely.
+
+“I know,” he said. “Been thinking of that. If you can spare me for a bit
+we'll go over and lend ourselves as handy men to old Joe Howard.”
+
+His father whistled.
+
+“He'll make you toe the mark,” he said, laughing. “He won't have you
+there as gentlemen boarders, you know.”
+
+“Don't want him to,” said Jim.
+
+So it came about that early on Monday morning Jim and Bob fixed swags
+more or less scientifically to their saddles--Jim made his disciple
+unstrap his three times before he consented to pass it--and rode away
+from Billabong, amidst derisive good wishes from Norah and Tommy, who
+kindly promised to feed them up on their return, prophesying that they
+would certainly need it. They took a westerly direction across country,
+and after two or three hours' riding came upon a small farm nestling at
+the foot of a low range of hills.
+
+“That's old Howard's,” Jim said. “And there's the old chap himself,
+fixing up his windmill. You wait a minute, Bob; I'll go over and see
+him.”
+
+He gave Bob his bridle, and went across a small paddock near the house.
+Howard, a hard-looking old man with a long, grey beard, was wrestling
+with a home-made windmill--a queer erection, mainly composed of rough
+spars with sails made from old wheat-sacks. He clambered to the ground
+as Jim approached, and greeted him civilly.
+
+“I thought you'd have forgotten me, Mr. Howard,” said Jim.
+
+“Too like your dad--an', anyhow, I know the horses,” was the laconic
+answer. “So you're back. Like Australia better'n fightin'?”
+
+“Rather!” said Jim. “Fighting's a poor game, I think, when you hardly
+ever see the other fellow. Want any hands, Mr. Howard?”
+
+“No.” The old man shook his head. “They want too much money nowadays,
+an' they're too darned partickler about their tucker. Meat three times
+a day, whether you've killed it or not. An' puddin'. Cock 'em up with
+puddin'--a fat lot of it I ever saw where I was raised. An' off to the
+township on Saturday afternoon, an' lucky if they get back in time for
+milkin' nex' mornin'. No--the workin' man ain't what 'e was, an' the new
+kind'll make precious little of Australia!”
+
+“That's about right, I'm afraid,” said Jim, listening sympathetically to
+this oration. “Well, will you take me and my friend as hands for a few
+weeks, Mr. Howard?”
+
+“You!” The old man stared at him. “Ain't 'ad a quarrel with yer dad,
+'ave yer? You take my tip, if yer 'ave--go back and make it up. Not many
+men in this districk like yer dad.”
+
+“I know that, jolly well,” said Jim, laughing. “No--but my friend's
+a new-chum, and I want to show him something of work on a place like
+yours. We've been breaking him in on Billabong, but he'll have to take
+a small place for himself, if he settles, and he'd better see what it's
+like.”
+
+The old man shook his head doubtfully.
+
+“English officer, I suppose?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“I dunno,” said Howard. “Too much of the fine gent about that sort, Mr.
+Jim. I dunno 'ow I'd get down to orderin' the pair of yous about. An' I
+ain't got no 'comodation for yous; an' the tucker's not what yous 'ave
+bin used ter.”
+
+“You needn't let any of that worry you,” said Jim cheerfully. “He isn't
+a bit of a fine gent, really, and we'll tackle any job that's going.
+As for accommodation, we've brought our blankets, and, in case you were
+short of tucker, we've a big piece of corned beef and some bread. I
+wish you'd try it, Mr. Howard; we don't want pay, and we'll do no end of
+work. Murty reckons you won't be sorry if you take on Captain Rainham.”
+
+“Oh, Murty says that, does 'e?” asked the old man, visibly cheered.
+“Well, Murty ain't the man to barrack for a useless new-chum.”
+
+“Great Scott, do you think I am?” demanded Jim, laughing. “Or my
+father?”
+
+“Yous cert'nly didn't ought to be,” agreed Howard. “All the same”--he
+pushed his hat back from his worried brow--“I dunno as I quite like it.
+If I take on a chap I like 'im to step quick an' lively when I tell him
+anything I want done; an' I don't make no guests of 'em either. They got
+to do their own cookin', an' keep things clean an' tidy, too.”
+
+“We'll take our share,” said Jim. “As for stepping quick and lively,
+we've both been trained to that pretty thoroughly during the last few
+years. If you're worse than some of the Sergeant-majors I met when I was
+training, I'll eat my hat.”
+
+“I'm told they're 'ard,” said Howard. “Well, I s'pose I'd better take
+yous on, though it's a queer day when the son of Linton of Billabong
+comes askin' old Joe Howard for a job. But, I say”--and anguish again
+settled on his brow--“wot am I to call yous? I can't order you about as
+Mr. Jim. It wouldn't seem to come natural.”
+
+“Oh, call us any old thing,” said Jim, laughing.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+“Well, I'll call yous Major an' Captin,” he declared, at length.
+“That'll sound like a pair of workin' bullocks, an' I'll feel more at
+'ome.”
+
+“Right-o,” said Jim, choking slightly. “Where shall we put our horses?”
+
+“Put 'em in the little paddock over there, an' stick yer saddles in the
+shed,” said his employer. “An' then bring in yer beef, an' we'll 'ave a
+bit o' dinner. I ain't killed for a fortnight.”
+
+Then began for Bob Rainham one of the most strenuous fortnights of his
+existence. Once having agreed to employ them, old Joe speedily became
+reconciled to the prospect of cheap labour, and worked his willing
+guests with a devouring energy. Before dawn had reddened the eastern
+sky a shout of “Hi, Captin! Time the cow was in!” drove him from his
+blankets, to search in the darkness of a scrub-covered paddock for a
+cow, who apparently loved a game of hide-and-seek, and to drive her in
+and milk her by the fitful light of a hurricane lantern. Then came the
+usual round of morning duties; chopping wood, feeding pigs, cleaning
+out sheds and outhouses, before the one-time airman had time to think of
+breakfast. By the time he came in Howard and Jim had generally finished
+and gone out--the old man took a sly delight in keeping “Major” away
+from “Captin”--and after cooking his meal, it was his job to wash up
+and to clean out the kitchen, over which old Joe proved unexpectedly
+critical. Then came a varied choice of tasks to tackle to while away the
+day. Sometimes he would be sent to scrub cutting, which he liked best,
+particularly as Jim was kept at it always; sometimes he slashed mightily
+at a blackberry-infested paddock, where the brambles would have daunted
+anyone less stout of heart--or less ignorant. Then came lessons in
+ploughing on a dry hillside; he managed badly at first, and came in for
+a good deal of the rough side of old Joe's tongue before he learned to
+keep to anything approaching a straight line. Ploughing, Bob reflected,
+was clearly an art which needed long apprenticeship before you learned
+to appreciate it, and he developed a new comprehension and sympathy for
+the ploughman described by Gray as “homeward plodding his weary way.” He
+also wondered if Gray's ploughman had to milk and get his own tea after
+he got home.
+
+Other relaxations of the bush were open to him. Old Joe had a paddock,
+once a swamp, which he had drained; it was free of water, but abounded
+in tussocks and sword grass which “Captin” was detailed to grub out
+whenever no duty more pressing awaited him. And sword grass is a
+fearsome vegetable, clinging of root and so tough of stem that, if
+handled unwarily, it can cut a finger almost to the bone; wherefore the
+unfortunate “Captin” hated it with a mighty hatred, and preferred any
+other branch of his education. There were stones to pick up and pile
+in cairns; red stones, half buried in grass and tussocks, and weighing
+anything from a pound to half a hundredweight. He scarred his hands and
+broke his fingernails to pieces over them, but, on the whole, considered
+it not a bad employment, except when old Joe took it into his head to
+perch on the fence and spur him on to greater efforts by disparaging
+remarks about England. Whatever his work, there was never any certainty
+that old Joe would not appear, to sit down, light his short, black pipe,
+and make caustic remarks about his methods or his country--or both. Bob
+took it all with a grin. He was a cheerful soul.
+
+They used to meet for dinner--dinner consisting of corned beef and
+potatoes until the corned beef ran out; then it became potatoes and
+bread and jam for some days, until Joe amazed them by saddling an
+ancient grey mare and riding into Cunjee, returning with more corned
+beef--and more jam. He boiled the beef in a kerosene tin, and Bob
+thought he had never tasted anything better. Appetites did not need
+pampering on Howard's Farm. Work in the evening went on until there was
+barely light enough to get home and find the cow; it was generally quite
+dark by the time milking was finished, and Bob would come in with his
+bucket to find Jim just in, and lighting the fire--“Major,” not being
+the milking hand, worked in the paddocks a little longer. Tea required
+little preparation, since the only menu that occurred to old Joe seemed
+to be bread and jam. Jim, being a masterful soul, occasionally took the
+matter into his own hands and, aided by Bob, made “flap-jacks” in the
+frying-pan; they might have been indigestible for delicately-constituted
+people, but at least they had the merit of being hot and comforting on a
+biting winter night. Old Joe growled under his breath at the “softness”
+ of people who required “cocking up with fal-lals.” But he ate the
+flap-jacks.
+
+After tea the “hands” divided the duties of the evening; taking it in
+turn, one to wash up, while the other “set” bread. Joe's only baking
+implement was a camp-oven, which resembles a large saucepan on three
+legs; it could hold just enough for a day's supply, so that it was
+necessary to set bread every night, and bake every morning. This wounded
+their employer, who never failed to tell them, with some bitterness,
+that when alone he had to bake only twice a week. However, he knew all
+that there was to know about camp-oven baking, and taught them the art
+thoroughly, as well as that of making yeast from potatoes. “That's an
+extry,” he remarked thoughtfully, “but I won't charge yer for it, yous
+'avin' bin soldiers!”
+
+With the bread set, and rising pleasantly before the fire, under a bit
+of old blanket, and the kitchen tidy, a period of rest ensued, when
+“Major” and “Captin” were free to draw up chairs--seated with greenhide
+with the hair left on, and very comfortable--and smoke their pipes. This
+was the only time of the day when old Joe unbent. At first silent, he
+would presently shift his pipe to the corner of his mouth and spin them
+yarns of the early days, told with a queer, dry humour that kept his
+hearers in a simmer of laughter. It was always a matter of regret to
+poor “Captin” that he used to be the one to end the telling, since no
+story on earth could keep him, after a while, from nodding off to sleep.
+He would drag himself away to his blankets in the next room, hearing,
+as sleep fully descended upon him, the droning voice still entertaining
+Jim--whose powers of keeping awake seemed more than human!
+
+Saturday brought no slackening of work. Whatever his previous hired
+men had done, old Joe was evidently determined that his present
+“parlour-boarders” should not abate their efforts, and even kept them
+a little later than usual in the paddocks, remarking that “ter-morrer
+bein' Sunday, yous might as well cut a bit more scrub.” The next morning
+broke fine and clear, and he looked at them a little doubtfully after
+breakfast.
+
+“Well, there ain't no work doin' on Sunday, I reckon. I can manage the
+ol' keow to-night, if yous want to go home.”
+
+The guests looked at each other doubtfully.
+
+“What do you say, Bob? Shall we ride over?”
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+“All one to me, o' course,” said Joe, getting up and stumping out. He
+paused at the door. “On'y if yous mean ter stick on 'ere a bit you'll
+find comin' back a bit 'ard, onced yous see Billabong.”
+
+“Just what I was thinking,” said Bob, as the old man disappeared.
+“I'm not going, Jim; I know jolly well I'd hate to come back
+after--er--fleshpotting at your place. But look here, old chap--why
+don't you go home and stay there? You've done quite enough of this,
+especially as you've no earthly need to do it at all. You go home, and
+I'll stay out my fortnight.”
+
+“What, leave you here alone?” queried Jim. “Not much, Bobby.”
+
+“But why not? I've Joseph, and we'd become bosom friends. And your
+father must think it ridiculous for you to be kept over here, slaving--”
+
+“Don't you worry your old head about dad,” said Jim cheerfully. “It's a
+slack time, and he doesn't need me, and he's perfectly satisfied at my
+being here. Bless you, it's no harm for me to get a bit of this sort of
+life.”
+
+“You'll never have to do it.”
+
+“No one can tell that,” said Jim. “The bottom has dropped out of land
+in other countries, and it may happen here. Besides, if you've got to
+employ labour it's just as well to know from experience what's a fair
+thing to expect from a man as a day's work. For which reason, I have
+desired our friend Joseph to take me off scrub-duty, which I feel I know
+pretty well, and to detail me for assorted fatigues, like yours, next
+week. And anyhow, my son, having brought you to this savage place, I'm
+not going to leave you. Finally, we couldn't go anywhere, because this
+is the day that we must wash.”
+
+“I have washed!” said Bob indignantly.
+
+“I didn't mean your person, Bobby, but your clothes. The laundress
+doesn't call out here.”
+
+“Oh!” said Bob, and grinned. “Then I'd better put on a kettle.”
+
+So they washed, very cheerfully, taking turns in the one bucket, which
+was all Joe could offer as laundry equipment. He had an iron, but after
+brief consultation, “Major” and “Captin” decided that to iron working
+shirts would be merely painting the lily. Old Joe watched them with a
+twinkle, saying nothing. But a spirit of festivity and magnificence must
+have entered into him, for when the washermen went for a walk, after
+disposing their damp raiment upon bushes, he entered the kitchen
+hurriedly and dived for the flour-bag; and later, they found unwonted
+additions to the corned beef and potatoes--the said additions being no
+less than boiled onions and a jam tart.
+
+The week that followed was a repetition of the first, save for a day of
+such rain that even old Joe had to admit that work in the paddocks was
+out of the question. He consoled himself by making them whitewash the
+kitchen. Large masses of soot fell down into the fireplace throughout
+the day, seriously interfering with cooking operations, which suggested
+to Joe that “Captin” might acquire yet another art--that of bush chimney
+sweeping--which he accomplished next day, under direction, by the simple
+process of tugging a great bunch of tea-tree up and down the flue.
+“Better'n all them brushes they 'ave in towns,” said Joe, watching his
+blackened assistant with satisfaction.
+
+“Well, we're off to-morrow, Mr. Howard,” said Jim on Saturday night.
+They were seated round the fire, smoking.
+
+“I s'pose so. Didn't think yous'd stick it out as long,” the old man
+said.
+
+“We've had a very good time,” said Bob; and was astonished to find
+himself speaking truthfully. “Jolly good of you to have me; I know a
+new-chum isn't much use.”
+
+“Well, I wouldn't say as how you weren't,” said old Joe deliberately.
+“I ain't strong on new-chums, meself--some of them immy-grants they send
+out are a fair cow to handle; but I will say, Captin, you ain't got no
+frills, nor you don't mind puttin' your back into a job. I worked you
+pretty 'ard, too.” He chuckled deeply.
+
+“Did you?” asked Bob--and chuckled in his turn.
+
+“Well, I didn't see no points in spoon-feedin' you. If a man's goin' on
+the land he may as well know wot 'e's likely to strike. There's lots'll
+tell you you won't strike anythink 'arder than ol' Joe--an' p'raps you
+won't,” he added. “Any'ow, yous asked fer work, an' it was up ter me ter
+see that yous got it. But don't go imaginin' you've learned all there is
+ter know about farmin' yet.”
+
+“If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that,” said Bob a trifle
+grimly.
+
+“That's right. I ain't got much of a farm, an' any'ow, it's winter. I
+on'y showed yous a few of the odd jobs--an' wot it is to 'ave to batch
+fer yerself, not comin' in like a lord to Billabong ter see wot Mrs.
+Brown's been cookin' for yous. Nothin' like a bit o' batchin' ter teach
+a cove. An' you mind, Captin--if you start anywhere on yer own, you
+batch decent; keep things clean an' don't get into the way o' livin'
+just any'ow. I ain't much, nor the meenoo ain't excitin'; but things is
+clean.”
+
+“Well--I have a sister,” said Bob. “So I'm in luck. But I guess I know a
+bit more about her side of the job now.”
+
+“And that's no bad thing for Tommy,” said Jim.
+
+“Oo's 'e?” demanded Joe.
+
+“Oh--that's his sister.”
+
+“Rum names gals gets nowadays,” said Joe, pondering. “Not on'y gels,
+neither. 'S a chap on top of the 'ill 'as a new baby, an' 'e's called it
+'Aig Wipers Jellicoe. 'Course, 'e did go to the war, but 'e ain't got
+no need ter rub it into the poor kid like that.” He paused to ram the
+tobacco into the bowl of his pipe with a horny thumb. “One thing--I'd
+like to pay you chaps somethin'. Never 'ad blokes workin' fer me fer
+nothin', an' I don't much care about it.”
+
+“No, thanks, Mr. Howard,” said Jim. “We came for colonial experience.”
+
+“You!” said old Joe, and permitted himself the ghost of a grin. “Well,
+I ain't goin' ter fight yous about it, an' I'm not worryin' a mighty
+lot about you, Major, 'cause your little bit o' country's ready made for
+you. But Captin's different. We won't 'ave no fight about cash, Captin;
+but that last year's calf of the ol' keow's goin' ter be a pretty decent
+steer, an' when you gets yer farm 'e's goin' on it as yer first bit o'
+stock. An' 'e'll get the best o' my grass till 'e goes.”
+
+“Rubbish!” said Bob, much embarrassed. “Awfully good of you, Mr. Howard,
+but that wasn't the agreement. I know I'm not worth wages yet.”
+
+“Oh, ain't you?” Joe asked. “Well, there's two opinions about that.
+Any'ow, 'e's yours, an' I've christened 'im Captin, so there ain't
+no way out of it.” He rose, cutting short further protests. “Too much
+bloomin' argument about this camp; I'm off ter bed.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+
+“So you think he'll do, Jim?”
+
+“Yes, I certainly do,” Jim answered. He was sitting with his father in
+the smoking-room at Billabong, his long legs outstretched before the
+fire, and his great form half-concealed in the depths of an enormous
+leather armchair. “Of course he'll want guidance; you couldn't expect
+him to know much about stock yet, though he's certainly picked up a good
+bit.”
+
+“Yes--so it seems. His great point is his quick eye and his keenness. I
+haven't found him forget much.”
+
+“No, and he's awfully ashamed if he does. He's a tiger for work, and
+very quick at picking up the way to tackle any new job. That was one
+of the things that pleased old Joe about him. I fancy the old chap had
+suffered at the hands of other new-chums who reckoned they could
+teach him how to do his work. 'Captin ain't orffered me not one bit of
+advice,' he told me with relief.”
+
+Mr. Linton laughed.
+
+“Yes, I've had them here like that,” he said. “Full of sublime
+enthusiasm for reforming Australia and all her ways. I don't say
+we don't need it, either, but not from a new-chum in his first five
+minutes.”
+
+“Not much,” agreed Jim. “Well, there's nothing of that sort about old
+Bob. He just hoes in at anything that's going, and doesn't talk about
+it. Joe says he must have been reared sensible. He's all right, dad.
+I've had a lot of men through my hands in the last few years, and you
+learn to size 'em up pretty quickly.”
+
+David Linton nodded, looking at his big son. Sometimes he had a pang of
+regret for Jim's lost boyhood, swallowed up in war. Then, when he was
+privileged to behold him rough-and-tumbling with Wally, singing idiotic
+choruses with Norah and Tommy, or making himself into what little Babs
+Archdale ecstatically called “my bucking donkey,” it was borne in upon
+him that there still was plenty of the boy left in Jim--and that there
+always would be. Nevertheless, he had great confidence in his judgment;
+and in this instance it happened to coincide with his own.
+
+The door opened, and Bob Rainham came in, hesitating as he caught sight
+of the father and son.
+
+“Come in, Bob,” Mr. Linton said. “I was just wishing you would turn up.
+We've been talking about you. I understand you've made up your mind to
+get a place of your own.”
+
+“If you don't think I'm insane to tackle it, sir,” Bob answered. “Of
+course, I know I'm awfully ignorant. But I thought I could probably get
+hold of a good man, and if I can find a place anywhere in this district,
+Jim says he'll keep an eye on me. Between the two, I oughtn't to make
+very hopeless mistakes. And I might as well have my money invested.”
+
+“Quite so. I think you're wise,” the squatter answered. “As it happens,
+I was in Cunjee yesterday, talking to an agent, and I heard of a little
+place that might suit you very well--just about the price you ought to
+pay, and the land's not bad. There's a decent cottage on it--you and
+Tommy could be very comfortable there. It's four miles from here, so we
+should feel you hadn't got away from us.”
+
+“That sounds jolly,” said Bob. “I'd be awfully glad to think Tommy was
+so near to Norah. Is it sheep country, Mr. Linton?”
+
+“So it's to be sheep, is it? Well, I'd advise you to put some young
+cattle on to some scrub country at the back, but you could certainly
+run sheep on the cleared paddocks,” Mr. Linton answered. “We could drive
+over and look at it to-morrow, if you like. The terms are easy; you'd
+have money over to stock it, or nearly so. And there's plenty to be done
+in improving the place, if you should buy it; you could easily add a
+good deal to its value.”
+
+“That's what I'd like,” Bob answered eagerly. “It doesn't take a whole
+lot of brains to dig drains and cut scrub. I could be doing that while
+the sheep turn into wool and mutton!”
+
+“So you could; though there's a bit more to be done to sheep than just
+to watch them turn,” said the squatter, with a twinkle. “I fancy Tommy
+will be pleased if you get this place.”
+
+“Tommy's mad keen to start,” Bob said. “She says Norah has taught her
+more than she ever dreamed that her head could contain, and she wants
+to work it all off on me. I think she has visions of making me kill a
+bullock, so that she can demonstrate all she knows about corning and
+spicing and salting beef. I mentioned it would take two of us quite a
+little while to work through a whole bullock, but she evidently didn't
+think much of the objection.”
+
+“I'll see you get none fat enough to kill,” grinned Jim. “Norah says
+Tommy's a great pupil, dad.”
+
+“Oh, they have worked as if they were possessed,” Mr. Linton answered.
+“I never saw such painfully busy people. But Norah tells me she has
+had very little to teach Tommy--in fact, I think the teaching has been
+mutual, and they've simply swapped French and Australian dodges. At all
+events they and Brownie have lived in each other's pockets, and they all
+seem very content.”
+
+“Are you all talking business, or may we come in?” demanded a cheery
+voice; and Norah peeped in, with Tommy dimly visible in the background.
+
+“Come in--'twas yourselves we were talking about,” Jim said, rising
+slowly from the armchair; a process which, Norah was accustomed to say,
+he accomplished yard by yard. “Sit here, Tommy, and let's hear your
+views on Australia!”
+
+Tommy shook her head.
+
+“Too soon to ask me--and I've only seen Billabong,” she said, laughing.
+“Wait until I've kept house for Bob for a while, and faced life without
+nice soft buffers like Norah and Mrs. Brown!”
+
+“I'm not a nice soft buffer!” said Norah indignantly. “Do I look like
+one, Jimmy?”
+
+“Brownie certainly fits the description better,” Jim said. “Never mind,
+old girl, you'll probably grow into one. We'd be awfully proud of you if
+you got really fat, Norah.”
+
+“Then I hope you'll never have cause for pride,” retorted his sister.
+“I couldn't ride Bosun if I did, and that would be too awful to think
+about. Oh, and Tommy's making a great stock-rider, Bob. She declared she
+could never ride astride, but she's perceiving the error of her ways.”
+
+“I thought I could never stick on without the moral support of the
+pommels,” said Tommy. “When you arrange yourself among pommels and horns
+and things on a side-saddle, there seems no real reason why you should
+ever come off, except of your own free will. But a man's saddle doesn't
+offer any encouragement to a poor scared new-chum. I pictured myself
+sliding off it whenever the horse side-stepped. However, somehow, it
+doesn't happen.”
+
+“And what happens when your steed slews around after a bullock?” asked
+Jim.
+
+“Indeed, I hardly know,” said Tommy modestly. “I generally shut my eyes,
+and hold on to the front of the saddle. After a while I open them,
+and find, to my astonishment, that nothing has occurred, and I'm still
+there. Then we sail along after Norah, and I hold up my head proudly and
+look as if that were really the way I have always handled cattle. And
+she isn't a bit taken in. It's dreadfully difficult to impress Norah.”
+
+Every one laughed, and looked at the new-chum affectionately. This small
+English girl, so ready to laugh at her own mistakes, had twined herself
+wonderfully about their hearts. Even Brownie, jealous to the point of
+prickliness for her adored Norah, and at first inclined to turn up a
+scornful nose at “Miss Tommy's” pink and white daintiness, had been
+forced to admit that she “could 'andle things like a workman.” And that
+was high praise from Brownie.
+
+The telephone bell whirred in the hall, and Jim went out to answer it.
+In a few minutes they heard his voice.
+
+“Norah, just come here a moment.” He came back presently, leaving Norah
+at the telephone.
+
+“It's Dr. Anderson,” he said. “They're in trouble in Cunjee--there's a
+pretty bad outbreak of influenza. Some returned men came up with it,
+and now it's spreading everywhere, Anderson says. Mrs. Anderson has been
+nursing in the hospital, but now two of her own kiddies have got it, so
+she has had to go home, and they're awfully shorthanded. Nurses seem to
+be scarce everywhere; they could only get one from Melbourne, and she's
+badly overworked.”
+
+“Norah will go, I suppose,” said David Linton, with a half-sigh--the
+sigh of a man who has looked forward to peace and security, and finds it
+again slipping from his grasp.
+
+“Oh, yes, I'm sure she will. They have a certain number of volunteers,
+not nearly enough.”
+
+“I'm going,” said Tommy, and David Linton nodded at her kindly.
+
+“What about you and me, Jim?” Bob asked.
+
+“Well, Anderson says they have a number of men volunteers. Such a lot of
+returned fellows about with nothing to do yet. I told him to count on us
+for anything he wanted, but the need seems chiefly for women.”
+
+“Must they go to-night? It's pretty late,” said Mr. Linton.
+
+“No, not to-night,” Norah answered, entering. “It would be eight o'clock
+before I could get in, and Dr. Anderson says I'm to get a good sleep and
+come in early in the morning. Tommy, darling, will you mind if I leave
+you for a few days?”
+
+“Horribly,” said Tommy drily. “It would be unpardonably rude for a
+hostess. So I 'm coming too.”
+
+Norah laughed down at her.
+
+“Somehow, I thought you would,” she said. “Well, Jimmy, you'll take us
+in after breakfast, won't you? We'll have it early.” She perched on the
+arm of her father's chair, letting her fingers rest for a moment on
+his close-cropped grey hair. “And I've never asked you if I could go,
+daddy.”
+
+“No,” said David Linton; “you haven't.” He put his arm gently round her.
+
+“But then I knew that you'd kick me out if I didn't. So that simplifies
+matters. You'll take care of yourself while I'm away, won't you, dad? No
+wild rides by yourself into the ranges, or anything of that sort?”
+
+“Certainly not,” said her father. “I'll sit quietly at home, and let
+Brownie give me nourishment at short intervals.”
+
+“Nothing she'd like better.” Norah laughed. “I don't believe Brownie
+will really feel that she owns us again until one of us is considerate
+enough to fall ill and give her a real chance of nursing and feeding us.
+Then the only thing to do is to forget you ever had a will of your
+own, and just to open your mouth and be fed like a young magpie, and
+Brownie's perfectly happy.”
+
+“She won't be happy when she hears of this new plan,” Mr. Linton said.
+“Poor old soul, I'm sorry she should have any worry, when she has just
+got you home.”
+
+“Yes; I'm sorry,” Norah answered. “But it can't be helped. I'll go and
+talk to her now, and arrange things--early breakfast among them.”
+
+“You might make it a shade earlier than you meant to, while you're at
+it, Nor,” Jim observed. “Then we could turn off the track as we go in
+to-morrow to let Tommy have a look at the place that has been offered
+Bob--you know that place of Henderson's, off the main road. Bob can go
+over the land with us when we're coming back. But once you and Tommy get
+swallowed up in Cunjee, there's no knowing when we could get you out;
+and Tommy ought to inspect the house.”
+
+“Oh, I'd love to,” said Tommy enthusiastically. “No mere man can be
+trusted to buy a house.”
+
+“Don't go to look at it with any large ideas of up-to-date improvements
+floating in your mind,” Jim warned her. “It's sure to be pretty
+primitive, and probably there isn't even a bathroom.”
+
+“Don't you worry, Tommy; we'll build you one,” said Mr. Linton.
+
+“I'm not going to worry about anything; there are always washtubs,”
+ spoke Tommy cheerfully--“and thank you, all the same, Mr. Linton. I
+didn't expect much when I came out to Australia, but I'm getting so much
+more than I expected that I'm in a state of bewilderment all the time.
+Someday I feel that I shall come down with a bump, and I shall be
+thankful if it's only over a bathroom.”
+
+“Distressing picture of the valiant pioneer looking for discomforts and
+failing to find them,” said Bob, laughing. “It's so difficult to feel
+really pioneerish in a place where there are taps, and electric
+light, and motors, and no one appears to wear a red shirt, like every
+Australian bushman I ever saw on the stage.”
+
+“Did you bring any out with you?” demanded Norah wickedly.
+
+“I didn't. But honest, it was only because I had so many khaki ones, and
+I thought they'd do. Otherwise I'd certainly have thought that scarlet
+shirts were part of the ordinary outfit for the Colonies. And if you
+believed all the things they tell you in outfitting shops, you would
+bring a gorgeous assortment. We'd have even arrived here with tinware.
+It was lucky I knew some Australians--they delicately hinted that you
+really had a shop or two in the principal cities.”
+
+“I've often marvelled at the queer collection people seem to bring out,”
+ said Mr. Linton. “It's not so bad of late years, but ten years ago a
+jackeroo would arrive here with about a lorry-load of stuff, most of
+which he could have bought much more cheaply in Melbourne or Sydney--and
+he'd certainly never use the greater part of it. Apparently a London
+shop will sell you the same kind of outfit for a Melbourne suburb as
+if you were going into the wilds of West Africa. They haven't any
+conscience.”
+
+“They just never learn geography,” said Norah. “And 'the Colonies' to
+them mean exactly the same thing, no matter in what continent the colony
+may be. If they can sell pioneers tinware to take out to Melbourne, so
+much the better for them. Well, I must see Brownie, or there may not be
+early breakfast for pioneers or any one else.”
+
+Brownie rose to the occasion--there had never been any known occasion
+to which Brownie did not rise--and the hospital at Cunjee was still
+grappling with early morning problems next day when the Billabong motor
+pulled up at the door, after a flying visit to the new home--which
+Tommy, regarding with the large eye of faith, had declared to be full of
+boundless possibilities. Dr. Anderson came out to meet the new-comers,
+Norah and Tommy, neat and workmanlike; Jim, bearing their luggage; and
+Mr. Linton and Bob sharing a large humper, into which Brownie had packed
+everything eatable she could find--and Brownie's capacity for finding
+things eatable at short notice was one of her most astonishing traits.
+The little doctor, harassed as he was, greeted them with a twinkle.
+
+“You Lintons generally appear bearing your sheaves with you,” he said.
+“Well, you're very welcome. How many of you do I keep?”
+
+“Tommy and Norah, for certain,” said Mr. Linton. “And as many more of us
+as you please. Want us all, doctor?”
+
+“Well, I really don't; there are a good many men volunteers. But if
+I might commandeer the car and a driver for a few hours, I should be
+glad,” the doctor went on. “There are some cases to be brought in
+from Mardale and Clinthorpe. I heard of them only this morning, on the
+telephone, and I was wondering how to get them in.”
+
+“We're at your disposal, and you've only to telephone for us or the car
+whenever you want it,” said Mr. Linton. “How are things this morning?”
+
+“Oh--bad enough. We have several very troublesome cases; people simply
+won't give in soon enough. My youngsters are very ill, but I'm not
+really worried about them as long as my wife keeps up. Our biggest
+trouble is that our cook here went down this morning. She told me she
+couldn't sleep a wink all night, and when she woke up in the morning
+her tongue was sticking to the roof of her head!--and certainly she has
+temperature enough for any strange symptoms. But we feel rather as if
+the bottom had dropped out of the universe, for none of our volunteers
+are equal to the job.”
+
+“I can cook,” said Norah and Tommy together.
+
+“Can you?” said the little doctor, staring at them as though the heavens
+had opened and rained down angels on his head. “Are you sure? You don't
+look like it!”
+
+“I can guarantee them,” said Mr. Linton, laughing. “Only you'll have to
+watch Norah, for the spell of the war is heavy upon her, and she'll boil
+your soup bones thirteen times, and feed you all on haricot beans and
+lentils if nobody checks her!”
+
+“Dad, you haven't any manners,” said Norah severely. “May I cook,
+Doctor?”
+
+“You can share the job,” said Dr. Anderson thankfully. “I really think
+it's more than enough for one of you. This place is getting pretty full.
+Of course, I've wired to town for a cook, but goodness knows if we'll
+get one; it's unlikely. Come on, now, and I'll introduce you to Sister.”
+
+Sister proved to be a tall, capable, quiet woman, with war decorations.
+She greeted the volunteers thankfully, and unhesitatingly pronounced
+their place to be cooks, rather than nurses.
+
+“I can get girls who will do well enough in the wards,” she said, “where
+I can direct them. But I can't be in the kitchen too. If you two can
+carry on without supervision it will be a godsend.”
+
+So the kitchen swallowed up Norah and Tommy, and there they worked
+during the weeks that followed, while the influenza scourge raged
+round Victoria. The little cottage-hospital became full almost to
+bursting-point. Even the rooms for the staff had to be appropriated, and
+nurses and helpers slept in a cottage close by. Luckily for the cooks,
+Cunjee now boasted a gas supply and its citizens supplied them with
+gas-stoves, as Norah said, “in clutches,” so that they worked in
+comfort. It was hard work, with little time to spare, but the girls had
+learned method, and they soon mapped out a routine that prevented their
+ever being rushed or flurried. And they blessed the cold weather that
+saved constant watching lest supplies should go bad.
+
+From Billabong came daily hampers that greatly relieved their labours.
+It was a matter of some amazement to the Lintons that Brownie did not
+volunteer for the hospital, and indeed, it had been the first thought of
+Brownie herself. But she repressed it firmly, though by no means feeling
+comfortable. To Murty she confided her views, and was relieved by his
+approval.
+
+“I know I did ought to go,” she said, almost tearfully. “There's those
+two blessed lambs in the kitchen, doing wot I'd ought to be doing; and
+I know Mrs. Archdale 'ud come up an' run things 'ere for me. But wot 'ud
+'appen if I did go, I ask you, Murty? Simply they'd take the two blessed
+lambs out of the kitchen an' put 'em to nursing in the wards, an' next
+thing you knew they'd both be down with the beastly flu' themselves.
+They're safer among the pots and pans, Murty. But when the master looks
+at me I don't feel comferable.”
+
+“Yerra, let him look,” said Murty stoutly. “'Tis the great head ye have
+on ye; I'd never have thought of it. Don't go worryin', now. Are ye not
+sendin' them in the heighth of good livin' every day?”
+
+“That's the least I can do,” said Brownie, brightening a little. “Only
+I'd like to think Miss Norah and Miss Tommy got some of it, and not just
+them patients, gethered up from goodness knows where.”
+
+“Yerra, Miss Norah wouldn't want to know their addresses before she'd
+feed 'em,” said the bewildered Murty. But there came a suspicious smell
+from the kitchen, as of something burning, and Mrs. Brown fled with a
+swiftness that was surprising, considering her circumference.
+
+Jim lived a moving existence in those days, flying between Billabong
+and Cunjee in the car, bringing supplies, always on hand for a job if
+wanted, and insisting that on their daily “time off” Norah and Tommy
+should come out for a spin into the country. Sometimes they managed to
+take Sister, too, or some of the other helpers. The car never went out
+with any empty seats. Presently they were recovering patients to be
+given fresh air or taken home; white-faced mothers, longing to be back
+to the house and children left in the care of “dad,” and whatever kindly
+neighbours might drop in; or “dads” themselves, much bewildered at the
+amazing illness that had left them feeling as if neither their legs nor
+their heads belonged to them. Occasionally, after dropping one of these
+convalescents, Jim would find jobs waiting to his hand about the bush
+homestead; cows to milk, a fence to be mended, wood waiting to be
+chopped. He used to do them vigorously, while in the house “mum” fussed
+over her restored man and tried to keep him from going out to run the
+farm immediately. There were generally two or three astonished children
+to show him where tools were kept--milk buckets, being always up-ended
+on a fence post, needed no introduction, and the pump, for a sluice
+afterwards, was not hard of discovery. The big Rolls-Royce used to purr
+gently away through the bush paddock afterwards, often with a bewildered
+“mum” looking amazedly at the tall young man who drove it.
+
+Meanwhile Bob Rainham, left alone with his host, set about the business
+of his new farm in earnest, since there seemed nothing else for him to
+do; and David Linton, possibly glad of the occupation, threw himself
+into the work. The farm was bought on terms that seemed to Bob
+very easy--he did not know that Mr. Linton stood security for his
+payments--and then began the task of stocking it and of planning just
+what was best to do with each paddock. The house, left bare and clean by
+the last owners, was in good repair, save that the dingy white painting
+of the exterior, and the varnished pine walls and ceilings within were
+depressing and shabby. Mr. Linton decided that his house-warming present
+to Tommy should be a coat of paint for her mansion, and soon it looked
+new--dark red, with a gleaming white roof, while the rooms were painted
+in pretty fresh colours. “Won't Tommy get a shock!” chuckled Bob
+gleefully. The dinginess of the house had not escaped him on the
+morning that they had made their first inspection, but Tommy, who loved
+freshness and colours, had made no sign. Had you probed the matter,
+Tommy would probably have remarked, with some annoyance, that it was not
+her job to begin by grumbling.
+
+Wally came hurtling back from Queensland at the first hint of the
+influenza outbreak, and was considerably depressed at finding his twin
+souls, Jim and Norah, engaged in jobs that for once he could not share.
+Therefore he, too, fell back on the new farm, and found Bob knitting his
+brow one evening over the question of furniture.
+
+“I don't want to buy much,” he said. “Tommy doesn't, either; we talked
+it over. We'd rather do with next to nothing, and buy decent stuff by
+degrees if we get on well. Tommy says she doesn't want footling little
+gimcracky tables and whatnots and things, nor dressing-tables full of
+drawers that won't pull out. But I've been looking at the cheap stuff in
+Cunjee, and, my word, it's nasty! Still, I can't afford good things now,
+and Tommy wouldn't like it if I tried to get 'em. Tommy's death on the
+simple life.”
+
+“How are you on tools?” queried Wally.
+
+“Using tools? Pretty fair,” admitted Bob. “I took up carpentering at
+school; it was always a bit of a hobby of mine. I'm no cabinet-maker, if
+that's what you mean.”
+
+“You don't need to be,” Wally answered. “Up where I come from--we were
+pretty far back in Queensland--we hardly ever saw real furniture, the
+stuff you buy in shops. It was all made out of packing-cases and odd
+bits of wood. Jolly decent, too; you paint 'em up to match the rooms, or
+stain 'em dark colours, and the girls put sort of petticoats round some
+of the things.”
+
+“We began that way,” said David Linton, with a half-sigh. “There was
+surprisingly little proper furniture in our first house, and we were
+very comfortable.”
+
+“Couldn't we begin, sir?” asked Wally eagerly. “This wet weather looks
+like setting in. Bob can't do much on the farm. If we could get out
+a few odd lengths of timber and some old packing cases from the
+township--”
+
+“Heavens, you don't need to do that!” exclaimed their host. “The place
+is full of both; packing-cases have been arriving at Billabong since Jim
+was a baby, and very few of them have gone away again. There's plenty of
+timber knocking about, too. We'll go over to the farm if you like, Bob,
+and plan out measurements.”
+
+“I think it's a splendid idea, thanks, sir,” said Bob slowly. “Only I
+don't quite see why I should bother you--”
+
+“Oh, don't talk rubbish!” said David Linton, getting up. “I believe I'm
+glad of the job--the place seems queer without Jim and Norah.”
+
+“My word!” said Wally. “Let's all turn carpenters, and give Tommy the
+surprise of her life!”
+
+They flung themselves at the work with energy. A visit to the new house,
+and a careful study of each room, revealed unsuspected possibilities to
+Bob, whose English brain, “brought up,” as Wally said, “on a stodgy
+diet of bedroom suites,” had failed to grasp what might be done by handy
+people with a soul above mere fashion in the matter of furniture. They
+came back with a notebook bulging with measurements and heads seething
+with ideas. First, they dealt with the bedrooms, and made for each a set
+of long shelves and a dressing-table-cupboard--the latter a noble piece
+of furniture, which was merely a packing-case, smoothed, planed and
+fitted with shelves; the whole to be completed with a seemly petticoat
+when Tommy should be able to detach her mind from influenza patients.
+They made her, too, a little work-table, which was simply a wide, low
+shelf, at which she could write or sew--planned to catch a good light
+from her window, so that as she sat near it, she could see the line of
+willows that marked the creek and the rolling plains that ended in the
+ranges behind Billabong. Tommy's room was painted in pale green; and
+when they had stained all these exciting additions dark green, Bob
+heaved a great sigh, and yearned audibly for the swift recovery of
+the influenza patients, so that Tommy could return and behold her new
+possessions.
+
+“We could make washstands,” said Mr. Linton, when they had fitted out
+the two remaining bedrooms. “But washstands are depressing things, and
+would take up a good deal of space in these little rooms. You have a
+good water supply, Bob; why not have built-in basins with taps, and lay
+on water through the bedrooms?”
+
+Bob whistled.
+
+“My aunt! Is that really possible?”
+
+“Quite, I should say. It wouldn't take elaborate plumbing, and the pipes
+could discharge into an irrigation drain for your vegetable garden. It
+would save Tommy ever so much work in carrying water, too. There's a
+fearsome amount of water carried in and out of bedrooms, and I can't see
+why pipes shouldn't do the work. It need not cost you much--just a shelf
+across a corner, with an enamelled basin let in.”
+
+“Save you buying jugs and basins,” said Wally. “Great money-saving
+idea!”
+
+“Rather,” said Bob. “Is there anyone in Cunjee who can plumb?”
+
+“Oh, yes; there's a handy man who can do the whole thing. We'll get Jim
+to go and see him tomorrow.”
+
+They left this job to the handy man, who proved equal to all demands,
+and went on themselves to higher flights. Kitchen and pantry were
+already fitted with shelves, but they built in a dresser, and found a
+spare corner, where they erected a linen press warranted to bring tears
+of joy to the eye of any housewife. Round the little dining-room and
+sitting-room they ran a very narrow shelf, just wide enough to carry
+flowers and ornaments, and they made wide, low window seats in each
+room. Then, becoming bold by success, they turned to cabinet making,
+and built into the dining-room a sideboard, which was only a glorified
+edition of the kitchen dresser, but looked amazingly like walnut, aided
+by a little stain; and for both sitting-rooms made low cupboards,
+with tops wide enough to serve as little tables. Even the verandah was
+furnished with wide shelf tables and a cupboard, and with low and broad
+seats.
+
+“And it's all done by kindness--and packing cases!” said Jim, surveying
+the result with admiration.
+
+“Indeed, I'm afraid a lot of your father's good timber has gone into
+it,” said Bob half ruefully. “He was awfully good about it, and the
+supply of just-what-you-want timber on Billabong seemed inexhaustible.”
+
+“No, you really used very little good stuff,” David Linton said. “It's
+chiefly packing cases, truly, Jim. But we had plenty of time to plane it
+up and make it look decent. Bob ran an electric light into the workshop
+and we worked every night. I believe it's kept us from getting influenza
+from sheer boredom, with all you people away.”
+
+“They'll soon be home,” Jim said cheerfully. “Influenza's dying out, I
+believe. No fresh cases for three days, and all the patients are getting
+better. The little Andersons are up and about. By the way, Dad, couldn't
+we bring those kiddies out to Billabong for a change?”
+
+“Why, of course,” his father answered. “Tell Mrs. Anderson to come too,
+or, if she won't leave her husband, Brownie will be delighted at the
+chance of getting two children to look after again. Are the cooks quite
+cheery, Jim?”
+
+“As cheery as possible,” Jim answered. “They got off early to-day, and I
+took them and Sister and the Anderson youngsters out for a run. Did 'em
+all good. I'm coming home to-night, and they don't want me to-morrow,
+because they're going to afternoon tea with some one or other. Flighty
+young things, those cooks! So I can help you carpenters or do any odd
+jobs.”
+
+“We've lots,” said Wally, who was putting a finishing coat of dark green
+enamel to a rod destined as a towel rail for Tommy's room. “Simple jobs,
+suitable for your understanding. Take care, Jimmy, I've a wet paint
+brush, and you have a good suit on! I want to put shelves from floor to
+ceiling of the bathroom, because the walls are rough and unlined, and
+nothing on earth will make it a beautiful room. So Tommy may as well
+store there all the things she doesn't want anywhere else. And you can
+make her a medicine cupboard. I shan't have time to look at any of you
+unskilled labourers, for I'm going to build her a draining-rack for
+plates and things over the kitchen sink. And I can tell you, that takes
+brains!”
+
+“Then it's not your job!” said Jim definitely.
+
+“Isn't it? I'll show you, you old Bond Street fashion plate!” Wally
+stretched his long form, simply attired in a khaki shirt and dungaree
+trousers, much be-splashed by paint, and looked scornfully at his neatly
+dressed friend. “You needn't think, because you come here dressed like
+the lilies of the field and fresh from motoring girls round the country,
+that--”
+
+“My hat!” said Jim justly incensed. “And I after cleaning out and
+whitewashing the hospital fowl-houses all the morning! Young Wally, you
+need some one to sit on your head.” He took off his coat slowly.
+
+“Ten to one,” said Wally hastily, “if we had time to look into the
+matter we'd find you'd whitewashed the fowls as well! These Army
+Johnnies are so beastly impractical!” He gathered up his brushes and
+fled, pursued by his chum. Sounds of warfare came faintly from the
+distance.
+
+“It's a good thing some of us are sane,” said Mr. Linton laughing.
+“Nearly finished, Bob?”
+
+He was painting a shelf-table, screwed to the wall within a space at
+the end of the verandah, which they had completely enclosed with wire
+mosquito netting. Bob was hanging the door of this open-air room in
+position, a task requiring judgment, as the floor of the verandah was
+old and uneven.
+
+“Nearly, sir,” he mumbled, his utterance made difficult by the fact
+of having several screws in his mouth. He worked vigorously for a few
+moments, and then stood back to survey his job. “This is going to be
+a great little room--though it's hard just now to imagine that it will
+ever be warm enough for it.”
+
+“Just you wait a few months until we get a touch of hot weather, and
+the mosquitoes come out!” said David Linton. “Then you and Tommy will
+thankfully entrench yourselves in here at dusk, and listen to the
+singing hordes dashing themselves against the netting in the effort to
+get at you!”
+
+“That's the kind of thing they used to tell me on the Nauru,” Bob said
+laughing; “but I didn't quite expect it from you, Mr. Linton!”
+
+The squatter chuckled.
+
+“Well, indeed, it's no great exaggeration in some years,” he said. “They
+can be bad enough for anything, though it isn't always they are. But an
+open-air room is never amiss, for if there aren't mosquitoes a lamp will
+attract myriads of other insects on a hot night. That looks all right,
+Bob; you've managed that door very well.”
+
+“First rate!” said Jim and Wally approvingly, returning arm in arm.
+
+“You're great judges!” David Linton rejoined, looking at the pair. “Have
+you returned to work, may I ask, or are you still imitating the lilies
+of the field?”
+
+“Jim is; he couldn't help it,” said Wally. “But I have been studying
+that oak tree out in the front, Mr. Linton. It seems to me that a
+seat built round it would be very comforting to weary bones on warm
+evenings--”
+
+Bob gathered up his tools with decision in each movement.
+
+“Wally has come to that state of mind in which he can't look at anything
+on the place without wanting to build something out of a packing case
+in it, or round it, or on top of it!” he said. “When the sheep come I'll
+have to keep you from them, or you'll be building shelves round them!”
+
+“Why, you're nearly as bad yourself!” grinned Wally.
+
+“I know I am, and that's why I've got to stop. I'm going to leave nice
+little chisels and spokeshaves and smoothing planes, and mend up the
+pigsty; it needs it badly, and so does the cow-shed. And then I've
+got to think of ploughing, and cutting that drain across the flat, and
+generally earning my living.”
+
+“Don't you worry,” said David Linton. “You couldn't have done much
+outside in this wet weather, and at least your house is half-furnished.
+And we'll help you through with the other things.”
+
+“You're all just bricks,” said Bob, his fair skin flushing--“only I
+begin to feel as if I were fed with a spoon. I can't always expect to
+have my work done for me.”
+
+“You haven't shown much wish to leave it for anyone else,” Jim said
+drily. “Neither you nor Tommy strikes this district as a loafer. Just
+stop talking bosh, old man, and think what Tommy's going to say to her
+mansion.”
+
+“Say?” queried Mr. Linton. “Why, she'll point out to us all the places
+where she wants shelves!”
+
+“Shelves?” yelled the three as one man.
+
+“Yes, certainly. There was never a woman born who had enough. Don't lose
+sight of your tools, Bob, for you'll go on putting up shelves as long
+as you've an inch of wall to put them on. Come along, boys, and we'll go
+home.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+
+“I think it's the loveliest home that ever was!” said Tommy solemnly.
+
+“Well, indeed, it takes some beating,” Wally agreed.
+
+“Creek Cottage”--the name was of Tommy's choosing--was ready for
+occupation, and they had just finished a tour of it. There was nothing
+in it that was not fresh and bright and dainty--like Tommy herself.
+The rooms were small, but they had good windows, where the crisp, short
+curtains were not allowed to obscure the view. There were fresh mattings
+and linoleums on the floors, and the home-made furniture now boasted,
+where necessary, curtains of chintz or cretonne, that matched its
+colouring. Norah and Tommy had spent cheery hours over those draperies.
+The curtains for Tommy's “suite” had been Norah's gift--of dark-green
+linen, embroidered in dull blue silks; and in the corner there was a
+little sofa with cushions of the same. Tommy had purred--was, in fact,
+still purring--over that home-made furniture, and declared it superior
+to any that money could buy. She had also suggested new ideas for
+shelves.
+
+They had not troubled furniture shops much. Save for a few comfortable
+arm-chairs, there was nothing solid and heavy in the house; but it was
+all pleasant and home-like, and the little rooms, bright with books
+and pictures and flowers, had about them the touch of welcome and
+restfulness that makes the difference between a home and a mere house.
+The kitchen was Tommy's especial pride--it was cool and spotless, with
+fresh-painted walls and ceilings, and shining white tiles round the
+white sink--over which Wally's draining-rack sat in glory. Dazzling
+tin-ware decorated the walls, and the dresser held fresh and pretty
+china. For weeks it had been a point of honour for no one to visit
+Cunjee without bringing Tommy a gift for the kitchen--meat fork, a set
+of skewers, a tin pepper castor; offerings wrapped in many coverings of
+tissue paper, and presented with great solemnity, generally at dinner.
+The last parcel had been from Mr. Linton, and had eclipsed all the
+others--an alarum clock, warranted to drive the soundest sleeper from
+her bed. Bob declared it specially designed to ensure his getting fed at
+something approaching a reasonable hour.
+
+A wide verandah ran round the whole house, and rush lounges and deck
+chairs stood about invitingly--Tommy had insisted that there should
+be plenty of seating accommodation on the verandah for all the Linton
+party, since they filled the little rooms to an alarming extent.
+Near where they stood the drawing-room opened out by a French window.
+Something caught Tommy's eye, and she dived into the room--to return,
+laughing with new treasure-trove--a sink brush and saucepan-scrubber,
+tied up with blue ribbon.
+
+“Your doing?” she asked, brandishing them.
+
+“Not mine.” Wally shook his head. “I don't do frivolous things like
+that. But I heard Jim wheedling blue ribbon out of Norah this morning,
+and I don't fancy he has much use for it ordinarily. You'd better ask
+him.”
+
+“It's like both of you--you nice stupids!” she said.
+
+“What?--the pot-scrub! That's not polite of you, Miss Rainham; and so
+untrue, where I'm concerned.” Wally sat down on the arm of a lounge and
+regarded her with a twinkle. “What's old Bob doing?”
+
+Tommy laughed happily.
+
+“I think whenever we don't know where Bob is, he's safe to be out
+looking at either the sheep or the pigs,” she said. “He just loves them;
+and he says he can see them growing.”
+
+There was a hint of Spring in the air, and more than a hint of good
+grass in the green paddocks stretching away from the house. By the creek
+the willows were putting out long, tender shoots that would soon be a
+thick curtain. The lucerne patch that stretched along its bank was dense
+and high. The Rainhams had been delayed in taking possession of Creek
+Cottage; a severe cold had smitten Tommy just at the end of her labours
+in the hospital, and, being thoroughly tired out, it had been some time
+before she could shake off its effects. Mr. Linton and Norah had put
+down their feet with joint firmness, declaring that in no circumstances
+should she begin housekeeping until she was thoroughly fit; so the
+Rainhams had remained at Billabong. Tommy was petted and nursed in a
+way she had not known since Aunt Margaret had died, while Bob worked
+feverishly at his farm, riding over every day from Billabong, with a
+package of Brownie's sandwiches in his pocket, and returning at
+dusk, dirty and happy. Bob was responding to Australian conditions
+delightfully, and was only discontented because he could not make his
+farm all that he wanted it to be within the first week.
+
+Therein, however, he had unexpected help. The Cunjee district was a
+friendly one; station owners and farmers alike looked kindly on
+the young immigrant who turned so readily to work after four years'
+fighting. Moreover, Tommy's work in the hospital was well known; the
+general opinion being that “anything might be expected from young
+Norah Linton, but you wouldn't think a bit of a new-chum kid like Bob
+Rainham's sister would turn to and cook for a crowd, and she hardly off
+the ship!” So the district laid its heads together and consulted Mr.
+Linton; with the result that one morning Bob found himself unexpectedly
+accompanied to work by his host. It was nothing unusual for Jim or
+Wally, or both, to go with him. He was cutting a drain, which they
+declared to be a job for which they had a particular fancy. But to-day
+he found Monarch saddled with the other horses, and Mr. Linton, not only
+ready to start, but hurrying them off; and there was no lunch to carry,
+Norah airily declaring that since she and Tommy were to be deserted
+they declined to be downtrodden, and would motor over with a hamper and
+picnic at Creek Cottage. There was a mysterious twinkle in Norah's eye;
+Bob scented something afoot, and tried--in vain--to pump her on the
+matter. He rode away, his curiosity unsatisfied.
+
+But when they rode up the homestead paddock at his farm, he gave a long
+whistle.
+
+“What on earth--?” he began amazedly.
+
+There were men in sight everywhere, and all working. Eight or nine
+ploughs were moving across the paddocks destined for cultivation;
+already wide strips of freshly turned earth showed that they had been
+some time at work. On the flat where Bob had begun his drain was a line
+of men, and some teams with earth-scoops, cutting a deep channel. There
+were even men digging in the garden; and the sound of axes came faintly
+from a belt of scrub that Bob was planning to clear--some day. He gaped
+at them.
+
+“What does it mean?”
+
+“It's a bee,” said Wally kindly. “A busy bee, improving each shining
+hour.”
+
+Bob turned a puzzled, half-distressed face to Mr. Linton.
+
+“I say, sir--what is it?”
+
+“It's just that, my boy,” said David Linton. “The district had a fancy
+to help you--Cunjee thinks a heap of soldiers, you see. So a lot of the
+fellows got together and planned to put in a day on the creek, doing odd
+jobs.”
+
+“I say,” said poor Bob flushing scarlet, “I never heard such a
+thing--and I hardly know any of them. Whatever am I to say to them,
+sir?”
+
+“I wouldn't say much at all,” said David Linton laughing. “You'll only
+embarrass them if you do. Just take a hand in any job you like, and
+carry on--as we're all going to do.”
+
+“There's one man you know, anyhow,” said Jim grinning. He pointed out
+old Joe Howard, the nearest to them among the ploughmen.
+
+“Heavens!” ejaculated Bob. “You don't mean to tell me old Joe has come
+of his own accord!”
+
+“Couldn't keep him away,” Jim said. “He remarked that you were a very
+decent young feller, and he'd taught you how to work, so he might as
+well lend an 'and. It's like old Joe's cheek, but he'll claim for ever
+that he made you a worker.”
+
+“Oh, let him,” said Bob. “It doesn't hurt me, and it may amuse him.” His
+gaze travelled across the busy paddocks. “Well--I'm just staggered,” he
+said. “The least I can do is to get to work quickly.”
+
+They turned the horses out and scattered; Bob to cutting scrub--it was
+the job he liked least, so it seemed to him the decent thing to tackle
+it--Jim to the drain construction, while Wally joined the band of
+workers in the garden, since he knew Tommy's plans concerning it; and
+Mr. Linton attacked a fence that needed repairs. In the middle of the
+morning came the Billabong motor, driven by Norah, with Brownie and a
+maid in the tonneau with Tommy, and hampers packed wherever possible. A
+cart with other supplies had been driven over by Evans in the very early
+morning, since Billabong had undertaken the feeding of the workers for
+the day. The Rolls-Royce picked its way delicately round the paddocks,
+while the girls carried drinks and huge slabs of cake to the different
+bands of workers--this being the time for “smoke-oh.” Then they hurried
+back to the cottage, where Brownie and Maria were busy unpacking hampers
+on the verandah, and Brownie was preparing to carve great joints of beef
+and mutton and pork in readiness for the hungry horde that would descend
+on them at dinner time.
+
+It was all ready when the men trooped up from the paddocks--squatters
+and stockmen, farmers, horse breakers, bush workers of every degree;
+all dirty and cheery, and filled with a mighty hunger. Soap and water
+awaited them at the back; then they came round to sit on the edge of the
+long verandahs, balancing heaped plates on their knees, and making short
+work of Brownie's provisions. Jokes and cheery talk filled the air.
+Tommy, carrying plates shyly at first, found herself the object of much
+friendly interest. “Little Miss Immigrant,” they called her, and vied
+with each other in making her feel that they were all welcoming her. But
+they did not waste much time over dinner--soon one after another got
+up and sauntered away, lighting his pipe, and presently there were
+straggling lines of figures going back to work across the paddocks.
+After which Norah and Tommy bullied Bob into eating something--he had
+been far too anxious to wait on his hungry “bee” to think of feeding
+himself, and then the ladies of the party lunched with the ardour of the
+long-delayed, and fell upon the colossal business of dish-washing.
+
+Afternoon tea came early, by which time nearly all the ploughing was
+done, and the brown ribbon of the new drain stretched, wide and deep,
+across the flat. The girls took the meal round the paddocks, this time
+with Bob to carry the steaming billies of tea; it gave him a chance to
+thank his helpers, when it was difficult to say whether the thanker or
+the thanked were the more embarrassed. Soon after “cow time” loomed for
+some of the workers, and whatever waits in Australia, it must not be
+the cow; so that here and there a man shouldered his tools, and, leaving
+them at the shed, caught his horse and rode away--apologizing to Bob, if
+he happened to meet him, for going so early, with the brief apology of
+the dairy farmer, “Gotter get home an' milk.” But the majority worked on
+until dusk came down and put an end to their efforts, and then came up
+for their horses, singing and laughing.
+
+Bob stood at the gate, bareheaded, as they rode away. By this time he
+had no words at all. He wished from the bottom of his heart that he
+could tell them what good fellows he thought them; but he could only
+stand, holding the gate for them with Tommy by his side; and it may
+be that the look on each tired young face moved “the bee” more than
+eloquence would have done. They shouted cheery good-byes as they went.
+“Good luck, Miss Immigrant! Good luck, Captain!” And the dusk swallowed
+them up, leaving only the sound of the cantering hoofs.
+
+Thanks to “the bee,” the little farm on the creek looked very
+flourishing on the great day when the lady of the house came down in
+state to take possession of her domain. Bob had worked hard in the
+garden, where already rows of vegetables showed well; Jim and Wally had
+aided Norah and Tommy in the making of a flower garden, laying heavy
+toll on Hogg's stores for the purpose; to-day it was golden and white
+with daffodils and narcissi and snowdrops. The cultivation paddocks, no
+longer brown, rippled with green oats; and cattle were grazing on
+the rough grass of the flats, once a swamp, but already showing the
+influence of the big drain. Bob had great plans for ploughing all his
+flats next year. Dairy cows pastured in the creek paddock near the
+house; beyond, Bob's beloved sheep were steadily engrossed in the
+fascinating pursuit of “turning into wool and mutton.” He never grew
+tired of watching the process.
+
+The ever-present problem of labour, too, had solved itself pleasantly
+enough. Sarah, for many years housemaid at Billabong, had married a
+man on a farm near Cunjee, whose first attempt at renting a place for
+himself had been brought to an untimely end by the drought; and Sarah
+had returned to Billabong, to help in preparing for the home-coming of
+the long-absent family, while her husband secured a temporary job in
+Cunjee and looked about for another chance. There Jim had found him,
+while helping at the hospital; the end of the matter being that Sarah
+and Bill and their baby were installed at Creek Cottage, Bill to be
+general utility man on the farm, and to have a share of profits, while
+Sarah helped Tommy in the house. Every one was satisfied, and already
+there were indications that Tommy would be daft over the baby.
+
+Sarah came out now to say that tea was ready--she had insisted on being
+responsible for everything on this first day. Not that there was much
+to do, for Brownie had sent over a colossal hamper, declaring that Miss
+Tommy shouldn't be bothered with thinking about food when she wasn't
+'ardly settled. So they packed into the little dining-room; where,
+indeed, it took no small ingenuity to stow so large a party, when three
+of the six happened to be of the size of David Linton and Jim and Wally;
+and Tommy did the honours of her own table for the first time.
+
+“And to think,” she said presently, “that six months ago there was only
+Lancaster Gate! Of course, there was always Bob”--she flashed him a
+quick smile--“but Bob was--”
+
+“In the air,” put in Norah.
+
+“Very much so. And it didn't seem a bit certain that I could ever get
+him out of it; or, if I did, that I could ever escape from Lancaster
+Gate.”
+
+“And you wouldn't, if the she-dragon had had her way,” Bob said.
+
+“No. There was nothing to do but run. But even when I dreamed of
+running, I never thought of more than a workman's cottage, with you
+earning wages and me trying to make both ends meet. And now--look at us!
+Bloated capitalists and station owners.”
+
+“Well, you were a cook not so long ago. I wouldn't be too proud,” Wally
+gibed.
+
+“All the more reason for me to be proud--I've risen in the world,”
+ declared Tommy. “Left my situation to better myself--isn't that
+the right way to put it? And we've got the jolliest home in
+Australia--thanks to all of you. Do have some more cake, Mr. Linton; I'd
+love to say I made it myself, but Brownie did--still, all the same, it's
+mine.”
+
+“Don't you worry,” he told her. “I'm coming here plenty of times for
+cake of your own baking.”
+
+“That's what I want.” She beamed at him. “All of you. Bob and I will
+feel lost and lonesome if we don't see you all--oh, often.”
+
+“But you're going to,” Norah said. “We'll be over goodness knows how
+many times a week, and you two are always coming to dinner on Sunday,
+and ever so many other days as well.”
+
+“Was it in your plans that any work should be done on this estate?”
+ queried Bob solemnly.
+
+“Why, yes, in your spare time,” Wally answered. “Any time you're not on
+the road between here and Billabong, or catching a horse to go there, or
+letting one go after coming back, or minding the Billabong horde when it
+comes over, you can do a little towards improving the creek. I say, Bob,
+it sounds the sort of life I'd love. Can't you give me a job, old man?”
+
+“Seeing that you've done little but work on this place since you came
+back from Queensland, I shouldn't think you'd need to ask for a job,”
+ retorted Bob. “However, I'll take you on as milker if you like--it's
+about the only thing you haven't sampled.”
+
+“No,” said Wally, “you won't. Whatever beast I finally take to by way
+of earning my living, it won't be the cow--if I can help it. I'd sooner
+graze giraffes!”
+
+“Oh, do try!” Norah begged. “I'd love to see you trying to put a bridle
+on one in a hurry!”
+
+“Wonder what would happen if one rode a giraffe and he reared?” pondered
+Jim.
+
+“You'd have to swarm up his neck and hang on to his little horns,” Wally
+said. “But they're nice, silent beasts, giraffes, and I think they'd be
+very restful to deal with.”
+
+Every one laughed unsympathetically. Restfulness was the last quality
+to be associated with Wally, who had been remarkable throughout his life
+for total inability to keep still.
+
+“It's always the way,” said Wally, in tones of melancholy. “Every
+fortune teller I ever saw told me that no one understood me.”
+
+“All fortune tellers say that, and that's why people think them so
+clever,” said Tommy. “It's so soothing to think one is misunderstood. My
+stepmother always thought so. Did Bob tell you, Mr. Linton, that we had
+had letters from home?”
+
+“No--from your people?”
+
+“From Papa. The she-dragon didn't write. I think her words would
+have been too burning to put on paper. But Papa wrote a pretty decent
+letter--for him. He didn't speak of our letters from Liverpool--the
+notes we wrote from the hotel, saying we were leaving for Australia.
+But he acknowledged Bob's letter from Melbourne, saying we were going
+up country under your wing, and actually wished us luck! Amazing, from
+Papa!”
+
+“I think he's jolly glad we got away,” Bob said.
+
+“I think that's highly probable,” said David Linton. “You'll write to
+him occasionally, won't you?”
+
+“Oh, yes, I suppose so,” Bob answered. “Sometimes I'm a bit sorry
+for him; it must be pretty awful to be always under the heel of a
+she-dragon. Oh, and there was a really fatherly sort of letter from old
+Mr. Clinton. He's an old brick; and he's quite pleased about our finding
+you--or you finding us. He was always a bit worried lest Tommy should
+feel lonesome in Australia.”
+
+“And not you?” Norah asked laughing.
+
+“No, he didn't worry a bit about me; he merely hoped I'd be working
+too hard to notice lonesomeness. I think the old chap always was a bit
+doubtful that any fellow would get down to solid work after flying; he
+used to say the two things wouldn't agree. But you sent him a decent
+report of me, didn't you, sir?”
+
+“Oh, yes--I wrote when you asked me, just after you bought this place,”
+ David Linton said. “Told him you were working like a cart-horse, which
+was no more than the truth, and that Tommy was serving her adopted
+country as a cook; and that I considered your prospects good. He'll have
+had that letter before now--and I suppose others from you.”
+
+“We wrote a few weeks ago--sent him a photograph of the house, and
+of Tommy on a horse, and Tommy told him all about our furniture,” Bob
+chuckled. “I don't quite know how a staid old London lawyer will regard
+the furniture; he won't understand its beauty a bit. But he ought to be
+impressed with our stern regard for economy.”
+
+“He should,” said Mr. Linton with a twinkle. “And I presume you
+mentioned the sheep?”
+
+“As a matter of fact,” said Tommy confidentially, “his letter was little
+but mutton. He described all his ewes in detail--”
+
+“Colour of their eyes?” queried Wally.
+
+“And their hair,” nodded Tommy. “I never read anything so poetical. And
+any enthusiasm he had over went to the pigs and the Kelpie pup!”
+
+“But what about the cows?” laughed Norah. “And the young bullocks?”
+
+“Oh, he mentioned them. But cattle are just four-legged animals to
+Bob; they don't stir his soul like sheep and pigs. He couldn't write
+beautiful things about them. But when it comes to sheep, he just
+naturally turns into a poet!”
+
+The object of these remarks helped himself serenely to cake.
+
+“Go on,” he nodded at his sister cheerfully. “Wait until my wool cheque
+comes in, and you want a new frock--then you'll speak respectfully of my
+little merinoes. And if you don't, you won't get the frock!”
+
+“Why, I wouldn't disrespect them for anything,” Tommy said. “I think
+they're lovely beasts. So graceful and agile. Will any of them come yet
+when you whistle, Bobby?”
+
+“Are you going to put up with this sort of thing, Bob?” demanded Jim.
+
+Bob smiled sweetly.
+
+“I'm letting her have her head,” he said confidently. “It's badly
+swelled just now, because she's got a house of her own--but you wait
+until she wants a new set of shelves, or a horse caught in a hurry
+so that she can tear over and find out from Norah how to cook
+something--then she'll come to heel. It's something in your climate, I
+think, because she was never so cheeky at home--meek was more the word
+to describe her.”
+
+“Meek!” said his sister indignantly. “Indeed, I never was meek in my
+life!”
+
+“Indeed you were, and it was very becoming,” Bob assured her. “Now
+you're more like a suffragette--” He stopped, staring. “Why, that's it!
+It must be in the air! She knows she'll have the vote pretty soon!” He
+broke into laughter. “Glory! Fancy little Tommy with a vote!”
+
+Tommy joined in the general mirth.
+
+“I hadn't realized it,” she said, “and I needn't bother for over
+eighteen months, anyhow. And I don't believe that any of you have ever
+voted, even if you are twenty-one--except Mr. Linton, of course; and you
+don't know a bit more about it than I do.”
+
+“Hear, hear!” said Wally. “I certainly don't, and neither does Jim. But
+when we do vote, it's going to be for the chap who'll let us go and dig
+our own coal out if there's a strike. That's sense; and it seems to me
+the only sensible thing I've ever heard of in politics!” A speech which
+manifested so unusual an amount of reflection in Wally that every one
+was spellbound, and professed inability to eat any more.
+
+Bob and Tommy stood on the verandah to watch their visitors go; Mr.
+Linton and Norah in the motor, while Jim and Wally rode. The merry
+shouts of farewell echoed through the gathering dusk.
+
+“Bless them,” said Tommy--“the dears. I don't believe we'd have a home
+now but for them, Bob.”
+
+“We certainly wouldn't,” Bob answered. “And sometimes I feel as if
+they'd spoon-fed us. Look at all they've done for us--these months at
+Billabong and all they've taught us, and all the things that they've
+showered on us. We couldn't pay them back in twenty years.”
+
+“And they talk as if the favour were on their side,” his sister said.
+“There's the buggy they've lent us--Mr. Linton spent quite a long time
+in pointing out to me how desirable it was for them that we should use
+it, now that they have the car and don't need it. And the horses that
+apparently would have gone to rack and ruin from idleness if we hadn't
+come.”
+
+“And the cows that don't seem to have had any reason for existence
+except to supply us with milk,” Bob said laughing; “and the farm
+machinery that never was really appreciated until immigrants came
+along--at least, you'd think so to hear Jim talk, only its condition
+belies him. Oh, they're bricks, all right. Only I don't seem as if I
+were standing squarely on my own feet.”
+
+“I don't think we could expect to, just yet,” said Tommy pondering. “And
+if they have helped us, Bobby, you can see they have loved doing it. It
+would be ungracious for us not to take such help--given as it has been.”
+
+“Yes, of course,” Bob answered and squared his shoulders. “Well,
+I'm going to work like fury. The only thing I can do now is not to
+disappoint them. I feel an awful new-chum, Tommy, but I've got to make
+good.”
+
+“Why, of course you're going to,” she said, slipping a hand through his
+arm. “Jim wouldn't let you make mistakes; and the land is good, and
+even if we strike a bad season, there's always the creek--we'll never be
+without water, Jim says. And we're going to have the jolliest home--it's
+that now, and we're going to make it better.”
+
+“It's certainly that now,” Bob said. “I just can't believe it's ours.
+Come and prowl round, old girl.”
+
+They prowled round in the dusk; up and down the garden paths by the
+nodding daffodils, out round the sheds and the pigsties, and so down
+to where the creek rippled and murmured in the gloom, flowing through
+paddocks that, on either side, were their own. Memories of war and of
+gloomy London fell away from them; only the bright present and a future
+yet more bright filled them; and there was no loneliness, since all
+the big new country had smiled to them and stretched out hands of
+friendliness. They came back slowly to their house, arm in arm; two
+young things, like shadows in the gloom, but certain in their own minds
+that they could conquer Australia.
+
+Bob lit the hanging lamp in the little sitting-room, and looked round
+him proudly. A photograph caught his eye; a large group at his Surrey
+Aerodrome, young officers clustered round a bi-plane that had just
+landed.
+
+“Poor chaps,” he said, and stared at them. “Most of 'em don't know yet
+that there's anything better in the world than flying.”
+
+“But they've never met merino sheep,” said Tommy solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+
+“Who's going to the races?” demanded Jim.
+
+He had ridden over to the creek alone, and Tommy had come to the garden
+gate to greet him, since the young horse he was riding firmly declined
+to be tied up. It was a very hot morning in Christmas week. Tommy was in
+a blue print overall, and her face was flushed, her hair lying in little
+damp rings on her forehead. Jim, provokingly cool in riding breeches and
+white silk shirt, smiled down at her across the gate.
+
+“Races!” said Tommy. “But what frivolity. Why, I'm bottling apricots.”
+
+“No wonder you look warm, you poor little soul,” said Jim. “You oughtn't
+to choose a scorcher like this for bottling. Anyhow, the races aren't
+to-day, but New Year's day--Cunjee Picnic meeting. We're all going, so
+you and Bob have got to come. Orders from Norah.”
+
+“Oh, New Year's day. I'd love to come,” Tommy said. “I've never seen
+races.”
+
+“Never seen races!” ejaculated young Australia in sheer amazement.
+“Where were you dragged up?” They laughed at each other.
+
+“Aunt Margaret wasn't what you'd call a racing woman,” Tommy said. “I
+don't fancy Bob has seen any, either. Bill and Sarah, to say nothing of
+the baby, are going. I offered to mind the baby, but Sarah didn't seem
+to think the picnic would be complete without her.”
+
+“People have queer tastes,” Jim said. “I wouldn't choose a long day
+at races as the ideal thing for a baby; but Sarah seems to think
+differently. Wonder what Bill thinks? Still, I'm glad she didn't take
+you at your word, because we'd have had to dispose of the baby somewhere
+if she had. I suppose we could put it under the seat of the car!”
+
+“Oh, do you?” Tommy regarded him with a glint in her eye. “No; we'd have
+made you nurse her--she isn't 'it.' She's the nicest baby ever, and I
+won't have her insulted.”
+
+“Bless you, I wouldn't insult the baby for worlds,” grinned Jim. “I'll
+look forward to meeting her at the races--especially as you won't be
+minding her. Then it's settled, is it, Tommy? We thought of riding; will
+it be too far for you?”
+
+“Not a bit,” Tommy said. “Bob and I rode in and out of Cunjee the other
+day, and I wasn't tired--and it was dreadfully hot.”
+
+“Then you'll be all right on New Year's day, because the racecourse is
+two miles this side of the township,” Jim said. “But Norah said I was to
+tell you some of us could easily go in the car if you'd rather drive.”
+
+“Oh, no, thanks; I know you always ride, and I should love it,” Tommy
+answered. “Is Mr. Linton going?”
+
+“Oh, yes. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the whole station's going,” Jim
+said. “All except Brownie, of course; she scorns races. She says she
+can't imagine why anyone should make anything run fast in the 'eat if
+they don't want to.”
+
+“Does Brownie ever leave Billabong?”
+
+“Hardly ever,” Jim answered, laughing--“and it's getting more and more
+difficult to make her. I think in a year or two it will need a charge
+of dynamite. Oh, but, Tommy, we got her out in the car the other
+evening--had to do it almost by main force. It was a hot evening, and
+we took her for a spin along the road. She trembled like a jelly when we
+started, and all the time she gripped the side with one hand and Norah's
+knee with the other--quite unconsciously.”
+
+“Do you think she enjoyed it at all?” Tommy smiled.
+
+“No, I'm jolly well sure she didn't,” Jim responded. “Brownie's much too
+well mannered to criticize anyone else's property, but when she got
+out she merely said, 'You have great courage, my dear.' And wild horses
+wouldn't get her into it again, unless we promised to 'make it walk,'
+like we did the day we brought her over to help at your working bee. The
+funny part of it is that Norah believes she was just as frightened that
+morning, only she had a job on, and so was too busy to think of it. But
+as for going in a car for mere pleasure--not for Brownie!”
+
+“Brownie's a dear,” said Tommy irrelevantly. “Jim, can't you put that
+fierce animal in the stable or the horse paddock, or somewhere, and come
+in for some tea? I simply must get back to my apricots.”
+
+“And I've certainly no business to be keeping you standing here in the
+heat,” Jim said. “No, I can't stay, thanks, Tommy--I promised dad I'd
+meet him at the Far Plain gate at eleven o'clock, and it's nearly that
+now. You run in to your apricots, and don't kill your little self over
+them; it's no day for cooking if you can avoid it.”
+
+“Oh, but I couldn't,” Tommy answered. “They were just right for
+bottling; the sun to-day would have made them a bit too soft. And it's
+better to get them done; to-morrow may be just as hot, or hotter.”
+
+“That's true enough,” Jim said. “Feeling the heat much, little Miss
+Immigrant?”
+
+“Oh, not enough to grumble at,” she answered, smiling. “And the
+bathing-hole in the creek is a joy; it's almost worth a hot day to get a
+swim at the end of it. Bob has built me a bathing-box out of a tree, and
+it's a huge success; he's very pleased with himself as an architect.”
+
+“That's good business,” approved Jim. “You two never grumble, no matter
+what comes along.”
+
+“Well, but nothing has come along but good luck,” Tommy said. “What have
+we had to grumble at, I should like to know?”
+
+“Oh, some people find cause for grousing, no matter how good their luck
+is,” Jim answered. “I believe you and old Bob would decline to recognize
+bad luck even if it did come your way.”
+
+“It's not coming,” Tommy said, laughing. “So don't talk about it--I
+don't believe it exists.” She stood watching him for a moment as he
+tried to mount; his big young thoroughbred resented the idea of anyone
+on his back, and Jim had to hop beside him, with one foot in the
+stirrup, while he danced round in a circle, trying to get away. Jim
+seized an opportunity, and was in the saddle with a lithe swing;
+whereupon the horse tried to get his head down to buck, and, being
+checked in that ambition, progressed down the paddock in a succession of
+short, staccato bounds.
+
+“I think I should have to recognize bad luck coming if I had to ride him
+instead of Jim,” remarked Tommy quaintly. She turned and ran in to her
+neglected apricots.
+
+New Year's day broke clear and hot, like all the week before it. Norah,
+arriving at the Creek about ten o'clock, looked a little anxiously at
+her friend.
+
+“We're used to riding in the heat, Tommy, dear,” she said. “But you're
+not--are you sure you feel up to it?”
+
+“Why, I'm going to love it,” Tommy said. She looked cool and
+workman-like in a linen habit and white pith helmet--Norah's Christmas
+present. “I hadn't these nice things to wear when Bob and I brought the
+sheep out from Cunjee three weeks ago; and it was just as hot, and so
+dusty. And that didn't kill me. I liked it, only I never got so dirty in
+my life.”
+
+“Well, we shall only have a hot ride one way,” said Norah
+philosophically. “There's a concert in Cunjee, and the boys want to stay
+for it. The concert won't be much, but the ride home in the moonlight
+will be lovely. You and Bob can stay, of course?”
+
+“Oh, yes. Bill must bring Sarah and the baby home in good time, so he
+will milk the cows,” Tommy answered. “He wanted them to stay for the
+concert, but Sarah had an amazing attack of common sense, and said it
+was no place for a baby. I didn't think she considered any place unfit
+for a baby, and certainly Bill doesn't.”
+
+“Bush people don't,” said Norah, laughing. “If they did, they would
+never go anywhere, because the babies must go too, no matter what
+happens. And the babies get accustomed to it, and don't cry nearly as
+much as pampered ones that are always in the nursery.”
+
+“Bush kiddies grow a stock of common sense quite early,” said Wally's
+voice from the door. “It leaves them in later life, and they stay
+gossiping with immigrants in new riding-kit, leaving their unfortunate
+fathers grilling in the sun. Which he says--” But at this point Norah
+and Tommy brushed the orator from their path, and hastened out to the
+horses--finding all the men comfortably smoking under a huge pepper
+tree, and apparently in no hurry to start.
+
+Bob bewailed his yellow paddocks as they rode down to the gate.
+
+“They were so beautifully green a few weeks ago,” he said. “Now look at
+them--why, they're like a crop. The sun has burnt every bit of moisture
+out of them.”
+
+“Don't let that worry you, my boy,” David Linton said. “The stock are
+doing all right; as long as they have plenty of good water at this time
+of the year they won't ask you for green grass.” He gave a low chuckle.
+“You wouldn't think this was bad feed if you had seen the country in the
+drought years--why, the paddocks were as bare as the palm of your hand.
+Now you've grass, as you say yourself, like a crop.” He looked at it
+critically. “I could wish you hadn't as much; fires will be a bit of an
+anxiety later on.”
+
+“Grass fires?” queried Bob.
+
+“Yes. There's not enough timber here to have a real bush fire. But this
+grass is dry enough now, and by February it will go like tinder if any
+fool swagman drops a match carelessly. However, you'll just have to keep
+your eyes open. Luckily, your creek can't burn--you'll always have so
+much safeguard, because your stock could take to it; and that row of
+willows along the bank would check any grass fire.”
+
+“My word, wouldn't a fire race across the Billabong plains this year!”
+ said Wally.
+
+“Yes, it would certainly travel,” agreed Mr. Linton. “Well, we've
+ploughed fire-breaks, and burned round the house, and we can only hope
+for good luck. You'd better burn a break round your house soon, Bob.”
+
+“Bill was saying so only this morning,” Bob answered. “I nearly chucked
+the races and stayed at home to do it--only I was afraid it might get
+away from me single-handed, and I couldn't very well keep Bill at home.”
+
+“Oh, time enough,” the squatter said lightly. “You're not so dry as we
+are, and we only burned last week.”
+
+“We'll come over and help you to-morrow, if you like,” Jim said. “Wally
+wants work; he's getting too fat. A little gentle exercise with a racing
+fire on a hot day would be the very thing for him. We'll come and burn
+off with you, and then have a bathing party in the creek, and then you
+and Tommy must come back to tea with us.” Which was a sample of the way
+much of the work was done on the Creek Farm. It had never occurred to
+the two Rainhams that life in Australia was lonely.
+
+The road to Cunjee was usually bare of much traffic, but on the one
+race day of the year an amazing number of vehicles were dotted along
+it, light buggies, farm wagonettes, spring carts and the universal
+two-wheeled jinker, all crammed with farmers and settlers and their
+families. Wives, a little red-faced and anxious, resplendent in their
+Sunday finery, kept a watchful eye on small boys and girls; the boys
+in thick suits, the girls with white frocks, their well-crimped hair
+bearing evidence of intense plaiting overnight. Hampers peeped from
+under the seats, and in most cases a baby completed the outfit. Now and
+then a motor whizzed by, leaving a long trail of dust-cloud in its wake,
+and earning hearty remarks from every slower wayfarer. There were riders
+everywhere, men and women--most of the latter with riding-skirts slipped
+on over light dresses that would do duty that night at the concert and
+the dance that was to follow. Sometimes a motor-cycle chugged along,
+always with a girl perched on the carrier at the back, clinging
+affectionately to her escort. As Cunjee drew nearer and the farms closer
+together the crowd on the road increased, and the dust mounted in a
+solid cloud.
+
+The Billabong people drew to one side, as close as possible to the
+fence, cantering over the short, dusty grass. It was with a sigh of
+relief that Jim at last pointed out a paddock across which buggies and
+horsemen were making their way.
+
+“There's the racecourse,” he said.
+
+“Racecourse!” Tommy ejaculated. “But it just looks like an ordinary
+paddock.”
+
+“That's all it is,” said Jim, laughing. “You didn't expect a grand-stand
+and a lawn, did you? Cunjee is very proud of itself for having a turf
+club at all, and nobody minds anything as long as they get an occasional
+glimpse of the horses.”
+
+“But where do they run?”
+
+“Oh, the track goes in and out among the trees. There's some talk of
+clearing it before the next meeting by means of a working bee. But
+they won't worry if it doesn't get done--every one will come and have a
+picnic just the same. You see, there are only two days in the year when
+a bush place can really let itself go--Show day and Race day. Show
+day is more serious and business-like, but Race day is a really
+light-hearted affair, and the horses don't matter to most of the
+people.”
+
+They turned into a gate where two men were busily collecting shillings
+and keeping a wary eye lest foot passengers should dodge in through the
+fence without paying. There were no buildings at all in the bush paddock
+in which they found themselves. It lay before them, flat, save for
+a rise towards the southern boundary, where already the crowd was
+thickening, and sparsely timbered. As they cantered across it they came
+to a rough track, marked out more or less effectively by pink calico
+flags nailed to the trees.
+
+“That's the racing track,” Wally said. “Let's ride round it, and we'll
+have a faint idea of what the horses are doing later on.”
+
+They turned along the track, where the grass had been worn by horses
+training for the races during the few weeks preceding the great day. The
+trees had been cleared from it, so that it was good going. In shape it
+was roughly circular, with an occasional dint or bulge where a big red
+gum had been too tough a proposition to clear, and the track had had to
+swing aside to avoid it--a practice which must, as Jim remarked, make
+interesting moments in riding a race, if the field were larger than
+usual and the pace at all hot. Presently they emerged from the timber
+and came into the straight run that marked the finish--running along the
+foot of the southern rise, so that, whatever happened in the mysterious
+moments in the earlier parts of a race, the end was within full view of
+the crowd. The winning-post was a sawed-off sapling, painted half-black
+and half-white; opposite to it was the judge's box, a huge log which
+made a natural grand-stand, capable of accommodating the racing
+committee as well. Behind, a rough wire fence enclosed a small
+space known as the saddling paddock. The crowd picked out its own
+accommodation--it was necessary to come early if you wanted a good
+place on the rise. Already it was dotted with picnic parties, preparing
+luncheon, and a procession of men and boys, bearing teapots and billies,
+came and went about a huge copper, steaming over a fire, where the
+racing club dispensed hot water free of charge, a generosity chiefly
+intended to prevent the casual lighting of fires by the picnickers.
+All over the paddock people were hastening through the business of the
+midday meal; the men anxious to get it over before the real excitement
+of the day began with the racing, the women equally keen to feed their
+hungry belongings and then settle down to a comfortable gossip with
+friends perhaps only seen once or twice in the twelve months. Children
+tore about wildly, got in the way of buggies and motors, climbed trees
+and clustered thickly round any horse suspected of taking part in
+the racing. More than one candidate for a race appeared on the course
+drawing a jinker; and, being released from the shafts, was being
+vigorously groomed by his shirt-sleeved owner.
+
+“There's an awful lot to see!” ejaculated Tommy, gazing about her.
+
+“That is if you've eyes,” Jim said. “But most of it can be seen on foot,
+so I vote Wally and Bob and I take the horses and tie them up while
+there's still a decent patch of shade left for them to stand in--every
+tree in the paddock will have horses tied to it before long. Do you know
+where Evans was to leave the buggy, Dad?”
+
+“Yes--it's under a tree over there,” said his father, nodding towards a
+bushy clump of wattles. “I told him to pick out a good shady place for
+lunch. We'll go on and get ready, boys. I'll take the teapot for hot
+water.”
+
+“Not you!” said Jim. “We'll be back in a few minutes and can easily get
+it. Just help the girls with the things, Dad, and we'll get lunch over;
+I'm as hungry as a hawk.”
+
+“I'm not hungry,” said Norah. “But I want, oh! gallons of tea.”
+
+Tea seemed the main requirement of everybody. It was almost too hot to
+eat, even in the deep shade of the wattles. The boys, taught by the war
+to feed wherever and whenever possible, did some justice to Brownie's
+hamper; but Mr. Linton soon drew aside and lit his pipe at a little
+distance, while Tommy and Norah nibbled tomato and lettuce sandwiches,
+kept fresh and cool by being packed in huge nasturtium leaves, and drank
+many cups of tea. Then they lay under the trees until a bell, ringing
+from the saddling paddock, hinted that the first race was at hand. There
+was a surge of people towards the rise.
+
+“Come on,” Jim said, jumping up. “Help me to stow these things in the
+buggy, Wally--we'll want most of them for afternoon tea later on. Then
+we might as well go and see the fun. You girls rested?”
+
+They were, they declared; and presently they set off towards the rise.
+Already the horses were appearing on the track, most of the jockeys
+wearing silk jackets and caps, although a few were content with doffing
+coat and waistcoat, and riding in blue and pink shirts--occasionally,
+but not always, complete with collar and tie. The horses were a mixed
+lot; some bore traces of birth and breeding, but the majority were just
+grass-fed horses from the neighbouring farms and stations, groomed and
+polished in a way that only happened to them once a year. The well-bred
+performers were handicapped with heavy weights, while the others had
+been let off lightly, so that all had a chance.
+
+“Billabong has a horse running to-day--did you know?” Jim inquired.
+
+“No!” Tommy looked up, dimpling with interest. “But how exciting, Jim.
+Is it yours?”
+
+“No.” Jim shook his head. “I won't enter a horse if I can't ride him
+myself, and of course I'm too heavy. He belongs to the station, but he's
+always looked upon as Murty's, and black Billy's going to ride him. He's
+in the Hurdle Race.”
+
+“Do you think he has any chance?”
+
+“Well, he can gallop and jump all right,” Jim said. “But he hasn't had
+much training, and whether he'll jump in company is open to doubt. But
+I don't think he'll disgrace us. You've seen Murty riding him--a big
+chestnut with a white blaze.”
+
+“Oh, yes--he calls him Shannon, doesn't he?” said Tommy. “I saw him jump
+three fences on him last time we were out mustering with your people.
+He's a beauty, Jim.”
+
+“Yes, he's pretty good. Murty thinks he's better than Garryowen, but I
+don't,” Jim observed.
+
+“If the Archangel Gabriel turned into a horse you wouldn't think he was
+up to Garryowen!” said Wally.
+
+“No, and he probably wouldn't be,” said Jim, laughing. “If you begin
+life as an archangel, how would you settle down to being a horse after?”
+
+“I suppose it needs practice,” Wally admitted. “Look out--here they
+come!”
+
+The horses were coming down the straight in their preliminary canter,
+and the crowd abandoned the business of picnicking and turned its
+attention to the first race. The riders, mostly local boys, looked
+desperately serious, and, as they pulled up after their canter, and
+turning, trotted slowly back past the rise, shouts of warning and
+encouragement and instruction came to them--from the owners of their
+mounts--which had the effect of making the boys look yet more unhappy.
+A bookmaker, the sole representative of his profession, yelled steadily
+from under a lightwood tree; those who were venturesome enough to do
+business with him were warned solemnly by more experienced men to keep a
+sharp look-out that he did not get away with their money before the end
+of the day.
+
+“That happened in Cunjee some years ago,” said Mr. Linton. “A bookmaker
+appeared from goodness knows where, and struck a very solid patch of bad
+luck. All the district seemed to know how to pick winners that day,
+and he lost solidly on every race. He plunged a bit on the fourth race,
+hoping to get his money back; but that was worse still, and when he
+saw the favourite winning, he knew he had no hope of settling up. So he
+quietly collected his horse, which he had tied up in a convenient
+place, in case it was wanted in a hurry, and made tracks before the race
+finished.”
+
+“What happened to him?” asked Bob.
+
+Mr. Linton chuckled.
+
+“Well, he added considerably to the excitement of the day. Some one
+saw him going, and passed the word round, and every man to whom he owed
+money--and they were many--ran for his horse and went after him. He had
+a good start, and no one knew what road he would take, so it was quite
+a cheery hunt. I think it was Dave Boone who tracked him at last, and he
+paused at a cross-roads, and coo-eed steadily until he had a number
+of followers. Then they set sail after the poor bookie, and caught
+him about seven or eight miles away. They found he had practically no
+money--not nearly enough to divide up; so they took what he had and
+presented it to the Cunjee Hospital, and finished up the day happily by
+tarring and feathering the bookie, and riding him on a fence rail round
+Cunjee that night!”
+
+“What do your police do in a case like that?” Bob asked.
+
+“Well, there's only one policeman in Cunjee, and, being a wise man, he
+went to the concert, and probably enjoyed himself very much,” said Mr.
+Linton, laughing.
+
+“And what happened to the bookie?”
+
+“Just what you might expect--the boys got sorry for him, made a
+collection for him, bought him some cheap clothes--I believe they didn't
+err on the side of beauty!--and shipped him off to Melbourne by the
+first train in the morning. I don't think he'll try his artful dodges
+on this section of the bush again; and it has made all the boys very
+watchful about betting, so it wasn't a bad thing, on the whole. They
+think they know all about the ways of the world now. Look, Tommy--the
+horses are off! Watch through the trees, and you'll get a glimpse
+presently.”
+
+The gay jackets flashed into view in a gap in the timber, and then were
+lost again. Soon they came in sight once more and rounded the last
+curve into the straight, amid shouts from the crowd. They came up the
+straight, most of the jockeys flogging desperately, while everyone
+rushed to get as near the winning-post as possible. Hats were flung in
+the air and yells rose joyfully, as a Cunjee boy, riding a desperate
+finish, got his horse's nose in front in the last couple of lengths and
+won cleverly.
+
+“She's excited!” said Wally, looking down at Tommy's flushed face.
+
+“I should think so,” said Tommy. “Why, it was dreadfully exciting. I'd
+love to have been riding myself.” At which everyone laughed extremely,
+and a tall young stockman from a neighbouring station, overhearing, was
+so impressed that he hovered as near as possible to Tommy for the rest
+of the day.
+
+The next event was the Hurdle Race, and interest for the Linton party
+centred in the candidate described on the race-card as Mr. M. O'Toole's
+Shannon. Nothing further could be done for Shannon--he was groomed until
+the last hair on his tail gleamed; but black Billy, resplendent in a
+bright green jacket and cap, the latter bearing an embroidered white
+shamrock, became the object of advice and warning from every man from
+Billabong, until anyone except Billy would probably have turned in wrath
+upon the multitude of his counsellors. Billy, however, had one refuge
+denied to most of his white brothers. He hardly ever spoke; and if some
+reply was absolutely forced upon him, he merely murmured “Plenty!” in a
+vague way, which, as Wally said, left you guessing as to his meaning.
+
+“Yerra, lave off badgerin' the boy,” said Murty at last, brushing aside
+Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan, and the other Billabong enthusiasts.
+“If he listens to the lot of ye anny longer he won't know whether he's
+ridin' a horse or an airyplane. There's only wan insthruction to be
+kapin' in your head, Billy--get to the front an' stay there. Ridin' a
+waitin' race is all very well on the flat, but whin it comes to jumpin',
+anything that's in front of ye is apt to turn a somersault an' bring ye
+down in a heap.”
+
+“Plenty!” agreed Billy; and lit a cigarette.
+
+“Shannon don't like anny other horse in front of him at all,” went on
+Murty. “He's that full of pride he never tuk kindly to bein' behind, not
+since he was bruk in. He'll gallop like a machine an' lep like a deer if
+he gets his head.”
+
+“I don't b'lieve you've much show, anyhow,” Dave Boone said. “There's
+that horse from the hotel at Mulgoa--Blazer, they call him. He's done no
+end of racin', and won, too.”
+
+“Well, an' if he has, hasn't he the great weight itself to be carryin'?”
+ demanded Murty.
+
+“Why, he's top weight, of course; but you're carryin' ever so much over
+weight,” responded Mr. Boone. “If you'd put up a boy instead of Billy,
+you could be pounds lighter.”
+
+“Ah, git away with your advisin',” replied Murty. “Billy knows the
+horse--an' where'd a shlip of a boy be if Shannon cleared out with him?
+I'd rather carry too much weight, an' know I'd put a man up as could
+hold the horse.” His anxious eye fell on the girls. “Miss Norah and Miss
+Tommy!--come here an' wish him luck without offerin' me any advice, or
+I'll lose me life over the ould race! They have desthroyed me with all
+the things they're afther tellin' me to do.”
+
+“We won't tell you a thing, Murty--except that he's looking splendid,”
+ Norah said, stroking Shannon's nose, to which the horse responded by
+nuzzling round her pocket in search of an apple. “No, I can't give you
+one, old man--I wouldn't dare. But you shall have one after the race,
+whether you win or not, can't he, Murty?”
+
+“He can so,” said Murty. “Wance he's gone round that thrack he can live
+on the fat of the land--an' Billy, too. It's a dale aisier to get the
+condition off a horse than off Billy. No man on this earth 'ud make a
+black fellow see why he shouldn't have a good blow-out whenever it came
+his way. Only that Providence made him skinny by nature, he'd be fat
+as a porpoise this day. I've been watchin' over his meals like a mother
+with a delicate baby these three weeks back; but what hope 'ud I have
+with Christmas comin' in the way? He got away on me at Christmas dinner,
+an' what he didn't ate in the way of turkey an puddin' wouldn't be worth
+mentioning--an' him booked to ride to-day! 'Plenty' always did be his
+motter, an' he lives up to it. So he's pounds overweight, an' no help
+for it.”
+
+“Never mind, Murty,” Jim said. “He knows the horse, and Shannon's able
+to stand a few pounds extra. He'll give us a good run.”
+
+“I believe ye, Masther Jim,” said Murty, beaming. “He'll not disgrace
+us, an' if he don't win itself, then he'll not be far behind. There you
+are, Billy--that's the bell for weighin'. Hurry up now, and get over to
+the scales.”
+
+The black boy's lean figure, saddle and bridle on arm, threaded its way
+through the crowd round the weighing enclosure--a little space fenced
+off by barbed wire. Presently they saw him coming back grinning.
+
+“That pfeller sayin' I plenty too much pounds,” he said in an unusual
+burst of eloquence.
+
+“Ah, don't be rubbin' it in--don't I know it?” quoth Murty, taking the
+saddle and slipping it deftly on Shannon's back. “I dunno, did he think
+he was givin' me a pleasant surprise with the information by way of a
+New Year's gift. Does he think we've never a scales on Billabong, did
+ye ask him? There now, he's ready. Get on him, Billy, an' shove out into
+the track for a canter. I'll get nothing but chat from every one as
+long as you're here. Take him for a look at some of the hurdles, the way
+he'll know all about them when he comes to jump.” He stood with a frown
+on his good-humoured face as Shannon and his rider made off.
+
+Norah laid a hand on his arm.
+
+“There's not a horse on the course better turned out, Murty,” she said.
+“No one can say the Billabong representative doesn't look fit.”
+
+Murty turned on her, beaming again.
+
+“Well, indeed, he'll not be doin' the station any discredit, Miss
+Norah,” he said happily, “an' if he don't win, well, we can't all be
+winnin', can we? Only we did win a race last year, whin none of ye
+were here to be watchin' us an' make it worth while. I'd like to score
+to-day, now that ye're all here to see--an' Miss Tommy too, that's never
+seen racin'.” He smiled down at the English girl's pink face.
+
+“I'm going to see you win to-day, Murty--I feel it in my bones,” said
+Tommy promptly. “I've always loved Shannon, ever since I saw you jump
+those big fences with him when we put up the hare out mustering.”
+
+“Yerra, that one'd make a steeplechaser if he got the trainin',”
+ declared Murty, all his troubles forgotten. “Come a little higher up,
+won't ye, Miss Norah; we can see every jump from the top of the rise,
+barrin' the wan that's in the timber.”
+
+They followed him up the little hill until he declared himself satisfied
+with his position; and he spent the time until the flag fell in pointing
+out to Tommy the exact places where the hurdles were erected--pausing
+only for a proud look when Shannon thundered past below them in his
+preliminary canter, the green jacket bright in the sun, and every muscle
+in the horse's gleaming body rippling as he moved. He was reefing and
+plunging in his gallop, trying to get his head; but Billy soon steadied
+him, and presently brought him up the straight again at a quiet trot.
+The other horses went out, one by one, until at length a field of eight
+faced the starter; and presently they were off, and over the first jump
+in a body. They came down the straight on the first time round, packed
+closely, a glittering mass of shining horses and bright colours. One
+dropped at the jump near the judge's box, and as the other horses raced
+away round the turn the riderless horse followed, while his jockey lay
+still for a moment, a little scarlet blur upon the turf. Eager helpers
+ran forward to pick him up, but he was on his feet before they could
+reach him, and came limping up the hill, a little bruised and infinitely
+disgusted.
+
+“He's all right,” Murty said. “Yerra, Mr. Jim, did ye see the ould horse
+jump! He wint ahead at his fences like a deer!”
+
+The horses were in the timber; they peered anxiously at the bright patch
+of colour that showed from time to time, trying to see the familiar
+green jacket. Then, as the field came into view Murty uttered an
+irrepressible yell, for his horse shot ahead at the next jump and came
+into the straight in the lead. Murty gripped at the nearest object,
+which happened to be Norah's shoulder, and clenched it tightly,
+muttering, in his excitement, words in his native Irish. They thundered
+up the straight, Billy crouching on Shannon's neck, very still. Then
+behind him the Mulgoa horse drew out from the ruck and came in chase.
+Nearer and nearer he came, while the shouts from the crowd grew louder.
+Up, up, till his nose was at Shannon's quarter--at his girth--at his
+shoulder, and the winning-post was very near. Then suddenly Billy lifted
+his whip and brought it down once, and Shannon shot forward with a last
+wild bound. Murty's hat went up in the air--and Wally's with it.
+
+“He's done it!” Murty babbled. “Yerra, what about Billabong now?” He
+suddenly found himself gripping Norah's shoulder wildly, and would have
+apologized but that Norah herself was dancing with delight, and looking
+for his hand to grasp. And the crowd was shouting “Shannon! Shannon!
+Billabong!”--since all of these Cunjee folk loved Billabong and were
+steadily jealous of Mulgoa. Jim and Wally were thumping Murty on the
+back. Bob and Mr. Linton stood beaming at him. Below them Billy came
+trotting back on his victorious steed, sitting with a grave face, as
+expressionless as if he had not just accomplished his heart's desire.
+But his dark, mysterious eyes scanned the crowd as he turned from
+weighing in, and only grew satisfied when he saw the Billabong party
+hurrying to greet him. They shook his hand, and smote him on the back,
+Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan prancing with joy. And Shannon, his glossy
+coat dark with sweat, nuzzled again at Norah's pocket for an apple--and
+this time got it.
+
+This glorious event over, interest became focused on a trotting race,
+which brought out a queer assortment of competitors, ranging from
+King Lightfoot, a horse well known in Melbourne, to Poddy, an animal
+apparently more fitted to draw a hearse than to trot in a race--a lean,
+raw-boned horse of a sad countenance and a long nose, with a shaggy
+black coat which rather resembled that of a long-haired Irish goat.
+There were other candidates, all fancied by their owners, but the public
+support was only for King Lightfoot, who ran in elaborate leather and
+rubber harness, and was clearly regarded by his rider as of infinite
+condescension to be taking part in such a very mixed company.
+
+It proved, however, not to be King Lightfoot's lucky day. The horses
+started at intervals, according to their performances or merit, Poddy
+being the first to move, the Melbourne horse the last. King Lightfoot,
+however, obstinately refused to trot, whereas Poddy revealed unexpected
+powers, flinging his long legs abroad in a whirlwind fashion, and
+pounding along doggedly, with his long nose outstretched as if hoping
+to get it past the winning-post as soon as possible. No other horse came
+near him; his initial lead was never lessened, and he plugged doggedly
+to victory, while the crowd roared with laughter, and out in the timber
+King Lightfoot's rider wrestled with his steed in vain. Later, his
+prejudice against trotting in the bush removed by stern measures, King
+Lightfoot flashed up the track like a meteor, with his furious rider
+determined to show something of what his steed could do. By that time
+Poddy was once more unsaddled, and was standing under a tree with his
+weary nose drooping earthwards, so that the crowd merely yelled with
+laughter anew, while the stewards unfeelingly requested the Melbourne
+man to get off the track.
+
+“Oh, isn't it hot!” Norah fanned herself with a bunch of gum leaves, and
+cast an anxious look at Tommy.
+
+It was breathlessly hot. Not a hint of air stirred among the trees or
+moved the long dry grass that covered the paddock--now showing many
+depressions, where tired people or horses had lain down to rest. The
+horses stood about, drooping their heads, and swishing their tails
+ceaselessly at the tormenting flies; men and women sought every
+available patch of shade, while dogs stretched themselves under the
+buggies, panting, with lolling tongues. Children alone ran about, as
+though nothing could mar their enjoyment; but babies fretted wearily in
+their mothers' arms. Overhead the sun blazed fiercely in a sky of brass.
+Now and then came a low growl of thunder, giving hope of a change at
+night; but it was very far distant, although a dull bank of cloud lay to
+the west. David Linton watched the cloud a little uneasily.
+
+“I don't quite like the look of it,” he muttered to himself. “I'll go
+and ask Murty what he thinks of it.” But Murty had been swallowed up
+in a crowd anxious to congratulate him on Shannon's success, and
+his employer failed to find him at the moment. He came upon Sarah,
+however--sitting under a tree, with her baby wailing dismally.
+
+“To hot for her, Sarah,” David Linton said kindly.
+
+“That's right, sir--it's too hot for anyone, let alone a little tiny
+kid,” Sarah said wearily. “I'd get Bill to go home if I could, but I
+can't get on his tracks--and it's too hot to take baby out in the sun
+looking for him. If you come across him, sir, you might tell him I want
+him.”
+
+“All right,” said the squatter. “But you wouldn't take that long drive
+home yet, Sarah--better wait until the sun goes down.”
+
+“Well, I'd go into Cunjee, to me sister-in-law's,” said Sarah. “She'd
+let me take baby's things off an' sponge her--an' I'd give a dollar to
+do it. No more races with kids for me in weather like this!” She crooned
+to the fretting baby as Mr. Linton went off.
+
+He found Tommy and Norah together under a tree near the track--hot, but
+interested.
+
+“Where are the boys?”
+
+“They're all holding ponies,” Norah said. “I don't quite know why, but a
+very hot and worried man collected them to help start the race. What is
+it for, Dad, do you know?”
+
+“Oh, I see!” David Linton laughed. “It's--a distance handicap--the
+ponies all start at the same moment, but from different points along the
+track.”
+
+“Yes, that must be it,” Norah said. “Jim's away over near the timber
+with a little rat of a pony, and Bob is shepherding another fifty yards
+behind him, while Wally is quite near here with that big pony of the
+blacksmith's that has won ever so many races. She'll have a lot of
+ground to make up. But why must each one be shepherded, Dad?”
+
+“Human nature,” said David Linton, smiling. “These youngsters who are
+riding would sneak a yard or two if they weren't closely watched, and
+they would never start fair; the only way is to put each in charge of a
+responsible man with a good watch, and let him start them. What time
+is the race? Oh, four o'clock. Well, I never yet saw a pony race that
+started on time; neither the ponies nor the boys are easy to handle, and
+I see there are ten of them. Watch them; it's after four, and they must
+be nearly ready to start.”
+
+The ponies were strung out round the course, each with a “shepherd”
+ standing to attention near its bridle, watch in hand. They could see
+Jim's great form standing sentinel over a tiny animal, whose diminutive
+rider was far too afraid of the huge Major to try to snatch even a yard
+of ground; nearer, Wally kept a wary eye on the experienced jockey
+on the blacksmith's racing mare, who was afraid of nothing, but
+nevertheless had a certain wholesome respect for the tall fellow who
+lounged easily against a tree near him, but never for an instant shifted
+his gaze. The shepherds were waiting for a signal from the official
+starter.
+
+It came presently, a long shrill whistle, and simultaneously each
+guardian stepped back, and the released ponies went off like a
+flash--all save Bob's charge, who insisted on swinging round and bolting
+in the wrong direction, while his jockey sawed at his mouth in vain.
+Yawing across the track the rebel encountered the blacksmith's pony,
+who swerved violently in her swift course to avoid him, and lost so much
+ground that any chance she had in the race was hopelessly lost, whereat
+the blacksmith, who was standing on the hill, raved and tore his hair
+unavailingly. A smart little bay pony fought out the finish with Jim's
+tiny charge, and was beaten by a short head, just as Wally, walking
+quickly, came back to his party.
+
+“That was a great race,” said Norah. “Wally, you shouldn't walk so fast
+on such a day. It makes one warm only to look at you.”
+
+Wally answered with an absent air that was unlike his usual alertness.
+The girls, watching the ponies come in, noticed nothing, and presently
+he drew Mr. Linton aside.
+
+“Did you notice that cloud, sir?” he asked, in a low voice. “I didn't
+until I was down on the track with the pony, looking in that direction.
+But it's twice the size it was when I went down.”
+
+“I've been looking at it, and I don't like it,” said Mr. Linton.
+“It's smoke, I'm positive, and too near Billabong and the Creek to be
+comfortable. I think we'll make tracks for home, Wally. Have you seen
+Murty anywhere?”
+
+As if in answer, Mr. O'Toole came running down the hill.
+
+“I've been huntin' ye's everywhere,” he panted. “There's a man just
+kem out from Cunjee lookin' for ye, sir--some one's tallyphoned in
+that there's a big grass fire comin' down on the Creek, an' 'twill be
+a miracle if it misses Billabong! I've told the men--they're off to get
+the horses.”
+
+Norah and Tommy had turned, with dismayed eyes.
+
+“Will it be at our place, Murty?” Tommy asked.
+
+“I dunno will it, Miss Tommy,” the Irishman answered. “But as like as
+not 'twill miss it--or anyhow, we'll get there first, an' stop it doing
+much damage. Don't you worry your little head, now.”
+
+She looked up at him gratefully. Norah's hand was thrust through her
+arm.
+
+“It may not be near the Creek at all, Tommy dear,” she said.
+
+“Oh, I hope it isn't--my poor old Bob!” Tommy said, under her breath.
+“Can we hurry, Norah?”
+
+“They're bringing the horses,” Norah answered. “We'll be off in a
+minute--see, dad has gone to meet Bob.”
+
+Wally had turned to Murty.
+
+“Murty, do you mind if I ride Shannon and take him across country? I'm
+on Marshal to-day, you know, and he can't jump for nuts. But Shannon can
+take every fence between here and the Creek, and I can cut the distance
+in half if I go across. I'm about the lightest of us, I think.”
+
+“So ye are--an' the horse'll take ye like a bird,” said Murty. “Don't
+shpare him, Mr. Wally, if ye think ye can do any good. He's over there
+under the big wattle.”
+
+“Right-o!” said Wally. “Tell Mr. Jim, will you, Murty?” He turned and
+ran down the hill with long strides.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+
+Already the cloud was growing in the western sky--so high that it
+threatened to obscure the sun that still blazed fiercely down. At first
+a dull brown, there was a curious light behind it; at the edges it
+trailed away into ragged wisps like floating mist. There was something
+mysteriously threatening in its dense heaviness.
+
+There were other men running for their horses, as Wally raced towards
+Shannon. The news of a grass fire had spread quickly, and every man
+wanted to be on his own property, for the whole countryside was covered
+with long, dry grass, and no one could say where a fire might or might
+not end. Boone and Shanahan passed Wally, leading several horses--his
+own amongst them. They hailed him quickly.
+
+“We've got Marshal, Mr. Wally.”
+
+“Give him to Murty,” Wally answered as he ran. “I'm riding Shannon.” He
+raced on.
+
+“That means he's going across country,” said Dave Boone. “For two pins
+I'd go too.”
+
+“Don't you--you'd never get your horse over them fences,” Shanahan said.
+“An' it'll take Mr. Wally all his time to get across them wired paddocks
+of Maclennan's. Hope he don't break Shannon's laigs.”
+
+“Not he; Mr. Wally's no fool,” said Boone. “Git up, y' ol' sardine!” He
+kicked the horse he was leading, and they trotted up to Norah and Tommy.
+
+Shannon, standing with drooping head, showed little interest as Wally
+flung the saddle on his back. He had won his race handsomely, and it was
+a scorching day; possibly the big chestnut felt that no more should be
+required of him; in which case he was soon to be rudely awakened. Wally
+swung into the saddle with a quick movement, and turned him, not towards
+the gate, but in the opposite direction, which further puzzled Shannon.
+But he was a stock horse first and a hurdle racer as an afterthought;
+and a good stock horse knows his rider's mind, if that rider is a good
+man. He made one tentative movement towards his paddock mates, now
+moving away towards the gate; then, feeling the touch of Wally's hand
+on the bit, and the light pressure of his knee, he decided that some new
+game was on foot, and cantered easily away.
+
+They crossed the racing track, going westward over the big paddock, away
+from the buggies and the crowd. A belt of timber checked their swift
+progress a moment; then they came out into clear ground in sight of
+the boundary fence, a stiff three-railer. Wally peered at it anxiously,
+unable, for an instant, to see if there were a wire on top; but it was
+clear, and he shook up his horse, putting him straight at the middle of
+a panel. Shannon pricked his ears and flew it daintily--this was work he
+loved, and hot though the day might be, he was ready for any amount of
+it. Also Wally was lighter than Murty, his usual rider; and although he
+loved Murty, and respected him greatly, this new man had a seat like a
+feather and a hand gentle as silk upon his tender mouth. Shannon broke
+into the gallop that he felt sure his rider wanted.
+
+They were in a wide paddock, bare, save for a few clumps of timber,
+in the shade of which sheep were thickly clustered. It was good, sound
+going, with a few little rises; and, knowing that he would have to
+slacken speed presently, Wally let the chestnut have his head across the
+clear grass. They took the next fence and the next before he drew rein.
+He was in country he did not know--all big farms, with many stubble
+fields with newly erected stacks, and with good homesteads, where now
+and then a woman peered curiously from a verandah at him. There were
+no men in sight; every man in the neighbourhood was at the races on New
+Year's day.
+
+He found himself in a paddock where rough ground, thickly strewn with
+fallen timber, sloped down abruptly to a creek. Checking Shannon, he
+rode more steadily down to the water, and trotted along the bank for
+a hundred yards, looking for a good place to ford--the banks shelved
+abruptly down, and the water was unusually deep. But the only promising
+fords were too thickly snagged to be tempting; and presently, with a
+shrug, Wally gave up the quest, and choosing a place where the fall of
+the bank was a shade less abrupt, he put the horse at it.
+
+Shannon hesitated, drawing back. Water was the one thing to which he had
+not been schooled on Billabong, and this place was mysterious and deep.
+But Wally's hand was firm, and he spoke sharply--so that the chestnut
+repented of the error of his ways, and plunged obediently downwards.
+The bank gave under them, and they slithered down among its remnants and
+landed in the water with a profound splash, almost hidden for a moment
+by the spray that drenched Wally's thin silk coat and shirt. Shannon
+floundered violently, and nearly lost his footing--and then, deciding
+that this was an excellent entertainment on a hot day, he thrust his
+thirsty nose into the water. Wally checked him after one mouthful.
+
+“I'm sorry, old chap,” he said regretfully. “I'd like it as much as you.
+But I can't let you have a drink just now.”
+
+He pressed him on across the muddy stream, floundering over sunken logs,
+slipping into holes, dodging half-concealed snags; and so they came to a
+bank which scarcely seemed a possible place, so steep was it. But Wally
+looked at the smoke-cloud, and grew desperate, and for the first
+time touched Shannon with the spur; and the chestnut answered gamely,
+springing at the bank and climbing almost like a cat. Twice it broke
+under him; the third time he made some footing, and Wally suddenly flung
+himself from his back, scrambling up ahead of him, and hauling at the
+bridle. Shannon followed, floundering and snorting; desperately relieved
+to find himself on firm ground again. Wally swung into the saddle and
+they galloped forward.
+
+The next two fences were log ones, and the chestnut took them almost in
+his stride. Then Wally's lips tightened, for he saw a homestead that
+he knew must be Maclennan's, the most prosperous farmer about; and
+Maclennan had strong views on the subject of inflammable fences in a
+country so liable to grass fires, and all his property was wire-fenced.
+The first fence stretched before him, taut and well-strung; he looked up
+and down its length in search of a gate, but there was none in sight.
+
+“I could put my coat on the top wire for you to jump if it was a thick
+one, old chap,” he told Shannon. “But a scrap of wet silk wouldn't be
+much good to you. We'll have to chance a post.”
+
+He drew rein, trotting up to the fence, where he let the horse put his
+nose over a post--and set his lips again when he saw that the top wire
+was barbed.
+
+“Just you remember to pick up all your toes well, old man,” he said.
+
+He trotted back a little way, and, turning, came hard at the fence,
+putting Shannon directly at the post. This also was new to the chestnut;
+but once, when a foal, he had been badly pricked on barbed wire, and,
+ever since, one glance at its hideous spikes had been enough for him.
+Refusing was out of the question--Wally was leaning forward, keeping
+him absolutely straight, lifting him at the post with a little shout of
+encouragement. He flew over it as if it had been a hurdle. Wally patted
+his neck with a big sigh of relief.
+
+“Eh, but I was scared for your legs, old man!” he said.
+
+They galloped across a wide stubble field, while Wally's keen eyes
+searched the fence for a gate. He caught sight of one presently, a
+stiff, four-railed gate, considerably higher than the fence. High as it
+was, Wally preferred it to barbed wire; and by this time he had a queer
+feeling that no jump would prove too much for the big, honest chestnut,
+who was doing so gamely everything that he was asked. Nor did Shannon
+disappoint him; he rose at the gate cheerfully, and barely tipped it
+with one hind foot as he cleared it. Wally fancied there was something
+of apology in the little shake of his head as he galloped on.
+
+“If I'd time to take you back over that you wouldn't lay a toe on it
+again, I believe. Never mind, there's sure to be another.”
+
+There was, and the chestnut flew it with never a touch. Maclennan's
+paddocks were wide and well cleared--such galloping ground as Wally
+dared not waste--and he took full advantage of them, leaving one after
+another behind swiftly, to the beat of Shannon's sweeping stride. Fence
+after fence the chestnut cleared, taking them cleanly, with his keen
+ears pricked; never faltering or flagging as he galloped. Wally sat him
+lightly, leaning forward to ease him, cheering him on with voice and
+touch. Before him the cloud grew dense and yet more dense; he could feel
+its hot breath now, although a bush-covered paddock ahead blocked the
+fire itself from his immediate view. He had to choose between picking
+his way through the trees or galloping round them; and chose the latter,
+since Shannon showed no sign of fatigue. He put the last wire fence
+behind him with a sigh of relief. A small farm with easy enough fences
+remained to be crossed, and then he swung round the timber at top speed.
+Once round it, he should come within view of the Rainhams' house.
+
+He came into the open country, and pulled up with a shout of dismay.
+Before him was the long line of timber marking the creek, but between
+lay nothing but a rolling cloud of smoke, lit with flashes of flame. A
+hot gust of wind blew it aside for a moment, and through it he caught
+a glimpse of Creek Cottage, burning fiercely. Wally uttered a smothered
+groan, and thrust Shannon forward, over the last fence, and up a little
+lane that led near the Rainhams' back gate.
+
+The paddock was nearly all on fire. It had started somewhere back in
+the bush country, and had swept across like a wall, burning everything
+before it. As Wally reached the gate, it was rolling away across the
+paddocks, a sheet of flame, licking up the dry grass; leaving behind it
+bare and blackened ground, with here and there a fence post, or a
+tree burning, and, in the midst of its track, Creek Cottage wrapped in
+flames.
+
+The boy slipped from his saddle and flung Shannon's bridle over the
+gate-post. Then, as a thought struck him, he turned back and released
+him, buckling the reins into one stirrup.
+
+“I don't dare to tie you up, old man,” he said. “The beastly fire might
+swing round. Go home, if you like. I can't take you across that hot
+ground.” He gave the chestnut's neck a hasty pat; then, putting one hand
+on the gate, he vaulted it cleanly and ran across the burnt ground.
+
+The grass was yet smouldering; it broke away under his feet, crackling
+and falling into black powder. He ran desperately, not feeling the
+burning breath of the fire, in blind hope of being able to save
+something. The house itself, he knew, was doomed; no fire-brigade could
+have checked the flames which had laid hold of the flimsy weatherboard.
+The fire had divided round it, checked a little by Tommy's
+flower-garden, which was almost uninjured yet, and by Bob's rows of
+green vegetables which lay singed and ruined; then, unable to wait,
+it had swept on its way through the long dry grass, which carried it
+swiftly forward, leaving the burning cottage and the green garden in the
+midst of a blackened waste.
+
+The front verandah, and one side, were yet untouched, nor had the front
+rooms caught. Wally raced through the garden and tried the front door.
+It was locked. He sprang to the nearest window and smashed it with quick
+blows from a hoe standing near; then, flinging up the sash, dived in.
+The room was full of smoke, the heat stifling. It was Tommy's room. He
+gathered up her little personal belongings from the dressing-table and
+flung them on the quilt, following them with armfuls of clothes hastily
+swept from shelves. A trunk, covered with a bright Navajo blanket, stood
+near the window. He thrust it through to the verandah, and scrambled
+out after it with the quilt and blankets bundled round the things he had
+saved. Dragging them across the lawn, he thrust them under some green
+bushes, and returned for the trunk.
+
+“I don't believe you'll catch there,” he said, choking. “Wonder if I can
+try another room?”
+
+He had opened the door from Tommy's room into the hall, but the rush of
+flame and smoke were so appalling that he had to shut it again quickly,
+realizing that the draught only helped the fire. To break in by another
+window was the only way. He smashed his way in to the other front
+room, and hurriedly gathered up all he could. There was no time to save
+anything heavy. His quick mind guided him to the things he knew Bob and
+Tommy valued most--things that had been Aunt Margaret's in the past,
+that spoke of their old happy life in France. He spread an embroidered
+cloth on the floor and pitched his treasure trove into it--working
+feverishly, choking and gasping, until the flames began to crackle
+through the wall, and the ceiling above him split across. Then he
+plunged through the window, and staggered across the lawn with his
+burden--falling beside it at last, spent and breathless, his throat
+parched with smoke, and his eyes almost sightless. But he picked himself
+up presently and went back. All the rooms were blazing now. The side
+verandah had not yet caught, and on it he saw an old oaken chest that
+did double duty as a seat and as a wardrobe for Bob's spare clothes. The
+sight brought fresh energy back to Wally.
+
+“By Jove, there's old Bob's box!” he uttered. “I'll have to get that.”
+
+He dragged it across the verandah and on to the path. It was cruelly
+heavy. He had to stop and rest again and again; but still he struggled
+on, a few yards at a time, until it, too, was in comparative safety.
+Then there was nothing else that he could do but sit on the grass and
+watch the gay little home that they had all loved as it fell into ruins.
+The flames made mercifully short work of it; they roared and crackled
+and spat wreathing fiery tongues round the chimneys and up and down
+the verandah posts; shooting out of the broken windows and turning the
+white-painted iron of the roof into a twisted and blackened mass. It
+fell in presently with a deafening roar, bringing one chimney with it;
+and soon all that Wally had to look at was a smouldering heap of coals,
+in the midst of which one chimney stood, tottering and solitary,
+with the kitchen stove a glowing mass of red-hot iron, and strangely
+contorted masses of metal that once were beds. The boy uttered a groan.
+
+“And they were so proud of it,” he said. “Poor souls--how are they going
+to stick it?”
+
+He got up presently and made his way round to the back. All the sheds
+and buildings were burned; he turned with a shudder from where Bob's
+beloved Kelpie had died at his post chained in helplessness. The metal
+parts of the buggy, writhed into knots and tangles, lay in the ashes of
+the big shed; beyond, the pigsty smouldered.
+
+“They've gone, too, I suppose,” Wally said. “By George, where are all
+his stock? They can't all be burned, surely.”
+
+There was nothing visible in the bare, black paddocks. He cast a wild
+look round, and then made for the creek at a staggering run. The fire
+had died away for lack of material as it neared the banks, for great
+willows overhung them, a camping-ground for the stock all through the
+summer heat, and the ground was always beaten hard and bare. Wally
+uttered a shout of relief as he came to the trees. Below in the wide,
+shallow pools, all the stock had taken refuge--carthorses and cows,
+sheep and pigs, all huddled together, wild-eyed and panting, but safe.
+They stared up at Wally, dumbly bewildered.
+
+“Poor brutes,” said Wally. “Well, you chose a good spot, anyhow. I say,
+what a jolly good thing Bob let his pigs out. Poor old chap--he's
+not broke yet.” He leaned against the gnarled trunk of a willow for a
+moment. “Well, I suppose I'd better get up to the gate and tell them--it
+won't do for Tommy to come on the ruins all of a sudden.”
+
+But he realized, as he made his slow way up from the creek, that he was
+too late. There was a little knot of horses beside the garden gate. His
+eye caught the light linen habit coats that Tommy and Norah wore. They
+were looking silently at the blackened heap of ashes, with the tottering
+chimney standing gaunt in its midst, Bob's face grey under its coating
+of smoky dust. Norah was holding Tommy's hand tightly. They did not hear
+Wally as he came slowly across the black powder that had been grass.
+
+“I suppose the stock have gone, too,” Bob said heavily.
+
+“No, they haven't, old man,” Wally said. “I believe every head is safe;
+they're in the creek.”
+
+They turned sharply, and cried out at the sight of him--blackened and
+ragged, his eyes red-rimmed in his grimy face, his hands, cut by the
+broken window glass, smeared with dried blood. His coat and shirt, burnt
+in a score of places, hung in singed fragments round him. There were
+great holes burnt in his panama hat, even in his riding breeches. Jim
+flung himself from his horse, and ran to him.
+
+“Wal, old man! Are you hurt?”
+
+“Not me,” said Wally briefly. “Only a bit singed. I say, you two, you
+don't know how sorry I am. Tommy, I wish I could have got here in time.”
+
+“You seem to have got here in time to try, anyhow,” said Tommy, and her
+lip trembled. “Are you sure you're not hurt, Wally?” She slipped from
+her saddle, and came to him. “Were you in the fire?”
+
+“No, I'm truly all right,” Wally assured her. He suddenly realized that
+he had not known how tired he was; something in his head began to whirl
+round, and a darkness came before his aching eyes. He felt Jim catch
+him; and then he was sitting on the ground, propped against the fence,
+and blinking up at them all, while indignantly assuring them that he had
+never been better.
+
+“Did you meet the fire? It was away from here before I got here.”
+
+“It crossed the road in front of us,” Mr. Linton said. “There were a
+good many men about by that time--we got it stopped before it reached
+Elston's.” His pitying eyes went back to the brother and sister. Anxiety
+for Wally had drawn them from their own disaster for a moment; now they
+had moved away together, and stood looking at the ashes of their home,
+where so many hopes were ashes, too. David Linton went over to them, and
+put a hand on a shoulder of each.
+
+“You're not to be down-hearted,” he said firmly. “It's bad enough, and
+bitter enough--but it might be worse. The stock are safe, and the land
+is there--one good shower will turn the paddocks green again. Why,
+there's even most of your garden left, Tommy. And we'll build the house
+and sheds better than before.”
+
+“You're jolly good, Mr. Linton,” Bob said, with dry lips. “But we owe
+you enough already.”
+
+“If you talk that sort of nonsense, I'll be really annoyed,” David
+Linton said. “Why, hard luck comes to all of us--we got burned out
+ourselves once, didn't we, Norah?”
+
+“Rather--and had to live in tents,” said Norah. “No, you'll have to come
+back to us at Billabong until we build up the cottage again--oh, and,
+Tommy darling, I've been lonesome for you!” She put a hand on Bob's arm.
+“You won't worry, Bob? One bit of bad luck isn't going to beat you!”
+
+“I suppose it won't,” Bob said slowly. “There's the insurance money,
+anyhow. But it was the jolliest little home--and our very own. And I was
+so jolly proud of being independent.”
+
+“Well, you're that still,” Jim said. “This is a country where everybody
+helps everybody else--because you and Tommy come to stay with us, and
+run your stock for a while on Billabong until your own grass grows, that
+isn't going to make you less independent. Wouldn't you do the same for
+us, if we were in the same box?”
+
+“That goes without saying--and I'm as grateful as I can be,” Bob said.
+“But the cases are different. I'm deep enough in your debt, as it is.
+I--” His lip quivered, and he turned away, staring at the ruins.
+
+“I don't see any good arguing about it, at all events,” said Norah,
+practically. “We're all hot and tired, and I vote we just get home and
+have tea. We'll all feel better after a tub, and then we can begin to
+make plans. Come on, Tommy dear, it's just lovely to think we're going
+to have you.”
+
+Bob stood with one hand on the scorched gate.
+
+“I wish I could have got here in time to get out a few things,” he
+muttered.
+
+“Oh, I did that,” said Wally, brightening. “I forgot, in the shock of
+finding all Noah's Ark turned out in the creek. Come along, Tommy, and
+see my little lot of salvage!”
+
+He dragged himself up from the ground and seized Tommy's hand. They
+trooped across the lawn.
+
+“I saved the cuckoo clock and that set of Swiss bears,” said Wally. “And
+lots of oddments from goodness knows where--the sort of thing you can't
+buy in Cunjee. I expect I've hauled out all the things you wouldn't have
+saved, Tommy, but you'll just have to let me down lightly--I'd have made
+a shot for the beloved cake tins, only I hadn't time.”
+
+“Oh, Wally, you dear old idiot,” said Tommy. “And that's how you nearly
+killed yourself.” They came in sight of Wally's heap of loot, and she
+stopped in amazement.
+
+“Bob--just look!”
+
+“By Jupiter!” said Bob, “you saved my old box! You old brick. How did
+you manage it? Why, it weighs a ton!”
+
+Tommy was on her knees by the bundles. “Look!” she said. “Look, Bobby!
+My silver things--and all Aunt Margaret's, and my little jewel box. And
+my clothes! How did you do it, Wally?” Suddenly her voice broke. She put
+her head down on the bundle in a passion of sobs.
+
+“That's the best thing she could do,” said David Linton gently. He
+turned to Norah. “Let her cry--and bring her along presently, and we'll
+take her home. Come along, boys, we'll get the horses and go and see
+Wally's Noah's Ark.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+It was three months later, and Billabong lay in the peace of an
+exquisite autumn evening. The orchard showed yellow and bronze against
+the green of the pine trees; here and there oak and elm leaves fluttered
+down lazily upon the lawn. The garden flamed with dahlias and asters,
+amidst which Hogg worked contentedly. And there was utter content upon
+the face of David Linton, as he stood on the broad stone steps of his
+home, and looked towards the setting sun. Beyond the garden gleamed
+the reed-fringed waters of the lagoon; further yet, the broad paddocks
+stretched away, dotted with feeding Shorthorns. It was the view, of all
+others, that he loved--his soul had longed for it during weary years of
+exile and war. Now, it seemed that he could never tire of looking at it.
+
+Brownie came up from the garden, a basket on her arm laden with splendid
+mauve and pink asters. David Linton strolled across the gravel sweep to
+meet her.
+
+“What, Brownie--taking Miss Norah's job, are you?”
+
+“Well, it ain't 'ardly that, sir,” Brownie answered. “Miss Norah she
+done the vases this morning, same as ushul, an' Miss Tommy elpin' her.
+Only she wouldn't pick these 'ere astors, 'cause they're 'Oggs best, an'
+she didn't like to 'urt 'im; you see she always remembers that onst they
+go into the 'ouse, 'Ogg, 'e don't see 'em no more. An' she do love 'em
+in the vases. So I just put the matter sensible like to 'Ogg, an', of
+course, 'e saw reason and give me 'alf; an' I'll 'ave 'em on the table
+to-night. Only they've filled every vase in the house already, I believe
+I'll be druv to puttin' 'em in Mason jars!”
+
+“Miss Norah will love them, no matter what they're in,” said Mr. Linton.
+“There's no sign of them yet, Brownie--it's nearly time they were home.”
+
+“Well, they meant to 'ave a long day's work fixin' the 'ouse,” said
+Brownie comfortably. “Mrs. Archdale druv me over to see them, an' Sarah
+gave us all afternoon tea--she an' Bill are real toffs in their little
+new cottage there. Sarah ain't indulgin' in any regrets over that fire!
+And they were all busy as bees. Miss Tommy's room's fixed, an' her
+little sleep-out place off it, and so's Mr. Bob's, an' they were workin'
+at the drorin'-room; 'omelike it looked with all their nice old things
+in it again.”
+
+“I'm sure it will,” David Linton agreed. “How do you like the new house,
+Brownie?”
+
+“Why, it's lovely,” said Brownie. “An' a fair treat to work, with all
+them new improvements--no corners to the rooms, an' no silly skirtin'
+boards that'll catch dust, an' the water laid on everywhere, an' the air
+gas, an' all them other patent fixings. An' so comferable; better than
+the old one, any way you look at it. Miss Tommy's the lucky young lady
+to be comin' in for such a place.”
+
+“Well, she deserves it, Brownie.”
+
+“She do,” said Brownie heartily. “Ain't it lovely to see Miss Norah an'
+'er so 'appy together? Our blessed lamb never 'ad a friend like that
+before, and she needed one--every girl do.”
+
+“Long may it last, that's all I say,” agreed the squatter. “Norah needed
+her badly, although she didn't know it. And she and her brother are the
+best type of immigrants, aren't they?”
+
+“They are that,” said Brownie, “always cheery, an' workin' 'ard, an'
+takin' the ups and downs sensibly. Now, it was a real nasty knock to
+find their nice little 'ome burnt down on New Year's day, but after the
+first shock they never 'ung their lip at all--just bucked in to make
+good again.”
+
+She went on her way with her asters, and David Linton walked slowly
+across the lawn and stood looking over the gate, along the track where
+his children would come riding home. Somehow, he found it difficult not
+to think of them all as his children. Wally had made an attempt to go
+away and set up a place for himself, but the idea had been received with
+such amazed horror by the whole household that it had been temporarily
+shelved. After all, Wally had more money than was good for him, the
+result of having always been an orphan. He could establish himself in a
+place at any time if he wished. And meanwhile, he was never idle. David
+Linton had handed over most of the outside management of the big run
+to Jim and his mate. They worked together as happily as they had played
+together as boys. There was time for play now, as well; Mr. Linton saw
+to that. The years that they had left on Flanders fields were not to rob
+them of their boyhood.
+
+There had also been time to help the Rainhams--and there again the
+district had taken a hand. It was not to be imagined that the people
+who had helped in the first working bee would sit calmly by when so
+stupendous a piece of bad luck as the New Year fire overtook the just
+established young immigrants; and so there had been several other bees,
+to replace Bob's burnt fencing, to clear away the ruins of the house and
+sheds, and, finally, to rebuild for him. There had been long discussions
+at Billabong over plans--the first Creek Cottage had taught them much
+of what was desirable in the way of a house; so that the second Creek
+Cottage, which rose from the ashes of the old one when kindly rains had
+drawn a green mantle over all the blackened farm, was a very decided
+improvement upon the old house, and contained so many modern ideas and
+“dodges” that the wives and sisters of all the working bees, who helped
+to build it, came miles to see it, and went home, in most cases, audibly
+wishing that they could have a fire. It was illuminating, too, to the
+working bees, to see how Bob and the Billabong men planned for the
+comfort of the women who were to run the house, and for its easy
+working; so that presently a wave of labour-saving devices swept through
+the Cunjee district in imitation, and wives who had always carried
+buckets of water found taps conveniently placed where they were
+needed, and sinks and draining racks built to ease the dreary round
+of dish-washing, and air-gas plants established to supersede the old
+kerosene lamps. After which the district was very much astonished that
+it had not done it before.
+
+The cottage was finished now, and nearly ready for its occupants; Bill,
+Sarah and the baby had been installed for some time in a neat little
+two-roomed place with a side verandah, a short distance from the main
+building. Home-made furniture, even more ambitious than the first built,
+had been erected, and a fresh supply of household goods bought during
+an exciting week in Melbourne, where Mr. Linton had taken them all--all,
+that is, but Bob, who had steadfastly declined to go away and play when
+other people were helping him. So Bob had remained at his post, giving
+Tommy a free hand as to shopping; a freedom cautiously used by Tommy,
+but supplemented by the others with many gifts, both useful and idiotic.
+Tommy had an abiding affection for the idiotic efforts.
+
+She had spent so much time in the saddle that she now rode like an old
+hand; the brown-faced girl who came up the paddock presently with the
+cheery band of workers was very different to the pink and white “little
+Miss Immigrant” of eight months before. She rode Jim's big favourite,
+Garryowen, who, although years had added wisdom to him, was always
+impatient when nearly home; he was reefing and pulling, as they swept
+up at a hand gallop, but Tommy held him easily, and pulled up near Mr.
+Linton, laughing. He looked at them with grave content.
+
+“I began to think you meant me to have tea alone,” he said. “Have they
+been doing any work, Bob, or couldn't you keep them in hand at all?”
+
+“Oh, they've been working,” Bob answered. “I told Sarah not to give them
+any afternoon tea if they didn't, and it acted like a charm.”
+
+“You to talk!” said Norah, with tilted nose. “They said they'd sample
+the new deck chairs, dad, and it took them about an hour to make sure if
+they liked them--they just smoked while Tommy and I toiled.”
+
+“Well, you'd only have been annoyed with us if we hadn't done the
+sampling properly, and had grumbled afterwards,” said Wally. “I'm always
+trying to teach you to be thorough, Norah. Of course, they say they work
+all the time, sir--but when they disappear into Tommy's room there's an
+awful lot of talking.”
+
+“There would be something wrong with them if there weren't,” said the
+squatter sagely. “And I have no doubt there yet remains much awaiting
+their expert supervision in Tommy's room.” Whereat Tommy and Norah
+beamed at him, and commended him as a person of understanding, while
+Wally remarked feelingly to Bob that there was no chance of justice
+where those two females were concerned. At this point Jim observed that
+the conversation showed signs of degenerating into a brawl, and that,
+in any case, it was time the horses were let go. They trotted off to the
+stables, a light-hearted body.
+
+Tommy slipped her arm into Bob's as they went upstairs to dress.
+
+“Come into my room and talk for a moment.”
+
+He came in and sat down in a low chair by the window.
+
+“Your quarters at the new place won't be as big as this, old girl.”
+
+“They'll be bigger, for it will all be ours,” rejoined Tommy promptly.
+“Who wants a big room, anyway? I don't. Bobby, I'd be hard to please if
+I wanted more than I've got.”
+
+“You're always satisfied,” he said. “There never was anything easier
+than pleasing you, old Tommy.”
+
+“Life's all so good, now,” she said. “No hideous anxiety about you--no
+Lancaster Gate--no she-dragon. Only peace, and independence, and the
+work we like. Aren't you satisfied, Bob?”
+
+“I'd like to be really independent,” he said slowly. “Our amount of
+debt isn't heavy, of course, and it doesn't cause real anxiety, with Mr.
+Linton guaranteeing us to the bank--”
+
+“And as we had to build again, it was worth while to improve the house
+and make it just what we wanted,” Tommy added. “We'll pay the debt off,
+Bob. Mr. Linton assures me that with ordinary seasons we should easily
+do it.”
+
+“I know, and I'm not anxious,” Bob said. “Only I'll be glad when it's
+done; debt, even such an easy debt as this, gives me the creeps. And I
+want to feel we stand on our own feet.”
+
+“And not on the Lintons'!” said Tommy, laughing. “I quite agree--though
+it's amazing to see how little they seem to mind our weight. Was there
+ever such luck as meeting them, Bob?”
+
+“Never,” he agreed. “We'd have been wage-earners still, or struggling
+little cocky farmers at the best, but for that letter of General
+Harran's--though, I think more was due to the way you butted into their
+taxi!”
+
+“I believe it was,” laughed Tommy. “It was the sort of thing to appeal
+to the Lintons--it wouldn't to everybody. But the letter was behind it,
+saying what a worthy young man you were!”
+
+“Well, when you start calling me such a thing as 'worthy,' it's time I
+left and got dressed for tea,” said her brother, rising slowly. “English
+mail ought to be in, by the way; I'm wondering what old Mr. M'Clinton
+will say when he hears we were burned out in our first season.”
+
+“He'll wish he'd sent us to the snows of Canada, where such things
+don't happen on New Year's day,” Tommy said. “Still, he ought not to be
+anxious about us--Mr. Linton wrote and told him our position was quite
+sound.”
+
+“Oh, I don't think he'll worry greatly,” said Bob. “I must hurry, old
+girl, or I'll be late--and I want a tub before tea.”
+
+The boys came down in flannels, ready for a game of tennis after tea;
+and Bob and Wally were just leaving the court after a stoutly-contested
+set, when black Billy brought the mail-bag across the lawn to Mr.
+Linton. The squatter unlocked it and sorted out the letters quickly.
+
+“Nothing for you, Tommy; two for Norah; three for Bob, and bundles for
+Wally and Jim. Papers beyond counting, and parcels you girls can deal
+with.” He gathered up a package of his own letters. “Chiefly stock
+and station documents--though, I see, there's a letter from your aunt,
+Norah; I expect she's anxious to know when I'm going to cease bringing
+you up like a boy, and send you to Melbourne to be a perfect lady.”
+
+“Tell her, never,” said Norah lazily. “I don't see any spare time
+ahead--not enough to make me into a lady after Aunt Winifred's pattern.
+Cecil is much more lady-like than I am.”
+
+“He always was,” Jim said. “Years ago we used to wonder that he didn't
+take to wool-work, and I expect he'll do it yet. Even serving in the war
+didn't keep Cecil from manicuring his nails--he gets a polish on them
+that beats anything I ever saw.”
+
+“Never mind--he's got a limp,” said Norah, in whose eyes that legacy of
+the war covered a multitude of sins.
+
+“Well, he has. But he even limps in a lady-like way,” grinned Jim. “And
+he has no time for Wal and me. He told me that he was surprised that
+five years of France and England hadn't made us less Australian.”
+
+“It's a matter of regret to us all,” said Norah placidly. “We hoped for
+great things when you came out--more attention to polite conversation,
+and a passion for top-hats, and--” At which point further eloquence was
+checked by a cushion placed gently, but firmly, by a brotherly hand on
+her face, and so she subsided, with a gurgle of laughter, into the cool
+depths of the buffalo grass where they were all lying.
+
+“Oh, by Jove!” said Bob suddenly. He looked at them, and finally at
+Tommy, his eyes dancing.
+
+“What's up, old man?” Jim asked. “Not your stepmother coming out?”
+
+“England couldn't spare her,” Bob said. “But the sky has fallen, for all
+that. Just listen to old M'Clinton.
+
+“'. . . It was with deep regret that I learned from you and from Mr.
+Linton of the calamity which had befallen you on New Year's day. Such
+disasters seem common in Australia, like blizzards in Canada, and I
+presume every settler is liable to them. In your case your loss,
+being partly covered by insurance, will not, Mr. Linton assures me,
+be crushing, although it seems to me very severe. To have your initial
+endeavours, too, handicapped by so calamitous an occurrence would have
+excused despondency, but--'”
+
+“Hasn't he a lovely style?” chuckled Wally, as the reader paused to turn
+over.
+
+“'But Mr. Linton assures me that you and your sister are facing the
+situation with calmness and courage.' Did you know you were calmly
+courageous, Tommy?”
+
+“I am not,” said Tommy. “I am courageously calm. Go on, Bobby--my
+calmness will waver if you don't get to the point. Where does the sky
+fall?”
+
+“Half a second. 'Further, I am immensely interested to learn from Mr.
+Linton, who appears to be the kindest of benefactors'--that's you,
+sir--'that the people of the district, who have already helped you so
+remarkably by a working bee, are so much in sympathy with you both that
+they intend again lending you their assistance over rebuilding your
+house. This shows me, even without Mr. Linton's letter, that you have
+earned their esteem and regard. Nevertheless, I estimate that you cannot
+fail to be at some monetary embarrassment, and this I am luckily able
+to ease for you. Certain rubber investments of your late aunt's have
+recently risen in value, after the long period of depression due to
+the war; and I deemed it prudent to sell them while their price in the
+market was high. The terms of your aunt's will enable me to reinvest
+this money, amounting to a little over nine hundred pounds, for you, or,
+at my discretion, to hand it over to you; and such is the confidence
+I repose in you, after Mr. Linton's letter, that I feel justified in
+remitting you the money, to use as you think best. I presume that will
+be in the reduction of your liabilities. I should like to think you had
+the benefit of Mr. Linton's advice in the matter.' Shall I, sir?”
+
+“I never listened to such language,” returned the squatter. “I should
+like it read three times a day, before meals. But if it's my advice you
+want, Bob, you can have it. Meanwhile, I'm very glad for you to have
+such a windfall, my boy.”
+
+Tommy and Norah had collapsed on each other's shoulders, speechless.
+
+“Joy never kills, they say,” said Wally, regarding them anxiously. “But
+it's been known to turn the brain, when the brain doesn't happen to be
+strong. Will we turn the hose on them, Jim?”
+
+“Sit on him, Bob,” came faintly from Norah.
+
+“I will--with the weight of nine hundred pounds!” said Bob--and did so.
+
+“Get off, you bloated capitalist,” said Wally, struggling. He succeeded
+in dislodging him, with a mighty effort. “You're just purse-proud,
+that's what's the matter with you. What'll you do with it, Bobby--go
+racing? Or buy an aeroplane?”
+
+“Get out of debt,” said Bob, sitting up with rumpled hair and a face
+like a happy child's. “And there'll be a bit over to play with. What
+shall we put it into, Tommy? Want any pretty things?”
+
+“Just merino sheep,” said Tommy.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+***** This file should be named 7047-0.txt or 7047-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/4/7047/
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/7047-0.zip b/7047-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d9ee53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047-0.zip
diff --git a/7047-h.zip b/7047-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0428d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047-h.zip
diff --git a/7047-h/7047-h.htm b/7047-h/7047-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2355c31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047-h/7047-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,10477 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Back to Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Back To Billabong
+
+Author: Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Release Date: June 6, 2006 [EBook #7047]
+Last Updated: March 15, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      BACK TO BILLABONG
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Mary Grant Bruce
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      1921
+    </h3>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+                          &ldquo;Beyond the distant sky-line
+                           (Now pansy-blue and clear),
+                           We know a land is waiting,
+                           A brown land, very dear:
+                           A land of open spaces,
+                           Gaunt forest, treeless plain:
+                           And if we once have loved it
+                           We must come back again.&rdquo;
+
+                                 (Dorothea Mackellar.)
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>BACK TO BILLABONG</b></big> </a>
+        <br /><br /> <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003">
+        CHAPTER III </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006">
+        CHAPTER VI </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010">
+        CHAPTER X </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014">
+        CHAPTER XIV </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      BACK TO BILLABONG
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do the beastly old map yourself, if you want it. I shan't, anyhow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wilfred!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aw, Wil-fred!&rdquo; The boy at the end of the schoolroom table, red-haired,
+      snub-nosed and defiant, mimicked the protesting tone. &ldquo;I've done it once,
+      and I'm blessed if I do it again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one would dream that it was ever meant for Africa.&rdquo; The young teacher
+      glanced at the scrawled and blotted map before her. &ldquo;It&mdash;it doesn't
+      look like anything earthly. You must do it again, Wilfred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you, Wilf.&rdquo; Wilfred's sister leaned back in her chair, tilting it
+      on its hind legs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have nothing to do with Wilfred's work, Avice. Go on with your
+      French.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Done it, thanks,&rdquo; said Avice. &ldquo;And I suppose I can speak to my own
+      brother if I like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you can't&mdash;in lesson time,&rdquo; said the teacher.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who's going to stop me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia Rainham controlled herself with an effort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bring me your work,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went over the untidy French exercise with a quick eye. When she had
+      finished it resembled a stormy sky&mdash;a groundwork of blue-black,
+      blotted writing, lit by innumerable dashes of red. Cecilia put down her
+      red pencil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's hopeless, Avice. You haven't tried a bit. And you know it isn't hard&mdash;you
+      did a far more difficult piece of translation without a mistake last
+      Friday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but the pantomime was coming off on Saturday,&rdquo; said Wilfred, with a
+      grin. &ldquo;Jolly little chance of tickets from Bob if she didn't!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shut up!&rdquo; said Avice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be quiet, both of you,&rdquo; Cecilia ordered, a spot of red in each pale
+      cheek. &ldquo;Remember, there will be other Saturdays. Bob will do nothing for
+      you if I can't give him a decent report of you.&rdquo; It was the threat she
+      hated using, but without it she was helpless. And the red-haired pair
+      before her knew to a fraction the extent of her helplessness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the moment the threat was effective. Avice went back to her seat,
+      taking with her the excited-looking French exercise, while Wilfred
+      sullenly recommenced a dispirited attack upon the African coastline.
+      Cecilia leaned back in her chair, and took up a half-knitted sock&mdash;to
+      drop it hastily, as a long-drawn howl came from a low chair by the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever is the matter, Queenie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I per-ricked my finger,&rdquo; sobbed the youngest Miss Rainham. She stood up,
+      tears raining down her plump cheeks. No one, Cecilia thought, ever cried
+      so easily, so copiously, and so frequently as Queenie. As she stood
+      holding out a very grubby forefinger, on which appeared a minute spot of
+      blood, great tears fell in splashes on the dark green linoleum, while
+      others ran down her face to join them, and others trembled on her lower
+      eyelids, propelled from some artesian fount within.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, dry up, Queenie!&rdquo; said Wilfred irritably. &ldquo;Anyone 'ud think you'd cut
+      your silly finger off!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;it'th bleed-in'!&rdquo; wailed Queenie. She dabbed the injured
+      member with the pillow case she was hemming, adding a scarlet touch in
+      pleasant contrast to its prevailing grime.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;you're too big a girl to cry for a prick,&rdquo; said Cecilia
+      wearily. &ldquo;People who are nearly seven really don't cry except for
+      something awfully bad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&mdash;I'll tell the mater you said awfully!&rdquo; Avice jeered. &ldquo;Who
+      bites our heads off for using slang, I'd like to know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't have much head left if I bit for every slang word you use,&rdquo;
+       retorted her half-sister. &ldquo;Do get on with your French, Avice&mdash;it's
+      nearly half-past twelve, and you know Eliza will want to lay the table
+      presently. Come here, Queenie.&rdquo; She took the pillow case, and unpicked a
+      few stitches, which clearly indicated that the needle had been taking
+      giant strides. &ldquo;Just hem that last inch or two again, and see if you can't
+      make it look nice. I believe the needle only stuck into your finger
+      because you were making it sew so badly. Have you got a handkerchief?&mdash;but,
+      of course, you haven't.&rdquo; She polished the fat, tear-stained cheek with her
+      own. &ldquo;Now run and sit down again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Queenie turned to go obediently enough&mdash;she was too young, and
+      possibly too fat, to plan, as yet, the deliberate malice in which her
+      brother and sister took their chief pleasure. Unfortunately, Wilfred
+      arrived at the end of Africa at the wrong moment for her. He pushed the
+      atlas away from him with a jerk that overturned the ink bottle, sending a
+      stream of ink towards Avice&mdash;who, shoving her chair backwards to
+      escape the deluge, cannoned into Queenie, and brought her headlong to the
+      floor. Howls broke out anew, mingled with a crisp interchange of abuse
+      between the elder pair, while Cecilia vainly sought to lessen the inky
+      flood with a duster. Upon this pleasant scene the door opened sharply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nice way you keep order at lessons,&rdquo; said Mrs. Mark Rainham acidly.
+      &ldquo;And the ink all over the cloth. Well, all I can say is, you'll pay for a
+      new one, Cecilia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not knock it over,&rdquo; said Cecilia, in a low tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's your business to look after the children, and see that they do not
+      destroy things,&rdquo; said her stepmother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The children will not obey me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pouf!&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham. &ldquo;A mere question of management. High-spirited
+      children want tact in dealing with them, that is all. You never trouble to
+      exercise any tact whatever.&rdquo; Her eyes dwelt fondly on her high-spirited
+      son, whose red head was bent attentively over Africa while he traced a
+      mighty mountain range along the course of the Nile. &ldquo;Wilfred, have you
+      nearly finished your work?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nearly, Mater,&rdquo; said the industrious Wilfred, manufacturing mountains
+      tirelessly. &ldquo;Just got to stick in a few more things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say 'put,' darling, not 'stick.' Cecilia, you might point out those
+      little details&mdash;that is, if you took any interest in their English.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thethilia thaid 'awfully' jutht now,&rdquo; said Queenie, in a shrill pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't doubt it,&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham, bitterly. &ldquo;Of course, anyone
+      brought up in Paris is too grand to trouble about English&mdash;but we
+      think a good deal of these things in London.&rdquo; A little smile hovered on
+      her thin lips, as Cecilia flushed, and Avice and her brother grinned
+      broadly. The Mater could always make old Cecilia go as red as a beetroot,
+      but it was fun to watch, especially when the sport beguiled the tedium of
+      lessons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A clatter of dishes on a tray heralded the approach of Eliza.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is time the table was clear,&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham said. &ldquo;Wilfred, darling, I
+      want you to post a letter. Put up your work and get your cap. Cecilia, you
+      had better try to clean the cloth before lunch; it is ruined, of course,
+      but do what you can with it. I will choose another the next time I am in
+      London. And just make sure that the children's things are all in order for
+      the dancing lesson this afternoon. Avice, did you put out your slippers to
+      be cleaned?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgot all about it, Mater,&rdquo; said Avice cheerfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silly child&mdash;and it is Jackson's day off. Just brush them up for
+      her, Cecilia. When the children have gone this afternoon, I want you to
+      see to the drawing-room; some people are coming in to-night, and there are
+      fresh flowers from Brown's to arrange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia looked up, with a sudden flush of dismay. The children's dancing
+      lesson gave her one free afternoon during the week.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But&mdash;but I am going to meet Bob,&rdquo; she stammered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Bob will wait, no doubt; you need not keep him long, if you hasten
+      yourself. Yes, Eliza, you can have the table.&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham left the room,
+      with the children at her heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia whisked the lesson books hastily away; Eliza was waiting with a
+      lowering brow, and Eliza was by no means a person to be offended. Maids
+      were scarce enough in England in the months after the end of the war; and,
+      even in easier times, there had been a dreary procession of arriving and
+      departing servants in the Rainham household&mdash;the high-spirited
+      characteristics of the children being apt to pall quickly upon anyone but
+      their mother. In days when there happened to be no Eliza, it was Cecilia
+      who naturally inherited the vacant place, adding the duties of house-maid
+      to those of nurse, governess, companion and general factotum; all exacting
+      posts, and all of them unpaid. As Mrs. Rainham gracefully remarked, when a
+      girl was not earning her own living, as so many were, but was enjoying the
+      comfort of home, the least she could do was to make herself useful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half a minute, Eliza.&rdquo; She smiled at the slatternly girl. &ldquo;Sorry to keep
+      you waiting; there's a river of ink gone astray here.&rdquo; She placed the
+      soaked cloth on the waste-paper basket and polished the top of the table
+      vigorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll bet it worn't you wot spilt it&mdash;but it's you wot 'as the
+      cleanin' up,&rdquo; muttered Eliza. &ldquo;Lemme rub that up now, Miss.&rdquo; She put down
+      her tray and took the cloth from Cecilia's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, ever so, Eliza&mdash;but you've got plenty to do yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if I 'ave, I ain't the on'y one wot 'as,&rdquo; said Eliza darkly. Her
+      wizened little face suddenly flushed. &ldquo;Lor, Miss,&rdquo; she said
+      confidentially, &ldquo;you doan't know wot a success that 'at you trimmed for me
+      is. It's a fair scream. I wore it larst night, an' me young man&mdash;'im
+      wot's in the Royal Irish&mdash;well, it fair knocked 'im! An' 'e wants me
+      to go out wiv 'im next Benk 'Oliday&mdash;out to 'Ampstead 'Eath. 'E never
+      got as far as arstin' me that before. I know it was that 'at wot done it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not it, Eliza,&rdquo; Cecilia laughed. &ldquo;It was just your hair under the hat. I
+      told you how pretty it would be, if you would only brush it more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I never 'ad no brush till you give me your old one,&rdquo; said Eliza
+      practically. &ldquo;I did brush it, though, a nundred times every night, till
+      Cook reckoned I was fair cracked. But 'air's on'y 'air, an' anyone 'as it&mdash;it's
+      not every one 'as an 'at like that.&rdquo; She clattered plates upon the table
+      violently. &ldquo;You goin' out this awfternoon, Miss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As soon as I can, Eliza.&rdquo; Cecilia's face fell. &ldquo;I must arrange flowers
+      first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll 'ave the vawses all ready wiv clean water for you,&rdquo; said Eliza. &ldquo;An'
+      don't you worry about the drorin'-room&mdash;I'll see as it's nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you can't, Eliza&mdash;you have no time. I know it's silver-cleaning
+      afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aw, I'll squeeze it in some'ow.&rdquo; Eliza stopped suddenly, at a decided
+      footstep in the passage, and began to rattle spoons and forks with a
+      vigour born of long practice. Cecilia picked up the inky cloth, and went
+      out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her stepmother was standing by the hall-stand, apparently intent on
+      examining Wilfred's straw hat. She spoke in a low tone as the girl passed
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you did not find so much pleasure in gossiping with servants,
+      Cecilia. It is such a bad example for Avice. I have spoken about it to you
+      before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia did not answer. She went upstairs with flaming cheeks, and draped
+      the cloth across the hand basin in the bathroom, turning the tap
+      vengefully. A stream of water flowed through the wide stain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's more real kindness in that poor little Cockney's finger than
+      there is in your whole body!&rdquo; Cecilia whispered, apparently addressing the
+      unoffending cloth&mdash;which, having begun life as a dingy green and
+      black, did not seem greatly the worse for its new decoration. &ldquo;Hateful old
+      thing!&rdquo; A smile suddenly twitched the corners of her mouth. &ldquo;Well, she
+      can't stop the money for a new cloth out of this quarter's allowance,
+      because I've just got it. That's luck, anyhow. I'll give it to Bob to
+      keep, in case she goes through my desk again.&rdquo; She poured some ammonia
+      upon the stain, and rubbed gingerly, surveying the result with a tilted
+      nose. It was not successful. &ldquo;Shall I try petrol? But petrol's an awful
+      price, and I've only got the little bottle I use for my gloves. Anyhow,
+      the horrible old cloth is so old and thin that it will fall to pieces if I
+      rub it. Oh, it's no use bothering about it&mdash;nothing will make it
+      better.&rdquo; She squeezed the water from the cloth and spread the stained area
+      over a chair to dry, looking disgustedly at her own dyed finger-nails.
+      &ldquo;Now for Avice's shoes before I scrub my hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Avice's shoes proved a lengthy task, since the younger Miss Rainham had
+      apparently discovered some clay to walk through in Regent's Park on her
+      way home from the last dancing lesson; and well-hardened clay resists
+      ordinary cleaning methods, and demands edged tools. The luncheon bell rang
+      loudly before Cecilia had finished. She gave the shoes a final hurried
+      rub, and then fell to cleansing her hands; arriving in the dining-room,
+      pink and breathless, some minutes later, to find a dreary piece of tepid
+      mutton rapidly congealing on her plate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you might manage to be down in time for meals, Cecilia,&rdquo; was Mrs.
+      Rainham's chilly greeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia said nothing. She had long realized the uselessness of any
+      excuses. To be answered merely gave her stepmother occasion for further
+      fault-finding&mdash;you might, as Cecilia told Bob, have a flawless
+      defence for the sin of the moment, but in that case Mrs. Rainham merely
+      changed her ground, and waxed eloquent about the sin of yesterday, or of
+      last Friday week, for which there might happen to be no defence at all. It
+      was so difficult to avoid being a criminal in Mrs. Rainham's eyes that
+      Cecilia had almost given up the attempt. She attacked her greasy mutton
+      and sloppy cabbage in silence, unpleasantly conscious of her stepmother's
+      freezing glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Rainham was a short, stout woman, with colourless, rather pinched
+      features, and a wealth of glorious red hair. Some one had once told her
+      that her profile was classic, and she still rejoiced in believing it, was
+      always photographed from a side view, and wore in the house loose and
+      flowing garments of strange tints, calculated to bring out the colour of
+      her glowing tresses. Cecilia, who worshipped colour with every bit of her
+      artist soul, adored her stepmother's hair as thoroughly as she detested
+      her dresses. Bob, who was blunt and inartistic, merely detested her from
+      every point of view. &ldquo;Don't see what you find to rave about in it,&rdquo; he
+      said. &ldquo;All the warmth of her disposition has simply gone to her head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was certainly little warmth in Mrs. Rainham's heart, where her
+      stepdaughter was concerned. She disapproved very thoroughly of Cecilia in
+      every detail&mdash;of her pretty face and delicate colouring, of the fair
+      hair that rippled and curled and gleamed in a manner so light-hearted as
+      to seem distinctly out of place in the dingy room, of the slender grace
+      that was in vivid contrast to her own stoutness. She resented the very way
+      Cecilia put on her clothes&mdash;simple clothes, but worn with an air that
+      made her own elaborate dresses cheap and common by comparison. It was so
+      easy for her to look well turned out; and it would never be easy to dress
+      Avice, who bade fair to resemble her mother in build, and had already a
+      passion for frills and trimmings, and a contempt for plain things. Mrs.
+      Rainham had an uneasy conviction that the girl who bore all her scathing
+      comments in silence actually dared to criticize her in her own mind&mdash;perhaps
+      openly to Bob, whose blue eyes held many unspoken things as he looked at
+      her. Once she had overheard him say to Cecilia: &ldquo;She looks like an
+      over-ornamented pie!&rdquo; Cecilia had laughed, and Mrs. Rainham had passed on,
+      unsuspected, her mind full of a wild surmise. They would never dare to
+      mean her&mdash;and yet&mdash;that new dress of hers was plastered with
+      queer little bits of purposeless trimmings. She never again wore it
+      without that terrible sentence creeping into her mind. And she had been so
+      pleased with it, too! An over-ornamented pie. If she could only have been
+      sure they meant her!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She thought of it again as she sat looking at Cecilia. The new dress was
+      lying on her bed, ready to be worn that afternoon; and Cecilia was going
+      to meet Bob&mdash;Bob, who had uttered the horrible remark. Well, at least
+      there should be no haste about the meeting. It would do Bob no harm to
+      cool his heels for a little. She set her thin lips tightly together, as
+      she helped the rice pudding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The meal ended, amidst loud grumbles from Wilfred that the pudding was
+      rice; and Cecilia hurried off to find the flowers and arrange them. The
+      florist's box was near the vases left ready by the faithful Eliza; she cut
+      the string with a happy exclamation of &ldquo;Daffodils!&rdquo; as she lifted the lid.
+      Daffodils were always a joy; this afternoon they were doubly welcome,
+      because easy to arrange. She sorted them into long-necked vases swiftly,
+      carrying each vase, when filled, to the drawing-room&mdash;a painful
+      apartment, crowded with knick-knacks until it resembled a bazaar stall,
+      with knobby and unsteady bamboo furniture and much drapery of a would-be
+      artistic nature. It was stuffy and airless. Cecilia wrinkled her pretty
+      nose as she entered. Mrs. Rainham held pronounced views on the subject of
+      what she termed the &ldquo;fresh-air fad,&rdquo; and declined to let London air&mdash;a
+      smoky commodity at best&mdash;attack her cherished carpets; with the
+      result that Cecilia breathed freely only in her little attic, which had no
+      carpet at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lady of the house rustled in, in her flowing robe, as Cecilia put the
+      last vase into position on the piano&mdash;finding room for it with
+      difficulty amid a collection of photograph frames and china ornaments. She
+      carried some music, and cast a critical eye round the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This place looks as if it had not been properly dusted for a week,&rdquo; she
+      remarked. &ldquo;See to it before you go, Cecilia.&rdquo; She opened the piano. &ldquo;Just
+      come and try the accompaniment to this song&mdash;it's rather difficult,
+      and I want to sing it to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sat down before the piano, with woe in her heart. Her stepmother's
+      delusion that she could sing was one of the minor trials of her life. She
+      had been thoroughly trained in Paris, under a master who had prophesied
+      great things for her; now her hours at the Rainhams' tinkly piano, playing
+      dreary accompaniments to sentimental songs with Mrs. Rainham's weak
+      soprano wobbling and flattening on the high notes, were hours of real
+      distress, from which she would escape feeling her teeth on edge. Her
+      stepmother, however, had thoroughly enjoyed herself since the discovery
+      that no accompaniment presented any difficulty to Cecilia. It saved her a
+      world of trouble in practising; moreover, when standing, it was far easier
+      to let herself go in the affecting passages, which always suffered from
+      scantiness of breath when she was sitting down. Therefore she would stand
+      beside Cecilia, pouring forth song after song, with her head slightly on
+      one side, and one hand resting lightly on the piano&mdash;an attitude
+      which, after experiment with a mirror, she had decided upon as especially
+      becoming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The song of the moment did make some demands upon her attention. It had a
+      disconcerting way of changing from sharps to flats; trouble being caused
+      by the singer failing to change also. Cecilia took her through it
+      patiently, going over and over again the tricky passages, and devoutly
+      wishing that Providence in supplying her stepmother with boundless energy,
+      a tireless voice and an enormous stock of songs, had also equipped her
+      with an ear for music. At length the lady desisted from her efforts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's quite all right,&rdquo; she said, with satisfaction. &ldquo;I'll sing it
+      to-night. The Simons will be here, and they do like to hear what's new. Go
+      on with your dusting; I'll just run through a few pieces, and you can tell
+      me if I go wrong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia hesitated, glancing at the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is getting very late,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Eliza told me she could dust the
+      room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eliza!&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham. &ldquo;Why, it's her silver day; she had no business
+      to tell you anything of the sort&mdash;and neither had you, to ask her to
+      do it. Goodness knows it's hard enough to make the lazy thing do her own
+      work. Just get your duster, and make sure as you come down that the
+      children are properly dressed for the dancing class.&rdquo; She broke into a
+      waltz.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia ran. Sounds of woe greeted her as she neared Avice's room, and she
+      entered, to find that damsel plunged in despair over a missing button.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was on all right last time I wore the beastly dress,&rdquo; wailed she. &ldquo;If
+      you'd look after my clothes like Mater said you had to, I wouldn't be
+      late. Whatever am I to do? I can't make the old dress shut with a safety
+      pin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you certainly can't,&rdquo; said her half-sister. &ldquo;Never mind; there are
+      spare buttons for that frock, and I can sew one on.&rdquo; She accomplished the
+      task with difficulty, since Avice appeared quite unable to stand still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, are you ready, Avice? Shoes, hat, gloves&mdash;where are your
+      gloves? How do you ever manage to find anything in that drawer?&rdquo; She
+      rooted swiftly in a wild chaos, and finally unearthed the gloves. &ldquo;Yes,
+      you'll do. Now, where's Wilfred?&rdquo; Search revealed Wilfred, who hated
+      dancing, reading a &ldquo;penny dreadful&rdquo; in his room&mdash;ready to start, save
+      for the trifling detail of having neglected to wash an extremely dirty
+      face. Cecilia managed to make him repair the omission, after a struggle,
+      and saw them off with a thankful heart&mdash;which sank anew as she heard
+      a neighbouring clock strike three. Three&mdash;and already she should be
+      meeting Bob in Hyde Park. She fled for a duster, and hurried to the
+      drawing-room. Eliza encountered her on the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, wotcher goin' to do wiv that duster, Miss?&rdquo; she inquired. &ldquo;I told
+      yer I'd do it for yer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs. Rainham is waiting for me to do it, Eliza. I'm sorry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ow!&rdquo; Eliza's expression and her tilted nose spoke volumes. &ldquo;Suppose she
+      finks I wouldn't clean 'er old silver proper. Silver, indeed!&mdash;'lectrer-plyte,
+      an' common at that. Just you cut and run as soon as she's out of the
+      'ouse, Miss; I know she's goin', 'cause 'er green and yaller dress is
+      a-airin' on 'er bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's not much good, Eliza. I ought to be in the Park now.&rdquo; Cecilia knew
+      she should not allow the girl to speak of her mistress so contemptuously.
+      But she was disheartened enough at the moment not to care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lor!&rdquo; said Eliza. &ldquo;A bloomin' shyme, I calls it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia found her stepmother happily engaged upon a succession of wrong
+      notes that made her wince. She dusted the room swiftly, aware all the time
+      of a watchful eye. Occasionally came a crisp comment: &ldquo;You didn't dust
+      that window-sill.&rdquo; &ldquo;Cecilia, that table has four legs&mdash;did you only
+      notice two?&rdquo;&mdash;the effort to speak while playing generally bringing
+      the performer with vigour upon a wrong chord. The so-called music became
+      almost a physical torment to the over-strained girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If she would only stop&mdash;if she would only go away!&rdquo; she found
+      herself murmuring, over and over. Even the thought of Bob waiting in Hyde
+      Park in the chill east wind became dim beside that horrible piano, banging
+      and tinkling in her ear. She dusted mechanically, picking up one cheap
+      ornament after another&mdash;leaving the collection upon the piano until
+      the last, in the hope that by the time she reached it the thirst for music
+      would have departed from the performer. But Mrs. Rainham's tea appointment
+      was not yet; she was thoroughly enjoying herself, the charm of her own
+      execution added to the knowledge that Cecilia was miserable, and Bob
+      waiting somewhere, with what patience he might. She held on to the bitter
+      end, while the girl dusted the piano's burden with a set face. Then she
+      finished a long and painful run, and shut the piano with a bang.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&mdash;I've had quite a nice practice, and it isn't often the
+      drawing-room gets really decently dusted,&rdquo; she remarked. &ldquo;Nothing like the
+      eye of the mistress; I think I must practise every day while you are
+      dusting, Cecilia. Oh, and, Cecilia, give the legs of the piano a good
+      rubbing. Dear me, I must go and dress.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia dragged herself upstairs a few minutes later. All the spring was
+      gone out of her; it really did not seem to matter much now whether she met
+      Bob or not; she was too tired to care. This was only a sample of many
+      days; so it had been for two years&mdash;so it would be for two more,
+      until she was twenty-one, and her own mistress. But it did not seem
+      possible that she could endure through another two years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She reached her own room, and was about to shut the door, when the harsh
+      voice rasped upwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia! Cecilia! Come here a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl went down slowly. Mrs. Rainham was standing before her mirror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just come and hook my dress, Cecilia. This new dressmaker has a knack of
+      making everything hard to fasten. There&mdash;see that you start with the
+      right hook and eye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At the moment, physical contact with her stepmother was almost the last
+      straw for the girl. She obeyed in silence, shrinking back as far as she
+      could from the stout, over-scented body and the powdered face with the
+      thin lips. Mrs. Rainham watched her with a little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that's all right,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Now, my hat, Cecilia&mdash;it's in the
+      bandbox under the bed. I can't stoop in this dress, that's the worst of
+      it. And my gloves are in that box on the chest of drawers&mdash;the white
+      pair. Hurry, Cecilia, my appointment is for four o'clock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mine was for three o'clock,&rdquo; said the girl in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, well, you should manage your work better. I always tell you that.
+      Nothing like method in getting through every day. However, Bob is only
+      your brother&mdash;it would be more serious if it was a young man you were
+      meeting. Brothers don't matter much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia flamed round upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob is more to me than anyone in the world,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;And I would
+      rather keep any other man waiting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really? But I shouldn't think it very likely that you'll ever have to
+      trouble about other young men, Cecilia; you're not the sort. Too thin and
+      scraggy.&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham surveyed her own generous proportions in the glass,
+      and gathered up her gloves with a pleased air. For the moment she could
+      not possibly believe that anyone could have referred to her as &ldquo;an
+      over-ornamented pie.&rdquo; &ldquo;Good-bye, Cecilia; don't be late for tea.&rdquo; She
+      sailed down the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even the bang of the hall door failed to convey any relief to Cecilia. For
+      the second time she toiled upstairs, to the bare freshness of her little
+      room. Generally, it had a tonic effect upon her; to-day it seemed that
+      nothing could help her. She leaned her head against the window, a wave of
+      homesick loneliness flooding all her soul. So deep were its waters that
+      she did not hear the hall door open and close again, and presently swift
+      feet pounding up the stairs. Someone battered on her door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia! Are you there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She ran to open the door. Bob stood there, a short, muscular fellow, in
+      Air Force blue, with twinkling eyes. She put out her hands to him with a
+      little pitiful gesture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't say that horrible name again,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;If anyone else calls
+      me Cecilia I'll just go mad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob came in, and flung a brotherly arm round her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has it been so beastly?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Poor little Tommy. Oh, Tommy, I saw
+      the over-ornamented pie sailing down the street, and I dived into a side
+      alley until she'd gone out of range. I guessed from her proud and happy
+      face that you'd been scarified.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarified!&rdquo; murmured Cecilia. But Bob was not listening. His face was
+      radiant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn't wait in the park any longer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had to come and tell
+      you. Tommy, old thing&mdash;I'm demobilized!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE RAINHAMS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      It was one of Mrs. Mark Rainham's grievances that, comparatively late in
+      her married life, she should suddenly find herself brought into
+      association with the children of her husband's first marriage. They were
+      problems that Fate had previously removed from her path; she found it
+      extremely annoying&mdash;at first&mdash;that Fate should cease to be so
+      tactful, casting upon her a burden long borne by other shoulders. It was
+      not until she had accepted Mark Rainham, eleven years before, that she
+      found out the very existence of Bob and Cecilia; she resented the manner
+      of the discovery, even as she resented the children themselves. Not that
+      she ever dreamed of breaking off her engagement on their account. She was
+      a milliner in a Kensington shop, and to marry Mark Rainham, who was
+      vaguely &ldquo;something in the city,&rdquo; and belonged to a good club, and dressed
+      well, was a distinct step in the social scale, and two unknown children
+      were not going to make her draw back. But to mother them was quite another
+      question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Luckily, Fate had a compassionate eye upon the young Rainhams, and was
+      quite willing to second their stepmother's resolve that they should come
+      into her life as little as possible. Their father had never concerned
+      himself greatly about them. A lazy and selfish man, he had always been
+      willing to shelve the care of his small son and daughter&mdash;babies were
+      not in his line, and the aunt who had brought up their mother was only too
+      anxious to take Bob and Cecilia when that girl-mother had slipped away
+      from life, leaving a week-old Cecilia and a sturdy, solemn Bob of three.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrangement suited Mark Rainham very well. Aunt Margaret's house at
+      Twickenham was big enough for half a dozen babies; the children went
+      there, with their nurse, and he was free to slip back into bachelor ways,
+      living in comfortable chambers within easy reach of his club and not too
+      far, with a good train service, from a golf links. The regular week-end
+      visits to the babies suffered occasional interruptions, and gradually grew
+      fewer and fewer, until he became to the children a vague and mysterious
+      person named Papa, who dropped from the skies now and then, asked them a
+      number of silly questions, talked with great politeness to Aunt Margaret&mdash;who,
+      they instinctively felt, liked him no better than they did&mdash;and then
+      disappeared, whereupon every one was immensely relieved. Even the fact
+      that he generally brought them a packet of expensive sweets was as nothing
+      beside the harrowing knowledge that they must kiss him, thereby having
+      their faces brushed with a large and scrubby moustache. Aunt Margaret and
+      nurse did not have to endure this infliction&mdash;which seemed to Bob and
+      Cecilia obviously unfair. But the visits did not often happen&mdash;not
+      enough to disturb seriously an existence crammed with interesting things
+      like puppies and kittens, the pony cart, boats on the river that ran just
+      beyond the lawn, occasional trips to London and the Zoo, and delirious
+      fortnights at the seaside or on Devonshire moors. Cecilia had never known
+      even Bobby's shadowy memories of their own mother. Aunt Margaret was
+      everything that mattered, and the person called Papa was merely an
+      unpleasant incident. Other little boys and girls whom they knew owned, in
+      their houses, delightful people named Daddy and Mother; but Cecilia and
+      Bob quite understood that every one could not have the same things, for
+      possibly these fortunate children had no puppies or pony carts. Nurse had
+      pointed out this, so that it was perfectly clear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was when Cecilia was eight and Bob eleven, that their father married
+      again. To the children it meant nothing; to Aunt Margaret it was a bomb.
+      If Mark Rainham had happened to die, or go to the North Pole, she would
+      have borne the occurrence calmly; but that he should take a step which
+      might mean separating her from her beloved babies shook her to her
+      foundations. Even when she was assured that the new Mrs. Rainham disliked
+      children, and had not the slightest intention of adding Bob and Cecilia to
+      her household, Aunt Margaret remained uneasy. The red-haired person, as
+      she mentally labelled her, might change her mind. Mark Rainham was wax in
+      her hands, and would always do as he was told. Aunt Margaret, goaded by
+      fear, became heroic. She let the beloved house at Twickenham while Mr. and
+      Mrs. Rainham were still on their honeymoon; packed up the children, her
+      maids, nurse, the parrot and most of the puppies; and kept all her plans a
+      profound secret until she was safely established in Paris.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the average Londoner, Paris is very far off. There are, of course, very
+      many people who run across the Channel as easily as a Melbourne man may
+      week-end in Gippsland or Bendigo, but the suburban section of London is
+      not fond of voyaging across a strip of water with unpleasant possibilities
+      in the way of choppiness, to a strange country where most of the
+      inhabitants have the bad taste not to speak English. Neither Mark Rainham
+      nor his new wife had ever been in France, and to them it seemed, as Aunt
+      Margaret had shrewdly hoped it would, almost as though the Twickenham
+      household had gone to the North Pole. A great relief fell upon them, since
+      there could now be no question of assuming duties when those duties were
+      suddenly beyond their reach. And Aunt Margaret's letter was convincing&mdash;such
+      a good offer, suddenly, for the Twickenham house; such excellent
+      educational opportunities for the children, in the shape of semi-English
+      schools, where Bob and Cecilia might mix with English children and retain
+      their nationality while acquiring Parisian French. If Mark Rainham felt
+      any inward resentment at the summary disposal of his son and daughter, he
+      did not show it; as of old, it was easier to let things slide. Aunt
+      Margaret was given a free hand, save that at fourteen Bob returned to
+      school in England; an arrangement that mattered little, since all his
+      holidays were spent at the new home at Fontainebleau&mdash;a house which,
+      even to the parrot, was highly reminiscent of Twickenham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob and Cecilia found life extremely interesting. They were cheery,
+      happy-go-lucky youngsters, with an immense capacity for enjoyment; and
+      Aunt Margaret, while much too shrewd an old lady to spoil children,
+      delighted in giving them a good time. They found plenty of friends in the
+      little English community in Paris, as well as among their French
+      neighbours. Paris itself was full of fascination; then there were
+      wonderful excursions far afield&mdash;holidays in Brussels, in the South
+      of France, even winter sporting in Switzerland. Aunt Margaret was
+      determined that her nurselings should miss nothing that she could give
+      them. The duty letters which she insisted on their writing, once a month,
+      to their father told of happenings that seemed strangely remote from the
+      humdrum life of London. &ldquo;By Jove, the old lady gives those youngsters a
+      good time!&rdquo; Mark Rainham would comment, tossing them across the table to
+      his wife. He did not guess at the dull rage that filled her as she read
+      them&mdash;the unreasoning jealousy that these children should have
+      opportunities so far beyond any that were likely to occur for her own, who
+      squabbled angrily over their breakfast while she read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She seems to have any amount of money to spend on gadding about,&rdquo; she
+      would say unpleasantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, pots of money. Wish to goodness I had some of it,&rdquo; her husband would
+      answer. Money was always scarce in the Rainham household.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the thunderbolt of war fell upon the world, Aunt Margaret, after the
+      first pangs of panic, stiffened her back, and declined to leave France.
+      England, she declared, was not much safer than anywhere else; and was it
+      likely that she and Cecilia would run away when Bob was coming back? Bob,
+      just eighteen, captain of his school training corps, stroke of its racing
+      boat, and a mighty man of valour at football, slid naturally into khaki
+      within a month of the outbreak of war, putting aside toys, with all the
+      glad company of boys of the Empire, until such time as the Hun should be
+      taught that he had no place among white men. Aunt Margaret and Cecilia,
+      knitting frantically at socks and mufflers and Balaclava helmets, were
+      desperately proud of him, and compared his photograph, in uniform, with
+      all the pictures of Etienne and Henri and Armand, and other French boys
+      who had played with him under the trees at Fontainebleau, and had now
+      marched away to join him at the greater game. It was difficult to realize
+      that they were not still little boys in blouses and knickerbockers&mdash;difficult
+      even when they swooped down from time to time on short leave, filling the
+      quiet houses with pranks and laughter that were wholly boyish. Even when
+      Bob had two stars on his cuff, and wore the ribbon of the Military Cross,
+      it would have astonished Aunt Margaret and Cecilia very much had anyone
+      suggested that he was grown up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, Aunt Margaret was never to think of him as anything but &ldquo;one of
+      the children.&rdquo; Illness, sudden and fierce, fell upon her after a long
+      spell of duty at the hospital where she worked from the first few months
+      of the war&mdash;working as cook, since she had no nursing experience, and
+      was, she remarked, too old to learn a new trade. Brave as she was, there
+      was no battling for her against the new foe; she faded out of life after a
+      few days, holding Cecilia's hand very tightly until the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob, obtaining leave with much difficulty, arrived a few days later, to
+      find a piteous Cecilia, white-faced, stunned and bewildered. She pleaded
+      desperately against leaving France; amidst all the horror and chaos that
+      had fallen upon her, it seemed unthinkable that she should put the sea
+      between herself and Bob. But to remain was impossible. Aunt Margaret's
+      English maids wanted to go back to their friends, and a girl of seventeen
+      could scarcely stay alone in a country torn by two years of war. Besides,
+      Aunt Margaret's affairs were queerly indefinite; there seemed very little
+      money where there had formerly been plenty. There was no alternative for
+      Cecilia but England&mdash;and England meant the Rainham household, and
+      such welcome as it might choose to give her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was still bewildered when they made the brief journey across the
+      Channel&mdash;a new Channel, peopled only with war-ships of every kind,
+      from grim Dreadnoughts to submarines; with aircraft, bearing the red,
+      white and blue circles of Britain, floating and circling overhead. Last
+      time Cecilia had crossed, it had been with Aunt Margaret on a big turbine
+      mail boat; they had reached Calais just as an excursion steamer from
+      Margate came up, gay with flags and light dresses, with a band playing
+      ragtime on the well-deck, and people dancing to a concertina at the stern.
+      Now they zig-zagged across, sometimes at full speed, sometimes stopping
+      dead or altering their course in obedience to the destroyer nosing ahead
+      of them through the Channel mist; and she could see the face of the
+      captain on the bridge, strained and anxious. There were so few civilians
+      on board that Cecilia and the two old servants were greeted with curious
+      stares; nearly all the passengers were in uniform, their boots caked with
+      the mud of the trenches, their khaki soiled with the grime of war. It was
+      all rather dream-like to Cecilia; and London itself was a very bad dream;
+      darkened and silent, with the great beams of searchlights playing back and
+      forth over the black skies in search of marauding Zeppelins. And then came
+      her father's stiff greeting, and the silent drive to the tall, narrow
+      house in Lancaster Gate, where Mrs. Rainham met her coldly. In after years
+      Cecilia never could think without a shudder of that first meal in her
+      father's house&mdash;the struggle to eat, the lagging talk round the
+      table, with Avice and Wilfred, frankly hostile, staring at her in silence,
+      and her stepmother's pale eyes appraising every detail of her dress. It
+      was almost like happiness again to find herself alone, later; in a dingy
+      little attic bedroom that smelt as though it had never known an open
+      window&mdash;a sorry little hole, but still, out of the reach of those
+      unblinking eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the first year Cecilia had struggled to get away to earn her own
+      living. But a very few weeks served to show Mrs. Rainham that chance had
+      sent her, in the person of the girl whose coming she had sullenly
+      resented, a very useful buffer against any period of domestic stress. Aunt
+      Margaret had trained Cecilia thoroughly in all housewifely virtues, and
+      her half-French education had given her much that was lacking in the
+      stodgy damsels of Mrs. Rainham's acquaintance. She was quick and courteous
+      and willing; responding, moreover, to the lash of the tongue&mdash;after
+      her first wide-eyed stare of utter amazement&mdash;exactly as a well-bred
+      colt responds to a deftly-used whip. &ldquo;I'll keep her,&rdquo; was Mrs. Rainham's
+      inward resolve. &ldquo;And she'll earn her keep too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no doubt that Cecilia did that. Wilfred and Avice saw to it,
+      even had not their mother been fully capable of exacting the last ounce
+      from the only helper she had ever had who had not the power to give her a
+      week's notice. Cecilia's first requests to be allowed to take up work
+      outside had been shelved vaguely. &ldquo;We'll find some nice war-work for you
+      presently&rdquo;. . . and meanwhile, the household was short-handed, Mrs.
+      Rainham was overstrained&mdash;Cecilia found later that her stepmother was
+      always &ldquo;overstrained&rdquo; whenever she spoke of leaving home&mdash;and duties
+      multiplied about her and hemmed her in. Mrs. Rainham was clever; the net
+      closed round the girl so gradually that she scarcely realized its meshes
+      until they were drawn tightly. Even Bob helped. &ldquo;You're awfully young to
+      start work on your own account,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;Can't you stick it for a bit,
+      if they are decent to you?&rdquo; And, rather than cause him any extra worry,
+      Cecilia decided that she must &ldquo;stick it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Of her father she saw little. He was, just as she remembered him in her
+      far-back childhood at Twickenham, vague and colourless. Rather to her
+      horror, she found that the ordeal of being kissed by his large and scrubby
+      moustache was just as unpleasant as ever. Cecilia had no idea of how he
+      earned his living&mdash;he ate his breakfast hurriedly, concealed behind
+      the Daily Mail, and then disappeared, bound for some mysterious place in
+      the city&mdash;the part of London that was always full of mystery to
+      Cecilia. Golf was the one thing that roused him to any enthusiasm, and
+      golf was even more of a mystery than the city. Cecilia knew that it was
+      played with assorted weapons, kept in a bag, and used for smiting a small
+      ball over great expanses of country, but beyond these facts her knowledge
+      stopped. Mrs. Rainham had set her to clean the clubs one day, but her
+      father, appearing unexpectedly, had taken them from her hands with
+      something like roughness. &ldquo;No, by Jove!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You do a good many odd
+      jobs in this house, but I'm hanged if you shall clean my golf sticks.&rdquo;
+       Cecilia did not realize that the assumed roughness covered something very
+      like shame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Money matters were rather confusing. A lawyer&mdash;also in the city&mdash;paid
+      her a small sum quarterly&mdash;enough to dress on, and for minor
+      expenses. Bob wrote that Aunt Margaret's affairs were in a beastly tangle.
+      An annuity had died with her, and many of her investments had been hit by
+      the war, and had ceased to pay dividends&mdash;had even, it seemed, ceased
+      to be valuable at all. There was a small allowance for Bob also, and some
+      day, if luck should turn, there might be a little more. Bob did not say
+      that his own allowance was being hoarded for Cecilia, in case he &ldquo;went
+      west.&rdquo; He lived on his pay, and even managed to save something out of
+      that, being a youth of simple tastes. His battalion had been practically
+      wiped out of existence in the third year of the war, and after a peaceful
+      month in a north country hospital, near an aerodrome, the call of the air
+      was too much for him&mdash;he joined the cheerful band of flying men, and
+      soon filled his letters to Cecilia with a bewildering mixture of
+      technicalities and aviation slang that left her gasping. But he got his
+      wings in a very short time, and she was prouder of him than ever&mdash;and
+      more than ever desperately afraid for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The children's daily governess, a down-trodden person, left after Cecilia
+      had been in England for a few months, and the girl stepped naturally into
+      the vacant position until some one else should be found. She had no idea
+      that Mrs. Rainham made no effort at all to discover any other successor to
+      Miss Simpkins. Where, indeed, Mrs. Rainham demanded of herself, would she
+      be likely to find anyone with such qualifications&mdash;young, docile,
+      with every advantage of a modern education, speaking French like a native,
+      and above and beyond all else, requiring no pay? It would be flying in the
+      face of Providence to ignore such a chance. Wherefore Cecilia continued to
+      lead her step-sisters and brother in the paths of learning, and life
+      became a thing of utter weariness. For Mrs. Rainham, though shrewd enough
+      to get what she wanted, in the main was not a far-sighted woman; and in
+      her unreasoning dislike and jealousy of Cecilia she failed to see that she
+      defeated her own ends by making her a drudge. Whatever benefit the girl
+      might have given the children was lost in their contempt for her. She had
+      no authority, no power to enforce a command, or to give a punishment, and
+      the children quickly discovered that, so long as they gave her the merest
+      show of obedience in their mother's presence, any shortcomings in
+      education would be laid at Cecilia's door. Lesson time became a period of
+      rare sport for the young Rainhams; it was so easy to bait the new sister
+      with cheap taunts, to watch the quick blood mount to the very roots of her
+      fair hair, to do just as little as possible, and then to see her blamed
+      for the result. Mrs. Rainham's bitter tongue grew more and more
+      uncontrolled as time went on and she felt the girl more fully in her
+      power. And Cecilia lived through each day with tight-shut lips, conscious
+      of one clear thing in her mist of unhappy bewilderment&mdash;that Bob must
+      not know: Bob, who would probably leave his job of skimming through the
+      air of her beloved France after the Hun, and snatch an hour to fly to
+      England and annihilate the entire Rainham household, returning with
+      Cecilia tucked away somewhere in his aeroplane. It was a pleasant dream,
+      and served to carry her through more than one hard moment. But it did not
+      always serve; and there were nights when Cecilia mounted to her attic with
+      dragging footsteps, to sit by her window in the darkness, gripping her
+      courage with both hands, afraid to let herself think of the dear, happy
+      past; of Aunt Margaret, whose very voice was love; least of all of Bob,
+      perhaps even now flying in the dark over the German lines. There was but
+      one thing that she could hold to: she voiced it to herself, over and over
+      with clenched hands, &ldquo;It can't last for ever! It can't last for ever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, after the long years of clutching anxiety, came the Armistice,
+      and Cecilia forgot all her troubles in its overwhelming relief. No one
+      would shoot at Bob any longer; there were no more hideous, squat guns,
+      with muzzles yawning skywards, ready to shell him as he skimmed high
+      overhead, like a swallow in the blue. Therefore she sang as she went about
+      her work, undismayed by the laboured witticisms of Avice and Wilfred, or
+      by Mrs. Rainham's venom, which increased with the realization that her
+      victim might possibly slip from her grasp, since Bob would come home, and
+      Bob was a person to be reckoned with. Certainly Bob had scarcely any
+      money; moreover, Cecilia was not of age, and, therefore, still under her
+      father's control. But Mrs. Rainham felt vaguely uneasy, and visions
+      floated before her of the old days when governesses and maids had departed
+      with unpleasant frequency, leaving her to face all sorts of disagreeable
+      consequences. She set her thin lips, vowing inwardly that Cecilia should
+      remain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless it was a relief to her that early demobilization did not come
+      for Bob. At the time of the Armistice he was attached to an Australian
+      flying squadron, and for some months remained abroad; then he was sent
+      back to England, and employed in training younger fliers at a Surrey
+      aerodrome. This had its drawbacks in Mrs. Rainham's eyes, since he was
+      often able to run up to London, and, to Bob, London merely meant Cecilia.
+      It was only a question of time before he discovered something of what life
+      at Lancaster Gate meant&mdash;his enlightenment beginning upon an
+      afternoon when, arriving unexpectedly, and being left by Eliza to find
+      Cecilia for himself, he had the good fortune to overhear Mrs. Rainham in
+      one of her best efforts&mdash;a &ldquo;wigging&rdquo; to which Avice and Wilfred were
+      listening delightedly, and which included not only Cecilia's sin of the
+      moment, but her upbringing, her French education, her &ldquo;foreign fashion of
+      speaking,&rdquo; and her sinful extravagance in shoes. These, and other matters,
+      were furnishing Mrs. Rainham with ample material for a bitter discourse
+      when she became aware of another presence in the room, and her eloquence
+      faltered at the sight of Bob's astonished anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Rainham did not recall with any enjoyment the interview which
+      followed&mdash;Cecilia and the children having been brushed out of the way
+      by the indignant soldier. Things which had been puzzling to Bob were
+      suddenly made clear&mdash;traces of distress which Cecilia had often
+      explained away vaguely, the children's half-contemptuous manner towards
+      her, even Eliza's tone in speaking of her&mdash;a queer blend of anger and
+      pity. Mrs. Rainham held her ground to some extent, but the brother's
+      questions were hard to parry, and some of his comments stung.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I'll take her away,&rdquo; he stormed at length. &ldquo;It's evident that she
+      does not give you satisfaction, and she certainly isn't happy. She had
+      better come away with me to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said his stepmother freezingly, &ldquo;and where will you take her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are plenty of places&mdash;&rdquo; he began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not for a young girl alone. Cecilia is very ignorant of England; you
+      could not be with her. Your father would not hear of it. You must remember
+      that Cecilia is under his control until she is twenty-one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father has never bothered about either of us,&rdquo; Bob said bitterly. &ldquo;He
+      surely won't object if I take her off your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will certainly not permit any such thing. Whatever arrangement he made
+      during your aunt's lifetime was quite a different matter. If you attempt
+      to take Cecilia from his control you commit an illegal action,&rdquo; said Mrs.
+      Rainham&mdash;hoping she was on safe ground. To her relief Bob did not
+      contradict her. English law and its mysteries were beyond him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't see that that matters,&rdquo; he began doubtfully. His stepmother cut
+      him short.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would very soon find that it matters a good deal,&rdquo; she said coldly.
+      &ldquo;It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind of legal
+      injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister. Home training is
+      what she needs, and we are determined that she shall get it. You will only
+      unsettle and injure her by trying to induce her to disobey us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hard voice fell like lead on the boy's ears. He felt very helpless; if
+      he did indeed snatch his sister away from this extremely unpleasant home,
+      and their father had only to stretch out a long, legal tentacle and claw
+      her back, it was clear that her position would be harder than ever. He
+      could only give in, at any rate, for the present, and in his anxiety for
+      the little sister whom Aunt Margaret had always trained him to protect, he
+      humbled himself to beg for better treatment for her. &ldquo;No one ever was
+      angry with her,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;She'll do anything for you if you're decent to
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She might give less cause for annoyance if she had had a little more
+      severity,&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham with an unspoken sneer at poor Aunt Margaret.
+      &ldquo;You had better advise her to do her best in return for the very
+      comfortable home we give her.&rdquo; With which Bob had to endeavour to be
+      content, for the present. He went off to find Cecilia, with a lowering
+      brow, leaving his stepmother not nearly so easy in her mind as she seemed.
+      For Bob had a square jaw, and was apt to talk little and do a good deal;
+      and his affection for Cecilia was, in Mrs. Rainham's eyes, little short of
+      ridiculous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thereafter, the brother and sister took counsel together and made great
+      plans for the future, when once the Air Force should decide that it had no
+      further wish to keep Captain Robert Rainham from earning his living on
+      terra firma. What that future was to be for Bob was very difficult to
+      plan. Aunt Margaret had intended him for a profession; but the time for
+      that had gone by, even had the money been still available. &ldquo;I'm half glad
+      that it isn't,&rdquo; Bob said; &ldquo;I don't see how a fellow could go back to
+      swotting over books after being really alive for nearly five years.&rdquo; There
+      seemed nothing but &ldquo;the land&rdquo; in some shape or form; they were not very
+      clear about it, but Bob was strenuously &ldquo;keeping his ears open&rdquo;&mdash;like
+      so many lads of his rank in the early months of 1919, when the future that
+      had seemed so indefinite during the years of war suddenly loomed up, very
+      large and menacing. Cecilia had less anxiety; she had a cheerful faith
+      that Bob would manage something&mdash;a three-roomed cottage somewhere in
+      the country, where he could look after sheep, or crops, or something of
+      the kind, while she cooked and mended for him, and grew such flowers as
+      had bloomed in the dear garden at Fontainebleau. Sheep and crops, she was
+      convinced, grew themselves, in the main; a person of Bob's ability would
+      surely find little difficulty in superintending the process. And, whatever
+      happened, nothing could be worse than life in Lancaster Gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Neither of them ever thought of appealing to their father, either for
+      advice or for help. He remained, as he had always been to them, utterly
+      colourless; a kind of well-bred shadow of his wife, taking no part in her
+      hard treatment of Cecilia, but lifting not a finger to save her. He did
+      not look happy; indeed, he seldom spoke&mdash;it was not necessary, when
+      Mrs. Rainham held the floor. He had a tiny den which he used as a
+      smoking-room, and there he spent most of his time when at home, being
+      blessed in the fact that his wife disliked the smell of smoke, and refused
+      to allow it in her drawing-room. Nobody took much notice of him. The
+      younger children treated him with cool indifference; Bob met him with a
+      kind of strained and uncomfortable civility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiously enough, it was only Eliza who divined in him a secret hankering
+      after his eldest daughter&mdash;Cecilia, who would have been very much
+      astonished had anyone hinted at such a thing to her. The sharp eyes of the
+      little Cockney were not to be deceived in any matter concerning the only
+      person in the house who treated her as if she were a human being and not a
+      grate-cleaning automaton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see 'im foller 'er wiv 'is eyes, that's all,&rdquo; said Eliza to Cook, in
+      the privacy of their joint bedroom. &ldquo;Fair 'ungry he looks, sometimes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No need for 'im to be 'ungry, if 'e 'ad the sperrit of a man,&rdquo; said Cook
+      practically. &ldquo;Ain't she 'is daughter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, yes, in a manner of speakin',&rdquo; said Eliza doubtfully. &ldquo;But there
+      ain't much of father an' daughter about them two. I'd ruther 'ave my ole
+      man, down W'itechapel way; 'e can belt yer a fair terror, w'en 'e's drunk,
+      but 'e'll allers tike yer out an' buy yer a kipper arterwards. Thet's on'y
+      decent, fatherly feelin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Master don't belt 'er, does 'e?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; but 'e don't buy 'er the kipper, neither. An' I'd ruther 'ave the
+      beltin' from my ole man, even wivout no kipper, than 'ave us allers
+      lookin' at each other as if we was wooden images. Even a beltin' shows as
+      'ow a man 'as some regard for 'is daughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It do,&rdquo; said Cook. &ldquo;Pity is, you ain't 'ad more of it, that's the only
+      thing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PLAYING TRUANT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Demobilized! Oh, Bob&mdash;truly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly and really,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;At least, I shall be in twenty-seven days.
+      Got my orders. Show up for the last time on the fifteenth of next month.
+      Get patted on the head, and told to run away and play. That's the
+      programme, I believe, Tommy. The question is&mdash;What shall we play at?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia brushed the hair from her brow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know,&rdquo; she said vaguely. &ldquo;It's too big to think of; and I can't
+      think in this awful house, anyhow. Take me out, quick, please, Bobby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; said Bob, regarding her with an understanding eye. &ldquo;But you want
+      to change or something, don't you, old girl?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, yes, I suppose I do,&rdquo; said Cecilia, with a watery smile, looking at
+      her schoolroom overall. &ldquo;I forgot clothes. I've had a somewhat packed
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look as if this had been your busy day,&rdquo; remarked Bob. &ldquo;Right-oh, old
+      girl; jump into your things, and I'll wait on the mat. Any chance of the
+      she-dragon coming back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; she's gone out to tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More power to her,&rdquo; said Bob cheerfully. &ldquo;And the dragon puppies?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, they're safely out of the way. I won't be five minutes, Bob. Don't
+      shut the door tight&mdash;you might disappear before I opened it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much,&rdquo; said Bob, through the crack of the door. &ldquo;I'm a fixture. Want
+      any shoes cleaned?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, thanks, Bobby dear. I have everything ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From what the other fellows say about their sisters, I'm inclined to
+      believe that you're an ornament to your sex,&rdquo; remarked Bob. &ldquo;When you say
+      five minutes, it really does mean not more than five and a half, as a
+      rule; other girls seem to mean three-quarters of an hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I get all my things ready the night before when I'm going to meet you,&rdquo;
+       said Cecilia. &ldquo;Catch me losing any time on my one day out. You can come
+      back again&mdash;my coat's on the hanger there, Bobby.&rdquo; He put her into it
+      deftly, and she leaned back against him. &ldquo;If you knew how good it is to
+      see you again&mdash;and you smell of clean fresh air and good tobacco and
+      Russia leather, and all sorts of nice things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious, I'll excite attention in the street!&rdquo; grinned Bob. &ldquo;I
+      didn't imagine I was a walking scent-factory!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither you are&mdash;but everything in this house smells of coal-smoke
+      and cabbage-water and general fustiness, and you're a nice change, that's
+      all,&rdquo; said Cecilia. They ran downstairs together light-heartedly, and let
+      themselves out into the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do we catch a train or a 'bus?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, can't we walk?&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;I think if I walked hard I might
+      forget Mrs. Rainham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd hate you to remember her,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;Tell me what she has been
+      doing, anyhow, and then we won't think of her any more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't sound much,&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;There never is anything very much.
+      Only it goes on all the time.&rdquo; She told him the story of her day, and
+      managed to make herself laugh now and then over it. But Bob did not laugh.
+      His good-humoured young face was set and angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't a whole lot in it, is there?&rdquo; Cecilia finished. &ldquo;And no one
+      would think I was badly off&mdash;especially when the thing that hit me
+      hardest of all was just dusting that awful drawing-room while she plays
+      her awful tunes. Yes, I know I shouldn't say awful, and that no lady says
+      it&mdash;that must be true because Mrs. Rainham frequently tells me so&mdash;but
+      it's such a relief to say whatever I feel like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can say what you jolly well please,&rdquo; said Bob wrathfully. &ldquo;Who's she,
+      I'd like to know, to tell us what to say? And she kept you there all the
+      afternoon, when she knew you were due to meet me!&mdash;my hat, she is a
+      venomous old bird! And now it's half-past four, and what time does she
+      expect you back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;the usual thing; the children's tea-time at six. She told me not
+      to be late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob set his jaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you won't be late, because you won't be there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;No going
+      back to tea for you. We'll have dinner at the Petit Riche in Soho, and
+      then we'll do a theatre, and then I'll take you home and we'll face the
+      music. Are you game?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Game? Why, of course&mdash;but there will be awful scenes, Bobby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what can she do to you?&rdquo; asked Bob practically. &ldquo;You're too big to
+      beat, or she'd certainly do it; she can't stop your pay, because you don't
+      get any; and as you have your meals with the youngsters, she can't dock
+      your rations. That doesn't leave her much beside her tongue. Of course,
+      she can do a good deal with that; do you think you can stand it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said Cecilia. &ldquo;You see, I generally have it, so it really
+      doesn't matter much. But if she forbids me to go out with you again,
+      Bobby?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob pondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;you're nineteen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And the very first minute I can,
+      I'm going to take you away from her altogether. If you were a kid I
+      wouldn't let you defy her. But, hang it all, Tommy, I'm not going to let
+      her punish you as though you were ten. If she forbids you to meet me&mdash;well,
+      you must just take French leave, that's all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Bob, you are a satisfying person!&rdquo; said Cecilia, with a sigh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't know&mdash;it's you who will have to stand the racket,&rdquo;
+       said Bob. &ldquo;I only wish I could take my share, old girl. But, please
+      goodness, it won't be for long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob,&rdquo; said Cecilia, and paused. &ldquo;What about that statement of hers&mdash;that
+      it would be illegal for you to take me away? Do you think it's true?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've asked our Major, and he's a bit doubtful,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;All the other
+      fellows say it's utter nonsense. But I'm going to ask the old lawyer chap
+      who has charge of Aunt Margaret's money&mdash;he'll tell me. We won't
+      bother about it, Tommy; if I can't get you politely, I'll steal you. Just
+      forget the she-dragon and all her works.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But have you thought about what you are going to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think of much else, and that's the truth, Tommy,&rdquo; said her
+      brother ruefully. &ldquo;You see, there's mighty little in sight. I could get a
+      clerkship, I suppose. I could certainly get work as a day labourer. But I
+      don't see much in either of those possibilities towards a little home with
+      you, which is what I want. I'm going to answer every advertisement I can
+      find for fellows wanted on farms.&rdquo; He straightened his square shoulders.
+      &ldquo;Tommy, there must be plenty of work for any chap as strong as an ox, as I
+      am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure there's work,&rdquo; said Cecilia. &ldquo;But the men who want jobs don't
+      generally advertise themselves as 'complete with sister.' I'm what's
+      technically known as an encumbrance, Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You!&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;You're just part of the firm, so don't you forget it.
+      Didn't we always arrange that we should stick together?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We did&mdash;but it may not be easy to manage,&rdquo; Cecilia said, doubtfully.
+      &ldquo;Perhaps we could get some job together; I could do inside work, or teach,
+      or sew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; said Bob explosively. &ldquo;If I can't earn enough for us both, I ought
+      to be shot, Aunt Margaret didn't bring you up to work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the world has turned upside down since Aunt Margaret died,&rdquo; said
+      Cecilia. &ldquo;And I have worked pretty hard for the last two years, Bob; and
+      it hasn't hurt me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has made you older&mdash;and you ought to be only a kid yet,&rdquo; said Bob
+      wistfully. &ldquo;You haven't had any of the fun girls naturally ought to have.
+      I don't want you to slave all your time, Tommy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless you!&rdquo; said his sister. &ldquo;But I wouldn't care a bit, as long as it
+      was near you&mdash;and not in Lancaster Gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They had turned across Hyde Park, where a big company of girl guides was
+      drilling, watched by a crowd of curious on-lookers. Across a belt of grass
+      some boy scouts were performing similar evolutions, marching with all the
+      extra polish and swagger they could command, just to show the guides that
+      girls were all very well in their way, but that no one with skirts could
+      really hope to do credit to a uniform. Cecilia paused to watch them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank goodness, the children can come and drill in the park again!&rdquo; she
+      said. &ldquo;I hated to come here before the armistice&mdash;soldiers, soldiers,
+      drilling everywhere, and guns and searchlight fixings. Whenever I saw a
+      squad drilling it made me think of you, and of course I felt sure you'd be
+      killed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do like people who look on the bright side of life!&rdquo; said Bob laughing.
+      &ldquo;And whenever you saw an aeroplane I suppose you made sure I was crashing
+      somewhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly I did,&rdquo; said his sister with dignity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Women are queer things,&rdquo; Bob remarked. &ldquo;If you had these unpleasant
+      beliefs, how did you manage to write as cheerfully as you did? Your
+      letters were a scream&mdash;I used to read bits of 'em out to the
+      fellows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had no business to do any such thing,&rdquo; said Cecilia, blushing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I did, anyhow. They used to make 'em yell. How did you manage
+      them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it was no good assuring you you'd be killed,&rdquo; said Cecilia
+      practically. &ldquo;I thought it was more sensible to try to make you laugh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You certainly did that,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;I fancied from your letters that life
+      with the she-dragon was one huge joke, and that Papa was nice and
+      companionable, and the kids, sweet little darlings who ate from your hand.
+      And all the time you were just the poor old toad under the harrow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not a toad!&rdquo; rejoined his sister indignantly. &ldquo;Don't you think you
+      could find pleasanter things to compare me to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Toads aren't bad,&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;Ever seen the nice old fellow in
+      the Zoo who shoots out a tongue a yard long and picks up a grub every
+      time? He's quite interesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I certainly never had any inclination to do any such thing,&rdquo; Cecilia
+      laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had turned into Piccadilly and were walking down, watching the
+      crowded motor traffic racing north and south. Suddenly Bob straightened up
+      and saluted smartly, as a tall staff officer, wearing a general's badges,
+      ran down the steps of a big club, and nearly cannoned into Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon!&rdquo; he said&mdash;and then, noticing Bob&mdash;&ldquo;How are
+      you, Rainham?&rdquo; He dived into a waiting taxi, and was whisked away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did he bump you?&rdquo; inquired Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;though it would be almost a privilege to be bumped by anyone as
+      splendid as that!&rdquo; Cecilia answered. &ldquo;He knows you, too!&mdash;who is he,
+      Bobby?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's General Harran, the Australian,&rdquo; said Bob proudly. &ldquo;He's a great
+      man. I've run into him occasionally since I've been with the Australians
+      in France.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He looks nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is nice,&rdquo; replied Bob. &ldquo;Awful martinet about duty, but he treats every
+      one under him jolly well. Never forgets a face or a name, and he's always
+      got a decent word for everybody. He's had some quite long talks to me,
+      when we were waiting for some 'plane or other to come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why wouldn't he?&rdquo; asked Cecilia, who considered it a privilege for anyone
+      to talk to her brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob regarded her in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious!&rdquo; he ejaculated. &ldquo;Why, he's a major-general; I can tell
+      you, most men of his rank haven't any use for small fry like me&mdash;to
+      talk to, that is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had a flash of memory.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn't he the general who was close by when you brought that German
+      aeroplane down behind our lines? Didn't he say nice things to you about
+      it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that was only in the way of business,&rdquo; said Bob somewhat confused.
+      &ldquo;The whole thing was only a bit of luck&mdash;and, of course, it was luck,
+      too, that he was there. But he is just as nice to fellows who haven't had
+      a chance like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Out of the crowd two more figures in Air Force uniform came, charging at
+      Bob with outstretched hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove, old chap! What luck to meet you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They shook hands tumultuously, and Bob made them known to Cecilia&mdash;comrades
+      he had not seen for months, but with whom he had shared many strange
+      experiences in the years of war. They fell into quick talk, full of the
+      queer jargon of the air. The newcomers, it appeared, had been with the
+      army of occupation in Germany; there seemed a thousand things they
+      urgently desired to tell Bob within the next few minutes. One turned to
+      Cecilia, presently, with a laughing interpretation of some highly
+      technical bit of slang.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you needn't bother to translate to Tommy,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;She knows all
+      about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The other boys suddenly gave her all their attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you Tommy? But we know you awfully well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; Cecilia turned pink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather. We used to hear your letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The pink deepened to a fine scarlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob!&rdquo; said his sister reproachfully. &ldquo;You really shouldn't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, don't say that,&rdquo; said the taller boy, by name Harrison. &ldquo;They were a
+      godsend&mdash;there used to be jolly little to laugh about, pretty often,
+      and your letters made us all yell. Didn't they, Billy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They did,&rdquo; said Billy, who was small and curly-haired&mdash;and
+      incidentally a captain, with a little row of medal ribbons. &ldquo;Jolliest
+      letters ever. We passed a vote of thanks to you in the mess, Miss Tommy,
+      after old Bob here had gone. Some one was to write and tell him about it,
+      but I don't believe anyone ever did. I say, you must have had a cheery
+      time&mdash;all the funny things that ever happened seemed to come your
+      way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia stammered something, her scarlet confusion deepening. A rather
+      grim vision of the war years swept across her mind&mdash;of the ceaseless
+      quest in papers and journals, and wherever people talked, for &ldquo;funny
+      things&rdquo; to tell Bob; and of how, when fact and rumour gave out, she used
+      to sit by her attic window at night, deliberately inventing merry jests.
+      It had closely resembled a job of hard work at the time; but apparently it
+      had served its purpose well. She had made them laugh; and some one had
+      told her that no greater service could be rendered to the boys who risked
+      death, and worse than death, during every hour of the day and night. But
+      it was extremely difficult to talk about it afterwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob took pity on her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll tell you just what sort of a cheery time she had, some time or
+      other,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;What are you fellows doing this evening?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We were just going to ask you the same thing,&rdquo; declared Billy. &ldquo;Can't we
+      all go and play about somewhere? We've just landed, and we want to be
+      looked after. Any theatres in this little town still?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cheer-oh!&rdquo; ejaculated Billy. &ldquo;Let's all go and find out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they went, and managed very successfully to forget war and even
+      stepmothers. They were all little more than children in enjoyment of
+      simple pleasures still, since war had fallen upon them at the very
+      threshold of life, cutting them off from all the cheery happenings that
+      are the natural inheritance of all young things. The years that would
+      ordinarily have seen them growing tired of play had been spent in grim
+      tasks; now they were children again, clamouring for the playtime they had
+      lost. They found enormous pleasure in the funny little French restaurant,
+      where Madame, a lady whose sympathies were as boundless as her waist,
+      welcomed them with wide smiles, delighting in the broken French of Billy
+      and Harrison, and deftly tempting them to fresh excursions in her
+      language. She put a question in infantile French to Bob presently,
+      whereupon that guileless youth, with a childlike smile, answered her with
+      a flood of idiomatic phrases, in an accent purer than her own&mdash;collapsing
+      with helpless laughter at her amazed face. After which, Madame neglected
+      her other patrons to hover about their table like a stout, presiding
+      goddess, guiding them gently to the best dishes on the menu, and
+      occasionally putting aside their own selection with a hasty, &ldquo;Mon-non; you
+      vill not like that one to-day.&rdquo; She patted Cecilia in a motherly fashion
+      at parting, and their bill was only about half what it should have been.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They found a musical comedy, and laughed their way through it&mdash;Billy
+      and Harrison had apparently no cares in the world, and Bob and Cecilia
+      were caught up in the whirl of their high spirits, so that anything became
+      a huge joke. The evening flew by on airy wings, when Billy insisted on
+      taking them to supper after the theatre. Cecilia allowed herself a
+      fleeting vision of Mrs. Rainham, and then, deciding that she might as well
+      be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, followed gaily. And supper was so cheery
+      a meal that she forgot all about time&mdash;until, just at the end, she
+      caught sight of the restaurant clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half-past eleven! Oh, Bobby!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if it is&mdash;you poor little old Cinderella,&rdquo; said Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he hurried her away, for all that, amid a chorus of farewells and
+      efforts, on the part of Billy and Harrison, to arrange further meetings.
+      They ran to the nearest tube station, and dived into its depths; and,
+      after being whisked underground for a few minutes, emerged into the cool
+      night. Cecilia slipped her arm through her brother's as they hurried along
+      the empty street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, you keep your nose in the air,&rdquo; Bobby told her. &ldquo;You aren't exactly
+      a kid now, and she can't really do anything to you. Oh, by Jove&mdash;I
+      was thinking, in the theatre, she might interfere with our letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's quite equal to it,&rdquo; said Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just what she'd revel in doing. Well, you can easily find out. I'll write
+      to you to-morrow, and again the next day&mdash;just ordinary letters, with
+      nothing particular in them except an arrangement to meet next Saturday. If
+      you don't get them you'll know she's getting at the mail first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall I do, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drop me a line&mdash;or, better still, wire to me,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;Just say,
+      'Address elsewhere.' Then I'll write to you at Mr. M'Clinton's; the old
+      solicitor chap in Lincoln's Inn; and you'll have to go there and get the
+      letters. You know his address, don't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. I have to write to him every quarter when he sends me my
+      allowance. You'll explain to him, then, Bob, or he'll simply redirect your
+      letters here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, of course. I want to go and see the old chap, anyhow, to talk over
+      Aunt Margaret's affairs. I might as well know a little more about them.
+      Tommy, the she-dragon can't actually lock you up, can she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;it couldn't be done,&rdquo; said Cecilia. &ldquo;Modern houses aren't built
+      with dungeons and things. Moreover, if she tried to keep me in the house
+      she would have to take the children out for their walks herself; and she
+      simply hates walking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you can certainly post to me, and get my letters, and I'll be up
+      again as soon as ever I can. Buck up, old girl&mdash;it can't be for long
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned in at the Rainhams' front gate, and Cecilia glanced up
+      apprehensively. All the windows were in darkness; the grey front of the
+      house loomed forbiddingly in the faint moonlight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're coming in, aren't you?&rdquo; she asked, her hand tightening on his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather&mdash;we'll take the edge off her tongue together.&rdquo; Bob rang the
+      bell. &ldquo;Wonder if they have all gone to bed. The place looks pretty dark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's probably in the little room at the back&mdash;the one she calls her
+      boudoir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horrible little den, full of bamboo and draperies and pampas grass&mdash;I
+      know,&rdquo; nodded Bob. &ldquo;Well, either she's asleep or she thinks it's fun to
+      keep us on the mat. I'll try her again.&rdquo; He pressed the bell, and the
+      sound of its whirring echoed through the silent house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      COMING HOME
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as
+      the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared in
+      the aperture. She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you have come home?&rdquo; she said at last. The chain fell, and the door
+      opened. &ldquo;I wonder you trouble to come home at all. May I ask where you
+      have been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has been with me, Mrs. Rainham,&rdquo; Bob said cheerfully. &ldquo;May I come
+      in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Rainham did not move. She held the door half open, blocking the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is far too late for me to ask you in,&rdquo; she answered frigidly. &ldquo;Cecilia
+      can explain her conduct, I presume.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, there's really nothing to explain,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;It was so late
+      when she got out this afternoon that I kept her&mdash;why, it was after
+      half-past four before she was dressed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told her to be in for tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; but I felt sure you couldn't realize how late she was in getting
+      out,&rdquo; said Bob in a voice of honey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was entirely her own mismanagement&mdash;&rdquo; began the hard tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, Mrs. Rainham; really it wasn't,&rdquo; said Cecilia mildly. &ldquo;Your
+      accompaniments, you remember&mdash;your dress&mdash;your music,&rdquo; she
+      stopped, in amazement at herself. It was rarely indeed that she answered
+      any accusation of her stepmother's. But to be on the mat at midnight, with
+      Bob in support, seemed to give her extraordinary courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, Mrs. Rainham, there seems to have been quite a number of little
+      details that Cecilia couldn't mismanage,&rdquo; said Bob, following up the
+      advantage. It was happily evident that his stepmother's rage was
+      preventing her from speaking, and, as he remarked later, there was no
+      knowing when he would ever get such a chance again. &ldquo;She really needed
+      rest. I'm sure you'll agree that every one is entitled to some free time.
+      Of course, you couldn't possibly have realized that it was a week since
+      she had been off duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's her business to do what I tell her,&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham, finding her
+      voice, in an explosive fashion that made a passing policeman glance up
+      curiously. &ldquo;She knew I had company, and expected her help. I had to see to
+      the children's tea myself. And how do I know where she's been?&mdash;gallivanting
+      round to all sorts of places! I tell you, young lady, you needn't think
+      you're going to walk in here at midnight as if nothing was the matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never expected to,&rdquo; said Cecilia cheerfully. &ldquo;But it was worth it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob regarded her in solemn admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we gallivanted at all reprehensibly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just dinner
+      and a theatre. I haven't made much claim to her time during the last four
+      years, Mrs. Rainham; surely I'm entitled to a little of it now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You!&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham's tone was vicious. &ldquo;You don't give her a home, do
+      you? And as long as I do, she'll do what I tell her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; I don't give her a home&mdash;yet,&rdquo; said Bob very quietly. &ldquo;But I
+      very soon will, I assure you; and meanwhile, she earns a good deal more
+      than her keep in her father's house. You can't treat her worse than your
+      servants&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia suddenly turned to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't, Bob darling. It doesn't matter&mdash;truly&mdash;not a bit.&rdquo;
+       With the end of the long penance before her, it seemed beyond the power of
+      the angry woman in the doorway to hurt her much. What she could not bear
+      was that their happy evening should be spoiled by hard and cruel words at
+      its close. Bob's face, that had been so merry, was sterner than she had
+      ever seen it, all its boyishness gone. She put up her own face, and kissed
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good night&mdash;you mustn't stay any longer. I'll be all right.&rdquo; She
+      whispered a few quick words of French, begging him to go, and Bob, though
+      unwillingly, gave in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Go to bed, little 'un. I'll do as I promised about
+      writing.&rdquo; He saluted Mrs. Rainham stiffly. &ldquo;You'll remember, Mrs. Rainham,
+      that she stayed out solely at my wish&mdash;I take full responsibility,
+      and I'll be ready to tell my father so.&rdquo; The door closed behind Cecilia,
+      and he strode away down the street, biting his lip. He felt abominably as
+      though he had deserted the little sister&mdash;and yet, what else could he
+      do? One could not remain for ever, brawling on a doorstep at midnight&mdash;and
+      Tommy had begged him to go. Still&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hang it!&rdquo; he said viciously. &ldquo;If she were only a decent Hun to fight!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the grim house in Lancaster Gate Cecilia was facing the music alone.
+      She listened unmoved, as she had listened many times before, to the
+      catalogue of her sins and misdeeds&mdash;only she had never seen her
+      stepmother quite so angry. Finally, a door above opened, and Mark Rainham
+      looked out, his dull, colourless face weakly irritable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you'd stop that noise, and let the girl go to bed,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Come
+      here, Cecilia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She went to him hesitating, and he looked at her with a spark of
+      compassion. Then he kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good night,&rdquo; he said, as though he had called her to him simply to say
+      it, and not to separate her from the furious woman who stood looking at
+      them. &ldquo;Run off to bed, now&mdash;no more talking.&rdquo; Cecilia ran upstairs
+      obediently. Behind her, as she neared her attic, she heard her
+      stepmother's voice break out anew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just fancy Papa!&rdquo; she muttered. Any mother sensations were lost in wonder
+      at her father's actually having intervened. The incredible thing had
+      happened. For a moment she felt a wave of pity for him, left alone to face
+      the shrill voice. Then she shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well&mdash;he married her,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I suppose he has had it many a
+      time. Perhaps he knows how to stop it&mdash;I don't!&rdquo; She laughed, turning
+      the key in the lock, and sitting down beside the open window. The glamour
+      of her happy evening was still upon her; even the scene with her
+      stepmother had not had power to chase it away. The scene was only to be
+      expected; the laughter of the evening was worth so every-day a penalty.
+      And the end of Mrs. Rainham's rule was nearly in sight. Not even to
+      herself for a moment would she admit that there was any possibility of Bob
+      failing to &ldquo;make good&rdquo; and take her away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She went downstairs next morning to an atmosphere of sullen resentment.
+      Her father gave her a brief, abstracted nod, in response to her greeting,
+      and went on with his bacon and his Daily Mail; her stepmother's forbidding
+      expression checked any attempt at conversation. The children stared at her
+      with a kind of malevolent curiosity; they knew that a storm had been
+      brewing for her the night before, and longed to know just how thoroughly
+      she had &ldquo;caught it.&rdquo; Eliza, bringing in singed and belated toast, looked
+      at her with pity, tinged with admiration. Cook and she had been awakened
+      at midnight by what was evidently, in the words of Cook, &ldquo;a perfickly
+      'orrible bust-up,&rdquo; and knowing Cecilia to have been its object, Eliza
+      looked at her as one may look who expects to see the scars of battle.
+      Finding none, but receiving instead a cheerful smile, she returned to the
+      kitchen, and reported to Cook that Miss Cecilia was &ldquo;nuffink less than a
+      neroine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as that day and the next wore on, Cecilia found it difficult to be
+      cheerful. That she was in disgrace was very evident, Mrs. Rainham said no
+      more about her sins of the night before; instead, she showed her
+      displeasure by a kind of cold rudeness that gave a subtle insult to her
+      smallest remark. The children were manifestly delighted. Cecilia was more
+      or less in the position of a beetle on a pin, and theirs was the precious
+      opportunity of seeing her wriggle. Wherefore they adopted their mother's
+      tone, openly defied her, and turned school-hours into a pandemonium.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia at last gave up the attempt to keep order. She opened her desk and
+      took out her knitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, this is all very pleasant,&rdquo; she said, calmly. &ldquo;You seem determined
+      to do no work at all, so I can only hope that in time you will get tired
+      of being idle. I can't attempt to teach you any more. I am quite ready,
+      however, if you bring your lessons to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll get into a nice row from the Mater,&rdquo; jeered Wilfred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very possibly. She may even punish me by finding another governess,&rdquo; said
+      Cecilia, with a twinkle. &ldquo;However that may be, I do not feel compelled to
+      talk to such rude little children as you any more. When you are able to
+      speak politely you may come to me for anything you want; until then, I
+      shall not answer you.&rdquo; She bent her attention to the mysteries of
+      heel-turning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The children were taken aback. To pinprick with rudeness a victim who
+      answered back was entertaining; but there was small fun in baiting anybody
+      who sat silently knitting with a half-smile of contempt at the corners of
+      her mouth. They gave it up after a time, and considered the question of
+      going out; a pleasant thing to do, only that their mother had laid upon
+      them a special injunction not to leave Cecilia, and she was in a mood that
+      made disobedience extremely dangerous. Cecilia quite understood that she
+      was being watched. No letters had yet come from Bob, and she knew that her
+      stepmother had been hovering near the letter-box whenever the postman had
+      called. Mrs. Rainham had accompanied them on their walk the day before; a
+      remark of Avice's revealed that she meant to do so again to-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's all so silly,&rdquo; the girl said to herself. &ldquo;If I chose to dive into a
+      tube station or board a motor-bus she couldn't stop me; and she can't go
+      on watching me and intercepting my letters indefinitely. I suppose she
+      will get tired of it after a while.&rdquo; But meanwhile she found the spying
+      rather amusing. Avice popped up unexpectedly if she went near the front
+      door; Wilfred's bullet head peeped in through the window whenever she
+      fancied herself alone in the schoolroom. Only her attic was safe&mdash;since
+      to spy upon it would have required an aeroplane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The third day brought no letter from Bob. Cecilia asked for her mail when
+      she went down to breakfast, and was met by a blank stare from her
+      stepmother&mdash;&ldquo;I suppose if there had been any letters for you they
+      would be on your plate.&rdquo; She flushed a little under the girl's direct
+      gaze, and turned her attention to Queenie's table manners, which were at
+      all times peculiar; and Cecilia sat down with a faint smile. It was time
+      to obey orders and telegraph to Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She planned how to do it, during a long morning when the children actually
+      did some work&mdash;since to be rude or idle meant that their teacher
+      immediately retired into her shell of silence, and knitted, and life
+      became too dull. To employ Eliza was her first thought&mdash;rejected,
+      since it seemed unlikely that Eliza would be able to get time off to go
+      out. If Mrs. Rainham's well-known dislike for walking proved too strong
+      for her desire to watch her stepdaughter, it would be easy enough to do it
+      during the afternoon; but this hope proved vain, for when she appeared in
+      the hall with her charges at three o'clock the lady of the house sailed
+      from the drawing-room, ready for the march. They moved off in procession;
+      Mrs. Rainham leading the way, with Avice and Wilfred, while Cecilia
+      brought up the rear, holding Queenie's podgy hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had telegraph forms in her desk, and the message, already written, and
+      even stamped, was in the pocket of her coat. There was nothing for it but
+      to act boldly, and accordingly, when they entered a street in which there
+      was a post office, she let Queenie lag until they were a little distance
+      behind the others. Then, as they reached the post office, she turned
+      sharply in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait a minute, Queenie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She thrust her message across the counter hurriedly. The clerk on duty was
+      provokingly slow; he finished checking a document, and then lounged across
+      to the window and took the form, running over it leisurely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you've got the stamps on. All right,&rdquo; he said, and turned away just
+      as quick steps were heard, and Mrs. Rainham bustled in, panting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia met her with steady eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing wrong, I assure you.&rdquo; She had had visions of covering her real
+      purpose by buying stamps&mdash;but rejected it with a shrug.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thethilia gave the man a pieth of paper!&rdquo; said Queenie shrilly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was it? I demand to know!&rdquo; cried Mrs. Rainham. She turned to the
+      clerk, who stood open-mouthed, holding the telegram in his hand. &ldquo;Show me
+      that telegram. I am this young lady's guardian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clerk grinned broadly. The stout and angry lady made no appeal to him,
+      and Cecilia was a pretty girl, and moreover her telegram was for a flying
+      captain. The clerk wore a returned soldier's badge himself. He fell back
+      on Regulations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't be done, ma'am. The message is all in order.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me see it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much as my billet's worth, if I did,&rdquo; said the clerk. &ldquo;Property of the
+      Postmaster-General now, ma'am. Couldn't even give it back to the young
+      lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll report you!&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham fumed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do, ma'am. I'll get patted on the head for doin' me duty.&rdquo; The clerk's
+      grin widened. Cecilia wished him good afternoon gravely, and slipped out
+      of the office, pursued by her stepmother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was in that telegram?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was to my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was to Bob, and that is guarantee that there was nothing wrong in it,&rdquo;
+       Cecilia said steadily. &ldquo;It was on private business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no right to have any business that I do not know about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia found her temper rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My father may have the power to say that&mdash;I do not know,&rdquo; she said.
+      &ldquo;But you have none, Mrs. Rainham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll let you see whether I have the right!&rdquo; her stepmother blazed. &ldquo;For
+      two pins, young lady, I'd lock you up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia laughed outright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that's not done now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You really couldn't, Mrs. Rainham&mdash;especially
+      as I have done nothing wrong.&rdquo; She dropped her voice&mdash;passers-by were
+      looking with interest at the elder woman's face. &ldquo;Why not let me go? You
+      do not approve of me&mdash;let me find another position.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll stay in your father's house,&rdquo; Mrs. Rainham said. &ldquo;We'll see what
+      the law has to say to your leaving with your precious Bob. Your father's
+      your legal guardian, and in his control you stay until you're twenty-one,
+      and be very thankful to make yourself useful. The law will deal with Bob
+      if he tries to take you away&mdash;you're a minor, and it'd be abduction.&rdquo;
+       The word had a pleasantly legal flavour; she repeated it with emphasis.
+      &ldquo;Abduction; that's what it is, and there's a nice penalty for it. Now you
+      know, and if you don't want to get Bob into trouble, you'd best be
+      careful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had grown rather white. The law was a great and terrible
+      instrument, of which she knew nothing. It seemed to have swallowed up Aunt
+      Margaret's money; it might very well have left her defenceless. Her
+      stepmother seemed familiar with its powers, and able to evoke them at
+      will; and though she did not trust her, there was something in her glib
+      utterance that struck fear into the girl's heart. She did not answer, and
+      Mrs. Rainham followed up her advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll go home,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And you make up your mind to tell me what was
+      in that telegram, and not to have any secrets from me. One thing I can
+      tell you&mdash;until you decide to behave yourself&mdash;Bob shan't show
+      his nose in my house, and you shan't go out to meet him, either. He only
+      leads you into mischief; I don't consider he has at all a good influence
+      over you. The sooner he's away somewhere, earning his own living in a
+      proper manner, the better for every one; and it'll be many a long day
+      before he can give you as good a home as you've got now.&rdquo; She paused for
+      breath. &ldquo;Anyhow, he's not going to have the chance,&rdquo; she finished grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Mr. M'Clinton in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clerk, in a species of rabbit hutch, glanced out curiously at the
+      young flying officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; but he's very busy. Have you an appointment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;I got leave unexpectedly. Just take him my card, will you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clerk handed the card to another clerk, who passed it to an
+      office-boy, who disappeared with it behind a heavy oaken door. He came
+      back presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. M'Clinton will see you in ten minutes, if you can wait, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll wait,&rdquo; said Bob, sitting down upon a high stool. &ldquo;Got a paper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-day's Times is here, sir.&rdquo; He whisked off, to return in a moment with
+      the paper, neatly folded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll find a more comfortable seat behind the screen, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks,&rdquo; said Bob, regarding him with interest&mdash;he was so dapper, so
+      alert, so all that an office-boy in a staid lawyer's establishment ought
+      to be. &ldquo;How old might you be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fourteen, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you going to grow into a lawyer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid I'll never do that, sir,&rdquo; said the office-boy gravely. &ldquo;I may
+      be head clerk, perhaps. But&mdash;&rdquo; he stopped, confused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd rather fly, sir, than anything in the world!&rdquo; He looked worshippingly
+      at Bob's uniform. &ldquo;If the war had only not stopped before I was old
+      enough, I might have had a chance!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you'll have plenty of chances,&rdquo; Bob told him consolingly. &ldquo;In five
+      years' time you'll be taking Mr. M'Clinton's confidential papers across to
+      Paris in an aeroplane&mdash;and bringing him back a reply before lunch!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think so, sir?&rdquo; The office-boy's eyes danced. Suddenly he resumed
+      his professional gravity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must get back to my work, sir.&rdquo; He disappeared behind another
+      partition; the office seemed to Bob to be divided into water-tight
+      compartments, in each of which he imagined that a budding lawyer or head
+      clerk was being brought up by hand. It was all rather grim and solid and
+      forbidding. To Bob the law had always been full of mystery; this grey,
+      silent office, in the heart of the city, was a fitting place for it. He
+      felt a little chill at his heart, a foreboding that no comfort could come
+      of his mission there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inner door opened, after a little while, and a woman in black came
+      out. She passed hurriedly through the outer office, pulling down her veil
+      over a face that showed traces of tears. Bob looked after her
+      compassionately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor soul!&rdquo; he thought. &ldquo;She's had her gruel, evidently. Now I suppose
+      I'll get mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A bell whirred sharply. The alert office-boy sprang to the summons,
+      returning immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. M'Clinton can see you now, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob followed him through the oaken door, and along a narrow passage to a
+      room where a spare, grizzled man sat at a huge roll-top desk. He rose as
+      the boy shut the door behind his visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Captain Rainham. How do you do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob gripped the lean hand offered him&mdash;it felt like a claw in his
+      great palm. Then he sat down and looked uncomfortably at the lawyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had thought to have seen you here before, Captain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose I should have shown up,&rdquo; said Bob&mdash;concealing the fact
+      that the idea had never occurred to him. &ldquo;But I've been very busy since
+      I've been back to England.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what brings you now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm all but demobilized,&rdquo; Bob told him, &ldquo;and I'm trying to get
+      employment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&mdash;in this office?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, no!&rdquo; ejaculated Bob, and at once turned a fine red. &ldquo;That is&mdash;I
+      beg your pardon, sir; but I'm afraid I'm not cut out for an office. I want
+      to get something to do in the country, where I can support my sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your sister? But does not your father support her? She is an inmate of
+      his house, is she not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much so,&rdquo; said Bob bitterly. &ldquo;She's governess, and lady-help, and a
+      good many other things. You couldn't call it a home. Besides, we have
+      always been together. I want to take her away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what does your father say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He says she mustn't go. At least, that's what my stepmother says, so my
+      father will certainly say it too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your sister is under age, I think?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's just nineteen&mdash;I'm over twenty-two. Can my father prevent her
+      going with me, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mph,&rdquo; said the lawyer, pondering. &ldquo;Do I gather that the young lady is
+      unhappy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If she isn't, it's because she has pluck enough for six people, and
+      because she always hopes to get away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And do you consider that you could support her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know,&rdquo; said Bob unhappily. &ldquo;I would certainly have thought I
+      could, but there seems mighty little chance for a fellow whose only
+      qualification is that he's been fighting Huns for nearly five years. I've
+      answered advertisements and interviewed people until my brain reels; but
+      there's nothing in it, and I can't leave Tommy there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tommy?&rdquo; queried the lawyer blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sister, I mean, sir. Her name's Cecilia, but, of course, we've never
+      called her that. Even Aunt Margaret called her Tommy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. M'Clinton made no reply. He thought deeply for a few moments. Then he
+      looked up, and there was a glint of kindness in his hard grey eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you had better tell me all about it, Captain Rainham. Would it
+      assist you to smoke?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks awfully, sir,&rdquo; said Bob, accepting the proffered cigarette. He
+      plunged into his story; and if at times it was a trifle incoherent,
+      principally from honest wrath, yet on the whole Cecilia's case lost
+      nothing in the telling. The lawyer nodded from time to time,
+      comprehendingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye,&rdquo; he said at last, when Bob paused. &ldquo;Just so, just so. And why did
+      you come to me, Captain?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want your advice, sir,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;And I should like to know
+      something about my aunt's property&mdash;if I can hope for any help from
+      that source. I should have more chance of success if I had a little
+      capital to start with. But I understand that most of it was lost. My
+      father seemed very disappointed over the small amount she left.&rdquo; He
+      hesitated. &ldquo;But apart from money, I should like to know if I am within the
+      law in taking my sister away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. M'Clinton thought deeply before replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had better speak frankly to you, Captain Rainham,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Your aunt,
+      as you probably know, did not like your father. I am not sure that she
+      actually distrusted him. But she considered him weak and indolent, and she
+      recognized that he was completely under the thumb of his second wife. Your
+      late aunt, my old friend, had an abhorrence for that lady that was quaint,
+      considering that she had scarcely ever seen her.&rdquo; He permitted himself the
+      ghost of a smile. &ldquo;She was deeply afraid of any of her property coming
+      under the control of your father&mdash;and through him, of his wife. And
+      so she tied up her money very carefully. She left direct to you and your
+      sister certain assets. The rest of her property she left, in trust, to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To you, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye. Very carefully tied up, too,&rdquo; said Mr. M'Clinton, with a twinkle. &ldquo;I
+      can't make ducks and drakes of it, no matter how much I may wish to. It is
+      tied up until your sister comes of age. Then my trust ceases.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove!&rdquo; Bob stared at him. &ldquo;Then&mdash;do we get something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly. Unfortunately, many of your aunt's investments were very hard
+      hit through the war. Certain stocks which paid large dividends ceased to
+      pay altogether; others fell to very little. The sum left to you and your
+      sister for immediate use should have been very much larger, but all that
+      is left of it is the small allowance paid to you both. I imagine that a
+      smart young officer like yourself found it scarcely sufficient for
+      tobacco.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've saved it all,&rdquo; said Bob simply. &ldquo;A bit more, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Saved it!&rdquo; said the lawyer in blank amazement. &ldquo;Do you tell me, now? You
+      lived on your pay?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Flying pay's pretty good,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;And there was always Tommy to think
+      of, you know, sir. I had to put something away for her, in case I
+      crashed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said Mr. M'Clinton. &ldquo;Your aunt had great confidence in you as a
+      boy, and it seems she was justified. I'm very glad to hear this, Captain,
+      for it enables me to do with a clear conscience something which I have the
+      power to do. There is a discretionary clause in your aunt's will, which
+      gives me power to realize a certain sum of money, should you need it. I
+      could hand you over about three thousand pounds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Three thousand!&rdquo; Bob stared at him blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye. And I see no reason why I should not do it&mdash;provided I am
+      satisfied as to the use you will make of it. As a matter of form I should
+      like a letter from your commanding officer, testifying to your general
+      character.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's easy enough,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;But&mdash;three thousand! My hat, what a
+      difference it will make to Tommy and me! Poor old Aunt Margaret&mdash;I
+      might have known she'd look after us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She loved you very dearly. And now, Captain, about your sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's the big thing,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;Can I kidnap her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's rather difficult to say just how your father might act. Left to
+      himself, I do not believe he would do anything. But urged by your
+      stepmother, he might make trouble. And the good lady is more likely to
+      make trouble if she suspects that there is any money coming to your
+      sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's very certain,&rdquo; Bob remarked. &ldquo;I wish to goodness I could get her
+      right out of England, sir. How about Canada?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The lawyer pondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know any one there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a soul. But I suppose one could get introductions. And one can always
+      get Government expert advice there, I believe, to prevent one chucking
+      away one's money foolishly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. M'Clinton nodded approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know, but you might do worse,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I believe in these new
+      countries for young people; the old ones are getting overcrowded and worn
+      out. And your relations are likely to give trouble if you are within their
+      reach. A terrible woman, that stepmother of yours; a terrible woman. She
+      came to see me with your father; he said nothing, but she talked like a
+      mill-race. Miss Tommy has my full sympathy. A brawling woman in a wide
+      house, as the Scripture says. I reproach myself, Captain, that I did not
+      inquire personally into Miss Tommy's well-being. She told you nothing of
+      her trials, you say, during the war?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a word. Wrote as if life were a howling joke always. I only found out
+      for myself by accident a few months ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A brave lassie. Well, I'll do what I can to help you, Captain. I'll keep
+      a lookout for a likely land investment for your money, and endeavour to
+      prepare a good legal statement to frighten Mrs. Rainham if she objects to
+      your taking your sister away. Much may be done by bluffing, especially if
+      you do it very solemnly and quietly. So keep a good heart, and come and
+      see me next time you're in London. Miss Tommy will be in any day, I
+      presume, after the telegram you told me about?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure to be,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;She'll be anxious for her letters. I'm leaving
+      one for her, if you don't mind, and I'll write to her again to-night.&rdquo; He
+      got up, holding out his hand. &ldquo;Good-bye&mdash;and I don't know how to
+      thank you, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless the boy&mdash;you've nothing to thank me for,&rdquo; said the lawyer.
+      &ldquo;Just send me that letter from your commanding officer, and remember that
+      there's no wild hurry about plans&mdash;Miss Tommy can stand for a few
+      weeks longer what she has borne for two years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose she can&mdash;but I don't want her to,&rdquo; Bob said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The brisk office-boy showed him out, and he marched down the grey streets
+      near Lincoln's Inn with his chin well up. Life had taken a sudden and
+      magical turn for the better. Three thousand pounds!&mdash;surely that
+      meant no roughing it for Tommy, but a comfortable home and a chance of
+      success in life. It seemed a sum of enormous possibilities. Everything was
+      very vague still, but at least the money was certain&mdash;it seemed like
+      fairy gold. He felt a sudden desire to get away somewhere, with Tommy,
+      away from crowded England to a country where a man could breathe; his
+      heart rejoiced at the idea, just as he had often exulted when his
+      aeroplane had lifted him away from the crowded, buzzing camp, into the
+      wide, free places of the air. Canada called to him temptingly. His brain
+      was seething with plans to go there when, waiting for a chance to cross a
+      crowded thoroughfare, he heard his own name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Asleep, Rainham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob looked up with a start. General Harran, the Australian, was beside
+      him, also waiting for a break in the crawling string of motor-buses and
+      taxi-cabs. He was smiling under his close-clipped moustache.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, sir,&rdquo; stammered the boy, coming to the salute stiffly.
+      &ldquo;I was in a brown study, I believe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You looked it. I spoke to you twice before you heard me. What is it?&mdash;demobilization
+      problems?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just that, sir,&rdquo; said Bob, grinning. &ldquo;Most of us have got them, I suppose&mdash;fellows
+      of my age, anyhow. It's a bit difficult to come down to earth again, after
+      years spent in the air.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very difficult,&rdquo; Harran agreed gravely. He glanced down with interest at
+      the alert face and square-built figure of the boy beside him. There were
+      so many of them, these boys who had played with Death for years. They have
+      saved their country from horror and ruin, and now it seemed very doubtful
+      if their country wanted them. They were in every town in England, looking
+      for work; their pitiful, plucky advertisements greeted the eye in every
+      newspaper. The problem of their future interested General Harran keenly.
+      He liked his boys; their freshness and pluck and unspoiled enthusiasm had
+      been a tonic to him during the long years of war. Now it hurt him that
+      they should be looking for the right to live.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm just going to lunch, Rainham,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Would you care to come with
+      me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob lifted a quaintly astonished face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, awfully, sir,&rdquo; he stammered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then jump on this 'bus, and we'll go to my club,&rdquo; said the General,
+      swinging his lean, athletic body up the stairs of a passing motor-'bus as
+      he spoke. Bob followed, and they sped, rocking, through the packed traffic
+      until the General, who had sat in silence, jumped up, threaded his way
+      downstairs, and dropped to the ground again from the footboard of the
+      hurrying 'bus&mdash;with a brief shake of the head to the conductor, who
+      was prepared to check the speed of his craft to accommodate a passenger
+      with such distinguished badges of rank. Bob was on the ground almost as
+      quickly, and they turned out of the crowded street into a quieter one that
+      presently led them into a silent square, where dignified grey houses
+      looked out upon green trees, and the only traffic was that of gliding
+      motors. General Harran led the way into one of the grey houses, up the
+      steps of which officers were constantly coming and going. A grizzled
+      porter in uniform, with the Crimean medal on his tunic, swung the door
+      open and came smartly to attention as they passed through. The General
+      greeted him kindly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, O'Shea? The rheumatism better?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, sir, thank you.&rdquo; They passed on, through a great hall lined with
+      oil-paintings of famous soldiers, and trophies of big game from all over
+      the world; for this was a Service club, bearing a proud record of soldier
+      and sailor members for a hundred years. Presently they were in the
+      dining-room, already crowded. The waiter found them a little table in a
+      quiet corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sprinkling of men whom Bob already knew; he caught several
+      friendly nods of recognition us he glanced round. Then General Harran
+      pointed out others to him&mdash;Generals, whose names were household words
+      in England&mdash;a notable Admiral, and a Captain with the V.C. ribbon&mdash;earned
+      at Zeebrugge. He seemed to know every one, and once or twice he left his
+      seat to speak to a friend&mdash;during which absence Bob's friends shot
+      him amazed glances, with eyebrows raised in astonishment that he should be
+      lunching with a real Major-General. Bob was somewhat tongue-tied with
+      bewilderment over the fact himself. But when their cold beef came, General
+      Harran soon put him at his ease, leading him to talk of himself and his
+      plans with quiet tact. Before Bob fairly realized it he had unfolded all
+      his little story&mdash;even to Tommy and her hardships. The General
+      listened with interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And was it Tommy I saw you with on Saturday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir. She was awfully interested because it was you,&rdquo; blurted Bob.
+      &ldquo;You see, she and I have always been pals. I'm jolly keen to get some
+      place to take her to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you think of Canada. Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;I really don't know, except that it would be out of reach of
+      England and unpleasantness,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;And my money would go a lot
+      further there than here, wouldn't it, sir? Three thousand won't buy much
+      of a place in England&mdash;not to make one's living by, I mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true. I advise every youngster to get out to one of the new
+      countries, and, of course, a man with a little capital has a far greater
+      chance. But why Canada? Why not Australia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's no reason why not,&rdquo; said Bob laughing. &ldquo;Only it seems further
+      away. I don't know more of one country than the other&mdash;except the
+      sort of vague idea we all have that Canada is all cold and Australia all
+      heat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      General Harran laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;the average Englishman's ideas about the new countries are
+      pretty sketchy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;People always talk to me about the fearfully
+      hot climate of Australia, and seem mildly surprised if I remark that we
+      have about a dozen different climates, and that we have snow and ice, and
+      very decent winter sports, in Victoria. I don't think they believe me,
+      either. But seriously, Rainham, if you have no more leaning towards one
+      country than the other, why not think of Australia? I could help you
+      there, if you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, sir!&rdquo; Bob stammered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I can pull strings. I dare say I could manage a passage out for you
+      and your sister&mdash;you see, you were serving with the Australians, and
+      you're both desirable immigrants&mdash;young and energetic people with a
+      little capital. That would be all right, I think, especially now that the
+      first rush is over. And I could give you plenty of introductions in
+      Australia to the right sort of people. You ought to see something of the
+      country, and what the life and work are, before investing your money. It
+      would be easy enough to get you on to a station or big farm&mdash;you to
+      learn the business, and your sister to teach or help in the house. She
+      wouldn't mind that for about a year, with nice people, would she?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not she!&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;It was her own idea, in fact; only I didn't want to
+      let her work. But I can see that it might be best. Only I don't know how
+      to thank you, sir&mdash;I never imagined&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      General Harran cut him short.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't worry about that. If I can help you, or any of the flying boys, out
+      of a difficulty, and at the same time get the right type of settlers for
+      Australia&mdash;she needs them badly&mdash;then I'm doing a
+      double-barrelled job that I like. But see here&mdash;do I understand that
+      what you really want to do is to take your sister without giving your
+      father warning? To kidnap her, in short?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't see anything else to do, sir. I spoke to him a while ago about
+      taking her away, and he only hummed and hawed and said he'd consult Mrs.
+      Rainham. And my stepmother will never let her go as long as she can keep
+      her as a drudge. We owe them nothing&mdash;he's never been a father to us,
+      and as for my stepmother&mdash;well, she should owe Tommy for two years'
+      hard work. But honestly, to all intents and purposes, they are strangers
+      to us&mdash;it seems absolutely ridiculous that we should be controlled by
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You say your aunt's family lawyer approves?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, or he wouldn't let me have the money. I could get him to see you,
+      sir, if you like; though I don't see why you should be bothered about us,&rdquo;
+       said Bob flushing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me his address&mdash;I'll look in on him next time I'm in Lincoln's
+      Inn,&rdquo; said the General. &ldquo;Your own, too. Now, if I get you and your sister
+      passages on a troopship, can you start at short notice&mdash;say
+      forty-eight hours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob gasped, but recovered himself. After all, his training in the air had
+      taught him to make swift decisions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any time after the fifteenth, sir. I'll be demobilized then, and a free
+      agent. I'll get my kit beforehand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't get much,&rdquo; counselled the General. &ldquo;You can travel in uniform&mdash;take
+      flannels for the tropics; everything you need in Australia you can get
+      just as well, or better, out there. Most fellows who go out take tons of
+      unnecessary stuff. Come into the smoking-room and give me a few more
+      details.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They came out upon the steps of the club a little later. Bob's head was
+      whirling. He tried to stammer out more thanks and was cut short, kindly
+      but decisively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right, my boy. I'll send you letters of introduction to
+      various people who will help you, and a bit of advice about where to go
+      when you land. Tell your sister not to be nervous&mdash;she isn't going to
+      a wild country, and the people there are much the same as anywhere else.
+      Now, good-bye, and good luck&rdquo;; and Bob found himself walking across the
+      Square in a kind of solemn amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This morning I was thinking of getting taken on as a farm hand in
+      Devonshire, with Tommy somewhere handy in a labourer's cottage,&rdquo; he
+      pondered. &ldquo;And now I'm a bloated capitalist, and Tommy and I are going
+      across the world to Australia as calmly as if we were off to Margate for
+      the day! Well, I suppose it's only a dream, and I'll wake up soon. I guess
+      I'd better go back and tell Mr. M'Clinton; and I've got to see Tommy
+      somehow.&rdquo; He bent his brows over the problem as he turned towards
+      Lincoln's Inn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SAILING ORDERS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you there, miss?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The sepulchral whisper came faintly to Cecilia's ears as she sat in her
+      little room, sewing a frock of Queenie's. The children were out in the
+      garden at the back of the house. Mrs. Rainham was practising in the
+      drawing-room. The sound of a high trill floated upwards as she opened the
+      door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Eliza?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a letter, miss. A kid brought it to the kitchen door&mdash;a bit of
+      a boy. Arsked for me as if 'e'd known me all 'is life&mdash;called me
+      Elizer! 'E's waitin' for an answer. I'll wait in me room, miss, till you
+      calls me.&rdquo; The little Cockney girl slipped away, revelling in furthering
+      any scheme to defeat Mrs. Rainham and help Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia opened the letter hurriedly. It contained only one line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you come at once to Lincoln's Inn? Important.&mdash;BOB.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia knitted her brows. It was nearly a month since the memorable
+      evening when she and Bob had revolted; and though she was still made to
+      feel herself in disgrace, and she knew her letters were watched, the close
+      spying upon her movements had somewhat relaxed. It had been too
+      uncomfortable for Mrs. Rainham to keep it up, since it made heavy demands
+      upon her own time, and interfered with too many plans; moreover, in spite
+      of it, Cecilia had slipped away from the house two or three times, going
+      and coming openly, and replying to any questions by the simple answer that
+      she had been to meet Bob. Angry outbreaks on the part of her stepmother
+      she received in utter silence, against which the waves of Mrs. Rainham's
+      wrath spent themselves in vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, the girl lived in a kind of waking dream of happy anticipation,
+      beside which none of the trials of life in Lancaster Gate had power to
+      trouble her. For on her first stolen visit to Mr. M'Clinton's office the
+      wonderful plan of flight to Australia had been revealed to her, and the
+      joy of the prospect blotted out everything else. Mr. M'Clinton, watching
+      her face, had been amazed by the wave of delight that had swept over it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You like it, then?&rdquo; he had said. &ldquo;You are not afraid to go so far?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Afraid&mdash;with Bob? Oh, the farther I can get from England the
+      better,&rdquo; she had answered. &ldquo;I have no friends here; nothing to leave,
+      except the memory of two bad years. And out there I should feel safe&mdash;she
+      could not get a policeman to bring me back.&rdquo; There was no need to ask who
+      &ldquo;she&rdquo; was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had made her preparations secretly. She had not much to do&mdash;Aunt
+      Margaret had always kept her well dressed, and the simple and pretty
+      things she had worn two years before, and which had never been unpacked
+      since she put on mourning for her aunt, still fitted her, and were
+      perfectly good. It had never seemed worth while to leave off wearing
+      mourning in Lancaster Gate&mdash;only when Bob had come home had she
+      unpacked some of her old wardrobe. Much was packed still, and in store
+      under Mr. M'Clinton's direction, together with many of Aunt Margaret's
+      personal possessions. It was as well that it was so, since Mrs. Rainham
+      had managed to annex a proportion of Cecilia's things for Avice. To
+      Lancaster Gate she had only taken a couple of trunks, not dreaming of
+      staying there more than a short time. So packing and flitting would be
+      easy, given ordinary luck and the certain co-operation of Eliza. Her few
+      necessary purchases had been made on one of her hurried excursions with
+      Bob; she had not dared to have the things sent home, and they had been
+      consigned in a tin uniform case to Bob's care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She pondered over his note now, knitting her brows. It would be easy
+      enough to act defiantly and go at once; but if this meant that the final
+      flight were near at hand she did not wish to excite anew her stepmother's
+      anger and suspicion. Then, as she hesitated, she heard a heavy step on the
+      stairs, and she crushed the note hurriedly into her pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Rainham came into the room without the formality of knocking&mdash;a
+      formality she had never observed where Cecilia was concerned. The
+      afternoon post had just come, and she carried some letters in her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia, I want you to put on your things and go to Balding's for me,&rdquo;
+       she said, her voice more civil than it had been for a month. &ldquo;I'm asked up
+      to Liverpool for a few days; my sister there is giving a big At Home&mdash;an
+      awfully big thing, with the Lady Mayoress and all the Best People at it&mdash;and
+      she wants me to go up. I suppose she'll want me to sing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is nice,&rdquo; said Cecilia, speaking with more truth than Mrs. Rainham
+      guessed. &ldquo;What will you wear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's just it,&rdquo; said her stepmother eagerly. &ldquo;My new evening dress isn't
+      quite finished&mdash;we ran short of trimming. I can't go out, because the
+      Simons are coming in to afternoon tea; so you just hurry and go over to
+      Balding's to match it. I got it there, and they had plenty. Here's a bit.&rdquo;
+       She held out a fragment of gaudy sequin trimming. &ldquo;I think you could
+      finish the dress without me getting in the dressmaker again&mdash;she's
+      that run after she makes a regular favour of coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said Cecilia&mdash;who would, at the moment, have agreed to
+      sew anything or everything that might hasten her stepmother's journey.
+      &ldquo;When do you go?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The day after to-morrow. I'll stay there a few days, I suppose; not worth
+      going so far for only one evening. Mind, Cecilia, you're not to have Bob
+      here while I'm away. When I come back, if I'm satisfied with you, I'll see
+      about asking him again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very good of you,&rdquo; said the girl slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's all right&mdash;you hurry and get ready; there's always a
+      chance they may have sold out, because it was a bargain line, and if they
+      have you'll have to try other places. I don't know what on earth I'll do
+      if you can't match it.&rdquo; She turned to go, and then hesitated. &ldquo;I was
+      thinking you might take Avice with you&mdash;but you'll get about quicker
+      alone, and she isn't ready. The tubes and buses are that crowded it's no
+      catch to take a child about with you.&rdquo; In moments of excitement Mrs.
+      Rainham's English was apt to slip from her. At other times she cultivated
+      it carefully, assisted by a dramatic class, which an enthusiastic maiden
+      lady, with leanings towards the stage, conducted each winter among
+      neighbouring kindred souls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia had caught her breath in alarm, but she breathed a sigh of relief
+      as the stout, over-dressed figure went down the narrow stairs, with a
+      final injunction to hurry. There was, indeed, no need to give Cecilia that
+      particular command. She scribbled one word, &ldquo;Coming,&rdquo; on Bob's note,
+      thrust it into an envelope and addressed it hastily, and then tapped on
+      the wall between the servants' room and her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eliza appeared with the swiftness of a Jack-in-the-box, full of suppressed
+      excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lor! I fought she was never goin',&rdquo; she breathed. &ldquo;Got it ready, Miss?
+      The boy'll fink I've gorn an' eloped wiv it.&rdquo; She took the envelope and
+      pattered swiftly downstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A very few moments saw Cecilia flying in her wake&mdash;to Balding's
+      first, as quickly as tube and motor-bus could combine to take her, since
+      she dared not breathe freely until Mrs. Rainham's commission had been
+      settled. Balding's had never seemed so huge and so complicated, and when
+      she at length made her way to the right department the suave assistant
+      regretted that the trimming was sold out. It was Cecilia's face of blank
+      dismay that made him suddenly remember that there was possibly an odd
+      length somewhere, and a search revealed it, put away in a box of odds and
+      ends. Cecilia's thanks were so heartfelt that the assistant was mildly
+      surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For she don't seem the sort to wear ghastly stuff like that,&rdquo; he
+      pondered, glancing after the pretty figure in the well-cut coat and skirt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside the great shop Cecilia glanced up and caught the eye of a
+      taxi-driver who had just set down a fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll be extravagant for once,&rdquo; she thought. She beckoned to the man, and
+      in a moment was whirring through the streets in the peculiar comfort a
+      motor gives to anyone in a hurry in London&mdash;since it can take direct
+      routes instead of following the roundabout methods of buses and
+      underground railways. She leaned back, closing her eyes. If this summons
+      to Bob indeed meant that their sailing orders had come, she would need all
+      her wits and her coolness. For the first time she realized what her
+      stepmother's absence from home might mean&mdash;a thousandfold less
+      plotting and planning, and no risk of a horrible scene at the end. Cecilia
+      loathed scenes; they had not existed in Aunt Margaret's scheme of
+      existence. Since Bob's plans had become at all definite, she had looked
+      forward with dread to a final collision with Mrs. Rainham&mdash;it was
+      untold relief to know that it might not come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hurried up the steps of Mr. M'Clinton's office. The alert office boy&mdash;who
+      had been Bob's messenger to Lancaster Gate&mdash;met her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're to go straight in, miss. The Captain's there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob was in the inner sanctum with Mr. M'Clinton. They rose to meet her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;are you ready, young lady?&rdquo; the old man asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it&mdash;are we to sail soon?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Next Saturday&mdash;and this is Monday. Can you manage it, Tommy?&rdquo; Bob's
+      eyes were dancing with excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Bobby&mdash;truly?&rdquo; She caught at his coat sleeve. &ldquo;When did you
+      hear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a wire from General Harran this morning. A jolly good ship, too,
+      Tommy; one of the big Australian liners&mdash;the Nauru. You're all ready,
+      aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. And there's the most tremendous piece of luck, Bobby&mdash;Mrs.
+      Rainham's going away on Wednesday!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Going away! How more than tactful!&rdquo; ejaculated Bob. &ldquo;Where is she going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Liverpool.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Liverpool? Oh, by Jove!&rdquo; Bob ended on a low whistle, while his face
+      assumed a comical expression of dismay. He turned to the lawyer. &ldquo;Did you
+      ever hear of anything so queer?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Queer? Why?&rdquo; demanded Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it looks as if she wanted to see the last of you, that's all. The
+      Nauru sails from Liverpool.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bobby!&rdquo; Cecilia's face fell. &ldquo;I thought we went from Gravesend or
+      Tilbury, or somewhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So did I. But the General's wire says Liverpool, so it seems we don't,&rdquo;
+       said Bob. &ldquo;And that she-dragon is going there too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think you need really worry,&rdquo; Mr. M'Clinton said drily.
+      &ldquo;Liverpool is not exactly a village. The chances are that if you went
+      there, trying to meet some one, you would hunt for him for a week in vain.
+      And you'll probably go straight from the train to the docks, so that you
+      won't be in the least likely to encounter Mrs. Rainham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course, we'd never run into her in a huge place like Liverpool,&rdquo;
+       Bob said, laughing. &ldquo;Don't be afraid, Tommy&mdash;you'll have seen the
+      last of her when you say good-bye on Wednesday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems too good to be true,&rdquo; said Cecilia solemnly. &ldquo;I remember how I
+      felt once before, when she went away to visit her sister in Liverpool; the
+      beautiful relief when one woke, to think that not all through the day
+      would one even have to look at her. It's really very terrible to look at
+      her often; her white face and hard eyes seem to fascinate one. Oh, I don't
+      suppose I ought to talk like that, especially here.&rdquo; She looked
+      shamefacedly at Mr. M'Clinton, and blushed scarlet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both men laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The good lady had something of the same effect on me,&rdquo; Mr. M'Clinton
+      admitted. &ldquo;I found her a very terrible person. Cheer up, Miss Tommy,
+      you've nearly finished with her. And, now, what about getting you away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia turned to her brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What am I to do, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll have to go to Liverpool on Friday,&rdquo; Bob replied promptly. &ldquo;I can't
+      find out the Nauru's sailing time, and it isn't safe to leave it until
+      Saturday. There's a train somewhere about two o'clock that gets up
+      somewhere about seven or eight that evening. Mr. M'Clinton and I don't
+      want to leave it to the last moment to get your luggage away from
+      Lancaster Gate. Can you have it ready the night before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would really be safer to take it in the afternoon,&rdquo; Cecilia said after
+      a moment's thought. &ldquo;Mrs. Rainham's absence will make that quite easy, for
+      I know I can depend upon Eliza and Cook. I can get my trunks ready, leave
+      them in my room, and tell Eliza you will be there to call for them, say,
+      at four o'clock. Then I take the three children out for a walk, and when
+      we return everything is gone. Will that do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;And four o'clock suits me all right.
+      Then you'll saunter out on Friday morning with an inoffensive brown paper
+      parcel containing the rest of your worldly effects, and meet me for lunch
+      at the Euston Hotel. Is that clear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite. I suppose I had better put no address on my trunks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a line&mdash;I'll see to that. And don't even mention the word
+      'Australia' this week, just in case your eye dances unconsciously, and
+      sets people thinking! I think you'd better cultivate a downtrodden look,
+      at any rate until Mrs Rainham is out of the house; at present you look far
+      too cheerful to be natural&mdash;doesn't she, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have to see to it that she does not look downtrodden again, after
+      this week,&rdquo; said Mr. M'Clinton. &ldquo;Remember that, Captain&mdash;she's going
+      a long way, and she'll have no one but you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, sir. But, bless you, it's me that will look downtrodden,&rdquo; said
+      Bob with a grin. &ldquo;She bullies me horribly&mdash;always did.&rdquo; He slipped
+      his hand through her arm, and they looked up at him with such radiant
+      faces that the old man smiled involuntarily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I think you'll be all right,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Remember, Miss Tommy, I'll
+      expect to hear from you&mdash;fairly often, too. I shall not say good-bye
+      now&mdash;you'll see me on Friday at luncheon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They found themselves down in the grey precincts of Lincoln's Inn, which,
+      it may be, had rarely seen two young things prancing along so dementedly.
+      In the street they had to sober down, to outward seeming; but there was
+      still something about them, as they hurried off to find a teashop to
+      discuss final details, that made people turn to look at them. Even the
+      waitress beamed on them, and supplied them with her best cakes&mdash;and
+      London waitresses are a bored race. But at the moment, neither Cecilia nor
+      Bob could have told you whether they were eating cakes or sausages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The money is all right,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;It'll be available at a Melbourne
+      bank when we get there; and meanwhile, there's plenty of ready money, with
+      what I've saved and my war gratuity. So if you want anything, Tommy, you
+      just say so, and don't go without any pretties just because you think
+      we'll be in the workhouse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless you&mdash;but I don't really need anything,&rdquo; she told him
+      gratefully. &ldquo;It would be nice to have a little money to spend at the
+      ports, but I think we ought to keep the rest for Australia, don't you,
+      Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, of course; but you're not to go without a few pounds if you want
+      'em,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;And, Tommy, don't leave meeting me on Friday until lunch
+      time. I'll be worrying if you do, just in case things may have gone wrong.
+      Make it eleven o'clock at the Bond Street tube exit, and if you're not
+      there in half an hour I'll jolly well go and fetch you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll be there,&rdquo; Cecilia nodded. &ldquo;You had better give me the half-hour's
+      grace, though, in case I might be held up at the last moment. One never
+      knows&mdash;and Avice and Wilfred are excellent little watchdogs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anyhow, you won't have the she-dragon to reckon with, and that's a big
+      thing,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;I don't see how you can have any trouble&mdash;Papa
+      certainly will not give you any.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he won't bother,&rdquo; said Cecilia slowly. &ldquo;It's queer to think how
+      little he counts&mdash;our own father.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A pretty shoddy apology for one, I think,&rdquo; Bob said bitterly. &ldquo;What has
+      he ever done for us? But I'd forgive him that when I can't forgive him
+      something else&mdash;the way he has let you be treated these two years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He hasn't known everything, Bobby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has known quite enough. And if he had the spirit of a man he'd have
+      saved you from it. No; we don't owe him any consideration, Tommy; and he
+      saw to it years ago that we should never owe him any affection. So we
+      really needn't worry our heads about him. By the way, there are to be some
+      Australians on the Nauru who General Harran says may be of use to us&mdash;I
+      don't remember their names, but he's going to give me a letter to them.
+      And probably there will be some other flying people whom I may know. I
+      think the voyage ought to be rather good fun.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think so, too. It will be exciting to be on a troopship,&rdquo; Cecilia said.
+      &ldquo;But, then, anything will be heavenly after Lancaster Gate!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hurried home, as soon as the little meal was over, knowing that Mrs.
+      Rainham would be impatiently awaiting her. Luckily, her success in
+      matching the trimming made her stepmother forget how long she had been
+      away; and from that moment until a welcome four-wheeler removed the
+      mistress of the house on Wednesday, she sewed and packed for her
+      unceasingly. Her journey excited Mrs. Rainham greatly. She talked almost
+      affably of her sister's grandeur, and of the certainty of meeting wealthy
+      and gorgeously dressed people at her party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not that I'll be at all ashamed of my dress,&rdquo; she added, looking at the
+      billowy waves on which Cecilia was plastering yet more trimming. &ldquo;Unusual
+      and artistic, that's what it is; and it'll show off my hair. Don't forget
+      the darning when I'm gone, Cecilia. There's a tablecloth to mend, as well
+      as the stockings. I'll be home on Saturday night, unless they persuade me
+      to stay over the week-end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia nodded, sewing busily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And just see if you can't get on a bit better with the children. You've
+      got to make allowances for their high spirits, and treat them tactfully.
+      Of course you can't expect them to be as obedient to you as they would be
+      to a regular governess, you being their own half-sister, and not so much
+      older than Avice, after all. But tact does wonders, especially with
+      children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Cecilia, and said no more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, just bear it in mind. I don't suppose you'll see much of your
+      father, so you needn't worry about him. But don't let Eliza gossip and
+      idle; she never does any work if she's not kept up to it, and you know
+      you're much too familiar with her. Always keep girls like her at a
+      distance, and they'll work all the better, that's what I say. Treat her as
+      an equal, and the next thing you know she'll be trying on your hats!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't caught Eliza at that yet,&rdquo; said Cecilia with the ghost of a
+      smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It'll come, though, if you're not more stand-offish with her&mdash;you
+      mark my words. Keep them in their place&mdash;that's what I always do with
+      my servants and governesses,&rdquo; said Mrs. Rainham without the slightest idea
+      that she was saying anything peculiar. &ldquo;Now, I'll go and put my things out
+      on my bed, and as soon as you've finished that you can come up and pack
+      for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia stood at the hall door that afternoon to watch her go&mdash;bustling
+      into the cab, with loud directions to the cabman, her hard face full of
+      self-importance and satisfaction. The plump hand waved a highly scented
+      handkerchief as the clumsy four-wheeler moved off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To think I'll never see you again!&rdquo; breathed the girl. &ldquo;It seems too good
+      to be true!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A kind of wave of relief seemed to have descended upon the house. The
+      children were openly exulting in having no one to obey; an attitude which,
+      in the circumstances, failed to trouble their half-sister. Eliza went
+      about her work with a cheery face; even Cook, down in the basement,
+      manifested lightness of heart by singing love songs in a cracked soprano
+      and by making scones for afternoon tea. Mark Rainham did not come home
+      until late&mdash;he had announced his intention of dining at his club.
+      Late in the evening he sauntered into the dining-room, where Cecilia sat
+      sewing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still at it?&rdquo; he asked. He sat down and poked the fire. &ldquo;What are you
+      sewing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just darning,&rdquo; Cecilia told him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat looking at her for a while&mdash;at the pretty face and the
+      well-tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull
+      brain?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look a bit pale,&rdquo; he said at last. &ldquo;Do you go out enough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I think so,&rdquo; Cecilia answered in astonishment. Not in two years
+      had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her to a sudden
+      resolve. She had never been quite satisfied to leave him without a word;
+      whatever he was, he was still her father. She put her darning on her knee,
+      and looked at him gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;he told me so,&rdquo; Mark Rainham answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you know he wants to take me away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes&mdash;but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid. You're under age,
+      and your stepmother won't hear of it.&rdquo; He poked the fire savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if Bob could make a home for me! We have always been together, you
+      know, Papa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, well&mdash;wait and see. Time enough when you're twenty-one, and your
+      own mistress; Bob will have had a chance to make good by then. I&mdash;I
+      can't oppose my wife in the matter&mdash;she says she's not strong enough
+      to do without your help.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But she never seems satisfied with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark Rainham rose with an irritably nervous movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no one is ever perfect. I suspect, if each of you went a little way
+      to meet the other, things would be better. Your stepmother says her nerves
+      are all wrong, and I'm sure you do take a great deal of trouble off her
+      shoulders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you won't let me go?&rdquo; The girl's low voice was relentless, and her
+      father wriggled as though he were a beetle and she were pinning him down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;I'm afraid it's out of the question, Cecilia. I should have to be
+      very satisfied first that Bob could offer you a home&mdash;and by that
+      time he'll probably be thinking of getting married, and won't want you.
+      Why can't you settle down comfortably to living at home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't any home for me apart from Bob,&rdquo; said the girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I can't help it.&rdquo; Mark Rainham's voice had a hopeless tone. He
+      walked to the door, and then half turned. &ldquo;If you can make my wife agree
+      to your going, I won't forbid it. Good night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good night,&rdquo; said Cecilia. The slow footsteps went up the stairs, and she
+      turned to her darning with a lip that curled in scorn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that let's me out. I don't owe you anything&mdash;not even a
+      good-bye note on my pincushion,&rdquo; she said presently; and laughed a little.
+      She folded a finished pair of socks deliberately, and, rising, stretched
+      her arms luxuriously above her head. &ldquo;Two more days,&rdquo; she whispered. She
+      switched off the light, and crept noiselessly upstairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE WATCH DOGS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if you ask me, she's up to something,&rdquo; said Avice with conviction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How d'you mean?&rdquo; Wilfred looked up curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lots of things. She looks all different. First of all&mdash;look how red
+      she is all the time, and the excited look in her eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all look&mdash;look!&rdquo; jeered her brother. &ldquo;Girls always have those
+      rotten ideas about nothing at all. Just because Cecilia's got a bit
+      sunburnt, and because she's havin' an easy time 'cause Mater's away&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you think because you're a boy, you know everything,&rdquo; retorted his
+      sister hotly. &ldquo;You just listen, and see if I've got rotten ideas. Did you
+      know, she's kept her room locked for days?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;if she has? That's nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shut up and let me go on. Yesterday she forgot, and left it open
+      while she was down talking to Cook, and I slipped in. And there was one of
+      her great big trunks, that she always keeps in the box room, half-packed
+      with her things. I nicked this necklace out of it, too,&rdquo; said Avice with
+      triumph, producing a quaint string of Italian beads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good business,&rdquo; said Wilfred with an appreciative grin. &ldquo;Did she catch
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not she&mdash;I can tell you I didn't wait long, 'cause she always comes
+      upstairs as quick as lightning. She did come, too, in an awful hurry, and
+      locked up the room&mdash;I only got out of the way just in time. And every
+      minute she could, yesterday, she was up there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't see much in that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but look here, I got another chance of looking into her room this
+      morning, and that trunk was gone!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone back to the box-room,&rdquo; said Wilfred with superiority.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it wasn't&mdash;I went up and looked. And her other trunk's not
+      there, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you're dreaming! I bet she'd just pushed it under her bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pooh!&rdquo; said Avice. &ldquo;That great big trunk wouldn't go under her bed&mdash;you
+      know she's only got a little stretcher-bed. And I tell you they'd both
+      gone. I bet you anything she's going to run away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where'd she run to?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, somewhere with Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, let her go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and Mater 'd have to spend ever so much on a new governess; and most
+      likely she'd be a worse beast than Cecilia. And no governess we ever had
+      did half the things Mater makes Cecilia do to help in the house. Why she's
+      like an extra servant, as well as a governess. Mater told me all about it.
+      I tell you what, Wilfred, it's our business to see she doesn't run away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said Wilfred, &ldquo;I suppose we'd better watch out. When do you
+      reckon she'd go? People generally run away at night, don't they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, anyone can see she's just taking advantage of Mater being away.
+      Yes, of course she'd go at night. She might have sent her boxes away
+      yesterday by a carrier&mdash;I bet that horrid little Eliza would help
+      her. Ten to one she means to sneak out to-night&mdash;she knows Mater will
+      be home to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a sell it will be for her if we catch her!&rdquo; said Wilfred with glee.
+      &ldquo;I say, what about telling Pater?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Avice looked sour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did tell him something yesterday, and he only growled at me. At least,
+      I said, 'Do you think Cecilia would ever be likely to run away?' And he
+      just stared at me, and then he said, 'Not your business if she does.' So
+      I'm not going to speak to him again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'd better take it in turns to watch her,&rdquo; Wilfred said. &ldquo;After
+      dark's the most likely time, I suppose, but we'd better be on the look-out
+      all the time. Where's she now, by the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, I don't know. I say, she's been away a long time&mdash;I never
+      noticed,&rdquo; said Avice, in sudden alarm. &ldquo;She said we were to go on with our
+      French exercises&mdash;and that's ages ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on and see,&rdquo; said Wilfred jumping up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside the room he caught Avice by the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Kick off your shoes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We'll sneak up to her room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They crept up silently. The door of Cecilia's room was ajar. Peeping in,
+      they saw her standing before her tiny looking-glass, pinning on her hat. A
+      small parcel lay upon her bed, with her gloves and parasol. The children
+      were very silent&mdash;but something struck upon the girl's tightly strung
+      nerves. She turned swiftly and saw them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;How dare you come into my room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, we thought you were lost,&rdquo; said Avice. &ldquo;We finished our French ages
+      ago. Where are you going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going out,&rdquo; said Cecilia. &ldquo;I'll set you more work to do while I'm
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But where are you going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That has nothing to do with you. Come down to the schoolroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Avice held her brother firmly by the arm. Together they blocked the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mater wouldn't let you go out in lesson time. I believe you're going to
+      run away!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A red spot flamed in each of Cecilia's white cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stand out of my way, you little horrors!&rdquo; she said angrily. She caught up
+      her things and advanced upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm hanged if you're going,&rdquo; said Wilfred doggedly. He pushed her back
+      violently, and slammed the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attic doors in Lancaster Gate, like those of many London houses, were
+      fitted with heavy iron bolts on the outside&mdash;a precaution against
+      burglars who might enter the house by rooms ordinarily little used. It was
+      not the first time that Cecilia had been bolted into her room by her
+      step-brother. When first she came, it had been a favourite pastime to make
+      her a prisoner&mdash;until their mother had made it an offence carrying a
+      heavy penalty, since it had often occurred that Cecilia was locked up when
+      she happened to need her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But this time Cecilia heard the heavy bolt shoot home with feelings of
+      despair. It was already time for her to leave the house. Bob would be
+      waiting for her in Bond Street, impatiently scanning each crowd of
+      passengers that the lift shot up from underground. She battered at the
+      door wildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me out! How dare you, Wilfred? Let me out at once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wilfred laughed disagreeably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not if we know it&mdash;eh, Avice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather not,&rdquo; said Avice. &ldquo;What d'you think Mater'd say to us if we let
+      you run away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense!&rdquo; said Cecilia, controlling her voice with difficulty. &ldquo;I was
+      going to meet Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was silence, and a whispered consultation. Then Avice spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you give us your word of honour you weren't going to run away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Words of honour meant little to the young Rainhams. But they knew that
+      Cecilia held it as a commonplace of decent behaviour that people did not
+      tell lies. They had, indeed, often marvelled that she preferred to &ldquo;take
+      her gruel&rdquo; rather than use any ready untruth that would have shielded her
+      from their mother's wrath. Avice and Wilfred had no such scruples on their
+      own account: but they knew that they could depend upon Cecilia's word.
+      They were, indeed, just a little afraid of their own action in locking her
+      up; their mother might have condoned it as &ldquo;high spirits,&rdquo; but their
+      father was not unlikely to take a different view. So they awaited her
+      reply with some anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia hesitated. Never in her life had she been so tempted. Perhaps
+      because the temptation was so strong she answered swiftly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;I won't tell you anything of the kind. But look here&mdash;if
+      you will let me out I'll give you each ten shillings.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ten shillings! It was wealth, and the children gasped. Wilfred, indeed,
+      would have shot back the bolt instantly. It was Avice who caught at his
+      arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you!&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;It'll cost heaps more than that to get a new
+      governess&mdash;and we'll make Mater give us each ten shillings for
+      keeping her. I say, we'll have to get the Pater home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How?&rdquo; Wilfred looked at her blankly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Easy. You go to the post office and telephone to him at his office. Tell
+      him to come at once. I'll watch here, in case Eliza lets her out. Run&mdash;hard
+      as you can. Mater'll never forgive us if she gets away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wilfred clattered off obediently, awed by his sister's urgency. Avice sat
+      down on the head of the stairs, close to the bolted door; and when Cecilia
+      spoke again, repeating her offer, she answered her in a voice unpleasantly
+      like her mother's:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you don't, my fine lady. Wilfred's gone for the Pater&mdash;he'll be
+      here presently. You just stay there quietly till he comes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Avice!&rdquo; The word was a wail. &ldquo;Oh, you don't know how important it is&mdash;let
+      me out. I'll give you anything in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So'll Mater if I stop your little game,&rdquo; said Avice. &ldquo;You just keep
+      quiet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Eliza's sharp little face appeared at the foot of the flight of stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wot's up, Miss Avice? Anyfink wrong with Miss 'Cilia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing to do with you,&rdquo; said Avice rudely. &ldquo;I'm looking after her.&rdquo; But
+      Cecilia's sharp ears had caught the new voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eliza! Eliza!&rdquo; she called.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl came up the stairs uncertainly. Avice rose to confront her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, you just keep off,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You're not coming past here. The
+      master'll be home directly, and till he comes, no one's going up these
+      stairs.&rdquo; She raised her voice, to drown that of Cecilia, who was speaking
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Eliza looked at her doubtfully. She was an undersized, wizened little
+      Cockney, and Avice was a big, stoutly-built girl&mdash;who held, moreover,
+      the advantage of a commanding position on the top step. In an encounter of
+      strength there was little doubt as to who would win. She turned in
+      silence, cowed, and went down to the kitchen, while Avice sang a
+      triumphant song, partly as a chant of victory, and partly to make sure
+      that no one would hear the remarks that Cecilia was steadily making. She
+      herself had caught one phrase&mdash;&ldquo;Tell my brother&rdquo;&mdash;and her sharp
+      little mind was busy. Did that mean that Bob would be coming, against its
+      mistress's orders, to Lancaster Gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the kitchen Eliza poured out a frantic appeal to Cook.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's got Miss 'Cilia locked up&mdash;the little red-'eaded cat! An'
+      Master Wilfred gorn to fetch the Master! Oh, come on, Cookie darlin', an'
+      we'll let 'er out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cook shook her head slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not good enough,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I got a pretty good place. I ain't goin' to
+      risk it by 'avin' a rough-an'-tumble with the daughter of the 'ouse on the
+      hattic stairs. You better leave well alone, Liza. You done your bit,
+      'elpin' 'er git them trunks orf yes'day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wot's the good of 'avin the trunks off if she can't go, too?&rdquo; demanded
+      Eliza.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, she'll git another chance. Don't worry your 'ead so much over other
+      people's business. If the Master comes 'ome an' finds us scruffin' 'is
+      daughter, 'e'll 'and us both over to the police for assault&mdash;an' then
+      you'll 'ave cause for worry. Now you git along like a good gel&mdash;I got
+      to mike pastry.&rdquo; Cook turned away decisively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wilfred had come home and had raced up the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you get him?&rdquo; Avice cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;he was out. So I left a message that he was to come home at
+      once, 'cause something was wrong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That'll bring him,&rdquo; said Avice with satisfaction. &ldquo;Now, look here, Wilf&mdash;I
+      believe Bob may come. You go and be near the front door, to block Eliza,
+      if he does. Answer any ring.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What'll I say if he comes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say she's gone out to meet him&mdash;if he thinks that, he'll hurry back
+      to wherever they were to meet. Don't give him a chance to get in. Hurry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right,&rdquo; said Wilfred, obeying. He sat down in a hall chair, and took up a
+      paper, with an eye wary for Eliza. Half an hour passed tediously, while
+      upstairs Cecilia begged and bribed in vain. Then he sprang to his feet as
+      a ring came.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob was at the door; and suddenly Wilfred realized that he had always been
+      afraid of Bob. He quailed inwardly, for never had he seen his half-brother
+      look as he did now&mdash;with a kind of still, terrible anger in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's Cecilia?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone out,&rdquo; said the boy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone to meet you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did she tell you so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, of course&mdash;how'd I know if she didn't?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then that's a lie, for she wouldn't tell you. Let me in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you, she's gone out,&rdquo; said Wilfred, whose only spark of remaining
+      courage was due to the fact that he had prudently kept the door on the
+      chain. &ldquo;And Mater said you weren't to come in here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From the area below a shrill voice floated upwards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Bob! Mr. Bob! Daon't you believe 'im. They got Miss 'Cilia locked up
+      in 'er room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove!&rdquo; said Bob between his teeth. &ldquo;Bless you, Eliza! Open that door,
+      Wilfred, or I'll make it hot for you.&rdquo; He thrust a foot into the opening,
+      with a face so threatening that Wilfred shrank back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shan't,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You're not going to get her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I not?&rdquo; said Bob. He leaned back, and then suddenly flung all his
+      weight against the door. The chain was old and the links eaten with rust&mdash;it
+      snapped like a carrot, and the door flew open. Bob brushed Wilfred out of
+      his way, and went upstairs, three at a time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Avice blocked his path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You aren't coming up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I think so,&rdquo; Bob said. He stooped, with a quick movement, and
+      picked her up, holding her across his shoulder, while she beat and clawed
+      unavailingly at his back. So holding her, he thrust back the bolt of
+      Cecilia's door and flung it open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you think they had got you, Tommy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She could only cling to his free arm for a moment speechless. Then she
+      lifted her face, her voice shaking, still in fear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must hurry, Bob. They've sent for Papa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have they?&rdquo; said Bob, with interest. &ldquo;Well, not a regiment of papas
+      should stop you now, old girl. Got everything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia gathered up her things, nodding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we'll leave this young lady here,&rdquo; said Bob. He placed Avice
+      carefully on Cecilia's bed, and made for the door, having the pleasure, as
+      he shot the bolt, of hearing precisely what the younger Miss Rainham
+      thought of him and all his attributes, including his personal appearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nice gift of language, hasn't she?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Inherits it from her
+      mamma, I should think.&rdquo; He put his arm round Cecilia and held her closely
+      as they went downstairs, his face full of the joy of battle. Wilfred was
+      nowhere to be seen, but by the door Eliza waited. Bob slipped something
+      into her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect you'll lose your place over this, Eliza,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, you'll
+      get a better&mdash;I'll tell my lawyer to see to that. He'll write to you&mdash;by
+      the way, what's your surname? Oh, Smithers&mdash;I'll remember. And thank
+      you very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They shook hands with her, and passed out into the street. Cecilia was
+      still too shaken to speak&mdash;but as Bob pulled her hand through his arm
+      and hurried her along, her self-control returned, and the face that looked
+      up at his presently was absolutely content. Bob returned the look with a
+      little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn't you know I'd come?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;You dear old stupid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew you'd come&mdash;but I thought Papa would get there first,&rdquo;
+       Cecilia answered. &ldquo;Somehow, it seemed the end of everything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't&mdash;it's only the beginning,&rdquo; Bob answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a narrow side street that made a short cut from the tube station
+      to the Rainhams' home; and as they passed it Mark Rainham came hurrying up
+      it. Bob and Cecilia did not see him. He looked at them for a moment, as if
+      reading the meaning of the two happy faces&mdash;and then shrank back into
+      an alley and remained hidden until his son and daughter had passed out of
+      sight. They went on their way, without dreaming that the man they dreaded
+      was within a stone's throw of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it was that,&rdquo; said Mark Rainham slowly, looking after them. &ldquo;Out of
+      gaol, are you&mdash;poor little prisoner! Well, good luck to you both!&rdquo; He
+      turned on his heel, and went back to his office.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're nearly in, Tommy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia looked up from her corner with a start, and the book she had been
+      trying to read slipped to the floor of the carriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe you were asleep,&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;Poor old Tommy, are you
+      very tired?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, nothing, really. Only I was getting a bit sleepy,&rdquo; his sister
+      answered. &ldquo;Are we late, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very, the conductor says. This train generally makes a point of being
+      late. I wish it had made a struggle to be on time to-night; it would have
+      been jolly to get to the ship in daylight.&rdquo; Bob was strapping up rugs
+      briskly as he talked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do we get down to the ship, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no doubt there'll be taxis,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;But it may be no end of a
+      drive&mdash;the conductor tells me there are miles and miles of docks, and
+      the Nauru may be lying anywhere. But he says there's always a military
+      official on duty at the station&mdash;a transport officer, and he'll be
+      able to tell me everything.&rdquo; He did not think it worth while to tell the
+      tired little sister what another man had told him, that it was very
+      doubtful whether they would be allowed to board any transport at night,
+      and that Liverpool was so crowded that to find beds in it might be an
+      impossibility. Bob refused to be depressed by the prospect. &ldquo;If the worst
+      came to the worst, there'd be a Y.W.C.A. that would take in Tommy,&rdquo; he
+      mused. &ldquo;And it wouldn't be the first time I've spent a night in the open.&rdquo;
+       Nothing seemed to matter now that they had escaped. But, all the same,
+      there seemed no point in telling Tommy, who was extremely cheerful, but
+      also very white-faced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They drew into an enormous station, where there seemed a dense crowd of
+      people, but no porters at all. Bob piled their hand luggage on the
+      platform, and left Cecilia to guard it while he went on a tour of
+      discovery. He hurried back to her presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; he said, gathering up their possessions. &ldquo;There's a big station
+      hotel opening on to the platforms. I can leave you sitting in the
+      vestibule while I gather up the heavy luggage and find the transport
+      officer. I'm afraid it's going to take some time, so don't get worried if
+      I don't turn up very soon. There seem to be about fifty thousand people
+      struggling round the luggage vans, and I'll have to wait my turn. But I'll
+      be as quick as I can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry on my account,&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;This is ever so
+      comfortable. I don't mind how long you're away!&rdquo; She laughed up at him,
+      sinking into a big chair in the vestibule of the hotel. There were heavy
+      glass doors on either side that were constantly swinging to let people in
+      or out; through them could be seen the hurrying throng of people on the
+      station, rushing to and fro under the great electric lights, gathered
+      round the bookstall, struggling along under luggage, or&mdash;very
+      occasionally&mdash;moving in the wake of a porter with a barrow heaped
+      with trunks. There were soldiers everywhere, British and Australian, and
+      officers in every variety of Allied uniform.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An officer came in with a lady and two tiny boys&mdash;Cecilia recognized
+      them as having been passengers on their train. With them came an old Irish
+      priest, who had met them, and the officer left them in his care while he
+      also went off on the luggage quest. The small boys were apparently untired
+      by their journey; they immediately began to use the swinging glass doors
+      as playthings to the imminent risk of their own necks, since they were too
+      little to be noticed by anyone coming in or out, and were nearly knocked
+      flat a dozen times by the swing of the doors. The weary mother spent a
+      busy time in rescuing them, and was not always entirely successful&mdash;bumps
+      and howls testified to the doors being occasionally quicker than the boys.
+      Finally, the old priest gathered up the elder, a curly-haired, slender
+      mite, into his arms and told him stories, while his plump and solemn
+      brother curled up on his mother's knee and dozed. It was clearly long
+      after their bed-time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession of people came and went unceasingly, the glass doors always
+      aswing. In and out, in and out, men and women hurried, and just beyond the
+      kaleidoscope of the platforms moved and changed restlessly under the
+      glaring arc lights. Cecilia's bewildered mind grew weary of it all, and
+      she closed her eyes. It was some time later that she woke with a start, to
+      find Bob beside her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sleepy old thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Oh, I've had such a wild time, Tommy; to get
+      information of any kind is as hard as to get one's luggage. However, I've
+      got both. And the first thing is we can't go on board to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob! What shall we do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was rather anxious about that same thing myself,&rdquo; said Bob, &ldquo;since
+      everyone tells me that Liverpool is more jammed with people than even
+      London&mdash;which is saying something. However, we've had luck. I went to
+      ask in here, never imagining I had the ghost of a chance, and they'd just
+      had telegrams giving up two rooms. So we're quite all right; and so is the
+      luggage. I've had all the heavy stuff handed over to a carrier to be put
+      on the Nauru to-morrow morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're the great manager,&rdquo; said Cecilia comfortably. &ldquo;Where is the Nauru,
+      by the way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sitting out in the river, the transport officer says. She doesn't come
+      alongside until the morning; and we haven't to be on board until three
+      o'clock. She's supposed to pull out about six. So we really needn't have
+      left London to-day&mdash;but I think it's as well we did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, indeed,&rdquo; said Cecilia, with a shiver. &ldquo;I don't think I could have
+      stood another night in Lancaster Gate. I've been awake for three nights
+      wondering what we should do if any hitch came in our plans.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just like a woman!&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;You always jump over your hedges
+      before you come to them.&rdquo; He pulled her gently out of her chair. &ldquo;Come
+      along; I'll have these things sent up to our rooms, and then we'll get
+      some dinner&mdash;after which you'll go to bed.&rdquo; It was a plan which
+      sounded supremely attractive to his sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not even the roar and rattle of the trains under the station hotel kept
+      Cecilia awake that night. She slept, dreamlessly at first; then she had a
+      dream that she was just about to embark in a great ship for Australia;
+      that she was going up the gangway, when suddenly behind her came her
+      father and her stepmother, with Avice, Wilfred and Queenie, who all seized
+      her, and began to drag her back. She fought and struggled with them, and
+      from the top of the gangway came Mr. M'Clinton and Eliza, who tugged her
+      upwards. Between the two parties she was beginning to think she would be
+      torn to pieces, when suddenly came swooping from the clouds an areoplane,
+      curiously like a wheelbarrow, and in it Bob, who leaned out as he dived,
+      grasped her by the hair, and swung her aboard with him. They whirred away
+      over the sea; where, she did not know, but it did not seem greatly to
+      matter. They were still flying between sea and sky when she woke, to find
+      the sunlight streaming into her room, and some one knocking at her door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you awake, Tommy?&rdquo; It was Bob's voice. &ldquo;Lie still, and I'll send you
+      up a cup of tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That was very pleasant, and a happy contrast to awakening in Lancaster
+      Gate; and breakfast a little later was delightful, in a big sunny room,
+      with interesting people coming and going all the time. Bob and Cecilia
+      smiled at each other like two happy children. It was almost unbelievable
+      that they were free; away from tryanny and coldness, with no more plotting
+      and planning, and no more prying eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob went off to interview the transport officer after breakfast, and
+      Cecilia found the officer's wife with the two little boys struggling to
+      attend to her luggage, while the children ran away and lost themselves in
+      the corridors or endeavoured to commit suicide by means of the lift. So
+      Cecilia took command of them and played with them until the harassed
+      mother had finished, and came to reclaim her offspring&mdash;this time
+      with the worry lines smoothed out of her face. She sat down by Cecilia and
+      talked, and presently it appeared that she also was sailing in the Nauru.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, I thought it was only wives who were going,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I didn't
+      know sisters were permitted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe General Harran managed our passages,&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;He has
+      been very kind to my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you should have a merry voyage, for there will be scarcely any
+      young girls on board,&rdquo; said Mrs. Burton, her new friend. &ldquo;Most of the
+      women on the transports are brides, of course. Ever so many of our men
+      have married over here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are an Australian?&rdquo; Cecilia asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. My husband isn't. He was an old regular officer, and returned to
+      his regiment as soon as war broke out. I don't think there will be many
+      women on board: the Nauru isn't a family ship, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that?&rdquo; Cecilia queried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, a ship with hundreds of women and children&mdash;privates' wives and
+      families, as well as officers'. I believe they are rather awful to travel
+      on&mdash;they must be terrible in rough weather. The non-family ships
+      carry only a few officers' wives, as a rule: a much more comfortable
+      arrangement for the lucky few.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And we are among the lucky few?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. I only hope my small boys won't be a nuisance. I've never been
+      without a nurse for them until last night. However, I suppose I'll soon
+      get into their ways.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must let me help you,&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;I love babies.&rdquo; She stroked
+      Tim's curly head as she spoke: Dickie, his little brother, had suddenly
+      fallen asleep on his mother's knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Burton smiled her thanks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it is pleasant to think we shan't go on board knowing no one,&rdquo; she
+      said. &ldquo;I hope our cabins are not far apart. Oh, here is my husband; I hope
+      that means all our luggage is safely on board.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Colonel Burton came up&mdash;a pleasant soldierly man, bearing the
+      unmistakable stamp of the regular officer. They were still chatting when
+      Bob arrived, to be introduced&mdash;a ceremony which appeared hardly
+      necessary in the case of the colonel and himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've met at intervals since last night in various places where they hide
+      luggage,&rdquo; said the colonel. &ldquo;I'm beginning to turn faint at the sight of a
+      trunk!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the trunks I can't get sight of that make me tremble,&rdquo; grinned Bob.
+      &ldquo;One of mine disappeared mysteriously this morning, and finally, after a
+      breathless hunt, turned up in a lamp-room&mdash;your biggest Saratoga,
+      Tommy! Why anyone should have put it in a lamp-room seems to be a
+      conundrum that is going to excite the station for ever. But there it was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And have they really started for the ship?&rdquo; asked Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;I saw them all on a lorry, checked over my list with the
+      driver's, and found everything right, and saw him start,&rdquo; said Bob,
+      laughing. &ldquo;More than that no man may say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would simplify matters if we knew our cabin numbers,&rdquo; said Colonel
+      Burton. &ldquo;But we don't; neither does anyone, as far as I can gather, since
+      cabins appear to be allotted just as you go on board&mdash;a peculiar
+      system. Can you imagine the ghastly heap of miscellaneous luggage that
+      will be dumped on the Nauru, with frenzied owners wildly trying to sort it
+      out!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't bear thinking of,&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;Come along, Tommy, and
+      we'll explore Liverpool.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They wandered about the crowded streets of the great port, where may,
+      perhaps, be seen a queerer mixture of races than anywhere in England,
+      since ships from all over the world ceaselesly come and go up and down the
+      Mersey. Then they boarded a tram and journeyed out of the city, among
+      miles of beautiful houses, and, getting down at the terminus, walked
+      briskly for an hour, since it would be long before there would be any land
+      for them to walk on again. They got back to the hotel rather late for
+      lunch, and very hungry; and afterwards it was time to pack up their light
+      luggage and get down to the docks. General Harran had warned them to take
+      enough hand-baggage to last them several nights, since it was quite
+      possible that their cabin trunks would be swept into the baggage room, and
+      fail to turn up for a week after sailing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A taxi whisked them through streets that became more and more crowded. The
+      journey was not a long one; they turned down a slope presently, and drew
+      up before a great gate across the end of a pier where two policemen were
+      on duty to prevent the entrance of anyone without a pass. Porters were
+      there in singular numbers&mdash;England had grown quite used to being
+      without them; and Bob had just transferred their luggage to the care of a
+      cheerful lad with a barrow when Cecilia gave a little start of dismay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob, I've left my watch!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whew!&rdquo; whistled her brother. &ldquo;Where?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I washed my hands just before I left my room,&rdquo; said the shamefaced
+      Cecilia. &ldquo;I remember slipping it off my wrist beside the basin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, there's no need to worry,&rdquo; said Bob cheerfully. &ldquo;Ten to one it's
+      there still. You'll have to take the taxi and go back for it, Tommy: I
+      can't leave the luggage, and I may be wanted to show our papers, besides;
+      but you won't have any difficulty. Come along, and I'll see that the
+      policeman lets you through when you come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The constable was sympathetic. He examined Cecilia's passport, declared
+      that he would know her anywhere again, and that she had no cause for
+      anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it time? Sure, ye'll be tired of waitin' on the ould pier hours afther
+      ye get back,&rdquo; he said cheerfully. &ldquo;I know thim transports. Why, there's
+      not one of the throops marched in yet. There comes the furrst lot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A band swung round the turn of the street playing a quickstep: behind it,
+      a long line of Australian soldiers, marching at ease, each man with his
+      pack on his shoulder. A gate with a military sentry swung wide to admit
+      them, and they passed on to where a high overhead bridge carried them
+      aboard a great liner moored to the pier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis the soldiers have betther treatment than the officers whin it comes
+      to boardin' transports,&rdquo; said the friendly policeman. &ldquo;They get marched
+      straight on board. The officers and their belongin's has to wait till
+      they've gone through hivin knows what formalities. So you needn't worry,
+      miss, an' take your time. The ould ship'll be there hours yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The taxi driver appeared only too glad of further employment, and Cecilia,
+      much cheered, though still considerably ashamed of herself, leaned back
+      comfortably in the cab as they whisked through the streets. At the hotel
+      good fortune awaited her, for a chambermaid had just found her watch and
+      had brought it to the office for safe keeping. Cecilia left her thanks,
+      with something more substantial, for the girl, and hurried back to the
+      cab.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The streets seemed more thronged than ever, and presently traffic was
+      blocked by a line of marching men&mdash;more &ldquo;diggers&rdquo; on their way to the
+      transport. Cecilia's chauffeur turned back into a side street, evidently a
+      short cut. Half-way along it the taxi jarred once or twice and came to a
+      standstill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chauffeur got out and poked his head into the bonnet, performing
+      mysterious rites, while Cecilia watched him, a little anxiously. Presently
+      he came round to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm awful sorry, miss,&rdquo; he said respectfully. &ldquo;The old bus has broke
+      down. I'm afraid I can't get another move out of 'er&mdash;I'll 'ave to
+      get 'er towed to a garage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Cecilia, jumping out. &ldquo;Do you think I can find another near
+      here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You oughter pick one up easy in the street up there,&rdquo; said the chauffeur.
+      &ldquo;Plenty of 'em about 'ere. Even if you shouldn't, miss, you can get a tram
+      down to the docks&mdash;any p'liceman 'll direct you. You could walk it,
+      if you liked&mdash;you've loads of time.&rdquo; He touched his cap as she paid
+      him. &ldquo;Very sorry to let you down like this, miss&mdash;it ain't my fault.
+      All the taxis in England are just about droppin' to pieces&mdash;it'll be
+      a mercy when repair shops get goin' again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't matter,&rdquo; Cecilia said cheerfully. She decided that she would
+      walk; it would be more interesting, and the long wait on the pier would be
+      shortened. She set off happily towards the main street where the tram
+      lines ran, feeling that short cuts were not for strangers in a big city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even in the side street the shops were interesting. She came upon a
+      fascinating curio shop, and stopped a moment to look at the queer medley
+      in its window; such a medley as may be seen in any port where sailor-men
+      bring home strange things from far countries. She was so engrossed that
+      she failed to notice a woman who passed her, and then, with an astonished
+      stare, turned back. A heavy hand fell on her wrist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cecilia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned, with a little cry. Mrs. Rainham's face, inflamed with sudden
+      anger, looked into her own. The hard grasp tightened on her wrist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing here, you wicked girl? You've run away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At the moment no speech was possible to Cecilia. She twisted her arm away
+      fiercely, freeing herself with difficulty, and turning, ran, with her
+      stepmother at her heels. Once, Mrs. Rainham gasped &ldquo;Police!&rdquo; after which
+      she required all the breath to keep near the flying girl. The street was
+      quiet; only one or two interested passers-by turned to look at the race,
+      and a street urchin shouted: &ldquo;Go it, red 'ead&mdash;she's beatin' yer!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It follows naturally, when one person pursues another through city
+      streets, that the pursued falls under public suspicion and is liable to be
+      caught and held by any officious person. Cecilia felt this, and her
+      anxiety was keen as she darted round the corner into the next street,
+      looking about wildly for a means of escape. A big van, crawling across the
+      road, held Mrs. Rainham back for a moment, giving her a brief respite.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just in front of her, a block in the traffic was beginning to move. A taxi
+      was near her. She held up her hand desperately, trying to catch the
+      driver's eye. He shook his head, and she realized that he was already
+      engaged&mdash;there was a pile of luggage beside him with big labels, and
+      a familiar name struck her&mdash;&ldquo;H.M.T. Nauru.&rdquo; A girl, leaning from the
+      window of the taxi, met her glance, and Cecilia took a sudden resolve. She
+      sprang forward, her hand on the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a passenger by the Nauru. Could you take me in your car?&rdquo; she
+      gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course,&rdquo; said the other girl. &ldquo;Plenty of room, isn't there, dad?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, certainly,&rdquo; said the other occupant of the cab&mdash;a big, grizzled
+      man, who looked at the new-comer in blank amazement. He had half risen,
+      but there was no time for him to assist his self-invited guest; she had
+      opened the door and jumped in before his daughter had finished speaking.
+      Leaning forward, Cecilia saw her stepmother emerge from the traffic,
+      crimson-faced, casting wild and wrathful glances about her. Then her
+      wandering eye fell upon Cecilia, and she began to run forward. Even as she
+      did the chauffeur quickened his pace, and the taxi slid away, until the
+      running, shouting figure was lost to view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia sat back with a gasp, and began to laugh helplessly. The others
+      watched her with faces that clearly showed that they began to suspect
+      having entertained a lunatic unawares.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do beg your pardon,&rdquo; said Cecilia, recovering. &ldquo;It was inexcusable. But
+      I was running away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it seemed,&rdquo; said the big man, in a slow, pleasant voice. &ldquo;I hope it
+      wasn't from the police?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh no!&rdquo; Cecilia flushed. &ldquo;Only from my stepmother. My own taxi had just
+      broken down, and she found me, and she would have made a scene in the
+      street&mdash;and scenes are so vulgar, are they not? When I saw Nauru on
+      your luggage, you seemed to me to have dropped from heaven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at them, her pretty face pink, her eyes dancing with
+      excitement. There was something appealing about her, in the big childish
+      eyes, and in the well-bred voice with its faint hint of a French accent.
+      The girl she looked at could hardly have been called pretty&mdash;she was
+      slender and long-limbed, with honest grey eyes and a sensitive mouth that
+      seemed always ready to break into smiles. A little smile hovered at its
+      corners now, but her voice held a note of protection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we need bother you to tell us,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;In our country
+      it's a very ordinary thing to give anyone a lift, if you have a seat to
+      spare. Isn't it, daddy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;And we are to be fellow-passengers, so it
+      was very lucky that we were there in the nick of time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia looked at them gratefully. It might have been so different, she
+      thought; she might have flung herself on the mercy of people who would
+      have been suspicious and frigid, or of others who would have treated her
+      with familiarity and curious questioning. These people were pleasantly
+      matter-of-fact; glad to help, but plainly anxious to show her that they
+      considered her affairs none of their business. There was a little catch in
+      her throat as she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very good of you to take me on trust&mdash;I know I did an
+      unwarrantable thing. But my brother, Captain Rainham, will explain
+      everything, and he will be as grateful to you as I am. He is at the ship
+      now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then we can hand you over to his care,&rdquo; said her host. &ldquo;By the way, is
+      there any need to guard against the&mdash;er&mdash;lady you spoke of? Is
+      she likely to follow you to the docks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She doesn't know I'm going,&rdquo; said Cecilia, dimpling. &ldquo;Of course, if it
+      were in a novel she would leap into a swift motor and bid the driver
+      follow us, and be even now on our heels&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Goodness!&rdquo; said the other girl. She twisted so that she could look out of
+      the tiny window at the back; turning back with a relieved face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing near us but a carrier's van and a pony cart,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I
+      shouldn't think you need worry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. I really don't think I need. My stepmother did see me in the taxi,
+      but her brain doesn't move very swiftly, nor does she, for that matter&mdash;and
+      I'm sure she wouldn't try to follow me. She knows, too, that if she found
+      me she couldn't drag me away as if I were two years old. Oh, I'm sure I'm
+      safe from her now,&rdquo; finished Cecilia, with a sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate, if she comes to the docks she will have your brother to deal
+      with,&rdquo; said the big man. &ldquo;And here we are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They got out at the big gate where the Irish policeman greeted Cecilia
+      with a friendly &ldquo;Did ye find it now, miss?&rdquo; and beamed upon her when she
+      held up her wrist, with her watch safely in its place. He examined her
+      companions' passports, but let her through with an airy &ldquo;Sure, this young
+      lady's all right,&rdquo; which made Cecilia feel that no further proof could be
+      needed of her respectability. Then Bob came hurrying to meet her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was just beginning to get uneasy about you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Did you have any
+      trouble?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My taxi broke down,&rdquo; Cecilia answered. &ldquo;But this lady and gentleman most
+      kindly gave me a seat, and saved me ever so much trouble. I'll tell you my
+      story presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob turned, saluting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks, awfully,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I wasn't too happy at letting my little
+      sister run about alone in a strange city, but it couldn't be helped.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm very glad we were there,&rdquo; said the big man. &ldquo;Now, can you tell me
+      where luggage should go? My son and a friend are somewhere on the pier, I
+      suppose, but it doesn't seem as though finding them would be an easy
+      matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The pier, indeed, resembled a hive in which the bees have broken loose.
+      Beside it lay the huge bulk of the transport, towering high above all the
+      dock buildings near. Already she swarmed with Australian soldiers, and a
+      steady stream was still passing aboard by the overhead gangway to the
+      blare and crash of a regimental march. The pier itself was crowded with
+      officers, with a sprinkling of women and children&mdash;most of them
+      looking impatient enough at being kept ashore instead of being allowed to
+      seek their quarters on the ship. Great heaps of trunks were stacked here
+      and there, and a crane was steadily at work swinging them aboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can't go aboard yet, nobody seems to know why,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;An
+      individual called an embarkation officer, or something of the kind, has to
+      check our passports; he was supposed to be here before three o'clock, but
+      there's no sign of him yet, and every one has to wait his convenience.
+      It's hard on the women with little children&mdash;the poor mites are
+      getting tired and cross. Luggage can be left in the care of the ship's
+      hands, to be loaded; I'll show you where, sir, if you like. Is this
+      yours?&rdquo; His eye fell on a truck-load of trunks, wheeled up by a porter,
+      and lit up suddenly as he noticed the name on their labels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;are you Mr. Linton?&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;I believe I've got a letter
+      for you, from General Harran.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I was wondering where I'd heard your name before, when your sister
+      happened to say you were Captain Rainham,&rdquo; said the big man. &ldquo;How stupid
+      of me&mdash;of course, I met Harran at my club this week, and he told me
+      about you.&rdquo; He held out his hand, and took Bob's warmly; then he turned to
+      his daughter. &ldquo;Norah, it's lucky that we have made friends with Miss
+      Rainham already, because you know she's in our care, after a fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah Linton turned with a quick smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm so glad,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I've been wondering what you would be like,
+      because we didn't know of anyone else on board.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;General Harran told my brother that you would befriend us, but I did not
+      think you would begin so early,&rdquo; Cecilia said. &ldquo;Just fancy, Bob, they
+      rescued me almost from the clutches of the she-dragon!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob jumped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't mean to say you met her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did&mdash;as soon as my cab broke down. And I lost my head and ran from
+      her like a hare, and jumped into Mr. Linton's car!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob regarded her with solemn amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So this is what happens when I let you go about alone!&rdquo; he ejaculated.
+      &ldquo;Why, you might have got yourself into an awful mess&mdash;it might have
+      been anybody's car&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but it wasn't,&rdquo; said his sister serenely. &ldquo;You see, I looked at Miss
+      Linton first, and I knew it would be all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Lintons laughed unrestrainedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's your look of benevolent old age, Norah,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;I've
+      often noticed it coming on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you'd mention it to Wally,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;He might treat me with
+      more respect if you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I doubt it; it isn't in Wally,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;Now, Rainham, shall we
+      see about this luggage?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They handed it over to the care of deck hands, and watched it loaded, with
+      many other trunks, into a huge net, which the crane seized, swung to an
+      enormous height and then lowered gently upon the deck of the Nauru. Just
+      as the operation was finished two figures threaded their way through the
+      crowd towards them; immensely tall young officers, with the badge of a
+      British regiment on their caps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo, dad,&rdquo; said the taller&mdash;a good-looking grave-faced fellow,
+      with a strong resemblance to Norah. &ldquo;We hardly expected you down so
+      early.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Norah and I had nothing to do, so we thought we might as well come;
+      though it appears that we would have been wiser not to hurry,&rdquo; said Mr.
+      Linton. &ldquo;Jim, I want to introduce you to two courageous emigrants&mdash;Miss
+      Rainham, Captain Rainham&mdash;my son.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim Linton shook hands, and introduced his companion, Captain Meadows, who
+      was dark and well built, with an exceedingly merry eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've been trying to get round the powers that be, to make our way on
+      board,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The chief difficulty is that the powers that be aren't
+      there; everything is hung up waiting for this blessed official. I suppose
+      the honest man is sleeping off the effects of a heavy lunch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he knew what hearty remarks are being made about him by over two
+      hundred angry people, it might disturb his rest,&rdquo; said Wally Meadows.
+      &ldquo;Come along and see them&mdash;you're only on the fringe of the crowd
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wally's been acting as nursemaid for the last half hour,&rdquo; Jim said, as
+      they made their way along the pier. &ldquo;He rescued a curly-haired kid from a
+      watery grave&mdash;at least, it would have been in if he hadn't caught it
+      by the hind leg&mdash;and after that the kid refused to let him go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was quite a jolly kid,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;Only he seems to have quicksilver
+      in him, instead of blood. I'm sorry for his mother&mdash;she'll have a
+      packed time for the next five weeks.&rdquo; He sighed. &ldquo;Hide me, Norah&mdash;there
+      he is now!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The curly-haired one proved to be little Tim Burton, who detached himself
+      from his mother on catching sight of Wally, and trotted across to him with
+      a shrill cry of &ldquo;There's mine officer!&rdquo;&mdash;whereat Wally swung him up
+      on his shoulder, to his infinite delight. Mrs. Burton hurried up to claim
+      her offspring, and was made known to every one by Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's such an awful wait,&rdquo; she said wearily. &ldquo;We came here soon after two
+      o'clock, thinking we would get the children on board early for their
+      afternoon sleep; now it's after four, and we have stood here ever since.
+      It's too tantalizing with the ship looking at us, and the poor babies are
+      so tired. Still, I'm not the worst off. Look at that poor girl.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She pointed out a white-faced girl who was sitting in a drooping attitude
+      on a very dirty wooden case. She was dainty and refined in appearance; and
+      looking at her, one felt that the filthy case was the most welcome thing
+      she had found that afternoon. Her husband, an officer scarcely more than a
+      boy, stood beside, trying vainly to hush the cries of a tiny baby. She put
+      up her arms wearily as they looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, give her to me, Harry.&rdquo; She took the little bundle and crooned over
+      it; and the baby wailed on unceasingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Norah Linton. She took a quick stride forward. They watched her
+      accost the young mother&mdash;saw the polite, yet stiff, refusal on the
+      English girl's face; saw Norah, with a swift decided movement stoop down
+      and take the baby from the reluctant arms, putting any protest aside with
+      a laugh. A laugh went round the Linton party also.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew she'd get it,&rdquo; said Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; his friend echoed. &ldquo;But she hasn't arms enough for all the
+      babies who want mothering here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There were indeed plenty of them. Tired young mothers stood about
+      everywhere, with children ranging from a few months to three or four
+      years, all weary by this time, and most of them cross. Harassed young
+      husbands, unused to travelling with children&mdash;unused, indeed, to
+      anything but War&mdash;went hither and thither trying to hasten the
+      business of getting on board&mdash;coming back, after each useless
+      journey, to try and soothe a screaming baby or restrain a tiny boy anxious
+      to look over the edge of the pier. It was only a few minutes before
+      Cecilia had found a mother exhausted enough to yield up her baby without
+      much protest; and Jim and Wally Meadows and Bob &ldquo;adopted&rdquo; some of the
+      older children, and took them off to see the band; which diversions helped
+      to pass the time. But it was after five o'clock before a stir went round
+      the pier, and a rush of officers towards a little wooden room at the foot
+      of the gangway told that the long-waited-for official had arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we won't hurry,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;Let the married men get on
+      first.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There were not many who did not hurry. A few of the older officers kept
+      back; the majority, who were chiefly subalterns, made a dense crowd about
+      the little room, their long-pent impatience bursting out at last.
+      Passports examined, a procession began up the gangway; each man compelled
+      to halt at a barrier on top, where two officers sat allotting cabins. It
+      was difficult to see why both these preliminaries could not have been
+      managed before, instead of being left until the moment of boarding; the
+      final block strained every one's patience to breaking-point.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Lintons and the Rainhams were almost the last to board the ship,
+      having, not without thankfulness, relinquished their adopted babies. The
+      officers allotting berths nodded comprehendingly on hearing the names of
+      the two girls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yes&mdash;you're together.&rdquo; He gave them their number.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Together&mdash;how curious!&rdquo; said Cecilia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a bit; you're the only unmarried ladies on board. And they're packed
+      like sardines&mdash;not a vacant berth on the ship. Over two thousand men
+      and two hundred officers, to say nothing of wives and children.&rdquo; He leaned
+      back, thankful that his rush of work was over. &ldquo;Well, when I make a long
+      voyage I hope it won't be on a trooper!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's a bad remark to begin one's journey on,&rdquo; said Jim Linton,
+      following the girls up the gangway. &ldquo;Doesn't it scare you, Miss Rainham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she said, with a little laugh. &ldquo;Nothing would scare me except not
+      going.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, that's all right,&rdquo; he said. His hand fell on his sister's shoulder.
+      &ldquo;And what about you, Nor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The face she turned him was so happy that words were hardly needed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why&mdash;I'm going back to Billabong!&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      A path of moonlight lay across the sea. Into it drifted a great ship, her
+      engines almost stopped, so that only a dull, slow throb came up from
+      below, instead of the swift thud-thud of the screw that had pounded for
+      many weeks. It was late; so late that most of the ship's lights were
+      extinguished. But all through her was a feeling of pulsating life, of
+      unrest, of a kind of tense excitement, of long-pent expectation. There
+      were low voices everywhere; feet paced the decks; along the port railings
+      on each deck soldiers were clustered thickly, looking out across the grey,
+      tossing sea to a winking light that flashed and twinkled out of the
+      darkness like a voice that cried &ldquo;Greeting!&rdquo; For it was the Point Lonsdale
+      light, at the sea gate of Victoria; and the men of the Nauru were nearly
+      home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was little sleep for anyone on board on that last night. Most of the
+      Nauru's great company were to disembark in Melbourne; the last two days
+      had seen a general smartening up, a mighty polishing of leather and brass,
+      a &ldquo;rounding-up&rdquo; of scattered possessions. The barber's shop had been
+      besieged by shaggy crowds; and since the barber, being but human, could
+      not cope with more than a small proportion of his would-be customers,
+      amateur clipping parties had been in full swing forward, frequently with
+      terrifying results. Nobody minded. &ldquo;Git it orf, that's all that matters!&rdquo;
+       was the motto of the long-haired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one knew quite when the Nauru would berth; it was wrapped in mystery,
+      like all movements of troopships. So every one was ready the night before&mdash;kit
+      bags packed, gear stowed away, nothing left save absolute necessaries.
+      Then, with the coming of dusk, unrest settled down upon the ship, and the
+      men marched restlessly, up and down, or, gripping pipe stems between their
+      teeth, stared from the railings northwards. And then, like a star at
+      first, the Point Lonsdale light twinkled out of the darkness, and a low
+      murmur ran round the decks&mdash;a murmur without words, since it came
+      from men whose only fashion of meeting any emotion is with a joke; and
+      even for a &ldquo;digger&rdquo; there is no joke ready on the lips, but only a catch
+      at the heart, at the first glimpse of home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah Linton had tucked herself away behind a boat on the hurricane deck,
+      and there Cecilia Rainham found her just after dusk. The two girls had
+      become sworn friends during the long voyage out, in the close
+      companionship of sharing a cabin&mdash;which is a kind of acid test that
+      generally brings out the best&mdash;and worst&mdash;of travellers. There
+      was something protective in Norah's nature that responded instantly to the
+      lonely position of the girl who was going across the world to a strange
+      country. Both were motherless, but in Norah's case the blank was softened
+      by a father who had striven throughout his children's lives to be father
+      and mother alike to them, while Cecilia had only the bitter memory of the
+      man who had shirked his duty until he had become less than a stranger to
+      her. If any pang smote her heart at the sight of Norah's worshipping love
+      for the tall grey &ldquo;dad&rdquo; for whom she was the very centre of existence,
+      Cecilia did not show it. The Lintons had taken them into their little
+      circle at once&mdash;more, perhaps, by reason of Cecilia's extraordinary
+      introduction to them than through General Harran's letter&mdash;and Bob
+      and his sister were already grateful for their friendship. They were a
+      quiet quartet, devoted to each other in their undemonstrative fashion;
+      Norah was on a kind of boyish footing with Jim, the huge silent brother
+      who was a major, with three medal ribbons to his credit, and with Wally
+      Meadows, his inseparable chum, who had been almost brought up with the
+      brother and sister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were always such bricks to me, even when I was a little scrap of a
+      thing,&rdquo; she had told Cecilia. &ldquo;They never said I was 'only a girl,' and
+      kept me out of things. So I grew up more than three parts a boy. It was so
+      much easier for dad to manage three boys, you see!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't look much like a boy,&rdquo; Cecilia had said, looking at the tall,
+      slender figure and the mass of curly brown hair. They were getting ready
+      for bed, and Norah was wielding a hair-brush vigorously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but I really believe I feel like one&mdash;at least, I do whenever I
+      am with Jim and Wally,&rdquo; Norah had answered. &ldquo;And when we get back to
+      Billabong it will be just as it always was&mdash;we'll be three boys
+      together. You know, it's the most ridiculous thing to think of Jim and
+      Wally as grown-ups. Dad and I can't get accustomed to it at all. And as
+      for Jim being a major!&mdash;a major sounds so dignified and respectable,
+      and Jim isn't a bit like that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what about Captain Meadows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;Wally will simply never grow up.&rdquo; Norah laughed softly. &ldquo;He's
+      like Peter Pan. Once he nearly managed it&mdash;in that bad time when Jim
+      was a prisoner, and we thought he was killed. But Jim got back just in
+      time to save him from anything so awful. One of the lovely parts of
+      getting Jim again was to see the twinkle come back into Wally's eyes. You
+      see, Wally is practically all twinkle!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And when you get back to Australia, what will you all do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah had looked puzzled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, I don't know that we've ever thought of it,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We'll just
+      all go to Billabong&mdash;we don't seem to think further than that.
+      Anyway, you and Bob are coming too&mdash;so we can plan it all out then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Looking at her, on this last night of the voyage, Cecilia wondered whether
+      the unknown &ldquo;Billabong&rdquo; would indeed be enough, after the long years of
+      war. They had been children when they left; now the boys were seasoned
+      soldiers, with scars and honours, and such memories as only they
+      themselves could know; and Norah and her father had for years conducted
+      what they termed a &ldquo;Home for Tired People,&rdquo; where broken and weary men
+      from the front had come to be healed and tended, and sent back refitted in
+      mind and body. This girl, who leaned over the rail and looked at the Point
+      Lonsdale light, had seen suffering and sorrow; the mourning of those who
+      had given up dear ones, the sick despair of young and strong men crippled
+      in the very dawn of life; and had helped them all. Beside her, in
+      experience, Cecilia felt a child. And yet the old bush home, with its
+      simple life and the pleasures that had been everything to her in
+      childhood, seemed everything to her now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia went softly to her side, and Norah turned with a start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hallo, Tommy!&rdquo; she said, slipping her arm through the new-comer's&mdash;Cecilia
+      had become &ldquo;Tommy&rdquo; to them all in a very short time, and her hated, if
+      elegant, name left as a legacy to England. &ldquo;I didn't hear you come. Oh,
+      Tommy, it's lovely to see home again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can't see much,&rdquo; said Tommy, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but it's there. I can feel it; and that old winking eye on Point
+      Lonsdale is saying fifty nice things a minute. And I can smell the gum
+      leaves&mdash;don't you tell me I can't, Tommy, just because your nose
+      isn't tuned up to gum leaves yet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does it take long to tune a nose?&rdquo; asked Tommy, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a nice nose like yours.&rdquo; Norah gave a happy little sigh. &ldquo;Do you see
+      that glow in the sky? That's the lights of Melbourne. I went to school
+      near Melbourne, but I never loved it much; but somehow, it seems different
+      now. It's all just shouting welcomes. And back of beyond that light is
+      Billabong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to see Billabong,&rdquo; said the other girl. &ldquo;I never had a home that
+      meant anything like that&mdash;I want to see yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I suppose you'll just think it's an ordinary, untidy old place&mdash;not
+      a bit like the trim English places, where the woods look as though they
+      were swept and dusted before breakfast every morning. I suppose it is all
+      ordinary. But it has meant just everything I wanted, all my life, and I
+      can't imagine its meaning anything less now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what about Homewood&mdash;the Home for Tired People?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Homewood certainly is lovely,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;I like it better than any
+      place in the world that isn't Billabong&mdash;and it was just wonderful to
+      be able to carry it on for the Tired People: dad and I will always be
+      thankful we had the chance. But it never was home: and now it's going to
+      run itself happily without us, as a place for partly-disabled men, with
+      Colonel Hunt and Captain Hardress to manage it. It was just a single
+      chapter in our lives, and now it is closed. But we're&mdash;all of us&mdash;parts
+      of Billabong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some one came quietly along the deck and to the vacant place on her other
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who's talking Billabong again, old kiddie?&rdquo; Jim Linton's deep voice was
+      always gentle. Norah gave his shoulder a funny little rub with her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you're just as bad as I am, so you needn't laugh at me, Jimmy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wasn't laughing at you,&rdquo; Jim defended himself. &ldquo;I expected to find you
+      ever so much worse. I thought you'd sing anthems on the very word
+      Billabong all through the voyage, especially in your bath. Of course I
+      don't know what Tommy has suffered!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tommy doesn't need your sympathy,&rdquo; said that lady. &ldquo;However, she wants to
+      look her best for Melbourne, so she's going to bed. Don't hurry, Norah; I
+      know you want to exchange greetings with that light for hours yet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She slipped away, and Norah drew closer to Jim. Presently came Wally, on
+      her other side, and a few moments later a deep voice behind them said,
+      &ldquo;Not in bed yet, Norah?&rdquo;&mdash;and Wally made room for Mr. Linton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn't go to bed, dad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Apparently most of the ship is of your mind&mdash;I didn't feel like bed
+      myself,&rdquo; admitted the squatter, letting his hand rest for a moment on his
+      daughter's shoulder. He gave a great sigh of happiness. &ldquo;Eh, children,
+      it's great to be near home again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My word, isn't it!&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Only it's hard to take in. I keep fancying
+      that I'll certainly wake up in a minute and find myself in a trench, just
+      getting ready to go over the top. What do you suppose they're doing at
+      Billabong now, Nor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Asleep,&rdquo; said Norah promptly. &ldquo;Oh, I don't know&mdash;I don't believe
+      Brownie's asleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know she's not,&rdquo; Wally said. He and the old nurse-housekeeper of
+      Billabong were sworn allies; though no one could ever quite come up to Jim
+      and Norah in Brownie's heart, Wally had been a close third from the day,
+      long years back, that he had first come to the station, a lonely,
+      dark-eyed little Queenslander. &ldquo;She's made the girls scrub and polish
+      until there's nothing left for them to rub, and she's harried Hogg and Lee
+      Wing until there isn't a leaf looking crooked in all the garden, and she
+      and Murty have planned all about meeting you for the hundred and first
+      time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And she's planning to make pikelets for you!&rdquo; put in Norah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless her. I wouldn't wonder. She's planning the very wildest cooking, of
+      course&mdash;do you remember what the table used to be the night we came
+      home from school? And now she's gone round all the rooms to make sure she
+      couldn't spend another sixpence on them, and she's sitting by her window
+      trying to see us all on the Nauru. 'Specially you, old Nor.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Tis the gift of second sight you have,&rdquo; said Jim admiringly. &ldquo;A few
+      hundred years ago you'd have got yourself ducked as a witch or something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Wally and Brownie were always twin souls; no wonder each knows what
+      the other is thinking of,&rdquo; Norah said, laughing. &ldquo;It all sounds exactly
+      true, at any rate. Boys, what a pity you can't land in uniform&mdash;wouldn't
+      they all love to see you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't do it,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;Too long since we were shot out of the army; any
+      enterprising provost-marshal could make himself obnoxious about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know&mdash;but I'm sorry,&rdquo; answered Norah. &ldquo;Brownie won't be satisfied
+      unless she sees you in all your war paint.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll put it on some night for dinner,&rdquo; Jim promised. He peered suddenly
+      into the darkness. &ldquo;There's a moving light&mdash;it's the pilot steamer
+      coming out for us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They watched the light pass slowly from the dim region that meant the
+      Heads, until, as the pilot boat swung out through the Rip to where the
+      Nauru lay, her other lights grew clear, and presently her whole outline
+      loomed indistinctly, suddenly close to them. She lay to across a little
+      heaving strip of sea, and presently the pilot was being pulled across to
+      them by a couple of men and was coming nimbly up the Nauru's ladder, hand
+      over hand. He nodded cheerily at his welcome&mdash;a fusillade of
+      greetings from every &ldquo;digger&rdquo; who could find a place at the railings, and
+      a larger number who could not, but contented themselves with shouting
+      sweet nothings from behind their comrades. A lean youngster near Jim
+      Linton looked down enviously at the retreating boat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I could only slide down into her, an' nick off to the old Alvina over
+      there, I'd be home before breakfast,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Me people live at
+      Queenscliff&mdash;don't it seem a fair cow to have to go past 'em, right
+      up to Melbourne?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The pilot's head appeared above on the bridge, beside the captain's, and
+      presently the Nauru gathered way, and, slowly turning, forged through the
+      tossing waters of the Rip. Before her the twin lights of the Heads opened
+      out; soon she was gliding between them, and under the silent guns of the
+      Queenscliff forts, and past the twinkling house lights of the little
+      seaside town. There were long coo-ees from the diggers, with shrill,
+      piercing whistles of greeting for Victoria; from ashore came faint
+      answering echoes. But the four people from Billabong stood silently, glad
+      of each other's nearness, but with no words, and in David Linton's heart
+      and Norah's was a great surge of thankfulness that, out of many perils,
+      they were bringing their boys safely home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Nauru turned across Port Phillip Bay, and presently they felt the
+      engines cease, and there came the rattle of the chain as the anchor shot
+      into the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As the captain thought,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;He fancied they'd anchor us off
+      Portsea for the night and bring us up to Port Melbourne in the morning,
+      after we'd been inspected. Wouldn't it be the limit if some one developed
+      measles now, and they quarantined us!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You deserve quarantining, if ever anyone did,&rdquo; said Norah, indignantly.
+      &ldquo;Why do you have such horrible ideas?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know&mdash;they just seem to waft themselves to me,&rdquo; said Jim
+      modestly. &ldquo;Anyhow, the quarantine station is a jolly little place for a
+      holiday, and the sea view is delightful.&rdquo; He broke off, laughing, and
+      suddenly flung his arm round her shoulders in the dusk of the deck. &ldquo;I
+      think I'm just about insane at getting home,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Don't mind me, old
+      kiddie&mdash;and you'd better go to bed, or you'll be a ghost in the
+      morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They weighed anchor after breakfast, following a perfunctory medical
+      inspection&mdash;so perfunctory that one youth who, having been a medical
+      student, and knowing well that he had a finely-developed feverish cold,
+      with a high temperature, and not wishing to embarrass his
+      fellow-passengers, placed in his mouth the wrong end of the clinical
+      thermometer handed him by the visiting nurse. He sucked this gravely for
+      the prescribed time, reversing it just as she reappeared; and, being
+      marked normal and given a clean bill of health, returned to his berth to
+      shiver and perspire between huge doses of quinine. More than one such hero
+      evaded the searching eye of regulations; until finally the Nauru, free to
+      land her passengers, steamed slowly up the Bay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one the old, familiar landmarks opened out&mdash;Mornington,
+      Frankston, Mordialloc, while Melbourne itself lay hidden in a mist cloud
+      ahead. Then, as the sun grew stronger the mist lifted, and domes and
+      spires pierced the dun sky, towering above the jumbled mass of the grey
+      city. They drew closer to Port Melbourne, and lo! St. Kilda and all the
+      foreshore were gay with flags, and all the ships in the harbour were
+      dressed to welcome them; and beyond the pier were long lines of motors,
+      each beflagged, waiting for the fighting men whom the Nauru was bringing
+      home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Us!&rdquo; said a boy. &ldquo;Why, it's us! Flags an' motors&mdash;an' a blessed band
+      playin' on the pier! Wot on earth are they fussin' over us for? Ain't it
+      enough to get home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The band of the Nauru was playing Home, Sweet Home, very low and tenderly,
+      and there were lumps in many throats, and many a pipe went out unheeded.
+      Slowly the great ship drew in to the pier, where officers in uniform
+      waited, and messengers of welcome from the Government. Beyond the barriers
+      that held the general public back from the pier was a black mass of
+      people; cheer upon cheer rose, to be wafted back from the transport, where
+      the &ldquo;diggers&rdquo; lined every inch of the port side, clinging like monkeys to
+      yards and rigging. Then the Nauru came to rest at last, and the gangways
+      rattled down, and the march off began, to the quick lilt of the band
+      playing &ldquo;Oh, it's a Lovely War.&rdquo; The men took up the words, singing as
+      they marched back to Victoria&mdash;coming back, as they had gone, with a
+      joke on their lips. So the waiting motors received them, and rolled them
+      off in triumphal procession to Melbourne, between the cheering crowds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the top deck the Lintons, with the Rainhams, watched the men go&mdash;disembarkation
+      was for the troops first, and not till all had gone could the unattached
+      officers leave the ship. The captain came to them, at last a normal and
+      friendly captain&mdash;no more the official master of a troopship, in
+      which capacity, as he ruefully said, he could make no friends, and could
+      scarcely regard his ship as his own, provided he brought her safely from
+      port to port. He cast a disgusted glance along the stained and littered
+      decks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is her last voyage as a trooper, and I'm not sorry,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After
+      this she'll lie up for three months to be refitted; and then I'll command
+      a ship again and not a barracks. You wouldn't think now, to see her on
+      this voyage, that the time was when I had to know the reason why if there
+      was so much as a stain the size of a sixpence on the deck. Oh yes, it's
+      been all part of the job, and I'm proud of all the old ship has done, and
+      the thousands of men she's carried; and we've had enough narrow squeaks,
+      from mines and submarines, to fill a book. But I'm beginning to hanker
+      mightily to see her clean!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Lintons laughed unfeelingly. A little mild grumbling might well be
+      permitted to a man with his record; few merchant captains had done finer
+      service in the war, and the decoration on his breast testified to his cool
+      handling of his ship in the &ldquo;narrow squeaks&rdquo; he spoke of lightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yes. I never get any sympathy,&rdquo; said the captain, laughing himself.
+      &ldquo;And yet I'll wager Miss Linton was 'house-proud' in that 'Home for Tired
+      People' of hers, and she ought to sympathize with a tidy man. You should
+      have seen my wife's face when she came aboard once at Liverpool, and saw
+      the ship; and she's never had the same respect for me since! There&mdash;the
+      last man is off the ship, and the gangways are clear; nothing to keep all
+      you homesick people now.&rdquo; He said good-bye, and ran up the steps to his
+      cabin under the bridge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a queer home-coming at first, to a vast pier, empty save for a few
+      officials and policemen&mdash;for no outsiders were allowed within the
+      barriers. But once clear of customs officials and other formalities they
+      packed themselves into cabs, and in a few moments were outside the
+      railed-off space, turning into a road lined on either side with people&mdash;all
+      peering into the long procession of cabs, in the hope of finding their own
+      returning dear ones. It was but a few moments before a posse of uncles,
+      aunts and cousins swooped down upon the Lintons, whose cab prudently
+      turned down a side street to let the wave of welcome expend itself. In the
+      side street, too, were motors belonging to the aunts and uncles; and
+      presently the new arrivals were distributed among them, and were being
+      rushed up to Melbourne, along roads still crowded by the people who had
+      flocked to welcome the &ldquo;diggers&rdquo; home. The Rainhams found themselves
+      adopted by this new and cheery band of people&mdash;at least half of whose
+      names they never learned; not that this seemed to matter in the least. It
+      was something new to them, and very un-English; but there was no doubt
+      that it made landing in a new country a very different thing from their
+      half-fearful anticipations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you really came out all alone&mdash;not knowing anyone!&rdquo; said an
+      aunt. &ldquo;Aren't you English people plucky! And I believe that most of you
+      think we're all black fellows&mdash;or did until our diggers went home,
+      and proved unexpectedly white!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we're quite so bad as that!&rdquo; Bob said, laughing. &ldquo;But
+      certainly we never expected quite so kind a welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, we're all immensely interested in people who take the trouble to come
+      across the world to see us,&rdquo; said Mrs. Geoffrey Linton. &ldquo;That is, if they
+      don't put on 'side'; we don't take kindly to being patronized. And you
+      have no idea how many new chums do patronize us. Did you know, by the way,
+      that you're new chums now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been carefully drilled into us on the ship,&rdquo; Bob said gravely. &ldquo;I
+      think we know pretty well all we have to face&mdash;the snakes that creep
+      into new chums' boots and sleep under their pillows, the goannas that bite
+      our toes if we aren't watchful, and the mosquitoes that sit on the trees
+      and bark!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also the tarantulas that drop from everywhere, especially into food,&rdquo;
+       added Tommy, dimpling. &ldquo;And the bush fires every Sunday morning, and the
+      blacks that rush down&mdash;what is it? Oh yes, the Block, casting
+      boomerangs about! There is much spare time on a troopship, Mrs. Linton,
+      and all of it was employed by the subalterns in telling us what we might
+      expect!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can quite imagine it,&rdquo; Mrs. Geoffrey laughed. &ldquo;Oh well, Billabong will
+      be a good breaking-in. Norah tells me you are going up there at once?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, not quite at once,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;We think it is only fair to let them
+      get home without encumbrances, and as we have to present other letters of
+      introduction in Melbourne, we'll stay here for a few days, and then follow
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you must come out to us,&rdquo; said Mrs. Geoffrey firmly. &ldquo;No use to ask
+      my brother-in-law, of course; he has just one idea, and that is to stay at
+      Scott's, get his luggage through the customs, see his bankers as quickly
+      as possible, and then get back to his beloved Billabong. If we get them
+      out to dinner to-night, it's as much as we can hope for. But you two must
+      come to us&mdash;we can run you here and there in the car to see the
+      people you want.&rdquo; She put aside their protests, laughing. &ldquo;Why, you don't
+      know how much we like capturing bran-new English people&mdash;and think
+      what you have done for our boys all these four years! From what they tell
+      us, if anyone wants to go anywhere or do anything he likes in England, all
+      he has to do is to wear a digger's slouched hat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They stopped in Collins Street, and in a moment the new-comers, slightly
+      bewildered, found themselves in a tea-room; a new thing in tea-rooms to
+      Tommy and Bob, since it was a vision of russet and gold&mdash;brown wood,
+      masses of golden wattle and daffodils, and of bronze gum leaves; and even
+      the waitresses flitted about in russet-brown dresses. David Linton hung
+      back at the doorway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't a party, Winifred?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear David, only a few people who want to welcome you back. Really,
+      you're just as bad as ever!&rdquo; said his sister-in-law, half vexed. &ldquo;The
+      children's school friends, too&mdash;Jim and Wally's mates. You can't
+      expect us to get you all back, after so long&mdash;and with all those
+      honours, too!&mdash;and not give people a chance of shaking hands with
+      you.&rdquo; At which point Norah said, gently, but firmly, &ldquo;Dad, you mustn't be
+      naughty,&rdquo; and led him within.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some one grasped his hand. &ldquo;Well, Linton, old chap!&rdquo; And he found himself
+      greeting the head of a big &ldquo;stock and station&rdquo; firm. Some one else clapped
+      him on the shoulder, and he turned to meet his banker; behind them towered
+      half a dozen old squatter friends, with fellow clubmen, all trying at once
+      to get hold of his hand. David Linton's constitutional shyness melted in
+      the heartiness of their greeting. Beyond them Norah seemed to be the
+      centre of a mass of girls, one of whom presently detached herself, and
+      came to him. He said in amazement, &ldquo;Why, it's Jean Yorke&mdash;and grown
+      up!&rdquo; and actually kissed her, to the great delight of Jean, who had been
+      an old mate of Norah's. As for Jim and Wally, they were scarcely to be
+      seen, save for their heads, in a cluster of lads, who were pounding and
+      smiting them wherever space permitted. Altogether, it was a confused and
+      cheerful gathering, and, much to the embarrassment of the russet-brown
+      waitresses, the last thing anybody thought of was tea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still, when the buzz of greetings had subsided, and at length &ldquo;morning
+      tea&rdquo;&mdash;that time-honoured institution of Australia&mdash;had a chance
+      to appear, it was of a nature to make the new arrivals gasp. The last four
+      years in England had fairly broken people in to plain living; dainties and
+      luxuries had disappeared so completely from the table that every one had
+      ceased to think about them. Therefore, the Linton party blinked in
+      amazement at the details of what to Melbourne was a very ordinary tea,
+      and, forgetting its manners, broke into open comment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cakes!&rdquo; said Wally faintly. &ldquo;Jean, you might catch me if I swoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's wrong with the cakes?&rdquo; said Jean Yorke, bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing&mdash;except that they are cakes! Jim!&rdquo;&mdash;he caught at his
+      chum's sleeve&mdash;&ldquo;that substance in enormous layers in that enormous
+      slice is called cream. Real cream. When did you see cream last, my son?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm hanged if I know,&rdquo; Jim answered, grinning. &ldquo;About four years ago, I
+      suppose. I'd forgotten it existed. And the cakes look as if they didn't
+      fall to pieces if you touched 'em.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, do the English cakes do that?&rdquo; asked a pained aunt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather&mdash;when there are any. It's something they take out of the war
+      flour&mdash;what is it, Nor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gluten, I think it's called,&rdquo; said Norah doubtfully. &ldquo;It's something that
+      ordinarily makes flour stick together, but they took it all out of the war
+      flour, and put it into munitions. So everything you made with war flour
+      was apt to be dry and crumbly. And when you made cakes with it, and war
+      sugar, which was half full of queer stuff like plaster of paris, and egg
+      substitute, because eggs&mdash;when you could get them&mdash;were
+      eightpence halfpenny, and butter substitute (and very little of that)&mdash;well,
+      they weren't exactly what you would call cakes at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Butter substitute!&rdquo; said the aunt faintly. &ldquo;I could not live without good
+      butter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless you, Norah and dad hadn't tasted butter for nearly three years
+      before they came on board the Nauru,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;It was affecting to see
+      Nor greeting a pat of butter for the first time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you had some butter&mdash;we read about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two ounces per head weekly&mdash;but they put all their ration into the
+      'Tired People's food,'&rdquo; said Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It wasn't only dad and I,&rdquo; said Norah quickly. &ldquo;Every soul we employed
+      did that&mdash;Irish maids, butler, cook-lady and all. And we hadn't to
+      ask one of them to do it. The Tired People always had butter. They used to
+      think we had a special allowance from Government, but we hadn't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said the aunt. &ldquo;It's too terrible. And meat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, meat was very short,&rdquo; said Norah, laughing. &ldquo;Of course we were fairly
+      well off for our Tired People, because they had soldiers' rations; but
+      even so, we almost forgot what a joint looked like. Stews and hot pots and
+      made dishes&mdash;you call them that because you make them of anything but
+      meat! We became very clever at camouflaging meat dishes. Somehow the Tired
+      People ate them all. But&rdquo;&mdash;she paused, laughing&mdash;&ldquo;you know I
+      never thought I could feel greedy for meat. And I did&mdash;I just longed,
+      quite often, for a chop!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And could you not have one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gracious, no!&rdquo; Norah looked amazed. &ldquo;Chops were quite the most
+      extravagant thing of all&mdash;too much bone. You see, the meat ration
+      included bone and fat, and I can tell you we were pretty badly worried if
+      we got too much of either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To think of all she knows,&rdquo; said the aunt, regarding her with a tearful
+      eye. Whereat Norah laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I could tell you lots of homely things,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;How we always
+      boiled bones for soup at least four times before we looked on them as used
+      up; and how we worked up sheep's heads into the most wonderful chicken
+      galantines; and&mdash;but would you mind if I ate some walnut cake
+      instead? It's making me tremble even to look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      After which Jean Yorke and the russet-brown waitresses vied in plying the
+      new-comers with the most elaborate cakes, until even Jim and Wally begged
+      for mercy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ought to remember we're not used to these things,&rdquo; Wally protested,
+      waving away a strange erection of cream, icing and wafery pastry. &ldquo;If I
+      ate that it would go to my head, and I'd have to be removed in an
+      ambulance. And the awful part of it is&mdash;I want to eat it. Take it out
+      of my sight, Jean, or I'll yield, and the consequences will be awful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is too dreadful to think of all you poor souls have gone through,&rdquo;
+       said an aunt soulfully. &ldquo;How little we in Australia know of what war
+      means!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if it comes to that, how little we knew!&rdquo; Norah exclaimed, &ldquo;Why,
+      there we were, only a few miles from the fighting&mdash;you could hear the
+      guns on a still day, when a big action was going on; and except for the
+      people who came directly in the way of air raids, England knew little or
+      nothing of war: I mean, war as the people of Belgium and Northern France
+      knew it. The worst we had to admit was that we didn't get everything we
+      liked to eat, and that was a joke compared to what we might have had.
+      Hardly anyone in England went cold or hungry through the war, and so I
+      don't think we knew much about it either.&rdquo; She broke off blushing
+      furiously, to find every one listening to her. &ldquo;I didn't mean to make a
+      speech.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's quite true, though,&rdquo; said her father, &ldquo;even if you did make a speech
+      about it. There were privations in some cases, no doubt&mdash;invalids
+      sometimes suffered, or men used to a heavy meat diet, whose wives had not
+      knowledge&mdash;or fuel&mdash;enough to cook substitutes properly. On the
+      other hand, there was no unemployment, and the poor were better fed than
+      they had ever been, since every one could make good wages at munitions.
+      The death rate among civilians was very much lower than usual. People
+      learned to eat less, and not to waste&mdash;and the pre-war waste in
+      England was terrific. And I say&mdash;and I think we all say&mdash;that
+      anyone who grumbles about 'privations' in England deserves to know what
+      real war means&mdash;as the women of Belgium know it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopped, and Norah regarded him with great pride, since his remarks
+      were usually strictly limited to the fewest possible words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it's rather refreshing to hear you talk,&rdquo; remarked another
+      squatter. &ldquo;A good many people have come back telling most pathetic tales
+      of all they had to endure. I suppose, though, that some were worse off
+      than you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, certainly,&rdquo; David Linton said. &ldquo;We knew one Australian, an officer's
+      wife, who was stranded in a remote corner of South Wales with two servants
+      and two babies; it was just at the time of greatest scarcity before
+      compulsory rationing began, when most of the food coming in was kept in
+      the big towns and the Midlands. That woman could certainly get milk for
+      her youngsters; but for three months the only foods she and her maids were
+      sure of getting were war bread, potatoes, haricot beans and salt herrings.
+      She was a good way from the nearest town, and there was deep snow most of
+      the time. There was no carting out to her place, and by the time she could
+      get into the town most of the food shops would be empty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if you saw the salt herrings!&rdquo; said Norah. &ldquo;They come down from
+      Scotland, packed thousands in a barrel. They're about the length and
+      thickness of a comb, and if you soak them for a day in warm water and then
+      boil them, you can begin to think about them as a possible food. But Mrs.
+      Burton and her maids ate them for three months. She didn't seem to think
+      she had anything to grumble about&mdash;in fact, she said she still felt
+      friendly towards potatoes, but she hoped she'd never see a herring or a
+      bean again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She had her own troubles about coal, too,&rdquo; remarked Jim. &ldquo;The only coal
+      down there is a horrible brownish stuff that falls into damp slack if you
+      look at it; it's generally used only for furnaces, but people had to draw
+      their coal allowance from the nearest supply, and it was all she could
+      get. The only way to use the beastly stuff was to mix it with wet, salt
+      mud from the river into what the country people call culm&mdash;then you
+      cut it into blocks, or make balls of it, and it hardens. She couldn't get
+      a man to do it for her, and she used to mix all her culm herself&mdash;and
+      you wouldn't call it woman's work, even in Germany. But she used to tell
+      it as a kind of joke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She used to look on herself as one of the really lucky women,&rdquo; said David
+      Linton, &ldquo;because her husband didn't get killed. And I think she was&mdash;herrings
+      and culm and all. And we're even luckier, since we've all come back to
+      Australia, and to such a welcome as you've given us.&rdquo; He stood up, smiling
+      his slow, pleasant smile at them all. &ldquo;And now I think I've got to go
+      chasing the Customs, if I'm ever to disinter our belongings and get home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girls took possession of Norah and Tommy, who left their menfolk to
+      the drear business of clearing luggage, and thankfully spent the afternoon
+      in the Botanical Gardens, glad to have firm ground under their feet after
+      six weeks of sea. Then they all met at dinner at Mrs. Geoffrey Linton's,
+      where they found her son, Cecil, who greeted Norah with something of
+      embarrassment. There was an old score between Norah and Cecil Linton,
+      although they had not seen each other for years; but its memory died out
+      in Norah's heart as she looked at her cousin's military badge and noted
+      that he dragged one foot slightly. Indeed, there was no room in Norah's
+      heart for anything but happiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The aunts and uncles tried hard to persuade David Linton to remain a few
+      days in Melbourne, but he shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been homesick for five years,&rdquo; he told them. &ldquo;And it feels like
+      fifty. I'll come down again, I promise&mdash;yes, and bring the children,
+      of course. But just now I can't wait. I've got to get home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That old Billabong!&rdquo; said Mrs. Geoffrey, half laughing. &ldquo;Are you going to
+      live and die in the backblocks, David?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, certainly&mdash;at least I hope so,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I suppose there must
+      be lucid intervals, now that Norah is grown up, or imagines she is&mdash;not
+      that she seems to me a bit different from the time when her hair was down.
+      Still I suppose I must bring her to town, and let her make her curtsy at
+      Government House, and do all the correct things&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some one slipped a hand through his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But when we've done them, daddy,&rdquo; said Norah cheerfully, &ldquo;there will
+      always be Billabong to go home to!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BILLABONG
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will it be fine, Murty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The person addressed made no answer for a moment, continuing to stare at
+      the western horizon with his eyes wrinkled and his face anxious. He turned
+      presently; a tall, grizzled man, with the stooping shoulders and the
+      slightly bowed legs that are the heritage of those who spend nine-tenths
+      of their time in the saddle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorra a one of me knows,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It's one of thim unchancy days that
+      might be annything. Have ye looked at the glass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's mejum,&rdquo; replied the first speaker. She was a vast woman, with a
+      broad, kindly face, lit by shrewd and twinkling blue eyes, dressed, as was
+      her custom, in a starched blue print, with a snowy apron. &ldquo;Mejum only. But
+      I don't feel comferable at that there bank of clouds, Murty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd not say meself it was good,&rdquo; admitted Murty O'Toole, head stockman on
+      the Billabong run. He looked again at the doubtful sky, and then back to
+      Mrs. Brown. &ldquo;Have ye no corns, at all, that 'ud be shootin' on ye if rain
+      was coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Corns I 'ave, indeed,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown, with the sigh of one who admits
+      that she is but human. &ldquo;But no&mdash;they ain't shootin' worth speakin'
+      about, Murty. Nor me rheumatic knee ain't givin' tongue, as Master Jim
+      would say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, that's all to the good,&rdquo; said the stockman, much cheered. &ldquo;I'll
+      not look at the ould sky anny longer&mdash;leastways, not till I have that
+      cup of tea ye were speakin' about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in then,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown, leading the way into the kitchen&mdash;a
+      huge place so glittering with cleanliness and polish that it almost hurt
+      the eye. &ldquo;Kettle's boilin'&mdash;I'll have it made in a jiffy. No, Murty,
+      you will not sit on that table. Pounds of bath-brick 'ave gone into me
+      tables this last week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ye have them always that white I do not see how ye'd want them to be
+      whiter,&rdquo; remarked Murty, gazing round him. &ldquo;But I niver see anything to
+      aiqual the shine ye have on them tins an' copper. And the stove is that
+      fine it's a shame to be cookin' with it.&rdquo; He looked with respect at the
+      black satin and silver of the stove, where leaping flames glowed redly.
+      &ldquo;Well, I'll always say there isn't a heartsomer place to come into than
+      the Billabong kitchen. And isn't it the little misthress that thinks so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless her, she was always in and out of it from the time she could
+      toddle,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown, pausing with the teapot in her hand. &ldquo;And she
+      wasn't much more than toddlin' before she was at me to teach her to cook.
+      When she was twelve she could cook a dinner as well as anyone twice her
+      age. I never see the beat of her&mdash;handy as a man out on the run, too&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She was that,&rdquo; said Murty solemnly. &ldquo;Since she was a bit of a thing I
+      never see the bullock as could get away from her. And the ponies she'd
+      ride! There was nothin' ever looked through a bridle that cud frighten
+      her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poof! Miss Norah didn't know what it was to be afraid,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown,
+      filling the huge brown teapot. &ldquo;Sometimes I've wished she was, for me
+      heart's been in me mouth often and often when I see her go caperin' down
+      the track on some mad-'eaded pony.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' there was niver a time when they was late home but you made sure the
+      whole lot of 'em was killed,&rdquo; said Murty, grinning. &ldquo;I'd come in here an'
+      find you wit' all the funerals planned, so to speak&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, go on! At least, I alwuz stayed at home when I was nervis,&rdquo; said Mrs.
+      Brown. &ldquo;Who was it I've known catch an 'orse in the dark, an' go off to
+      look for 'em when they were a bit late? Not me, Mr. O'Toole!&rdquo; She filled
+      his cup and handed it to him with a triumphant air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, I misremember doin' any such thing,&rdquo; said Murty, slightly
+      confused. &ldquo;'Tis the way I was most likely goin' afther a sick bullock, or
+      it might be 'possum shootin'.&rdquo; He raised his cup and took a deep draught;
+      then, with a wry face, gazed at its contents. &ldquo;I dunno is this a new brand
+      of tea you're afther usin', now? Sure, it looks pale.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Brown cast a glance at the cup he held out, and gave a gasp of
+      horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, not in all me born days 'ave I made tea an' forgot to put the tea
+      in!&rdquo; she exclaimed, snatching it from his hand. &ldquo;Don't you go an' tell
+      Dave and Mick, Murty, or I'll never hear the end of it. Lucky there's
+      plenty of hot water.&rdquo; She emptied the teapot swiftly, and refilled it,
+      this time with due regard to the tea-caddy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Murty, don't you sit there grinnin' at me like a hyener&mdash;it
+      isn't every day I get Miss Norah home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not,&rdquo; said Murty, taking his renewed cup and a large piece of bread
+      and butter. &ldquo;Sure, I'd not blame ye if ye fried bacon in the tea-pot&mdash;not
+      this morning. I dunno, meself, am I on me head or me heels. All the men is
+      much the same; they've been fallin' over each other, tryin' to get a
+      little bit of extra spit-an'-polish on the whole place. I b'lieve Dave
+      Boone wud 'a' set to work an' whitewashed the paddock fences if I'd
+      encouraged him at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's that Sarah,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown. &ldquo;Ornery days it takes me, an alarum
+      clock, an' Mary, to say nothin' of a wet sponge, to get her out of bed.
+      But bless you&mdash;these last three days she's up before the pair of us,
+      rubbin' an' polishin' in every corner. An' she an' 'Ogg at each other's
+      throats over flowers; she wantin' to pick every one to look pretty in the
+      'ouse, an' 'Ogg wantin' every one to look pretty in the garden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Hogg's got enough an' to spare,&rdquo; was Murty's comment. &ldquo;No union
+      touch about his work. I reckon he's put in sixteen hours a day at that
+      garden since we heard they were comin'.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But there never was any union touch about Billabong,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much! We all know when we're well off,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;I'll bet no
+      union was ever as good a boss as David Linton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two other men appeared at the kitchen door&mdash;Mick Shanahan and Dave
+      Boone&mdash;each wearing, in defiance of regulations, some battered
+      remnant of uniform that marked the &ldquo;digger,&rdquo; while Mick, in addition,
+      would walk always with a slight limp. He was accustomed to say 'twas a
+      mercy it didn't hinder his profession&mdash;which, being that of a
+      horsebreaker, freed him, as a rule, from the necessity of much walking.
+      Other men Billabong had sent to the war, and not all of them had come
+      back; the lonely station had been a place of anxiety and of mourning. But
+      to-day the memories of the long years of fighting and waiting were blotted
+      out in joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in, boys,&rdquo; Mrs. Brown nodded at the men. &ldquo;Tea's ready. What's it
+      going to be?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fine, I think,&rdquo; said Boone, replying to this somewhat indefinite question
+      with complete certainty as to the questioner's meaning. &ldquo;I seen you an'
+      Murty pokin' your heads up at them clouds, but there ain't nothin' in
+      them.&rdquo; A smile spread over his good-looking, dark face. &ldquo;Bless you, it
+      couldn't rain today, with Miss Norah comin' home!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe, meself, that Providence 'ud 'ave the 'eart,&rdquo; said Mrs.
+      Brown. &ldquo;Picksher them now, all flyin' round and gettin' ready to start,
+      and snatchin' a bite of breakfast&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I know Master Jim 'twill be no bite he'll snatch!&rdquo; put in Mick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, all I 'ope is that the 'otel don't poison them,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown
+      darkly. &ldquo;I on'y stopped in a Melbin' 'otel once, and then I got
+      pot-o'-mine poisoning, or whatever they call it. I've 'eard they never
+      wash their saucepans!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wonder you get rummy flavours in what you eat down there, if that's
+      so,&rdquo; said Dave. &ldquo;Surprisin' what the digestions of them city people learn
+      to put up with. Well, I suppose you won't be addin' to their risks by
+      puttin' up much of a dinner for them to-day, Mrs. Brown.&rdquo; He grinned
+      wickedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You go on, imperence!&rdquo; said the lady. &ldquo;If I let you look into the larder
+      now (w'ich I won't, along of knowin' you too well), there'd be no gettin'
+      you out to work to-day. Murty, that turkey weighed five-and-thirty pound!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure he looked every ounce of it,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;I niver see his aiqual&mdash;he
+      was a regular Clydesdale of a bird!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I rose him from the aig meself,&rdquo; said Mrs. Brown, &ldquo;and I don't think I
+      could 'a' brung meself to 'ave 'im killed for anythink less than them
+      comin' 'ome. As it was, I feel 'e's died a nobil death. An' 'e'll eat
+      beautiful, you mark my words.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it'll be something to think of the Boss at the head of his table,
+      investigatin' a Billabong turkey again,&rdquo; said Boone, putting down his
+      empty cup. &ldquo;And as there's nothing more certain than that they'll all be
+      out at the stables d'reckly after dinner, wantin' to see the 'orses, you
+      an' I'd better go an' shine 'em up a bit more, Mick.&rdquo; They tramped out of
+      the kitchen, while Mrs. Brown waddled to the veranda and cast further
+      anxious glances at the bank of clouds lying westward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah was watching them, too. She was sitting in the corner of the
+      compartment, as the swift train bore them northward, with her eyes glued
+      to the country flying past. Just for once the others did not matter to
+      her; her father, Jim, and Wally, each in his own corner, as they had
+      travelled so many times in the past, coming back from school. Then she had
+      had eyes only for them; to-day her soul was hungry for the dear country
+      she had not seen for so long. It lay bare enough in the early winter&mdash;long
+      stretches of stone-walled paddocks where the red soil showed through the
+      sparse, native grass; steep, stony hillsides, with little sheep grazing on
+      them&mdash;pygmies, after the great English sheep; oases of irrigation,
+      with the deep green of lucerne growing rank among weed-fringed
+      water-channels; and so on and on, past little towns and tiny settlements,
+      and now and then a stop at some place of more importance. But Norah did
+      not want the towns; she was homesick for the open country, for the scent
+      of the gum trees coming drifting in through the open window, for the long,
+      lonely plains where grazing cattle raised lazy eyes to look at the roaring
+      engine, or horses flung up nervous heads and went racing away across the
+      grass&mdash;more for the fun of it than from fear. The gum trees called to
+      her, beckoned to her; she forgot the smooth perfection of the English
+      landscape as she feasted her eyes on the dear, untidy trees, whose
+      dangling strips of bark seemed to wave to her in greeting, telling her she
+      was coming home. They passed a great team of working bullocks in a wagon
+      loaded with an enormous tree trunk; twenty-four monsters, roan and red and
+      speckled, with a great pair of polled Angus in the lead; they plodded
+      along in their own dust, their driver beside them with his immense whip
+      over his shoulder. Norah pointed them out to the others with a quick
+      exclamation, and Jim and Wally came to look out from her window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove, what a team!&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Well, just at this moment I'd rather
+      see those fellows than the meet of the Coaching Club in Hyde Park&mdash;and
+      I had a private idea that that was the finest sight in the world!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aren't you a jungly animal!&rdquo; quoth Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather&mdash;just now,&rdquo; Jim rejoined. &ldquo;Some day, I suppose, I'll be glad
+      to go back to London, and look at it all again. But just now there doesn't
+      seem to be anything to touch a fellow's own country&mdash;and that team of
+      old sloggers there is just a bit of it. Isn't it, old Nor?&rdquo; She nodded up
+      at him; there was no need of words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The morning was drawing towards noon when they came in sight of their own
+      little station: Cunjee, looking just as they had left it years ago, its
+      corrugated iron roofs gleaming in the sunlight, its one street green with
+      feathery pepper trees along each side. The train pulled up, and they all
+      tumbled out hastily; presumably the express wasted no more time upon
+      Cunjee than in days gone by, when it was necessary to hustle out of the
+      carriage, and to race along to the van, lest the whistle should sound and
+      your trunks be whisked away somewhere down the line.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were many people on the platform, and, wonderful to relate, a band
+      was playing&mdash;Home Sweet Home; a little band, some of its musicians
+      still in the aprons in which they had rushed from their shop duties; with
+      instruments few and poor, and with not much training, so that the cornet
+      was apt to be half a bar ahead of the euphonium. The Lintons had heard
+      many bands since they had been away, and some had played before the King
+      himself; but no music had ever gripped at their heartstrings like the
+      music of the little backblocks band that stood on the gravelled platform
+      of Cunjee and played to welcome them home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly, as they stood bewildered, there seemed people all round them;
+      kindly, homely faces, gripping their hands, shouting greetings. Evans, the
+      manager of Billabong, showed a delighted face for a moment, said, &ldquo;Luggage
+      in the van. I'll see to it; don't you bother,&rdquo; and was gone. Little Dr.
+      Anderson and his wife, friends of long years, were trying to shake hands
+      with all four at once. They were the centre of an excited little crowd&mdash;and
+      found it hard to believe that it was really for them. The train roared
+      away, unnoticed, and the station-master and the porter ran up to add their
+      voices to the chorus. Somehow they were outside the station, gently
+      propelled; and there was a great arch of gum leaves, with a huge WELCOME
+      in red letters, and beneath it were the shire president and his
+      councillors, and other weighty men, all with speeches ready. But the
+      speeches did not come to much, for the shire president had lads himself
+      who had gone to the war, and a lump came in his throat as he looked at the
+      tall boys from Billabong, whom he had known as little children; so that
+      half the fine things he had prepared were never said&mdash;which did not
+      matter, since he had it all written out and gave it to the reporter of the
+      local paper afterwards! Something of speech-making there undoubtedly was,
+      but no one could have told you much about it&mdash;and suddenly it ended
+      in some one calling for &ldquo;Three cheers!&rdquo; which every one gave with a will,
+      while the band played that they were Jolly Good Fellows&mdash;and some of
+      the band cheered while they played, with very curious results. Then David
+      Linton tried to speak, and that was a failure also, as far as eloquence
+      went; but nobody seemed to mind. So, between hand grips and cheers, they
+      made their way through the welcome of Cunjee to where the big double buggy
+      of Billabong stood, with three fidgeting brown horses, each held by a
+      volunteer. Beyond that was the carry-all of the bush; an express wagon,
+      with a grinning black boy at the horses' heads&mdash;and Norah went to him
+      with outstretched hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Billy!&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Billy's grin expanded in a perfectly reckless fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty glad!&rdquo; he stammered&mdash;and thereby doubled his usual output of
+      words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Willing hands were tossing their luggage into the wagon&mdash;unfamiliar
+      luggage to Cunjee, with its jumble of ship labels, Continental hotel
+      brands, and the names of towns all over England, Ireland and Scotland.
+      There were battered tin uniform cases of Jim and Wally's, bearing their
+      rank and regiment in half effaced letters: &ldquo;Major J. Linton&rdquo;; &ldquo;Captain W.
+      Meadows&rdquo;&mdash;it was hard to realize that they belonged to the two
+      merry-faced boys, who did not seem much changed from the days when Cunjee
+      had seen them arrive light-heartedly from school. Mr. Linton ran his eye
+      over the pile, pronouncing it complete. Then Evans was at his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The motor you sent is ready at the garage in the township if you want
+      it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But you wired that I was to bring the buggy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; said David Linton, with a slow smile. &ldquo;I suppose for convenience
+      sake we'll have to shake down to using the motor. But I drove the old
+      buggy away from Billabong, and I'll drive home now. Jump in, children.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gathered up the reins, sitting, erect and spare, with one foot on the
+      brake, while the brown horses plunged impatiently, and the volunteers
+      found their work cut out in holding them. Norah was by him, Evans on her
+      other hand; Jim and Wally &ldquo;tumbled up&rdquo; into the back seat, as they had
+      done so many times. David Linton looked down at the crowd below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you all again,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We'll see you soon&mdash;it's not
+      good-bye now, only 'so-long.' Let 'em go, boys.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The volunteers sprang back, thankfully. The browns stood on their hind
+      legs for a moment, endeavouring to tie themselves in knots; then the whip
+      spoke, and they came to earth, straightened themselves out with a flying
+      plunge, and wheeled out of the station yard and up the street. Behind them
+      cheers broke out afresh, and the band blared once more&mdash;which acted
+      as a further spur to the horses; they were pulling double as the high
+      buggy flashed along the street, where every house and every shop showed
+      smiling faces, and handkerchiefs waved in welcome. So they passed through
+      Cunjee, and wheeled to the right towards the open country&mdash;the
+      country that meant Billabong.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were seventeen miles of road ahead, but the browns made little of
+      them. They had come into the township the evening before, and had done
+      nothing since but eat the hotel oats and wish to be out of a close stable
+      and back in their own free paddocks. They took the hills at a swift,
+      effortless trot, and on the down slopes broke into a hand-gallop;
+      light-hearted, but conscious all the time of the hand on the reins, that
+      was as steel, yet light as a feather upon a tender mouth. They danced
+      merrily to one side when they met a motor or a hawker's van with flapping
+      cover; when the buggy rattled over a bridge they plainly regarded the
+      drumming of their own hoofs as the last trump, and fled wildly for a few
+      hundred yards, before realizing that nothing was really going to happen to
+      them. But the miles fled under their swift feet. The trim villas near the
+      township gave place to scattered farms. These in their turn became further
+      and further apart, and then they entered a wide belt of timber, ragged and
+      wind-swept gums, with dense undergrowth of dogwood and bracken fern. The
+      metalled road gave place to a hard, earthern track, on which the spinning
+      tyres made no sound; it curved in and out among the trees, which met
+      overhead and cast upon it a waving pattern of shadows. Grim things had
+      once happened to Norah in this belt of trees, and the past came back to
+      her as she looked at its gloomy recesses again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were all silent. There had been few questions to ask of Evans, a few
+      to be answered; then speech fled from them and the old spell of the
+      country held them in its power. Every yard was familiar; every little
+      bridge, every culvert, every quaint old skeleton tree or dead grey log.
+      Here Jim's pony had bolted at sight of an Indian hawker, in days long
+      gone, and had ended by putting his foot into a hole and turning a
+      somersault, shooting Jim into a well-grown clump of nettles. Here Norah
+      had dropped her whip when riding alone, and her fractious young mare had
+      succeeded in pulling away when she dismounted, and had promptly departed
+      post-haste for home; leaving her wrathful owner to follow as she might. A
+      passing bullock-wagon had given her a lift, and the somewhat anxious
+      rescue party, setting out from Billabong, had met its youthful mistress,
+      bruised from much bumping, but otherwise cheerful, progressing in slow
+      majesty towards its gates. Here&mdash;but the memories were legion, even
+      to the girl and the two boys. And David Linton's went further back, to the
+      day when he had first driven Norah's mother over the Billabong track;
+      little and dainty and merry, while he had been as always, silent, but
+      unspeakably proud of her. The little mother's grave had long been green,
+      and the world had turned topsy-turvy since then, but the old track was the
+      same, and the memory, and the pride, were no less clear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They emerged from the timber at last, and spun across a wide plain,
+      scattered with clumps of gum-trees. Then another belt of bush, a narrow
+      one this time; and they came out within view of a great park-like paddock
+      where Shorthorn bullocks, knee-deep in grass, scarcely moved aside as the
+      buggy spun past, with the browns pulling hard. The track ran near the
+      fence, and turned in at a big white gate glistening with new paint. It
+      stood wide open, and beside it was a man on a splendid bay horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's Murty, and he's on Garryowen,&rdquo; spoke Jim quickly. &ldquo;The old
+      brick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I guess if anyone else had wanted to open the gate for you to-day, he'd
+      have had to fight Murty for the job,&rdquo; said Evans. &ldquo;And Garryowen's been
+      groomed till he turns pale at the sight of a brush, Great horse he's made,
+      Mr. Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's all that,&rdquo; said his owner, leaning out to view him better, with his
+      eyes shining. He raised his voice in a shout as they swung in through the
+      gateway. &ldquo;Good for you, Murty! Hurroo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurroo for ye all!&rdquo; said Murty, and found to his amazement that his voice
+      was shaky. &ldquo;Ah, don't shtop, sir, they're all waitin' on ye. I'll be up as
+      soon as ye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah had tried to speak, and had found that she had no voice at all. She
+      could only smile at him, tremulously&mdash;and be sure the Irishman did
+      not fail to catch the smile. Then, as they dashed up the paddock, her hand
+      sought for her father's knee under the rug, in the little gesture that had
+      been hers from babyhood. The track curved round a grove of great pines,
+      and suddenly they were within sight of Billabong homestead, red-walled and
+      red-roofed, nestled in the deep green of its trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove!&rdquo; said Jim, under his breath. &ldquo;I thought once I'd never see the
+      old place again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They flashed through mighty red gums and box trees, Murty galloping beside
+      them now. There was a big flag flying proudly on Billabong house&mdash;they
+      found later that the household had unanimously purchased it on the day
+      they heard that Jim had got his captaincy. The gate of the great sanded
+      yard stood open, and near it, on a wide gravel sweep, were the dear and
+      simple and faithful people they loved. Mrs. Brown first, starched and
+      spotless, her hair greyer than it had been five years before, with Sarah
+      and Mary beside her&mdash;they had married during the war, but nothing had
+      prevented them from coming back to make Billabong ready. Near them the
+      storekeeper, Jack Archdale, and his pretty wife, with their elfish small
+      daughter; and Mick Shanahan and Dave Boone, with the Scotch gardener,
+      Hogg, and his Chinese colleague&mdash;and sworn enemy&mdash;Lee Wing. They
+      were all there, a little welcoming group&mdash;but Norah could see them
+      only through a mist of happy tears. The buggy stopped, and Evans sprang
+      out over the wheel; she followed him almost as swiftly, running to the old
+      woman who had been all the mother she had known.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Brownie&mdash;Brownie!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My precious lamb!&rdquo; said Brownie, and held her tightly. She had no hands
+      left for Jim and Wally, and they did not seem to mind; they kissed her,
+      patting her vast shoulders very hard. Then Mrs. Archdale claimed Norah,
+      and Brownie found herself looking mistily up at David Linton and he was
+      gripping her hand tightly, the other hand on her shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, old Brownie!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Dear old Brownie!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were shaking hands all round, over and over again. Nobody made any
+      speeches of welcome&mdash;there were only disjointed words, and once or
+      twice a little sob. Indeed, Brownie only found her tongue when they had
+      drifted across the yard in a confused group, and had reached the wide
+      veranda. Then she looked up at Jim and seemed suddenly to realize his
+      mighty height and breadth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Oh! Ain't 'e grown big an' beautiful!&rdquo; Whereat Wally
+      howled with laughter, and Jim, scarlet, kissed her again, and told her she
+      was a shameful old woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one on Billabong could have told you much of that day, after the first
+      wonderful moment of getting home. It was a day of blurred memories. The
+      new-comers had to wander through the house where every big window stood
+      open to the sunlight, and every room was gay with flowers; and from every
+      window it was necessary to look out at the view across the paddocks and
+      down at the gardens, and to follow the winding course of the creek. The
+      gong summoned them to dinner in the midst of it, and Brownie's dinner
+      deserved to be remembered; the mammoth turkey flanked by a ham as
+      gigantic, and somewhat alarming to war-trained appetites; followed by
+      every sweet that Brownie could remember as having been a favourite. They
+      drifted naturally to the stables afterwards, to find their special horses,
+      apparently little changed by five years, though some old station
+      favourites were gone, and the men spoke proudly of some new young ones
+      that were going to be &ldquo;beggars to go,&rdquo; or &ldquo;a caution to jump.&rdquo; Then they
+      wandered down to the big lagoon, where the old boat yet lay at the edge of
+      the reed-fringed water; and on through the home paddock to look at the
+      little herd of Jerseys that were kept for the use of the house, and some
+      great bullocks almost ready for the Melbourne market. So they came back to
+      the homestead, wandering up from the creek through Lee Wing's rows of
+      vegetables, and came to rest naturally in the kitchen, where they had
+      afternoon tea with Brownie, who beamed from ear to ear at the sight of Jim
+      and Wally again sitting on her table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I used to think of you in them 'orrible trenches, an' wonder wot you got
+      to eat, an' if it was anything at all,&rdquo; she said tremulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We got something, but it was apt to be queer,&rdquo; said Jim, laughing. &ldquo;We
+      used to think of sitting on the table here, Brownie, and eating hot scones&mdash;like
+      this. May I have another?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My pore dears!&rdquo; said Brownie, hastily supplying him with the largest
+      scone in sight. &ldquo;Now, Master Wally, my love, ain't you ready for another?
+      Your appetite's not 'alf wot it used to be. A pikelet, now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe I've had six!&rdquo; said Wally, defending himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' wot used six pikelets to be to you? A mere fly in the ointment,&rdquo; said
+      Brownie, whose similes were always apt to be peculiar. &ldquo;Just another,
+      then, my dear. An' I've got your fav'rite sponge cake, Miss Norah&mdash;ten
+      aigs in it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ten!&rdquo; said Norah faintly. &ldquo;Hold me, daddy! Doesn't it make you feel
+      light-headed to think of putting ten eggs in one cake again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An' why not?&rdquo; sniffed Brownie. &ldquo;Ah, you got bad treatment in that old
+      England. I never could see why you should go short, an' you all 'elpin' on
+      the war as 'ard as you could.&rdquo; Brownie's indifference to national
+      considerations where her nurselings were concerned was well known, and
+      nobody argued with her. &ldquo;Any'ow, the cake's there, an' just you try it&mdash;it's
+      as light as a feather, though I do say it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once in the kitchen Norah and the boys went no further. They remained
+      sitting on the tables, talking, while presently David Linton went away to
+      his study, and, one by one, Murty and Boone and Mick Shanahan drifted in.
+      There was so much to tell, so much to ask about; they talked until the
+      dusk of the short winter afternoon stole into the kitchen, making the red
+      flames in the stove leap more redly. It was time to dress for tea. They
+      went round the wide verandas and ran upstairs to their rooms, while old
+      Brownie stood in the kitchen doorway listening to the merry voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ain't it just 'evinly to 'ear 'em again!&rdquo; she uttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is that,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;We've been quare an' lonesome an' quiet these
+      five years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Cecilia&mdash;otherwise Tommy&mdash;and Bob Rainham came up to Billabong
+      three days later, and were met by Jim, who had ridden into Cunjee with
+      Black Billy, and released the motor from inglorious seclusion in the local
+      garage. Billy jogged off, leading Garryowen, and Jim watched them half
+      wistfully for a minute before turning to the car. Motors had their uses
+      certainly; but no Linton ever dreamed of giving a car the serious and
+      respectful consideration that naturally belonged to a horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless, it was a good car; a gift to Norah from an Irishman they had
+      known and loved; and Jim drove well, having developed the accomplishment
+      over Flemish roads that were chiefly a succession of shell holes. He took
+      her quietly up to the station, and walked on to the platform as the train
+      thundered in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy and Bob were looking eagerly from their carriage window, and hailed
+      him with delight; they had been alone, for the first time since leaving
+      England, and had begun to feel that Australia was a large and slightly
+      populated country, and that they were inconsiderable atoms, suddenly
+      dumped into its vacant spaces. Jim was like a large and friendly rock, and
+      Australia immediately became less wide and desolate in their eyes. He
+      greeted them cheerily and helped Bob to pack their luggage into the car.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, I could get you afternoon tea here,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;and I warn you, it
+      will be bad. Or I could have you home in well under an hour, and you
+      wouldn't be too late for tea there. Which is it to be, Tommy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;home,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;I don't care a bit about tea; and I want to
+      see this Billabong of yours. Do let's go, Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hoped you wouldn't choose tea here,&rdquo; said Jim, striding off to the car.
+      &ldquo;Bush townships don't run to decent tea places, as a rule; the hotel is
+      the only chance, and though they can give you a fair dinner, tea always
+      seems to be a weak spot.&rdquo; He packed them in, and they moved off down the
+      winding street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; Jim said, &ldquo;that I never went down this street before except
+      on a horse, or behind one? It seems quite queer and unnatural to be doing
+      it in a car. I suppose I'll get used to it. Had a good trip up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, quite,&rdquo; Tommy told him. &ldquo;Jim, how few people seem to be living in
+      Australia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim gave a crack of laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you saw a good many in Melbourne, didn't you?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. But Melbourne isn't Australia. It's only away down in a wee
+      little corner.&rdquo; Tommy flushed a little. &ldquo;You see, I haven't seen much of
+      any country except France and the England that's near London,&rdquo; she said.
+      &ldquo;And there isn't much waste space there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, there isn't,&rdquo; Jim agreed. &ldquo;I suppose we'll fill up Australia some
+      day. But the people who come out now seem to have a holy horror of going
+      into the 'waste spaces,' as you call 'em, Tommy. They want to nestle up to
+      the towns, and go to picture theatres.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I want to go and find a nice waste space,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;Not too
+      waste, of course, only with room to look all round. And I'd like it to be
+      not too far from Norah, 'cause she's very cheering to a lone new-chum. But
+      don't you go planning to settle in one of those horrid little tin-roofed
+      towns, Bobby, for I should simply hate it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, ma'am,&rdquo; said Bob cheerfully. &ldquo;We'll get out into the open. I
+      can always run you about in an aeroplane, if you feel lonesome, provided
+      we make enough money to buy one, that is. Only new-chums don't always make
+      heaps of money, do they, Jim?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at first, I'm afraid,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;The days of picking up fortunes in
+      Australia seem to be over; anyway, there's no more gold lying about.
+      Nowadays, you have to put your back into it extremely hard, if you've no
+      capital to start with; and even if you have, you can't loaf. How did you
+      get on in Melbourne? I hope you didn't buy a station without consulting
+      us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather not,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;We raced round magnificently in your aunt's
+      car and presented our letters, and had more invitations to sundry meals
+      than we could possibly accept. Every one was extraordinarily kind to us.
+      I've offers and promises of advice in whatever district we settle; three
+      squatters asked me up to their places, to stay awhile and study the
+      country; and one confiding man&mdash;I hadn't a letter to him at all, by
+      the way, only some one introduced us to him in Scott's&mdash;actually
+      offered me a job as jackeroo on a Queensland run. But he was a lone old
+      bachelor, and when he heard I had a sister he shied off in terror. I think
+      he's running yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim shouted with laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor old Tommy!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, is it not unfair?&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;I told Bob I was a mere encumbrance,
+      but he would bring me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wait until you've settled, and Bob wants some one to run his house,
+      and then see how much of an encumbrance you are,&rdquo; rejoined Jim. &ldquo;Then
+      you'll suddenly stop being meek and get swelled head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And not be half so nice,&rdquo; interjected Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But so useful!&rdquo; said Tommy demurely. &ldquo;Only sometimes I become afraid&mdash;for
+      you seem always to kill a whole sheep or bullock up in the bush, and how I
+      am to deal with it I do not know!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It sounds as if you preferred some one to detach an occasional limb from
+      the sheep as it walked about!&rdquo; said Jim, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Much easier for me&mdash;if not for the sheep,&rdquo; said Tommy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, don't you worry&mdash;the meat problem will get settled somehow,&rdquo;
+       Jim told her cheerfully. &ldquo;All problems straighten out, if you give 'em
+      time. Now we're nearly home&mdash;that's the fence of our home-paddock.
+      And there are Norah and Wally coming to meet you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;where?&rdquo; Tommy started up, looking excitedly round the landscape.
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;there she is&mdash;the dear! And isn't that a beautiful horse!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's Norah's special old pony, Bosun,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;We're making her very
+      unhappy by telling her she's grown too big for him, but he really carries
+      her like a bird. A habit might look too much on him, but not that astride
+      kit. You got yours, by the way, Tommy, I hope?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh yes. I look very strange in it,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;And Bob thinks I might
+      as well have worn out his old uniforms. But I shall never ride like that&mdash;as
+      Norah does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at Norah, who was coming across the paddock with Wally, at a
+      hard canter. Her pony was impatient, reefing and plunging in his desire to
+      gallop; and Norah was sitting him easily, her hands, well down, giving to
+      the strain on the bit, her slight figure, in coat and breeches, swaying
+      lightly to each bound. The sunlight rippled on Bosun's glossy, bay coat,
+      and on the big black horse Wally rode. They pulled up, laughing, at the
+      gateway, just as the car turned off the road. There were confused and
+      enthusiastic greetings, and the car dashed on up the track, with an
+      outrider on each side&mdash;both horses strongly resenting this new and
+      ferocious monster. The years had brought a good deal of sober sense to
+      Bosun and Monarch, but motors were still unfamiliar objects on Billabong.
+      Indeed, no car of the size of Norah's Rolls-Royce had ever been seen in
+      the district, and the men gaped at it open-mouthed as Jim drove it round
+      to the stable after unloading his passengers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, but that's the fine carry-van,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;Is that the size they
+      have them in England, now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, it isn't, Murty&mdash;not as a rule,&rdquo; Jim answered. &ldquo;This was built
+      specially for a man who was half an invalid; he used to go for long tours,
+      and sleep in the car because he hated hotels. So it's a special size. It
+      used to be jolly useful taking out wounded men in England.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure, it would be,&rdquo; Murty said. &ldquo;Only&mdash;somehow, it don't seem to fit
+      into Billabong, Mr. Jim!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So big as that! I say, Murty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, there's room enough for it,&rdquo; grinned the Irishman. &ldquo;Only, motors
+      and Billabong don't go hand in hand&mdash;we've always stuck to horses,
+      haven't we, Mr. Jim?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll do that still,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;But it will be useful, all the same,
+      Murty.&rdquo; He laughed at the stockman's lugubrious face. &ldquo;Oh, I know it's
+      giving you the sort of pain you had when dad had the telephone put on&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, 'tis the quare onnatural little machine, an' I niver feel anyways
+      at home with it, Mr. Jim,&rdquo; Murty defended himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's lots like you, Murty. But you'll admit that when we've got to
+      send a telegram, it's better to telephone it than make a man ride
+      thirty-four miles with it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose it is,&rdquo; said the Irishman doubtfully. &ldquo;I dunno, though&mdash;if
+      'twas that black imp of a Billy he'd as well be doing that as propping up
+      the stable wall an' smokin'!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's no getting round an Irishman when he makes up his mind,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;And if you had to catch the eight o'clock train to Melbourne I believe
+      you'd rather get up at three in the morning and run up the horses to drive
+      in, than leave here comfortably in the car at seven.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it me to dhrive in it?&rdquo; demanded Murty, in horror. &ldquo;Begob, I'd lose me
+      life before I'd get into one of thim quare, sawed-off things. Give me
+      something with shafts, Mr. Jim, and a dacint horse in them. More by token,
+      I would not get up at three in the morning either, but dhrive in aisy an'
+      comfortable the night before.&rdquo; He beamed on Jim with so clear a conviction
+      that he was unanswerable that Jim hadn't the heart to argue further.
+      Instead he ran the car deftly into a buggy-shed whence an ancient double
+      buggy had been deposed to make room for her, and then fell to discussing
+      with Murty the question of building a garage, with a turn-table and pit
+      for cleaning and repairs. To which Murty gave the eager interest and
+      attention he would have shown had Jim proposed building anything, even had
+      it been an Eiffel Tower on the front lawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Brownie came out through the box-trees to the stables, presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Master Jim, afternoon tea's in these ten minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious! I forgot all about tea!&rdquo; Jim exclaimed. &ldquo;Thanks awfully,
+      Brownie. Had your own?&rdquo; He slipped his arm through hers as they turned
+      back to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet, my dear,&rdquo; said Brownie, beaming up at him. That this huge Major,
+      with four years of war service to his credit, was exactly the same to her
+      as the little boy she had bathed and dressed in years gone by, was a
+      matter of nightly thanksgiving in her prayers. &ldquo;I was just goin' to settle
+      to it when it come over me that you weren't in&mdash;and the visitors
+      there an' all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd come and have mine with you in the kitchen if they weren't there,&rdquo;
+       Jim told her. &ldquo;Tea in your kitchen is better than anything else.&rdquo; He
+      patted her shoulders as he left her at the door of her domain, going off
+      with long strides to wash his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We didn't wait for you,&rdquo; Norah said, as he came into the drawing-room; a
+      big cheery room, with long windows opening out upon the veranda, and a
+      conservatory at one end. A fire of red gum logs made it pleasantly warm;
+      the tea table was drawn near its blaze, and the arm-chairs made a
+      semicircle round it. &ldquo;These poor people looked far too hungry to wait&mdash;to
+      say nothing of Wally and myself. How did the car go, Jimmy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Splendidly,&rdquo; Jim said, taking his cup, and retiring from the tea-table
+      with a scone. &ldquo;Never ran better; that man in Cunjee knows his job, which I
+      didn't expect. Are you tired, Tommy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tired?&mdash;no,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;I was very hungry, but that is getting
+      better. And Norah is going to show me Billabong, so I could not possibly
+      dream of being tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Norah means to show you all Billabong before dark, she'll have to
+      hurry,&rdquo; said Jim lazily. &ldquo;Don't you let yourself be persuaded into
+      anything so desperate, Tommy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry; I'll give her graduated doses,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;I'll watch
+      the patient carefully, and see if there is any sign of strength failing.
+      When do you begin to teach Bob to run a station?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never saw anyone in such a hurry,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Why, the poor beggar
+      hasn't had his tea yet&mdash;give him time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But we are in a hurry,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;We're burning to learn all about it.
+      Norah is to teach me the house side, while you instruct Bob how to tell a
+      merino bullock&mdash;is it not?&mdash;from an Ayrshire.&rdquo; Everybody ate
+      with suspicious haste, and she looked at them shrewdly. &ldquo;Now, I have said
+      that all wrong, I feel sure, but it's just as well for you to be prepared
+      for that. Norah will have a busy time correcting my mistakes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You aren't supposed to know anything about cattle and things like that,&rdquo;
+       said Norah. &ldquo;And when it comes to the house side, I don't think you'll
+      find I can teach you much&mdash;if anyone brought up to know French
+      cooking and French housekeeping has much to learn from a backblocks
+      Australian, I'll be surprised.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In fact,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton, &ldquo;I should think that the lessons will
+      generally end in the students of domestic economy fleeing forth upon
+      horses and studying how to deal with beef&mdash;on the hoof. Don't you,
+      Wally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;And Brownie will wash up after them, and say,
+      'Bless their hearts, why would they stay in a hot kitchen!' And so poor
+      old Bob will go down the road to ruin!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a jolly prospect,&rdquo; said Bob placidly. &ldquo;I think we'll knock a good
+      deal of fun out of it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They trooped out in a body presently on their preliminary voyage of
+      discovery; touring the house itself, with its big rooms and wide
+      corridors, and the broad balconies that ran round three sides, from which
+      you looked far across the run&mdash;miles of rolling plains, dotted with
+      trees and clumps of timber, and merging into a far line of low,
+      scrub-grown hills. Then outside, and to the stables&mdash;a massive red
+      brick pile, creeper-covered, where Monarch and Garryowen, and Bosun, and
+      the buggy ponies, looked placidly from their loose boxes, and asked for&mdash;and
+      got&mdash;apples from Jim's pockets. Tommy even made her way up the steep
+      ladder to the loft that ran the whole length of the stables&mdash;big
+      enough for the men's yearly dance, but just now crammed with fragrant
+      oaten hay. She wanted to see everything, and chatted away in her eager,
+      half-French fashion, like a happy child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so lovely to be here,&rdquo; she told Norah later, when the keen evening
+      wind had driven them indoors from a tour of the garden. She was kneeling
+      on the floor of her bedroom, unpacking her trunk, while Norah perched on
+      the end of the bed. &ldquo;You see, I am no longer afraid; and I have always
+      been afraid since Aunt Margaret died. In Lancaster Gate I was afraid all
+      the time, especially when I was planning to run away. Then, on the ship,
+      though every one was so kind, the big, unknown country was like a wall of
+      Fear ahead; even in Melbourne everything seemed uncertain, doubtful. But
+      now, quite suddenly, it is all right. I just know we shall get along quite
+      well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course you will,&rdquo; Norah said, laughing down at the earnest face.
+      &ldquo;You're the kind of people who must do well, because you are so keen. And
+      Billabong has adopted you, and we're going to see that you make a success
+      of things. You're our very own immigrants!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's nice to be owned by some one who isn't my step-mother,&rdquo; said Tommy
+      happily. &ldquo;I began to think I was hers, body and soul&mdash;when she
+      appeared on that awful moment in Liverpool. I made sure all hope was over.
+      Bob says I shouldn't have panicked, but then Bob had not been a toad under
+      her harrow for two years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm very glad you panicked, since it sent you straight into our arms,&rdquo;
+       said Norah. &ldquo;If we had met you in an ordinary, stodgy way&mdash;you and
+      Bob presenting your letter of introduction, and we saying 'How do you do?'
+      politely&mdash;it would have taken us ages to get to know you properly.
+      And as it was, we jumped into being friends. You did look such a poor,
+      hunted little soul as you came dodging across that street!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you took me on trust, when, for all you know, the police might have
+      been after me,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;Well, we won't forget; not that I suppose Bob
+      and I will ever be able to pay you back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good gracious, we don't want paying back!&rdquo; exclaimed Norah, wrinkling her
+      nose disgustedly. &ldquo;Don't talk such utter nonsense, Tommy Rainham. And just
+      hurry up and unpack, because tea will be ready at half-past six.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My goodness!&rdquo; exclaimed the English girl, to whom dinner at half-past
+      seven was a custom of life not lightly to be altered. &ldquo;And I haven't half
+      unpacked, and oh, where is my blue frock? I don't believe I've brought
+      it.&rdquo; She sought despairingly in the trunk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, you have&mdash;I hung it up for you in the wardrobe ages ago,&rdquo; said
+      Norah. &ldquo;And it doesn't matter if you don't finish before tea. There's lots
+      of time ahead. However, I certainly won't be dressed if I don't hurry,
+      because I've to see Brownie first, and then sew on a button for Jim.
+      You'll find me next door when you're ready.&rdquo; Tommy heard her go, singing
+      downstairs, and she sighed happily. This, for the first time for two
+      years, was a real home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The education of the new-chums began next morning, and was carried out
+      thoroughly, since Mr. Linton did not believe in showing their immigrants
+      only the pleasanter side of Australian life. Bob was given a few days of
+      riding round the run, spying out the land, and learning something about
+      cattle and their handling as he rode. Luckily for him, he was a good
+      horseman. The stockmen, always on the alert to &ldquo;pick holes&rdquo; in a new-chum,
+      had little fault to find with his easy seat and hands, and approved of the
+      way in which he waited for no one's help in saddling up or letting go his
+      horse; a point which always tells with the man of the bush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had thim on this run,&rdquo; said Murty, &ldquo;as wanted their horses led
+      gently up to thim, and then they climb into the saddle like a lady. And
+      when they'd come home, all they'd be lookin' for 'ud be some one to casht
+      their reins to, the way they cud strowl off to their tay. Isn't that so,
+      Mick?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yairs,&rdquo; said Mick. He was riding an unbroken three-year-old, and had no
+      time for conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a few days of &ldquo;gentle exercise,&rdquo; Bob found himself put on to work.
+      He learned something of cutting out and mustering, both in cleared country
+      and in scrub; helped bring home young cattle to brand, and studied at
+      first hand the peculiar evilness of a scrub cow when separated from her
+      calf. They gave him jobs for himself, which he accomplished fairly well,
+      aided by a stock horse of superhuman intelligence, which naturally knew
+      far more of the work than its rider could hope to do. Bob confided to
+      Tommy that never had he felt so complete a fool as when he rode forth for
+      the first time to cut out a bullock alone under the eyes of the experts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Luckily, the old mare did all the work,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I knew less about
+      it than I did the first time I went up alone at the flying school!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His teaching went on all the time. Mr. Linton and Jim were tireless in
+      pointing out the points of cattle, and the variations in the value of feed
+      on the different parts of the run, with all the details of bush lore; and
+      the airman's eyes, trained to observe, and backed by keen desire to learn,
+      picked up and retained knowledge quickly. Billabong was, in the main, a
+      cattle run, but Mr. Linton kept as well a flock of high class sheep, with
+      the usual small mob for killing for station use, and through these a
+      certain amount of sheep knowledge was imparted to the new-chum. To their
+      surprise, for all his instructors were heart and soul for cattle, Bob
+      showed a distinct leaning towards mutton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're easier to understand, I think,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Possibly it's because
+      they're not as intelligent as cattle, and I don't think I am, either!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I know something about bullocks, but these woolly objects have
+      always been beyond me,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Necessary evils, but I can't stand
+      them. I used to think there was nothing more hopeless than an old merino
+      ewe, until I met a battery mule&mdash;he's a shade worse!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait till you've worked with a camel in a bad temper, Mr. Jim,&rdquo; said Dave
+      Boone darkly; he had put in a weary time in Egypt. &ldquo;For downright
+      wickedness them snake-headed beggars is the fair limit!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I've heard so,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Anyhow, we haven't added mules and camels
+      to our worries in Victoria yet; sheep are bad enough for me. Norah says
+      turkey hens are worse, and she's certainly tried both; there isn't much
+      about the run young Norah doesn't know. But you aren't going to make a
+      living out of turkeys.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;Tommy can run them as a side line,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;I fancy sheep
+      will give me all I want in the way of worry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you really think you'll go in for sheep, old man?&rdquo; asked Jim with
+      pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob set his lips obstinately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think anything yet,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don't know enough. Wait until
+      I've learned a bit more&mdash;if you're not sick of teaching such an
+      idiot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, ye're no ijit,&rdquo; said Murty under his breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Education developed as the weeks went on. Wally had gone to Queensland, to
+      visit married brothers who were all the &ldquo;people&rdquo; he possessed; and Jim,
+      bereft of his chum, threw himself energetically into the training of the
+      substitute. Bob learned to slaughter a bullock and kill a sheep&mdash;being
+      instructed that the job in winter was not a circumstance to what it would
+      be in summer, when flies would abound. He never pretended to like this
+      branch of learning, but stuck to it doggedly, since it was explained to
+      him that the man who could not be his own butcher in the bush was apt to
+      go hungry, and that not one hired hand in twenty could be trusted to kill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More to Bob's taste were the boundary riding expeditions made with Jim to
+      the furthest corners of the run; taking a pack horse with tucker and
+      blankets, and camping in ancient huts, of which the sole furniture was
+      rough sacking bunks, a big fireplace, and empty kerosene cases for seats
+      and tables. It was unfortunate, from the point of view of Bob's
+      instruction, that the frantic zeal of Murty and the men to have everything
+      in order for &ldquo;the Boss&rdquo; had left no yard of the Billabong boundary
+      unvisited not a month before. Still, winter gales were always apt to bring
+      down a tree or two across the wires, laying a few panels flat; the creeks,
+      too, were all in flood, and where a wire fence crossed one, floating
+      brushwood often damaged the barrier, or a landslip in a water-worn bank
+      might carry away a post. So Jim and his pupil found enough occupation to
+      make their trips worth while; and Bob learned to sink post holes, to ram a
+      post home beyond the possibility of moving, and to strain a wire fence
+      scientifically. He was not a novice with an axe, though Jim's mighty
+      chopping made him feel a child; still, when it was necessary to cut away a
+      fallen tree, he could do his share manfully. His hands blistered and grew
+      horny callouses, even as his muscles toughened and his shoulders widened;
+      and all the time the appeal of the wide, free country called to his heart
+      and drew him closer and closer to his new life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he's too comfortable, you know,&rdquo; David Linton said to Jim one night.
+      &ldquo;He's shaping as well as anyone could expect; but he won't always have
+      Billabong at his back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim nodded wisely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Been thinking of that. If you can spare me for a bit
+      we'll go over and lend ourselves as handy men to old Joe Howard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His father whistled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll make you toe the mark,&rdquo; he said, laughing. &ldquo;He won't have you there
+      as gentlemen boarders, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't want him to,&rdquo; said Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it came about that early on Monday morning Jim and Bob fixed swags more
+      or less scientifically to their saddles&mdash;Jim made his disciple
+      unstrap his three times before he consented to pass it&mdash;and rode away
+      from Billabong, amidst derisive good wishes from Norah and Tommy, who
+      kindly promised to feed them up on their return, prophesying that they
+      would certainly need it. They took a westerly direction across country,
+      and after two or three hours' riding came upon a small farm nestling at
+      the foot of a low range of hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's old Howard's,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;And there's the old chap himself, fixing
+      up his windmill. You wait a minute, Bob; I'll go over and see him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave Bob his bridle, and went across a small paddock near the house.
+      Howard, a hard-looking old man with a long, grey beard, was wrestling with
+      a home-made windmill&mdash;a queer erection, mainly composed of rough
+      spars with sails made from old wheat-sacks. He clambered to the ground as
+      Jim approached, and greeted him civilly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought you'd have forgotten me, Mr. Howard,&rdquo; said Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too like your dad&mdash;an', anyhow, I know the horses,&rdquo; was the laconic
+      answer. &ldquo;So you're back. Like Australia better'n fightin'?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;Fighting's a poor game, I think, when you hardly ever
+      see the other fellow. Want any hands, Mr. Howard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo; The old man shook his head. &ldquo;They want too much money nowadays, an'
+      they're too darned partickler about their tucker. Meat three times a day,
+      whether you've killed it or not. An' puddin'. Cock 'em up with puddin'&mdash;a
+      fat lot of it I ever saw where I was raised. An' off to the township on
+      Saturday afternoon, an' lucky if they get back in time for milkin' nex'
+      mornin'. No&mdash;the workin' man ain't what 'e was, an' the new kind'll
+      make precious little of Australia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's about right, I'm afraid,&rdquo; said Jim, listening sympathetically to
+      this oration. &ldquo;Well, will you take me and my friend as hands for a few
+      weeks, Mr. Howard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You!&rdquo; The old man stared at him. &ldquo;Ain't 'ad a quarrel with yer dad, 'ave
+      yer? You take my tip, if yer 'ave&mdash;go back and make it up. Not many
+      men in this districk like yer dad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that, jolly well,&rdquo; said Jim, laughing. &ldquo;No&mdash;but my friend's a
+      new-chum, and I want to show him something of work on a place like yours.
+      We've been breaking him in on Billabong, but he'll have to take a small
+      place for himself, if he settles, and he'd better see what it's like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man shook his head doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;English officer, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dunno,&rdquo; said Howard. &ldquo;Too much of the fine gent about that sort, Mr.
+      Jim. I dunno 'ow I'd get down to orderin' the pair of yous about. An' I
+      ain't got no 'comodation for yous; an' the tucker's not what yous 'ave bin
+      used ter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You needn't let any of that worry you,&rdquo; said Jim cheerfully. &ldquo;He isn't a
+      bit of a fine gent, really, and we'll tackle any job that's going. As for
+      accommodation, we've brought our blankets, and, in case you were short of
+      tucker, we've a big piece of corned beef and some bread. I wish you'd try
+      it, Mr. Howard; we don't want pay, and we'll do no end of work. Murty
+      reckons you won't be sorry if you take on Captain Rainham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Murty says that, does 'e?&rdquo; asked the old man, visibly cheered. &ldquo;Well,
+      Murty ain't the man to barrack for a useless new-chum.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great Scott, do you think I am?&rdquo; demanded Jim, laughing. &ldquo;Or my father?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yous cert'nly didn't ought to be,&rdquo; agreed Howard. &ldquo;All the same&rdquo;&mdash;he
+      pushed his hat back from his worried brow&mdash;&ldquo;I dunno as I quite like
+      it. If I take on a chap I like 'im to step quick an' lively when I tell
+      him anything I want done; an' I don't make no guests of 'em either. They
+      got to do their own cookin', an' keep things clean an' tidy, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll take our share,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;As for stepping quick and lively, we've
+      both been trained to that pretty thoroughly during the last few years. If
+      you're worse than some of the Sergeant-majors I met when I was training,
+      I'll eat my hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm told they're 'ard,&rdquo; said Howard. &ldquo;Well, I s'pose I'd better take yous
+      on, though it's a queer day when the son of Linton of Billabong comes
+      askin' old Joe Howard for a job. But, I say&rdquo;&mdash;and anguish again
+      settled on his brow&mdash;&ldquo;wot am I to call yous? I can't order you about
+      as Mr. Jim. It wouldn't seem to come natural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, call us any old thing,&rdquo; said Jim, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man pondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I'll call yous Major an' Captin,&rdquo; he declared, at length. &ldquo;That'll
+      sound like a pair of workin' bullocks, an' I'll feel more at 'ome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right-o,&rdquo; said Jim, choking slightly. &ldquo;Where shall we put our horses?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put 'em in the little paddock over there, an' stick yer saddles in the
+      shed,&rdquo; said his employer. &ldquo;An' then bring in yer beef, an' we'll 'ave a
+      bit o' dinner. I ain't killed for a fortnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then began for Bob Rainham one of the most strenuous fortnights of his
+      existence. Once having agreed to employ them, old Joe speedily became
+      reconciled to the prospect of cheap labour, and worked his willing guests
+      with a devouring energy. Before dawn had reddened the eastern sky a shout
+      of &ldquo;Hi, Captin! Time the cow was in!&rdquo; drove him from his blankets, to
+      search in the darkness of a scrub-covered paddock for a cow, who
+      apparently loved a game of hide-and-seek, and to drive her in and milk her
+      by the fitful light of a hurricane lantern. Then came the usual round of
+      morning duties; chopping wood, feeding pigs, cleaning out sheds and
+      outhouses, before the one-time airman had time to think of breakfast. By
+      the time he came in Howard and Jim had generally finished and gone out&mdash;the
+      old man took a sly delight in keeping &ldquo;Major&rdquo; away from &ldquo;Captin&rdquo;&mdash;and
+      after cooking his meal, it was his job to wash up and to clean out the
+      kitchen, over which old Joe proved unexpectedly critical. Then came a
+      varied choice of tasks to tackle to while away the day. Sometimes he would
+      be sent to scrub cutting, which he liked best, particularly as Jim was
+      kept at it always; sometimes he slashed mightily at a blackberry-infested
+      paddock, where the brambles would have daunted anyone less stout of heart&mdash;or
+      less ignorant. Then came lessons in ploughing on a dry hillside; he
+      managed badly at first, and came in for a good deal of the rough side of
+      old Joe's tongue before he learned to keep to anything approaching a
+      straight line. Ploughing, Bob reflected, was clearly an art which needed
+      long apprenticeship before you learned to appreciate it, and he developed
+      a new comprehension and sympathy for the ploughman described by Gray as
+      &ldquo;homeward plodding his weary way.&rdquo; He also wondered if Gray's ploughman
+      had to milk and get his own tea after he got home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other relaxations of the bush were open to him. Old Joe had a paddock,
+      once a swamp, which he had drained; it was free of water, but abounded in
+      tussocks and sword grass which &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; was detailed to grub out whenever
+      no duty more pressing awaited him. And sword grass is a fearsome
+      vegetable, clinging of root and so tough of stem that, if handled
+      unwarily, it can cut a finger almost to the bone; wherefore the
+      unfortunate &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; hated it with a mighty hatred, and preferred any
+      other branch of his education. There were stones to pick up and pile in
+      cairns; red stones, half buried in grass and tussocks, and weighing
+      anything from a pound to half a hundredweight. He scarred his hands and
+      broke his fingernails to pieces over them, but, on the whole, considered
+      it not a bad employment, except when old Joe took it into his head to
+      perch on the fence and spur him on to greater efforts by disparaging
+      remarks about England. Whatever his work, there was never any certainty
+      that old Joe would not appear, to sit down, light his short, black pipe,
+      and make caustic remarks about his methods or his country&mdash;or both.
+      Bob took it all with a grin. He was a cheerful soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They used to meet for dinner&mdash;dinner consisting of corned beef and
+      potatoes until the corned beef ran out; then it became potatoes and bread
+      and jam for some days, until Joe amazed them by saddling an ancient grey
+      mare and riding into Cunjee, returning with more corned beef&mdash;and
+      more jam. He boiled the beef in a kerosene tin, and Bob thought he had
+      never tasted anything better. Appetites did not need pampering on Howard's
+      Farm. Work in the evening went on until there was barely light enough to
+      get home and find the cow; it was generally quite dark by the time milking
+      was finished, and Bob would come in with his bucket to find Jim just in,
+      and lighting the fire&mdash;&ldquo;Major,&rdquo; not being the milking hand, worked in
+      the paddocks a little longer. Tea required little preparation, since the
+      only menu that occurred to old Joe seemed to be bread and jam. Jim, being
+      a masterful soul, occasionally took the matter into his own hands and,
+      aided by Bob, made &ldquo;flap-jacks&rdquo; in the frying-pan; they might have been
+      indigestible for delicately-constituted people, but at least they had the
+      merit of being hot and comforting on a biting winter night. Old Joe
+      growled under his breath at the &ldquo;softness&rdquo; of people who required &ldquo;cocking
+      up with fal-lals.&rdquo; But he ate the flap-jacks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After tea the &ldquo;hands&rdquo; divided the duties of the evening; taking it in
+      turn, one to wash up, while the other &ldquo;set&rdquo; bread. Joe's only baking
+      implement was a camp-oven, which resembles a large saucepan on three legs;
+      it could hold just enough for a day's supply, so that it was necessary to
+      set bread every night, and bake every morning. This wounded their
+      employer, who never failed to tell them, with some bitterness, that when
+      alone he had to bake only twice a week. However, he knew all that there
+      was to know about camp-oven baking, and taught them the art thoroughly, as
+      well as that of making yeast from potatoes. &ldquo;That's an extry,&rdquo; he remarked
+      thoughtfully, &ldquo;but I won't charge yer for it, yous 'avin' bin soldiers!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With the bread set, and rising pleasantly before the fire, under a bit of
+      old blanket, and the kitchen tidy, a period of rest ensued, when &ldquo;Major&rdquo;
+       and &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; were free to draw up chairs&mdash;seated with greenhide with
+      the hair left on, and very comfortable&mdash;and smoke their pipes. This
+      was the only time of the day when old Joe unbent. At first silent, he
+      would presently shift his pipe to the corner of his mouth and spin them
+      yarns of the early days, told with a queer, dry humour that kept his
+      hearers in a simmer of laughter. It was always a matter of regret to poor
+      &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; that he used to be the one to end the telling, since no story on
+      earth could keep him, after a while, from nodding off to sleep. He would
+      drag himself away to his blankets in the next room, hearing, as sleep
+      fully descended upon him, the droning voice still entertaining Jim&mdash;whose
+      powers of keeping awake seemed more than human!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saturday brought no slackening of work. Whatever his previous hired men
+      had done, old Joe was evidently determined that his present
+      &ldquo;parlour-boarders&rdquo; should not abate their efforts, and even kept them a
+      little later than usual in the paddocks, remarking that &ldquo;ter-morrer bein'
+      Sunday, yous might as well cut a bit more scrub.&rdquo; The next morning broke
+      fine and clear, and he looked at them a little doubtfully after breakfast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, there ain't no work doin' on Sunday, I reckon. I can manage the ol'
+      keow to-night, if yous want to go home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The guests looked at each other doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you say, Bob? Shall we ride over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob pondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All one to me, o' course,&rdquo; said Joe, getting up and stumping out. He
+      paused at the door. &ldquo;On'y if yous mean ter stick on 'ere a bit you'll find
+      comin' back a bit 'ard, onced yous see Billabong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just what I was thinking,&rdquo; said Bob, as the old man disappeared. &ldquo;I'm not
+      going, Jim; I know jolly well I'd hate to come back after&mdash;er&mdash;fleshpotting
+      at your place. But look here, old chap&mdash;why don't you go home and
+      stay there? You've done quite enough of this, especially as you've no
+      earthly need to do it at all. You go home, and I'll stay out my
+      fortnight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, leave you here alone?&rdquo; queried Jim. &ldquo;Not much, Bobby.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why not? I've Joseph, and we'd become bosom friends. And your father
+      must think it ridiculous for you to be kept over here, slaving&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry your old head about dad,&rdquo; said Jim cheerfully. &ldquo;It's a
+      slack time, and he doesn't need me, and he's perfectly satisfied at my
+      being here. Bless you, it's no harm for me to get a bit of this sort of
+      life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll never have to do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one can tell that,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;The bottom has dropped out of land in
+      other countries, and it may happen here. Besides, if you've got to employ
+      labour it's just as well to know from experience what's a fair thing to
+      expect from a man as a day's work. For which reason, I have desired our
+      friend Joseph to take me off scrub-duty, which I feel I know pretty well,
+      and to detail me for assorted fatigues, like yours, next week. And anyhow,
+      my son, having brought you to this savage place, I'm not going to leave
+      you. Finally, we couldn't go anywhere, because this is the day that we
+      must wash.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have washed!&rdquo; said Bob indignantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't mean your person, Bobby, but your clothes. The laundress doesn't
+      call out here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Bob, and grinned. &ldquo;Then I'd better put on a kettle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So they washed, very cheerfully, taking turns in the one bucket, which was
+      all Joe could offer as laundry equipment. He had an iron, but after brief
+      consultation, &ldquo;Major&rdquo; and &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; decided that to iron working shirts
+      would be merely painting the lily. Old Joe watched them with a twinkle,
+      saying nothing. But a spirit of festivity and magnificence must have
+      entered into him, for when the washermen went for a walk, after disposing
+      their damp raiment upon bushes, he entered the kitchen hurriedly and dived
+      for the flour-bag; and later, they found unwonted additions to the corned
+      beef and potatoes&mdash;the said additions being no less than boiled
+      onions and a jam tart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The week that followed was a repetition of the first, save for a day of
+      such rain that even old Joe had to admit that work in the paddocks was out
+      of the question. He consoled himself by making them whitewash the kitchen.
+      Large masses of soot fell down into the fireplace throughout the day,
+      seriously interfering with cooking operations, which suggested to Joe that
+      &ldquo;Captin&rdquo; might acquire yet another art&mdash;that of bush chimney sweeping&mdash;which
+      he accomplished next day, under direction, by the simple process of
+      tugging a great bunch of tea-tree up and down the flue. &ldquo;Better'n all them
+      brushes they 'ave in towns,&rdquo; said Joe, watching his blackened assistant
+      with satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we're off to-morrow, Mr. Howard,&rdquo; said Jim on Saturday night. They
+      were seated round the fire, smoking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I s'pose so. Didn't think yous'd stick it out as long,&rdquo; the old man said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had a very good time,&rdquo; said Bob; and was astonished to find himself
+      speaking truthfully. &ldquo;Jolly good of you to have me; I know a new-chum
+      isn't much use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I wouldn't say as how you weren't,&rdquo; said old Joe deliberately. &ldquo;I
+      ain't strong on new-chums, meself&mdash;some of them immy-grants they send
+      out are a fair cow to handle; but I will say, Captin, you ain't got no
+      frills, nor you don't mind puttin' your back into a job. I worked you
+      pretty 'ard, too.&rdquo; He chuckled deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you?&rdquo; asked Bob&mdash;and chuckled in his turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I didn't see no points in spoon-feedin' you. If a man's goin' on
+      the land he may as well know wot 'e's likely to strike. There's lots'll
+      tell you you won't strike anythink 'arder than ol' Joe&mdash;an' p'raps
+      you won't,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Any'ow, yous asked fer work, an' it was up ter me
+      ter see that yous got it. But don't go imaginin' you've learned all there
+      is ter know about farmin' yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that,&rdquo; said Bob a trifle
+      grimly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right. I ain't got much of a farm, an' any'ow, it's winter. I on'y
+      showed yous a few of the odd jobs&mdash;an' wot it is to 'ave to batch fer
+      yerself, not comin' in like a lord to Billabong ter see wot Mrs. Brown's
+      been cookin' for yous. Nothin' like a bit o' batchin' ter teach a cove.
+      An' you mind, Captin&mdash;if you start anywhere on yer own, you batch
+      decent; keep things clean an' don't get into the way o' livin' just
+      any'ow. I ain't much, nor the meenoo ain't excitin'; but things is clean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;I have a sister,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;So I'm in luck. But I guess I
+      know a bit more about her side of the job now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that's no bad thing for Tommy,&rdquo; said Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oo's 'e?&rdquo; demanded Joe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;that's his sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rum names gals gets nowadays,&rdquo; said Joe, pondering. &ldquo;Not on'y gels,
+      neither. 'S a chap on top of the 'ill 'as a new baby, an' 'e's called it
+      'Aig Wipers Jellicoe. 'Course, 'e did go to the war, but 'e ain't got no
+      need ter rub it into the poor kid like that.&rdquo; He paused to ram the tobacco
+      into the bowl of his pipe with a horny thumb. &ldquo;One thing&mdash;I'd like to
+      pay you chaps somethin'. Never 'ad blokes workin' fer me fer nothin', an'
+      I don't much care about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, thanks, Mr. Howard,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;We came for colonial experience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You!&rdquo; said old Joe, and permitted himself the ghost of a grin. &ldquo;Well, I
+      ain't goin' ter fight yous about it, an' I'm not worryin' a mighty lot
+      about you, Major, 'cause your little bit o' country's ready made for you.
+      But Captin's different. We won't 'ave no fight about cash, Captin; but
+      that last year's calf of the ol' keow's goin' ter be a pretty decent
+      steer, an' when you gets yer farm 'e's goin' on it as yer first bit o'
+      stock. An' 'e'll get the best o' my grass till 'e goes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; said Bob, much embarrassed. &ldquo;Awfully good of you, Mr. Howard,
+      but that wasn't the agreement. I know I'm not worth wages yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, ain't you?&rdquo; Joe asked. &ldquo;Well, there's two opinions about that.
+      Any'ow, 'e's yours, an' I've christened 'im Captin, so there ain't no way
+      out of it.&rdquo; He rose, cutting short further protests. &ldquo;Too much bloomin'
+      argument about this camp; I'm off ter bed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you think he'll do, Jim?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I certainly do,&rdquo; Jim answered. He was sitting with his father in the
+      smoking-room at Billabong, his long legs outstretched before the fire, and
+      his great form half-concealed in the depths of an enormous leather
+      armchair. &ldquo;Of course he'll want guidance; you couldn't expect him to know
+      much about stock yet, though he's certainly picked up a good bit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;so it seems. His great point is his quick eye and his keenness.
+      I haven't found him forget much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, and he's awfully ashamed if he does. He's a tiger for work, and very
+      quick at picking up the way to tackle any new job. That was one of the
+      things that pleased old Joe about him. I fancy the old chap had suffered
+      at the hands of other new-chums who reckoned they could teach him how to
+      do his work. 'Captin ain't orffered me not one bit of advice,' he told me
+      with relief.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Linton laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I've had them here like that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Full of sublime enthusiasm
+      for reforming Australia and all her ways. I don't say we don't need it,
+      either, but not from a new-chum in his first five minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not much,&rdquo; agreed Jim. &ldquo;Well, there's nothing of that sort about old Bob.
+      He just hoes in at anything that's going, and doesn't talk about it. Joe
+      says he must have been reared sensible. He's all right, dad. I've had a
+      lot of men through my hands in the last few years, and you learn to size
+      'em up pretty quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      David Linton nodded, looking at his big son. Sometimes he had a pang of
+      regret for Jim's lost boyhood, swallowed up in war. Then, when he was
+      privileged to behold him rough-and-tumbling with Wally, singing idiotic
+      choruses with Norah and Tommy, or making himself into what little Babs
+      Archdale ecstatically called &ldquo;my bucking donkey,&rdquo; it was borne in upon him
+      that there still was plenty of the boy left in Jim&mdash;and that there
+      always would be. Nevertheless, he had great confidence in his judgment;
+      and in this instance it happened to coincide with his own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door opened, and Bob Rainham came in, hesitating as he caught sight of
+      the father and son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in, Bob,&rdquo; Mr. Linton said. &ldquo;I was just wishing you would turn up.
+      We've been talking about you. I understand you've made up your mind to get
+      a place of your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you don't think I'm insane to tackle it, sir,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;Of
+      course, I know I'm awfully ignorant. But I thought I could probably get
+      hold of a good man, and if I can find a place anywhere in this district,
+      Jim says he'll keep an eye on me. Between the two, I oughtn't to make very
+      hopeless mistakes. And I might as well have my money invested.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so. I think you're wise,&rdquo; the squatter answered. &ldquo;As it happens, I
+      was in Cunjee yesterday, talking to an agent, and I heard of a little
+      place that might suit you very well&mdash;just about the price you ought
+      to pay, and the land's not bad. There's a decent cottage on it&mdash;you
+      and Tommy could be very comfortable there. It's four miles from here, so
+      we should feel you hadn't got away from us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds jolly,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;I'd be awfully glad to think Tommy was so
+      near to Norah. Is it sheep country, Mr. Linton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So it's to be sheep, is it? Well, I'd advise you to put some young cattle
+      on to some scrub country at the back, but you could certainly run sheep on
+      the cleared paddocks,&rdquo; Mr. Linton answered. &ldquo;We could drive over and look
+      at it to-morrow, if you like. The terms are easy; you'd have money over to
+      stock it, or nearly so. And there's plenty to be done in improving the
+      place, if you should buy it; you could easily add a good deal to its
+      value.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I'd like,&rdquo; Bob answered eagerly. &ldquo;It doesn't take a whole lot
+      of brains to dig drains and cut scrub. I could be doing that while the
+      sheep turn into wool and mutton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you could; though there's a bit more to be done to sheep than just to
+      watch them turn,&rdquo; said the squatter, with a twinkle. &ldquo;I fancy Tommy will
+      be pleased if you get this place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tommy's mad keen to start,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;She says Norah has taught her more
+      than she ever dreamed that her head could contain, and she wants to work
+      it all off on me. I think she has visions of making me kill a bullock, so
+      that she can demonstrate all she knows about corning and spicing and
+      salting beef. I mentioned it would take two of us quite a little while to
+      work through a whole bullock, but she evidently didn't think much of the
+      objection.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll see you get none fat enough to kill,&rdquo; grinned Jim. &ldquo;Norah says
+      Tommy's a great pupil, dad.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, they have worked as if they were possessed,&rdquo; Mr. Linton answered. &ldquo;I
+      never saw such painfully busy people. But Norah tells me she has had very
+      little to teach Tommy&mdash;in fact, I think the teaching has been mutual,
+      and they've simply swapped French and Australian dodges. At all events
+      they and Brownie have lived in each other's pockets, and they all seem
+      very content.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you all talking business, or may we come in?&rdquo; demanded a cheery
+      voice; and Norah peeped in, with Tommy dimly visible in the background.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in&mdash;'twas yourselves we were talking about,&rdquo; Jim said, rising
+      slowly from the armchair; a process which, Norah was accustomed to say, he
+      accomplished yard by yard. &ldquo;Sit here, Tommy, and let's hear your views on
+      Australia!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too soon to ask me&mdash;and I've only seen Billabong,&rdquo; she said,
+      laughing. &ldquo;Wait until I've kept house for Bob for a while, and faced life
+      without nice soft buffers like Norah and Mrs. Brown!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not a nice soft buffer!&rdquo; said Norah indignantly. &ldquo;Do I look like one,
+      Jimmy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Brownie certainly fits the description better,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;Never mind,
+      old girl, you'll probably grow into one. We'd be awfully proud of you if
+      you got really fat, Norah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I hope you'll never have cause for pride,&rdquo; retorted his sister. &ldquo;I
+      couldn't ride Bosun if I did, and that would be too awful to think about.
+      Oh, and Tommy's making a great stock-rider, Bob. She declared she could
+      never ride astride, but she's perceiving the error of her ways.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought I could never stick on without the moral support of the
+      pommels,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;When you arrange yourself among pommels and horns
+      and things on a side-saddle, there seems no real reason why you should
+      ever come off, except of your own free will. But a man's saddle doesn't
+      offer any encouragement to a poor scared new-chum. I pictured myself
+      sliding off it whenever the horse side-stepped. However, somehow, it
+      doesn't happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what happens when your steed slews around after a bullock?&rdquo; asked
+      Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, I hardly know,&rdquo; said Tommy modestly. &ldquo;I generally shut my eyes,
+      and hold on to the front of the saddle. After a while I open them, and
+      find, to my astonishment, that nothing has occurred, and I'm still there.
+      Then we sail along after Norah, and I hold up my head proudly and look as
+      if that were really the way I have always handled cattle. And she isn't a
+      bit taken in. It's dreadfully difficult to impress Norah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one laughed, and looked at the new-chum affectionately. This small
+      English girl, so ready to laugh at her own mistakes, had twined herself
+      wonderfully about their hearts. Even Brownie, jealous to the point of
+      prickliness for her adored Norah, and at first inclined to turn up a
+      scornful nose at &ldquo;Miss Tommy's&rdquo; pink and white daintiness, had been forced
+      to admit that she &ldquo;could 'andle things like a workman.&rdquo; And that was high
+      praise from Brownie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The telephone bell whirred in the hall, and Jim went out to answer it. In
+      a few minutes they heard his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Norah, just come here a moment.&rdquo; He came back presently, leaving Norah at
+      the telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's Dr. Anderson,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They're in trouble in Cunjee&mdash;there's
+      a pretty bad outbreak of influenza. Some returned men came up with it, and
+      now it's spreading everywhere, Anderson says. Mrs. Anderson has been
+      nursing in the hospital, but now two of her own kiddies have got it, so
+      she has had to go home, and they're awfully shorthanded. Nurses seem to be
+      scarce everywhere; they could only get one from Melbourne, and she's badly
+      overworked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Norah will go, I suppose,&rdquo; said David Linton, with a half-sigh&mdash;the
+      sigh of a man who has looked forward to peace and security, and finds it
+      again slipping from his grasp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I'm sure she will. They have a certain number of volunteers, not
+      nearly enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm going,&rdquo; said Tommy, and David Linton nodded at her kindly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What about you and me, Jim?&rdquo; Bob asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Anderson says they have a number of men volunteers. Such a lot of
+      returned fellows about with nothing to do yet. I told him to count on us
+      for anything he wanted, but the need seems chiefly for women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must they go to-night? It's pretty late,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, not to-night,&rdquo; Norah answered, entering. &ldquo;It would be eight o'clock
+      before I could get in, and Dr. Anderson says I'm to get a good sleep and
+      come in early in the morning. Tommy, darling, will you mind if I leave you
+      for a few days?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horribly,&rdquo; said Tommy drily. &ldquo;It would be unpardonably rude for a
+      hostess. So I 'm coming too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah laughed down at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Somehow, I thought you would,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Well, Jimmy, you'll take us in
+      after breakfast, won't you? We'll have it early.&rdquo; She perched on the arm
+      of her father's chair, letting her fingers rest for a moment on his
+      close-cropped grey hair. &ldquo;And I've never asked you if I could go, daddy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said David Linton; &ldquo;you haven't.&rdquo; He put his arm gently round her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But then I knew that you'd kick me out if I didn't. So that simplifies
+      matters. You'll take care of yourself while I'm away, won't you, dad? No
+      wild rides by yourself into the ranges, or anything of that sort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; said her father. &ldquo;I'll sit quietly at home, and let
+      Brownie give me nourishment at short intervals.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing she'd like better.&rdquo; Norah laughed. &ldquo;I don't believe Brownie will
+      really feel that she owns us again until one of us is considerate enough
+      to fall ill and give her a real chance of nursing and feeding us. Then the
+      only thing to do is to forget you ever had a will of your own, and just to
+      open your mouth and be fed like a young magpie, and Brownie's perfectly
+      happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She won't be happy when she hears of this new plan,&rdquo; Mr. Linton said.
+      &ldquo;Poor old soul, I'm sorry she should have any worry, when she has just got
+      you home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; I'm sorry,&rdquo; Norah answered. &ldquo;But it can't be helped. I'll go and
+      talk to her now, and arrange things&mdash;early breakfast among them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You might make it a shade earlier than you meant to, while you're at it,
+      Nor,&rdquo; Jim observed. &ldquo;Then we could turn off the track as we go in
+      to-morrow to let Tommy have a look at the place that has been offered Bob&mdash;you
+      know that place of Henderson's, off the main road. Bob can go over the
+      land with us when we're coming back. But once you and Tommy get swallowed
+      up in Cunjee, there's no knowing when we could get you out; and Tommy
+      ought to inspect the house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I'd love to,&rdquo; said Tommy enthusiastically. &ldquo;No mere man can be
+      trusted to buy a house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't go to look at it with any large ideas of up-to-date improvements
+      floating in your mind,&rdquo; Jim warned her. &ldquo;It's sure to be pretty primitive,
+      and probably there isn't even a bathroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry, Tommy; we'll build you one,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not going to worry about anything; there are always washtubs,&rdquo; spoke
+      Tommy cheerfully&mdash;&ldquo;and thank you, all the same, Mr. Linton. I didn't
+      expect much when I came out to Australia, but I'm getting so much more
+      than I expected that I'm in a state of bewilderment all the time. Someday
+      I feel that I shall come down with a bump, and I shall be thankful if it's
+      only over a bathroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Distressing picture of the valiant pioneer looking for discomforts and
+      failing to find them,&rdquo; said Bob, laughing. &ldquo;It's so difficult to feel
+      really pioneerish in a place where there are taps, and electric light, and
+      motors, and no one appears to wear a red shirt, like every Australian
+      bushman I ever saw on the stage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you bring any out with you?&rdquo; demanded Norah wickedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't. But honest, it was only because I had so many khaki ones, and I
+      thought they'd do. Otherwise I'd certainly have thought that scarlet
+      shirts were part of the ordinary outfit for the Colonies. And if you
+      believed all the things they tell you in outfitting shops, you would bring
+      a gorgeous assortment. We'd have even arrived here with tinware. It was
+      lucky I knew some Australians&mdash;they delicately hinted that you really
+      had a shop or two in the principal cities.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've often marvelled at the queer collection people seem to bring out,&rdquo;
+       said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;It's not so bad of late years, but ten years ago a
+      jackeroo would arrive here with about a lorry-load of stuff, most of which
+      he could have bought much more cheaply in Melbourne or Sydney&mdash;and
+      he'd certainly never use the greater part of it. Apparently a London shop
+      will sell you the same kind of outfit for a Melbourne suburb as if you
+      were going into the wilds of West Africa. They haven't any conscience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They just never learn geography,&rdquo; said Norah. &ldquo;And 'the Colonies' to them
+      mean exactly the same thing, no matter in what continent the colony may
+      be. If they can sell pioneers tinware to take out to Melbourne, so much
+      the better for them. Well, I must see Brownie, or there may not be early
+      breakfast for pioneers or any one else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Brownie rose to the occasion&mdash;there had never been any known occasion
+      to which Brownie did not rise&mdash;and the hospital at Cunjee was still
+      grappling with early morning problems next day when the Billabong motor
+      pulled up at the door, after a flying visit to the new home&mdash;which
+      Tommy, regarding with the large eye of faith, had declared to be full of
+      boundless possibilities. Dr. Anderson came out to meet the new-comers,
+      Norah and Tommy, neat and workmanlike; Jim, bearing their luggage; and Mr.
+      Linton and Bob sharing a large humper, into which Brownie had packed
+      everything eatable she could find&mdash;and Brownie's capacity for finding
+      things eatable at short notice was one of her most astonishing traits. The
+      little doctor, harassed as he was, greeted them with a twinkle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You Lintons generally appear bearing your sheaves with you,&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;Well, you're very welcome. How many of you do I keep?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tommy and Norah, for certain,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;And as many more of us
+      as you please. Want us all, doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I really don't; there are a good many men volunteers. But if I
+      might commandeer the car and a driver for a few hours, I should be glad,&rdquo;
+       the doctor went on. &ldquo;There are some cases to be brought in from Mardale
+      and Clinthorpe. I heard of them only this morning, on the telephone, and I
+      was wondering how to get them in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're at your disposal, and you've only to telephone for us or the car
+      whenever you want it,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;How are things this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh&mdash;bad enough. We have several very troublesome cases; people
+      simply won't give in soon enough. My youngsters are very ill, but I'm not
+      really worried about them as long as my wife keeps up. Our biggest trouble
+      is that our cook here went down this morning. She told me she couldn't
+      sleep a wink all night, and when she woke up in the morning her tongue was
+      sticking to the roof of her head!&mdash;and certainly she has temperature
+      enough for any strange symptoms. But we feel rather as if the bottom had
+      dropped out of the universe, for none of our volunteers are equal to the
+      job.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can cook,&rdquo; said Norah and Tommy together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you?&rdquo; said the little doctor, staring at them as though the heavens
+      had opened and rained down angels on his head. &ldquo;Are you sure? You don't
+      look like it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can guarantee them,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton, laughing. &ldquo;Only you'll have to
+      watch Norah, for the spell of the war is heavy upon her, and she'll boil
+      your soup bones thirteen times, and feed you all on haricot beans and
+      lentils if nobody checks her!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dad, you haven't any manners,&rdquo; said Norah severely. &ldquo;May I cook, Doctor?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can share the job,&rdquo; said Dr. Anderson thankfully. &ldquo;I really think
+      it's more than enough for one of you. This place is getting pretty full.
+      Of course, I've wired to town for a cook, but goodness knows if we'll get
+      one; it's unlikely. Come on, now, and I'll introduce you to Sister.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sister proved to be a tall, capable, quiet woman, with war decorations.
+      She greeted the volunteers thankfully, and unhesitatingly pronounced their
+      place to be cooks, rather than nurses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can get girls who will do well enough in the wards,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;where I
+      can direct them. But I can't be in the kitchen too. If you two can carry
+      on without supervision it will be a godsend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the kitchen swallowed up Norah and Tommy, and there they worked during
+      the weeks that followed, while the influenza scourge raged round Victoria.
+      The little cottage-hospital became full almost to bursting-point. Even the
+      rooms for the staff had to be appropriated, and nurses and helpers slept
+      in a cottage close by. Luckily for the cooks, Cunjee now boasted a gas
+      supply and its citizens supplied them with gas-stoves, as Norah said, &ldquo;in
+      clutches,&rdquo; so that they worked in comfort. It was hard work, with little
+      time to spare, but the girls had learned method, and they soon mapped out
+      a routine that prevented their ever being rushed or flurried. And they
+      blessed the cold weather that saved constant watching lest supplies should
+      go bad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From Billabong came daily hampers that greatly relieved their labours. It
+      was a matter of some amazement to the Lintons that Brownie did not
+      volunteer for the hospital, and indeed, it had been the first thought of
+      Brownie herself. But she repressed it firmly, though by no means feeling
+      comfortable. To Murty she confided her views, and was relieved by his
+      approval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know I did ought to go,&rdquo; she said, almost tearfully. &ldquo;There's those two
+      blessed lambs in the kitchen, doing wot I'd ought to be doing; and I know
+      Mrs. Archdale 'ud come up an' run things 'ere for me. But wot 'ud 'appen
+      if I did go, I ask you, Murty? Simply they'd take the two blessed lambs
+      out of the kitchen an' put 'em to nursing in the wards, an' next thing you
+      knew they'd both be down with the beastly flu' themselves. They're safer
+      among the pots and pans, Murty. But when the master looks at me I don't
+      feel comferable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, let him look,&rdquo; said Murty stoutly. &ldquo;'Tis the great head ye have on
+      ye; I'd never have thought of it. Don't go worryin', now. Are ye not
+      sendin' them in the heighth of good livin' every day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the least I can do,&rdquo; said Brownie, brightening a little. &ldquo;Only I'd
+      like to think Miss Norah and Miss Tommy got some of it, and not just them
+      patients, gethered up from goodness knows where.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, Miss Norah wouldn't want to know their addresses before she'd feed
+      'em,&rdquo; said the bewildered Murty. But there came a suspicious smell from
+      the kitchen, as of something burning, and Mrs. Brown fled with a swiftness
+      that was surprising, considering her circumference.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim lived a moving existence in those days, flying between Billabong and
+      Cunjee in the car, bringing supplies, always on hand for a job if wanted,
+      and insisting that on their daily &ldquo;time off&rdquo; Norah and Tommy should come
+      out for a spin into the country. Sometimes they managed to take Sister,
+      too, or some of the other helpers. The car never went out with any empty
+      seats. Presently they were recovering patients to be given fresh air or
+      taken home; white-faced mothers, longing to be back to the house and
+      children left in the care of &ldquo;dad,&rdquo; and whatever kindly neighbours might
+      drop in; or &ldquo;dads&rdquo; themselves, much bewildered at the amazing illness that
+      had left them feeling as if neither their legs nor their heads belonged to
+      them. Occasionally, after dropping one of these convalescents, Jim would
+      find jobs waiting to his hand about the bush homestead; cows to milk, a
+      fence to be mended, wood waiting to be chopped. He used to do them
+      vigorously, while in the house &ldquo;mum&rdquo; fussed over her restored man and
+      tried to keep him from going out to run the farm immediately. There were
+      generally two or three astonished children to show him where tools were
+      kept&mdash;milk buckets, being always up-ended on a fence post, needed no
+      introduction, and the pump, for a sluice afterwards, was not hard of
+      discovery. The big Rolls-Royce used to purr gently away through the bush
+      paddock afterwards, often with a bewildered &ldquo;mum&rdquo; looking amazedly at the
+      tall young man who drove it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Bob Rainham, left alone with his host, set about the business of
+      his new farm in earnest, since there seemed nothing else for him to do;
+      and David Linton, possibly glad of the occupation, threw himself into the
+      work. The farm was bought on terms that seemed to Bob very easy&mdash;he
+      did not know that Mr. Linton stood security for his payments&mdash;and
+      then began the task of stocking it and of planning just what was best to
+      do with each paddock. The house, left bare and clean by the last owners,
+      was in good repair, save that the dingy white painting of the exterior,
+      and the varnished pine walls and ceilings within were depressing and
+      shabby. Mr. Linton decided that his house-warming present to Tommy should
+      be a coat of paint for her mansion, and soon it looked new&mdash;dark red,
+      with a gleaming white roof, while the rooms were painted in pretty fresh
+      colours. &ldquo;Won't Tommy get a shock!&rdquo; chuckled Bob gleefully. The dinginess
+      of the house had not escaped him on the morning that they had made their
+      first inspection, but Tommy, who loved freshness and colours, had made no
+      sign. Had you probed the matter, Tommy would probably have remarked, with
+      some annoyance, that it was not her job to begin by grumbling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wally came hurtling back from Queensland at the first hint of the
+      influenza outbreak, and was considerably depressed at finding his twin
+      souls, Jim and Norah, engaged in jobs that for once he could not share.
+      Therefore he, too, fell back on the new farm, and found Bob knitting his
+      brow one evening over the question of furniture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't want to buy much,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Tommy doesn't, either; we talked it
+      over. We'd rather do with next to nothing, and buy decent stuff by degrees
+      if we get on well. Tommy says she doesn't want footling little gimcracky
+      tables and whatnots and things, nor dressing-tables full of drawers that
+      won't pull out. But I've been looking at the cheap stuff in Cunjee, and,
+      my word, it's nasty! Still, I can't afford good things now, and Tommy
+      wouldn't like it if I tried to get 'em. Tommy's death on the simple life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you on tools?&rdquo; queried Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Using tools? Pretty fair,&rdquo; admitted Bob. &ldquo;I took up carpentering at
+      school; it was always a bit of a hobby of mine. I'm no cabinet-maker, if
+      that's what you mean.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't need to be,&rdquo; Wally answered. &ldquo;Up where I come from&mdash;we
+      were pretty far back in Queensland&mdash;we hardly ever saw real
+      furniture, the stuff you buy in shops. It was all made out of
+      packing-cases and odd bits of wood. Jolly decent, too; you paint 'em up to
+      match the rooms, or stain 'em dark colours, and the girls put sort of
+      petticoats round some of the things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We began that way,&rdquo; said David Linton, with a half-sigh. &ldquo;There was
+      surprisingly little proper furniture in our first house, and we were very
+      comfortable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Couldn't we begin, sir?&rdquo; asked Wally eagerly. &ldquo;This wet weather looks
+      like setting in. Bob can't do much on the farm. If we could get out a few
+      odd lengths of timber and some old packing cases from the township&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, you don't need to do that!&rdquo; exclaimed their host. &ldquo;The place is
+      full of both; packing-cases have been arriving at Billabong since Jim was
+      a baby, and very few of them have gone away again. There's plenty of
+      timber knocking about, too. We'll go over to the farm if you like, Bob,
+      and plan out measurements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it's a splendid idea, thanks, sir,&rdquo; said Bob slowly. &ldquo;Only I
+      don't quite see why I should bother you&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, don't talk rubbish!&rdquo; said David Linton, getting up. &ldquo;I believe I'm
+      glad of the job&mdash;the place seems queer without Jim and Norah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My word!&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;Let's all turn carpenters, and give Tommy the
+      surprise of her life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They flung themselves at the work with energy. A visit to the new house,
+      and a careful study of each room, revealed unsuspected possibilities to
+      Bob, whose English brain, &ldquo;brought up,&rdquo; as Wally said, &ldquo;on a stodgy diet
+      of bedroom suites,&rdquo; had failed to grasp what might be done by handy people
+      with a soul above mere fashion in the matter of furniture. They came back
+      with a notebook bulging with measurements and heads seething with ideas.
+      First, they dealt with the bedrooms, and made for each a set of long
+      shelves and a dressing-table-cupboard&mdash;the latter a noble piece of
+      furniture, which was merely a packing-case, smoothed, planed and fitted
+      with shelves; the whole to be completed with a seemly petticoat when Tommy
+      should be able to detach her mind from influenza patients. They made her,
+      too, a little work-table, which was simply a wide, low shelf, at which she
+      could write or sew&mdash;planned to catch a good light from her window, so
+      that as she sat near it, she could see the line of willows that marked the
+      creek and the rolling plains that ended in the ranges behind Billabong.
+      Tommy's room was painted in pale green; and when they had stained all
+      these exciting additions dark green, Bob heaved a great sigh, and yearned
+      audibly for the swift recovery of the influenza patients, so that Tommy
+      could return and behold her new possessions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could make washstands,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton, when they had fitted out the
+      two remaining bedrooms. &ldquo;But washstands are depressing things, and would
+      take up a good deal of space in these little rooms. You have a good water
+      supply, Bob; why not have built-in basins with taps, and lay on water
+      through the bedrooms?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob whistled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My aunt! Is that really possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite, I should say. It wouldn't take elaborate plumbing, and the pipes
+      could discharge into an irrigation drain for your vegetable garden. It
+      would save Tommy ever so much work in carrying water, too. There's a
+      fearsome amount of water carried in and out of bedrooms, and I can't see
+      why pipes shouldn't do the work. It need not cost you much&mdash;just a
+      shelf across a corner, with an enamelled basin let in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Save you buying jugs and basins,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;Great money-saving idea!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;Is there anyone in Cunjee who can plumb?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes; there's a handy man who can do the whole thing. We'll get Jim to
+      go and see him tomorrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They left this job to the handy man, who proved equal to all demands, and
+      went on themselves to higher flights. Kitchen and pantry were already
+      fitted with shelves, but they built in a dresser, and found a spare
+      corner, where they erected a linen press warranted to bring tears of joy
+      to the eye of any housewife. Round the little dining-room and sitting-room
+      they ran a very narrow shelf, just wide enough to carry flowers and
+      ornaments, and they made wide, low window seats in each room. Then,
+      becoming bold by success, they turned to cabinet making, and built into
+      the dining-room a sideboard, which was only a glorified edition of the
+      kitchen dresser, but looked amazingly like walnut, aided by a little
+      stain; and for both sitting-rooms made low cupboards, with tops wide
+      enough to serve as little tables. Even the verandah was furnished with
+      wide shelf tables and a cupboard, and with low and broad seats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And it's all done by kindness&mdash;and packing cases!&rdquo; said Jim,
+      surveying the result with admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, I'm afraid a lot of your father's good timber has gone into it,&rdquo;
+       said Bob half ruefully. &ldquo;He was awfully good about it, and the supply of
+      just-what-you-want timber on Billabong seemed inexhaustible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, you really used very little good stuff,&rdquo; David Linton said. &ldquo;It's
+      chiefly packing cases, truly, Jim. But we had plenty of time to plane it
+      up and make it look decent. Bob ran an electric light into the workshop
+      and we worked every night. I believe it's kept us from getting influenza
+      from sheer boredom, with all you people away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll soon be home,&rdquo; Jim said cheerfully. &ldquo;Influenza's dying out, I
+      believe. No fresh cases for three days, and all the patients are getting
+      better. The little Andersons are up and about. By the way, Dad, couldn't
+      we bring those kiddies out to Billabong for a change?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course,&rdquo; his father answered. &ldquo;Tell Mrs. Anderson to come too,
+      or, if she won't leave her husband, Brownie will be delighted at the
+      chance of getting two children to look after again. Are the cooks quite
+      cheery, Jim?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As cheery as possible,&rdquo; Jim answered. &ldquo;They got off early to-day, and I
+      took them and Sister and the Anderson youngsters out for a run. Did 'em
+      all good. I'm coming home to-night, and they don't want me to-morrow,
+      because they're going to afternoon tea with some one or other. Flighty
+      young things, those cooks! So I can help you carpenters or do any odd
+      jobs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've lots,&rdquo; said Wally, who was putting a finishing coat of dark green
+      enamel to a rod destined as a towel rail for Tommy's room. &ldquo;Simple jobs,
+      suitable for your understanding. Take care, Jimmy, I've a wet paint brush,
+      and you have a good suit on! I want to put shelves from floor to ceiling
+      of the bathroom, because the walls are rough and unlined, and nothing on
+      earth will make it a beautiful room. So Tommy may as well store there all
+      the things she doesn't want anywhere else. And you can make her a medicine
+      cupboard. I shan't have time to look at any of you unskilled labourers,
+      for I'm going to build her a draining-rack for plates and things over the
+      kitchen sink. And I can tell you, that takes brains!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it's not your job!&rdquo; said Jim definitely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn't it? I'll show you, you old Bond Street fashion plate!&rdquo; Wally
+      stretched his long form, simply attired in a khaki shirt and dungaree
+      trousers, much be-splashed by paint, and looked scornfully at his neatly
+      dressed friend. &ldquo;You needn't think, because you come here dressed like the
+      lilies of the field and fresh from motoring girls round the country, that&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My hat!&rdquo; said Jim justly incensed. &ldquo;And I after cleaning out and
+      whitewashing the hospital fowl-houses all the morning! Young Wally, you
+      need some one to sit on your head.&rdquo; He took off his coat slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ten to one,&rdquo; said Wally hastily, &ldquo;if we had time to look into the matter
+      we'd find you'd whitewashed the fowls as well! These Army Johnnies are so
+      beastly impractical!&rdquo; He gathered up his brushes and fled, pursued by his
+      chum. Sounds of warfare came faintly from the distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a good thing some of us are sane,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton laughing. &ldquo;Nearly
+      finished, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was painting a shelf-table, screwed to the wall within a space at the
+      end of the verandah, which they had completely enclosed with wire mosquito
+      netting. Bob was hanging the door of this open-air room in position, a
+      task requiring judgment, as the floor of the verandah was old and uneven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nearly, sir,&rdquo; he mumbled, his utterance made difficult by the fact of
+      having several screws in his mouth. He worked vigorously for a few
+      moments, and then stood back to survey his job. &ldquo;This is going to be a
+      great little room&mdash;though it's hard just now to imagine that it will
+      ever be warm enough for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just you wait a few months until we get a touch of hot weather, and the
+      mosquitoes come out!&rdquo; said David Linton. &ldquo;Then you and Tommy will
+      thankfully entrench yourselves in here at dusk, and listen to the singing
+      hordes dashing themselves against the netting in the effort to get at
+      you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the kind of thing they used to tell me on the Nauru,&rdquo; Bob said
+      laughing; &ldquo;but I didn't quite expect it from you, Mr. Linton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The squatter chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, indeed, it's no great exaggeration in some years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They
+      can be bad enough for anything, though it isn't always they are. But an
+      open-air room is never amiss, for if there aren't mosquitoes a lamp will
+      attract myriads of other insects on a hot night. That looks all right,
+      Bob; you've managed that door very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;First rate!&rdquo; said Jim and Wally approvingly, returning arm in arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're great judges!&rdquo; David Linton rejoined, looking at the pair. &ldquo;Have
+      you returned to work, may I ask, or are you still imitating the lilies of
+      the field?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jim is; he couldn't help it,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;But I have been studying that
+      oak tree out in the front, Mr. Linton. It seems to me that a seat built
+      round it would be very comforting to weary bones on warm evenings&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob gathered up his tools with decision in each movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wally has come to that state of mind in which he can't look at anything
+      on the place without wanting to build something out of a packing case in
+      it, or round it, or on top of it!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When the sheep come I'll have
+      to keep you from them, or you'll be building shelves round them!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you're nearly as bad yourself!&rdquo; grinned Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know I am, and that's why I've got to stop. I'm going to leave nice
+      little chisels and spokeshaves and smoothing planes, and mend up the
+      pigsty; it needs it badly, and so does the cow-shed. And then I've got to
+      think of ploughing, and cutting that drain across the flat, and generally
+      earning my living.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry,&rdquo; said David Linton. &ldquo;You couldn't have done much outside
+      in this wet weather, and at least your house is half-furnished. And we'll
+      help you through with the other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're all just bricks,&rdquo; said Bob, his fair skin flushing&mdash;&ldquo;only I
+      begin to feel as if I were fed with a spoon. I can't always expect to have
+      my work done for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't shown much wish to leave it for anyone else,&rdquo; Jim said drily.
+      &ldquo;Neither you nor Tommy strikes this district as a loafer. Just stop
+      talking bosh, old man, and think what Tommy's going to say to her
+      mansion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say?&rdquo; queried Mr. Linton. &ldquo;Why, she'll point out to us all the places
+      where she wants shelves!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shelves?&rdquo; yelled the three as one man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, certainly. There was never a woman born who had enough. Don't lose
+      sight of your tools, Bob, for you'll go on putting up shelves as long as
+      you've an inch of wall to put them on. Come along, boys, and we'll go
+      home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think it's the loveliest home that ever was!&rdquo; said Tommy solemnly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, indeed, it takes some beating,&rdquo; Wally agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Creek Cottage&rdquo;&mdash;the name was of Tommy's choosing&mdash;was ready for
+      occupation, and they had just finished a tour of it. There was nothing in
+      it that was not fresh and bright and dainty&mdash;like Tommy herself. The
+      rooms were small, but they had good windows, where the crisp, short
+      curtains were not allowed to obscure the view. There were fresh mattings
+      and linoleums on the floors, and the home-made furniture now boasted,
+      where necessary, curtains of chintz or cretonne, that matched its
+      colouring. Norah and Tommy had spent cheery hours over those draperies.
+      The curtains for Tommy's &ldquo;suite&rdquo; had been Norah's gift&mdash;of dark-green
+      linen, embroidered in dull blue silks; and in the corner there was a
+      little sofa with cushions of the same. Tommy had purred&mdash;was, in
+      fact, still purring&mdash;over that home-made furniture, and declared it
+      superior to any that money could buy. She had also suggested new ideas for
+      shelves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had not troubled furniture shops much. Save for a few comfortable
+      arm-chairs, there was nothing solid and heavy in the house; but it was all
+      pleasant and home-like, and the little rooms, bright with books and
+      pictures and flowers, had about them the touch of welcome and restfulness
+      that makes the difference between a home and a mere house. The kitchen was
+      Tommy's especial pride&mdash;it was cool and spotless, with fresh-painted
+      walls and ceilings, and shining white tiles round the white sink&mdash;over
+      which Wally's draining-rack sat in glory. Dazzling tin-ware decorated the
+      walls, and the dresser held fresh and pretty china. For weeks it had been
+      a point of honour for no one to visit Cunjee without bringing Tommy a gift
+      for the kitchen&mdash;meat fork, a set of skewers, a tin pepper castor;
+      offerings wrapped in many coverings of tissue paper, and presented with
+      great solemnity, generally at dinner. The last parcel had been from Mr.
+      Linton, and had eclipsed all the others&mdash;an alarum clock, warranted
+      to drive the soundest sleeper from her bed. Bob declared it specially
+      designed to ensure his getting fed at something approaching a reasonable
+      hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A wide verandah ran round the whole house, and rush lounges and deck
+      chairs stood about invitingly&mdash;Tommy had insisted that there should
+      be plenty of seating accommodation on the verandah for all the Linton
+      party, since they filled the little rooms to an alarming extent. Near
+      where they stood the drawing-room opened out by a French window. Something
+      caught Tommy's eye, and she dived into the room&mdash;to return, laughing
+      with new treasure-trove&mdash;a sink brush and saucepan-scrubber, tied up
+      with blue ribbon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your doing?&rdquo; she asked, brandishing them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not mine.&rdquo; Wally shook his head. &ldquo;I don't do frivolous things like that.
+      But I heard Jim wheedling blue ribbon out of Norah this morning, and I
+      don't fancy he has much use for it ordinarily. You'd better ask him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's like both of you&mdash;you nice stupids!&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What?&mdash;the pot-scrub! That's not polite of you, Miss Rainham; and so
+      untrue, where I'm concerned.&rdquo; Wally sat down on the arm of a lounge and
+      regarded her with a twinkle. &ldquo;What's old Bob doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy laughed happily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think whenever we don't know where Bob is, he's safe to be out looking
+      at either the sheep or the pigs,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He just loves them; and he
+      says he can see them growing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a hint of Spring in the air, and more than a hint of good grass
+      in the green paddocks stretching away from the house. By the creek the
+      willows were putting out long, tender shoots that would soon be a thick
+      curtain. The lucerne patch that stretched along its bank was dense and
+      high. The Rainhams had been delayed in taking possession of Creek Cottage;
+      a severe cold had smitten Tommy just at the end of her labours in the
+      hospital, and, being thoroughly tired out, it had been some time before
+      she could shake off its effects. Mr. Linton and Norah had put down their
+      feet with joint firmness, declaring that in no circumstances should she
+      begin housekeeping until she was thoroughly fit; so the Rainhams had
+      remained at Billabong. Tommy was petted and nursed in a way she had not
+      known since Aunt Margaret had died, while Bob worked feverishly at his
+      farm, riding over every day from Billabong, with a package of Brownie's
+      sandwiches in his pocket, and returning at dusk, dirty and happy. Bob was
+      responding to Australian conditions delightfully, and was only
+      discontented because he could not make his farm all that he wanted it to
+      be within the first week.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Therein, however, he had unexpected help. The Cunjee district was a
+      friendly one; station owners and farmers alike looked kindly on the young
+      immigrant who turned so readily to work after four years' fighting.
+      Moreover, Tommy's work in the hospital was well known; the general opinion
+      being that &ldquo;anything might be expected from young Norah Linton, but you
+      wouldn't think a bit of a new-chum kid like Bob Rainham's sister would
+      turn to and cook for a crowd, and she hardly off the ship!&rdquo; So the
+      district laid its heads together and consulted Mr. Linton; with the result
+      that one morning Bob found himself unexpectedly accompanied to work by his
+      host. It was nothing unusual for Jim or Wally, or both, to go with him. He
+      was cutting a drain, which they declared to be a job for which they had a
+      particular fancy. But to-day he found Monarch saddled with the other
+      horses, and Mr. Linton, not only ready to start, but hurrying them off;
+      and there was no lunch to carry, Norah airily declaring that since she and
+      Tommy were to be deserted they declined to be downtrodden, and would motor
+      over with a hamper and picnic at Creek Cottage. There was a mysterious
+      twinkle in Norah's eye; Bob scented something afoot, and tried&mdash;in
+      vain&mdash;to pump her on the matter. He rode away, his curiosity
+      unsatisfied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when they rode up the homestead paddock at his farm, he gave a long
+      whistle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What on earth&mdash;?&rdquo; he began amazedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were men in sight everywhere, and all working. Eight or nine ploughs
+      were moving across the paddocks destined for cultivation; already wide
+      strips of freshly turned earth showed that they had been some time at
+      work. On the flat where Bob had begun his drain was a line of men, and
+      some teams with earth-scoops, cutting a deep channel. There were even men
+      digging in the garden; and the sound of axes came faintly from a belt of
+      scrub that Bob was planning to clear&mdash;some day. He gaped at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a bee,&rdquo; said Wally kindly. &ldquo;A busy bee, improving each shining
+      hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob turned a puzzled, half-distressed face to Mr. Linton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, sir&mdash;what is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's just that, my boy,&rdquo; said David Linton. &ldquo;The district had a fancy to
+      help you&mdash;Cunjee thinks a heap of soldiers, you see. So a lot of the
+      fellows got together and planned to put in a day on the creek, doing odd
+      jobs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say,&rdquo; said poor Bob flushing scarlet, &ldquo;I never heard such a thing&mdash;and
+      I hardly know any of them. Whatever am I to say to them, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn't say much at all,&rdquo; said David Linton laughing. &ldquo;You'll only
+      embarrass them if you do. Just take a hand in any job you like, and carry
+      on&mdash;as we're all going to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's one man you know, anyhow,&rdquo; said Jim grinning. He pointed out old
+      Joe Howard, the nearest to them among the ploughmen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; ejaculated Bob. &ldquo;You don't mean to tell me old Joe has come of
+      his own accord!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Couldn't keep him away,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;He remarked that you were a very
+      decent young feller, and he'd taught you how to work, so he might as well
+      lend an 'and. It's like old Joe's cheek, but he'll claim for ever that he
+      made you a worker.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, let him,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;It doesn't hurt me, and it may amuse him.&rdquo; His
+      gaze travelled across the busy paddocks. &ldquo;Well&mdash;I'm just staggered,&rdquo;
+       he said. &ldquo;The least I can do is to get to work quickly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned the horses out and scattered; Bob to cutting scrub&mdash;it
+      was the job he liked least, so it seemed to him the decent thing to tackle
+      it&mdash;Jim to the drain construction, while Wally joined the band of
+      workers in the garden, since he knew Tommy's plans concerning it; and Mr.
+      Linton attacked a fence that needed repairs. In the middle of the morning
+      came the Billabong motor, driven by Norah, with Brownie and a maid in the
+      tonneau with Tommy, and hampers packed wherever possible. A cart with
+      other supplies had been driven over by Evans in the very early morning,
+      since Billabong had undertaken the feeding of the workers for the day. The
+      Rolls-Royce picked its way delicately round the paddocks, while the girls
+      carried drinks and huge slabs of cake to the different bands of workers&mdash;this
+      being the time for &ldquo;smoke-oh.&rdquo; Then they hurried back to the cottage,
+      where Brownie and Maria were busy unpacking hampers on the verandah, and
+      Brownie was preparing to carve great joints of beef and mutton and pork in
+      readiness for the hungry horde that would descend on them at dinner time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was all ready when the men trooped up from the paddocks&mdash;squatters
+      and stockmen, farmers, horse breakers, bush workers of every degree; all
+      dirty and cheery, and filled with a mighty hunger. Soap and water awaited
+      them at the back; then they came round to sit on the edge of the long
+      verandahs, balancing heaped plates on their knees, and making short work
+      of Brownie's provisions. Jokes and cheery talk filled the air. Tommy,
+      carrying plates shyly at first, found herself the object of much friendly
+      interest. &ldquo;Little Miss Immigrant,&rdquo; they called her, and vied with each
+      other in making her feel that they were all welcoming her. But they did
+      not waste much time over dinner&mdash;soon one after another got up and
+      sauntered away, lighting his pipe, and presently there were straggling
+      lines of figures going back to work across the paddocks. After which Norah
+      and Tommy bullied Bob into eating something&mdash;he had been far too
+      anxious to wait on his hungry &ldquo;bee&rdquo; to think of feeding himself, and then
+      the ladies of the party lunched with the ardour of the long-delayed, and
+      fell upon the colossal business of dish-washing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Afternoon tea came early, by which time nearly all the ploughing was done,
+      and the brown ribbon of the new drain stretched, wide and deep, across the
+      flat. The girls took the meal round the paddocks, this time with Bob to
+      carry the steaming billies of tea; it gave him a chance to thank his
+      helpers, when it was difficult to say whether the thanker or the thanked
+      were the more embarrassed. Soon after &ldquo;cow time&rdquo; loomed for some of the
+      workers, and whatever waits in Australia, it must not be the cow; so that
+      here and there a man shouldered his tools, and, leaving them at the shed,
+      caught his horse and rode away&mdash;apologizing to Bob, if he happened to
+      meet him, for going so early, with the brief apology of the dairy farmer,
+      &ldquo;Gotter get home an' milk.&rdquo; But the majority worked on until dusk came
+      down and put an end to their efforts, and then came up for their horses,
+      singing and laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob stood at the gate, bareheaded, as they rode away. By this time he had
+      no words at all. He wished from the bottom of his heart that he could tell
+      them what good fellows he thought them; but he could only stand, holding
+      the gate for them with Tommy by his side; and it may be that the look on
+      each tired young face moved &ldquo;the bee&rdquo; more than eloquence would have done.
+      They shouted cheery good-byes as they went. &ldquo;Good luck, Miss Immigrant!
+      Good luck, Captain!&rdquo; And the dusk swallowed them up, leaving only the
+      sound of the cantering hoofs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thanks to &ldquo;the bee,&rdquo; the little farm on the creek looked very flourishing
+      on the great day when the lady of the house came down in state to take
+      possession of her domain. Bob had worked hard in the garden, where already
+      rows of vegetables showed well; Jim and Wally had aided Norah and Tommy in
+      the making of a flower garden, laying heavy toll on Hogg's stores for the
+      purpose; to-day it was golden and white with daffodils and narcissi and
+      snowdrops. The cultivation paddocks, no longer brown, rippled with green
+      oats; and cattle were grazing on the rough grass of the flats, once a
+      swamp, but already showing the influence of the big drain. Bob had great
+      plans for ploughing all his flats next year. Dairy cows pastured in the
+      creek paddock near the house; beyond, Bob's beloved sheep were steadily
+      engrossed in the fascinating pursuit of &ldquo;turning into wool and mutton.&rdquo; He
+      never grew tired of watching the process.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ever-present problem of labour, too, had solved itself pleasantly
+      enough. Sarah, for many years housemaid at Billabong, had married a man on
+      a farm near Cunjee, whose first attempt at renting a place for himself had
+      been brought to an untimely end by the drought; and Sarah had returned to
+      Billabong, to help in preparing for the home-coming of the long-absent
+      family, while her husband secured a temporary job in Cunjee and looked
+      about for another chance. There Jim had found him, while helping at the
+      hospital; the end of the matter being that Sarah and Bill and their baby
+      were installed at Creek Cottage, Bill to be general utility man on the
+      farm, and to have a share of profits, while Sarah helped Tommy in the
+      house. Every one was satisfied, and already there were indications that
+      Tommy would be daft over the baby.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sarah came out now to say that tea was ready&mdash;she had insisted on
+      being responsible for everything on this first day. Not that there was
+      much to do, for Brownie had sent over a colossal hamper, declaring that
+      Miss Tommy shouldn't be bothered with thinking about food when she wasn't
+      'ardly settled. So they packed into the little dining-room; where, indeed,
+      it took no small ingenuity to stow so large a party, when three of the six
+      happened to be of the size of David Linton and Jim and Wally; and Tommy
+      did the honours of her own table for the first time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to think,&rdquo; she said presently, &ldquo;that six months ago there was only
+      Lancaster Gate! Of course, there was always Bob&rdquo;&mdash;she flashed him a
+      quick smile&mdash;&ldquo;but Bob was&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the air,&rdquo; put in Norah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much so. And it didn't seem a bit certain that I could ever get him
+      out of it; or, if I did, that I could ever escape from Lancaster Gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you wouldn't, if the she-dragon had had her way,&rdquo; Bob said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No. There was nothing to do but run. But even when I dreamed of running,
+      I never thought of more than a workman's cottage, with you earning wages
+      and me trying to make both ends meet. And now&mdash;look at us! Bloated
+      capitalists and station owners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you were a cook not so long ago. I wouldn't be too proud,&rdquo; Wally
+      gibed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the more reason for me to be proud&mdash;I've risen in the world,&rdquo;
+       declared Tommy. &ldquo;Left my situation to better myself&mdash;isn't that the
+      right way to put it? And we've got the jolliest home in Australia&mdash;thanks
+      to all of you. Do have some more cake, Mr. Linton; I'd love to say I made
+      it myself, but Brownie did&mdash;still, all the same, it's mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I'm coming here plenty of times for cake
+      of your own baking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's what I want.&rdquo; She beamed at him. &ldquo;All of you. Bob and I will feel
+      lost and lonesome if we don't see you all&mdash;oh, often.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you're going to,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;We'll be over goodness knows how many
+      times a week, and you two are always coming to dinner on Sunday, and ever
+      so many other days as well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was it in your plans that any work should be done on this estate?&rdquo;
+       queried Bob solemnly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, yes, in your spare time,&rdquo; Wally answered. &ldquo;Any time you're not on
+      the road between here and Billabong, or catching a horse to go there, or
+      letting one go after coming back, or minding the Billabong horde when it
+      comes over, you can do a little towards improving the creek. I say, Bob,
+      it sounds the sort of life I'd love. Can't you give me a job, old man?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seeing that you've done little but work on this place since you came back
+      from Queensland, I shouldn't think you'd need to ask for a job,&rdquo; retorted
+      Bob. &ldquo;However, I'll take you on as milker if you like&mdash;it's about the
+      only thing you haven't sampled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Wally, &ldquo;you won't. Whatever beast I finally take to by way of
+      earning my living, it won't be the cow&mdash;if I can help it. I'd sooner
+      graze giraffes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, do try!&rdquo; Norah begged. &ldquo;I'd love to see you trying to put a bridle on
+      one in a hurry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonder what would happen if one rode a giraffe and he reared?&rdquo; pondered
+      Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'd have to swarm up his neck and hang on to his little horns,&rdquo; Wally
+      said. &ldquo;But they're nice, silent beasts, giraffes, and I think they'd be
+      very restful to deal with.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one laughed unsympathetically. Restfulness was the last quality to
+      be associated with Wally, who had been remarkable throughout his life for
+      total inability to keep still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's always the way,&rdquo; said Wally, in tones of melancholy. &ldquo;Every fortune
+      teller I ever saw told me that no one understood me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All fortune tellers say that, and that's why people think them so
+      clever,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;It's so soothing to think one is misunderstood. My
+      stepmother always thought so. Did Bob tell you, Mr. Linton, that we had
+      had letters from home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;from your people?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Papa. The she-dragon didn't write. I think her words would have been
+      too burning to put on paper. But Papa wrote a pretty decent letter&mdash;for
+      him. He didn't speak of our letters from Liverpool&mdash;the notes we
+      wrote from the hotel, saying we were leaving for Australia. But he
+      acknowledged Bob's letter from Melbourne, saying we were going up country
+      under your wing, and actually wished us luck! Amazing, from Papa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think he's jolly glad we got away,&rdquo; Bob said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that's highly probable,&rdquo; said David Linton. &ldquo;You'll write to him
+      occasionally, won't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, I suppose so,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;Sometimes I'm a bit sorry for him;
+      it must be pretty awful to be always under the heel of a she-dragon. Oh,
+      and there was a really fatherly sort of letter from old Mr. Clinton. He's
+      an old brick; and he's quite pleased about our finding you&mdash;or you
+      finding us. He was always a bit worried lest Tommy should feel lonesome in
+      Australia.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And not you?&rdquo; Norah asked laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, he didn't worry a bit about me; he merely hoped I'd be working too
+      hard to notice lonesomeness. I think the old chap always was a bit
+      doubtful that any fellow would get down to solid work after flying; he
+      used to say the two things wouldn't agree. But you sent him a decent
+      report of me, didn't you, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes&mdash;I wrote when you asked me, just after you bought this
+      place,&rdquo; David Linton said. &ldquo;Told him you were working like a cart-horse,
+      which was no more than the truth, and that Tommy was serving her adopted
+      country as a cook; and that I considered your prospects good. He'll have
+      had that letter before now&mdash;and I suppose others from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We wrote a few weeks ago&mdash;sent him a photograph of the house, and of
+      Tommy on a horse, and Tommy told him all about our furniture,&rdquo; Bob
+      chuckled. &ldquo;I don't quite know how a staid old London lawyer will regard
+      the furniture; he won't understand its beauty a bit. But he ought to be
+      impressed with our stern regard for economy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He should,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton with a twinkle. &ldquo;And I presume you mentioned
+      the sheep?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact,&rdquo; said Tommy confidentially, &ldquo;his letter was little
+      but mutton. He described all his ewes in detail&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Colour of their eyes?&rdquo; queried Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And their hair,&rdquo; nodded Tommy. &ldquo;I never read anything so poetical. And
+      any enthusiasm he had over went to the pigs and the Kelpie pup!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what about the cows?&rdquo; laughed Norah. &ldquo;And the young bullocks?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he mentioned them. But cattle are just four-legged animals to Bob;
+      they don't stir his soul like sheep and pigs. He couldn't write beautiful
+      things about them. But when it comes to sheep, he just naturally turns
+      into a poet!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of these remarks helped himself serenely to cake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on,&rdquo; he nodded at his sister cheerfully. &ldquo;Wait until my wool cheque
+      comes in, and you want a new frock&mdash;then you'll speak respectfully of
+      my little merinoes. And if you don't, you won't get the frock!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, I wouldn't disrespect them for anything,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;I think
+      they're lovely beasts. So graceful and agile. Will any of them come yet
+      when you whistle, Bobby?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to put up with this sort of thing, Bob?&rdquo; demanded Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob smiled sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm letting her have her head,&rdquo; he said confidently. &ldquo;It's badly swelled
+      just now, because she's got a house of her own&mdash;but you wait until
+      she wants a new set of shelves, or a horse caught in a hurry so that she
+      can tear over and find out from Norah how to cook something&mdash;then
+      she'll come to heel. It's something in your climate, I think, because she
+      was never so cheeky at home&mdash;meek was more the word to describe her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Meek!&rdquo; said his sister indignantly. &ldquo;Indeed, I never was meek in my
+      life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed you were, and it was very becoming,&rdquo; Bob assured her. &ldquo;Now you're
+      more like a suffragette&mdash;&rdquo; He stopped, staring. &ldquo;Why, that's it! It
+      must be in the air! She knows she'll have the vote pretty soon!&rdquo; He broke
+      into laughter. &ldquo;Glory! Fancy little Tommy with a vote!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy joined in the general mirth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hadn't realized it,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and I needn't bother for over eighteen
+      months, anyhow. And I don't believe that any of you have ever voted, even
+      if you are twenty-one&mdash;except Mr. Linton, of course; and you don't
+      know a bit more about it than I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear, hear!&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;I certainly don't, and neither does Jim. But
+      when we do vote, it's going to be for the chap who'll let us go and dig
+      our own coal out if there's a strike. That's sense; and it seems to me the
+      only sensible thing I've ever heard of in politics!&rdquo; A speech which
+      manifested so unusual an amount of reflection in Wally that every one was
+      spellbound, and professed inability to eat any more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob and Tommy stood on the verandah to watch their visitors go; Mr. Linton
+      and Norah in the motor, while Jim and Wally rode. The merry shouts of
+      farewell echoed through the gathering dusk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless them,&rdquo; said Tommy&mdash;&ldquo;the dears. I don't believe we'd have a
+      home now but for them, Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We certainly wouldn't,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;And sometimes I feel as if they'd
+      spoon-fed us. Look at all they've done for us&mdash;these months at
+      Billabong and all they've taught us, and all the things that they've
+      showered on us. We couldn't pay them back in twenty years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they talk as if the favour were on their side,&rdquo; his sister said.
+      &ldquo;There's the buggy they've lent us&mdash;Mr. Linton spent quite a long
+      time in pointing out to me how desirable it was for them that we should
+      use it, now that they have the car and don't need it. And the horses that
+      apparently would have gone to rack and ruin from idleness if we hadn't
+      come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the cows that don't seem to have had any reason for existence except
+      to supply us with milk,&rdquo; Bob said laughing; &ldquo;and the farm machinery that
+      never was really appreciated until immigrants came along&mdash;at least,
+      you'd think so to hear Jim talk, only its condition belies him. Oh,
+      they're bricks, all right. Only I don't seem as if I were standing
+      squarely on my own feet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think we could expect to, just yet,&rdquo; said Tommy pondering. &ldquo;And
+      if they have helped us, Bobby, you can see they have loved doing it. It
+      would be ungracious for us not to take such help&mdash;given as it has
+      been.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, of course,&rdquo; Bob answered and squared his shoulders. &ldquo;Well, I'm going
+      to work like fury. The only thing I can do now is not to disappoint them.
+      I feel an awful new-chum, Tommy, but I've got to make good.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course you're going to,&rdquo; she said, slipping a hand through his
+      arm. &ldquo;Jim wouldn't let you make mistakes; and the land is good, and even
+      if we strike a bad season, there's always the creek&mdash;we'll never be
+      without water, Jim says. And we're going to have the jolliest home&mdash;it's
+      that now, and we're going to make it better.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's certainly that now,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;I just can't believe it's ours. Come
+      and prowl round, old girl.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They prowled round in the dusk; up and down the garden paths by the
+      nodding daffodils, out round the sheds and the pigsties, and so down to
+      where the creek rippled and murmured in the gloom, flowing through
+      paddocks that, on either side, were their own. Memories of war and of
+      gloomy London fell away from them; only the bright present and a future
+      yet more bright filled them; and there was no loneliness, since all the
+      big new country had smiled to them and stretched out hands of
+      friendliness. They came back slowly to their house, arm in arm; two young
+      things, like shadows in the gloom, but certain in their own minds that
+      they could conquer Australia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob lit the hanging lamp in the little sitting-room, and looked round him
+      proudly. A photograph caught his eye; a large group at his Surrey
+      Aerodrome, young officers clustered round a bi-plane that had just landed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor chaps,&rdquo; he said, and stared at them. &ldquo;Most of 'em don't know yet
+      that there's anything better in the world than flying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But they've never met merino sheep,&rdquo; said Tommy solemnly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE CUNJEE RACES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who's going to the races?&rdquo; demanded Jim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had ridden over to the creek alone, and Tommy had come to the garden
+      gate to greet him, since the young horse he was riding firmly declined to
+      be tied up. It was a very hot morning in Christmas week. Tommy was in a
+      blue print overall, and her face was flushed, her hair lying in little
+      damp rings on her forehead. Jim, provokingly cool in riding breeches and
+      white silk shirt, smiled down at her across the gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Races!&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;But what frivolity. Why, I'm bottling apricots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No wonder you look warm, you poor little soul,&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;You oughtn't
+      to choose a scorcher like this for bottling. Anyhow, the races aren't
+      to-day, but New Year's day&mdash;Cunjee Picnic meeting. We're all going,
+      so you and Bob have got to come. Orders from Norah.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, New Year's day. I'd love to come,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;I've never seen
+      races.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never seen races!&rdquo; ejaculated young Australia in sheer amazement. &ldquo;Where
+      were you dragged up?&rdquo; They laughed at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aunt Margaret wasn't what you'd call a racing woman,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;I
+      don't fancy Bob has seen any, either. Bill and Sarah, to say nothing of
+      the baby, are going. I offered to mind the baby, but Sarah didn't seem to
+      think the picnic would be complete without her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;People have queer tastes,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;I wouldn't choose a long day at
+      races as the ideal thing for a baby; but Sarah seems to think differently.
+      Wonder what Bill thinks? Still, I'm glad she didn't take you at your word,
+      because we'd have had to dispose of the baby somewhere if she had. I
+      suppose we could put it under the seat of the car!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, do you?&rdquo; Tommy regarded him with a glint in her eye. &ldquo;No; we'd have
+      made you nurse her&mdash;she isn't 'it.' She's the nicest baby ever, and I
+      won't have her insulted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bless you, I wouldn't insult the baby for worlds,&rdquo; grinned Jim. &ldquo;I'll
+      look forward to meeting her at the races&mdash;especially as you won't be
+      minding her. Then it's settled, is it, Tommy? We thought of riding; will
+      it be too far for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a bit,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;Bob and I rode in and out of Cunjee the other
+      day, and I wasn't tired&mdash;and it was dreadfully hot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you'll be all right on New Year's day, because the racecourse is two
+      miles this side of the township,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;But Norah said I was to tell
+      you some of us could easily go in the car if you'd rather drive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, thanks; I know you always ride, and I should love it,&rdquo; Tommy
+      answered. &ldquo;Is Mr. Linton going?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the whole station's going,&rdquo; Jim
+      said. &ldquo;All except Brownie, of course; she scorns races. She says she can't
+      imagine why anyone should make anything run fast in the 'eat if they don't
+      want to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does Brownie ever leave Billabong?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hardly ever,&rdquo; Jim answered, laughing&mdash;&ldquo;and it's getting more and
+      more difficult to make her. I think in a year or two it will need a charge
+      of dynamite. Oh, but, Tommy, we got her out in the car the other evening&mdash;had
+      to do it almost by main force. It was a hot evening, and we took her for a
+      spin along the road. She trembled like a jelly when we started, and all
+      the time she gripped the side with one hand and Norah's knee with the
+      other&mdash;quite unconsciously.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think she enjoyed it at all?&rdquo; Tommy smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I'm jolly well sure she didn't,&rdquo; Jim responded. &ldquo;Brownie's much too
+      well mannered to criticize anyone else's property, but when she got out
+      she merely said, 'You have great courage, my dear.' And wild horses
+      wouldn't get her into it again, unless we promised to 'make it walk,' like
+      we did the day we brought her over to help at your working bee. The funny
+      part of it is that Norah believes she was just as frightened that morning,
+      only she had a job on, and so was too busy to think of it. But as for
+      going in a car for mere pleasure&mdash;not for Brownie!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Brownie's a dear,&rdquo; said Tommy irrelevantly. &ldquo;Jim, can't you put that
+      fierce animal in the stable or the horse paddock, or somewhere, and come
+      in for some tea? I simply must get back to my apricots.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I've certainly no business to be keeping you standing here in the
+      heat,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;No, I can't stay, thanks, Tommy&mdash;I promised dad I'd
+      meet him at the Far Plain gate at eleven o'clock, and it's nearly that
+      now. You run in to your apricots, and don't kill your little self over
+      them; it's no day for cooking if you can avoid it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but I couldn't,&rdquo; Tommy answered. &ldquo;They were just right for bottling;
+      the sun to-day would have made them a bit too soft. And it's better to get
+      them done; to-morrow may be just as hot, or hotter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's true enough,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;Feeling the heat much, little Miss
+      Immigrant?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, not enough to grumble at,&rdquo; she answered, smiling. &ldquo;And the
+      bathing-hole in the creek is a joy; it's almost worth a hot day to get a
+      swim at the end of it. Bob has built me a bathing-box out of a tree, and
+      it's a huge success; he's very pleased with himself as an architect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's good business,&rdquo; approved Jim. &ldquo;You two never grumble, no matter
+      what comes along.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, but nothing has come along but good luck,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;What have
+      we had to grumble at, I should like to know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, some people find cause for grousing, no matter how good their luck
+      is,&rdquo; Jim answered. &ldquo;I believe you and old Bob would decline to recognize
+      bad luck even if it did come your way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's not coming,&rdquo; Tommy said, laughing. &ldquo;So don't talk about it&mdash;I
+      don't believe it exists.&rdquo; She stood watching him for a moment as he tried
+      to mount; his big young thoroughbred resented the idea of anyone on his
+      back, and Jim had to hop beside him, with one foot in the stirrup, while
+      he danced round in a circle, trying to get away. Jim seized an
+      opportunity, and was in the saddle with a lithe swing; whereupon the horse
+      tried to get his head down to buck, and, being checked in that ambition,
+      progressed down the paddock in a succession of short, staccato bounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I should have to recognize bad luck coming if I had to ride him
+      instead of Jim,&rdquo; remarked Tommy quaintly. She turned and ran in to her
+      neglected apricots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      New Year's day broke clear and hot, like all the week before it. Norah,
+      arriving at the Creek about ten o'clock, looked a little anxiously at her
+      friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We're used to riding in the heat, Tommy, dear,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But you're not&mdash;are
+      you sure you feel up to it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, I'm going to love it,&rdquo; Tommy said. She looked cool and workman-like
+      in a linen habit and white pith helmet&mdash;Norah's Christmas present. &ldquo;I
+      hadn't these nice things to wear when Bob and I brought the sheep out from
+      Cunjee three weeks ago; and it was just as hot, and so dusty. And that
+      didn't kill me. I liked it, only I never got so dirty in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we shall only have a hot ride one way,&rdquo; said Norah philosophically.
+      &ldquo;There's a concert in Cunjee, and the boys want to stay for it. The
+      concert won't be much, but the ride home in the moonlight will be lovely.
+      You and Bob can stay, of course?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes. Bill must bring Sarah and the baby home in good time, so he will
+      milk the cows,&rdquo; Tommy answered. &ldquo;He wanted them to stay for the concert,
+      but Sarah had an amazing attack of common sense, and said it was no place
+      for a baby. I didn't think she considered any place unfit for a baby, and
+      certainly Bill doesn't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bush people don't,&rdquo; said Norah, laughing. &ldquo;If they did, they would never
+      go anywhere, because the babies must go too, no matter what happens. And
+      the babies get accustomed to it, and don't cry nearly as much as pampered
+      ones that are always in the nursery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bush kiddies grow a stock of common sense quite early,&rdquo; said Wally's
+      voice from the door. &ldquo;It leaves them in later life, and they stay
+      gossiping with immigrants in new riding-kit, leaving their unfortunate
+      fathers grilling in the sun. Which he says&mdash;&rdquo; But at this point Norah
+      and Tommy brushed the orator from their path, and hastened out to the
+      horses&mdash;finding all the men comfortably smoking under a huge pepper
+      tree, and apparently in no hurry to start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob bewailed his yellow paddocks as they rode down to the gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were so beautifully green a few weeks ago,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now look at
+      them&mdash;why, they're like a crop. The sun has burnt every bit of
+      moisture out of them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't let that worry you, my boy,&rdquo; David Linton said. &ldquo;The stock are
+      doing all right; as long as they have plenty of good water at this time of
+      the year they won't ask you for green grass.&rdquo; He gave a low chuckle. &ldquo;You
+      wouldn't think this was bad feed if you had seen the country in the
+      drought years&mdash;why, the paddocks were as bare as the palm of your
+      hand. Now you've grass, as you say yourself, like a crop.&rdquo; He looked at it
+      critically. &ldquo;I could wish you hadn't as much; fires will be a bit of an
+      anxiety later on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Grass fires?&rdquo; queried Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes. There's not enough timber here to have a real bush fire. But this
+      grass is dry enough now, and by February it will go like tinder if any
+      fool swagman drops a match carelessly. However, you'll just have to keep
+      your eyes open. Luckily, your creek can't burn&mdash;you'll always have so
+      much safeguard, because your stock could take to it; and that row of
+      willows along the bank would check any grass fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My word, wouldn't a fire race across the Billabong plains this year!&rdquo;
+       said Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it would certainly travel,&rdquo; agreed Mr. Linton. &ldquo;Well, we've ploughed
+      fire-breaks, and burned round the house, and we can only hope for good
+      luck. You'd better burn a break round your house soon, Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bill was saying so only this morning,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;I nearly chucked
+      the races and stayed at home to do it&mdash;only I was afraid it might get
+      away from me single-handed, and I couldn't very well keep Bill at home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, time enough,&rdquo; the squatter said lightly. &ldquo;You're not so dry as we
+      are, and we only burned last week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll come over and help you to-morrow, if you like,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;Wally
+      wants work; he's getting too fat. A little gentle exercise with a racing
+      fire on a hot day would be the very thing for him. We'll come and burn off
+      with you, and then have a bathing party in the creek, and then you and
+      Tommy must come back to tea with us.&rdquo; Which was a sample of the way much
+      of the work was done on the Creek Farm. It had never occurred to the two
+      Rainhams that life in Australia was lonely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The road to Cunjee was usually bare of much traffic, but on the one race
+      day of the year an amazing number of vehicles were dotted along it, light
+      buggies, farm wagonettes, spring carts and the universal two-wheeled
+      jinker, all crammed with farmers and settlers and their families. Wives, a
+      little red-faced and anxious, resplendent in their Sunday finery, kept a
+      watchful eye on small boys and girls; the boys in thick suits, the girls
+      with white frocks, their well-crimped hair bearing evidence of intense
+      plaiting overnight. Hampers peeped from under the seats, and in most cases
+      a baby completed the outfit. Now and then a motor whizzed by, leaving a
+      long trail of dust-cloud in its wake, and earning hearty remarks from
+      every slower wayfarer. There were riders everywhere, men and women&mdash;most
+      of the latter with riding-skirts slipped on over light dresses that would
+      do duty that night at the concert and the dance that was to follow.
+      Sometimes a motor-cycle chugged along, always with a girl perched on the
+      carrier at the back, clinging affectionately to her escort. As Cunjee drew
+      nearer and the farms closer together the crowd on the road increased, and
+      the dust mounted in a solid cloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Billabong people drew to one side, as close as possible to the fence,
+      cantering over the short, dusty grass. It was with a sigh of relief that
+      Jim at last pointed out a paddock across which buggies and horsemen were
+      making their way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's the racecourse,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Racecourse!&rdquo; Tommy ejaculated. &ldquo;But it just looks like an ordinary
+      paddock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all it is,&rdquo; said Jim, laughing. &ldquo;You didn't expect a grand-stand
+      and a lawn, did you? Cunjee is very proud of itself for having a turf club
+      at all, and nobody minds anything as long as they get an occasional
+      glimpse of the horses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But where do they run?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, the track goes in and out among the trees. There's some talk of
+      clearing it before the next meeting by means of a working bee. But they
+      won't worry if it doesn't get done&mdash;every one will come and have a
+      picnic just the same. You see, there are only two days in the year when a
+      bush place can really let itself go&mdash;Show day and Race day. Show day
+      is more serious and business-like, but Race day is a really light-hearted
+      affair, and the horses don't matter to most of the people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned into a gate where two men were busily collecting shillings and
+      keeping a wary eye lest foot passengers should dodge in through the fence
+      without paying. There were no buildings at all in the bush paddock in
+      which they found themselves. It lay before them, flat, save for a rise
+      towards the southern boundary, where already the crowd was thickening, and
+      sparsely timbered. As they cantered across it they came to a rough track,
+      marked out more or less effectively by pink calico flags nailed to the
+      trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the racing track,&rdquo; Wally said. &ldquo;Let's ride round it, and we'll
+      have a faint idea of what the horses are doing later on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned along the track, where the grass had been worn by horses
+      training for the races during the few weeks preceding the great day. The
+      trees had been cleared from it, so that it was good going. In shape it was
+      roughly circular, with an occasional dint or bulge where a big red gum had
+      been too tough a proposition to clear, and the track had had to swing
+      aside to avoid it&mdash;a practice which must, as Jim remarked, make
+      interesting moments in riding a race, if the field were larger than usual
+      and the pace at all hot. Presently they emerged from the timber and came
+      into the straight run that marked the finish&mdash;running along the foot
+      of the southern rise, so that, whatever happened in the mysterious moments
+      in the earlier parts of a race, the end was within full view of the crowd.
+      The winning-post was a sawed-off sapling, painted half-black and
+      half-white; opposite to it was the judge's box, a huge log which made a
+      natural grand-stand, capable of accommodating the racing committee as
+      well. Behind, a rough wire fence enclosed a small space known as the
+      saddling paddock. The crowd picked out its own accommodation&mdash;it was
+      necessary to come early if you wanted a good place on the rise. Already it
+      was dotted with picnic parties, preparing luncheon, and a procession of
+      men and boys, bearing teapots and billies, came and went about a huge
+      copper, steaming over a fire, where the racing club dispensed hot water
+      free of charge, a generosity chiefly intended to prevent the casual
+      lighting of fires by the picnickers. All over the paddock people were
+      hastening through the business of the midday meal; the men anxious to get
+      it over before the real excitement of the day began with the racing, the
+      women equally keen to feed their hungry belongings and then settle down to
+      a comfortable gossip with friends perhaps only seen once or twice in the
+      twelve months. Children tore about wildly, got in the way of buggies and
+      motors, climbed trees and clustered thickly round any horse suspected of
+      taking part in the racing. More than one candidate for a race appeared on
+      the course drawing a jinker; and, being released from the shafts, was
+      being vigorously groomed by his shirt-sleeved owner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's an awful lot to see!&rdquo; ejaculated Tommy, gazing about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is if you've eyes,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;But most of it can be seen on foot,
+      so I vote Wally and Bob and I take the horses and tie them up while
+      there's still a decent patch of shade left for them to stand in&mdash;every
+      tree in the paddock will have horses tied to it before long. Do you know
+      where Evans was to leave the buggy, Dad?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;it's under a tree over there,&rdquo; said his father, nodding towards
+      a bushy clump of wattles. &ldquo;I told him to pick out a good shady place for
+      lunch. We'll go on and get ready, boys. I'll take the teapot for hot
+      water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not you!&rdquo; said Jim. &ldquo;We'll be back in a few minutes and can easily get
+      it. Just help the girls with the things, Dad, and we'll get lunch over;
+      I'm as hungry as a hawk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not hungry,&rdquo; said Norah. &ldquo;But I want, oh! gallons of tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tea seemed the main requirement of everybody. It was almost too hot to
+      eat, even in the deep shade of the wattles. The boys, taught by the war to
+      feed wherever and whenever possible, did some justice to Brownie's hamper;
+      but Mr. Linton soon drew aside and lit his pipe at a little distance,
+      while Tommy and Norah nibbled tomato and lettuce sandwiches, kept fresh
+      and cool by being packed in huge nasturtium leaves, and drank many cups of
+      tea. Then they lay under the trees until a bell, ringing from the saddling
+      paddock, hinted that the first race was at hand. There was a surge of
+      people towards the rise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; Jim said, jumping up. &ldquo;Help me to stow these things in the
+      buggy, Wally&mdash;we'll want most of them for afternoon tea later on.
+      Then we might as well go and see the fun. You girls rested?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were, they declared; and presently they set off towards the rise.
+      Already the horses were appearing on the track, most of the jockeys
+      wearing silk jackets and caps, although a few were content with doffing
+      coat and waistcoat, and riding in blue and pink shirts&mdash;occasionally,
+      but not always, complete with collar and tie. The horses were a mixed lot;
+      some bore traces of birth and breeding, but the majority were just
+      grass-fed horses from the neighbouring farms and stations, groomed and
+      polished in a way that only happened to them once a year. The well-bred
+      performers were handicapped with heavy weights, while the others had been
+      let off lightly, so that all had a chance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Billabong has a horse running to-day&mdash;did you know?&rdquo; Jim inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; Tommy looked up, dimpling with interest. &ldquo;But how exciting, Jim. Is
+      it yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No.&rdquo; Jim shook his head. &ldquo;I won't enter a horse if I can't ride him
+      myself, and of course I'm too heavy. He belongs to the station, but he's
+      always looked upon as Murty's, and black Billy's going to ride him. He's
+      in the Hurdle Race.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think he has any chance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he can gallop and jump all right,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;But he hasn't had
+      much training, and whether he'll jump in company is open to doubt. But I
+      don't think he'll disgrace us. You've seen Murty riding him&mdash;a big
+      chestnut with a white blaze.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes&mdash;he calls him Shannon, doesn't he?&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;I saw him
+      jump three fences on him last time we were out mustering with your people.
+      He's a beauty, Jim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he's pretty good. Murty thinks he's better than Garryowen, but I
+      don't,&rdquo; Jim observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Archangel Gabriel turned into a horse you wouldn't think he was up
+      to Garryowen!&rdquo; said Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, and he probably wouldn't be,&rdquo; said Jim, laughing. &ldquo;If you begin life
+      as an archangel, how would you settle down to being a horse after?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose it needs practice,&rdquo; Wally admitted. &ldquo;Look out&mdash;here they
+      come!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses were coming down the straight in their preliminary canter, and
+      the crowd abandoned the business of picnicking and turned its attention to
+      the first race. The riders, mostly local boys, looked desperately serious,
+      and, as they pulled up after their canter, and turning, trotted slowly
+      back past the rise, shouts of warning and encouragement and instruction
+      came to them&mdash;from the owners of their mounts&mdash;which had the
+      effect of making the boys look yet more unhappy. A bookmaker, the sole
+      representative of his profession, yelled steadily from under a lightwood
+      tree; those who were venturesome enough to do business with him were
+      warned solemnly by more experienced men to keep a sharp look-out that he
+      did not get away with their money before the end of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That happened in Cunjee some years ago,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;A bookmaker
+      appeared from goodness knows where, and struck a very solid patch of bad
+      luck. All the district seemed to know how to pick winners that day, and he
+      lost solidly on every race. He plunged a bit on the fourth race, hoping to
+      get his money back; but that was worse still, and when he saw the
+      favourite winning, he knew he had no hope of settling up. So he quietly
+      collected his horse, which he had tied up in a convenient place, in case
+      it was wanted in a hurry, and made tracks before the race finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What happened to him?&rdquo; asked Bob.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Linton chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he added considerably to the excitement of the day. Some one saw
+      him going, and passed the word round, and every man to whom he owed money&mdash;and
+      they were many&mdash;ran for his horse and went after him. He had a good
+      start, and no one knew what road he would take, so it was quite a cheery
+      hunt. I think it was Dave Boone who tracked him at last, and he paused at
+      a cross-roads, and coo-eed steadily until he had a number of followers.
+      Then they set sail after the poor bookie, and caught him about seven or
+      eight miles away. They found he had practically no money&mdash;not nearly
+      enough to divide up; so they took what he had and presented it to the
+      Cunjee Hospital, and finished up the day happily by tarring and feathering
+      the bookie, and riding him on a fence rail round Cunjee that night!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do your police do in a case like that?&rdquo; Bob asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, there's only one policeman in Cunjee, and, being a wise man, he
+      went to the concert, and probably enjoyed himself very much,&rdquo; said Mr.
+      Linton, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what happened to the bookie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just what you might expect&mdash;the boys got sorry for him, made a
+      collection for him, bought him some cheap clothes&mdash;I believe they
+      didn't err on the side of beauty!&mdash;and shipped him off to Melbourne
+      by the first train in the morning. I don't think he'll try his artful
+      dodges on this section of the bush again; and it has made all the boys
+      very watchful about betting, so it wasn't a bad thing, on the whole. They
+      think they know all about the ways of the world now. Look, Tommy&mdash;the
+      horses are off! Watch through the trees, and you'll get a glimpse
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The gay jackets flashed into view in a gap in the timber, and then were
+      lost again. Soon they came in sight once more and rounded the last curve
+      into the straight, amid shouts from the crowd. They came up the straight,
+      most of the jockeys flogging desperately, while everyone rushed to get as
+      near the winning-post as possible. Hats were flung in the air and yells
+      rose joyfully, as a Cunjee boy, riding a desperate finish, got his horse's
+      nose in front in the last couple of lengths and won cleverly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's excited!&rdquo; said Wally, looking down at Tommy's flushed face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should think so,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;Why, it was dreadfully exciting. I'd
+      love to have been riding myself.&rdquo; At which everyone laughed extremely, and
+      a tall young stockman from a neighbouring station, overhearing, was so
+      impressed that he hovered as near as possible to Tommy for the rest of the
+      day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next event was the Hurdle Race, and interest for the Linton party
+      centred in the candidate described on the race-card as Mr. M. O'Toole's
+      Shannon. Nothing further could be done for Shannon&mdash;he was groomed
+      until the last hair on his tail gleamed; but black Billy, resplendent in a
+      bright green jacket and cap, the latter bearing an embroidered white
+      shamrock, became the object of advice and warning from every man from
+      Billabong, until anyone except Billy would probably have turned in wrath
+      upon the multitude of his counsellors. Billy, however, had one refuge
+      denied to most of his white brothers. He hardly ever spoke; and if some
+      reply was absolutely forced upon him, he merely murmured &ldquo;Plenty!&rdquo; in a
+      vague way, which, as Wally said, left you guessing as to his meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, lave off badgerin' the boy,&rdquo; said Murty at last, brushing aside
+      Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan, and the other Billabong enthusiasts. &ldquo;If he
+      listens to the lot of ye anny longer he won't know whether he's ridin' a
+      horse or an airyplane. There's only wan insthruction to be kapin' in your
+      head, Billy&mdash;get to the front an' stay there. Ridin' a waitin' race
+      is all very well on the flat, but whin it comes to jumpin', anything
+      that's in front of ye is apt to turn a somersault an' bring ye down in a
+      heap.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty!&rdquo; agreed Billy; and lit a cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shannon don't like anny other horse in front of him at all,&rdquo; went on
+      Murty. &ldquo;He's that full of pride he never tuk kindly to bein' behind, not
+      since he was bruk in. He'll gallop like a machine an' lep like a deer if
+      he gets his head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't b'lieve you've much show, anyhow,&rdquo; Dave Boone said. &ldquo;There's that
+      horse from the hotel at Mulgoa&mdash;Blazer, they call him. He's done no
+      end of racin', and won, too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, an' if he has, hasn't he the great weight itself to be carryin'?&rdquo;
+       demanded Murty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, he's top weight, of course; but you're carryin' ever so much over
+      weight,&rdquo; responded Mr. Boone. &ldquo;If you'd put up a boy instead of Billy, you
+      could be pounds lighter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, git away with your advisin',&rdquo; replied Murty. &ldquo;Billy knows the horse&mdash;an'
+      where'd a shlip of a boy be if Shannon cleared out with him? I'd rather
+      carry too much weight, an' know I'd put a man up as could hold the horse.&rdquo;
+       His anxious eye fell on the girls. &ldquo;Miss Norah and Miss Tommy!&mdash;come
+      here an' wish him luck without offerin' me any advice, or I'll lose me
+      life over the ould race! They have desthroyed me with all the things
+      they're afther tellin' me to do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We won't tell you a thing, Murty&mdash;except that he's looking
+      splendid,&rdquo; Norah said, stroking Shannon's nose, to which the horse
+      responded by nuzzling round her pocket in search of an apple. &ldquo;No, I can't
+      give you one, old man&mdash;I wouldn't dare. But you shall have one after
+      the race, whether you win or not, can't he, Murty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He can so,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;Wance he's gone round that thrack he can live on
+      the fat of the land&mdash;an' Billy, too. It's a dale aisier to get the
+      condition off a horse than off Billy. No man on this earth 'ud make a
+      black fellow see why he shouldn't have a good blow-out whenever it came
+      his way. Only that Providence made him skinny by nature, he'd be fat as a
+      porpoise this day. I've been watchin' over his meals like a mother with a
+      delicate baby these three weeks back; but what hope 'ud I have with
+      Christmas comin' in the way? He got away on me at Christmas dinner, an'
+      what he didn't ate in the way of turkey an puddin' wouldn't be worth
+      mentioning&mdash;an' him booked to ride to-day! 'Plenty' always did be his
+      motter, an' he lives up to it. So he's pounds overweight, an' no help for
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind, Murty,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;He knows the horse, and Shannon's able to
+      stand a few pounds extra. He'll give us a good run.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe ye, Masther Jim,&rdquo; said Murty, beaming. &ldquo;He'll not disgrace us,
+      an' if he don't win itself, then he'll not be far behind. There you are,
+      Billy&mdash;that's the bell for weighin'. Hurry up now, and get over to
+      the scales.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The black boy's lean figure, saddle and bridle on arm, threaded its way
+      through the crowd round the weighing enclosure&mdash;a little space fenced
+      off by barbed wire. Presently they saw him coming back grinning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That pfeller sayin' I plenty too much pounds,&rdquo; he said in an unusual
+      burst of eloquence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't be rubbin' it in&mdash;don't I know it?&rdquo; quoth Murty, taking
+      the saddle and slipping it deftly on Shannon's back. &ldquo;I dunno, did he
+      think he was givin' me a pleasant surprise with the information by way of
+      a New Year's gift. Does he think we've never a scales on Billabong, did ye
+      ask him? There now, he's ready. Get on him, Billy, an' shove out into the
+      track for a canter. I'll get nothing but chat from every one as long as
+      you're here. Take him for a look at some of the hurdles, the way he'll
+      know all about them when he comes to jump.&rdquo; He stood with a frown on his
+      good-humoured face as Shannon and his rider made off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah laid a hand on his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's not a horse on the course better turned out, Murty,&rdquo; she said.
+      &ldquo;No one can say the Billabong representative doesn't look fit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Murty turned on her, beaming again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, indeed, he'll not be doin' the station any discredit, Miss Norah,&rdquo;
+       he said happily, &ldquo;an' if he don't win, well, we can't all be winnin', can
+      we? Only we did win a race last year, whin none of ye were here to be
+      watchin' us an' make it worth while. I'd like to score to-day, now that
+      ye're all here to see&mdash;an' Miss Tommy too, that's never seen racin'.&rdquo;
+       He smiled down at the English girl's pink face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm going to see you win to-day, Murty&mdash;I feel it in my bones,&rdquo; said
+      Tommy promptly. &ldquo;I've always loved Shannon, ever since I saw you jump
+      those big fences with him when we put up the hare out mustering.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yerra, that one'd make a steeplechaser if he got the trainin',&rdquo; declared
+      Murty, all his troubles forgotten. &ldquo;Come a little higher up, won't ye,
+      Miss Norah; we can see every jump from the top of the rise, barrin' the
+      wan that's in the timber.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They followed him up the little hill until he declared himself satisfied
+      with his position; and he spent the time until the flag fell in pointing
+      out to Tommy the exact places where the hurdles were erected&mdash;pausing
+      only for a proud look when Shannon thundered past below them in his
+      preliminary canter, the green jacket bright in the sun, and every muscle
+      in the horse's gleaming body rippling as he moved. He was reefing and
+      plunging in his gallop, trying to get his head; but Billy soon steadied
+      him, and presently brought him up the straight again at a quiet trot. The
+      other horses went out, one by one, until at length a field of eight faced
+      the starter; and presently they were off, and over the first jump in a
+      body. They came down the straight on the first time round, packed closely,
+      a glittering mass of shining horses and bright colours. One dropped at the
+      jump near the judge's box, and as the other horses raced away round the
+      turn the riderless horse followed, while his jockey lay still for a
+      moment, a little scarlet blur upon the turf. Eager helpers ran forward to
+      pick him up, but he was on his feet before they could reach him, and came
+      limping up the hill, a little bruised and infinitely disgusted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's all right,&rdquo; Murty said. &ldquo;Yerra, Mr. Jim, did ye see the ould horse
+      jump! He wint ahead at his fences like a deer!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses were in the timber; they peered anxiously at the bright patch
+      of colour that showed from time to time, trying to see the familiar green
+      jacket. Then, as the field came into view Murty uttered an irrepressible
+      yell, for his horse shot ahead at the next jump and came into the straight
+      in the lead. Murty gripped at the nearest object, which happened to be
+      Norah's shoulder, and clenched it tightly, muttering, in his excitement,
+      words in his native Irish. They thundered up the straight, Billy crouching
+      on Shannon's neck, very still. Then behind him the Mulgoa horse drew out
+      from the ruck and came in chase. Nearer and nearer he came, while the
+      shouts from the crowd grew louder. Up, up, till his nose was at Shannon's
+      quarter&mdash;at his girth&mdash;at his shoulder, and the winning-post was
+      very near. Then suddenly Billy lifted his whip and brought it down once,
+      and Shannon shot forward with a last wild bound. Murty's hat went up in
+      the air&mdash;and Wally's with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's done it!&rdquo; Murty babbled. &ldquo;Yerra, what about Billabong now?&rdquo; He
+      suddenly found himself gripping Norah's shoulder wildly, and would have
+      apologized but that Norah herself was dancing with delight, and looking
+      for his hand to grasp. And the crowd was shouting &ldquo;Shannon! Shannon!
+      Billabong!&rdquo;&mdash;since all of these Cunjee folk loved Billabong and were
+      steadily jealous of Mulgoa. Jim and Wally were thumping Murty on the back.
+      Bob and Mr. Linton stood beaming at him. Below them Billy came trotting
+      back on his victorious steed, sitting with a grave face, as expressionless
+      as if he had not just accomplished his heart's desire. But his dark,
+      mysterious eyes scanned the crowd as he turned from weighing in, and only
+      grew satisfied when he saw the Billabong party hurrying to greet him. They
+      shook his hand, and smote him on the back, Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan
+      prancing with joy. And Shannon, his glossy coat dark with sweat, nuzzled
+      again at Norah's pocket for an apple&mdash;and this time got it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This glorious event over, interest became focused on a trotting race,
+      which brought out a queer assortment of competitors, ranging from King
+      Lightfoot, a horse well known in Melbourne, to Poddy, an animal apparently
+      more fitted to draw a hearse than to trot in a race&mdash;a lean,
+      raw-boned horse of a sad countenance and a long nose, with a shaggy black
+      coat which rather resembled that of a long-haired Irish goat. There were
+      other candidates, all fancied by their owners, but the public support was
+      only for King Lightfoot, who ran in elaborate leather and rubber harness,
+      and was clearly regarded by his rider as of infinite condescension to be
+      taking part in such a very mixed company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It proved, however, not to be King Lightfoot's lucky day. The horses
+      started at intervals, according to their performances or merit, Poddy
+      being the first to move, the Melbourne horse the last. King Lightfoot,
+      however, obstinately refused to trot, whereas Poddy revealed unexpected
+      powers, flinging his long legs abroad in a whirlwind fashion, and pounding
+      along doggedly, with his long nose outstretched as if hoping to get it
+      past the winning-post as soon as possible. No other horse came near him;
+      his initial lead was never lessened, and he plugged doggedly to victory,
+      while the crowd roared with laughter, and out in the timber King
+      Lightfoot's rider wrestled with his steed in vain. Later, his prejudice
+      against trotting in the bush removed by stern measures, King Lightfoot
+      flashed up the track like a meteor, with his furious rider determined to
+      show something of what his steed could do. By that time Poddy was once
+      more unsaddled, and was standing under a tree with his weary nose drooping
+      earthwards, so that the crowd merely yelled with laughter anew, while the
+      stewards unfeelingly requested the Melbourne man to get off the track.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, isn't it hot!&rdquo; Norah fanned herself with a bunch of gum leaves, and
+      cast an anxious look at Tommy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was breathlessly hot. Not a hint of air stirred among the trees or
+      moved the long dry grass that covered the paddock&mdash;now showing many
+      depressions, where tired people or horses had lain down to rest. The
+      horses stood about, drooping their heads, and swishing their tails
+      ceaselessly at the tormenting flies; men and women sought every available
+      patch of shade, while dogs stretched themselves under the buggies,
+      panting, with lolling tongues. Children alone ran about, as though nothing
+      could mar their enjoyment; but babies fretted wearily in their mothers'
+      arms. Overhead the sun blazed fiercely in a sky of brass. Now and then
+      came a low growl of thunder, giving hope of a change at night; but it was
+      very far distant, although a dull bank of cloud lay to the west. David
+      Linton watched the cloud a little uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't quite like the look of it,&rdquo; he muttered to himself. &ldquo;I'll go and
+      ask Murty what he thinks of it.&rdquo; But Murty had been swallowed up in a
+      crowd anxious to congratulate him on Shannon's success, and his employer
+      failed to find him at the moment. He came upon Sarah, however&mdash;sitting
+      under a tree, with her baby wailing dismally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To hot for her, Sarah,&rdquo; David Linton said kindly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right, sir&mdash;it's too hot for anyone, let alone a little tiny
+      kid,&rdquo; Sarah said wearily. &ldquo;I'd get Bill to go home if I could, but I can't
+      get on his tracks&mdash;and it's too hot to take baby out in the sun
+      looking for him. If you come across him, sir, you might tell him I want
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said the squatter. &ldquo;But you wouldn't take that long drive
+      home yet, Sarah&mdash;better wait until the sun goes down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I'd go into Cunjee, to me sister-in-law's,&rdquo; said Sarah. &ldquo;She'd let
+      me take baby's things off an' sponge her&mdash;an' I'd give a dollar to do
+      it. No more races with kids for me in weather like this!&rdquo; She crooned to
+      the fretting baby as Mr. Linton went off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found Tommy and Norah together under a tree near the track&mdash;hot,
+      but interested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are the boys?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're all holding ponies,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;I don't quite know why, but a
+      very hot and worried man collected them to help start the race. What is it
+      for, Dad, do you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I see!&rdquo; David Linton laughed. &ldquo;It's&mdash;a distance handicap&mdash;the
+      ponies all start at the same moment, but from different points along the
+      track.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that must be it,&rdquo; Norah said. &ldquo;Jim's away over near the timber with
+      a little rat of a pony, and Bob is shepherding another fifty yards behind
+      him, while Wally is quite near here with that big pony of the blacksmith's
+      that has won ever so many races. She'll have a lot of ground to make up.
+      But why must each one be shepherded, Dad?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Human nature,&rdquo; said David Linton, smiling. &ldquo;These youngsters who are
+      riding would sneak a yard or two if they weren't closely watched, and they
+      would never start fair; the only way is to put each in charge of a
+      responsible man with a good watch, and let him start them. What time is
+      the race? Oh, four o'clock. Well, I never yet saw a pony race that started
+      on time; neither the ponies nor the boys are easy to handle, and I see
+      there are ten of them. Watch them; it's after four, and they must be
+      nearly ready to start.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The ponies were strung out round the course, each with a &ldquo;shepherd&rdquo;
+       standing to attention near its bridle, watch in hand. They could see Jim's
+      great form standing sentinel over a tiny animal, whose diminutive rider
+      was far too afraid of the huge Major to try to snatch even a yard of
+      ground; nearer, Wally kept a wary eye on the experienced jockey on the
+      blacksmith's racing mare, who was afraid of nothing, but nevertheless had
+      a certain wholesome respect for the tall fellow who lounged easily against
+      a tree near him, but never for an instant shifted his gaze. The shepherds
+      were waiting for a signal from the official starter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It came presently, a long shrill whistle, and simultaneously each guardian
+      stepped back, and the released ponies went off like a flash&mdash;all save
+      Bob's charge, who insisted on swinging round and bolting in the wrong
+      direction, while his jockey sawed at his mouth in vain. Yawing across the
+      track the rebel encountered the blacksmith's pony, who swerved violently
+      in her swift course to avoid him, and lost so much ground that any chance
+      she had in the race was hopelessly lost, whereat the blacksmith, who was
+      standing on the hill, raved and tore his hair unavailingly. A smart little
+      bay pony fought out the finish with Jim's tiny charge, and was beaten by a
+      short head, just as Wally, walking quickly, came back to his party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was a great race,&rdquo; said Norah. &ldquo;Wally, you shouldn't walk so fast on
+      such a day. It makes one warm only to look at you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wally answered with an absent air that was unlike his usual alertness. The
+      girls, watching the ponies come in, noticed nothing, and presently he drew
+      Mr. Linton aside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you notice that cloud, sir?&rdquo; he asked, in a low voice. &ldquo;I didn't
+      until I was down on the track with the pony, looking in that direction.
+      But it's twice the size it was when I went down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been looking at it, and I don't like it,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton. &ldquo;It's
+      smoke, I'm positive, and too near Billabong and the Creek to be
+      comfortable. I think we'll make tracks for home, Wally. Have you seen
+      Murty anywhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As if in answer, Mr. O'Toole came running down the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've been huntin' ye's everywhere,&rdquo; he panted. &ldquo;There's a man just kem
+      out from Cunjee lookin' for ye, sir&mdash;some one's tallyphoned in that
+      there's a big grass fire comin' down on the Creek, an' 'twill be a miracle
+      if it misses Billabong! I've told the men&mdash;they're off to get the
+      horses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Norah and Tommy had turned, with dismayed eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will it be at our place, Murty?&rdquo; Tommy asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dunno will it, Miss Tommy,&rdquo; the Irishman answered. &ldquo;But as like as not
+      'twill miss it&mdash;or anyhow, we'll get there first, an' stop it doing
+      much damage. Don't you worry your little head, now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at him gratefully. Norah's hand was thrust through her arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It may not be near the Creek at all, Tommy dear,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I hope it isn't&mdash;my poor old Bob!&rdquo; Tommy said, under her breath.
+      &ldquo;Can we hurry, Norah?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're bringing the horses,&rdquo; Norah answered. &ldquo;We'll be off in a minute&mdash;see,
+      dad has gone to meet Bob.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Wally had turned to Murty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Murty, do you mind if I ride Shannon and take him across country? I'm on
+      Marshal to-day, you know, and he can't jump for nuts. But Shannon can take
+      every fence between here and the Creek, and I can cut the distance in half
+      if I go across. I'm about the lightest of us, I think.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So ye are&mdash;an' the horse'll take ye like a bird,&rdquo; said Murty. &ldquo;Don't
+      shpare him, Mr. Wally, if ye think ye can do any good. He's over there
+      under the big wattle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right-o!&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;Tell Mr. Jim, will you, Murty?&rdquo; He turned and ran
+      down the hill with long strides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Already the cloud was growing in the western sky&mdash;so high that it
+      threatened to obscure the sun that still blazed fiercely down. At first a
+      dull brown, there was a curious light behind it; at the edges it trailed
+      away into ragged wisps like floating mist. There was something
+      mysteriously threatening in its dense heaviness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were other men running for their horses, as Wally raced towards
+      Shannon. The news of a grass fire had spread quickly, and every man wanted
+      to be on his own property, for the whole countryside was covered with
+      long, dry grass, and no one could say where a fire might or might not end.
+      Boone and Shanahan passed Wally, leading several horses&mdash;his own
+      amongst them. They hailed him quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got Marshal, Mr. Wally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give him to Murty,&rdquo; Wally answered as he ran. &ldquo;I'm riding Shannon.&rdquo; He
+      raced on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That means he's going across country,&rdquo; said Dave Boone. &ldquo;For two pins I'd
+      go too.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you&mdash;you'd never get your horse over them fences,&rdquo; Shanahan
+      said. &ldquo;An' it'll take Mr. Wally all his time to get across them wired
+      paddocks of Maclennan's. Hope he don't break Shannon's laigs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not he; Mr. Wally's no fool,&rdquo; said Boone. &ldquo;Git up, y' ol' sardine!&rdquo; He
+      kicked the horse he was leading, and they trotted up to Norah and Tommy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shannon, standing with drooping head, showed little interest as Wally
+      flung the saddle on his back. He had won his race handsomely, and it was a
+      scorching day; possibly the big chestnut felt that no more should be
+      required of him; in which case he was soon to be rudely awakened. Wally
+      swung into the saddle with a quick movement, and turned him, not towards
+      the gate, but in the opposite direction, which further puzzled Shannon.
+      But he was a stock horse first and a hurdle racer as an afterthought; and
+      a good stock horse knows his rider's mind, if that rider is a good man. He
+      made one tentative movement towards his paddock mates, now moving away
+      towards the gate; then, feeling the touch of Wally's hand on the bit, and
+      the light pressure of his knee, he decided that some new game was on foot,
+      and cantered easily away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They crossed the racing track, going westward over the big paddock, away
+      from the buggies and the crowd. A belt of timber checked their swift
+      progress a moment; then they came out into clear ground in sight of the
+      boundary fence, a stiff three-railer. Wally peered at it anxiously,
+      unable, for an instant, to see if there were a wire on top; but it was
+      clear, and he shook up his horse, putting him straight at the middle of a
+      panel. Shannon pricked his ears and flew it daintily&mdash;this was work
+      he loved, and hot though the day might be, he was ready for any amount of
+      it. Also Wally was lighter than Murty, his usual rider; and although he
+      loved Murty, and respected him greatly, this new man had a seat like a
+      feather and a hand gentle as silk upon his tender mouth. Shannon broke
+      into the gallop that he felt sure his rider wanted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were in a wide paddock, bare, save for a few clumps of timber, in the
+      shade of which sheep were thickly clustered. It was good, sound going,
+      with a few little rises; and, knowing that he would have to slacken speed
+      presently, Wally let the chestnut have his head across the clear grass.
+      They took the next fence and the next before he drew rein. He was in
+      country he did not know&mdash;all big farms, with many stubble fields with
+      newly erected stacks, and with good homesteads, where now and then a woman
+      peered curiously from a verandah at him. There were no men in sight; every
+      man in the neighbourhood was at the races on New Year's day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found himself in a paddock where rough ground, thickly strewn with
+      fallen timber, sloped down abruptly to a creek. Checking Shannon, he rode
+      more steadily down to the water, and trotted along the bank for a hundred
+      yards, looking for a good place to ford&mdash;the banks shelved abruptly
+      down, and the water was unusually deep. But the only promising fords were
+      too thickly snagged to be tempting; and presently, with a shrug, Wally
+      gave up the quest, and choosing a place where the fall of the bank was a
+      shade less abrupt, he put the horse at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shannon hesitated, drawing back. Water was the one thing to which he had
+      not been schooled on Billabong, and this place was mysterious and deep.
+      But Wally's hand was firm, and he spoke sharply&mdash;so that the chestnut
+      repented of the error of his ways, and plunged obediently downwards. The
+      bank gave under them, and they slithered down among its remnants and
+      landed in the water with a profound splash, almost hidden for a moment by
+      the spray that drenched Wally's thin silk coat and shirt. Shannon
+      floundered violently, and nearly lost his footing&mdash;and then, deciding
+      that this was an excellent entertainment on a hot day, he thrust his
+      thirsty nose into the water. Wally checked him after one mouthful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry, old chap,&rdquo; he said regretfully. &ldquo;I'd like it as much as you.
+      But I can't let you have a drink just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He pressed him on across the muddy stream, floundering over sunken logs,
+      slipping into holes, dodging half-concealed snags; and so they came to a
+      bank which scarcely seemed a possible place, so steep was it. But Wally
+      looked at the smoke-cloud, and grew desperate, and for the first time
+      touched Shannon with the spur; and the chestnut answered gamely, springing
+      at the bank and climbing almost like a cat. Twice it broke under him; the
+      third time he made some footing, and Wally suddenly flung himself from his
+      back, scrambling up ahead of him, and hauling at the bridle. Shannon
+      followed, floundering and snorting; desperately relieved to find himself
+      on firm ground again. Wally swung into the saddle and they galloped
+      forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next two fences were log ones, and the chestnut took them almost in
+      his stride. Then Wally's lips tightened, for he saw a homestead that he
+      knew must be Maclennan's, the most prosperous farmer about; and Maclennan
+      had strong views on the subject of inflammable fences in a country so
+      liable to grass fires, and all his property was wire-fenced. The first
+      fence stretched before him, taut and well-strung; he looked up and down
+      its length in search of a gate, but there was none in sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could put my coat on the top wire for you to jump if it was a thick
+      one, old chap,&rdquo; he told Shannon. &ldquo;But a scrap of wet silk wouldn't be much
+      good to you. We'll have to chance a post.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He drew rein, trotting up to the fence, where he let the horse put his
+      nose over a post&mdash;and set his lips again when he saw that the top
+      wire was barbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just you remember to pick up all your toes well, old man,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He trotted back a little way, and, turning, came hard at the fence,
+      putting Shannon directly at the post. This also was new to the chestnut;
+      but once, when a foal, he had been badly pricked on barbed wire, and, ever
+      since, one glance at its hideous spikes had been enough for him. Refusing
+      was out of the question&mdash;Wally was leaning forward, keeping him
+      absolutely straight, lifting him at the post with a little shout of
+      encouragement. He flew over it as if it had been a hurdle. Wally patted
+      his neck with a big sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh, but I was scared for your legs, old man!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They galloped across a wide stubble field, while Wally's keen eyes
+      searched the fence for a gate. He caught sight of one presently, a stiff,
+      four-railed gate, considerably higher than the fence. High as it was,
+      Wally preferred it to barbed wire; and by this time he had a queer feeling
+      that no jump would prove too much for the big, honest chestnut, who was
+      doing so gamely everything that he was asked. Nor did Shannon disappoint
+      him; he rose at the gate cheerfully, and barely tipped it with one hind
+      foot as he cleared it. Wally fancied there was something of apology in the
+      little shake of his head as he galloped on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I'd time to take you back over that you wouldn't lay a toe on it
+      again, I believe. Never mind, there's sure to be another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was, and the chestnut flew it with never a touch. Maclennan's
+      paddocks were wide and well cleared&mdash;such galloping ground as Wally
+      dared not waste&mdash;and he took full advantage of them, leaving one
+      after another behind swiftly, to the beat of Shannon's sweeping stride.
+      Fence after fence the chestnut cleared, taking them cleanly, with his keen
+      ears pricked; never faltering or flagging as he galloped. Wally sat him
+      lightly, leaning forward to ease him, cheering him on with voice and
+      touch. Before him the cloud grew dense and yet more dense; he could feel
+      its hot breath now, although a bush-covered paddock ahead blocked the fire
+      itself from his immediate view. He had to choose between picking his way
+      through the trees or galloping round them; and chose the latter, since
+      Shannon showed no sign of fatigue. He put the last wire fence behind him
+      with a sigh of relief. A small farm with easy enough fences remained to be
+      crossed, and then he swung round the timber at top speed. Once round it,
+      he should come within view of the Rainhams' house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came into the open country, and pulled up with a shout of dismay.
+      Before him was the long line of timber marking the creek, but between lay
+      nothing but a rolling cloud of smoke, lit with flashes of flame. A hot
+      gust of wind blew it aside for a moment, and through it he caught a
+      glimpse of Creek Cottage, burning fiercely. Wally uttered a smothered
+      groan, and thrust Shannon forward, over the last fence, and up a little
+      lane that led near the Rainhams' back gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The paddock was nearly all on fire. It had started somewhere back in the
+      bush country, and had swept across like a wall, burning everything before
+      it. As Wally reached the gate, it was rolling away across the paddocks, a
+      sheet of flame, licking up the dry grass; leaving behind it bare and
+      blackened ground, with here and there a fence post, or a tree burning,
+      and, in the midst of its track, Creek Cottage wrapped in flames.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The boy slipped from his saddle and flung Shannon's bridle over the
+      gate-post. Then, as a thought struck him, he turned back and released him,
+      buckling the reins into one stirrup.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't dare to tie you up, old man,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The beastly fire might
+      swing round. Go home, if you like. I can't take you across that hot
+      ground.&rdquo; He gave the chestnut's neck a hasty pat; then, putting one hand
+      on the gate, he vaulted it cleanly and ran across the burnt ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The grass was yet smouldering; it broke away under his feet, crackling and
+      falling into black powder. He ran desperately, not feeling the burning
+      breath of the fire, in blind hope of being able to save something. The
+      house itself, he knew, was doomed; no fire-brigade could have checked the
+      flames which had laid hold of the flimsy weatherboard. The fire had
+      divided round it, checked a little by Tommy's flower-garden, which was
+      almost uninjured yet, and by Bob's rows of green vegetables which lay
+      singed and ruined; then, unable to wait, it had swept on its way through
+      the long dry grass, which carried it swiftly forward, leaving the burning
+      cottage and the green garden in the midst of a blackened waste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The front verandah, and one side, were yet untouched, nor had the front
+      rooms caught. Wally raced through the garden and tried the front door. It
+      was locked. He sprang to the nearest window and smashed it with quick
+      blows from a hoe standing near; then, flinging up the sash, dived in. The
+      room was full of smoke, the heat stifling. It was Tommy's room. He
+      gathered up her little personal belongings from the dressing-table and
+      flung them on the quilt, following them with armfuls of clothes hastily
+      swept from shelves. A trunk, covered with a bright Navajo blanket, stood
+      near the window. He thrust it through to the verandah, and scrambled out
+      after it with the quilt and blankets bundled round the things he had
+      saved. Dragging them across the lawn, he thrust them under some green
+      bushes, and returned for the trunk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't believe you'll catch there,&rdquo; he said, choking. &ldquo;Wonder if I can
+      try another room?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had opened the door from Tommy's room into the hall, but the rush of
+      flame and smoke were so appalling that he had to shut it again quickly,
+      realizing that the draught only helped the fire. To break in by another
+      window was the only way. He smashed his way in to the other front room,
+      and hurriedly gathered up all he could. There was no time to save anything
+      heavy. His quick mind guided him to the things he knew Bob and Tommy
+      valued most&mdash;things that had been Aunt Margaret's in the past, that
+      spoke of their old happy life in France. He spread an embroidered cloth on
+      the floor and pitched his treasure trove into it&mdash;working feverishly,
+      choking and gasping, until the flames began to crackle through the wall,
+      and the ceiling above him split across. Then he plunged through the
+      window, and staggered across the lawn with his burden&mdash;falling beside
+      it at last, spent and breathless, his throat parched with smoke, and his
+      eyes almost sightless. But he picked himself up presently and went back.
+      All the rooms were blazing now. The side verandah had not yet caught, and
+      on it he saw an old oaken chest that did double duty as a seat and as a
+      wardrobe for Bob's spare clothes. The sight brought fresh energy back to
+      Wally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jove, there's old Bob's box!&rdquo; he uttered. &ldquo;I'll have to get that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dragged it across the verandah and on to the path. It was cruelly
+      heavy. He had to stop and rest again and again; but still he struggled on,
+      a few yards at a time, until it, too, was in comparative safety. Then
+      there was nothing else that he could do but sit on the grass and watch the
+      gay little home that they had all loved as it fell into ruins. The flames
+      made mercifully short work of it; they roared and crackled and spat
+      wreathing fiery tongues round the chimneys and up and down the verandah
+      posts; shooting out of the broken windows and turning the white-painted
+      iron of the roof into a twisted and blackened mass. It fell in presently
+      with a deafening roar, bringing one chimney with it; and soon all that
+      Wally had to look at was a smouldering heap of coals, in the midst of
+      which one chimney stood, tottering and solitary, with the kitchen stove a
+      glowing mass of red-hot iron, and strangely contorted masses of metal that
+      once were beds. The boy uttered a groan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And they were so proud of it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Poor souls&mdash;how are they
+      going to stick it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He got up presently and made his way round to the back. All the sheds and
+      buildings were burned; he turned with a shudder from where Bob's beloved
+      Kelpie had died at his post chained in helplessness. The metal parts of
+      the buggy, writhed into knots and tangles, lay in the ashes of the big
+      shed; beyond, the pigsty smouldered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've gone, too, I suppose,&rdquo; Wally said. &ldquo;By George, where are all his
+      stock? They can't all be burned, surely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was nothing visible in the bare, black paddocks. He cast a wild look
+      round, and then made for the creek at a staggering run. The fire had died
+      away for lack of material as it neared the banks, for great willows
+      overhung them, a camping-ground for the stock all through the summer heat,
+      and the ground was always beaten hard and bare. Wally uttered a shout of
+      relief as he came to the trees. Below in the wide, shallow pools, all the
+      stock had taken refuge&mdash;carthorses and cows, sheep and pigs, all
+      huddled together, wild-eyed and panting, but safe. They stared up at
+      Wally, dumbly bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor brutes,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;Well, you chose a good spot, anyhow. I say,
+      what a jolly good thing Bob let his pigs out. Poor old chap&mdash;he's not
+      broke yet.&rdquo; He leaned against the gnarled trunk of a willow for a moment.
+      &ldquo;Well, I suppose I'd better get up to the gate and tell them&mdash;it
+      won't do for Tommy to come on the ruins all of a sudden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But he realized, as he made his slow way up from the creek, that he was
+      too late. There was a little knot of horses beside the garden gate. His
+      eye caught the light linen habit coats that Tommy and Norah wore. They
+      were looking silently at the blackened heap of ashes, with the tottering
+      chimney standing gaunt in its midst, Bob's face grey under its coating of
+      smoky dust. Norah was holding Tommy's hand tightly. They did not hear
+      Wally as he came slowly across the black powder that had been grass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose the stock have gone, too,&rdquo; Bob said heavily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, they haven't, old man,&rdquo; Wally said. &ldquo;I believe every head is safe;
+      they're in the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They turned sharply, and cried out at the sight of him&mdash;blackened and
+      ragged, his eyes red-rimmed in his grimy face, his hands, cut by the
+      broken window glass, smeared with dried blood. His coat and shirt, burnt
+      in a score of places, hung in singed fragments round him. There were great
+      holes burnt in his panama hat, even in his riding breeches. Jim flung
+      himself from his horse, and ran to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wal, old man! Are you hurt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not me,&rdquo; said Wally briefly. &ldquo;Only a bit singed. I say, you two, you
+      don't know how sorry I am. Tommy, I wish I could have got here in time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to have got here in time to try, anyhow,&rdquo; said Tommy, and her
+      lip trembled. &ldquo;Are you sure you're not hurt, Wally?&rdquo; She slipped from her
+      saddle, and came to him. &ldquo;Were you in the fire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I'm truly all right,&rdquo; Wally assured her. He suddenly realized that he
+      had not known how tired he was; something in his head began to whirl
+      round, and a darkness came before his aching eyes. He felt Jim catch him;
+      and then he was sitting on the ground, propped against the fence, and
+      blinking up at them all, while indignantly assuring them that he had never
+      been better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you meet the fire? It was away from here before I got here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It crossed the road in front of us,&rdquo; Mr. Linton said. &ldquo;There were a good
+      many men about by that time&mdash;we got it stopped before it reached
+      Elston's.&rdquo; His pitying eyes went back to the brother and sister. Anxiety
+      for Wally had drawn them from their own disaster for a moment; now they
+      had moved away together, and stood looking at the ashes of their home,
+      where so many hopes were ashes, too. David Linton went over to them, and
+      put a hand on a shoulder of each.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not to be down-hearted,&rdquo; he said firmly. &ldquo;It's bad enough, and
+      bitter enough&mdash;but it might be worse. The stock are safe, and the
+      land is there&mdash;one good shower will turn the paddocks green again.
+      Why, there's even most of your garden left, Tommy. And we'll build the
+      house and sheds better than before.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're jolly good, Mr. Linton,&rdquo; Bob said, with dry lips. &ldquo;But we owe you
+      enough already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you talk that sort of nonsense, I'll be really annoyed,&rdquo; David Linton
+      said. &ldquo;Why, hard luck comes to all of us&mdash;we got burned out ourselves
+      once, didn't we, Norah?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather&mdash;and had to live in tents,&rdquo; said Norah. &ldquo;No, you'll have to
+      come back to us at Billabong until we build up the cottage again&mdash;oh,
+      and, Tommy darling, I've been lonesome for you!&rdquo; She put a hand on Bob's
+      arm. &ldquo;You won't worry, Bob? One bit of bad luck isn't going to beat you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose it won't,&rdquo; Bob said slowly. &ldquo;There's the insurance money,
+      anyhow. But it was the jolliest little home&mdash;and our very own. And I
+      was so jolly proud of being independent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you're that still,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;This is a country where everybody
+      helps everybody else&mdash;because you and Tommy come to stay with us, and
+      run your stock for a while on Billabong until your own grass grows, that
+      isn't going to make you less independent. Wouldn't you do the same for us,
+      if we were in the same box?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That goes without saying&mdash;and I'm as grateful as I can be,&rdquo; Bob
+      said. &ldquo;But the cases are different. I'm deep enough in your debt, as it
+      is. I&mdash;&rdquo; His lip quivered, and he turned away, staring at the ruins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't see any good arguing about it, at all events,&rdquo; said Norah,
+      practically. &ldquo;We're all hot and tired, and I vote we just get home and
+      have tea. We'll all feel better after a tub, and then we can begin to make
+      plans. Come on, Tommy dear, it's just lovely to think we're going to have
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Bob stood with one hand on the scorched gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish I could have got here in time to get out a few things,&rdquo; he
+      muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I did that,&rdquo; said Wally, brightening. &ldquo;I forgot, in the shock of
+      finding all Noah's Ark turned out in the creek. Come along, Tommy, and see
+      my little lot of salvage!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He dragged himself up from the ground and seized Tommy's hand. They
+      trooped across the lawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I saved the cuckoo clock and that set of Swiss bears,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;And
+      lots of oddments from goodness knows where&mdash;the sort of thing you
+      can't buy in Cunjee. I expect I've hauled out all the things you wouldn't
+      have saved, Tommy, but you'll just have to let me down lightly&mdash;I'd
+      have made a shot for the beloved cake tins, only I hadn't time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Wally, you dear old idiot,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;And that's how you nearly
+      killed yourself.&rdquo; They came in sight of Wally's heap of loot, and she
+      stopped in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bob&mdash;just look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By Jupiter!&rdquo; said Bob, &ldquo;you saved my old box! You old brick. How did you
+      manage it? Why, it weighs a ton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy was on her knees by the bundles. &ldquo;Look!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Look, Bobby! My
+      silver things&mdash;and all Aunt Margaret's, and my little jewel box. And
+      my clothes! How did you do it, Wally?&rdquo; Suddenly her voice broke. She put
+      her head down on the bundle in a passion of sobs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the best thing she could do,&rdquo; said David Linton gently. He turned
+      to Norah. &ldquo;Let her cry&mdash;and bring her along presently, and we'll take
+      her home. Come along, boys, we'll get the horses and go and see Wally's
+      Noah's Ark.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BUILDING UP AGAIN
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      It was three months later, and Billabong lay in the peace of an exquisite
+      autumn evening. The orchard showed yellow and bronze against the green of
+      the pine trees; here and there oak and elm leaves fluttered down lazily
+      upon the lawn. The garden flamed with dahlias and asters, amidst which
+      Hogg worked contentedly. And there was utter content upon the face of
+      David Linton, as he stood on the broad stone steps of his home, and looked
+      towards the setting sun. Beyond the garden gleamed the reed-fringed waters
+      of the lagoon; further yet, the broad paddocks stretched away, dotted with
+      feeding Shorthorns. It was the view, of all others, that he loved&mdash;his
+      soul had longed for it during weary years of exile and war. Now, it seemed
+      that he could never tire of looking at it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Brownie came up from the garden, a basket on her arm laden with splendid
+      mauve and pink asters. David Linton strolled across the gravel sweep to
+      meet her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Brownie&mdash;taking Miss Norah's job, are you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it ain't 'ardly that, sir,&rdquo; Brownie answered. &ldquo;Miss Norah she done
+      the vases this morning, same as ushul, an' Miss Tommy elpin' her. Only she
+      wouldn't pick these 'ere astors, 'cause they're 'Oggs best, an' she didn't
+      like to 'urt 'im; you see she always remembers that onst they go into the
+      'ouse, 'Ogg, 'e don't see 'em no more. An' she do love 'em in the vases.
+      So I just put the matter sensible like to 'Ogg, an', of course, 'e saw
+      reason and give me 'alf; an' I'll 'ave 'em on the table to-night. Only
+      they've filled every vase in the house already, I believe I'll be druv to
+      puttin' 'em in Mason jars!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miss Norah will love them, no matter what they're in,&rdquo; said Mr. Linton.
+      &ldquo;There's no sign of them yet, Brownie&mdash;it's nearly time they were
+      home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they meant to 'ave a long day's work fixin' the 'ouse,&rdquo; said
+      Brownie comfortably. &ldquo;Mrs. Archdale druv me over to see them, an' Sarah
+      gave us all afternoon tea&mdash;she an' Bill are real toffs in their
+      little new cottage there. Sarah ain't indulgin' in any regrets over that
+      fire! And they were all busy as bees. Miss Tommy's room's fixed, an' her
+      little sleep-out place off it, and so's Mr. Bob's, an' they were workin'
+      at the drorin'-room; 'omelike it looked with all their nice old things in
+      it again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure it will,&rdquo; David Linton agreed. &ldquo;How do you like the new house,
+      Brownie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, it's lovely,&rdquo; said Brownie. &ldquo;An' a fair treat to work, with all them
+      new improvements&mdash;no corners to the rooms, an' no silly skirtin'
+      boards that'll catch dust, an' the water laid on everywhere, an' the air
+      gas, an' all them other patent fixings. An' so comferable; better than the
+      old one, any way you look at it. Miss Tommy's the lucky young lady to be
+      comin' in for such a place.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, she deserves it, Brownie.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She do,&rdquo; said Brownie heartily. &ldquo;Ain't it lovely to see Miss Norah an'
+      'er so 'appy together? Our blessed lamb never 'ad a friend like that
+      before, and she needed one&mdash;every girl do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long may it last, that's all I say,&rdquo; agreed the squatter. &ldquo;Norah needed
+      her badly, although she didn't know it. And she and her brother are the
+      best type of immigrants, aren't they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are that,&rdquo; said Brownie, &ldquo;always cheery, an' workin' 'ard, an'
+      takin' the ups and downs sensibly. Now, it was a real nasty knock to find
+      their nice little 'ome burnt down on New Year's day, but after the first
+      shock they never 'ung their lip at all&mdash;just bucked in to make good
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She went on her way with her asters, and David Linton walked slowly across
+      the lawn and stood looking over the gate, along the track where his
+      children would come riding home. Somehow, he found it difficult not to
+      think of them all as his children. Wally had made an attempt to go away
+      and set up a place for himself, but the idea had been received with such
+      amazed horror by the whole household that it had been temporarily shelved.
+      After all, Wally had more money than was good for him, the result of
+      having always been an orphan. He could establish himself in a place at any
+      time if he wished. And meanwhile, he was never idle. David Linton had
+      handed over most of the outside management of the big run to Jim and his
+      mate. They worked together as happily as they had played together as boys.
+      There was time for play now, as well; Mr. Linton saw to that. The years
+      that they had left on Flanders fields were not to rob them of their
+      boyhood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There had also been time to help the Rainhams&mdash;and there again the
+      district had taken a hand. It was not to be imagined that the people who
+      had helped in the first working bee would sit calmly by when so stupendous
+      a piece of bad luck as the New Year fire overtook the just established
+      young immigrants; and so there had been several other bees, to replace
+      Bob's burnt fencing, to clear away the ruins of the house and sheds, and,
+      finally, to rebuild for him. There had been long discussions at Billabong
+      over plans&mdash;the first Creek Cottage had taught them much of what was
+      desirable in the way of a house; so that the second Creek Cottage, which
+      rose from the ashes of the old one when kindly rains had drawn a green
+      mantle over all the blackened farm, was a very decided improvement upon
+      the old house, and contained so many modern ideas and &ldquo;dodges&rdquo; that the
+      wives and sisters of all the working bees, who helped to build it, came
+      miles to see it, and went home, in most cases, audibly wishing that they
+      could have a fire. It was illuminating, too, to the working bees, to see
+      how Bob and the Billabong men planned for the comfort of the women who
+      were to run the house, and for its easy working; so that presently a wave
+      of labour-saving devices swept through the Cunjee district in imitation,
+      and wives who had always carried buckets of water found taps conveniently
+      placed where they were needed, and sinks and draining racks built to ease
+      the dreary round of dish-washing, and air-gas plants established to
+      supersede the old kerosene lamps. After which the district was very much
+      astonished that it had not done it before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cottage was finished now, and nearly ready for its occupants; Bill,
+      Sarah and the baby had been installed for some time in a neat little
+      two-roomed place with a side verandah, a short distance from the main
+      building. Home-made furniture, even more ambitious than the first built,
+      had been erected, and a fresh supply of household goods bought during an
+      exciting week in Melbourne, where Mr. Linton had taken them all&mdash;all,
+      that is, but Bob, who had steadfastly declined to go away and play when
+      other people were helping him. So Bob had remained at his post, giving
+      Tommy a free hand as to shopping; a freedom cautiously used by Tommy, but
+      supplemented by the others with many gifts, both useful and idiotic. Tommy
+      had an abiding affection for the idiotic efforts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had spent so much time in the saddle that she now rode like an old
+      hand; the brown-faced girl who came up the paddock presently with the
+      cheery band of workers was very different to the pink and white &ldquo;little
+      Miss Immigrant&rdquo; of eight months before. She rode Jim's big favourite,
+      Garryowen, who, although years had added wisdom to him, was always
+      impatient when nearly home; he was reefing and pulling, as they swept up
+      at a hand gallop, but Tommy held him easily, and pulled up near Mr.
+      Linton, laughing. He looked at them with grave content.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I began to think you meant me to have tea alone,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Have they
+      been doing any work, Bob, or couldn't you keep them in hand at all?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, they've been working,&rdquo; Bob answered. &ldquo;I told Sarah not to give them
+      any afternoon tea if they didn't, and it acted like a charm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You to talk!&rdquo; said Norah, with tilted nose. &ldquo;They said they'd sample the
+      new deck chairs, dad, and it took them about an hour to make sure if they
+      liked them&mdash;they just smoked while Tommy and I toiled.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you'd only have been annoyed with us if we hadn't done the sampling
+      properly, and had grumbled afterwards,&rdquo; said Wally. &ldquo;I'm always trying to
+      teach you to be thorough, Norah. Of course, they say they work all the
+      time, sir&mdash;but when they disappear into Tommy's room there's an awful
+      lot of talking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There would be something wrong with them if there weren't,&rdquo; said the
+      squatter sagely. &ldquo;And I have no doubt there yet remains much awaiting
+      their expert supervision in Tommy's room.&rdquo; Whereat Tommy and Norah beamed
+      at him, and commended him as a person of understanding, while Wally
+      remarked feelingly to Bob that there was no chance of justice where those
+      two females were concerned. At this point Jim observed that the
+      conversation showed signs of degenerating into a brawl, and that, in any
+      case, it was time the horses were let go. They trotted off to the stables,
+      a light-hearted body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy slipped her arm into Bob's as they went upstairs to dress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come into my room and talk for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came in and sat down in a low chair by the window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your quarters at the new place won't be as big as this, old girl.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll be bigger, for it will all be ours,&rdquo; rejoined Tommy promptly.
+      &ldquo;Who wants a big room, anyway? I don't. Bobby, I'd be hard to please if I
+      wanted more than I've got.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're always satisfied,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There never was anything easier than
+      pleasing you, old Tommy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Life's all so good, now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;No hideous anxiety about you&mdash;no
+      Lancaster Gate&mdash;no she-dragon. Only peace, and independence, and the
+      work we like. Aren't you satisfied, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'd like to be really independent,&rdquo; he said slowly. &ldquo;Our amount of debt
+      isn't heavy, of course, and it doesn't cause real anxiety, with Mr. Linton
+      guaranteeing us to the bank&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as we had to build again, it was worth while to improve the house and
+      make it just what we wanted,&rdquo; Tommy added. &ldquo;We'll pay the debt off, Bob.
+      Mr. Linton assures me that with ordinary seasons we should easily do it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know, and I'm not anxious,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;Only I'll be glad when it's
+      done; debt, even such an easy debt as this, gives me the creeps. And I
+      want to feel we stand on our own feet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And not on the Lintons'!&rdquo; said Tommy, laughing. &ldquo;I quite agree&mdash;though
+      it's amazing to see how little they seem to mind our weight. Was there
+      ever such luck as meeting them, Bob?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;We'd have been wage-earners still, or struggling
+      little cocky farmers at the best, but for that letter of General Harran's&mdash;though,
+      I think more was due to the way you butted into their taxi!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe it was,&rdquo; laughed Tommy. &ldquo;It was the sort of thing to appeal to
+      the Lintons&mdash;it wouldn't to everybody. But the letter was behind it,
+      saying what a worthy young man you were!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, when you start calling me such a thing as 'worthy,' it's time I
+      left and got dressed for tea,&rdquo; said her brother, rising slowly. &ldquo;English
+      mail ought to be in, by the way; I'm wondering what old Mr. M'Clinton will
+      say when he hears we were burned out in our first season.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll wish he'd sent us to the snows of Canada, where such things don't
+      happen on New Year's day,&rdquo; Tommy said. &ldquo;Still, he ought not to be anxious
+      about us&mdash;Mr. Linton wrote and told him our position was quite
+      sound.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don't think he'll worry greatly,&rdquo; said Bob. &ldquo;I must hurry, old
+      girl, or I'll be late&mdash;and I want a tub before tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The boys came down in flannels, ready for a game of tennis after tea; and
+      Bob and Wally were just leaving the court after a stoutly-contested set,
+      when black Billy brought the mail-bag across the lawn to Mr. Linton. The
+      squatter unlocked it and sorted out the letters quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing for you, Tommy; two for Norah; three for Bob, and bundles for
+      Wally and Jim. Papers beyond counting, and parcels you girls can deal
+      with.&rdquo; He gathered up a package of his own letters. &ldquo;Chiefly stock and
+      station documents&mdash;though, I see, there's a letter from your aunt,
+      Norah; I expect she's anxious to know when I'm going to cease bringing you
+      up like a boy, and send you to Melbourne to be a perfect lady.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell her, never,&rdquo; said Norah lazily. &ldquo;I don't see any spare time ahead&mdash;not
+      enough to make me into a lady after Aunt Winifred's pattern. Cecil is much
+      more lady-like than I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He always was,&rdquo; Jim said. &ldquo;Years ago we used to wonder that he didn't
+      take to wool-work, and I expect he'll do it yet. Even serving in the war
+      didn't keep Cecil from manicuring his nails&mdash;he gets a polish on them
+      that beats anything I ever saw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind&mdash;he's got a limp,&rdquo; said Norah, in whose eyes that legacy
+      of the war covered a multitude of sins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, he has. But he even limps in a lady-like way,&rdquo; grinned Jim. &ldquo;And he
+      has no time for Wal and me. He told me that he was surprised that five
+      years of France and England hadn't made us less Australian.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a matter of regret to us all,&rdquo; said Norah placidly. &ldquo;We hoped for
+      great things when you came out&mdash;more attention to polite
+      conversation, and a passion for top-hats, and&mdash;&rdquo; At which point
+      further eloquence was checked by a cushion placed gently, but firmly, by a
+      brotherly hand on her face, and so she subsided, with a gurgle of
+      laughter, into the cool depths of the buffalo grass where they were all
+      lying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, by Jove!&rdquo; said Bob suddenly. He looked at them, and finally at Tommy,
+      his eyes dancing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's up, old man?&rdquo; Jim asked. &ldquo;Not your stepmother coming out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;England couldn't spare her,&rdquo; Bob said. &ldquo;But the sky has fallen, for all
+      that. Just listen to old M'Clinton.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'. . . It was with deep regret that I learned from you and from Mr.
+      Linton of the calamity which had befallen you on New Year's day. Such
+      disasters seem common in Australia, like blizzards in Canada, and I
+      presume every settler is liable to them. In your case your loss, being
+      partly covered by insurance, will not, Mr. Linton assures me, be crushing,
+      although it seems to me very severe. To have your initial endeavours, too,
+      handicapped by so calamitous an occurrence would have excused despondency,
+      but&mdash;'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hasn't he a lovely style?&rdquo; chuckled Wally, as the reader paused to turn
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'But Mr. Linton assures me that you and your sister are facing the
+      situation with calmness and courage.' Did you know you were calmly
+      courageous, Tommy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not,&rdquo; said Tommy. &ldquo;I am courageously calm. Go on, Bobby&mdash;my
+      calmness will waver if you don't get to the point. Where does the sky
+      fall?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Half a second. 'Further, I am immensely interested to learn from Mr.
+      Linton, who appears to be the kindest of benefactors'&mdash;that's you,
+      sir&mdash;'that the people of the district, who have already helped you so
+      remarkably by a working bee, are so much in sympathy with you both that
+      they intend again lending you their assistance over rebuilding your house.
+      This shows me, even without Mr. Linton's letter, that you have earned
+      their esteem and regard. Nevertheless, I estimate that you cannot fail to
+      be at some monetary embarrassment, and this I am luckily able to ease for
+      you. Certain rubber investments of your late aunt's have recently risen in
+      value, after the long period of depression due to the war; and I deemed it
+      prudent to sell them while their price in the market was high. The terms
+      of your aunt's will enable me to reinvest this money, amounting to a
+      little over nine hundred pounds, for you, or, at my discretion, to hand it
+      over to you; and such is the confidence I repose in you, after Mr.
+      Linton's letter, that I feel justified in remitting you the money, to use
+      as you think best. I presume that will be in the reduction of your
+      liabilities. I should like to think you had the benefit of Mr. Linton's
+      advice in the matter.' Shall I, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never listened to such language,&rdquo; returned the squatter. &ldquo;I should like
+      it read three times a day, before meals. But if it's my advice you want,
+      Bob, you can have it. Meanwhile, I'm very glad for you to have such a
+      windfall, my boy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tommy and Norah had collapsed on each other's shoulders, speechless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Joy never kills, they say,&rdquo; said Wally, regarding them anxiously. &ldquo;But
+      it's been known to turn the brain, when the brain doesn't happen to be
+      strong. Will we turn the hose on them, Jim?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sit on him, Bob,&rdquo; came faintly from Norah.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will&mdash;with the weight of nine hundred pounds!&rdquo; said Bob&mdash;and
+      did so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get off, you bloated capitalist,&rdquo; said Wally, struggling. He succeeded in
+      dislodging him, with a mighty effort. &ldquo;You're just purse-proud, that's
+      what's the matter with you. What'll you do with it, Bobby&mdash;go racing?
+      Or buy an aeroplane?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get out of debt,&rdquo; said Bob, sitting up with rumpled hair and a face like
+      a happy child's. &ldquo;And there'll be a bit over to play with. What shall we
+      put it into, Tommy? Want any pretty things?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just merino sheep,&rdquo; said Tommy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE END <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+***** This file should be named 7047-h.htm or 7047-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/4/7047/
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/7047.txt b/7047.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78082c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8863 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Back To Billabong
+
+Author: Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Release Date: June 6, 2006 [EBook #7047]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+By Mary Grant Bruce
+
+
+
+1921
+
+
+
+
+    "Beyond the distant sky-line
+     (Now pansy-blue and clear),
+     We know a land is waiting,
+     A brown land, very dear:
+     A land of open spaces,
+     Gaunt forest, treeless plain:
+     And if we once have loved it
+     We must come back again."
+
+     (Dorothea Mackellar.)
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAP.
+
+I.    LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+II.   THE RAINHAMS
+
+III.  PLAYING TRUANT
+
+IV.   COMING HOME
+
+V.    THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+VI.   SAILING ORDERS
+
+VII.  THE WATCH DOGS
+
+VIII. HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+IX.   THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+X.    BILLABONG
+
+XI.   COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+XII.  ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+XIII. THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+XIV.  THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+XV.   HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+XVI.  BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+
+"Do the beastly old map yourself, if you want it. I shan't, anyhow!"
+
+"Wilfred!"
+
+"Aw, Wil-fred!" The boy at the end of the schoolroom table, red-haired,
+snub-nosed and defiant, mimicked the protesting tone. "I've done it
+once, and I'm blessed if I do it again."
+
+"No one would dream that it was ever meant for Africa." The young
+teacher glanced at the scrawled and blotted map before her. "It--it
+doesn't look like anything earthly. You must do it again, Wilfred."
+
+"Don't you, Wilf." Wilfred's sister leaned back in her chair, tilting it
+on its hind legs.
+
+"You have nothing to do with Wilfred's work, Avice. Go on with your
+French."
+
+"Done it, thanks," said Avice. "And I suppose I can speak to my own
+brother if I like."
+
+"No, you can't--in lesson time," said the teacher.
+
+"Who's going to stop me?"
+
+Cecilia Rainham controlled herself with an effort.
+
+"Bring me your work," she said.
+
+She went over the untidy French exercise with a quick eye. When she had
+finished it resembled a stormy sky--a groundwork of blue-black, blotted
+writing, lit by innumerable dashes of red. Cecilia put down her red
+pencil.
+
+"It's hopeless, Avice. You haven't tried a bit. And you know it isn't
+hard--you did a far more difficult piece of translation without a
+mistake last Friday."
+
+"Yes, but the pantomime was coming off on Saturday," said Wilfred, with
+a grin. "Jolly little chance of tickets from Bob if she didn't!"
+
+"You shut up!" said Avice.
+
+"Be quiet, both of you," Cecilia ordered, a spot of red in each pale
+cheek. "Remember, there will be other Saturdays. Bob will do nothing for
+you if I can't give him a decent report of you." It was the threat she
+hated using, but without it she was helpless. And the red-haired pair
+before her knew to a fraction the extent of her helplessness.
+
+For the moment the threat was effective. Avice went back to her seat,
+taking with her the excited-looking French exercise, while Wilfred
+sullenly recommenced a dispirited attack upon the African coastline.
+Cecilia leaned back in her chair, and took up a half-knitted sock--to
+drop it hastily, as a long-drawn howl came from a low chair by the
+window.
+
+"Whatever is the matter, Queenie?"
+
+"I per-ricked my finger," sobbed the youngest Miss Rainham. She stood
+up, tears raining down her plump cheeks. No one, Cecilia thought, ever
+cried so easily, so copiously, and so frequently as Queenie. As she
+stood holding out a very grubby forefinger, on which appeared a minute
+spot of blood, great tears fell in splashes on the dark green linoleum,
+while others ran down her face to join them, and others trembled on her
+lower eyelids, propelled from some artesian fount within.
+
+"Oh, dry up, Queenie!" said Wilfred irritably. "Anyone 'ud think you'd
+cut your silly finger off!"
+
+"Well--it'th bleed-in'!" wailed Queenie. She dabbed the injured member
+with the pillow case she was hemming, adding a scarlet touch in pleasant
+contrast to its prevailing grime.
+
+"Well--you're too big a girl to cry for a prick," said Cecilia wearily.
+"People who are nearly seven really don't cry except for something
+awfully bad."
+
+"There--I'll tell the mater you said awfully!" Avice jeered. "Who bites
+our heads off for using slang, I'd like to know?"
+
+"You wouldn't have much head left if I bit for every slang word you
+use," retorted her half-sister. "Do get on with your French, Avice--it's
+nearly half-past twelve, and you know Eliza will want to lay the table
+presently. Come here, Queenie." She took the pillow case, and unpicked
+a few stitches, which clearly indicated that the needle had been taking
+giant strides. "Just hem that last inch or two again, and see if you
+can't make it look nice. I believe the needle only stuck into your
+finger because you were making it sew so badly. Have you got a
+handkerchief?--but, of course, you haven't." She polished the fat,
+tear-stained cheek with her own. "Now run and sit down again."
+
+Queenie turned to go obediently enough--she was too young, and possibly
+too fat, to plan, as yet, the deliberate malice in which her brother and
+sister took their chief pleasure. Unfortunately, Wilfred arrived at the
+end of Africa at the wrong moment for her. He pushed the atlas away from
+him with a jerk that overturned the ink bottle, sending a stream of ink
+towards Avice--who, shoving her chair backwards to escape the deluge,
+cannoned into Queenie, and brought her headlong to the floor. Howls
+broke out anew, mingled with a crisp interchange of abuse between the
+elder pair, while Cecilia vainly sought to lessen the inky flood with a
+duster. Upon this pleasant scene the door opened sharply.
+
+"A nice way you keep order at lessons," said Mrs. Mark Rainham acidly.
+"And the ink all over the cloth. Well, all I can say is, you'll pay for
+a new one, Cecilia."
+
+"I did not knock it over," said Cecilia, in a low tone.
+
+"It's your business to look after the children, and see that they do not
+destroy things," said her stepmother.
+
+"The children will not obey me."
+
+"Pouf!" said Mrs. Rainham. "A mere question of management. High-spirited
+children want tact in dealing with them, that is all. You never
+trouble to exercise any tact whatever." Her eyes dwelt fondly on her
+high-spirited son, whose red head was bent attentively over Africa
+while he traced a mighty mountain range along the course of the Nile.
+"Wilfred, have you nearly finished your work?"
+
+"Nearly, Mater," said the industrious Wilfred, manufacturing mountains
+tirelessly. "Just got to stick in a few more things."
+
+"Say 'put,' darling, not 'stick.' Cecilia, you might point out those
+little details--that is, if you took any interest in their English."
+
+"Thethilia thaid 'awfully' jutht now," said Queenie, in a shrill pipe.
+
+"I don't doubt it," said Mrs. Rainham, bitterly. "Of course, anyone
+brought up in Paris is too grand to trouble about English--but we think
+a good deal of these things in London." A little smile hovered on
+her thin lips, as Cecilia flushed, and Avice and her brother grinned
+broadly. The Mater could always make old Cecilia go as red as a
+beetroot, but it was fun to watch, especially when the sport beguiled
+the tedium of lessons.
+
+A clatter of dishes on a tray heralded the approach of Eliza.
+
+"It is time the table was clear," Mrs. Rainham said. "Wilfred, darling,
+I want you to post a letter. Put up your work and get your cap. Cecilia,
+you had better try to clean the cloth before lunch; it is ruined, of
+course, but do what you can with it. I will choose another the next time
+I am in London. And just make sure that the children's things are all in
+order for the dancing lesson this afternoon. Avice, did you put out your
+slippers to be cleaned?"
+
+"Forgot all about it, Mater," said Avice cheerfully.
+
+"Silly child--and it is Jackson's day off. Just brush them up for her,
+Cecilia. When the children have gone this afternoon, I want you to see
+to the drawing-room; some people are coming in to-night, and there are
+fresh flowers from Brown's to arrange."
+
+Cecilia looked up, with a sudden flush of dismay. The children's dancing
+lesson gave her one free afternoon during the week.
+
+"But--but I am going to meet Bob," she stammered.
+
+"Oh, Bob will wait, no doubt; you need not keep him long, if you hasten
+yourself. Yes, Eliza, you can have the table." Mrs. Rainham left the
+room, with the children at her heels.
+
+Cecilia whisked the lesson books hastily away; Eliza was waiting with a
+lowering brow, and Eliza was by no means a person to be offended. Maids
+were scarce enough in England in the months after the end of the
+war; and, even in easier times, there had been a dreary procession
+of arriving and departing servants in the Rainham household--the
+high-spirited characteristics of the children being apt to pall quickly
+upon anyone but their mother. In days when there happened to be no
+Eliza, it was Cecilia who naturally inherited the vacant place, adding
+the duties of house-maid to those of nurse, governess, companion and
+general factotum; all exacting posts, and all of them unpaid. As Mrs.
+Rainham gracefully remarked, when a girl was not earning her own living,
+as so many were, but was enjoying the comfort of home, the least she
+could do was to make herself useful.
+
+"Half a minute, Eliza." She smiled at the slatternly girl. "Sorry to
+keep you waiting; there's a river of ink gone astray here." She placed
+the soaked cloth on the waste-paper basket and polished the top of the
+table vigorously.
+
+"I'll bet it worn't you wot spilt it--but it's you wot 'as the cleanin'
+up," muttered Eliza. "Lemme rub that up now, Miss." She put down her
+tray and took the cloth from Cecilia's hand.
+
+"Thanks, ever so, Eliza--but you've got plenty to do yourself."
+
+"Well, if I 'ave, I ain't the on'y one wot 'as," said Eliza darkly.
+Her wizened little face suddenly flushed. "Lor, Miss," she said
+confidentially, "you doan't know wot a success that 'at you trimmed for
+me is. It's a fair scream. I wore it larst night, an' me young man--'im
+wot's in the Royal Irish--well, it fair knocked 'im! An' 'e wants me to
+go out wiv 'im next Benk 'Oliday--out to 'Ampstead 'Eath. 'E never got
+as far as arstin' me that before. I know it was that 'at wot done it."
+
+"Not it, Eliza," Cecilia laughed. "It was just your hair under the hat.
+I told you how pretty it would be, if you would only brush it more."
+
+"Well, I never 'ad no brush till you give me your old one," said Eliza
+practically. "I did brush it, though, a nundred times every night, till
+Cook reckoned I was fair cracked. But 'air's on'y 'air, an' anyone 'as
+it--it's not every one 'as an 'at like that." She clattered plates upon
+the table violently. "You goin' out this awfternoon, Miss?"
+
+"As soon as I can, Eliza." Cecilia's face fell. "I must arrange flowers
+first."
+
+"I'll 'ave the vawses all ready wiv clean water for you," said Eliza.
+"An' don't you worry about the drorin'-room--I'll see as it's nice."
+
+"Oh, you can't, Eliza--you have no time. I know it's silver-cleaning
+afternoon."
+
+"Aw, I'll squeeze it in some'ow." Eliza stopped suddenly, at a decided
+footstep in the passage, and began to rattle spoons and forks with a
+vigour born of long practice. Cecilia picked up the inky cloth, and went
+out.
+
+Her stepmother was standing by the hall-stand, apparently intent on
+examining Wilfred's straw hat. She spoke in a low tone as the girl
+passed her.
+
+"I wish you did not find so much pleasure in gossiping with servants,
+Cecilia. It is such a bad example for Avice. I have spoken about it to
+you before."
+
+Cecilia did not answer. She went upstairs with flaming cheeks, and
+draped the cloth across the hand basin in the bathroom, turning the tap
+vengefully. A stream of water flowed through the wide stain.
+
+"There's more real kindness in that poor little Cockney's finger than
+there is in your whole body!" Cecilia whispered, apparently addressing
+the unoffending cloth--which, having begun life as a dingy green and
+black, did not seem greatly the worse for its new decoration. "Hateful
+old thing!" A smile suddenly twitched the corners of her mouth.
+"Well, she can't stop the money for a new cloth out of this quarter's
+allowance, because I've just got it. That's luck, anyhow. I'll give it
+to Bob to keep, in case she goes through my desk again." She poured some
+ammonia upon the stain, and rubbed gingerly, surveying the result with a
+tilted nose. It was not successful. "Shall I try petrol? But petrol's
+an awful price, and I've only got the little bottle I use for my gloves.
+Anyhow, the horrible old cloth is so old and thin that it will fall to
+pieces if I rub it. Oh, it's no use bothering about it--nothing will
+make it better." She squeezed the water from the cloth and spread the
+stained area over a chair to dry, looking disgustedly at her own dyed
+finger-nails. "Now for Avice's shoes before I scrub my hands."
+
+Avice's shoes proved a lengthy task, since the younger Miss Rainham had
+apparently discovered some clay to walk through in Regent's Park on her
+way home from the last dancing lesson; and well-hardened clay resists
+ordinary cleaning methods, and demands edged tools. The luncheon bell
+rang loudly before Cecilia had finished. She gave the shoes a final
+hurried rub, and then fell to cleansing her hands; arriving in the
+dining-room, pink and breathless, some minutes later, to find a dreary
+piece of tepid mutton rapidly congealing on her plate.
+
+"I think you might manage to be down in time for meals, Cecilia," was
+Mrs. Rainham's chilly greeting.
+
+Cecilia said nothing. She had long realized the uselessness of any
+excuses. To be answered merely gave her stepmother occasion for further
+fault-finding--you might, as Cecilia told Bob, have a flawless defence
+for the sin of the moment, but in that case Mrs. Rainham merely changed
+her ground, and waxed eloquent about the sin of yesterday, or of last
+Friday week, for which there might happen to be no defence at all. It
+was so difficult to avoid being a criminal in Mrs. Rainham's eyes that
+Cecilia had almost given up the attempt. She attacked her greasy
+mutton and sloppy cabbage in silence, unpleasantly conscious of her
+stepmother's freezing glance.
+
+Mrs. Rainham was a short, stout woman, with colourless, rather pinched
+features, and a wealth of glorious red hair. Some one had once told her
+that her profile was classic, and she still rejoiced in believing it,
+was always photographed from a side view, and wore in the house loose
+and flowing garments of strange tints, calculated to bring out the
+colour of her glowing tresses. Cecilia, who worshipped colour with every
+bit of her artist soul, adored her stepmother's hair as thoroughly as
+she detested her dresses. Bob, who was blunt and inartistic, merely
+detested her from every point of view. "Don't see what you find to rave
+about in it," he said. "All the warmth of her disposition has simply
+gone to her head."
+
+There was certainly little warmth in Mrs. Rainham's heart, where her
+stepdaughter was concerned. She disapproved very thoroughly of Cecilia
+in every detail--of her pretty face and delicate colouring, of the fair
+hair that rippled and curled and gleamed in a manner so light-hearted as
+to seem distinctly out of place in the dingy room, of the slender grace
+that was in vivid contrast to her own stoutness. She resented the very
+way Cecilia put on her clothes--simple clothes, but worn with an air
+that made her own elaborate dresses cheap and common by comparison. It
+was so easy for her to look well turned out; and it would never be easy
+to dress Avice, who bade fair to resemble her mother in build, and had
+already a passion for frills and trimmings, and a contempt for plain
+things. Mrs. Rainham had an uneasy conviction that the girl who bore all
+her scathing comments in silence actually dared to criticize her in
+her own mind--perhaps openly to Bob, whose blue eyes held many unspoken
+things as he looked at her. Once she had overheard him say to Cecilia:
+"She looks like an over-ornamented pie!" Cecilia had laughed, and Mrs.
+Rainham had passed on, unsuspected, her mind full of a wild surmise.
+They would never dare to mean her--and yet--that new dress of hers was
+plastered with queer little bits of purposeless trimmings. She never
+again wore it without that terrible sentence creeping into her mind.
+And she had been so pleased with it, too! An over-ornamented pie. If she
+could only have been sure they meant her!
+
+She thought of it again as she sat looking at Cecilia. The new dress was
+lying on her bed, ready to be worn that afternoon; and Cecilia was going
+to meet Bob--Bob, who had uttered the horrible remark. Well, at least
+there should be no haste about the meeting. It would do Bob no harm to
+cool his heels for a little. She set her thin lips tightly together, as
+she helped the rice pudding.
+
+The meal ended, amidst loud grumbles from Wilfred that the pudding was
+rice; and Cecilia hurried off to find the flowers and arrange them. The
+florist's box was near the vases left ready by the faithful Eliza; she
+cut the string with a happy exclamation of "Daffodils!" as she lifted
+the lid. Daffodils were always a joy; this afternoon they were doubly
+welcome, because easy to arrange. She sorted them into long-necked vases
+swiftly, carrying each vase, when filled, to the drawing-room--a painful
+apartment, crowded with knick-knacks until it resembled a bazaar stall,
+with knobby and unsteady bamboo furniture and much drapery of a would-be
+artistic nature. It was stuffy and airless. Cecilia wrinkled her pretty
+nose as she entered. Mrs. Rainham held pronounced views on the subject
+of what she termed the "fresh-air fad," and declined to let London
+air--a smoky commodity at best--attack her cherished carpets; with the
+result that Cecilia breathed freely only in her little attic, which had
+no carpet at all.
+
+The lady of the house rustled in, in her flowing robe, as Cecilia put
+the last vase into position on the piano--finding room for it with
+difficulty amid a collection of photograph frames and china ornaments.
+She carried some music, and cast a critical eye round the room.
+
+"This place looks as if it had not been properly dusted for a week,"
+she remarked. "See to it before you go, Cecilia." She opened the
+piano. "Just come and try the accompaniment to this song--it's rather
+difficult, and I want to sing it to-night."
+
+Cecilia sat down before the piano, with woe in her heart. Her
+stepmother's delusion that she could sing was one of the minor trials of
+her life. She had been thoroughly trained in Paris, under a master who
+had prophesied great things for her; now her hours at the Rainhams'
+tinkly piano, playing dreary accompaniments to sentimental songs with
+Mrs. Rainham's weak soprano wobbling and flattening on the high notes,
+were hours of real distress, from which she would escape feeling her
+teeth on edge. Her stepmother, however, had thoroughly enjoyed herself
+since the discovery that no accompaniment presented any difficulty to
+Cecilia. It saved her a world of trouble in practising; moreover, when
+standing, it was far easier to let herself go in the affecting passages,
+which always suffered from scantiness of breath when she was sitting
+down. Therefore she would stand beside Cecilia, pouring forth song after
+song, with her head slightly on one side, and one hand resting lightly
+on the piano--an attitude which, after experiment with a mirror, she had
+decided upon as especially becoming.
+
+The song of the moment did make some demands upon her attention. It
+had a disconcerting way of changing from sharps to flats; trouble being
+caused by the singer failing to change also. Cecilia took her through it
+patiently, going over and over again the tricky passages, and devoutly
+wishing that Providence in supplying her stepmother with boundless
+energy, a tireless voice and an enormous stock of songs, had also
+equipped her with an ear for music. At length the lady desisted from her
+efforts.
+
+"That's quite all right," she said, with satisfaction. "I'll sing it
+to-night. The Simons will be here, and they do like to hear what's new.
+Go on with your dusting; I'll just run through a few pieces, and you can
+tell me if I go wrong."
+
+Cecilia hesitated, glancing at the clock.
+
+"It is getting very late," she said. "Eliza told me she could dust the
+room."
+
+"Eliza!" said Mrs. Rainham. "Why, it's her silver day; she had no
+business to tell you anything of the sort--and neither had you, to ask
+her to do it. Goodness knows it's hard enough to make the lazy thing do
+her own work. Just get your duster, and make sure as you come down that
+the children are properly dressed for the dancing class." She broke into
+a waltz.
+
+Cecilia ran. Sounds of woe greeted her as she neared Avice's room,
+and she entered, to find that damsel plunged in despair over a missing
+button.
+
+"It was on all right last time I wore the beastly dress," wailed she.
+"If you'd look after my clothes like Mater said you had to, I wouldn't
+be late. Whatever am I to do? I can't make the old dress shut with a
+safety pin."
+
+"No, you certainly can't," said her half-sister. "Never mind; there are
+spare buttons for that frock, and I can sew one on." She accomplished
+the task with difficulty, since Avice appeared quite unable to stand
+still.
+
+"Now, are you ready, Avice? Shoes, hat, gloves--where are your gloves?
+How do you ever manage to find anything in that drawer?" She rooted
+swiftly in a wild chaos, and finally unearthed the gloves. "Yes, you'll
+do. Now, where's Wilfred?" Search revealed Wilfred, who hated dancing,
+reading a "penny dreadful" in his room--ready to start, save for the
+trifling detail of having neglected to wash an extremely dirty face.
+Cecilia managed to make him repair the omission, after a struggle,
+and saw them off with a thankful heart--which sank anew as she heard
+a neighbouring clock strike three. Three--and already she should be
+meeting Bob in Hyde Park. She fled for a duster, and hurried to the
+drawing-room. Eliza encountered her on the way.
+
+"Now, wotcher goin' to do wiv that duster, Miss?" she inquired. "I told
+yer I'd do it for yer."
+
+"Mrs. Rainham is waiting for me to do it, Eliza. I'm sorry."
+
+"Ow!" Eliza's expression and her tilted nose spoke volumes. "Suppose
+she finks I wouldn't clean 'er old silver proper. Silver,
+indeed!--'lectrer-plyte, an' common at that. Just you cut and run as
+soon as she's out of the 'ouse, Miss; I know she's goin', 'cause 'er
+green and yaller dress is a-airin' on 'er bed."
+
+"It's not much good, Eliza. I ought to be in the Park now." Cecilia
+knew she should not allow the girl to speak of her mistress so
+contemptuously. But she was disheartened enough at the moment not to
+care.
+
+"Lor!" said Eliza. "A bloomin' shyme, I calls it!"
+
+Cecilia found her stepmother happily engaged upon a succession of wrong
+notes that made her wince. She dusted the room swiftly, aware all the
+time of a watchful eye. Occasionally came a crisp comment: "You didn't
+dust that window-sill." "Cecilia, that table has four legs--did you only
+notice two?"--the effort to speak while playing generally bringing the
+performer with vigour upon a wrong chord. The so-called music became
+almost a physical torment to the over-strained girl.
+
+"If she would only stop--if she would only go away!" she found herself
+murmuring, over and over. Even the thought of Bob waiting in Hyde Park
+in the chill east wind became dim beside that horrible piano, banging
+and tinkling in her ear. She dusted mechanically, picking up one cheap
+ornament after another--leaving the collection upon the piano until the
+last, in the hope that by the time she reached it the thirst for
+music would have departed from the performer. But Mrs. Rainham's tea
+appointment was not yet; she was thoroughly enjoying herself, the charm
+of her own execution added to the knowledge that Cecilia was miserable,
+and Bob waiting somewhere, with what patience he might. She held on
+to the bitter end, while the girl dusted the piano's burden with a set
+face. Then she finished a long and painful run, and shut the piano with
+a bang.
+
+"There--I've had quite a nice practice, and it isn't often the
+drawing-room gets really decently dusted," she remarked. "Nothing like
+the eye of the mistress; I think I must practise every day while you are
+dusting, Cecilia. Oh, and, Cecilia, give the legs of the piano a good
+rubbing. Dear me, I must go and dress."
+
+Cecilia dragged herself upstairs a few minutes later. All the spring was
+gone out of her; it really did not seem to matter much now whether she
+met Bob or not; she was too tired to care. This was only a sample of
+many days; so it had been for two years--so it would be for two more,
+until she was twenty-one, and her own mistress. But it did not seem
+possible that she could endure through another two years.
+
+She reached her own room, and was about to shut the door, when the harsh
+voice rasped upwards.
+
+"Cecilia! Cecilia! Come here a minute."
+
+The girl went down slowly. Mrs. Rainham was standing before her mirror.
+
+"Just come and hook my dress, Cecilia. This new dressmaker has a knack
+of making everything hard to fasten. There--see that you start with the
+right hook and eye."
+
+At the moment, physical contact with her stepmother was almost the last
+straw for the girl. She obeyed in silence, shrinking back as far as she
+could from the stout, over-scented body and the powdered face with the
+thin lips. Mrs. Rainham watched her with a little smile.
+
+"Yes, that's all right," she said. "Now, my hat, Cecilia--it's in the
+bandbox under the bed. I can't stoop in this dress, that's the worst
+of it. And my gloves are in that box on the chest of drawers--the white
+pair. Hurry, Cecilia, my appointment is for four o'clock."
+
+"Mine was for three o'clock," said the girl in a low voice.
+
+"Oh, well, you should manage your work better. I always tell you that.
+Nothing like method in getting through every day. However, Bob is only
+your brother--it would be more serious if it was a young man you were
+meeting. Brothers don't matter much."
+
+Cecilia flamed round upon her.
+
+"Bob is more to me than anyone in the world," she cried. "And I would
+rather keep any other man waiting."
+
+"Really? But I shouldn't think it very likely that you'll ever have to
+trouble about other young men, Cecilia; you're not the sort. Too thin
+and scraggy." Mrs. Rainham surveyed her own generous proportions in the
+glass, and gathered up her gloves with a pleased air. For the moment she
+could not possibly believe that anyone could have referred to her as "an
+over-ornamented pie." "Good-bye, Cecilia; don't be late for tea." She
+sailed down the stairs.
+
+Even the bang of the hall door failed to convey any relief to Cecilia.
+For the second time she toiled upstairs, to the bare freshness of her
+little room. Generally, it had a tonic effect upon her; to-day it seemed
+that nothing could help her. She leaned her head against the window,
+a wave of homesick loneliness flooding all her soul. So deep were its
+waters that she did not hear the hall door open and close again, and
+presently swift feet pounding up the stairs. Someone battered on her
+door.
+
+"Cecilia! Are you there?"
+
+She ran to open the door. Bob stood there, a short, muscular fellow, in
+Air Force blue, with twinkling eyes. She put out her hands to him with a
+little pitiful gesture.
+
+"Don't say that horrible name again," she whispered. "If anyone else
+calls me Cecilia I'll just go mad."
+
+Bob came in, and flung a brotherly arm round her shoulders.
+
+"Has it been so beastly?" he said. "Poor little Tommy. Oh, Tommy, I saw
+the over-ornamented pie sailing down the street, and I dived into a side
+alley until she'd gone out of range. I guessed from her proud and happy
+face that you'd been scarified."
+
+"Scarified!" murmured Cecilia. But Bob was not listening. His face was
+radiant.
+
+"I couldn't wait in the park any longer," he said. "I had to come and
+tell you. Tommy, old thing--I'm demobilized!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE RAINHAMS
+
+
+It was one of Mrs. Mark Rainham's grievances that, comparatively late
+in her married life, she should suddenly find herself brought into
+association with the children of her husband's first marriage. They were
+problems that Fate had previously removed from her path; she found it
+extremely annoying--at first--that Fate should cease to be so tactful,
+casting upon her a burden long borne by other shoulders. It was not
+until she had accepted Mark Rainham, eleven years before, that she found
+out the very existence of Bob and Cecilia; she resented the manner of
+the discovery, even as she resented the children themselves. Not that
+she ever dreamed of breaking off her engagement on their account. She
+was a milliner in a Kensington shop, and to marry Mark Rainham, who
+was vaguely "something in the city," and belonged to a good club, and
+dressed well, was a distinct step in the social scale, and two unknown
+children were not going to make her draw back. But to mother them was
+quite another question.
+
+Luckily, Fate had a compassionate eye upon the young Rainhams, and was
+quite willing to second their stepmother's resolve that they should come
+into her life as little as possible. Their father had never concerned
+himself greatly about them. A lazy and selfish man, he had always been
+willing to shelve the care of his small son and daughter--babies were
+not in his line, and the aunt who had brought up their mother was only
+too anxious to take Bob and Cecilia when that girl-mother had slipped
+away from life, leaving a week-old Cecilia and a sturdy, solemn Bob of
+three.
+
+The arrangement suited Mark Rainham very well. Aunt Margaret's house
+at Twickenham was big enough for half a dozen babies; the children went
+there, with their nurse, and he was free to slip back into bachelor
+ways, living in comfortable chambers within easy reach of his club and
+not too far, with a good train service, from a golf links. The regular
+week-end visits to the babies suffered occasional interruptions, and
+gradually grew fewer and fewer, until he became to the children a vague
+and mysterious person named Papa, who dropped from the skies now
+and then, asked them a number of silly questions, talked with great
+politeness to Aunt Margaret--who, they instinctively felt, liked him
+no better than they did--and then disappeared, whereupon every one
+was immensely relieved. Even the fact that he generally brought them a
+packet of expensive sweets was as nothing beside the harrowing knowledge
+that they must kiss him, thereby having their faces brushed with a large
+and scrubby moustache. Aunt Margaret and nurse did not have to endure
+this infliction--which seemed to Bob and Cecilia obviously unfair. But
+the visits did not often happen--not enough to disturb seriously an
+existence crammed with interesting things like puppies and kittens, the
+pony cart, boats on the river that ran just beyond the lawn, occasional
+trips to London and the Zoo, and delirious fortnights at the seaside
+or on Devonshire moors. Cecilia had never known even Bobby's shadowy
+memories of their own mother. Aunt Margaret was everything that
+mattered, and the person called Papa was merely an unpleasant incident.
+Other little boys and girls whom they knew owned, in their houses,
+delightful people named Daddy and Mother; but Cecilia and Bob quite
+understood that every one could not have the same things, for possibly
+these fortunate children had no puppies or pony carts. Nurse had pointed
+out this, so that it was perfectly clear.
+
+It was when Cecilia was eight and Bob eleven, that their father married
+again. To the children it meant nothing; to Aunt Margaret it was a bomb.
+If Mark Rainham had happened to die, or go to the North Pole, she would
+have borne the occurrence calmly; but that he should take a step which
+might mean separating her from her beloved babies shook her to her
+foundations. Even when she was assured that the new Mrs. Rainham
+disliked children, and had not the slightest intention of adding Bob and
+Cecilia to her household, Aunt Margaret remained uneasy. The red-haired
+person, as she mentally labelled her, might change her mind. Mark
+Rainham was wax in her hands, and would always do as he was told. Aunt
+Margaret, goaded by fear, became heroic. She let the beloved house at
+Twickenham while Mr. and Mrs. Rainham were still on their honeymoon;
+packed up the children, her maids, nurse, the parrot and most of the
+puppies; and kept all her plans a profound secret until she was safely
+established in Paris.
+
+To the average Londoner, Paris is very far off. There are, of course,
+very many people who run across the Channel as easily as a Melbourne man
+may week-end in Gippsland or Bendigo, but the suburban section of
+London is not fond of voyaging across a strip of water with unpleasant
+possibilities in the way of choppiness, to a strange country where most
+of the inhabitants have the bad taste not to speak English. Neither Mark
+Rainham nor his new wife had ever been in France, and to them it seemed,
+as Aunt Margaret had shrewdly hoped it would, almost as though the
+Twickenham household had gone to the North Pole. A great relief fell
+upon them, since there could now be no question of assuming duties
+when those duties were suddenly beyond their reach. And Aunt Margaret's
+letter was convincing--such a good offer, suddenly, for the Twickenham
+house; such excellent educational opportunities for the children, in
+the shape of semi-English schools, where Bob and Cecilia might mix with
+English children and retain their nationality while acquiring Parisian
+French. If Mark Rainham felt any inward resentment at the summary
+disposal of his son and daughter, he did not show it; as of old, it was
+easier to let things slide. Aunt Margaret was given a free hand, save
+that at fourteen Bob returned to school in England; an arrangement that
+mattered little, since all his holidays were spent at the new home at
+Fontainebleau--a house which, even to the parrot, was highly reminiscent
+of Twickenham.
+
+Bob and Cecilia found life extremely interesting. They were cheery,
+happy-go-lucky youngsters, with an immense capacity for enjoyment; and
+Aunt Margaret, while much too shrewd an old lady to spoil children,
+delighted in giving them a good time. They found plenty of friends in
+the little English community in Paris, as well as among their French
+neighbours. Paris itself was full of fascination; then there were
+wonderful excursions far afield--holidays in Brussels, in the South
+of France, even winter sporting in Switzerland. Aunt Margaret was
+determined that her nurselings should miss nothing that she could give
+them. The duty letters which she insisted on their writing, once a
+month, to their father told of happenings that seemed strangely remote
+from the humdrum life of London. "By Jove, the old lady gives those
+youngsters a good time!" Mark Rainham would comment, tossing them across
+the table to his wife. He did not guess at the dull rage that filled her
+as she read them--the unreasoning jealousy that these children should
+have opportunities so far beyond any that were likely to occur for her
+own, who squabbled angrily over their breakfast while she read.
+
+"She seems to have any amount of money to spend on gadding about," she
+would say unpleasantly.
+
+"Oh, pots of money. Wish to goodness I had some of it," her husband
+would answer. Money was always scarce in the Rainham household.
+
+When the thunderbolt of war fell upon the world, Aunt Margaret, after
+the first pangs of panic, stiffened her back, and declined to leave
+France. England, she declared, was not much safer than anywhere else;
+and was it likely that she and Cecilia would run away when Bob was
+coming back? Bob, just eighteen, captain of his school training corps,
+stroke of its racing boat, and a mighty man of valour at football, slid
+naturally into khaki within a month of the outbreak of war, putting
+aside toys, with all the glad company of boys of the Empire, until such
+time as the Hun should be taught that he had no place among white men.
+Aunt Margaret and Cecilia, knitting frantically at socks and mufflers
+and Balaclava helmets, were desperately proud of him, and compared his
+photograph, in uniform, with all the pictures of Etienne and Henri and
+Armand, and other French boys who had played with him under the trees at
+Fontainebleau, and had now marched away to join him at the greater game.
+It was difficult to realize that they were not still little boys in
+blouses and knickerbockers--difficult even when they swooped down from
+time to time on short leave, filling the quiet houses with pranks and
+laughter that were wholly boyish. Even when Bob had two stars on
+his cuff, and wore the ribbon of the Military Cross, it would have
+astonished Aunt Margaret and Cecilia very much had anyone suggested that
+he was grown up.
+
+Indeed, Aunt Margaret was never to think of him as anything but "one of
+the children." Illness, sudden and fierce, fell upon her after a long
+spell of duty at the hospital where she worked from the first few months
+of the war--working as cook, since she had no nursing experience, and
+was, she remarked, too old to learn a new trade. Brave as she was, there
+was no battling for her against the new foe; she faded out of life after
+a few days, holding Cecilia's hand very tightly until the end.
+
+Bob, obtaining leave with much difficulty, arrived a few days later, to
+find a piteous Cecilia, white-faced, stunned and bewildered. She pleaded
+desperately against leaving France; amidst all the horror and chaos that
+had fallen upon her, it seemed unthinkable that she should put the sea
+between herself and Bob. But to remain was impossible. Aunt Margaret's
+English maids wanted to go back to their friends, and a girl of
+seventeen could scarcely stay alone in a country torn by two years of
+war. Besides, Aunt Margaret's affairs were queerly indefinite; there
+seemed very little money where there had formerly been plenty. There was
+no alternative for Cecilia but England--and England meant the Rainham
+household, and such welcome as it might choose to give her.
+
+She was still bewildered when they made the brief journey across the
+Channel--a new Channel, peopled only with war-ships of every kind, from
+grim Dreadnoughts to submarines; with aircraft, bearing the red, white
+and blue circles of Britain, floating and circling overhead. Last time
+Cecilia had crossed, it had been with Aunt Margaret on a big turbine
+mail boat; they had reached Calais just as an excursion steamer from
+Margate came up, gay with flags and light dresses, with a band playing
+ragtime on the well-deck, and people dancing to a concertina at the
+stern. Now they zig-zagged across, sometimes at full speed, sometimes
+stopping dead or altering their course in obedience to the destroyer
+nosing ahead of them through the Channel mist; and she could see the
+face of the captain on the bridge, strained and anxious. There were
+so few civilians on board that Cecilia and the two old servants were
+greeted with curious stares; nearly all the passengers were in uniform,
+their boots caked with the mud of the trenches, their khaki soiled with
+the grime of war. It was all rather dream-like to Cecilia; and London
+itself was a very bad dream; darkened and silent, with the great beams
+of searchlights playing back and forth over the black skies in search of
+marauding Zeppelins. And then came her father's stiff greeting, and the
+silent drive to the tall, narrow house in Lancaster Gate, where Mrs.
+Rainham met her coldly. In after years Cecilia never could think without
+a shudder of that first meal in her father's house--the struggle to
+eat, the lagging talk round the table, with Avice and Wilfred, frankly
+hostile, staring at her in silence, and her stepmother's pale eyes
+appraising every detail of her dress. It was almost like happiness again
+to find herself alone, later; in a dingy little attic bedroom that smelt
+as though it had never known an open window--a sorry little hole, but
+still, out of the reach of those unblinking eyes.
+
+For the first year Cecilia had struggled to get away to earn her own
+living. But a very few weeks served to show Mrs. Rainham that chance
+had sent her, in the person of the girl whose coming she had sullenly
+resented, a very useful buffer against any period of domestic stress.
+Aunt Margaret had trained Cecilia thoroughly in all housewifely virtues,
+and her half-French education had given her much that was lacking in
+the stodgy damsels of Mrs. Rainham's acquaintance. She was quick
+and courteous and willing; responding, moreover, to the lash of the
+tongue--after her first wide-eyed stare of utter amazement--exactly as a
+well-bred colt responds to a deftly-used whip. "I'll keep her," was Mrs.
+Rainham's inward resolve. "And she'll earn her keep too!"
+
+There was no doubt that Cecilia did that. Wilfred and Avice saw to it,
+even had not their mother been fully capable of exacting the last ounce
+from the only helper she had ever had who had not the power to give her
+a week's notice. Cecilia's first requests to be allowed to take up work
+outside had been shelved vaguely. "We'll find some nice war-work for
+you presently". . . and meanwhile, the household was short-handed, Mrs.
+Rainham was overstrained--Cecilia found later that her stepmother was
+always "overstrained" whenever she spoke of leaving home--and duties
+multiplied about her and hemmed her in. Mrs. Rainham was clever; the net
+closed round the girl so gradually that she scarcely realized its meshes
+until they were drawn tightly. Even Bob helped. "You're awfully young
+to start work on your own account," he wrote. "Can't you stick it for
+a bit, if they are decent to you?" And, rather than cause him any extra
+worry, Cecilia decided that she must "stick it."
+
+Of her father she saw little. He was, just as she remembered him in her
+far-back childhood at Twickenham, vague and colourless. Rather to her
+horror, she found that the ordeal of being kissed by his large and
+scrubby moustache was just as unpleasant as ever. Cecilia had no idea
+of how he earned his living--he ate his breakfast hurriedly, concealed
+behind the Daily Mail, and then disappeared, bound for some mysterious
+place in the city--the part of London that was always full of mystery to
+Cecilia. Golf was the one thing that roused him to any enthusiasm, and
+golf was even more of a mystery than the city. Cecilia knew that it
+was played with assorted weapons, kept in a bag, and used for smiting
+a small ball over great expanses of country, but beyond these facts her
+knowledge stopped. Mrs. Rainham had set her to clean the clubs one day,
+but her father, appearing unexpectedly, had taken them from her hands
+with something like roughness. "No, by Jove!" he said. "You do a good
+many odd jobs in this house, but I'm hanged if you shall clean my golf
+sticks." Cecilia did not realize that the assumed roughness covered
+something very like shame.
+
+Money matters were rather confusing. A lawyer--also in the city--paid
+her a small sum quarterly--enough to dress on, and for minor expenses.
+Bob wrote that Aunt Margaret's affairs were in a beastly tangle. An
+annuity had died with her, and many of her investments had been hit by
+the war, and had ceased to pay dividends--had even, it seemed, ceased to
+be valuable at all. There was a small allowance for Bob also, and some
+day, if luck should turn, there might be a little more. Bob did not say
+that his own allowance was being hoarded for Cecilia, in case he "went
+west." He lived on his pay, and even managed to save something out of
+that, being a youth of simple tastes. His battalion had been practically
+wiped out of existence in the third year of the war, and after a
+peaceful month in a north country hospital, near an aerodrome, the call
+of the air was too much for him--he joined the cheerful band of flying
+men, and soon filled his letters to Cecilia with a bewildering mixture
+of technicalities and aviation slang that left her gasping. But he
+got his wings in a very short time, and she was prouder of him than
+ever--and more than ever desperately afraid for him.
+
+The children's daily governess, a down-trodden person, left after
+Cecilia had been in England for a few months, and the girl stepped
+naturally into the vacant position until some one else should be found.
+She had no idea that Mrs. Rainham made no effort at all to discover any
+other successor to Miss Simpkins. Where, indeed, Mrs. Rainham
+demanded of herself, would she be likely to find anyone with such
+qualifications--young, docile, with every advantage of a modern
+education, speaking French like a native, and above and beyond all else,
+requiring no pay? It would be flying in the face of Providence to ignore
+such a chance. Wherefore Cecilia continued to lead her step-sisters
+and brother in the paths of learning, and life became a thing of utter
+weariness. For Mrs. Rainham, though shrewd enough to get what she
+wanted, in the main was not a far-sighted woman; and in her unreasoning
+dislike and jealousy of Cecilia she failed to see that she defeated her
+own ends by making her a drudge. Whatever benefit the girl might have
+given the children was lost in their contempt for her. She had no
+authority, no power to enforce a command, or to give a punishment,
+and the children quickly discovered that, so long as they gave her the
+merest show of obedience in their mother's presence, any shortcomings in
+education would be laid at Cecilia's door. Lesson time became a period
+of rare sport for the young Rainhams; it was so easy to bait the new
+sister with cheap taunts, to watch the quick blood mount to the very
+roots of her fair hair, to do just as little as possible, and then to
+see her blamed for the result. Mrs. Rainham's bitter tongue grew more
+and more uncontrolled as time went on and she felt the girl more fully
+in her power. And Cecilia lived through each day with tight-shut lips,
+conscious of one clear thing in her mist of unhappy bewilderment--that
+Bob must not know: Bob, who would probably leave his job of skimming
+through the air of her beloved France after the Hun, and snatch an hour
+to fly to England and annihilate the entire Rainham household, returning
+with Cecilia tucked away somewhere in his aeroplane. It was a pleasant
+dream, and served to carry her through more than one hard moment. But it
+did not always serve; and there were nights when Cecilia mounted to her
+attic with dragging footsteps, to sit by her window in the darkness,
+gripping her courage with both hands, afraid to let herself think of the
+dear, happy past; of Aunt Margaret, whose very voice was love; least of
+all of Bob, perhaps even now flying in the dark over the German lines.
+There was but one thing that she could hold to: she voiced it to
+herself, over and over with clenched hands, "It can't last for ever! It
+can't last for ever!"
+
+And then, after the long years of clutching anxiety, came the Armistice,
+and Cecilia forgot all her troubles in its overwhelming relief. No one
+would shoot at Bob any longer; there were no more hideous, squat guns,
+with muzzles yawning skywards, ready to shell him as he skimmed high
+overhead, like a swallow in the blue. Therefore she sang as she went
+about her work, undismayed by the laboured witticisms of Avice
+and Wilfred, or by Mrs. Rainham's venom, which increased with the
+realization that her victim might possibly slip from her grasp, since
+Bob would come home, and Bob was a person to be reckoned with. Certainly
+Bob had scarcely any money; moreover, Cecilia was not of age, and,
+therefore, still under her father's control. But Mrs. Rainham felt
+vaguely uneasy, and visions floated before her of the old days when
+governesses and maids had departed with unpleasant frequency, leaving
+her to face all sorts of disagreeable consequences. She set her thin
+lips, vowing inwardly that Cecilia should remain.
+
+Nevertheless it was a relief to her that early demobilization did
+not come for Bob. At the time of the Armistice he was attached to an
+Australian flying squadron, and for some months remained abroad; then he
+was sent back to England, and employed in training younger fliers at a
+Surrey aerodrome. This had its drawbacks in Mrs. Rainham's eyes, since
+he was often able to run up to London, and, to Bob, London merely meant
+Cecilia. It was only a question of time before he discovered something
+of what life at Lancaster Gate meant--his enlightenment beginning upon
+an afternoon when, arriving unexpectedly, and being left by Eliza to
+find Cecilia for himself, he had the good fortune to overhear Mrs.
+Rainham in one of her best efforts--a "wigging" to which Avice and
+Wilfred were listening delightedly, and which included not only
+Cecilia's sin of the moment, but her upbringing, her French education,
+her "foreign fashion of speaking," and her sinful extravagance in
+shoes. These, and other matters, were furnishing Mrs. Rainham with
+ample material for a bitter discourse when she became aware of another
+presence in the room, and her eloquence faltered at the sight of Bob's
+astonished anger.
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not recall with any enjoyment the interview which
+followed--Cecilia and the children having been brushed out of the way
+by the indignant soldier. Things which had been puzzling to Bob
+were suddenly made clear--traces of distress which Cecilia had often
+explained away vaguely, the children's half-contemptuous manner towards
+her, even Eliza's tone in speaking of her--a queer blend of anger and
+pity. Mrs. Rainham held her ground to some extent, but the brother's
+questions were hard to parry, and some of his comments stung.
+
+"Well, I'll take her away," he stormed at length. "It's evident that she
+does not give you satisfaction, and she certainly isn't happy. She had
+better come away with me to-day."
+
+"Ah," said his stepmother freezingly, "and where will you take her?"
+
+Bob hesitated.
+
+"There are plenty of places--" he began.
+
+"Not for a young girl alone. Cecilia is very ignorant of England;
+you could not be with her. Your father would not hear of it. You must
+remember that Cecilia is under his control until she is twenty-one."
+
+"My father has never bothered about either of us," Bob said bitterly.
+"He surely won't object if I take her off your hands."
+
+"He will certainly not permit any such thing. Whatever arrangement he
+made during your aunt's lifetime was quite a different matter. If you
+attempt to take Cecilia from his control you commit an illegal action,"
+said Mrs. Rainham--hoping she was on safe ground. To her relief Bob did
+not contradict her. English law and its mysteries were beyond him.
+
+"I don't see that that matters," he began doubtfully. His stepmother cut
+him short.
+
+"You would very soon find that it matters a good deal," she said coldly.
+"It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind of legal
+injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister. Home training
+is what she needs, and we are determined that she shall get it. You will
+only unsettle and injure her by trying to induce her to disobey us."
+
+The hard voice fell like lead on the boy's ears. He felt very helpless;
+if he did indeed snatch his sister away from this extremely unpleasant
+home, and their father had only to stretch out a long, legal tentacle
+and claw her back, it was clear that her position would be harder than
+ever. He could only give in, at any rate, for the present, and in his
+anxiety for the little sister whom Aunt Margaret had always trained him
+to protect, he humbled himself to beg for better treatment for her. "No
+one ever was angry with her," he said. "She'll do anything for you if
+you're decent to her."
+
+"She might give less cause for annoyance if she had had a little
+more severity," said Mrs. Rainham with an unspoken sneer at poor Aunt
+Margaret. "You had better advise her to do her best in return for the
+very comfortable home we give her." With which Bob had to endeavour
+to be content, for the present. He went off to find Cecilia, with a
+lowering brow, leaving his stepmother not nearly so easy in her mind as
+she seemed. For Bob had a square jaw, and was apt to talk little and do
+a good deal; and his affection for Cecilia was, in Mrs. Rainham's eyes,
+little short of ridiculous.
+
+Thereafter, the brother and sister took counsel together and made great
+plans for the future, when once the Air Force should decide that it had
+no further wish to keep Captain Robert Rainham from earning his living
+on terra firma. What that future was to be for Bob was very difficult to
+plan. Aunt Margaret had intended him for a profession; but the time for
+that had gone by, even had the money been still available. "I'm half
+glad that it isn't," Bob said; "I don't see how a fellow could go back
+to swotting over books after being really alive for nearly five years."
+There seemed nothing but "the land" in some shape or form; they were
+not very clear about it, but Bob was strenuously "keeping his ears
+open"--like so many lads of his rank in the early months of 1919,
+when the future that had seemed so indefinite during the years of war
+suddenly loomed up, very large and menacing. Cecilia had less anxiety;
+she had a cheerful faith that Bob would manage something--a three-roomed
+cottage somewhere in the country, where he could look after sheep, or
+crops, or something of the kind, while she cooked and mended for
+him, and grew such flowers as had bloomed in the dear garden at
+Fontainebleau. Sheep and crops, she was convinced, grew themselves, in
+the main; a person of Bob's ability would surely find little difficulty
+in superintending the process. And, whatever happened, nothing could be
+worse than life in Lancaster Gate.
+
+Neither of them ever thought of appealing to their father, either for
+advice or for help. He remained, as he had always been to them, utterly
+colourless; a kind of well-bred shadow of his wife, taking no part in
+her hard treatment of Cecilia, but lifting not a finger to save her. He
+did not look happy; indeed, he seldom spoke--it was not necessary,
+when Mrs. Rainham held the floor. He had a tiny den which he used as a
+smoking-room, and there he spent most of his time when at home, being
+blessed in the fact that his wife disliked the smell of smoke, and
+refused to allow it in her drawing-room. Nobody took much notice of him.
+The younger children treated him with cool indifference; Bob met him
+with a kind of strained and uncomfortable civility.
+
+Curiously enough, it was only Eliza who divined in him a secret
+hankering after his eldest daughter--Cecilia, who would have been very
+much astonished had anyone hinted at such a thing to her. The sharp eyes
+of the little Cockney were not to be deceived in any matter concerning
+the only person in the house who treated her as if she were a human
+being and not a grate-cleaning automaton.
+
+"You see 'im foller 'er wiv 'is eyes, that's all," said Eliza to
+Cook, in the privacy of their joint bedroom. "Fair 'ungry he looks,
+sometimes."
+
+"No need for 'im to be 'ungry, if 'e 'ad the sperrit of a man," said
+Cook practically. "Ain't she 'is daughter?"
+
+"Well, yes, in a manner of speakin'," said Eliza doubtfully. "But there
+ain't much of father an' daughter about them two. I'd ruther 'ave my
+ole man, down W'itechapel way; 'e can belt yer a fair terror, w'en 'e's
+drunk, but 'e'll allers tike yer out an' buy yer a kipper arterwards.
+Thet's on'y decent, fatherly feelin'."
+
+"Well, Master don't belt 'er, does 'e?"
+
+"No; but 'e don't buy 'er the kipper, neither. An' I'd ruther 'ave the
+beltin' from my ole man, even wivout no kipper, than 'ave us allers
+lookin' at each other as if we was wooden images. Even a beltin' shows
+as 'ow a man 'as some regard for 'is daughter."
+
+"It do," said Cook. "Pity is, you ain't 'ad more of it, that's the only
+thing!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PLAYING TRUANT
+
+
+"Demobilized! Oh, Bob--truly?"
+
+"Truly and really," said Bob. "At least, I shall be in twenty-seven
+days. Got my orders. Show up for the last time on the fifteenth of next
+month. Get patted on the head, and told to run away and play. That's the
+programme, I believe, Tommy. The question is--What shall we play at?"
+
+Cecilia brushed the hair from her brow.
+
+"I don't know," she said vaguely. "It's too big to think of; and I can't
+think in this awful house, anyhow. Take me out, quick, please, Bobby."
+
+"Sure," said Bob, regarding her with an understanding eye. "But you want
+to change or something, don't you, old girl?"
+
+"Why, yes, I suppose I do," said Cecilia, with a watery smile, looking
+at her schoolroom overall. "I forgot clothes. I've had a somewhat packed
+morning."
+
+"You look as if this had been your busy day," remarked Bob. "Right-oh,
+old girl; jump into your things, and I'll wait on the mat. Any chance of
+the she-dragon coming back?"
+
+"No; she's gone out to tea."
+
+"More power to her," said Bob cheerfully. "And the dragon puppies?"
+
+"Oh, they're safely out of the way. I won't be five minutes, Bob. Don't
+shut the door tight--you might disappear before I opened it."
+
+"Not much," said Bob, through the crack of the door. "I'm a fixture.
+Want any shoes cleaned?"
+
+"No, thanks, Bobby dear. I have everything ready."
+
+"From what the other fellows say about their sisters, I'm inclined to
+believe that you're an ornament to your sex," remarked Bob. "When you
+say five minutes, it really does mean not more than five and a half, as
+a rule; other girls seem to mean three-quarters of an hour."
+
+"I get all my things ready the night before when I'm going to meet you,"
+said Cecilia. "Catch me losing any time on my one day out. You can come
+back again--my coat's on the hanger there, Bobby." He put her into it
+deftly, and she leaned back against him. "If you knew how good it is
+to see you again--and you smell of clean fresh air and good tobacco and
+Russia leather, and all sorts of nice things."
+
+"Good gracious, I'll excite attention in the street!" grinned Bob. "I
+didn't imagine I was a walking scent-factory!"
+
+"Neither you are--but everything in this house smells of coal-smoke and
+cabbage-water and general fustiness, and you're a nice change, that's
+all," said Cecilia. They ran downstairs together light-heartedly, and
+let themselves out into the street.
+
+"Do we catch a train or a 'bus?"
+
+"Oh, can't we walk?" Cecilia said. "I think if I walked hard I might
+forget Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"I'd hate you to remember her," Bob said. "Tell me what she has been
+doing, anyhow, and then we won't think of her any more."
+
+"It doesn't sound much," Cecilia said. "There never is anything very
+much. Only it goes on all the time." She told him the story of her day,
+and managed to make herself laugh now and then over it. But Bob did not
+laugh. His good-humoured young face was set and angry.
+
+"There isn't a whole lot in it, is there?" Cecilia finished. "And no
+one would think I was badly off--especially when the thing that hit me
+hardest of all was just dusting that awful drawing-room while she plays
+her awful tunes. Yes, I know I shouldn't say awful, and that no lady
+says it--that must be true because Mrs. Rainham frequently tells me
+so--but it's such a relief to say whatever I feel like."
+
+"You can say what you jolly well please," said Bob wrathfully. "Who's
+she, I'd like to know, to tell us what to say? And she kept you there
+all the afternoon, when she knew you were due to meet me!--my hat, she
+is a venomous old bird! And now it's half-past four, and what time does
+she expect you back?"
+
+"Oh--the usual thing; the children's tea-time at six. She told me not to
+be late."
+
+Bob set his jaw.
+
+"Well, you won't be late, because you won't be there," he said. "No
+going back to tea for you. We'll have dinner at the Petit Riche in Soho,
+and then we'll do a theatre, and then I'll take you home and we'll face
+the music. Are you game?"
+
+Cecilia laughed.
+
+"Game? Why, of course--but there will be awful scenes, Bobby."
+
+"Well, what can she do to you?" asked Bob practically. "You're too big
+to beat, or she'd certainly do it; she can't stop your pay, because you
+don't get any; and as you have your meals with the youngsters, she can't
+dock your rations. That doesn't leave her much beside her tongue. Of
+course, she can do a good deal with that; do you think you can stand
+it?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Cecilia. "You see, I generally have it, so it really
+doesn't matter much. But if she forbids me to go out with you again,
+Bobby?"
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+"Well--you're nineteen," he said. "And the very first minute I can, I'm
+going to take you away from her altogether. If you were a kid I wouldn't
+let you defy her. But, hang it all, Tommy, I'm not going to let her
+punish you as though you were ten. If she forbids you to meet me--well,
+you must just take French leave, that's all."
+
+"Oh, Bob, you are a satisfying person!" said Cecilia, with a sigh.
+
+"Well, I don't know--it's you who will have to stand the racket," said
+Bob. "I only wish I could take my share, old girl. But, please goodness,
+it won't be for long."
+
+"Bob," said Cecilia, and paused. "What about that statement of
+hers--that it would be illegal for you to take me away? Do you think
+it's true?"
+
+"I've asked our Major, and he's a bit doubtful," said Bob. "All the
+other fellows say it's utter nonsense. But I'm going to ask the old
+lawyer chap who has charge of Aunt Margaret's money--he'll tell me. We
+won't bother about it, Tommy; if I can't get you politely, I'll steal
+you. Just forget the she-dragon and all her works."
+
+"But have you thought about what you are going to do?"
+
+"I don't think of much else, and that's the truth, Tommy," said her
+brother ruefully. "You see, there's mighty little in sight. I could get
+a clerkship, I suppose. I could certainly get work as a day labourer.
+But I don't see much in either of those possibilities towards a
+little home with you, which is what I want. I'm going to answer every
+advertisement I can find for fellows wanted on farms." He straightened
+his square shoulders. "Tommy, there must be plenty of work for any chap
+as strong as an ox, as I am."
+
+"I'm sure there's work," said Cecilia. "But the men who want jobs don't
+generally advertise themselves as 'complete with sister.' I'm what's
+technically known as an encumbrance, Bob."
+
+"You!" said Bob. "You're just part of the firm, so don't you forget it.
+Didn't we always arrange that we should stick together?"
+
+"We did--but it may not be easy to manage," Cecilia said, doubtfully.
+"Perhaps we could get some job together; I could do inside work, or
+teach, or sew."
+
+"No!" said Bob explosively. "If I can't earn enough for us both, I ought
+to be shot, Aunt Margaret didn't bring you up to work."
+
+"But the world has turned upside down since Aunt Margaret died," said
+Cecilia. "And I have worked pretty hard for the last two years, Bob; and
+it hasn't hurt me."
+
+"It has made you older--and you ought to be only a kid yet," said Bob
+wistfully. "You haven't had any of the fun girls naturally ought to
+have. I don't want you to slave all your time, Tommy."
+
+"Bless you!" said his sister. "But I wouldn't care a bit, as long as it
+was near you--and not in Lancaster Gate."
+
+They had turned across Hyde Park, where a big company of girl guides
+was drilling, watched by a crowd of curious on-lookers. Across a belt of
+grass some boy scouts were performing similar evolutions, marching with
+all the extra polish and swagger they could command, just to show the
+guides that girls were all very well in their way, but that no one with
+skirts could really hope to do credit to a uniform. Cecilia paused to
+watch them.
+
+"Thank goodness, the children can come and drill in the park again!" she
+said. "I hated to come here before the armistice--soldiers, soldiers,
+drilling everywhere, and guns and searchlight fixings. Whenever I saw a
+squad drilling it made me think of you, and of course I felt sure you'd
+be killed!"
+
+"I do like people who look on the bright side of life!" said Bob
+laughing. "And whenever you saw an aeroplane I suppose you made sure I
+was crashing somewhere?"
+
+"Certainly I did," said his sister with dignity.
+
+"Women are queer things," Bob remarked. "If you had these unpleasant
+beliefs, how did you manage to write as cheerfully as you did? Your
+letters were a scream--I used to read bits of 'em out to the fellows."
+
+"You had no business to do any such thing," said Cecilia, blushing.
+
+"Well, I did, anyhow. They used to make 'em yell. How did you manage
+them?"
+
+"Well, it was no good assuring you you'd be killed," said Cecilia
+practically. "I thought it was more sensible to try to make you laugh."
+
+"You certainly did that," said Bob. "I fancied from your letters that
+life with the she-dragon was one huge joke, and that Papa was nice and
+companionable, and the kids, sweet little darlings who ate from your
+hand. And all the time you were just the poor old toad under the
+harrow!"
+
+"I'm not a toad!" rejoined his sister indignantly. "Don't you think you
+could find pleasanter things to compare me to?"
+
+"Toads aren't bad," said Bob, laughing. "Ever seen the nice old fellow
+in the Zoo who shoots out a tongue a yard long and picks up a grub every
+time? He's quite interesting."
+
+"I certainly never had any inclination to do any such thing," Cecilia
+laughed.
+
+They had turned into Piccadilly and were walking down, watching the
+crowded motor traffic racing north and south. Suddenly Bob straightened
+up and saluted smartly, as a tall staff officer, wearing a general's
+badges, ran down the steps of a big club, and nearly cannoned into
+Cecilia.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he said--and then, noticing Bob--"How are you,
+Rainham?" He dived into a waiting taxi, and was whisked away.
+
+"Did he bump you?" inquired Bob.
+
+"No--though it would be almost a privilege to be bumped by anyone as
+splendid as that!" Cecilia answered. "He knows you, too!--who is he,
+Bobby?"
+
+"That's General Harran, the Australian," said Bob proudly. "He's a great
+man. I've run into him occasionally since I've been with the Australians
+in France."
+
+"He looks nice."
+
+"He is nice," replied Bob. "Awful martinet about duty, but he treats
+every one under him jolly well. Never forgets a face or a name, and he's
+always got a decent word for everybody. He's had some quite long talks
+to me, when we were waiting for some 'plane or other to come back."
+
+"Why wouldn't he?" asked Cecilia, who considered it a privilege for
+anyone to talk to her brother.
+
+Bob regarded her in amazement.
+
+"Good gracious!" he ejaculated. "Why, he's a major-general; I can tell
+you, most men of his rank haven't any use for small fry like me--to talk
+to, that is."
+
+Cecilia had a flash of memory.
+
+"Isn't he the general who was close by when you brought that German
+aeroplane down behind our lines? Didn't he say nice things to you about
+it?"
+
+"Oh, that was only in the way of business," said Bob somewhat confused.
+"The whole thing was only a bit of luck--and, of course, it was luck,
+too, that he was there. But he is just as nice to fellows who haven't
+had a chance like that."
+
+Out of the crowd two more figures in Air Force uniform came, charging at
+Bob with outstretched hands.
+
+"By Jove, old chap! What luck to meet you!"
+
+They shook hands tumultuously, and Bob made them known to
+Cecilia--comrades he had not seen for months, but with whom he had
+shared many strange experiences in the years of war. They fell into
+quick talk, full of the queer jargon of the air. The newcomers, it
+appeared, had been with the army of occupation in Germany; there seemed
+a thousand things they urgently desired to tell Bob within the next
+few minutes. One turned to Cecilia, presently, with a laughing
+interpretation of some highly technical bit of slang.
+
+"Oh, you needn't bother to translate to Tommy," Bob said. "She knows all
+about it."
+
+The other boys suddenly gave her all their attention.
+
+"Are you Tommy? But we know you awfully well."
+
+"Me?" Cecilia turned pink.
+
+"Rather. We used to hear your letters."
+
+The pink deepened to a fine scarlet.
+
+"Bob!" said his sister reproachfully. "You really shouldn't."
+
+"Oh, don't say that," said the taller boy, by name Harrison. "They were
+a godsend--there used to be jolly little to laugh about, pretty often,
+and your letters made us all yell. Didn't they, Billy?"
+
+"They did," said Billy, who was small and curly-haired--and incidentally
+a captain, with a little row of medal ribbons. "Jolliest letters ever.
+We passed a vote of thanks to you in the mess, Miss Tommy, after old Bob
+here had gone. Some one was to write and tell him about it, but I don't
+believe anyone ever did. I say, you must have had a cheery time--all the
+funny things that ever happened seemed to come your way."
+
+Cecilia stammered something, her scarlet confusion deepening. A rather
+grim vision of the war years swept across her mind--of the ceaseless
+quest in papers and journals, and wherever people talked, for "funny
+things" to tell Bob; and of how, when fact and rumour gave out, she used
+to sit by her attic window at night, deliberately inventing merry jests.
+It had closely resembled a job of hard work at the time; but apparently
+it had served its purpose well. She had made them laugh; and some one
+had told her that no greater service could be rendered to the boys who
+risked death, and worse than death, during every hour of the day and
+night. But it was extremely difficult to talk about it afterwards.
+
+Bob took pity on her.
+
+"I'll tell you just what sort of a cheery time she had, some time or
+other," he remarked. "What are you fellows doing this evening?"
+
+"We were just going to ask you the same thing," declared Billy. "Can't
+we all go and play about somewhere? We've just landed, and we want to be
+looked after. Any theatres in this little town still?"
+
+"Cheer-oh!" ejaculated Billy. "Let's all go and find out."
+
+So they went, and managed very successfully to forget war and even
+stepmothers. They were all little more than children in enjoyment of
+simple pleasures still, since war had fallen upon them at the very
+threshold of life, cutting them off from all the cheery happenings that
+are the natural inheritance of all young things. The years that would
+ordinarily have seen them growing tired of play had been spent in grim
+tasks; now they were children again, clamouring for the playtime they
+had lost. They found enormous pleasure in the funny little French
+restaurant, where Madame, a lady whose sympathies were as boundless
+as her waist, welcomed them with wide smiles, delighting in the
+broken French of Billy and Harrison, and deftly tempting them to fresh
+excursions in her language. She put a question in infantile French to
+Bob presently, whereupon that guileless youth, with a childlike smile,
+answered her with a flood of idiomatic phrases, in an accent purer than
+her own--collapsing with helpless laughter at her amazed face. After
+which, Madame neglected her other patrons to hover about their table
+like a stout, presiding goddess, guiding them gently to the best dishes
+on the menu, and occasionally putting aside their own selection with a
+hasty, "Mon-non; you vill not like that one to-day." She patted Cecilia
+in a motherly fashion at parting, and their bill was only about half
+what it should have been.
+
+They found a musical comedy, and laughed their way through it--Billy and
+Harrison had apparently no cares in the world, and Bob and Cecilia were
+caught up in the whirl of their high spirits, so that anything became
+a huge joke. The evening flew by on airy wings, when Billy insisted
+on taking them to supper after the theatre. Cecilia allowed herself a
+fleeting vision of Mrs. Rainham, and then, deciding that she might as
+well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, followed gaily. And supper was so
+cheery a meal that she forgot all about time--until, just at the end,
+she caught sight of the restaurant clock.
+
+"Half-past eleven! Oh, Bobby!"
+
+"Well, if it is--you poor little old Cinderella," said Bob.
+
+But he hurried her away, for all that, amid a chorus of farewells and
+efforts, on the part of Billy and Harrison, to arrange further meetings.
+They ran to the nearest tube station, and dived into its depths; and,
+after being whisked underground for a few minutes, emerged into the cool
+night. Cecilia slipped her arm through her brother's as they hurried
+along the empty street.
+
+"Now, you keep your nose in the air," Bobby told her. "You aren't
+exactly a kid now, and she can't really do anything to you. Oh, by
+Jove--I was thinking, in the theatre, she might interfere with our
+letters."
+
+"She's quite equal to it," said Cecilia.
+
+"Just what she'd revel in doing. Well, you can easily find out. I'll
+write to you to-morrow, and again the next day--just ordinary letters,
+with nothing particular in them except an arrangement to meet next
+Saturday. If you don't get them you'll know she's getting at the mail
+first."
+
+"What shall I do, then?"
+
+"Drop me a line--or, better still, wire to me," said Bob. "Just say,
+'Address elsewhere.' Then I'll write to you at Mr. M'Clinton's; the old
+solicitor chap in Lincoln's Inn; and you'll have to go there and get the
+letters. You know his address, don't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I have to write to him every quarter when he sends me my
+allowance. You'll explain to him, then, Bob, or he'll simply redirect
+your letters here."
+
+"Oh, of course. I want to go and see the old chap, anyhow, to talk over
+Aunt Margaret's affairs. I might as well know a little more about them.
+Tommy, the she-dragon can't actually lock you up, can she?"
+
+"No--it couldn't be done," said Cecilia. "Modern houses aren't built
+with dungeons and things. Moreover, if she tried to keep me in the house
+she would have to take the children out for their walks herself; and she
+simply hates walking."
+
+"Then you can certainly post to me, and get my letters, and I'll be up
+again as soon as ever I can. Buck up, old girl--it can't be for long
+now."
+
+They turned in at the Rainhams' front gate, and Cecilia glanced up
+apprehensively. All the windows were in darkness; the grey front of the
+house loomed forbiddingly in the faint moonlight.
+
+"You're coming in, aren't you?" she asked, her hand tightening on his
+arm.
+
+"Rather--we'll take the edge off her tongue together." Bob rang the
+bell. "Wonder if they have all gone to bed. The place looks pretty
+dark."
+
+"She's probably in the little room at the back--the one she calls her
+boudoir."
+
+"Horrible little den, full of bamboo and draperies and pampas grass--I
+know," nodded Bob. "Well, either she's asleep or she thinks it's fun to
+keep us on the mat. I'll try her again." He pressed the bell, and the
+sound of its whirring echoed through the silent house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+COMING HOME
+
+
+The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as far as
+the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's face appeared
+in the aperture. She glared at them for a minute without speaking.
+
+"So you have come home?" she said at last. The chain fell, and the door
+opened. "I wonder you trouble to come home at all. May I ask where you
+have been?"
+
+"She has been with me, Mrs. Rainham," Bob said cheerfully. "May I come
+in?"
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not move. She held the door half open, blocking the
+way.
+
+"It is far too late for me to ask you in," she answered frigidly.
+"Cecilia can explain her conduct, I presume."
+
+"Oh, there's really nothing to explain," Bob answered. "It was so late
+when she got out this afternoon that I kept her--why, it was after
+half-past four before she was dressed."
+
+"I told her to be in for tea."
+
+"Yes; but I felt sure you couldn't realize how late she was in getting
+out," said Bob in a voice of honey.
+
+"That was entirely her own mismanagement--" began the hard tones.
+
+"Oh, no, Mrs. Rainham; really it wasn't," said Cecilia mildly. "Your
+accompaniments, you remember--your dress--your music," she stopped,
+in amazement at herself. It was rarely indeed that she answered any
+accusation of her stepmother's. But to be on the mat at midnight, with
+Bob in support, seemed to give her extraordinary courage.
+
+"You see, Mrs. Rainham, there seems to have been quite a number of
+little details that Cecilia couldn't mismanage," said Bob, following
+up the advantage. It was happily evident that his stepmother's rage was
+preventing her from speaking, and, as he remarked later, there was no
+knowing when he would ever get such a chance again. "She really needed
+rest. I'm sure you'll agree that every one is entitled to some free
+time. Of course, you couldn't possibly have realized that it was a week
+since she had been off duty."
+
+"It's her business to do what I tell her," said Mrs. Rainham, finding
+her voice, in an explosive fashion that made a passing policeman glance
+up curiously. "She knew I had company, and expected her help. I had
+to see to the children's tea myself. And how do I know where she's
+been?--gallivanting round to all sorts of places! I tell you, young
+lady, you needn't think you're going to walk in here at midnight as if
+nothing was the matter."
+
+"I never expected to," said Cecilia cheerfully. "But it was worth it."
+
+Bob regarded her in solemn admiration.
+
+"I don't think we gallivanted at all reprehensibly," he said. "Just
+dinner and a theatre. I haven't made much claim to her time during the
+last four years, Mrs. Rainham; surely I'm entitled to a little of it
+now."
+
+"You!" Mrs. Rainham's tone was vicious. "You don't give her a home, do
+you? And as long as I do, she'll do what I tell her."
+
+"No; I don't give her a home--yet," said Bob very quietly. "But I very
+soon will, I assure you; and meanwhile, she earns a good deal more than
+her keep in her father's house. You can't treat her worse than your
+servants--"
+
+Cecilia suddenly turned to him.
+
+"Ah, don't, Bob darling. It doesn't matter--truly--not a bit." With the
+end of the long penance before her, it seemed beyond the power of the
+angry woman in the doorway to hurt her much. What she could not bear was
+that their happy evening should be spoiled by hard and cruel words at
+its close. Bob's face, that had been so merry, was sterner than she
+had ever seen it, all its boyishness gone. She put up her own face, and
+kissed him.
+
+"Good night--you mustn't stay any longer. I'll be all right." She
+whispered a few quick words of French, begging him to go, and Bob,
+though unwillingly, gave in.
+
+"All right," he said. "Go to bed, little 'un. I'll do as I promised
+about writing." He saluted Mrs. Rainham stiffly. "You'll remember,
+Mrs. Rainham, that she stayed out solely at my wish--I take full
+responsibility, and I'll be ready to tell my father so." The door closed
+behind Cecilia, and he strode away down the street, biting his lip. He
+felt abominably as though he had deserted the little sister--and yet,
+what else could he do? One could not remain for ever, brawling on a
+doorstep at midnight--and Tommy had begged him to go. Still--
+
+"Hang it!" he said viciously. "If she were only a decent Hun to fight!"
+
+In the grim house in Lancaster Gate Cecilia was facing the music alone.
+She listened unmoved, as she had listened many times before, to
+the catalogue of her sins and misdeeds--only she had never seen her
+stepmother quite so angry. Finally, a door above opened, and Mark
+Rainham looked out, his dull, colourless face weakly irritable.
+
+"I wish you'd stop that noise, and let the girl go to bed," he said.
+"Come here, Cecilia."
+
+She went to him hesitating, and he looked at her with a spark of
+compassion. Then he kissed her.
+
+"Good night," he said, as though he had called her to him simply to say
+it, and not to separate her from the furious woman who stood looking
+at them. "Run off to bed, now--no more talking." Cecilia ran upstairs
+obediently. Behind her, as she neared her attic, she heard her
+stepmother's voice break out anew.
+
+"Just fancy Papa!" she muttered. Any mother sensations were lost in
+wonder at her father's actually having intervened. The incredible thing
+had happened. For a moment she felt a wave of pity for him, left alone
+to face the shrill voice. Then she shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Ah, well--he married her," she said. "I suppose he has had it many a
+time. Perhaps he knows how to stop it--I don't!" She laughed, turning
+the key in the lock, and sitting down beside the open window. The
+glamour of her happy evening was still upon her; even the scene with her
+stepmother had not had power to chase it away. The scene was only to be
+expected; the laughter of the evening was worth so every-day a penalty.
+And the end of Mrs. Rainham's rule was nearly in sight. Not even to
+herself for a moment would she admit that there was any possibility of
+Bob failing to "make good" and take her away.
+
+She went downstairs next morning to an atmosphere of sullen resentment.
+Her father gave her a brief, abstracted nod, in response to her
+greeting, and went on with his bacon and his Daily Mail; her
+stepmother's forbidding expression checked any attempt at conversation.
+The children stared at her with a kind of malevolent curiosity; they
+knew that a storm had been brewing for her the night before, and longed
+to know just how thoroughly she had "caught it." Eliza, bringing
+in singed and belated toast, looked at her with pity, tinged with
+admiration. Cook and she had been awakened at midnight by what was
+evidently, in the words of Cook, "a perfickly 'orrible bust-up," and
+knowing Cecilia to have been its object, Eliza looked at her as one may
+look who expects to see the scars of battle. Finding none, but receiving
+instead a cheerful smile, she returned to the kitchen, and reported to
+Cook that Miss Cecilia was "nuffink less than a neroine."
+
+But as that day and the next wore on, Cecilia found it difficult to be
+cheerful. That she was in disgrace was very evident, Mrs. Rainham said
+no more about her sins of the night before; instead, she showed her
+displeasure by a kind of cold rudeness that gave a subtle insult to her
+smallest remark. The children were manifestly delighted. Cecilia was
+more or less in the position of a beetle on a pin, and theirs was the
+precious opportunity of seeing her wriggle. Wherefore they adopted
+their mother's tone, openly defied her, and turned school-hours into a
+pandemonium.
+
+Cecilia at last gave up the attempt to keep order. She opened her desk
+and took out her knitting.
+
+"Well, this is all very pleasant," she said, calmly. "You seem
+determined to do no work at all, so I can only hope that in time you
+will get tired of being idle. I can't attempt to teach you any more. I
+am quite ready, however, if you bring your lessons to me."
+
+"You'll get into a nice row from the Mater," jeered Wilfred.
+
+"Very possibly. She may even punish me by finding another governess,"
+said Cecilia, with a twinkle. "However that may be, I do not feel
+compelled to talk to such rude little children as you any more. When
+you are able to speak politely you may come to me for anything you
+want; until then, I shall not answer you." She bent her attention to the
+mysteries of heel-turning.
+
+The children were taken aback. To pinprick with rudeness a victim who
+answered back was entertaining; but there was small fun in baiting
+anybody who sat silently knitting with a half-smile of contempt at the
+corners of her mouth. They gave it up after a time, and considered the
+question of going out; a pleasant thing to do, only that their mother
+had laid upon them a special injunction not to leave Cecilia, and she
+was in a mood that made disobedience extremely dangerous. Cecilia quite
+understood that she was being watched. No letters had yet come from Bob,
+and she knew that her stepmother had been hovering near the letter-box
+whenever the postman had called. Mrs. Rainham had accompanied them on
+their walk the day before; a remark of Avice's revealed that she meant
+to do so again to-day.
+
+"It's all so silly," the girl said to herself. "If I chose to dive into
+a tube station or board a motor-bus she couldn't stop me; and she can't
+go on watching me and intercepting my letters indefinitely. I suppose
+she will get tired of it after a while." But meanwhile she found the
+spying rather amusing. Avice popped up unexpectedly if she went near the
+front door; Wilfred's bullet head peeped in through the window whenever
+she fancied herself alone in the schoolroom. Only her attic was
+safe--since to spy upon it would have required an aeroplane.
+
+The third day brought no letter from Bob. Cecilia asked for her mail
+when she went down to breakfast, and was met by a blank stare from her
+stepmother--"I suppose if there had been any letters for you they would
+be on your plate." She flushed a little under the girl's direct gaze,
+and turned her attention to Queenie's table manners, which were at all
+times peculiar; and Cecilia sat down with a faint smile. It was time to
+obey orders and telegraph to Bob.
+
+She planned how to do it, during a long morning when the children
+actually did some work--since to be rude or idle meant that their
+teacher immediately retired into her shell of silence, and knitted, and
+life became too dull. To employ Eliza was her first thought--rejected,
+since it seemed unlikely that Eliza would be able to get time off to go
+out. If Mrs. Rainham's well-known dislike for walking proved too strong
+for her desire to watch her stepdaughter, it would be easy enough to
+do it during the afternoon; but this hope proved vain, for when she
+appeared in the hall with her charges at three o'clock the lady of the
+house sailed from the drawing-room, ready for the march. They moved off
+in procession; Mrs. Rainham leading the way, with Avice and Wilfred,
+while Cecilia brought up the rear, holding Queenie's podgy hand.
+
+She had telegraph forms in her desk, and the message, already written,
+and even stamped, was in the pocket of her coat. There was nothing for
+it but to act boldly, and accordingly, when they entered a street in
+which there was a post office, she let Queenie lag until they were
+a little distance behind the others. Then, as they reached the post
+office, she turned sharply in.
+
+"Wait a minute, Queenie."
+
+She thrust her message across the counter hurriedly. The clerk on duty
+was provokingly slow; he finished checking a document, and then lounged
+across to the window and took the form, running over it leisurely.
+
+"Oh, you've got the stamps on. All right," he said, and turned away just
+as quick steps were heard, and Mrs. Rainham bustled in, panting.
+
+"What are you doing?"
+
+Cecilia met her with steady eyes.
+
+"Nothing wrong, I assure you." She had had visions of covering her real
+purpose by buying stamps--but rejected it with a shrug.
+
+"Thethilia gave the man a pieth of paper!" said Queenie shrilly.
+
+"What was it? I demand to know!" cried Mrs. Rainham. She turned to the
+clerk, who stood open-mouthed, holding the telegram in his hand. "Show
+me that telegram. I am this young lady's guardian."
+
+The clerk grinned broadly. The stout and angry lady made no appeal to
+him, and Cecilia was a pretty girl, and moreover her telegram was for
+a flying captain. The clerk wore a returned soldier's badge himself. He
+fell back on Regulations.
+
+"Can't be done, ma'am. The message is all in order."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+"Much as my billet's worth, if I did," said the clerk. "Property of the
+Postmaster-General now, ma'am. Couldn't even give it back to the young
+lady."
+
+"I'll report you!" Mrs. Rainham fumed.
+
+"Do, ma'am. I'll get patted on the head for doin' me duty." The clerk's
+grin widened. Cecilia wished him good afternoon gravely, and slipped out
+of the office, pursued by her stepmother.
+
+"What was in that telegram?"
+
+"It was to my brother."
+
+"What was in it?"
+
+"It was to Bob, and that is guarantee that there was nothing wrong in
+it," Cecilia said steadily. "It was on private business."
+
+"You have no right to have any business that I do not know about."
+
+Cecilia found her temper rising.
+
+"My father may have the power to say that--I do not know," she said.
+"But you have none, Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"I'll let you see whether I have the right!" her stepmother blazed. "For
+two pins, young lady, I'd lock you up."
+
+Cecilia laughed outright.
+
+"Ah, that's not done now," she said. "You really couldn't, Mrs.
+Rainham--especially as I have done nothing wrong." She dropped her
+voice--passers-by were looking with interest at the elder woman's
+face. "Why not let me go? You do not approve of me--let me find another
+position."
+
+"You'll stay in your father's house," Mrs. Rainham said. "We'll see what
+the law has to say to your leaving with your precious Bob. Your
+father's your legal guardian, and in his control you stay until you're
+twenty-one, and be very thankful to make yourself useful. The law will
+deal with Bob if he tries to take you away--you're a minor, and it'd
+be abduction." The word had a pleasantly legal flavour; she repeated it
+with emphasis. "Abduction; that's what it is, and there's a nice penalty
+for it. Now you know, and if you don't want to get Bob into trouble,
+you'd best be careful."
+
+Cecilia had grown rather white. The law was a great and terrible
+instrument, of which she knew nothing. It seemed to have swallowed up
+Aunt Margaret's money; it might very well have left her defenceless. Her
+stepmother seemed familiar with its powers, and able to evoke them at
+will; and though she did not trust her, there was something in her glib
+utterance that struck fear into the girl's heart. She did not answer,
+and Mrs. Rainham followed up her advantage.
+
+"We'll go home," she said. "And you make up your mind to tell me what
+was in that telegram, and not to have any secrets from me. One thing I
+can tell you--until you decide to behave yourself--Bob shan't show his
+nose in my house, and you shan't go out to meet him, either. He only
+leads you into mischief; I don't consider he has at all a good influence
+over you. The sooner he's away somewhere, earning his own living in a
+proper manner, the better for every one; and it'll be many a long day
+before he can give you as good a home as you've got now." She paused
+for breath. "Anyhow, he's not going to have the chance," she finished
+grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+
+"Is Mr. M'Clinton in?"
+
+The clerk, in a species of rabbit hutch, glanced out curiously at the
+young flying officer.
+
+"Yes; but he's very busy. Have you an appointment?"
+
+"No--I got leave unexpectedly. Just take him my card, will you?"
+
+The clerk handed the card to another clerk, who passed it to an
+office-boy, who disappeared with it behind a heavy oaken door. He came
+back presently.
+
+"Mr. M'Clinton will see you in ten minutes, if you can wait, sir."
+
+"I'll wait," said Bob, sitting down upon a high stool. "Got a paper?"
+
+"To-day's Times is here, sir." He whisked off, to return in a moment
+with the paper, neatly folded.
+
+"You'll find a more comfortable seat behind the screen, sir."
+
+"Thanks," said Bob, regarding him with interest--he was so dapper, so
+alert, so all that an office-boy in a staid lawyer's establishment ought
+to be. "How old might you be?"
+
+"Fourteen, sir."
+
+"And are you going to grow into a lawyer?"
+
+"I'm afraid I'll never do that, sir," said the office-boy gravely. "I
+may be head clerk, perhaps. But--" he stopped, confused.
+
+"But what?"
+
+"I'd rather fly, sir, than anything in the world!" He looked
+worshippingly at Bob's uniform. "If the war had only not stopped before
+I was old enough, I might have had a chance!"
+
+"Oh, you'll have plenty of chances," Bob told him consolingly. "In five
+years' time you'll be taking Mr. M'Clinton's confidential papers across
+to Paris in an aeroplane--and bringing him back a reply before lunch!"
+
+"Do you think so, sir?" The office-boy's eyes danced. Suddenly he
+resumed his professional gravity.
+
+"I must get back to my work, sir." He disappeared behind another
+partition; the office seemed to Bob to be divided into water-tight
+compartments, in each of which he imagined that a budding lawyer or head
+clerk was being brought up by hand. It was all rather grim and solid and
+forbidding. To Bob the law had always been full of mystery; this grey,
+silent office, in the heart of the city, was a fitting place for it.
+He felt a little chill at his heart, a foreboding that no comfort could
+come of his mission there.
+
+The inner door opened, after a little while, and a woman in black came
+out. She passed hurriedly through the outer office, pulling down her
+veil over a face that showed traces of tears. Bob looked after her
+compassionately.
+
+"Poor soul!" he thought. "She's had her gruel, evidently. Now I suppose
+I'll get mine."
+
+A bell whirred sharply. The alert office-boy sprang to the summons,
+returning immediately.
+
+"Mr. M'Clinton can see you now, sir."
+
+Bob followed him through the oaken door, and along a narrow passage to a
+room where a spare, grizzled man sat at a huge roll-top desk. He rose as
+the boy shut the door behind his visitor.
+
+"Well, Captain Rainham. How do you do?"
+
+Bob gripped the lean hand offered him--it felt like a claw in his great
+palm. Then he sat down and looked uncomfortably at the lawyer.
+
+"I had thought to have seen you here before, Captain."
+
+"I suppose I should have shown up," said Bob--concealing the fact that
+the idea had never occurred to him. "But I've been very busy since I've
+been back to England."
+
+"And what brings you now?"
+
+"I'm all but demobilized," Bob told him, "and I'm trying to get
+employment."
+
+"What--in this office?"
+
+"Heavens, no!" ejaculated Bob, and at once turned a fine red. "That
+is--I beg your pardon, sir; but I'm afraid I'm not cut out for an
+office. I want to get something to do in the country, where I can
+support my sister."
+
+"Your sister? But does not your father support her? She is an inmate of
+his house, is she not?"
+
+"Very much so," said Bob bitterly. "She's governess, and lady-help, and
+a good many other things. You couldn't call it a home. Besides, we have
+always been together. I want to take her away."
+
+"And what does your father say?"
+
+"He says she mustn't go. At least, that's what my stepmother says, so my
+father will certainly say it too."
+
+"Your sister is under age, I think?"
+
+"She's just nineteen--I'm over twenty-two. Can my father prevent her
+going with me, sir?"
+
+"Mph," said the lawyer, pondering. "Do I gather that the young lady is
+unhappy?"
+
+"If she isn't, it's because she has pluck enough for six people, and
+because she always hopes to get away."
+
+"And do you consider that you could support her?"
+
+"I don't know," said Bob unhappily. "I would certainly have thought
+I could, but there seems mighty little chance for a fellow whose only
+qualification is that he's been fighting Huns for nearly five years.
+I've answered advertisements and interviewed people until my brain
+reels; but there's nothing in it, and I can't leave Tommy there."
+
+"Tommy?" queried the lawyer blankly.
+
+Bob laughed.
+
+"My sister, I mean, sir. Her name's Cecilia, but, of course, we've never
+called her that. Even Aunt Margaret called her Tommy."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton made no reply. He thought deeply for a few moments. Then
+he looked up, and there was a glint of kindness in his hard grey eyes.
+
+"I think you had better tell me all about it, Captain Rainham. Would it
+assist you to smoke?"
+
+"Thanks awfully, sir," said Bob, accepting the proffered cigarette.
+He plunged into his story; and if at times it was a trifle incoherent,
+principally from honest wrath, yet on the whole Cecilia's case
+lost nothing in the telling. The lawyer nodded from time to time,
+comprehendingly.
+
+"Aye," he said at last, when Bob paused. "Just so, just so. And why did
+you come to me, Captain?"
+
+"I want your advice, sir," Bob answered. "And I should like to know
+something about my aunt's property--if I can hope for any help from that
+source. I should have more chance of success if I had a little capital
+to start with. But I understand that most of it was lost. My father
+seemed very disappointed over the small amount she left." He hesitated.
+"But apart from money, I should like to know if I am within the law in
+taking my sister away."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton thought deeply before replying.
+
+"I had better speak frankly to you, Captain Rainham," he said. "Your
+aunt, as you probably know, did not like your father. I am not sure that
+she actually distrusted him. But she considered him weak and indolent,
+and she recognized that he was completely under the thumb of his second
+wife. Your late aunt, my old friend, had an abhorrence for that lady
+that was quaint, considering that she had scarcely ever seen her." He
+permitted himself the ghost of a smile. "She was deeply afraid of any of
+her property coming under the control of your father--and through him,
+of his wife. And so she tied up her money very carefully. She left
+direct to you and your sister certain assets. The rest of her property
+she left, in trust, to me."
+
+"To you, sir?"
+
+"Aye. Very carefully tied up, too," said Mr. M'Clinton, with a twinkle.
+"I can't make ducks and drakes of it, no matter how much I may wish to.
+It is tied up until your sister comes of age. Then my trust ceases."
+
+"By Jove!" Bob stared at him. "Then--do we get something?"
+
+"Certainly. Unfortunately, many of your aunt's investments were very
+hard hit through the war. Certain stocks which paid large dividends
+ceased to pay altogether; others fell to very little. The sum left to
+you and your sister for immediate use should have been very much larger,
+but all that is left of it is the small allowance paid to you both.
+I imagine that a smart young officer like yourself found it scarcely
+sufficient for tobacco."
+
+"I've saved it all," said Bob simply. "A bit more, too."
+
+"Saved it!" said the lawyer in blank amazement. "Do you tell me, now?
+You lived on your pay?"
+
+"Flying pay's pretty good," said Bob. "And there was always Tommy to
+think of, you know, sir. I had to put something away for her, in case I
+crashed."
+
+"Dear me," said Mr. M'Clinton. "Your aunt had great confidence in you
+as a boy, and it seems she was justified. I'm very glad to hear this,
+Captain, for it enables me to do with a clear conscience something which
+I have the power to do. There is a discretionary clause in your aunt's
+will, which gives me power to realize a certain sum of money, should you
+need it. I could hand you over about three thousand pounds."
+
+"Three thousand!" Bob stared at him blankly.
+
+"Aye. And I see no reason why I should not do it--provided I am
+satisfied as to the use you will make of it. As a matter of form I
+should like a letter from your commanding officer, testifying to your
+general character."
+
+"That's easy enough," said Bob. "But--three thousand! My hat, what a
+difference it will make to Tommy and me! Poor old Aunt Margaret--I might
+have known she'd look after us."
+
+"She loved you very dearly. And now, Captain, about your sister."
+
+"She's the big thing," said Bob. "Can I kidnap her?"
+
+"It's rather difficult to say just how your father might act. Left
+to himself, I do not believe he would do anything. But urged by your
+stepmother, he might make trouble. And the good lady is more likely
+to make trouble if she suspects that there is any money coming to your
+sister."
+
+"That's very certain," Bob remarked. "I wish to goodness I could get her
+right out of England, sir. How about Canada?"
+
+The lawyer pondered.
+
+"Do you know any one there?"
+
+"Not a soul. But I suppose one could get introductions. And one can
+always get Government expert advice there, I believe, to prevent one
+chucking away one's money foolishly."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton nodded approvingly.
+
+"I don't know, but you might do worse," he said. "I believe in these
+new countries for young people; the old ones are getting overcrowded
+and worn out. And your relations are likely to give trouble if you
+are within their reach. A terrible woman, that stepmother of yours; a
+terrible woman. She came to see me with your father; he said nothing,
+but she talked like a mill-race. Miss Tommy has my full sympathy.
+A brawling woman in a wide house, as the Scripture says. I reproach
+myself, Captain, that I did not inquire personally into Miss Tommy's
+well-being. She told you nothing of her trials, you say, during the
+war?"
+
+"Not a word. Wrote as if life were a howling joke always. I only found
+out for myself by accident a few months ago."
+
+"A brave lassie. Well, I'll do what I can to help you, Captain.
+I'll keep a lookout for a likely land investment for your money, and
+endeavour to prepare a good legal statement to frighten Mrs. Rainham
+if she objects to your taking your sister away. Much may be done by
+bluffing, especially if you do it very solemnly and quietly. So keep a
+good heart, and come and see me next time you're in London. Miss Tommy
+will be in any day, I presume, after the telegram you told me about?"
+
+"Sure to be," said Bob. "She'll be anxious for her letters. I'm leaving
+one for her, if you don't mind, and I'll write to her again to-night."
+He got up, holding out his hand. "Good-bye--and I don't know how to
+thank you, sir."
+
+"Bless the boy--you've nothing to thank me for," said the lawyer. "Just
+send me that letter from your commanding officer, and remember that
+there's no wild hurry about plans--Miss Tommy can stand for a few weeks
+longer what she has borne for two years."
+
+"I suppose she can--but I don't want her to," Bob said.
+
+The brisk office-boy showed him out, and he marched down the grey
+streets near Lincoln's Inn with his chin well up. Life had taken a
+sudden and magical turn for the better. Three thousand pounds!--surely
+that meant no roughing it for Tommy, but a comfortable home and a
+chance of success in life. It seemed a sum of enormous possibilities.
+Everything was very vague still, but at least the money was certain--it
+seemed like fairy gold. He felt a sudden desire to get away somewhere,
+with Tommy, away from crowded England to a country where a man could
+breathe; his heart rejoiced at the idea, just as he had often exulted
+when his aeroplane had lifted him away from the crowded, buzzing camp,
+into the wide, free places of the air. Canada called to him temptingly.
+His brain was seething with plans to go there when, waiting for a chance
+to cross a crowded thoroughfare, he heard his own name.
+
+"Asleep, Rainham?"
+
+Bob looked up with a start. General Harran, the Australian, was beside
+him, also waiting for a break in the crawling string of motor-buses and
+taxi-cabs. He was smiling under his close-clipped moustache.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," stammered the boy, coming to the salute
+stiffly. "I was in a brown study, I believe."
+
+"You looked it. I spoke to you twice before you heard me. What is
+it?--demobilization problems?"
+
+"Just that, sir," said Bob, grinning. "Most of us have got them, I
+suppose--fellows of my age, anyhow. It's a bit difficult to come down to
+earth again, after years spent in the air."
+
+"Very difficult," Harran agreed gravely. He glanced down with interest
+at the alert face and square-built figure of the boy beside him. There
+were so many of them, these boys who had played with Death for years.
+They have saved their country from horror and ruin, and now it seemed
+very doubtful if their country wanted them. They were in every town in
+England, looking for work; their pitiful, plucky advertisements greeted
+the eye in every newspaper. The problem of their future interested
+General Harran keenly. He liked his boys; their freshness and pluck and
+unspoiled enthusiasm had been a tonic to him during the long years of
+war. Now it hurt him that they should be looking for the right to live.
+
+"I'm just going to lunch, Rainham," he said. "Would you care to come
+with me?"
+
+Bob lifted a quaintly astonished face.
+
+"Thanks, awfully, sir," he stammered.
+
+"Then jump on this 'bus, and we'll go to my club," said the General,
+swinging his lean, athletic body up the stairs of a passing motor-'bus
+as he spoke. Bob followed, and they sped, rocking, through the packed
+traffic until the General, who had sat in silence, jumped up, threaded
+his way downstairs, and dropped to the ground again from the footboard
+of the hurrying 'bus--with a brief shake of the head to the conductor,
+who was prepared to check the speed of his craft to accommodate a
+passenger with such distinguished badges of rank. Bob was on the ground
+almost as quickly, and they turned out of the crowded street into
+a quieter one that presently led them into a silent square, where
+dignified grey houses looked out upon green trees, and the only traffic
+was that of gliding motors. General Harran led the way into one of the
+grey houses, up the steps of which officers were constantly coming
+and going. A grizzled porter in uniform, with the Crimean medal on his
+tunic, swung the door open and came smartly to attention as they passed
+through. The General greeted him kindly.
+
+"How are you, O'Shea? The rheumatism better?"
+
+"It is, sir, thank you." They passed on, through a great hall lined with
+oil-paintings of famous soldiers, and trophies of big game from all
+over the world; for this was a Service club, bearing a proud record of
+soldier and sailor members for a hundred years. Presently they were in
+the dining-room, already crowded. The waiter found them a little table
+in a quiet corner.
+
+There was a sprinkling of men whom Bob already knew; he caught several
+friendly nods of recognition us he glanced round. Then General Harran
+pointed out others to him--Generals, whose names were household words in
+England--a notable Admiral, and a Captain with the V.C. ribbon--earned
+at Zeebrugge. He seemed to know every one, and once or twice he left his
+seat to speak to a friend--during which absence Bob's friends shot him
+amazed glances, with eyebrows raised in astonishment that he should be
+lunching with a real Major-General. Bob was somewhat tongue-tied with
+bewilderment over the fact himself. But when their cold beef came,
+General Harran soon put him at his ease, leading him to talk of himself
+and his plans with quiet tact. Before Bob fairly realized it he had
+unfolded all his little story--even to Tommy and her hardships. The
+General listened with interest.
+
+"And was it Tommy I saw you with on Saturday?"
+
+"Yes, sir. She was awfully interested because it was you," blurted Bob.
+"You see, she and I have always been pals. I'm jolly keen to get some
+place to take her to."
+
+"And you think of Canada. Why?"
+
+"Well--I really don't know, except that it would be out of reach of
+England and unpleasantness," Bob answered. "And my money would go a lot
+further there than here, wouldn't it, sir? Three thousand won't buy much
+of a place in England--not to make one's living by, I mean."
+
+"That's true. I advise every youngster to get out to one of the new
+countries, and, of course, a man with a little capital has a far greater
+chance. But why Canada? Why not Australia?"
+
+"There's no reason why not," said Bob laughing. "Only it seems further
+away. I don't know more of one country than the other--except the sort
+of vague idea we all have that Canada is all cold and Australia all
+heat!"
+
+General Harran laughed.
+
+"Yes--the average Englishman's ideas about the new countries are pretty
+sketchy," he said. "People always talk to me about the fearfully hot
+climate of Australia, and seem mildly surprised if I remark that we have
+about a dozen different climates, and that we have snow and ice, and
+very decent winter sports, in Victoria. I don't think they believe me,
+either. But seriously, Rainham, if you have no more leaning towards one
+country than the other, why not think of Australia? I could help you
+there, if you like."
+
+"You, sir!" Bob stammered.
+
+"Well, I can pull strings. I dare say I could manage a passage out for
+you and your sister--you see, you were serving with the Australians,
+and you're both desirable immigrants--young and energetic people with
+a little capital. That would be all right, I think, especially now that
+the first rush is over. And I could give you plenty of introductions in
+Australia to the right sort of people. You ought to see something of the
+country, and what the life and work are, before investing your money.
+It would be easy enough to get you on to a station or big farm--you to
+learn the business, and your sister to teach or help in the house. She
+wouldn't mind that for about a year, with nice people, would she?"
+
+"Not she!" said Bob. "It was her own idea, in fact; only I didn't want
+to let her work. But I can see that it might be best. Only I don't know
+how to thank you, sir--I never imagined--"
+
+General Harran cut him short.
+
+"Don't worry about that. If I can help you, or any of the flying boys,
+out of a difficulty, and at the same time get the right type of settlers
+for Australia--she needs them badly--then I'm doing a double-barrelled
+job that I like. But see here--do I understand that what you really
+want to do is to take your sister without giving your father warning? To
+kidnap her, in short?"
+
+"I don't see anything else to do, sir. I spoke to him a while ago about
+taking her away, and he only hummed and hawed and said he'd consult Mrs.
+Rainham. And my stepmother will never let her go as long as she can keep
+her as a drudge. We owe them nothing--he's never been a father to us,
+and as for my stepmother--well, she should owe Tommy for two years' hard
+work. But honestly, to all intents and purposes, they are strangers
+to us--it seems absolutely ridiculous that we should be controlled by
+them."
+
+"You say your aunt's family lawyer approves?"
+
+"Yes, or he wouldn't let me have the money. I could get him to see you,
+sir, if you like; though I don't see why you should be bothered about
+us," said Bob flushing.
+
+"Give me his address--I'll look in on him next time I'm in Lincoln's
+Inn," said the General. "Your own, too. Now, if I get you and your
+sister passages on a troopship, can you start at short notice--say
+forty-eight hours?"
+
+Bob gasped, but recovered himself. After all, his training in the air
+had taught him to make swift decisions.
+
+"Any time after the fifteenth, sir. I'll be demobilized then, and a free
+agent. I'll get my kit beforehand."
+
+"Don't get much," counselled the General. "You can travel in
+uniform--take flannels for the tropics; everything you need in Australia
+you can get just as well, or better, out there. Most fellows who go out
+take tons of unnecessary stuff. Come into the smoking-room and give me a
+few more details."
+
+They came out upon the steps of the club a little later. Bob's head was
+whirling. He tried to stammer out more thanks and was cut short, kindly
+but decisively.
+
+"That's all right, my boy. I'll send you letters of introduction to
+various people who will help you, and a bit of advice about where to go
+when you land. Tell your sister not to be nervous--she isn't going to a
+wild country, and the people there are much the same as anywhere else.
+Now, good-bye, and good luck"; and Bob found himself walking across the
+Square in a kind of solemn amazement.
+
+"This morning I was thinking of getting taken on as a farm hand in
+Devonshire, with Tommy somewhere handy in a labourer's cottage," he
+pondered. "And now I'm a bloated capitalist, and Tommy and I are going
+across the world to Australia as calmly as if we were off to Margate
+for the day! Well, I suppose it's only a dream, and I'll wake up soon.
+I guess I'd better go back and tell Mr. M'Clinton; and I've got to see
+Tommy somehow." He bent his brows over the problem as he turned towards
+Lincoln's Inn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAILING ORDERS
+
+
+"Are you there, miss?"
+
+The sepulchral whisper came faintly to Cecilia's ears as she sat in her
+little room, sewing a frock of Queenie's. The children were out in the
+garden at the back of the house. Mrs. Rainham was practising in the
+drawing-room. The sound of a high trill floated upwards as she opened
+the door.
+
+"What is it, Eliza?"
+
+"It's a letter, miss. A kid brought it to the kitchen door--a bit of a
+boy. Arsked for me as if 'e'd known me all 'is life--called me Elizer!
+'E's waitin' for an answer. I'll wait in me room, miss, till you calls
+me." The little Cockney girl slipped away, revelling in furthering any
+scheme to defeat Mrs. Rainham and help Cecilia.
+
+Cecilia opened the letter hurriedly. It contained only one line.
+
+"Can you come at once to Lincoln's Inn? Important.--BOB."
+
+Cecilia knitted her brows. It was nearly a month since the memorable
+evening when she and Bob had revolted; and though she was still made
+to feel herself in disgrace, and she knew her letters were watched, the
+close spying upon her movements had somewhat relaxed. It had been
+too uncomfortable for Mrs. Rainham to keep it up, since it made heavy
+demands upon her own time, and interfered with too many plans; moreover,
+in spite of it, Cecilia had slipped away from the house two or three
+times, going and coming openly, and replying to any questions by the
+simple answer that she had been to meet Bob. Angry outbreaks on the part
+of her stepmother she received in utter silence, against which the waves
+of Mrs. Rainham's wrath spent themselves in vain.
+
+Indeed, the girl lived in a kind of waking dream of happy anticipation,
+beside which none of the trials of life in Lancaster Gate had power to
+trouble her. For on her first stolen visit to Mr. M'Clinton's office the
+wonderful plan of flight to Australia had been revealed to her, and the
+joy of the prospect blotted out everything else. Mr. M'Clinton, watching
+her face, had been amazed by the wave of delight that had swept over it.
+
+"You like it, then?" he had said. "You are not afraid to go so far?"
+
+"Afraid--with Bob? Oh, the farther I can get from England the better,"
+she had answered. "I have no friends here; nothing to leave, except the
+memory of two bad years. And out there I should feel safe--she could not
+get a policeman to bring me back." There was no need to ask who "she"
+was.
+
+Cecilia had made her preparations secretly. She had not much to do--Aunt
+Margaret had always kept her well dressed, and the simple and pretty
+things she had worn two years before, and which had never been unpacked
+since she put on mourning for her aunt, still fitted her, and were
+perfectly good. It had never seemed worth while to leave off wearing
+mourning in Lancaster Gate--only when Bob had come home had she unpacked
+some of her old wardrobe. Much was packed still, and in store under Mr.
+M'Clinton's direction, together with many of Aunt Margaret's personal
+possessions. It was as well that it was so, since Mrs. Rainham had
+managed to annex a proportion of Cecilia's things for Avice. To
+Lancaster Gate she had only taken a couple of trunks, not dreaming of
+staying there more than a short time. So packing and flitting would be
+easy, given ordinary luck and the certain co-operation of Eliza. Her few
+necessary purchases had been made on one of her hurried excursions with
+Bob; she had not dared to have the things sent home, and they had been
+consigned in a tin uniform case to Bob's care.
+
+She pondered over his note now, knitting her brows. It would be easy
+enough to act defiantly and go at once; but if this meant that the
+final flight were near at hand she did not wish to excite anew her
+stepmother's anger and suspicion. Then, as she hesitated, she heard a
+heavy step on the stairs, and she crushed the note hurriedly into her
+pocket.
+
+Mrs. Rainham came into the room without the formality of knocking--a
+formality she had never observed where Cecilia was concerned. The
+afternoon post had just come, and she carried some letters in her hand.
+
+"Cecilia, I want you to put on your things and go to Balding's for me,"
+she said, her voice more civil than it had been for a month. "I'm asked
+up to Liverpool for a few days; my sister there is giving a big At
+Home--an awfully big thing, with the Lady Mayoress and all the Best
+People at it--and she wants me to go up. I suppose she'll want me to
+sing."
+
+"That is nice," said Cecilia, speaking with more truth than Mrs. Rainham
+guessed. "What will you wear?"
+
+"That's just it," said her stepmother eagerly. "My new evening dress
+isn't quite finished--we ran short of trimming. I can't go out, because
+the Simons are coming in to afternoon tea; so you just hurry and go over
+to Balding's to match it. I got it there, and they had plenty. Here's
+a bit." She held out a fragment of gaudy sequin trimming. "I think you
+could finish the dress without me getting in the dressmaker again--she's
+that run after she makes a regular favour of coming."
+
+"Very well," said Cecilia--who would, at the moment, have agreed to sew
+anything or everything that might hasten her stepmother's journey. "When
+do you go?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow. I'll stay there a few days, I suppose; not
+worth going so far for only one evening. Mind, Cecilia, you're not to
+have Bob here while I'm away. When I come back, if I'm satisfied with
+you, I'll see about asking him again."
+
+"That is very good of you," said the girl slowly.
+
+"Well, that's all right--you hurry and get ready; there's always a
+chance they may have sold out, because it was a bargain line, and if
+they have you'll have to try other places. I don't know what on earth
+I'll do if you can't match it." She turned to go, and then hesitated. "I
+was thinking you might take Avice with you--but you'll get about quicker
+alone, and she isn't ready. The tubes and buses are that crowded it's
+no catch to take a child about with you." In moments of excitement
+Mrs. Rainham's English was apt to slip from her. At other times
+she cultivated it carefully, assisted by a dramatic class, which an
+enthusiastic maiden lady, with leanings towards the stage, conducted
+each winter among neighbouring kindred souls.
+
+Cecilia had caught her breath in alarm, but she breathed a sigh of
+relief as the stout, over-dressed figure went down the narrow stairs,
+with a final injunction to hurry. There was, indeed, no need to give
+Cecilia that particular command. She scribbled one word, "Coming," on
+Bob's note, thrust it into an envelope and addressed it hastily, and
+then tapped on the wall between the servants' room and her own.
+
+Eliza appeared with the swiftness of a Jack-in-the-box, full of
+suppressed excitement.
+
+"Lor! I fought she was never goin'," she breathed. "Got it ready, Miss?
+The boy'll fink I've gorn an' eloped wiv it." She took the envelope and
+pattered swiftly downstairs.
+
+A very few moments saw Cecilia flying in her wake--to Balding's first,
+as quickly as tube and motor-bus could combine to take her, since
+she dared not breathe freely until Mrs. Rainham's commission had been
+settled. Balding's had never seemed so huge and so complicated, and when
+she at length made her way to the right department the suave assistant
+regretted that the trimming was sold out. It was Cecilia's face of blank
+dismay that made him suddenly remember that there was possibly an odd
+length somewhere, and a search revealed it, put away in a box of odds
+and ends. Cecilia's thanks were so heartfelt that the assistant was
+mildly surprised.
+
+"For she don't seem the sort to wear ghastly stuff like that," he
+pondered, glancing after the pretty figure in the well-cut coat and
+skirt.
+
+Outside the great shop Cecilia glanced up and caught the eye of a
+taxi-driver who had just set down a fare.
+
+"I'll be extravagant for once," she thought. She beckoned to the man,
+and in a moment was whirring through the streets in the peculiar comfort
+a motor gives to anyone in a hurry in London--since it can take
+direct routes instead of following the roundabout methods of buses and
+underground railways. She leaned back, closing her eyes. If this summons
+to Bob indeed meant that their sailing orders had come, she would need
+all her wits and her coolness. For the first time she realized what her
+stepmother's absence from home might mean--a thousandfold less plotting
+and planning, and no risk of a horrible scene at the end. Cecilia
+loathed scenes; they had not existed in Aunt Margaret's scheme of
+existence. Since Bob's plans had become at all definite, she had looked
+forward with dread to a final collision with Mrs. Rainham--it was untold
+relief to know that it might not come.
+
+She hurried up the steps of Mr. M'Clinton's office. The alert office
+boy--who had been Bob's messenger to Lancaster Gate--met her.
+
+"You're to go straight in, miss. The Captain's there."
+
+Bob was in the inner sanctum with Mr. M'Clinton. They rose to meet her.
+
+"Well--are you ready, young lady?" the old man asked.
+
+"Is it--are we to sail soon?"
+
+"Next Saturday--and this is Monday. Can you manage it, Tommy?" Bob's
+eyes were dancing with excitement.
+
+"Oh, Bobby--truly?" She caught at his coat sleeve. "When did you hear?"
+
+"I had a wire from General Harran this morning. A jolly good ship, too,
+Tommy; one of the big Australian liners--the Nauru. You're all ready,
+aren't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes. And there's the most tremendous piece of luck, Bobby--Mrs.
+Rainham's going away on Wednesday!"
+
+"Going away! How more than tactful!" ejaculated Bob. "Where is she
+going?"
+
+"To Liverpool."
+
+"Liverpool? Oh, by Jove!" Bob ended on a low whistle, while his face
+assumed a comical expression of dismay. He turned to the lawyer. "Did
+you ever hear of anything so queer?"
+
+"Queer? Why?" demanded Cecilia.
+
+"Well, it looks as if she wanted to see the last of you, that's all. The
+Nauru sails from Liverpool."
+
+"Bobby!" Cecilia's face fell. "I thought we went from Gravesend or
+Tilbury, or somewhere."
+
+"So did I. But the General's wire says Liverpool, so it seems we don't,"
+said Bob. "And that she-dragon is going there too!"
+
+"I don't think you need really worry," Mr. M'Clinton said drily.
+"Liverpool is not exactly a village. The chances are that if you went
+there, trying to meet some one, you would hunt for him for a week in
+vain. And you'll probably go straight from the train to the docks, so
+that you won't be in the least likely to encounter Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"Why, of course, we'd never run into her in a huge place like
+Liverpool," Bob said, laughing. "Don't be afraid, Tommy--you'll have
+seen the last of her when you say good-bye on Wednesday."
+
+"It seems too good to be true," said Cecilia solemnly. "I remember how
+I felt once before, when she went away to visit her sister in Liverpool;
+the beautiful relief when one woke, to think that not all through the
+day would one even have to look at her. It's really very terrible to
+look at her often; her white face and hard eyes seem to fascinate one.
+Oh, I don't suppose I ought to talk like that, especially here." She
+looked shamefacedly at Mr. M'Clinton, and blushed scarlet.
+
+Both men laughed.
+
+"The good lady had something of the same effect on me," Mr. M'Clinton
+admitted. "I found her a very terrible person. Cheer up, Miss Tommy,
+you've nearly finished with her. And, now, what about getting you away?"
+
+Cecilia turned to her brother.
+
+"What am I to do, Bob?"
+
+"We'll have to go to Liverpool on Friday," Bob replied promptly. "I
+can't find out the Nauru's sailing time, and it isn't safe to leave it
+until Saturday. There's a train somewhere about two o'clock that gets up
+somewhere about seven or eight that evening. Mr. M'Clinton and I don't
+want to leave it to the last moment to get your luggage away from
+Lancaster Gate. Can you have it ready the night before?"
+
+"It would really be safer to take it in the afternoon," Cecilia said
+after a moment's thought. "Mrs. Rainham's absence will make that quite
+easy, for I know I can depend upon Eliza and Cook. I can get my trunks
+ready, leave them in my room, and tell Eliza you will be there to call
+for them, say, at four o'clock. Then I take the three children out for a
+walk, and when we return everything is gone. Will that do?"
+
+"Perfectly," said Bob, laughing. "And four o'clock suits me all right.
+Then you'll saunter out on Friday morning with an inoffensive brown
+paper parcel containing the rest of your worldly effects, and meet me
+for lunch at the Euston Hotel. Is that clear?"
+
+"Quite. I suppose I had better put no address on my trunks?"
+
+"Not a line--I'll see to that. And don't even mention the word
+'Australia' this week, just in case your eye dances unconsciously, and
+sets people thinking! I think you'd better cultivate a downtrodden look,
+at any rate until Mrs Rainham is out of the house; at present you look
+far too cheerful to be natural--doesn't she, sir?"
+
+"You have to see to it that she does not look downtrodden again, after
+this week," said Mr. M'Clinton. "Remember that, Captain--she's going a
+long way, and she'll have no one but you."
+
+"I know, sir. But, bless you, it's me that will look downtrodden," said
+Bob with a grin. "She bullies me horribly--always did." He slipped his
+hand through her arm, and they looked up at him with such radiant faces
+that the old man smiled involuntarily.
+
+"Ah, I think you'll be all right," he said. "Remember, Miss Tommy, I'll
+expect to hear from you--fairly often, too. I shall not say good-bye
+now--you'll see me on Friday at luncheon."
+
+They found themselves down in the grey precincts of Lincoln's Inn,
+which, it may be, had rarely seen two young things prancing along so
+dementedly. In the street they had to sober down, to outward seeming;
+but there was still something about them, as they hurried off to find a
+teashop to discuss final details, that made people turn to look at
+them. Even the waitress beamed on them, and supplied them with her
+best cakes--and London waitresses are a bored race. But at the moment,
+neither Cecilia nor Bob could have told you whether they were eating
+cakes or sausages.
+
+"The money is all right," Bob said. "It'll be available at a Melbourne
+bank when we get there; and meanwhile, there's plenty of ready money,
+with what I've saved and my war gratuity. So if you want anything,
+Tommy, you just say so, and don't go without any pretties just because
+you think we'll be in the workhouse."
+
+"Bless you--but I don't really need anything," she told him gratefully.
+"It would be nice to have a little money to spend at the ports, but I
+think we ought to keep the rest for Australia, don't you, Bob?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course; but you're not to go without a few pounds if you
+want 'em," said Bob. "And, Tommy, don't leave meeting me on Friday until
+lunch time. I'll be worrying if you do, just in case things may have
+gone wrong. Make it eleven o'clock at the Bond Street tube exit, and if
+you're not there in half an hour I'll jolly well go and fetch you."
+
+"I'll be there," Cecilia nodded. "You had better give me the half-hour's
+grace, though, in case I might be held up at the last moment. One never
+knows--and Avice and Wilfred are excellent little watchdogs."
+
+"Anyhow, you won't have the she-dragon to reckon with, and that's a
+big thing," Bob said. "I don't see how you can have any trouble--Papa
+certainly will not give you any."
+
+"No, he won't bother," said Cecilia slowly. "It's queer to think how
+little he counts--our own father."
+
+"A pretty shoddy apology for one, I think," Bob said bitterly. "What has
+he ever done for us? But I'd forgive him that when I can't forgive him
+something else--the way he has let you be treated these two years."
+
+"He hasn't known everything, Bobby."
+
+"He has known quite enough. And if he had the spirit of a man he'd have
+saved you from it. No; we don't owe him any consideration, Tommy; and
+he saw to it years ago that we should never owe him any affection. So
+we really needn't worry our heads about him. By the way, there are to be
+some Australians on the Nauru who General Harran says may be of use to
+us--I don't remember their names, but he's going to give me a letter
+to them. And probably there will be some other flying people whom I may
+know. I think the voyage ought to be rather good fun."
+
+"I think so, too. It will be exciting to be on a troopship," Cecilia
+said. "But, then, anything will be heavenly after Lancaster Gate!"
+
+She hurried home, as soon as the little meal was over, knowing that
+Mrs. Rainham would be impatiently awaiting her. Luckily, her success in
+matching the trimming made her stepmother forget how long she had been
+away; and from that moment until a welcome four-wheeler removed the
+mistress of the house on Wednesday, she sewed and packed for her
+unceasingly. Her journey excited Mrs. Rainham greatly. She talked
+almost affably of her sister's grandeur, and of the certainty of meeting
+wealthy and gorgeously dressed people at her party.
+
+"Not that I'll be at all ashamed of my dress," she added, looking at
+the billowy waves on which Cecilia was plastering yet more trimming.
+"Unusual and artistic, that's what it is; and it'll show off my hair.
+Don't forget the darning when I'm gone, Cecilia. There's a tablecloth to
+mend, as well as the stockings. I'll be home on Saturday night, unless
+they persuade me to stay over the week-end."
+
+Cecilia nodded, sewing busily.
+
+"And just see if you can't get on a bit better with the children. You've
+got to make allowances for their high spirits, and treat them tactfully.
+Of course you can't expect them to be as obedient to you as they would
+be to a regular governess, you being their own half-sister, and not so
+much older than Avice, after all. But tact does wonders, especially with
+children."
+
+"Yes," said Cecilia, and said no more.
+
+"Well, just bear it in mind. I don't suppose you'll see much of your
+father, so you needn't worry about him. But don't let Eliza gossip and
+idle; she never does any work if she's not kept up to it, and you know
+you're much too familiar with her. Always keep girls like her at a
+distance, and they'll work all the better, that's what I say. Treat her
+as an equal, and the next thing you know she'll be trying on your hats!"
+
+"I haven't caught Eliza at that yet," said Cecilia with the ghost of a
+smile.
+
+"It'll come, though, if you're not more stand-offish with her--you mark
+my words. Keep them in their place--that's what I always do with my
+servants and governesses," said Mrs. Rainham without the slightest idea
+that she was saying anything peculiar. "Now, I'll go and put my things
+out on my bed, and as soon as you've finished that you can come up and
+pack for me."
+
+Cecilia stood at the hall door that afternoon to watch her go--bustling
+into the cab, with loud directions to the cabman, her hard face full of
+self-importance and satisfaction. The plump hand waved a highly scented
+handkerchief as the clumsy four-wheeler moved off.
+
+"To think I'll never see you again!" breathed the girl. "It seems too
+good to be true!"
+
+A kind of wave of relief seemed to have descended upon the house. The
+children were openly exulting in having no one to obey; an attitude
+which, in the circumstances, failed to trouble their half-sister. Eliza
+went about her work with a cheery face; even Cook, down in the basement,
+manifested lightness of heart by singing love songs in a cracked soprano
+and by making scones for afternoon tea. Mark Rainham did not come home
+until late--he had announced his intention of dining at his club. Late
+in the evening he sauntered into the dining-room, where Cecilia sat
+sewing.
+
+"Still at it?" he asked. He sat down and poked the fire. "What are you
+sewing?"
+
+"Just darning," Cecilia told him.
+
+He sat looking at her for a while--at the pretty face and the
+well-tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull
+brain?
+
+"You look a bit pale," he said at last. "Do you go out enough?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so," Cecilia answered in astonishment. Not in two
+years had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her to a
+sudden resolve. She had never been quite satisfied to leave him without
+a word; whatever he was, he was still her father. She put her darning on
+her knee, and looked at him gravely.
+
+"You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?"
+
+"Yes--he told me so," Mark Rainham answered.
+
+"And you know he wants to take me away?"
+
+Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.
+
+"Oh, yes--but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid. You're under age, and
+your stepmother won't hear of it." He poked the fire savagely.
+
+"But if Bob could make a home for me! We have always been together, you
+know, Papa."
+
+"Oh, well--wait and see. Time enough when you're twenty-one, and your
+own mistress; Bob will have had a chance to make good by then. I--I
+can't oppose my wife in the matter--she says she's not strong enough to
+do without your help."
+
+"But she never seems satisfied with me."
+
+Mark Rainham rose with an irritably nervous movement.
+
+"Oh, no one is ever perfect. I suspect, if each of you went a little
+way to meet the other, things would be better. Your stepmother says her
+nerves are all wrong, and I'm sure you do take a great deal of trouble
+off her shoulders."
+
+"Then you won't let me go?" The girl's low voice was relentless, and
+her father wriggled as though he were a beetle and she were pinning him
+down.
+
+"I--I'm afraid it's out of the question, Cecilia. I should have to be
+very satisfied first that Bob could offer you a home--and by that time
+he'll probably be thinking of getting married, and won't want you. Why
+can't you settle down comfortably to living at home?"
+
+"There isn't any home for me apart from Bob," said the girl.
+
+"Well, I can't help it." Mark Rainham's voice had a hopeless tone. He
+walked to the door, and then half turned. "If you can make my wife agree
+to your going, I won't forbid it. Good night."
+
+"Good night," said Cecilia. The slow footsteps went up the stairs, and
+she turned to her darning with a lip that curled in scorn.
+
+"Well, that let's me out. I don't owe you anything--not even a good-bye
+note on my pincushion," she said presently; and laughed a little. She
+folded a finished pair of socks deliberately, and, rising, stretched
+her arms luxuriously above her head. "Two more days," she whispered. She
+switched off the light, and crept noiselessly upstairs.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE WATCH DOGS
+
+
+"Well, if you ask me, she's up to something," said Avice with
+conviction.
+
+"How d'you mean?" Wilfred looked up curiously.
+
+"Lots of things. She looks all different. First of all--look how red she
+is all the time, and the excited look in her eyes."
+
+"That's all look--look!" jeered her brother. "Girls always have those
+rotten ideas about nothing at all. Just because Cecilia's got a bit
+sunburnt, and because she's havin' an easy time 'cause Mater's away--"
+
+"Oh, you think because you're a boy, you know everything," retorted his
+sister hotly. "You just listen, and see if I've got rotten ideas. Did
+you know, she's kept her room locked for days?"
+
+"Well--if she has? That's nothing."
+
+"You shut up and let me go on. Yesterday she forgot, and left it open
+while she was down talking to Cook, and I slipped in. And there was
+one of her great big trunks, that she always keeps in the box room,
+half-packed with her things. I nicked this necklace out of it, too,"
+said Avice with triumph, producing a quaint string of Italian beads.
+
+"Good business," said Wilfred with an appreciative grin. "Did she catch
+you?"
+
+"Not she--I can tell you I didn't wait long, 'cause she always comes
+upstairs as quick as lightning. She did come, too, in an awful hurry,
+and locked up the room--I only got out of the way just in time. And
+every minute she could, yesterday, she was up there."
+
+"Well, I don't see much in that."
+
+"No, but look here, I got another chance of looking into her room this
+morning, and that trunk was gone!"
+
+"Gone back to the box-room," said Wilfred with superiority.
+
+"No, it wasn't--I went up and looked. And her other trunk's not there,
+either."
+
+"Oh, you're dreaming! I bet she'd just pushed it under her bed."
+
+"Pooh!" said Avice. "That great big trunk wouldn't go under her bed--you
+know she's only got a little stretcher-bed. And I tell you they'd both
+gone. I bet you anything she's going to run away."
+
+"Where'd she run to?"
+
+"Oh, somewhere with Bob."
+
+"Well, let her go."
+
+"Yes, and Mater 'd have to spend ever so much on a new governess; and
+most likely she'd be a worse beast than Cecilia. And no governess we
+ever had did half the things Mater makes Cecilia do to help in the
+house. Why she's like an extra servant, as well as a governess. Mater
+told me all about it. I tell you what, Wilfred, it's our business to see
+she doesn't run away."
+
+"All right," said Wilfred, "I suppose we'd better watch out. When do you
+reckon she'd go? People generally run away at night, don't they?"
+
+"Well, anyone can see she's just taking advantage of Mater being away.
+Yes, of course she'd go at night. She might have sent her boxes away
+yesterday by a carrier--I bet that horrid little Eliza would help her.
+Ten to one she means to sneak out to-night--she knows Mater will be home
+to-morrow."
+
+"What a sell it will be for her if we catch her!" said Wilfred with
+glee. "I say, what about telling Pater?"
+
+Avice looked sour.
+
+"I did tell him something yesterday, and he only growled at me. At
+least, I said, 'Do you think Cecilia would ever be likely to run away?'
+And he just stared at me, and then he said, 'Not your business if she
+does.' So I'm not going to speak to him again."
+
+"Well, we'd better take it in turns to watch her," Wilfred said. "After
+dark's the most likely time, I suppose, but we'd better be on the
+look-out all the time. Where's she now, by the way?"
+
+"Why, I don't know. I say, she's been away a long time--I never
+noticed," said Avice, in sudden alarm. "She said we were to go on with
+our French exercises--and that's ages ago."
+
+"Come on and see," said Wilfred jumping up.
+
+Outside the room he caught Avice by the arm.
+
+"Kick off your shoes," he said. "We'll sneak up to her room."
+
+They crept up silently. The door of Cecilia's room was ajar. Peeping in,
+they saw her standing before her tiny looking-glass, pinning on her
+hat. A small parcel lay upon her bed, with her gloves and parasol. The
+children were very silent--but something struck upon the girl's tightly
+strung nerves. She turned swiftly and saw them.
+
+"What are you doing?" she demanded. "How dare you come into my room?"
+
+"Why, we thought you were lost," said Avice. "We finished our French
+ages ago. Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going out," said Cecilia. "I'll set you more work to do while I'm
+away."
+
+"But where are you going?"
+
+"That has nothing to do with you. Come down to the schoolroom."
+
+Avice held her brother firmly by the arm. Together they blocked the way.
+
+"Mater wouldn't let you go out in lesson time. I believe you're going to
+run away!"
+
+A red spot flamed in each of Cecilia's white cheeks.
+
+"Stand out of my way, you little horrors!" she said angrily. She caught
+up her things and advanced upon them.
+
+"I'm hanged if you're going," said Wilfred doggedly. He pushed her back
+violently, and slammed the door.
+
+The attic doors in Lancaster Gate, like those of many London houses,
+were fitted with heavy iron bolts on the outside--a precaution against
+burglars who might enter the house by rooms ordinarily little used. It
+was not the first time that Cecilia had been bolted into her room by her
+step-brother. When first she came, it had been a favourite pastime to
+make her a prisoner--until their mother had made it an offence carrying
+a heavy penalty, since it had often occurred that Cecilia was locked up
+when she happened to need her.
+
+But this time Cecilia heard the heavy bolt shoot home with feelings of
+despair. It was already time for her to leave the house. Bob would
+be waiting for her in Bond Street, impatiently scanning each crowd of
+passengers that the lift shot up from underground. She battered at the
+door wildly.
+
+"Let me out! How dare you, Wilfred? Let me out at once!"
+
+Wilfred laughed disagreeably.
+
+"Not if we know it--eh, Avice?"
+
+"Rather not," said Avice. "What d'you think Mater'd say to us if we let
+you run away?"
+
+"Nonsense!" said Cecilia, controlling her voice with difficulty. "I was
+going to meet Bob."
+
+There was silence, and a whispered consultation. Then Avice spoke.
+
+"Will you give us your word of honour you weren't going to run away?"
+
+Words of honour meant little to the young Rainhams. But they knew that
+Cecilia held it as a commonplace of decent behaviour that people did not
+tell lies. They had, indeed, often marvelled that she preferred to "take
+her gruel" rather than use any ready untruth that would have shielded
+her from their mother's wrath. Avice and Wilfred had no such scruples on
+their own account: but they knew that they could depend upon Cecilia's
+word. They were, indeed, just a little afraid of their own action in
+locking her up; their mother might have condoned it as "high spirits,"
+but their father was not unlikely to take a different view. So they
+awaited her reply with some anxiety.
+
+Cecilia hesitated. Never in her life had she been so tempted. Perhaps
+because the temptation was so strong she answered swiftly.
+
+"No--I won't tell you anything of the kind. But look here--if you will
+let me out I'll give you each ten shillings."
+
+Ten shillings! It was wealth, and the children gasped. Wilfred, indeed,
+would have shot back the bolt instantly. It was Avice who caught at his
+arm.
+
+"Don't you!" she whispered. "It'll cost heaps more than that to get
+a new governess--and we'll make Mater give us each ten shillings for
+keeping her. I say, we'll have to get the Pater home."
+
+"How?" Wilfred looked at her blankly.
+
+"Easy. You go to the post office and telephone to him at his office.
+Tell him to come at once. I'll watch here, in case Eliza lets her out.
+Run--hard as you can. Mater'll never forgive us if she gets away."
+
+Wilfred clattered off obediently, awed by his sister's urgency. Avice
+sat down on the head of the stairs, close to the bolted door; and when
+Cecilia spoke again, repeating her offer, she answered her in a voice
+unpleasantly like her mother's:
+
+"No, you don't, my fine lady. Wilfred's gone for the Pater--he'll be
+here presently. You just stay there quietly till he comes."
+
+"Avice!" The word was a wail. "Oh, you don't know how important it
+is--let me out. I'll give you anything in the world."
+
+"So'll Mater if I stop your little game," said Avice. "You just keep
+quiet."
+
+Eliza's sharp little face appeared at the foot of the flight of stairs.
+
+"Wot's up, Miss Avice? Anyfink wrong with Miss 'Cilia?"
+
+"Nothing to do with you," said Avice rudely. "I'm looking after her."
+But Cecilia's sharp ears had caught the new voice.
+
+"Eliza! Eliza!" she called.
+
+The girl came up the stairs uncertainly. Avice rose to confront her.
+
+"Now, you just keep off," she said. "You're not coming past here. The
+master'll be home directly, and till he comes, no one's going up
+these stairs." She raised her voice, to drown that of Cecilia, who was
+speaking again.
+
+Eliza looked at her doubtfully. She was an undersized, wizened little
+Cockney, and Avice was a big, stoutly-built girl--who held, moreover,
+the advantage of a commanding position on the top step. In an encounter
+of strength there was little doubt as to who would win. She turned
+in silence, cowed, and went down to the kitchen, while Avice sang a
+triumphant song, partly as a chant of victory, and partly to make sure
+that no one would hear the remarks that Cecilia was steadily making. She
+herself had caught one phrase--"Tell my brother"--and her sharp little
+mind was busy. Did that mean that Bob would be coming, against its
+mistress's orders, to Lancaster Gate.
+
+In the kitchen Eliza poured out a frantic appeal to Cook.
+
+"She's got Miss 'Cilia locked up--the little red-'eaded cat! An' Master
+Wilfred gorn to fetch the Master! Oh, come on, Cookie darlin', an' we'll
+let 'er out."
+
+Cook shook her head slowly.
+
+"Not good enough," she said. "I got a pretty good place. I ain't goin'
+to risk it by 'avin' a rough-an'-tumble with the daughter of the 'ouse
+on the hattic stairs. You better leave well alone, Liza. You done your
+bit, 'elpin' 'er git them trunks orf yes'day."
+
+"Wot's the good of 'avin the trunks off if she can't go, too?" demanded
+Eliza.
+
+"Oh, she'll git another chance. Don't worry your 'ead so much over other
+people's business. If the Master comes 'ome an' finds us scruffin' 'is
+daughter, 'e'll 'and us both over to the police for assault--an' then
+you'll 'ave cause for worry. Now you git along like a good gel--I got to
+mike pastry." Cook turned away decisively.
+
+Wilfred had come home and had raced up the stairs.
+
+"Did you get him?" Avice cried.
+
+"No--he was out. So I left a message that he was to come home at once,
+'cause something was wrong."
+
+"That'll bring him," said Avice with satisfaction. "Now, look here,
+Wilf--I believe Bob may come. You go and be near the front door, to
+block Eliza, if he does. Answer any ring."
+
+"What'll I say if he comes?"
+
+"Say she's gone out to meet him--if he thinks that, he'll hurry back to
+wherever they were to meet. Don't give him a chance to get in. Hurry!"
+
+"Right," said Wilfred, obeying. He sat down in a hall chair, and took
+up a paper, with an eye wary for Eliza. Half an hour passed tediously,
+while upstairs Cecilia begged and bribed in vain. Then he sprang to his
+feet as a ring came.
+
+Bob was at the door; and suddenly Wilfred realized that he had always
+been afraid of Bob. He quailed inwardly, for never had he seen his
+half-brother look as he did now--with a kind of still, terrible anger in
+his eyes.
+
+"Where's Cecilia?"
+
+"Gone out," said the boy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Gone to meet you."
+
+"Did she tell you so?"
+
+"Yes, of course--how'd I know if she didn't?"
+
+"Then that's a lie, for she wouldn't tell you. Let me in."
+
+"I tell you, she's gone out," said Wilfred, whose only spark of
+remaining courage was due to the fact that he had prudently kept the
+door on the chain. "And Mater said you weren't to come in here."
+
+From the area below a shrill voice floated upwards.
+
+"Mr. Bob! Mr. Bob! Daon't you believe 'im. They got Miss 'Cilia locked
+up in 'er room."
+
+"By Jove!" said Bob between his teeth. "Bless you, Eliza! Open that
+door, Wilfred, or I'll make it hot for you." He thrust a foot into the
+opening, with a face so threatening that Wilfred shrank back.
+
+"I shan't," he said. "You're not going to get her."
+
+"Am I not?" said Bob. He leaned back, and then suddenly flung all his
+weight against the door. The chain was old and the links eaten with
+rust--it snapped like a carrot, and the door flew open. Bob brushed
+Wilfred out of his way, and went upstairs, three at a time.
+
+Avice blocked his path.
+
+"You aren't coming up."
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so," Bob said. He stooped, with a quick movement,
+and picked her up, holding her across his shoulder, while she beat and
+clawed unavailingly at his back. So holding her, he thrust back the bolt
+of Cecilia's door and flung it open.
+
+"Did you think they had got you, Tommy?"
+
+She could only cling to his free arm for a moment speechless. Then she
+lifted her face, her voice shaking, still in fear.
+
+"We must hurry, Bob. They've sent for Papa."
+
+"Have they?" said Bob, with interest. "Well, not a regiment of papas
+should stop you now, old girl. Got everything?"
+
+Cecilia gathered up her things, nodding.
+
+"Then we'll leave this young lady here," said Bob. He placed Avice
+carefully on Cecilia's bed, and made for the door, having the pleasure,
+as he shot the bolt, of hearing precisely what the younger Miss
+Rainham thought of him and all his attributes, including his personal
+appearance.
+
+"A nice gift of language, hasn't she?" he said. "Inherits it from
+her mamma, I should think." He put his arm round Cecilia and held her
+closely as they went downstairs, his face full of the joy of battle.
+Wilfred was nowhere to be seen, but by the door Eliza waited. Bob
+slipped something into her hand.
+
+"I expect you'll lose your place over this, Eliza," he said. "Well,
+you'll get a better--I'll tell my lawyer to see to that. He'll write to
+you--by the way, what's your surname? Oh, Smithers--I'll remember. And
+thank you very much."
+
+They shook hands with her, and passed out into the street. Cecilia was
+still too shaken to speak--but as Bob pulled her hand through his arm
+and hurried her along, her self-control returned, and the face that
+looked up at his presently was absolutely content. Bob returned the look
+with a little smile.
+
+"Didn't you know I'd come?" he asked. "You dear old stupid."
+
+"I knew you'd come--but I thought Papa would get there first," Cecilia
+answered. "Somehow, it seemed the end of everything."
+
+"It isn't--it's only the beginning," Bob answered.
+
+There was a narrow side street that made a short cut from the tube
+station to the Rainhams' home; and as they passed it Mark Rainham came
+hurrying up it. Bob and Cecilia did not see him. He looked at them for
+a moment, as if reading the meaning of the two happy faces--and then
+shrank back into an alley and remained hidden until his son and daughter
+had passed out of sight. They went on their way, without dreaming that
+the man they dreaded was within a stone's throw of them.
+
+"So it was that," said Mark Rainham slowly, looking after them. "Out of
+gaol, are you--poor little prisoner! Well, good luck to you both!" He
+turned on his heel, and went back to his office.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+
+"We're nearly in, Tommy."
+
+Cecilia looked up from her corner with a start, and the book she had
+been trying to read slipped to the floor of the carriage.
+
+"I believe you were asleep," said Bob, laughing. "Poor old Tommy, are
+you very tired?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, really. Only I was getting a bit sleepy," his sister
+answered. "Are we late, Bob?"
+
+"Very, the conductor says. This train generally makes a point of being
+late. I wish it had made a struggle to be on time to-night; it would
+have been jolly to get to the ship in daylight." Bob was strapping up
+rugs briskly as he talked.
+
+"How do we get down to the ship, Bob?"
+
+"Oh, no doubt there'll be taxis," Bob answered. "But it may be no end of
+a drive--the conductor tells me there are miles and miles of docks, and
+the Nauru may be lying anywhere. But he says there's always a military
+official on duty at the station--a transport officer, and he'll be able
+to tell me everything." He did not think it worth while to tell the
+tired little sister what another man had told him, that it was very
+doubtful whether they would be allowed to board any transport at night,
+and that Liverpool was so crowded that to find beds in it might be an
+impossibility. Bob refused to be depressed by the prospect. "If the
+worst came to the worst, there'd be a Y.W.C.A. that would take in
+Tommy," he mused. "And it wouldn't be the first time I've spent a night
+in the open." Nothing seemed to matter now that they had escaped. But,
+all the same, there seemed no point in telling Tommy, who was extremely
+cheerful, but also very white-faced.
+
+They drew into an enormous station, where there seemed a dense crowd
+of people, but no porters at all. Bob piled their hand luggage on
+the platform, and left Cecilia to guard it while he went on a tour of
+discovery. He hurried back to her presently.
+
+"Come on," he said, gathering up their possessions. "There's a big
+station hotel opening on to the platforms. I can leave you sitting in
+the vestibule while I gather up the heavy luggage and find the transport
+officer. I'm afraid it's going to take some time, so don't get worried
+if I don't turn up very soon. There seem to be about fifty thousand
+people struggling round the luggage vans, and I'll have to wait my turn.
+But I'll be as quick as I can."
+
+"Don't you worry on my account," Cecilia said. "This is ever so
+comfortable. I don't mind how long you're away!" She laughed up at him,
+sinking into a big chair in the vestibule of the hotel. There were heavy
+glass doors on either side that were constantly swinging to let people
+in or out; through them could be seen the hurrying throng of people
+on the station, rushing to and fro under the great electric lights,
+gathered round the bookstall, struggling along under luggage, or--very
+occasionally--moving in the wake of a porter with a barrow heaped with
+trunks. There were soldiers everywhere, British and Australian, and
+officers in every variety of Allied uniform.
+
+An officer came in with a lady and two tiny boys--Cecilia recognized
+them as having been passengers on their train. With them came an old
+Irish priest, who had met them, and the officer left them in his
+care while he also went off on the luggage quest. The small boys were
+apparently untired by their journey; they immediately began to use the
+swinging glass doors as playthings to the imminent risk of their own
+necks, since they were too little to be noticed by anyone coming in
+or out, and were nearly knocked flat a dozen times by the swing of the
+doors. The weary mother spent a busy time in rescuing them, and was not
+always entirely successful--bumps and howls testified to the doors being
+occasionally quicker than the boys. Finally, the old priest gathered
+up the elder, a curly-haired, slender mite, into his arms and told him
+stories, while his plump and solemn brother curled up on his mother's
+knee and dozed. It was clearly long after their bed-time.
+
+The procession of people came and went unceasingly, the glass doors
+always aswing. In and out, in and out, men and women hurried, and just
+beyond the kaleidoscope of the platforms moved and changed restlessly
+under the glaring arc lights. Cecilia's bewildered mind grew weary of it
+all, and she closed her eyes. It was some time later that she woke with
+a start, to find Bob beside her.
+
+"Sleepy old thing," he said. "Oh, I've had such a wild time, Tommy; to
+get information of any kind is as hard as to get one's luggage. However,
+I've got both. And the first thing is we can't go on board to-night."
+
+"Bob! What shall we do?"
+
+"I was rather anxious about that same thing myself," said Bob, "since
+everyone tells me that Liverpool is more jammed with people than even
+London--which is saying something. However, we've had luck. I went to
+ask in here, never imagining I had the ghost of a chance, and they'd
+just had telegrams giving up two rooms. So we're quite all right; and so
+is the luggage. I've had all the heavy stuff handed over to a carrier to
+be put on the Nauru to-morrow morning."
+
+"You're the great manager," said Cecilia comfortably. "Where is the
+Nauru, by the way?"
+
+"Sitting out in the river, the transport officer says. She doesn't come
+alongside until the morning; and we haven't to be on board until three
+o'clock. She's supposed to pull out about six. So we really needn't have
+left London to-day--but I think it's as well we did."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Cecilia, with a shiver. "I don't think I could have
+stood another night in Lancaster Gate. I've been awake for three nights
+wondering what we should do if any hitch came in our plans."
+
+"Just like a woman!" said Bob, laughing. "You always jump over your
+hedges before you come to them." He pulled her gently out of her chair.
+"Come along; I'll have these things sent up to our rooms, and then we'll
+get some dinner--after which you'll go to bed." It was a plan which
+sounded supremely attractive to his sister.
+
+Not even the roar and rattle of the trains under the station hotel kept
+Cecilia awake that night. She slept, dreamlessly at first; then she had
+a dream that she was just about to embark in a great ship for Australia;
+that she was going up the gangway, when suddenly behind her came her
+father and her stepmother, with Avice, Wilfred and Queenie, who all
+seized her, and began to drag her back. She fought and struggled with
+them, and from the top of the gangway came Mr. M'Clinton and Eliza, who
+tugged her upwards. Between the two parties she was beginning to think
+she would be torn to pieces, when suddenly came swooping from the clouds
+an areoplane, curiously like a wheelbarrow, and in it Bob, who leaned
+out as he dived, grasped her by the hair, and swung her aboard with him.
+They whirred away over the sea; where, she did not know, but it did not
+seem greatly to matter. They were still flying between sea and sky when
+she woke, to find the sunlight streaming into her room, and some one
+knocking at her door.
+
+"Are you awake, Tommy?" It was Bob's voice. "Lie still, and I'll send
+you up a cup of tea."
+
+That was very pleasant, and a happy contrast to awakening in Lancaster
+Gate; and breakfast a little later was delightful, in a big sunny room,
+with interesting people coming and going all the time. Bob and Cecilia
+smiled at each other like two happy children. It was almost unbelievable
+that they were free; away from tryanny and coldness, with no more
+plotting and planning, and no more prying eyes.
+
+Bob went off to interview the transport officer after breakfast, and
+Cecilia found the officer's wife with the two little boys struggling to
+attend to her luggage, while the children ran away and lost themselves
+in the corridors or endeavoured to commit suicide by means of the lift.
+So Cecilia took command of them and played with them until the harassed
+mother had finished, and came to reclaim her offspring--this time with
+the worry lines smoothed out of her face. She sat down by Cecilia and
+talked, and presently it appeared that she also was sailing in the
+Nauru.
+
+"Indeed, I thought it was only wives who were going," she said. "I
+didn't know sisters were permitted."
+
+"I believe General Harran managed our passages," Cecilia said. "He has
+been very kind to my brother."
+
+"Well, you should have a merry voyage, for there will be scarcely any
+young girls on board," said Mrs. Burton, her new friend. "Most of the
+women on the transports are brides, of course. Ever so many of our men
+have married over here."
+
+"You are an Australian?" Cecilia asked.
+
+"Oh, yes. My husband isn't. He was an old regular officer, and returned
+to his regiment as soon as war broke out. I don't think there will be
+many women on board: the Nauru isn't a family ship, you know."
+
+"What is that?" Cecilia queried.
+
+"Oh, a ship with hundreds of women and children--privates' wives and
+families, as well as officers'. I believe they are rather awful to
+travel on--they must be terrible in rough weather. The non-family ships
+carry only a few officers' wives, as a rule: a much more comfortable
+arrangement for the lucky few."
+
+"And we are among the lucky few?"
+
+"Yes. I only hope my small boys won't be a nuisance. I've never been
+without a nurse for them until last night. However, I suppose I'll soon
+get into their ways."
+
+"You must let me help you," Cecilia said. "I love babies." She stroked
+Tim's curly head as she spoke: Dickie, his little brother, had suddenly
+fallen asleep on his mother's knee.
+
+Mrs. Burton smiled her thanks.
+
+"Well, it is pleasant to think we shan't go on board knowing no one,"
+she said. "I hope our cabins are not far apart. Oh, here is my husband;
+I hope that means all our luggage is safely on board."
+
+Colonel Burton came up--a pleasant soldierly man, bearing the
+unmistakable stamp of the regular officer. They were still chatting
+when Bob arrived, to be introduced--a ceremony which appeared hardly
+necessary in the case of the colonel and himself.
+
+"We've met at intervals since last night in various places where they
+hide luggage," said the colonel. "I'm beginning to turn faint at the
+sight of a trunk!"
+
+"It's the trunks I can't get sight of that make me tremble," grinned
+Bob. "One of mine disappeared mysteriously this morning, and finally,
+after a breathless hunt, turned up in a lamp-room--your biggest
+Saratoga, Tommy! Why anyone should have put it in a lamp-room seems to
+be a conundrum that is going to excite the station for ever. But there
+it was."
+
+"And have they really started for the ship?" asked Cecilia.
+
+"Well--I saw them all on a lorry, checked over my list with the
+driver's, and found everything right, and saw him start," said Bob,
+laughing. "More than that no man may say."
+
+"It would simplify matters if we knew our cabin numbers," said Colonel
+Burton. "But we don't; neither does anyone, as far as I can gather,
+since cabins appear to be allotted just as you go on board--a peculiar
+system. Can you imagine the ghastly heap of miscellaneous luggage that
+will be dumped on the Nauru, with frenzied owners wildly trying to sort
+it out!"
+
+"It doesn't bear thinking of," said Bob, laughing. "Come along, Tommy,
+and we'll explore Liverpool."
+
+They wandered about the crowded streets of the great port, where may,
+perhaps, be seen a queerer mixture of races than anywhere in England,
+since ships from all over the world ceaselesly come and go up and down
+the Mersey. Then they boarded a tram and journeyed out of the city,
+among miles of beautiful houses, and, getting down at the terminus,
+walked briskly for an hour, since it would be long before there would
+be any land for them to walk on again. They got back to the hotel rather
+late for lunch, and very hungry; and afterwards it was time to pack up
+their light luggage and get down to the docks. General Harran had warned
+them to take enough hand-baggage to last them several nights, since
+it was quite possible that their cabin trunks would be swept into the
+baggage room, and fail to turn up for a week after sailing.
+
+A taxi whisked them through streets that became more and more crowded.
+The journey was not a long one; they turned down a slope presently, and
+drew up before a great gate across the end of a pier where two policemen
+were on duty to prevent the entrance of anyone without a pass. Porters
+were there in singular numbers--England had grown quite used to being
+without them; and Bob had just transferred their luggage to the care of
+a cheerful lad with a barrow when Cecilia gave a little start of dismay.
+
+"Bob, I've left my watch!"
+
+"Whew!" whistled her brother. "Where?"
+
+"I washed my hands just before I left my room," said the shamefaced
+Cecilia. "I remember slipping it off my wrist beside the basin."
+
+"Well, there's no need to worry," said Bob cheerfully. "Ten to one it's
+there still. You'll have to take the taxi and go back for it, Tommy:
+I can't leave the luggage, and I may be wanted to show our papers,
+besides; but you won't have any difficulty. Come along, and I'll see
+that the policeman lets you through when you come back."
+
+The constable was sympathetic. He examined Cecilia's passport, declared
+that he would know her anywhere again, and that she had no cause for
+anxiety.
+
+"Is it time? Sure, ye'll be tired of waitin' on the ould pier hours
+afther ye get back," he said cheerfully. "I know thim transports. Why,
+there's not one of the throops marched in yet. There comes the furrst
+lot."
+
+A band swung round the turn of the street playing a quickstep: behind
+it, a long line of Australian soldiers, marching at ease, each man with
+his pack on his shoulder. A gate with a military sentry swung wide to
+admit them, and they passed on to where a high overhead bridge carried
+them aboard a great liner moored to the pier.
+
+"'Tis the soldiers have betther treatment than the officers whin it
+comes to boardin' transports," said the friendly policeman. "They get
+marched straight on board. The officers and their belongin's has to wait
+till they've gone through hivin knows what formalities. So you needn't
+worry, miss, an' take your time. The ould ship'll be there hours yet."
+
+The taxi driver appeared only too glad of further employment, and
+Cecilia, much cheered, though still considerably ashamed of herself,
+leaned back comfortably in the cab as they whisked through the streets.
+At the hotel good fortune awaited her, for a chambermaid had just found
+her watch and had brought it to the office for safe keeping. Cecilia
+left her thanks, with something more substantial, for the girl, and
+hurried back to the cab.
+
+The streets seemed more thronged than ever, and presently traffic was
+blocked by a line of marching men--more "diggers" on their way to the
+transport. Cecilia's chauffeur turned back into a side street, evidently
+a short cut. Half-way along it the taxi jarred once or twice and came to
+a standstill.
+
+The chauffeur got out and poked his head into the bonnet, performing
+mysterious rites, while Cecilia watched him, a little anxiously.
+Presently he came round to the door.
+
+"I'm awful sorry, miss," he said respectfully. "The old bus has broke
+down. I'm afraid I can't get another move out of 'er--I'll 'ave to get
+'er towed to a garage."
+
+"Oh!" said Cecilia, jumping out. "Do you think I can find another near
+here?"
+
+"You oughter pick one up easy in the street up there," said the
+chauffeur. "Plenty of 'em about 'ere. Even if you shouldn't, miss, you
+can get a tram down to the docks--any p'liceman 'll direct you. You
+could walk it, if you liked--you've loads of time." He touched his cap
+as she paid him. "Very sorry to let you down like this, miss--it
+ain't my fault. All the taxis in England are just about droppin' to
+pieces--it'll be a mercy when repair shops get goin' again."
+
+"It doesn't matter," Cecilia said cheerfully. She decided that she would
+walk; it would be more interesting, and the long wait on the pier would
+be shortened. She set off happily towards the main street where the tram
+lines ran, feeling that short cuts were not for strangers in a big city.
+
+Even in the side street the shops were interesting. She came upon a
+fascinating curio shop, and stopped a moment to look at the queer medley
+in its window; such a medley as may be seen in any port where sailor-men
+bring home strange things from far countries. She was so engrossed
+that she failed to notice a woman who passed her, and then, with an
+astonished stare, turned back. A heavy hand fell on her wrist.
+
+"Cecilia!"
+
+She turned, with a little cry. Mrs. Rainham's face, inflamed with sudden
+anger, looked into her own. The hard grasp tightened on her wrist.
+
+"What are you doing here, you wicked girl? You've run away."
+
+At the moment no speech was possible to Cecilia. She twisted her arm
+away fiercely, freeing herself with difficulty, and turning, ran, with
+her stepmother at her heels. Once, Mrs. Rainham gasped "Police!" after
+which she required all the breath to keep near the flying girl. The
+street was quiet; only one or two interested passers-by turned to
+look at the race, and a street urchin shouted: "Go it, red 'ead--she's
+beatin' yer!"
+
+It follows naturally, when one person pursues another through city
+streets, that the pursued falls under public suspicion and is liable to
+be caught and held by any officious person. Cecilia felt this, and her
+anxiety was keen as she darted round the corner into the next street,
+looking about wildly for a means of escape. A big van, crawling across
+the road, held Mrs. Rainham back for a moment, giving her a brief
+respite.
+
+Just in front of her, a block in the traffic was beginning to move. A
+taxi was near her. She held up her hand desperately, trying to catch the
+driver's eye. He shook his head, and she realized that he was already
+engaged--there was a pile of luggage beside him with big labels, and
+a familiar name struck her--"H.M.T. Nauru." A girl, leaning from the
+window of the taxi, met her glance, and Cecilia took a sudden resolve.
+She sprang forward, her hand on the door.
+
+"I am a passenger by the Nauru. Could you take me in your car?" she
+gasped.
+
+"Why, of course," said the other girl. "Plenty of room, isn't there,
+dad?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said the other occupant of the cab--a big, grizzled
+man, who looked at the new-comer in blank amazement. He had half risen,
+but there was no time for him to assist his self-invited guest; she had
+opened the door and jumped in before his daughter had finished speaking.
+Leaning forward, Cecilia saw her stepmother emerge from the traffic,
+crimson-faced, casting wild and wrathful glances about her. Then her
+wandering eye fell upon Cecilia, and she began to run forward. Even as
+she did the chauffeur quickened his pace, and the taxi slid away, until
+the running, shouting figure was lost to view.
+
+Cecilia sat back with a gasp, and began to laugh helplessly. The others
+watched her with faces that clearly showed that they began to suspect
+having entertained a lunatic unawares.
+
+"I do beg your pardon," said Cecilia, recovering. "It was inexcusable.
+But I was running away."
+
+"So it seemed," said the big man, in a slow, pleasant voice. "I hope it
+wasn't from the police?"
+
+"Oh no!" Cecilia flushed. "Only from my stepmother. My own taxi had just
+broken down, and she found me, and she would have made a scene in the
+street--and scenes are so vulgar, are they not? When I saw Nauru on your
+luggage, you seemed to me to have dropped from heaven."
+
+She looked at them, her pretty face pink, her eyes dancing with
+excitement. There was something appealing about her, in the big childish
+eyes, and in the well-bred voice with its faint hint of a French accent.
+The girl she looked at could hardly have been called pretty--she was
+slender and long-limbed, with honest grey eyes and a sensitive mouth
+that seemed always ready to break into smiles. A little smile hovered at
+its corners now, but her voice held a note of protection.
+
+"I don't think we need bother you to tell us," she said. "In our country
+it's a very ordinary thing to give anyone a lift, if you have a seat to
+spare. Isn't it, daddy?"
+
+"Of course," said her father. "And we are to be fellow-passengers, so it
+was very lucky that we were there in the nick of time."
+
+Cecilia looked at them gratefully. It might have been so different, she
+thought; she might have flung herself on the mercy of people who would
+have been suspicious and frigid, or of others who would have treated her
+with familiarity and curious questioning. These people were pleasantly
+matter-of-fact; glad to help, but plainly anxious to show her that they
+considered her affairs none of their business. There was a little catch
+in her throat as she answered.
+
+"It is very good of you to take me on trust--I know I did an
+unwarrantable thing. But my brother, Captain Rainham, will explain
+everything, and he will be as grateful to you as I am. He is at the ship
+now."
+
+"Then we can hand you over to his care," said her host. "By the way,
+is there any need to guard against the--er--lady you spoke of? Is she
+likely to follow you to the docks?"
+
+"She doesn't know I'm going," said Cecilia, dimpling. "Of course, if
+it were in a novel she would leap into a swift motor and bid the driver
+follow us, and be even now on our heels--"
+
+"Goodness!" said the other girl. She twisted so that she could look out
+of the tiny window at the back; turning back with a relieved face.
+
+"Nothing near us but a carrier's van and a pony cart," she said. "I
+shouldn't think you need worry."
+
+"No. I really don't think I need. My stepmother did see me in the
+taxi, but her brain doesn't move very swiftly, nor does she, for that
+matter--and I'm sure she wouldn't try to follow me. She knows, too, that
+if she found me she couldn't drag me away as if I were two years old.
+Oh, I'm sure I'm safe from her now," finished Cecilia, with a sigh of
+relief.
+
+"At any rate, if she comes to the docks she will have your brother to
+deal with," said the big man. "And here we are."
+
+They got out at the big gate where the Irish policeman greeted Cecilia
+with a friendly "Did ye find it now, miss?" and beamed upon her when she
+held up her wrist, with her watch safely in its place. He examined her
+companions' passports, but let her through with an airy "Sure, this
+young lady's all right," which made Cecilia feel that no further proof
+could be needed of her respectability. Then Bob came hurrying to meet
+her.
+
+"I was just beginning to get uneasy about you," he said. "Did you have
+any trouble?"
+
+"My taxi broke down," Cecilia answered. "But this lady and gentleman
+most kindly gave me a seat, and saved me ever so much trouble. I'll tell
+you my story presently."
+
+Bob turned, saluting.
+
+"Thanks, awfully," he said. "I wasn't too happy at letting my little
+sister run about alone in a strange city, but it couldn't be helped."
+
+"I'm very glad we were there," said the big man. "Now, can you tell me
+where luggage should go? My son and a friend are somewhere on the pier,
+I suppose, but it doesn't seem as though finding them would be an easy
+matter."
+
+The pier, indeed, resembled a hive in which the bees have broken loose.
+Beside it lay the huge bulk of the transport, towering high above all
+the dock buildings near. Already she swarmed with Australian soldiers,
+and a steady stream was still passing aboard by the overhead gangway to
+the blare and crash of a regimental march. The pier itself was crowded
+with officers, with a sprinkling of women and children--most of them
+looking impatient enough at being kept ashore instead of being allowed
+to seek their quarters on the ship. Great heaps of trunks were stacked
+here and there, and a crane was steadily at work swinging them aboard.
+
+"We can't go aboard yet, nobody seems to know why," Bob said. "An
+individual called an embarkation officer, or something of the kind, has
+to check our passports; he was supposed to be here before three
+o'clock, but there's no sign of him yet, and every one has to wait his
+convenience. It's hard on the women with little children--the poor mites
+are getting tired and cross. Luggage can be left in the care of the
+ship's hands, to be loaded; I'll show you where, sir, if you like. Is
+this yours?" His eye fell on a truck-load of trunks, wheeled up by a
+porter, and lit up suddenly as he noticed the name on their labels.
+
+"Oh--are you Mr. Linton?" he exclaimed. "I believe I've got a letter for
+you, from General Harran."
+
+"Now, I was wondering where I'd heard your name before, when your sister
+happened to say you were Captain Rainham," said the big man. "How stupid
+of me--of course, I met Harran at my club this week, and he told me
+about you." He held out his hand, and took Bob's warmly; then he turned
+to his daughter. "Norah, it's lucky that we have made friends with Miss
+Rainham already, because you know she's in our care, after a fashion."
+
+Norah Linton turned with a quick smile.
+
+"I'm so glad," she said. "I've been wondering what you would be like,
+because we didn't know of anyone else on board."
+
+"General Harran told my brother that you would befriend us, but I did
+not think you would begin so early," Cecilia said. "Just fancy, Bob,
+they rescued me almost from the clutches of the she-dragon!"
+
+Bob jumped.
+
+"You don't mean to say you met her?"
+
+"I did--as soon as my cab broke down. And I lost my head and ran from
+her like a hare, and jumped into Mr. Linton's car!"
+
+Bob regarded her with solemn amazement.
+
+"So this is what happens when I let you go about alone!" he ejaculated.
+"Why, you might have got yourself into an awful mess--it might have been
+anybody's car--"
+
+"Yes, but it wasn't," said his sister serenely. "You see, I looked at
+Miss Linton first, and I knew it would be all right."
+
+The Lintons laughed unrestrainedly.
+
+"That's your look of benevolent old age, Norah," said her father. "I've
+often noticed it coming on."
+
+"I wish you'd mention it to Wally," Norah said. "He might treat me with
+more respect if you did."
+
+"I doubt it; it isn't in Wally," said her father. "Now, Rainham, shall
+we see about this luggage?"
+
+They handed it over to the care of deck hands, and watched it loaded,
+with many other trunks, into a huge net, which the crane seized, swung
+to an enormous height and then lowered gently upon the deck of the
+Nauru. Just as the operation was finished two figures threaded their way
+through the crowd towards them; immensely tall young officers, with the
+badge of a British regiment on their caps.
+
+"Hullo, dad," said the taller--a good-looking grave-faced fellow, with a
+strong resemblance to Norah. "We hardly expected you down so early."
+
+"Well, Norah and I had nothing to do, so we thought we might as well
+come; though it appears that we would have been wiser not to hurry,"
+said Mr. Linton. "Jim, I want to introduce you to two courageous
+emigrants--Miss Rainham, Captain Rainham--my son."
+
+Jim Linton shook hands, and introduced his companion, Captain Meadows,
+who was dark and well built, with an exceedingly merry eye.
+
+"We've been trying to get round the powers that be, to make our way on
+board," he said. "The chief difficulty is that the powers that be
+aren't there; everything is hung up waiting for this blessed official. I
+suppose the honest man is sleeping off the effects of a heavy lunch."
+
+"If he knew what hearty remarks are being made about him by over two
+hundred angry people, it might disturb his rest," said Wally Meadows.
+"Come along and see them--you're only on the fringe of the crowd here."
+
+"Wally's been acting as nursemaid for the last half hour," Jim said, as
+they made their way along the pier. "He rescued a curly-haired kid from
+a watery grave--at least, it would have been in if he hadn't caught it
+by the hind leg--and after that the kid refused to let him go."
+
+"He was quite a jolly kid," said Wally. "Only he seems to have
+quicksilver in him, instead of blood. I'm sorry for his mother--she'll
+have a packed time for the next five weeks." He sighed. "Hide me,
+Norah--there he is now!"
+
+The curly-haired one proved to be little Tim Burton, who detached
+himself from his mother on catching sight of Wally, and trotted across
+to him with a shrill cry of "There's mine officer!"--whereat Wally swung
+him up on his shoulder, to his infinite delight. Mrs. Burton hurried up
+to claim her offspring, and was made known to every one by Cecilia.
+
+"It's such an awful wait," she said wearily. "We came here soon after
+two o'clock, thinking we would get the children on board early for their
+afternoon sleep; now it's after four, and we have stood here ever since.
+It's too tantalizing with the ship looking at us, and the poor babies
+are so tired. Still, I'm not the worst off. Look at that poor girl."
+
+She pointed out a white-faced girl who was sitting in a drooping
+attitude on a very dirty wooden case. She was dainty and refined in
+appearance; and looking at her, one felt that the filthy case was the
+most welcome thing she had found that afternoon. Her husband, an officer
+scarcely more than a boy, stood beside, trying vainly to hush the cries
+of a tiny baby. She put up her arms wearily as they looked at her.
+
+"Oh, give her to me, Harry." She took the little bundle and crooned over
+it; and the baby wailed on unceasingly.
+
+"Oh!" said Norah Linton. She took a quick stride forward. They watched
+her accost the young mother--saw the polite, yet stiff, refusal on the
+English girl's face; saw Norah, with a swift decided movement stoop down
+and take the baby from the reluctant arms, putting any protest aside
+with a laugh. A laugh went round the Linton party also.
+
+"I knew she'd get it," said Jim.
+
+"Rather!" his friend echoed. "But she hasn't arms enough for all the
+babies who want mothering here."
+
+There were indeed plenty of them. Tired young mothers stood about
+everywhere, with children ranging from a few months to three or four
+years, all weary by this time, and most of them cross. Harassed young
+husbands, unused to travelling with children--unused, indeed, to
+anything but War--went hither and thither trying to hasten the business
+of getting on board--coming back, after each useless journey, to try and
+soothe a screaming baby or restrain a tiny boy anxious to look over the
+edge of the pier. It was only a few minutes before Cecilia had found a
+mother exhausted enough to yield up her baby without much protest; and
+Jim and Wally Meadows and Bob "adopted" some of the older children, and
+took them off to see the band; which diversions helped to pass the time.
+But it was after five o'clock before a stir went round the pier, and a
+rush of officers towards a little wooden room at the foot of the gangway
+told that the long-waited-for official had arrived.
+
+"Well, we won't hurry," said Mr. Linton. "Let the married men get on
+first."
+
+There were not many who did not hurry. A few of the older officers kept
+back; the majority, who were chiefly subalterns, made a dense crowd
+about the little room, their long-pent impatience bursting out at
+last. Passports examined, a procession began up the gangway; each man
+compelled to halt at a barrier on top, where two officers sat allotting
+cabins. It was difficult to see why both these preliminaries could not
+have been managed before, instead of being left until the moment
+of boarding; the final block strained every one's patience to
+breaking-point.
+
+The Lintons and the Rainhams were almost the last to board the ship,
+having, not without thankfulness, relinquished their adopted babies. The
+officers allotting berths nodded comprehendingly on hearing the names of
+the two girls.
+
+"Oh yes--you're together." He gave them their number.
+
+"Together--how curious!" said Cecilia.
+
+"Not a bit; you're the only unmarried ladies on board. And they're
+packed like sardines--not a vacant berth on the ship. Over two thousand
+men and two hundred officers, to say nothing of wives and children." He
+leaned back, thankful that his rush of work was over. "Well, when I make
+a long voyage I hope it won't be on a trooper!"
+
+"Well, that's a bad remark to begin one's journey on," said Jim
+Linton, following the girls up the gangway. "Doesn't it scare you, Miss
+Rainham?"
+
+"No," she said, with a little laugh. "Nothing would scare me except not
+going."
+
+"Why, that's all right," he said. His hand fell on his sister's
+shoulder. "And what about you, Nor?"
+
+The face she turned him was so happy that words were hardly needed.
+
+"Why--I'm going back to Billabong!" she said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+
+A path of moonlight lay across the sea. Into it drifted a great ship,
+her engines almost stopped, so that only a dull, slow throb came up from
+below, instead of the swift thud-thud of the screw that had pounded for
+many weeks. It was late; so late that most of the ship's lights were
+extinguished. But all through her was a feeling of pulsating life, of
+unrest, of a kind of tense excitement, of long-pent expectation.
+There were low voices everywhere; feet paced the decks; along the port
+railings on each deck soldiers were clustered thickly, looking out
+across the grey, tossing sea to a winking light that flashed and
+twinkled out of the darkness like a voice that cried "Greeting!" For it
+was the Point Lonsdale light, at the sea gate of Victoria; and the men
+of the Nauru were nearly home.
+
+There was little sleep for anyone on board on that last night. Most of
+the Nauru's great company were to disembark in Melbourne; the last two
+days had seen a general smartening up, a mighty polishing of leather and
+brass, a "rounding-up" of scattered possessions. The barber's shop had
+been besieged by shaggy crowds; and since the barber, being but human,
+could not cope with more than a small proportion of his would-be
+customers, amateur clipping parties had been in full swing forward,
+frequently with terrifying results. Nobody minded. "Git it orf, that's
+all that matters!" was the motto of the long-haired.
+
+No one knew quite when the Nauru would berth; it was wrapped in mystery,
+like all movements of troopships. So every one was ready the night
+before--kit bags packed, gear stowed away, nothing left save absolute
+necessaries. Then, with the coming of dusk, unrest settled down upon
+the ship, and the men marched restlessly, up and down, or, gripping
+pipe stems between their teeth, stared from the railings northwards. And
+then, like a star at first, the Point Lonsdale light twinkled out of the
+darkness, and a low murmur ran round the decks--a murmur without words,
+since it came from men whose only fashion of meeting any emotion is with
+a joke; and even for a "digger" there is no joke ready on the lips, but
+only a catch at the heart, at the first glimpse of home.
+
+Norah Linton had tucked herself away behind a boat on the hurricane
+deck, and there Cecilia Rainham found her just after dusk. The two
+girls had become sworn friends during the long voyage out, in the close
+companionship of sharing a cabin--which is a kind of acid test that
+generally brings out the best--and worst--of travellers. There was
+something protective in Norah's nature that responded instantly to the
+lonely position of the girl who was going across the world to a strange
+country. Both were motherless, but in Norah's case the blank was
+softened by a father who had striven throughout his children's lives to
+be father and mother alike to them, while Cecilia had only the bitter
+memory of the man who had shirked his duty until he had become less than
+a stranger to her. If any pang smote her heart at the sight of Norah's
+worshipping love for the tall grey "dad" for whom she was the very
+centre of existence, Cecilia did not show it. The Lintons had taken them
+into their little circle at once--more, perhaps, by reason of Cecilia's
+extraordinary introduction to them than through General Harran's
+letter--and Bob and his sister were already grateful for their
+friendship. They were a quiet quartet, devoted to each other in their
+undemonstrative fashion; Norah was on a kind of boyish footing with Jim,
+the huge silent brother who was a major, with three medal ribbons to
+his credit, and with Wally Meadows, his inseparable chum, who had been
+almost brought up with the brother and sister.
+
+"They were always such bricks to me, even when I was a little scrap of a
+thing," she had told Cecilia. "They never said I was 'only a girl,' and
+kept me out of things. So I grew up more than three parts a boy. It was
+so much easier for dad to manage three boys, you see!"
+
+"You don't look much like a boy," Cecilia had said, looking at the tall,
+slender figure and the mass of curly brown hair. They were getting ready
+for bed, and Norah was wielding a hair-brush vigorously.
+
+"No, but I really believe I feel like one--at least, I do whenever I
+am with Jim and Wally," Norah had answered. "And when we get back
+to Billabong it will be just as it always was--we'll be three boys
+together. You know, it's the most ridiculous thing to think of Jim and
+Wally as grown-ups. Dad and I can't get accustomed to it at all. And as
+for Jim being a major!--a major sounds so dignified and respectable, and
+Jim isn't a bit like that!"
+
+"And what about Captain Meadows?"
+
+"Oh--Wally will simply never grow up." Norah laughed softly. "He's like
+Peter Pan. Once he nearly managed it--in that bad time when Jim was a
+prisoner, and we thought he was killed. But Jim got back just in time to
+save him from anything so awful. One of the lovely parts of getting Jim
+again was to see the twinkle come back into Wally's eyes. You see, Wally
+is practically all twinkle!"
+
+"And when you get back to Australia, what will you all do?"
+
+Norah had looked puzzled.
+
+"Why, I don't know that we've ever thought of it," she said. "We'll just
+all go to Billabong--we don't seem to think further than that. Anyway,
+you and Bob are coming too--so we can plan it all out then."
+
+Looking at her, on this last night of the voyage, Cecilia wondered
+whether the unknown "Billabong" would indeed be enough, after the long
+years of war. They had been children when they left; now the boys were
+seasoned soldiers, with scars and honours, and such memories as only
+they themselves could know; and Norah and her father had for years
+conducted what they termed a "Home for Tired People," where broken and
+weary men from the front had come to be healed and tended, and sent
+back refitted in mind and body. This girl, who leaned over the rail and
+looked at the Point Lonsdale light, had seen suffering and sorrow; the
+mourning of those who had given up dear ones, the sick despair of young
+and strong men crippled in the very dawn of life; and had helped them
+all. Beside her, in experience, Cecilia felt a child. And yet the
+old bush home, with its simple life and the pleasures that had been
+everything to her in childhood, seemed everything to her now.
+
+Cecilia went softly to her side, and Norah turned with a start.
+
+"Hallo, Tommy!" she said, slipping her arm through the
+new-comer's--Cecilia had become "Tommy" to them all in a very short
+time, and her hated, if elegant, name left as a legacy to England. "I
+didn't hear you come. Oh, Tommy, it's lovely to see home again!"
+
+"You can't see much," said Tommy, laughing.
+
+"No, but it's there. I can feel it; and that old winking eye on Point
+Lonsdale is saying fifty nice things a minute. And I can smell the gum
+leaves--don't you tell me I can't, Tommy, just because your nose isn't
+tuned up to gum leaves yet!"
+
+"Does it take long to tune a nose?" asked Tommy, laughing.
+
+"Not a nice nose like yours." Norah gave a happy little sigh. "Do you
+see that glow in the sky? That's the lights of Melbourne. I went to
+school near Melbourne, but I never loved it much; but somehow, it seems
+different now. It's all just shouting welcomes. And back of beyond that
+light is Billabong."
+
+"I want to see Billabong," said the other girl. "I never had a home that
+meant anything like that--I want to see yours."
+
+"And I suppose you'll just think it's an ordinary, untidy old place--not
+a bit like the trim English places, where the woods look as though they
+were swept and dusted before breakfast every morning. I suppose it is
+all ordinary. But it has meant just everything I wanted, all my life,
+and I can't imagine its meaning anything less now."
+
+"And what about Homewood--the Home for Tired People?"
+
+"Oh, Homewood certainly is lovely," Norah said. "I like it better than
+any place in the world that isn't Billabong--and it was just wonderful
+to be able to carry it on for the Tired People: dad and I will always be
+thankful we had the chance. But it never was home: and now it's going to
+run itself happily without us, as a place for partly-disabled men, with
+Colonel Hunt and Captain Hardress to manage it. It was just a single
+chapter in our lives, and now it is closed. But we're--all of us--parts
+of Billabong."
+
+Some one came quietly along the deck and to the vacant place on her
+other side.
+
+"Who's talking Billabong again, old kiddie?" Jim Linton's deep voice was
+always gentle. Norah gave his shoulder a funny little rub with her head.
+
+"Ah, you're just as bad as I am, so you needn't laugh at me, Jimmy."
+
+"I wasn't laughing at you," Jim defended himself. "I expected to find
+you ever so much worse. I thought you'd sing anthems on the very word
+Billabong all through the voyage, especially in your bath. Of course I
+don't know what Tommy has suffered!"
+
+"Tommy doesn't need your sympathy," said that lady. "However, she wants
+to look her best for Melbourne, so she's going to bed. Don't hurry,
+Norah; I know you want to exchange greetings with that light for hours
+yet!"
+
+She slipped away, and Norah drew closer to Jim. Presently came Wally, on
+her other side, and a few moments later a deep voice behind them said,
+"Not in bed yet, Norah?"--and Wally made room for Mr. Linton.
+
+"I couldn't go to bed, dad."
+
+"Apparently most of the ship is of your mind--I didn't feel like bed
+myself," admitted the squatter, letting his hand rest for a moment
+on his daughter's shoulder. He gave a great sigh of happiness. "Eh,
+children, it's great to be near home again!"
+
+"My word, isn't it!" said Jim. "Only it's hard to take in. I keep
+fancying that I'll certainly wake up in a minute and find myself in
+a trench, just getting ready to go over the top. What do you suppose
+they're doing at Billabong now, Nor?"
+
+"Asleep," said Norah promptly. "Oh, I don't know--I don't believe
+Brownie's asleep."
+
+"I know she's not," Wally said. He and the old nurse-housekeeper of
+Billabong were sworn allies; though no one could ever quite come up to
+Jim and Norah in Brownie's heart, Wally had been a close third from the
+day, long years back, that he had first come to the station, a lonely,
+dark-eyed little Queenslander. "She's made the girls scrub and polish
+until there's nothing left for them to rub, and she's harried Hogg and
+Lee Wing until there isn't a leaf looking crooked in all the garden,
+and she and Murty have planned all about meeting you for the hundred and
+first time."
+
+"And she's planning to make pikelets for you!" put in Norah.
+
+"Bless her. I wouldn't wonder. She's planning the very wildest cooking,
+of course--do you remember what the table used to be the night we came
+home from school? And now she's gone round all the rooms to make sure
+she couldn't spend another sixpence on them, and she's sitting by her
+window trying to see us all on the Nauru. 'Specially you, old Nor."
+
+"'Tis the gift of second sight you have," said Jim admiringly. "A
+few hundred years ago you'd have got yourself ducked as a witch or
+something."
+
+"Oh, Wally and Brownie were always twin souls; no wonder each knows what
+the other is thinking of," Norah said, laughing. "It all sounds exactly
+true, at any rate. Boys, what a pity you can't land in uniform--wouldn't
+they all love to see you!"
+
+"Can't do it," Jim said. "Too long since we were shot out of the army;
+any enterprising provost-marshal could make himself obnoxious about it."
+
+"I know--but I'm sorry," answered Norah. "Brownie won't be satisfied
+unless she sees you in all your war paint."
+
+"We'll put it on some night for dinner," Jim promised. He peered
+suddenly into the darkness. "There's a moving light--it's the pilot
+steamer coming out for us."
+
+They watched the light pass slowly from the dim region that meant the
+Heads, until, as the pilot boat swung out through the Rip to where the
+Nauru lay, her other lights grew clear, and presently her whole outline
+loomed indistinctly, suddenly close to them. She lay to across a little
+heaving strip of sea, and presently the pilot was being pulled across
+to them by a couple of men and was coming nimbly up the Nauru's ladder,
+hand over hand. He nodded cheerily at his welcome--a fusillade of
+greetings from every "digger" who could find a place at the railings,
+and a larger number who could not, but contented themselves with
+shouting sweet nothings from behind their comrades. A lean youngster
+near Jim Linton looked down enviously at the retreating boat.
+
+"If I could only slide down into her, an' nick off to the old Alvina
+over there, I'd be home before breakfast," he said. "Me people live at
+Queenscliff--don't it seem a fair cow to have to go past 'em, right up
+to Melbourne?"
+
+The pilot's head appeared above on the bridge, beside the captain's, and
+presently the Nauru gathered way, and, slowly turning, forged through
+the tossing waters of the Rip. Before her the twin lights of the Heads
+opened out; soon she was gliding between them, and under the silent guns
+of the Queenscliff forts, and past the twinkling house lights of the
+little seaside town. There were long coo-ees from the diggers, with
+shrill, piercing whistles of greeting for Victoria; from ashore came
+faint answering echoes. But the four people from Billabong stood
+silently, glad of each other's nearness, but with no words, and in David
+Linton's heart and Norah's was a great surge of thankfulness that, out
+of many perils, they were bringing their boys safely home.
+
+The Nauru turned across Port Phillip Bay, and presently they felt the
+engines cease, and there came the rattle of the chain as the anchor shot
+into the sea.
+
+"As the captain thought," said Jim. "He fancied they'd anchor us off
+Portsea for the night and bring us up to Port Melbourne in the morning,
+after we'd been inspected. Wouldn't it be the limit if some one
+developed measles now, and they quarantined us!"
+
+"You deserve quarantining, if ever anyone did," said Norah, indignantly.
+"Why do you have such horrible ideas?"
+
+"I don't know--they just seem to waft themselves to me," said Jim
+modestly. "Anyhow, the quarantine station is a jolly little place for
+a holiday, and the sea view is delightful." He broke off, laughing, and
+suddenly flung his arm round her shoulders in the dusk of the deck. "I
+think I'm just about insane at getting home," he said. "Don't mind me,
+old kiddie--and you'd better go to bed, or you'll be a ghost in the
+morning."
+
+They weighed anchor after breakfast, following a perfunctory medical
+inspection--so perfunctory that one youth who, having been a medical
+student, and knowing well that he had a finely-developed feverish
+cold, with a high temperature, and not wishing to embarrass his
+fellow-passengers, placed in his mouth the wrong end of the clinical
+thermometer handed him by the visiting nurse. He sucked this gravely
+for the prescribed time, reversing it just as she reappeared; and, being
+marked normal and given a clean bill of health, returned to his berth
+to shiver and perspire between huge doses of quinine. More than one such
+hero evaded the searching eye of regulations; until finally the Nauru,
+free to land her passengers, steamed slowly up the Bay.
+
+One by one the old, familiar landmarks opened out--Mornington,
+Frankston, Mordialloc, while Melbourne itself lay hidden in a mist cloud
+ahead. Then, as the sun grew stronger the mist lifted, and domes and
+spires pierced the dun sky, towering above the jumbled mass of the grey
+city. They drew closer to Port Melbourne, and lo! St. Kilda and all the
+foreshore were gay with flags, and all the ships in the harbour were
+dressed to welcome them; and beyond the pier were long lines of motors,
+each beflagged, waiting for the fighting men whom the Nauru was bringing
+home.
+
+"Us!" said a boy. "Why, it's us! Flags an' motors--an' a blessed band
+playin' on the pier! Wot on earth are they fussin' over us for? Ain't it
+enough to get home?"
+
+The band of the Nauru was playing Home, Sweet Home, very low and
+tenderly, and there were lumps in many throats, and many a pipe went out
+unheeded. Slowly the great ship drew in to the pier, where officers in
+uniform waited, and messengers of welcome from the Government. Beyond
+the barriers that held the general public back from the pier was a
+black mass of people; cheer upon cheer rose, to be wafted back from
+the transport, where the "diggers" lined every inch of the port side,
+clinging like monkeys to yards and rigging. Then the Nauru came to rest
+at last, and the gangways rattled down, and the march off began, to the
+quick lilt of the band playing "Oh, it's a Lovely War." The men took
+up the words, singing as they marched back to Victoria--coming back, as
+they had gone, with a joke on their lips. So the waiting motors received
+them, and rolled them off in triumphal procession to Melbourne, between
+the cheering crowds.
+
+From the top deck the Lintons, with the Rainhams, watched the men
+go--disembarkation was for the troops first, and not till all had gone
+could the unattached officers leave the ship. The captain came to them,
+at last a normal and friendly captain--no more the official master of
+a troopship, in which capacity, as he ruefully said, he could make no
+friends, and could scarcely regard his ship as his own, provided he
+brought her safely from port to port. He cast a disgusted glance along
+the stained and littered decks.
+
+"This is her last voyage as a trooper, and I'm not sorry," he said.
+"After this she'll lie up for three months to be refitted; and then I'll
+command a ship again and not a barracks. You wouldn't think now, to see
+her on this voyage, that the time was when I had to know the reason why
+if there was so much as a stain the size of a sixpence on the deck. Oh
+yes, it's been all part of the job, and I'm proud of all the old ship
+has done, and the thousands of men she's carried; and we've had enough
+narrow squeaks, from mines and submarines, to fill a book. But I'm
+beginning to hanker mightily to see her clean!"
+
+The Lintons laughed unfeelingly. A little mild grumbling might well be
+permitted to a man with his record; few merchant captains had done finer
+service in the war, and the decoration on his breast testified to his
+cool handling of his ship in the "narrow squeaks" he spoke of lightly.
+
+"Oh yes. I never get any sympathy," said the captain, laughing himself.
+"And yet I'll wager Miss Linton was 'house-proud' in that 'Home for
+Tired People' of hers, and she ought to sympathize with a tidy man. You
+should have seen my wife's face when she came aboard once at Liverpool,
+and saw the ship; and she's never had the same respect for me since!
+There--the last man is off the ship, and the gangways are clear; nothing
+to keep all you homesick people now." He said good-bye, and ran up the
+steps to his cabin under the bridge.
+
+It was a queer home-coming at first, to a vast pier, empty save for a
+few officials and policemen--for no outsiders were allowed within the
+barriers. But once clear of customs officials and other formalities
+they packed themselves into cabs, and in a few moments were outside
+the railed-off space, turning into a road lined on either side with
+people--all peering into the long procession of cabs, in the hope of
+finding their own returning dear ones. It was but a few moments before a
+posse of uncles, aunts and cousins swooped down upon the Lintons, whose
+cab prudently turned down a side street to let the wave of welcome
+expend itself. In the side street, too, were motors belonging to the
+aunts and uncles; and presently the new arrivals were distributed among
+them, and were being rushed up to Melbourne, along roads still crowded
+by the people who had flocked to welcome the "diggers" home. The
+Rainhams found themselves adopted by this new and cheery band of
+people--at least half of whose names they never learned; not that this
+seemed to matter in the least. It was something new to them, and very
+un-English; but there was no doubt that it made landing in a new country
+a very different thing from their half-fearful anticipations.
+
+"And you really came out all alone--not knowing anyone!" said an aunt.
+"Aren't you English people plucky! And I believe that most of you think
+we're all black fellows--or did until our diggers went home, and proved
+unexpectedly white!"
+
+"I don't think we're quite so bad as that!" Bob said, laughing. "But
+certainly we never expected quite so kind a welcome."
+
+"Oh, we're all immensely interested in people who take the trouble to
+come across the world to see us," said Mrs. Geoffrey Linton. "That is,
+if they don't put on 'side'; we don't take kindly to being patronized.
+And you have no idea how many new chums do patronize us. Did you know,
+by the way, that you're new chums now?"
+
+"It has been carefully drilled into us on the ship," Bob said gravely.
+"I think we know pretty well all we have to face--the snakes that creep
+into new chums' boots and sleep under their pillows, the goannas that
+bite our toes if we aren't watchful, and the mosquitoes that sit on the
+trees and bark!"
+
+"Also the tarantulas that drop from everywhere, especially into food,"
+added Tommy, dimpling. "And the bush fires every Sunday morning, and the
+blacks that rush down--what is it? Oh yes, the Block, casting boomerangs
+about! There is much spare time on a troopship, Mrs. Linton, and all of
+it was employed by the subalterns in telling us what we might expect!"
+
+"I can quite imagine it," Mrs. Geoffrey laughed. "Oh well, Billabong
+will be a good breaking-in. Norah tells me you are going up there at
+once?"
+
+"Well, not quite at once," Bob said. "We think it is only fair to let
+them get home without encumbrances, and as we have to present other
+letters of introduction in Melbourne, we'll stay here for a few days,
+and then follow them."
+
+"Then you must come out to us," said Mrs. Geoffrey firmly. "No use to
+ask my brother-in-law, of course; he has just one idea, and that is to
+stay at Scott's, get his luggage through the customs, see his bankers as
+quickly as possible, and then get back to his beloved Billabong. If we
+get them out to dinner to-night, it's as much as we can hope for. But
+you two must come to us--we can run you here and there in the car to see
+the people you want." She put aside their protests, laughing. "Why, you
+don't know how much we like capturing bran-new English people--and think
+what you have done for our boys all these four years! From what they
+tell us, if anyone wants to go anywhere or do anything he likes in
+England, all he has to do is to wear a digger's slouched hat!"
+
+They stopped in Collins Street, and in a moment the new-comers, slightly
+bewildered, found themselves in a tea-room; a new thing in tea-rooms
+to Tommy and Bob, since it was a vision of russet and gold--brown wood,
+masses of golden wattle and daffodils, and of bronze gum leaves; and
+even the waitresses flitted about in russet-brown dresses. David Linton
+hung back at the doorway.
+
+"It isn't a party, Winifred?"
+
+"My dear David, only a few people who want to welcome you back. Really,
+you're just as bad as ever!" said his sister-in-law, half vexed. "The
+children's school friends, too--Jim and Wally's mates. You can't expect
+us to get you all back, after so long--and with all those honours,
+too!--and not give people a chance of shaking hands with you." At which
+point Norah said, gently, but firmly, "Dad, you mustn't be naughty," and
+led him within.
+
+Some one grasped his hand. "Well, Linton, old chap!" And he found
+himself greeting the head of a big "stock and station" firm. Some one
+else clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to meet his banker;
+behind them towered half a dozen old squatter friends, with fellow
+clubmen, all trying at once to get hold of his hand. David Linton's
+constitutional shyness melted in the heartiness of their greeting.
+Beyond them Norah seemed to be the centre of a mass of girls, one of
+whom presently detached herself, and came to him. He said in amazement,
+"Why, it's Jean Yorke--and grown up!" and actually kissed her, to the
+great delight of Jean, who had been an old mate of Norah's. As for Jim
+and Wally, they were scarcely to be seen, save for their heads, in
+a cluster of lads, who were pounding and smiting them wherever space
+permitted. Altogether, it was a confused and cheerful gathering, and,
+much to the embarrassment of the russet-brown waitresses, the last thing
+anybody thought of was tea.
+
+Still, when the buzz of greetings had subsided, and at length "morning
+tea"--that time-honoured institution of Australia--had a chance to
+appear, it was of a nature to make the new arrivals gasp. The last four
+years in England had fairly broken people in to plain living; dainties
+and luxuries had disappeared so completely from the table that every one
+had ceased to think about them. Therefore, the Linton party blinked in
+amazement at the details of what to Melbourne was a very ordinary tea,
+and, forgetting its manners, broke into open comment.
+
+"Cakes!" said Wally faintly. "Jean, you might catch me if I swoon."
+
+"What's wrong with the cakes?" said Jean Yorke, bewildered.
+
+"Nothing--except that they are cakes! Jim!"--he caught at his chum's
+sleeve--"that substance in enormous layers in that enormous slice is
+called cream. Real cream. When did you see cream last, my son?"
+
+"I'm hanged if I know," Jim answered, grinning. "About four years ago, I
+suppose. I'd forgotten it existed. And the cakes look as if they didn't
+fall to pieces if you touched 'em."
+
+"What, do the English cakes do that?" asked a pained aunt.
+
+"Rather--when there are any. It's something they take out of the war
+flour--what is it, Nor?"
+
+"Gluten, I think it's called," said Norah doubtfully. "It's something
+that ordinarily makes flour stick together, but they took it all out of
+the war flour, and put it into munitions. So everything you made with
+war flour was apt to be dry and crumbly. And when you made cakes with
+it, and war sugar, which was half full of queer stuff like plaster of
+paris, and egg substitute, because eggs--when you could get them--were
+eightpence halfpenny, and butter substitute (and very little of
+that)--well, they weren't exactly what you would call cakes at all."
+
+"Butter substitute!" said the aunt faintly. "I could not live without
+good butter!"
+
+"Bless you, Norah and dad hadn't tasted butter for nearly three years
+before they came on board the Nauru," said Jim. "It was affecting to see
+Nor greeting a pat of butter for the first time!"
+
+"But you had some butter--we read about it."
+
+"Two ounces per head weekly--but they put all their ration into the
+'Tired People's food,'" said Wally.
+
+"It wasn't only dad and I," said Norah quickly. "Every soul we employed
+did that--Irish maids, butler, cook-lady and all. And we hadn't to ask
+one of them to do it. The Tired People always had butter. They used to
+think we had a special allowance from Government, but we hadn't."
+
+"Dear me!" said the aunt. "It's too terrible. And meat?"
+
+"Oh, meat was very short," said Norah, laughing. "Of course we were
+fairly well off for our Tired People, because they had soldiers'
+rations; but even so, we almost forgot what a joint looked like. Stews
+and hot pots and made dishes--you call them that because you make them
+of anything but meat! We became very clever at camouflaging meat dishes.
+Somehow the Tired People ate them all. But"--she paused, laughing--"you
+know I never thought I could feel greedy for meat. And I did--I just
+longed, quite often, for a chop!"
+
+"And could you not have one?"
+
+"Gracious, no!" Norah looked amazed. "Chops were quite the most
+extravagant thing of all--too much bone. You see, the meat ration
+included bone and fat, and I can tell you we were pretty badly worried
+if we got too much of either."
+
+"To think of all she knows," said the aunt, regarding her with a tearful
+eye. Whereat Norah laughed.
+
+"Oh, I could tell you lots of homely things," she said. "How we always
+boiled bones for soup at least four times before we looked on them as
+used up; and how we worked up sheep's heads into the most wonderful
+chicken galantines; and--but would you mind if I ate some walnut cake
+instead? It's making me tremble even to look at it."
+
+After which Jean Yorke and the russet-brown waitresses vied in plying
+the new-comers with the most elaborate cakes, until even Jim and Wally
+begged for mercy.
+
+"You ought to remember we're not used to these things," Wally protested,
+waving away a strange erection of cream, icing and wafery pastry. "If
+I ate that it would go to my head, and I'd have to be removed in an
+ambulance. And the awful part of it is--I want to eat it. Take it out of
+my sight, Jean, or I'll yield, and the consequences will be awful."
+
+"But it is too dreadful to think of all you poor souls have gone
+through," said an aunt soulfully. "How little we in Australia know of
+what war means!"
+
+"But if it comes to that, how little we knew!" Norah exclaimed, "Why,
+there we were, only a few miles from the fighting--you could hear the
+guns on a still day, when a big action was going on; and except for the
+people who came directly in the way of air raids, England knew little or
+nothing of war: I mean, war as the people of Belgium and Northern France
+knew it. The worst we had to admit was that we didn't get everything we
+liked to eat, and that was a joke compared to what we might have had.
+Hardly anyone in England went cold or hungry through the war, and so
+I don't think we knew much about it either." She broke off blushing
+furiously, to find every one listening to her. "I didn't mean to make a
+speech."
+
+"It's quite true, though," said her father, "even if you did make a
+speech about it. There were privations in some cases, no doubt--invalids
+sometimes suffered, or men used to a heavy meat diet, whose wives had
+not knowledge--or fuel--enough to cook substitutes properly. On the
+other hand, there was no unemployment, and the poor were better fed than
+they had ever been, since every one could make good wages at munitions.
+The death rate among civilians was very much lower than usual. People
+learned to eat less, and not to waste--and the pre-war waste in England
+was terrific. And I say--and I think we all say--that anyone who
+grumbles about 'privations' in England deserves to know what real war
+means--as the women of Belgium know it."
+
+He stopped, and Norah regarded him with great pride, since his remarks
+were usually strictly limited to the fewest possible words.
+
+"Well, it's rather refreshing to hear you talk," remarked another
+squatter. "A good many people have come back telling most pathetic tales
+of all they had to endure. I suppose, though, that some were worse off
+than you?"
+
+"Oh, certainly," David Linton said. "We knew one Australian, an
+officer's wife, who was stranded in a remote corner of South Wales
+with two servants and two babies; it was just at the time of greatest
+scarcity before compulsory rationing began, when most of the food
+coming in was kept in the big towns and the Midlands. That woman could
+certainly get milk for her youngsters; but for three months the only
+foods she and her maids were sure of getting were war bread, potatoes,
+haricot beans and salt herrings. She was a good way from the nearest
+town, and there was deep snow most of the time. There was no carting out
+to her place, and by the time she could get into the town most of the
+food shops would be empty."
+
+"And if you saw the salt herrings!" said Norah. "They come down from
+Scotland, packed thousands in a barrel. They're about the length and
+thickness of a comb, and if you soak them for a day in warm water and
+then boil them, you can begin to think about them as a possible food.
+But Mrs. Burton and her maids ate them for three months. She didn't seem
+to think she had anything to grumble about--in fact, she said she still
+felt friendly towards potatoes, but she hoped she'd never see a herring
+or a bean again!"
+
+"She had her own troubles about coal, too," remarked Jim. "The only coal
+down there is a horrible brownish stuff that falls into damp slack if
+you look at it; it's generally used only for furnaces, but people had
+to draw their coal allowance from the nearest supply, and it was all she
+could get. The only way to use the beastly stuff was to mix it with wet,
+salt mud from the river into what the country people call culm--then you
+cut it into blocks, or make balls of it, and it hardens. She
+couldn't get a man to do it for her, and she used to mix all her culm
+herself--and you wouldn't call it woman's work, even in Germany. But she
+used to tell it as a kind of joke."
+
+"She used to look on herself as one of the really lucky women," said
+David Linton, "because her husband didn't get killed. And I think she
+was--herrings and culm and all. And we're even luckier, since we've all
+come back to Australia, and to such a welcome as you've given us." He
+stood up, smiling his slow, pleasant smile at them all. "And now I
+think I've got to go chasing the Customs, if I'm ever to disinter our
+belongings and get home."
+
+The girls took possession of Norah and Tommy, who left their menfolk
+to the drear business of clearing luggage, and thankfully spent the
+afternoon in the Botanical Gardens, glad to have firm ground under
+their feet after six weeks of sea. Then they all met at dinner at Mrs.
+Geoffrey Linton's, where they found her son, Cecil, who greeted Norah
+with something of embarrassment. There was an old score between Norah
+and Cecil Linton, although they had not seen each other for years;
+but its memory died out in Norah's heart as she looked at her cousin's
+military badge and noted that he dragged one foot slightly. Indeed,
+there was no room in Norah's heart for anything but happiness.
+
+The aunts and uncles tried hard to persuade David Linton to remain a few
+days in Melbourne, but he shook his head.
+
+"I've been homesick for five years," he told them. "And it feels like
+fifty. I'll come down again, I promise--yes, and bring the children, of
+course. But just now I can't wait. I've got to get home."
+
+"That old Billabong!" said Mrs. Geoffrey, half laughing. "Are you going
+to live and die in the backblocks, David?"
+
+"Why, certainly--at least I hope so," he said. "I suppose there must
+be lucid intervals, now that Norah is grown up, or imagines she is--not
+that she seems to me a bit different from the time when her hair was
+down. Still I suppose I must bring her to town, and let her make her
+curtsy at Government House, and do all the correct things--"
+
+Some one slipped a hand through his arm.
+
+"But when we've done them, daddy," said Norah cheerfully, "there will
+always be Billabong to go home to!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BILLABONG
+
+
+"Will it be fine, Murty?"
+
+The person addressed made no answer for a moment, continuing to stare
+at the western horizon with his eyes wrinkled and his face anxious. He
+turned presently; a tall, grizzled man, with the stooping shoulders
+and the slightly bowed legs that are the heritage of those who spend
+nine-tenths of their time in the saddle.
+
+"Sorra a one of me knows," he said. "It's one of thim unchancy days that
+might be annything. Have ye looked at the glass?"
+
+"It's mejum," replied the first speaker. She was a vast woman, with a
+broad, kindly face, lit by shrewd and twinkling blue eyes, dressed, as
+was her custom, in a starched blue print, with a snowy apron. "Mejum
+only. But I don't feel comferable at that there bank of clouds, Murty."
+
+"I'd not say meself it was good," admitted Murty O'Toole, head stockman
+on the Billabong run. He looked again at the doubtful sky, and then back
+to Mrs. Brown. "Have ye no corns, at all, that 'ud be shootin' on ye if
+rain was coming?"
+
+"Corns I 'ave, indeed," said Mrs. Brown, with the sigh of one who admits
+that she is but human. "But no--they ain't shootin' worth speakin'
+about, Murty. Nor me rheumatic knee ain't givin' tongue, as Master Jim
+would say."
+
+"Yerra, that's all to the good," said the stockman, much cheered. "I'll
+not look at the ould sky anny longer--leastways, not till I have that
+cup of tea ye were speakin' about."
+
+"Come in then," said Mrs. Brown, leading the way into the kitchen--a
+huge place so glittering with cleanliness and polish that it almost hurt
+the eye. "Kettle's boilin'--I'll have it made in a jiffy. No, Murty,
+you will not sit on that table. Pounds of bath-brick 'ave gone into me
+tables this last week."
+
+"Ye have them always that white I do not see how ye'd want them to be
+whiter," remarked Murty, gazing round him. "But I niver see anything to
+aiqual the shine ye have on them tins an' copper. And the stove is that
+fine it's a shame to be cookin' with it." He looked with respect at the
+black satin and silver of the stove, where leaping flames glowed redly.
+"Well, I'll always say there isn't a heartsomer place to come into than
+the Billabong kitchen. And isn't it the little misthress that thinks
+so?"
+
+"Bless her, she was always in and out of it from the time she could
+toddle," said Mrs. Brown, pausing with the teapot in her hand. "And
+she wasn't much more than toddlin' before she was at me to teach her
+to cook. When she was twelve she could cook a dinner as well as anyone
+twice her age. I never see the beat of her--handy as a man out on the
+run, too--"
+
+"She was that," said Murty solemnly. "Since she was a bit of a thing I
+never see the bullock as could get away from her. And the ponies she'd
+ride! There was nothin' ever looked through a bridle that cud frighten
+her."
+
+"Poof! Miss Norah didn't know what it was to be afraid," said Mrs.
+Brown, filling the huge brown teapot. "Sometimes I've wished she was,
+for me heart's been in me mouth often and often when I see her go
+caperin' down the track on some mad-'eaded pony."
+
+"An' there was niver a time when they was late home but you made sure
+the whole lot of 'em was killed," said Murty, grinning. "I'd come in
+here an' find you wit' all the funerals planned, so to speak--"
+
+"Ah, go on! At least, I alwuz stayed at home when I was nervis," said
+Mrs. Brown. "Who was it I've known catch an 'orse in the dark, an' go
+off to look for 'em when they were a bit late? Not me, Mr. O'Toole!" She
+filled his cup and handed it to him with a triumphant air.
+
+"Yerra, I misremember doin' any such thing," said Murty, slightly
+confused. "'Tis the way I was most likely goin' afther a sick bullock,
+or it might be 'possum shootin'." He raised his cup and took a deep
+draught; then, with a wry face, gazed at its contents. "I dunno is this
+a new brand of tea you're afther usin', now? Sure, it looks pale."
+
+Mrs. Brown cast a glance at the cup he held out, and gave a gasp of
+horror.
+
+"Well, not in all me born days 'ave I made tea an' forgot to put the tea
+in!" she exclaimed, snatching it from his hand. "Don't you go an' tell
+Dave and Mick, Murty, or I'll never hear the end of it. Lucky there's
+plenty of hot water." She emptied the teapot swiftly, and refilled it,
+this time with due regard to the tea-caddy.
+
+"Now, Murty, don't you sit there grinnin' at me like a hyener--it isn't
+every day I get Miss Norah home."
+
+"It is not," said Murty, taking his renewed cup and a large piece of
+bread and butter. "Sure, I'd not blame ye if ye fried bacon in the
+tea-pot--not this morning. I dunno, meself, am I on me head or me heels.
+All the men is much the same; they've been fallin' over each other,
+tryin' to get a little bit of extra spit-an'-polish on the whole place.
+I b'lieve Dave Boone wud 'a' set to work an' whitewashed the paddock
+fences if I'd encouraged him at all."
+
+"There's that Sarah," said Mrs. Brown. "Ornery days it takes me, an
+alarum clock, an' Mary, to say nothin' of a wet sponge, to get her out
+of bed. But bless you--these last three days she's up before the pair
+of us, rubbin' an' polishin' in every corner. An' she an' 'Ogg at each
+other's throats over flowers; she wantin' to pick every one to look
+pretty in the 'ouse, an' 'Ogg wantin' every one to look pretty in the
+garden."
+
+"Well, Hogg's got enough an' to spare," was Murty's comment. "No union
+touch about his work. I reckon he's put in sixteen hours a day at that
+garden since we heard they were comin'."
+
+"But there never was any union touch about Billabong," said Mrs. Brown.
+
+"Not much! We all know when we're well off," said Murty. "I'll bet no
+union was ever as good a boss as David Linton."
+
+Two other men appeared at the kitchen door--Mick Shanahan and Dave
+Boone--each wearing, in defiance of regulations, some battered remnant
+of uniform that marked the "digger," while Mick, in addition, would walk
+always with a slight limp. He was accustomed to say 'twas a mercy it
+didn't hinder his profession--which, being that of a horsebreaker, freed
+him, as a rule, from the necessity of much walking. Other men Billabong
+had sent to the war, and not all of them had come back; the lonely
+station had been a place of anxiety and of mourning. But to-day the
+memories of the long years of fighting and waiting were blotted out in
+joy.
+
+"Come in, boys," Mrs. Brown nodded at the men. "Tea's ready. What's it
+going to be?"
+
+"Fine, I think," said Boone, replying to this somewhat indefinite
+question with complete certainty as to the questioner's meaning. "I
+seen you an' Murty pokin' your heads up at them clouds, but there ain't
+nothin' in them." A smile spread over his good-looking, dark face.
+"Bless you, it couldn't rain today, with Miss Norah comin' home!"
+
+"I don't believe, meself, that Providence 'ud 'ave the 'eart," said Mrs.
+Brown. "Picksher them now, all flyin' round and gettin' ready to start,
+and snatchin' a bite of breakfast--"
+
+"If I know Master Jim 'twill be no bite he'll snatch!" put in Mick.
+
+"Well, all I 'ope is that the 'otel don't poison them," said Mrs.
+Brown darkly. "I on'y stopped in a Melbin' 'otel once, and then I got
+pot-o'-mine poisoning, or whatever they call it. I've 'eard they never
+wash their saucepans!"
+
+"No wonder you get rummy flavours in what you eat down there, if that's
+so," said Dave. "Surprisin' what the digestions of them city people
+learn to put up with. Well, I suppose you won't be addin' to their risks
+by puttin' up much of a dinner for them to-day, Mrs. Brown." He grinned
+wickedly.
+
+"You go on, imperence!" said the lady. "If I let you look into the
+larder now (w'ich I won't, along of knowin' you too well), there'd be
+no gettin' you out to work to-day. Murty, that turkey weighed
+five-and-thirty pound!"
+
+"Sure he looked every ounce of it," said Murty. "I niver see his
+aiqual--he was a regular Clydesdale of a bird!"
+
+"I rose him from the aig meself," said Mrs. Brown, "and I don't think
+I could 'a' brung meself to 'ave 'im killed for anythink less than them
+comin' 'ome. As it was, I feel 'e's died a nobil death. An' 'e'll eat
+beautiful, you mark my words."
+
+"Well, it'll be something to think of the Boss at the head of his table,
+investigatin' a Billabong turkey again," said Boone, putting down his
+empty cup. "And as there's nothing more certain than that they'll all be
+out at the stables d'reckly after dinner, wantin' to see the 'orses, you
+an' I'd better go an' shine 'em up a bit more, Mick." They tramped out
+of the kitchen, while Mrs. Brown waddled to the veranda and cast further
+anxious glances at the bank of clouds lying westward.
+
+Norah was watching them, too. She was sitting in the corner of the
+compartment, as the swift train bore them northward, with her eyes glued
+to the country flying past. Just for once the others did not matter to
+her; her father, Jim, and Wally, each in his own corner, as they had
+travelled so many times in the past, coming back from school. Then she
+had had eyes only for them; to-day her soul was hungry for the dear
+country she had not seen for so long. It lay bare enough in the early
+winter--long stretches of stone-walled paddocks where the red soil
+showed through the sparse, native grass; steep, stony hillsides, with
+little sheep grazing on them--pygmies, after the great English sheep;
+oases of irrigation, with the deep green of lucerne growing rank among
+weed-fringed water-channels; and so on and on, past little towns
+and tiny settlements, and now and then a stop at some place of more
+importance. But Norah did not want the towns; she was homesick for the
+open country, for the scent of the gum trees coming drifting in through
+the open window, for the long, lonely plains where grazing cattle raised
+lazy eyes to look at the roaring engine, or horses flung up nervous
+heads and went racing away across the grass--more for the fun of it than
+from fear. The gum trees called to her, beckoned to her; she forgot the
+smooth perfection of the English landscape as she feasted her eyes on
+the dear, untidy trees, whose dangling strips of bark seemed to wave to
+her in greeting, telling her she was coming home. They passed a great
+team of working bullocks in a wagon loaded with an enormous tree trunk;
+twenty-four monsters, roan and red and speckled, with a great pair of
+polled Angus in the lead; they plodded along in their own dust, their
+driver beside them with his immense whip over his shoulder. Norah
+pointed them out to the others with a quick exclamation, and Jim and
+Wally came to look out from her window.
+
+"By Jove, what a team!" said Jim. "Well, just at this moment I'd rather
+see those fellows than the meet of the Coaching Club in Hyde Park--and I
+had a private idea that that was the finest sight in the world!"
+
+"Aren't you a jungly animal!" quoth Wally.
+
+"Rather--just now," Jim rejoined. "Some day, I suppose, I'll be glad to
+go back to London, and look at it all again. But just now there doesn't
+seem to be anything to touch a fellow's own country--and that team of
+old sloggers there is just a bit of it. Isn't it, old Nor?" She nodded
+up at him; there was no need of words.
+
+The morning was drawing towards noon when they came in sight of their
+own little station: Cunjee, looking just as they had left it years ago,
+its corrugated iron roofs gleaming in the sunlight, its one street green
+with feathery pepper trees along each side. The train pulled up, and
+they all tumbled out hastily; presumably the express wasted no more time
+upon Cunjee than in days gone by, when it was necessary to hustle out
+of the carriage, and to race along to the van, lest the whistle should
+sound and your trunks be whisked away somewhere down the line.
+
+There were many people on the platform, and, wonderful to relate, a band
+was playing--Home Sweet Home; a little band, some of its musicians still
+in the aprons in which they had rushed from their shop duties; with
+instruments few and poor, and with not much training, so that the cornet
+was apt to be half a bar ahead of the euphonium. The Lintons had heard
+many bands since they had been away, and some had played before the King
+himself; but no music had ever gripped at their heartstrings like the
+music of the little backblocks band that stood on the gravelled platform
+of Cunjee and played to welcome them home.
+
+Suddenly, as they stood bewildered, there seemed people all round them;
+kindly, homely faces, gripping their hands, shouting greetings. Evans,
+the manager of Billabong, showed a delighted face for a moment, said,
+"Luggage in the van. I'll see to it; don't you bother," and was gone.
+Little Dr. Anderson and his wife, friends of long years, were trying to
+shake hands with all four at once. They were the centre of an excited
+little crowd--and found it hard to believe that it was really for them.
+The train roared away, unnoticed, and the station-master and the porter
+ran up to add their voices to the chorus. Somehow they were outside the
+station, gently propelled; and there was a great arch of gum leaves,
+with a huge WELCOME in red letters, and beneath it were the shire
+president and his councillors, and other weighty men, all with speeches
+ready. But the speeches did not come to much, for the shire president
+had lads himself who had gone to the war, and a lump came in his throat
+as he looked at the tall boys from Billabong, whom he had known as
+little children; so that half the fine things he had prepared were never
+said--which did not matter, since he had it all written out and gave
+it to the reporter of the local paper afterwards! Something of
+speech-making there undoubtedly was, but no one could have told you much
+about it--and suddenly it ended in some one calling for "Three cheers!"
+which every one gave with a will, while the band played that they were
+Jolly Good Fellows--and some of the band cheered while they played, with
+very curious results. Then David Linton tried to speak, and that was a
+failure also, as far as eloquence went; but nobody seemed to mind. So,
+between hand grips and cheers, they made their way through the welcome
+of Cunjee to where the big double buggy of Billabong stood, with three
+fidgeting brown horses, each held by a volunteer. Beyond that was the
+carry-all of the bush; an express wagon, with a grinning black boy at
+the horses' heads--and Norah went to him with outstretched hands.
+
+"Why, Billy!" she said.
+
+Billy's grin expanded in a perfectly reckless fashion.
+
+"Plenty glad!" he stammered--and thereby doubled his usual output of
+words.
+
+Willing hands were tossing their luggage into the wagon--unfamiliar
+luggage to Cunjee, with its jumble of ship labels, Continental hotel
+brands, and the names of towns all over England, Ireland and Scotland.
+There were battered tin uniform cases of Jim and Wally's, bearing their
+rank and regiment in half effaced letters: "Major J. Linton"; "Captain
+W. Meadows"--it was hard to realize that they belonged to the two
+merry-faced boys, who did not seem much changed from the days when
+Cunjee had seen them arrive light-heartedly from school. Mr. Linton ran
+his eye over the pile, pronouncing it complete. Then Evans was at his
+side.
+
+"The motor you sent is ready at the garage in the township if you want
+it," he said. "But you wired that I was to bring the buggy."
+
+"I did," said David Linton, with a slow smile. "I suppose for
+convenience sake we'll have to shake down to using the motor. But I
+drove the old buggy away from Billabong, and I'll drive home now. Jump
+in, children."
+
+He gathered up the reins, sitting, erect and spare, with one foot on the
+brake, while the brown horses plunged impatiently, and the volunteers
+found their work cut out in holding them. Norah was by him, Evans on her
+other hand; Jim and Wally "tumbled up" into the back seat, as they had
+done so many times. David Linton looked down at the crowd below.
+
+"Thank you all again," he said. "We'll see you soon--it's not good-bye
+now, only 'so-long.' Let 'em go, boys."
+
+The volunteers sprang back, thankfully. The browns stood on their hind
+legs for a moment, endeavouring to tie themselves in knots; then the
+whip spoke, and they came to earth, straightened themselves out with a
+flying plunge, and wheeled out of the station yard and up the
+street. Behind them cheers broke out afresh, and the band blared once
+more--which acted as a further spur to the horses; they were pulling
+double as the high buggy flashed along the street, where every house and
+every shop showed smiling faces, and handkerchiefs waved in welcome. So
+they passed through Cunjee, and wheeled to the right towards the open
+country--the country that meant Billabong.
+
+There were seventeen miles of road ahead, but the browns made little of
+them. They had come into the township the evening before, and had done
+nothing since but eat the hotel oats and wish to be out of a close
+stable and back in their own free paddocks. They took the hills at a
+swift, effortless trot, and on the down slopes broke into a hand-gallop;
+light-hearted, but conscious all the time of the hand on the reins, that
+was as steel, yet light as a feather upon a tender mouth. They danced
+merrily to one side when they met a motor or a hawker's van with
+flapping cover; when the buggy rattled over a bridge they plainly
+regarded the drumming of their own hoofs as the last trump, and fled
+wildly for a few hundred yards, before realizing that nothing was really
+going to happen to them. But the miles fled under their swift feet. The
+trim villas near the township gave place to scattered farms. These in
+their turn became further and further apart, and then they entered a
+wide belt of timber, ragged and wind-swept gums, with dense undergrowth
+of dogwood and bracken fern. The metalled road gave place to a hard,
+earthern track, on which the spinning tyres made no sound; it curved in
+and out among the trees, which met overhead and cast upon it a waving
+pattern of shadows. Grim things had once happened to Norah in this belt
+of trees, and the past came back to her as she looked at its gloomy
+recesses again.
+
+They were all silent. There had been few questions to ask of Evans, a
+few to be answered; then speech fled from them and the old spell of the
+country held them in its power. Every yard was familiar; every little
+bridge, every culvert, every quaint old skeleton tree or dead grey log.
+Here Jim's pony had bolted at sight of an Indian hawker, in days long
+gone, and had ended by putting his foot into a hole and turning a
+somersault, shooting Jim into a well-grown clump of nettles. Here Norah
+had dropped her whip when riding alone, and her fractious young mare had
+succeeded in pulling away when she dismounted, and had promptly departed
+post-haste for home; leaving her wrathful owner to follow as she might.
+A passing bullock-wagon had given her a lift, and the somewhat anxious
+rescue party, setting out from Billabong, had met its youthful mistress,
+bruised from much bumping, but otherwise cheerful, progressing in slow
+majesty towards its gates. Here--but the memories were legion, even to
+the girl and the two boys. And David Linton's went further back, to the
+day when he had first driven Norah's mother over the Billabong track;
+little and dainty and merry, while he had been as always, silent, but
+unspeakably proud of her. The little mother's grave had long been green,
+and the world had turned topsy-turvy since then, but the old track was
+the same, and the memory, and the pride, were no less clear.
+
+They emerged from the timber at last, and spun across a wide plain,
+scattered with clumps of gum-trees. Then another belt of bush, a narrow
+one this time; and they came out within view of a great park-like
+paddock where Shorthorn bullocks, knee-deep in grass, scarcely moved
+aside as the buggy spun past, with the browns pulling hard. The track
+ran near the fence, and turned in at a big white gate glistening with
+new paint. It stood wide open, and beside it was a man on a splendid bay
+horse.
+
+"There's Murty, and he's on Garryowen," spoke Jim quickly. "The old
+brick!"
+
+"I guess if anyone else had wanted to open the gate for you to-day, he'd
+have had to fight Murty for the job," said Evans. "And Garryowen's been
+groomed till he turns pale at the sight of a brush, Great horse he's
+made, Mr. Jim."
+
+"He's all that," said his owner, leaning out to view him better, with
+his eyes shining. He raised his voice in a shout as they swung in
+through the gateway. "Good for you, Murty! Hurroo!"
+
+"Hurroo for ye all!" said Murty, and found to his amazement that his
+voice was shaky. "Ah, don't shtop, sir, they're all waitin' on ye. I'll
+be up as soon as ye."
+
+Norah had tried to speak, and had found that she had no voice at all.
+She could only smile at him, tremulously--and be sure the Irishman did
+not fail to catch the smile. Then, as they dashed up the paddock, her
+hand sought for her father's knee under the rug, in the little gesture
+that had been hers from babyhood. The track curved round a grove of
+great pines, and suddenly they were within sight of Billabong homestead,
+red-walled and red-roofed, nestled in the deep green of its trees.
+
+"By Jove!" said Jim, under his breath. "I thought once I'd never see the
+old place again."
+
+They flashed through mighty red gums and box trees, Murty galloping
+beside them now. There was a big flag flying proudly on Billabong
+house--they found later that the household had unanimously purchased it
+on the day they heard that Jim had got his captaincy. The gate of the
+great sanded yard stood open, and near it, on a wide gravel sweep, were
+the dear and simple and faithful people they loved. Mrs. Brown first,
+starched and spotless, her hair greyer than it had been five years
+before, with Sarah and Mary beside her--they had married during the war,
+but nothing had prevented them from coming back to make Billabong ready.
+Near them the storekeeper, Jack Archdale, and his pretty wife, with
+their elfish small daughter; and Mick Shanahan and Dave Boone, with the
+Scotch gardener, Hogg, and his Chinese colleague--and sworn enemy--Lee
+Wing. They were all there, a little welcoming group--but Norah could see
+them only through a mist of happy tears. The buggy stopped, and Evans
+sprang out over the wheel; she followed him almost as swiftly, running
+to the old woman who had been all the mother she had known.
+
+"Oh, Brownie--Brownie!"
+
+"My precious lamb!" said Brownie, and held her tightly. She had no hands
+left for Jim and Wally, and they did not seem to mind; they kissed her,
+patting her vast shoulders very hard. Then Mrs. Archdale claimed Norah,
+and Brownie found herself looking mistily up at David Linton and he was
+gripping her hand tightly, the other hand on her shoulder.
+
+"Why, old Brownie!" he said. "Dear old Brownie!"
+
+They were shaking hands all round, over and over again. Nobody made any
+speeches of welcome--there were only disjointed words, and once or
+twice a little sob. Indeed, Brownie only found her tongue when they had
+drifted across the yard in a confused group, and had reached the wide
+veranda. Then she looked up at Jim and seemed suddenly to realize his
+mighty height and breadth.
+
+"Oh!" she said. "Oh! Ain't 'e grown big an' beautiful!" Whereat Wally
+howled with laughter, and Jim, scarlet, kissed her again, and told her
+she was a shameful old woman.
+
+No one on Billabong could have told you much of that day, after
+the first wonderful moment of getting home. It was a day of blurred
+memories. The new-comers had to wander through the house where every big
+window stood open to the sunlight, and every room was gay with flowers;
+and from every window it was necessary to look out at the view across
+the paddocks and down at the gardens, and to follow the winding course
+of the creek. The gong summoned them to dinner in the midst of it, and
+Brownie's dinner deserved to be remembered; the mammoth turkey flanked
+by a ham as gigantic, and somewhat alarming to war-trained appetites;
+followed by every sweet that Brownie could remember as having been a
+favourite. They drifted naturally to the stables afterwards, to find
+their special horses, apparently little changed by five years, though
+some old station favourites were gone, and the men spoke proudly of some
+new young ones that were going to be "beggars to go," or "a caution to
+jump." Then they wandered down to the big lagoon, where the old boat
+yet lay at the edge of the reed-fringed water; and on through the home
+paddock to look at the little herd of Jerseys that were kept for the
+use of the house, and some great bullocks almost ready for the Melbourne
+market. So they came back to the homestead, wandering up from the creek
+through Lee Wing's rows of vegetables, and came to rest naturally in the
+kitchen, where they had afternoon tea with Brownie, who beamed from ear
+to ear at the sight of Jim and Wally again sitting on her table.
+
+"I used to think of you in them 'orrible trenches, an' wonder wot you
+got to eat, an' if it was anything at all," she said tremulously.
+
+"We got something, but it was apt to be queer," said Jim, laughing.
+"We used to think of sitting on the table here, Brownie, and eating hot
+scones--like this. May I have another?"
+
+"My pore dears!" said Brownie, hastily supplying him with the largest
+scone in sight. "Now, Master Wally, my love, ain't you ready for
+another? Your appetite's not 'alf wot it used to be. A pikelet, now?"
+
+"I believe I've had six!" said Wally, defending himself.
+
+"An' wot used six pikelets to be to you? A mere fly in the ointment,"
+said Brownie, whose similes were always apt to be peculiar. "Just
+another, then, my dear. An' I've got your fav'rite sponge cake, Miss
+Norah--ten aigs in it!"
+
+"Ten!" said Norah faintly. "Hold me, daddy! Doesn't it make you feel
+light-headed to think of putting ten eggs in one cake again?"
+
+"An' why not?" sniffed Brownie. "Ah, you got bad treatment in that old
+England. I never could see why you should go short, an' you all 'elpin'
+on the war as 'ard as you could." Brownie's indifference to national
+considerations where her nurselings were concerned was well known, and
+nobody argued with her. "Any'ow, the cake's there, an' just you try
+it--it's as light as a feather, though I do say it."
+
+Once in the kitchen Norah and the boys went no further. They remained
+sitting on the tables, talking, while presently David Linton went away
+to his study, and, one by one, Murty and Boone and Mick Shanahan drifted
+in. There was so much to tell, so much to ask about; they talked until
+the dusk of the short winter afternoon stole into the kitchen, making
+the red flames in the stove leap more redly. It was time to dress for
+tea. They went round the wide verandas and ran upstairs to their rooms,
+while old Brownie stood in the kitchen doorway listening to the merry
+voices.
+
+"Ain't it just 'evinly to 'ear 'em again!" she uttered.
+
+"It is that," said Murty. "We've been quare an' lonesome an' quiet these
+five years."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+
+Cecilia--otherwise Tommy--and Bob Rainham came up to Billabong three
+days later, and were met by Jim, who had ridden into Cunjee with Black
+Billy, and released the motor from inglorious seclusion in the local
+garage. Billy jogged off, leading Garryowen, and Jim watched them half
+wistfully for a minute before turning to the car. Motors had their uses
+certainly; but no Linton ever dreamed of giving a car the serious and
+respectful consideration that naturally belonged to a horse.
+
+Nevertheless, it was a good car; a gift to Norah from an Irishman
+they had known and loved; and Jim drove well, having developed the
+accomplishment over Flemish roads that were chiefly a succession of
+shell holes. He took her quietly up to the station, and walked on to the
+platform as the train thundered in.
+
+Tommy and Bob were looking eagerly from their carriage window, and
+hailed him with delight; they had been alone, for the first time since
+leaving England, and had begun to feel that Australia was a large and
+slightly populated country, and that they were inconsiderable atoms,
+suddenly dumped into its vacant spaces. Jim was like a large and
+friendly rock, and Australia immediately became less wide and desolate
+in their eyes. He greeted them cheerily and helped Bob to pack their
+luggage into the car.
+
+"Now, I could get you afternoon tea here," he said; "and I warn you,
+it will be bad. Or I could have you home in well under an hour, and you
+wouldn't be too late for tea there. Which is it to be, Tommy?"
+
+"Oh--home," said Tommy. "I don't care a bit about tea; and I want to see
+this Billabong of yours. Do let's go, Jim."
+
+"I hoped you wouldn't choose tea here," said Jim, striding off to the
+car. "Bush townships don't run to decent tea places, as a rule; the
+hotel is the only chance, and though they can give you a fair dinner,
+tea always seems to be a weak spot." He packed them in, and they moved
+off down the winding street.
+
+"Do you know," Jim said, "that I never went down this street before
+except on a horse, or behind one? It seems quite queer and unnatural
+to be doing it in a car. I suppose I'll get used to it. Had a good trip
+up?"
+
+"Oh, quite," Tommy told him. "Jim, how few people seem to be living in
+Australia!"
+
+Jim gave a crack of laughter.
+
+"Well, you saw a good many in Melbourne, didn't you?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes. But Melbourne isn't Australia. It's only away down in a wee
+little corner." Tommy flushed a little. "You see, I haven't seen much of
+any country except France and the England that's near London," she said.
+"And there isn't much waste space there."
+
+"No, there isn't," Jim agreed. "I suppose we'll fill up Australia some
+day. But the people who come out now seem to have a holy horror of going
+into the 'waste spaces,' as you call 'em, Tommy. They want to nestle up
+to the towns, and go to picture theatres."
+
+"Well, I want to go and find a nice waste space," said Tommy. "Not too
+waste, of course, only with room to look all round. And I'd like it
+to be not too far from Norah, 'cause she's very cheering to a lone
+new-chum. But don't you go planning to settle in one of those horrid
+little tin-roofed towns, Bobby, for I should simply hate it."
+
+"Certainly, ma'am," said Bob cheerfully. "We'll get out into the open. I
+can always run you about in an aeroplane, if you feel lonesome, provided
+we make enough money to buy one, that is. Only new-chums don't always
+make heaps of money, do they, Jim?"
+
+"Not at first, I'm afraid," Jim said. "The days of picking up fortunes
+in Australia seem to be over; anyway, there's no more gold lying about.
+Nowadays, you have to put your back into it extremely hard, if you've no
+capital to start with; and even if you have, you can't loaf. How did you
+get on in Melbourne? I hope you didn't buy a station without consulting
+us."
+
+"Rather not," Bob answered. "We raced round magnificently in your aunt's
+car and presented our letters, and had more invitations to sundry meals
+than we could possibly accept. Every one was extraordinarily kind to us.
+I've offers and promises of advice in whatever district we settle; three
+squatters asked me up to their places, to stay awhile and study the
+country; and one confiding man--I hadn't a letter to him at all, by the
+way, only some one introduced us to him in Scott's--actually offered me
+a job as jackeroo on a Queensland run. But he was a lone old bachelor,
+and when he heard I had a sister he shied off in terror. I think he's
+running yet."
+
+Jim shouted with laughter.
+
+"Poor old Tommy!" he said.
+
+"Yes, is it not unfair?" said Tommy. "I told Bob I was a mere
+encumbrance, but he would bring me."
+
+"You wait until you've settled, and Bob wants some one to run his house,
+and then see how much of an encumbrance you are," rejoined Jim. "Then
+you'll suddenly stop being meek and get swelled head."
+
+"And not be half so nice," interjected Bob.
+
+"But so useful!" said Tommy demurely. "Only sometimes I become
+afraid--for you seem always to kill a whole sheep or bullock up in the
+bush, and how I am to deal with it I do not know!"
+
+"It sounds as if you preferred some one to detach an occasional limb
+from the sheep as it walked about!" said Jim, laughing.
+
+"Much easier for me--if not for the sheep," said Tommy.
+
+"Well, don't you worry--the meat problem will get settled somehow," Jim
+told her cheerfully. "All problems straighten out, if you give 'em time.
+Now we're nearly home--that's the fence of our home-paddock. And there
+are Norah and Wally coming to meet you."
+
+"Oh--where?" Tommy started up, looking excitedly round the landscape.
+"Oh--there she is--the dear! And isn't that a beautiful horse!"
+
+"That's Norah's special old pony, Bosun," said Jim. "We're making her
+very unhappy by telling her she's grown too big for him, but he really
+carries her like a bird. A habit might look too much on him, but not
+that astride kit. You got yours, by the way, Tommy, I hope?"
+
+"Oh yes. I look very strange in it," said Tommy. "And Bob thinks I might
+as well have worn out his old uniforms. But I shall never ride like
+that--as Norah does."
+
+She looked at Norah, who was coming across the paddock with Wally, at a
+hard canter. Her pony was impatient, reefing and plunging in his desire
+to gallop; and Norah was sitting him easily, her hands, well down,
+giving to the strain on the bit, her slight figure, in coat and
+breeches, swaying lightly to each bound. The sunlight rippled on Bosun's
+glossy, bay coat, and on the big black horse Wally rode. They pulled
+up, laughing, at the gateway, just as the car turned off the road. There
+were confused and enthusiastic greetings, and the car dashed on up the
+track, with an outrider on each side--both horses strongly resenting
+this new and ferocious monster. The years had brought a good deal of
+sober sense to Bosun and Monarch, but motors were still unfamiliar
+objects on Billabong. Indeed, no car of the size of Norah's Rolls-Royce
+had ever been seen in the district, and the men gaped at it open-mouthed
+as Jim drove it round to the stable after unloading his passengers.
+
+"Yerra, but that's the fine carry-van," said Murty. "Is that the size
+they have them in England, now?"
+
+"No, it isn't, Murty--not as a rule," Jim answered. "This was built
+specially for a man who was half an invalid; he used to go for long
+tours, and sleep in the car because he hated hotels. So it's a special
+size. It used to be jolly useful taking out wounded men in England."
+
+"Sure, it would be," Murty said. "Only--somehow, it don't seem to fit
+into Billabong, Mr. Jim!"
+
+"So big as that! I say, Murty!"
+
+"Yerra, there's room enough for it," grinned the Irishman. "Only, motors
+and Billabong don't go hand in hand--we've always stuck to horses,
+haven't we, Mr. Jim?"
+
+"We'll do that still," Jim said. "But it will be useful, all the same,
+Murty." He laughed at the stockman's lugubrious face. "Oh, I know it's
+giving you the sort of pain you had when dad had the telephone put on--"
+
+"Well, 'tis the quare onnatural little machine, an' I niver feel anyways
+at home with it, Mr. Jim," Murty defended himself.
+
+"There's lots like you, Murty. But you'll admit that when we've got
+to send a telegram, it's better to telephone it than make a man ride
+thirty-four miles with it?"
+
+"I suppose it is," said the Irishman doubtfully. "I dunno, though--if
+'twas that black imp of a Billy he'd as well be doing that as propping
+up the stable wall an' smokin'!"
+
+Jim chuckled.
+
+"There's no getting round an Irishman when he makes up his mind," he
+said. "And if you had to catch the eight o'clock train to Melbourne
+I believe you'd rather get up at three in the morning and run up the
+horses to drive in, than leave here comfortably in the car at seven."
+
+"Is it me to dhrive in it?" demanded Murty, in horror. "Begob, I'd lose
+me life before I'd get into one of thim quare, sawed-off things. Give
+me something with shafts, Mr. Jim, and a dacint horse in them. More by
+token, I would not get up at three in the morning either, but dhrive in
+aisy an' comfortable the night before." He beamed on Jim with so clear
+a conviction that he was unanswerable that Jim hadn't the heart to
+argue further. Instead he ran the car deftly into a buggy-shed whence
+an ancient double buggy had been deposed to make room for her, and then
+fell to discussing with Murty the question of building a garage, with
+a turn-table and pit for cleaning and repairs. To which Murty gave
+the eager interest and attention he would have shown had Jim proposed
+building anything, even had it been an Eiffel Tower on the front lawn.
+
+Brownie came out through the box-trees to the stables, presently.
+
+"Now, Master Jim, afternoon tea's in these ten minutes."
+
+"Good gracious! I forgot all about tea!" Jim exclaimed. "Thanks awfully,
+Brownie. Had your own?" He slipped his arm through hers as they turned
+back to the house.
+
+"Not yet, my dear," said Brownie, beaming up at him. That this huge
+Major, with four years of war service to his credit, was exactly the
+same to her as the little boy she had bathed and dressed in years gone
+by, was a matter of nightly thanksgiving in her prayers. "I was just
+goin' to settle to it when it come over me that you weren't in--and the
+visitors there an' all."
+
+"I'd come and have mine with you in the kitchen if they weren't there,"
+Jim told her. "Tea in your kitchen is better than anything else." He
+patted her shoulders as he left her at the door of her domain, going off
+with long strides to wash his hands.
+
+"We didn't wait for you," Norah said, as he came into the drawing-room;
+a big cheery room, with long windows opening out upon the veranda, and a
+conservatory at one end. A fire of red gum logs made it pleasantly
+warm; the tea table was drawn near its blaze, and the arm-chairs made
+a semicircle round it. "These poor people looked far too hungry to
+wait--to say nothing of Wally and myself. How did the car go, Jimmy?"
+
+"Splendidly," Jim said, taking his cup, and retiring from the tea-table
+with a scone. "Never ran better; that man in Cunjee knows his job, which
+I didn't expect. Are you tired, Tommy?"
+
+"Tired?--no," said Tommy. "I was very hungry, but that is getting
+better. And Norah is going to show me Billabong, so I could not possibly
+dream of being tired."
+
+"If Norah means to show you all Billabong before dark, she'll have
+to hurry," said Jim lazily. "Don't you let yourself be persuaded into
+anything so desperate, Tommy."
+
+"Don't you worry; I'll give her graduated doses," Norah said. "I'll
+watch the patient carefully, and see if there is any sign of strength
+failing. When do you begin to teach Bob to run a station?"
+
+"I never saw anyone in such a hurry," said Jim. "Why, the poor beggar
+hasn't had his tea yet--give him time."
+
+"But we are in a hurry," said Tommy. "We're burning to learn all about
+it. Norah is to teach me the house side, while you instruct Bob how to
+tell a merino bullock--is it not?--from an Ayrshire." Everybody ate with
+suspicious haste, and she looked at them shrewdly. "Now, I have said
+that all wrong, I feel sure, but it's just as well for you to be
+prepared for that. Norah will have a busy time correcting my mistakes."
+
+"You aren't supposed to know anything about cattle and things like
+that," said Norah. "And when it comes to the house side, I don't think
+you'll find I can teach you much--if anyone brought up to know French
+cooking and French housekeeping has much to learn from a backblocks
+Australian, I'll be surprised."
+
+"In fact," said Mr. Linton, "I should think that the lessons will
+generally end in the students of domestic economy fleeing forth upon
+horses and studying how to deal with beef--on the hoof. Don't you,
+Wally?"
+
+"Rather," said Wally. "And Brownie will wash up after them, and say,
+'Bless their hearts, why would they stay in a hot kitchen!' And so poor
+old Bob will go down the road to ruin!"
+
+"It's a jolly prospect," said Bob placidly. "I think we'll knock a good
+deal of fun out of it!"
+
+They trooped out in a body presently on their preliminary voyage
+of discovery; touring the house itself, with its big rooms and wide
+corridors, and the broad balconies that ran round three sides, from
+which you looked far across the run--miles of rolling plains, dotted
+with trees and clumps of timber, and merging into a far line of low,
+scrub-grown hills. Then outside, and to the stables--a massive red brick
+pile, creeper-covered, where Monarch and Garryowen, and Bosun, and the
+buggy ponies, looked placidly from their loose boxes, and asked for--and
+got--apples from Jim's pockets. Tommy even made her way up the steep
+ladder to the loft that ran the whole length of the stables--big enough
+for the men's yearly dance, but just now crammed with fragrant oaten
+hay. She wanted to see everything, and chatted away in her eager,
+half-French fashion, like a happy child.
+
+"It is so lovely to be here," she told Norah later, when the keen
+evening wind had driven them indoors from a tour of the garden. She was
+kneeling on the floor of her bedroom, unpacking her trunk, while Norah
+perched on the end of the bed. "You see, I am no longer afraid; and I
+have always been afraid since Aunt Margaret died. In Lancaster Gate I
+was afraid all the time, especially when I was planning to run away.
+Then, on the ship, though every one was so kind, the big, unknown
+country was like a wall of Fear ahead; even in Melbourne everything
+seemed uncertain, doubtful. But now, quite suddenly, it is all right. I
+just know we shall get along quite well."
+
+"Why, of course you will," Norah said, laughing down at the earnest
+face. "You're the kind of people who must do well, because you are so
+keen. And Billabong has adopted you, and we're going to see that you
+make a success of things. You're our very own immigrants!"
+
+"It's nice to be owned by some one who isn't my step-mother," said Tommy
+happily. "I began to think I was hers, body and soul--when she appeared
+on that awful moment in Liverpool. I made sure all hope was over. Bob
+says I shouldn't have panicked, but then Bob had not been a toad under
+her harrow for two years."
+
+"I'm very glad you panicked, since it sent you straight into our arms,"
+said Norah. "If we had met you in an ordinary, stodgy way--you and Bob
+presenting your letter of introduction, and we saying 'How do you do?'
+politely--it would have taken us ages to get to know you properly.
+And as it was, we jumped into being friends. You did look such a poor,
+hunted little soul as you came dodging across that street!"
+
+"And you took me on trust, when, for all you know, the police might have
+been after me," said Tommy. "Well, we won't forget; not that I suppose
+Bob and I will ever be able to pay you back."
+
+"Good gracious, we don't want paying back!" exclaimed Norah, wrinkling
+her nose disgustedly. "Don't talk such utter nonsense, Tommy Rainham.
+And just hurry up and unpack, because tea will be ready at half-past
+six."
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed the English girl, to whom dinner at half-past
+seven was a custom of life not lightly to be altered. "And I haven't
+half unpacked, and oh, where is my blue frock? I don't believe I've
+brought it." She sought despairingly in the trunk.
+
+"Yes, you have--I hung it up for you in the wardrobe ages ago," said
+Norah. "And it doesn't matter if you don't finish before tea. There's
+lots of time ahead. However, I certainly won't be dressed if I don't
+hurry, because I've to see Brownie first, and then sew on a button for
+Jim. You'll find me next door when you're ready." Tommy heard her go,
+singing downstairs, and she sighed happily. This, for the first time for
+two years, was a real home.
+
+The education of the new-chums began next morning, and was carried out
+thoroughly, since Mr. Linton did not believe in showing their immigrants
+only the pleasanter side of Australian life. Bob was given a few days of
+riding round the run, spying out the land, and learning something about
+cattle and their handling as he rode. Luckily for him, he was a good
+horseman. The stockmen, always on the alert to "pick holes" in a
+new-chum, had little fault to find with his easy seat and hands, and
+approved of the way in which he waited for no one's help in saddling up
+or letting go his horse; a point which always tells with the man of the
+bush.
+
+"We've had thim on this run," said Murty, "as wanted their horses led
+gently up to thim, and then they climb into the saddle like a lady.
+And when they'd come home, all they'd be lookin' for 'ud be some one to
+casht their reins to, the way they cud strowl off to their tay. Isn't
+that so, Mick?"
+
+"Yairs," said Mick. He was riding an unbroken three-year-old, and had no
+time for conversation.
+
+After a few days of "gentle exercise," Bob found himself put on to
+work. He learned something of cutting out and mustering, both in cleared
+country and in scrub; helped bring home young cattle to brand, and
+studied at first hand the peculiar evilness of a scrub cow when
+separated from her calf. They gave him jobs for himself, which
+he accomplished fairly well, aided by a stock horse of superhuman
+intelligence, which naturally knew far more of the work than its rider
+could hope to do. Bob confided to Tommy that never had he felt so
+complete a fool as when he rode forth for the first time to cut out a
+bullock alone under the eyes of the experts.
+
+"Luckily, the old mare did all the work," he said. "But I knew less
+about it than I did the first time I went up alone at the flying
+school!"
+
+His teaching went on all the time. Mr. Linton and Jim were tireless in
+pointing out the points of cattle, and the variations in the value of
+feed on the different parts of the run, with all the details of bush
+lore; and the airman's eyes, trained to observe, and backed by keen
+desire to learn, picked up and retained knowledge quickly. Billabong
+was, in the main, a cattle run, but Mr. Linton kept as well a flock of
+high class sheep, with the usual small mob for killing for station use,
+and through these a certain amount of sheep knowledge was imparted to
+the new-chum. To their surprise, for all his instructors were heart and
+soul for cattle, Bob showed a distinct leaning towards mutton.
+
+"They're easier to understand, I think," he said. "Possibly it's because
+they're not as intelligent as cattle, and I don't think I am, either!"
+
+"Well, I know something about bullocks, but these woolly objects have
+always been beyond me," said Jim. "Necessary evils, but I can't stand
+them. I used to think there was nothing more hopeless than an old merino
+ewe, until I met a battery mule--he's a shade worse!"
+
+"Wait till you've worked with a camel in a bad temper, Mr. Jim," said
+Dave Boone darkly; he had put in a weary time in Egypt. "For downright
+wickedness them snake-headed beggars is the fair limit!"
+
+"Yes, I've heard so," said Jim. "Anyhow, we haven't added mules and
+camels to our worries in Victoria yet; sheep are bad enough for me.
+Norah says turkey hens are worse, and she's certainly tried both; there
+isn't much about the run young Norah doesn't know. But you aren't going
+to make a living out of turkeys."
+
+"No--Tommy can run them as a side line," said Bob. "I fancy sheep will
+give me all I want in the way of worry."
+
+"And you really think you'll go in for sheep, old man?" asked Jim with
+pity.
+
+Bob set his lips obstinately.
+
+"I don't think anything yet," he said. "I don't know enough. Wait until
+I've learned a bit more--if you're not sick of teaching such an idiot."
+
+"Yerra, ye're no ijit," said Murty under his breath.
+
+Education developed as the weeks went on. Wally had gone to Queensland,
+to visit married brothers who were all the "people" he possessed; and
+Jim, bereft of his chum, threw himself energetically into the training
+of the substitute. Bob learned to slaughter a bullock and kill a
+sheep--being instructed that the job in winter was not a circumstance to
+what it would be in summer, when flies would abound. He never pretended
+to like this branch of learning, but stuck to it doggedly, since it was
+explained to him that the man who could not be his own butcher in the
+bush was apt to go hungry, and that not one hired hand in twenty could
+be trusted to kill.
+
+More to Bob's taste were the boundary riding expeditions made with Jim
+to the furthest corners of the run; taking a pack horse with tucker and
+blankets, and camping in ancient huts, of which the sole furniture was
+rough sacking bunks, a big fireplace, and empty kerosene cases for
+seats and tables. It was unfortunate, from the point of view of
+Bob's instruction, that the frantic zeal of Murty and the men to have
+everything in order for "the Boss" had left no yard of the Billabong
+boundary unvisited not a month before. Still, winter gales were always
+apt to bring down a tree or two across the wires, laying a few panels
+flat; the creeks, too, were all in flood, and where a wire fence crossed
+one, floating brushwood often damaged the barrier, or a landslip in
+a water-worn bank might carry away a post. So Jim and his pupil found
+enough occupation to make their trips worth while; and Bob learned to
+sink post holes, to ram a post home beyond the possibility of moving,
+and to strain a wire fence scientifically. He was not a novice with an
+axe, though Jim's mighty chopping made him feel a child; still, when it
+was necessary to cut away a fallen tree, he could do his share manfully.
+His hands blistered and grew horny callouses, even as his muscles
+toughened and his shoulders widened; and all the time the appeal of the
+wide, free country called to his heart and drew him closer and closer to
+his new life.
+
+"But he's too comfortable, you know," David Linton said to Jim one
+night. "He's shaping as well as anyone could expect; but he won't always
+have Billabong at his back."
+
+Jim nodded wisely.
+
+"I know," he said. "Been thinking of that. If you can spare me for a bit
+we'll go over and lend ourselves as handy men to old Joe Howard."
+
+His father whistled.
+
+"He'll make you toe the mark," he said, laughing. "He won't have you
+there as gentlemen boarders, you know."
+
+"Don't want him to," said Jim.
+
+So it came about that early on Monday morning Jim and Bob fixed swags
+more or less scientifically to their saddles--Jim made his disciple
+unstrap his three times before he consented to pass it--and rode away
+from Billabong, amidst derisive good wishes from Norah and Tommy, who
+kindly promised to feed them up on their return, prophesying that they
+would certainly need it. They took a westerly direction across country,
+and after two or three hours' riding came upon a small farm nestling at
+the foot of a low range of hills.
+
+"That's old Howard's," Jim said. "And there's the old chap himself,
+fixing up his windmill. You wait a minute, Bob; I'll go over and see
+him."
+
+He gave Bob his bridle, and went across a small paddock near the house.
+Howard, a hard-looking old man with a long, grey beard, was wrestling
+with a home-made windmill--a queer erection, mainly composed of rough
+spars with sails made from old wheat-sacks. He clambered to the ground
+as Jim approached, and greeted him civilly.
+
+"I thought you'd have forgotten me, Mr. Howard," said Jim.
+
+"Too like your dad--an', anyhow, I know the horses," was the laconic
+answer. "So you're back. Like Australia better'n fightin'?"
+
+"Rather!" said Jim. "Fighting's a poor game, I think, when you hardly
+ever see the other fellow. Want any hands, Mr. Howard?"
+
+"No." The old man shook his head. "They want too much money nowadays,
+an' they're too darned partickler about their tucker. Meat three times
+a day, whether you've killed it or not. An' puddin'. Cock 'em up with
+puddin'--a fat lot of it I ever saw where I was raised. An' off to the
+township on Saturday afternoon, an' lucky if they get back in time for
+milkin' nex' mornin'. No--the workin' man ain't what 'e was, an' the new
+kind'll make precious little of Australia!"
+
+"That's about right, I'm afraid," said Jim, listening sympathetically to
+this oration. "Well, will you take me and my friend as hands for a few
+weeks, Mr. Howard?"
+
+"You!" The old man stared at him. "Ain't 'ad a quarrel with yer dad,
+'ave yer? You take my tip, if yer 'ave--go back and make it up. Not many
+men in this districk like yer dad."
+
+"I know that, jolly well," said Jim, laughing. "No--but my friend's
+a new-chum, and I want to show him something of work on a place like
+yours. We've been breaking him in on Billabong, but he'll have to take
+a small place for himself, if he settles, and he'd better see what it's
+like."
+
+The old man shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"English officer, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I dunno," said Howard. "Too much of the fine gent about that sort, Mr.
+Jim. I dunno 'ow I'd get down to orderin' the pair of yous about. An' I
+ain't got no 'comodation for yous; an' the tucker's not what yous 'ave
+bin used ter."
+
+"You needn't let any of that worry you," said Jim cheerfully. "He isn't
+a bit of a fine gent, really, and we'll tackle any job that's going.
+As for accommodation, we've brought our blankets, and, in case you were
+short of tucker, we've a big piece of corned beef and some bread. I
+wish you'd try it, Mr. Howard; we don't want pay, and we'll do no end of
+work. Murty reckons you won't be sorry if you take on Captain Rainham."
+
+"Oh, Murty says that, does 'e?" asked the old man, visibly cheered.
+"Well, Murty ain't the man to barrack for a useless new-chum."
+
+"Great Scott, do you think I am?" demanded Jim, laughing. "Or my
+father?"
+
+"Yous cert'nly didn't ought to be," agreed Howard. "All the same"--he
+pushed his hat back from his worried brow--"I dunno as I quite like it.
+If I take on a chap I like 'im to step quick an' lively when I tell him
+anything I want done; an' I don't make no guests of 'em either. They got
+to do their own cookin', an' keep things clean an' tidy, too."
+
+"We'll take our share," said Jim. "As for stepping quick and lively,
+we've both been trained to that pretty thoroughly during the last few
+years. If you're worse than some of the Sergeant-majors I met when I was
+training, I'll eat my hat."
+
+"I'm told they're 'ard," said Howard. "Well, I s'pose I'd better take
+yous on, though it's a queer day when the son of Linton of Billabong
+comes askin' old Joe Howard for a job. But, I say"--and anguish again
+settled on his brow--"wot am I to call yous? I can't order you about as
+Mr. Jim. It wouldn't seem to come natural."
+
+"Oh, call us any old thing," said Jim, laughing.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+"Well, I'll call yous Major an' Captin," he declared, at length.
+"That'll sound like a pair of workin' bullocks, an' I'll feel more at
+'ome."
+
+"Right-o," said Jim, choking slightly. "Where shall we put our horses?"
+
+"Put 'em in the little paddock over there, an' stick yer saddles in the
+shed," said his employer. "An' then bring in yer beef, an' we'll 'ave a
+bit o' dinner. I ain't killed for a fortnight."
+
+Then began for Bob Rainham one of the most strenuous fortnights of his
+existence. Once having agreed to employ them, old Joe speedily became
+reconciled to the prospect of cheap labour, and worked his willing
+guests with a devouring energy. Before dawn had reddened the eastern
+sky a shout of "Hi, Captin! Time the cow was in!" drove him from his
+blankets, to search in the darkness of a scrub-covered paddock for a
+cow, who apparently loved a game of hide-and-seek, and to drive her in
+and milk her by the fitful light of a hurricane lantern. Then came the
+usual round of morning duties; chopping wood, feeding pigs, cleaning
+out sheds and outhouses, before the one-time airman had time to think of
+breakfast. By the time he came in Howard and Jim had generally finished
+and gone out--the old man took a sly delight in keeping "Major" away
+from "Captin"--and after cooking his meal, it was his job to wash up
+and to clean out the kitchen, over which old Joe proved unexpectedly
+critical. Then came a varied choice of tasks to tackle to while away the
+day. Sometimes he would be sent to scrub cutting, which he liked best,
+particularly as Jim was kept at it always; sometimes he slashed mightily
+at a blackberry-infested paddock, where the brambles would have daunted
+anyone less stout of heart--or less ignorant. Then came lessons in
+ploughing on a dry hillside; he managed badly at first, and came in for
+a good deal of the rough side of old Joe's tongue before he learned to
+keep to anything approaching a straight line. Ploughing, Bob reflected,
+was clearly an art which needed long apprenticeship before you learned
+to appreciate it, and he developed a new comprehension and sympathy for
+the ploughman described by Gray as "homeward plodding his weary way." He
+also wondered if Gray's ploughman had to milk and get his own tea after
+he got home.
+
+Other relaxations of the bush were open to him. Old Joe had a paddock,
+once a swamp, which he had drained; it was free of water, but abounded
+in tussocks and sword grass which "Captin" was detailed to grub out
+whenever no duty more pressing awaited him. And sword grass is a
+fearsome vegetable, clinging of root and so tough of stem that, if
+handled unwarily, it can cut a finger almost to the bone; wherefore the
+unfortunate "Captin" hated it with a mighty hatred, and preferred any
+other branch of his education. There were stones to pick up and pile
+in cairns; red stones, half buried in grass and tussocks, and weighing
+anything from a pound to half a hundredweight. He scarred his hands and
+broke his fingernails to pieces over them, but, on the whole, considered
+it not a bad employment, except when old Joe took it into his head to
+perch on the fence and spur him on to greater efforts by disparaging
+remarks about England. Whatever his work, there was never any certainty
+that old Joe would not appear, to sit down, light his short, black pipe,
+and make caustic remarks about his methods or his country--or both. Bob
+took it all with a grin. He was a cheerful soul.
+
+They used to meet for dinner--dinner consisting of corned beef and
+potatoes until the corned beef ran out; then it became potatoes and
+bread and jam for some days, until Joe amazed them by saddling an
+ancient grey mare and riding into Cunjee, returning with more corned
+beef--and more jam. He boiled the beef in a kerosene tin, and Bob
+thought he had never tasted anything better. Appetites did not need
+pampering on Howard's Farm. Work in the evening went on until there was
+barely light enough to get home and find the cow; it was generally quite
+dark by the time milking was finished, and Bob would come in with his
+bucket to find Jim just in, and lighting the fire--"Major," not being
+the milking hand, worked in the paddocks a little longer. Tea required
+little preparation, since the only menu that occurred to old Joe seemed
+to be bread and jam. Jim, being a masterful soul, occasionally took the
+matter into his own hands and, aided by Bob, made "flap-jacks" in the
+frying-pan; they might have been indigestible for delicately-constituted
+people, but at least they had the merit of being hot and comforting on a
+biting winter night. Old Joe growled under his breath at the "softness"
+of people who required "cocking up with fal-lals." But he ate the
+flap-jacks.
+
+After tea the "hands" divided the duties of the evening; taking it in
+turn, one to wash up, while the other "set" bread. Joe's only baking
+implement was a camp-oven, which resembles a large saucepan on three
+legs; it could hold just enough for a day's supply, so that it was
+necessary to set bread every night, and bake every morning. This wounded
+their employer, who never failed to tell them, with some bitterness,
+that when alone he had to bake only twice a week. However, he knew all
+that there was to know about camp-oven baking, and taught them the art
+thoroughly, as well as that of making yeast from potatoes. "That's an
+extry," he remarked thoughtfully, "but I won't charge yer for it, yous
+'avin' bin soldiers!"
+
+With the bread set, and rising pleasantly before the fire, under a bit
+of old blanket, and the kitchen tidy, a period of rest ensued, when
+"Major" and "Captin" were free to draw up chairs--seated with greenhide
+with the hair left on, and very comfortable--and smoke their pipes. This
+was the only time of the day when old Joe unbent. At first silent, he
+would presently shift his pipe to the corner of his mouth and spin them
+yarns of the early days, told with a queer, dry humour that kept his
+hearers in a simmer of laughter. It was always a matter of regret to
+poor "Captin" that he used to be the one to end the telling, since no
+story on earth could keep him, after a while, from nodding off to sleep.
+He would drag himself away to his blankets in the next room, hearing,
+as sleep fully descended upon him, the droning voice still entertaining
+Jim--whose powers of keeping awake seemed more than human!
+
+Saturday brought no slackening of work. Whatever his previous hired
+men had done, old Joe was evidently determined that his present
+"parlour-boarders" should not abate their efforts, and even kept them
+a little later than usual in the paddocks, remarking that "ter-morrer
+bein' Sunday, yous might as well cut a bit more scrub." The next morning
+broke fine and clear, and he looked at them a little doubtfully after
+breakfast.
+
+"Well, there ain't no work doin' on Sunday, I reckon. I can manage the
+ol' keow to-night, if yous want to go home."
+
+The guests looked at each other doubtfully.
+
+"What do you say, Bob? Shall we ride over?"
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+"All one to me, o' course," said Joe, getting up and stumping out. He
+paused at the door. "On'y if yous mean ter stick on 'ere a bit you'll
+find comin' back a bit 'ard, onced yous see Billabong."
+
+"Just what I was thinking," said Bob, as the old man disappeared.
+"I'm not going, Jim; I know jolly well I'd hate to come back
+after--er--fleshpotting at your place. But look here, old chap--why
+don't you go home and stay there? You've done quite enough of this,
+especially as you've no earthly need to do it at all. You go home, and
+I'll stay out my fortnight."
+
+"What, leave you here alone?" queried Jim. "Not much, Bobby."
+
+"But why not? I've Joseph, and we'd become bosom friends. And your
+father must think it ridiculous for you to be kept over here, slaving--"
+
+"Don't you worry your old head about dad," said Jim cheerfully. "It's a
+slack time, and he doesn't need me, and he's perfectly satisfied at my
+being here. Bless you, it's no harm for me to get a bit of this sort of
+life."
+
+"You'll never have to do it."
+
+"No one can tell that," said Jim. "The bottom has dropped out of land
+in other countries, and it may happen here. Besides, if you've got to
+employ labour it's just as well to know from experience what's a fair
+thing to expect from a man as a day's work. For which reason, I have
+desired our friend Joseph to take me off scrub-duty, which I feel I know
+pretty well, and to detail me for assorted fatigues, like yours, next
+week. And anyhow, my son, having brought you to this savage place, I'm
+not going to leave you. Finally, we couldn't go anywhere, because this
+is the day that we must wash."
+
+"I have washed!" said Bob indignantly.
+
+"I didn't mean your person, Bobby, but your clothes. The laundress
+doesn't call out here."
+
+"Oh!" said Bob, and grinned. "Then I'd better put on a kettle."
+
+So they washed, very cheerfully, taking turns in the one bucket, which
+was all Joe could offer as laundry equipment. He had an iron, but after
+brief consultation, "Major" and "Captin" decided that to iron working
+shirts would be merely painting the lily. Old Joe watched them with a
+twinkle, saying nothing. But a spirit of festivity and magnificence must
+have entered into him, for when the washermen went for a walk, after
+disposing their damp raiment upon bushes, he entered the kitchen
+hurriedly and dived for the flour-bag; and later, they found unwonted
+additions to the corned beef and potatoes--the said additions being no
+less than boiled onions and a jam tart.
+
+The week that followed was a repetition of the first, save for a day of
+such rain that even old Joe had to admit that work in the paddocks was
+out of the question. He consoled himself by making them whitewash the
+kitchen. Large masses of soot fell down into the fireplace throughout
+the day, seriously interfering with cooking operations, which suggested
+to Joe that "Captin" might acquire yet another art--that of bush chimney
+sweeping--which he accomplished next day, under direction, by the simple
+process of tugging a great bunch of tea-tree up and down the flue.
+"Better'n all them brushes they 'ave in towns," said Joe, watching his
+blackened assistant with satisfaction.
+
+"Well, we're off to-morrow, Mr. Howard," said Jim on Saturday night.
+They were seated round the fire, smoking.
+
+"I s'pose so. Didn't think yous'd stick it out as long," the old man
+said.
+
+"We've had a very good time," said Bob; and was astonished to find
+himself speaking truthfully. "Jolly good of you to have me; I know a
+new-chum isn't much use."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't say as how you weren't," said old Joe deliberately.
+"I ain't strong on new-chums, meself--some of them immy-grants they send
+out are a fair cow to handle; but I will say, Captin, you ain't got no
+frills, nor you don't mind puttin' your back into a job. I worked you
+pretty 'ard, too." He chuckled deeply.
+
+"Did you?" asked Bob--and chuckled in his turn.
+
+"Well, I didn't see no points in spoon-feedin' you. If a man's goin' on
+the land he may as well know wot 'e's likely to strike. There's lots'll
+tell you you won't strike anythink 'arder than ol' Joe--an' p'raps you
+won't," he added. "Any'ow, yous asked fer work, an' it was up ter me ter
+see that yous got it. But don't go imaginin' you've learned all there is
+ter know about farmin' yet."
+
+"If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that," said Bob a trifle
+grimly.
+
+"That's right. I ain't got much of a farm, an' any'ow, it's winter. I
+on'y showed yous a few of the odd jobs--an' wot it is to 'ave to batch
+fer yerself, not comin' in like a lord to Billabong ter see wot Mrs.
+Brown's been cookin' for yous. Nothin' like a bit o' batchin' ter teach
+a cove. An' you mind, Captin--if you start anywhere on yer own, you
+batch decent; keep things clean an' don't get into the way o' livin'
+just any'ow. I ain't much, nor the meenoo ain't excitin'; but things is
+clean."
+
+"Well--I have a sister," said Bob. "So I'm in luck. But I guess I know a
+bit more about her side of the job now."
+
+"And that's no bad thing for Tommy," said Jim.
+
+"Oo's 'e?" demanded Joe.
+
+"Oh--that's his sister."
+
+"Rum names gals gets nowadays," said Joe, pondering. "Not on'y gels,
+neither. 'S a chap on top of the 'ill 'as a new baby, an' 'e's called it
+'Aig Wipers Jellicoe. 'Course, 'e did go to the war, but 'e ain't got
+no need ter rub it into the poor kid like that." He paused to ram the
+tobacco into the bowl of his pipe with a horny thumb. "One thing--I'd
+like to pay you chaps somethin'. Never 'ad blokes workin' fer me fer
+nothin', an' I don't much care about it."
+
+"No, thanks, Mr. Howard," said Jim. "We came for colonial experience."
+
+"You!" said old Joe, and permitted himself the ghost of a grin. "Well,
+I ain't goin' ter fight yous about it, an' I'm not worryin' a mighty
+lot about you, Major, 'cause your little bit o' country's ready made for
+you. But Captin's different. We won't 'ave no fight about cash, Captin;
+but that last year's calf of the ol' keow's goin' ter be a pretty decent
+steer, an' when you gets yer farm 'e's goin' on it as yer first bit o'
+stock. An' 'e'll get the best o' my grass till 'e goes."
+
+"Rubbish!" said Bob, much embarrassed. "Awfully good of you, Mr. Howard,
+but that wasn't the agreement. I know I'm not worth wages yet."
+
+"Oh, ain't you?" Joe asked. "Well, there's two opinions about that.
+Any'ow, 'e's yours, an' I've christened 'im Captin, so there ain't
+no way out of it." He rose, cutting short further protests. "Too much
+bloomin' argument about this camp; I'm off ter bed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+
+"So you think he'll do, Jim?"
+
+"Yes, I certainly do," Jim answered. He was sitting with his father in
+the smoking-room at Billabong, his long legs outstretched before the
+fire, and his great form half-concealed in the depths of an enormous
+leather armchair. "Of course he'll want guidance; you couldn't expect
+him to know much about stock yet, though he's certainly picked up a good
+bit."
+
+"Yes--so it seems. His great point is his quick eye and his keenness. I
+haven't found him forget much."
+
+"No, and he's awfully ashamed if he does. He's a tiger for work, and
+very quick at picking up the way to tackle any new job. That was one
+of the things that pleased old Joe about him. I fancy the old chap had
+suffered at the hands of other new-chums who reckoned they could
+teach him how to do his work. 'Captin ain't orffered me not one bit of
+advice,' he told me with relief."
+
+Mr. Linton laughed.
+
+"Yes, I've had them here like that," he said. "Full of sublime
+enthusiasm for reforming Australia and all her ways. I don't say
+we don't need it, either, but not from a new-chum in his first five
+minutes."
+
+"Not much," agreed Jim. "Well, there's nothing of that sort about old
+Bob. He just hoes in at anything that's going, and doesn't talk about
+it. Joe says he must have been reared sensible. He's all right, dad.
+I've had a lot of men through my hands in the last few years, and you
+learn to size 'em up pretty quickly."
+
+David Linton nodded, looking at his big son. Sometimes he had a pang of
+regret for Jim's lost boyhood, swallowed up in war. Then, when he was
+privileged to behold him rough-and-tumbling with Wally, singing idiotic
+choruses with Norah and Tommy, or making himself into what little Babs
+Archdale ecstatically called "my bucking donkey," it was borne in upon
+him that there still was plenty of the boy left in Jim--and that there
+always would be. Nevertheless, he had great confidence in his judgment;
+and in this instance it happened to coincide with his own.
+
+The door opened, and Bob Rainham came in, hesitating as he caught sight
+of the father and son.
+
+"Come in, Bob," Mr. Linton said. "I was just wishing you would turn up.
+We've been talking about you. I understand you've made up your mind to
+get a place of your own."
+
+"If you don't think I'm insane to tackle it, sir," Bob answered. "Of
+course, I know I'm awfully ignorant. But I thought I could probably get
+hold of a good man, and if I can find a place anywhere in this district,
+Jim says he'll keep an eye on me. Between the two, I oughtn't to make
+very hopeless mistakes. And I might as well have my money invested."
+
+"Quite so. I think you're wise," the squatter answered. "As it happens,
+I was in Cunjee yesterday, talking to an agent, and I heard of a little
+place that might suit you very well--just about the price you ought to
+pay, and the land's not bad. There's a decent cottage on it--you and
+Tommy could be very comfortable there. It's four miles from here, so we
+should feel you hadn't got away from us."
+
+"That sounds jolly," said Bob. "I'd be awfully glad to think Tommy was
+so near to Norah. Is it sheep country, Mr. Linton?"
+
+"So it's to be sheep, is it? Well, I'd advise you to put some young
+cattle on to some scrub country at the back, but you could certainly
+run sheep on the cleared paddocks," Mr. Linton answered. "We could drive
+over and look at it to-morrow, if you like. The terms are easy; you'd
+have money over to stock it, or nearly so. And there's plenty to be done
+in improving the place, if you should buy it; you could easily add a
+good deal to its value."
+
+"That's what I'd like," Bob answered eagerly. "It doesn't take a whole
+lot of brains to dig drains and cut scrub. I could be doing that while
+the sheep turn into wool and mutton!"
+
+"So you could; though there's a bit more to be done to sheep than just
+to watch them turn," said the squatter, with a twinkle. "I fancy Tommy
+will be pleased if you get this place."
+
+"Tommy's mad keen to start," Bob said. "She says Norah has taught her
+more than she ever dreamed that her head could contain, and she wants
+to work it all off on me. I think she has visions of making me kill a
+bullock, so that she can demonstrate all she knows about corning and
+spicing and salting beef. I mentioned it would take two of us quite a
+little while to work through a whole bullock, but she evidently didn't
+think much of the objection."
+
+"I'll see you get none fat enough to kill," grinned Jim. "Norah says
+Tommy's a great pupil, dad."
+
+"Oh, they have worked as if they were possessed," Mr. Linton answered.
+"I never saw such painfully busy people. But Norah tells me she has
+had very little to teach Tommy--in fact, I think the teaching has been
+mutual, and they've simply swapped French and Australian dodges. At all
+events they and Brownie have lived in each other's pockets, and they all
+seem very content."
+
+"Are you all talking business, or may we come in?" demanded a cheery
+voice; and Norah peeped in, with Tommy dimly visible in the background.
+
+"Come in--'twas yourselves we were talking about," Jim said, rising
+slowly from the armchair; a process which, Norah was accustomed to say,
+he accomplished yard by yard. "Sit here, Tommy, and let's hear your
+views on Australia!"
+
+Tommy shook her head.
+
+"Too soon to ask me--and I've only seen Billabong," she said, laughing.
+"Wait until I've kept house for Bob for a while, and faced life without
+nice soft buffers like Norah and Mrs. Brown!"
+
+"I'm not a nice soft buffer!" said Norah indignantly. "Do I look like
+one, Jimmy?"
+
+"Brownie certainly fits the description better," Jim said. "Never mind,
+old girl, you'll probably grow into one. We'd be awfully proud of you if
+you got really fat, Norah."
+
+"Then I hope you'll never have cause for pride," retorted his sister.
+"I couldn't ride Bosun if I did, and that would be too awful to think
+about. Oh, and Tommy's making a great stock-rider, Bob. She declared she
+could never ride astride, but she's perceiving the error of her ways."
+
+"I thought I could never stick on without the moral support of the
+pommels," said Tommy. "When you arrange yourself among pommels and horns
+and things on a side-saddle, there seems no real reason why you should
+ever come off, except of your own free will. But a man's saddle doesn't
+offer any encouragement to a poor scared new-chum. I pictured myself
+sliding off it whenever the horse side-stepped. However, somehow, it
+doesn't happen."
+
+"And what happens when your steed slews around after a bullock?" asked
+Jim.
+
+"Indeed, I hardly know," said Tommy modestly. "I generally shut my eyes,
+and hold on to the front of the saddle. After a while I open them,
+and find, to my astonishment, that nothing has occurred, and I'm still
+there. Then we sail along after Norah, and I hold up my head proudly and
+look as if that were really the way I have always handled cattle. And
+she isn't a bit taken in. It's dreadfully difficult to impress Norah."
+
+Every one laughed, and looked at the new-chum affectionately. This small
+English girl, so ready to laugh at her own mistakes, had twined herself
+wonderfully about their hearts. Even Brownie, jealous to the point of
+prickliness for her adored Norah, and at first inclined to turn up a
+scornful nose at "Miss Tommy's" pink and white daintiness, had been
+forced to admit that she "could 'andle things like a workman." And that
+was high praise from Brownie.
+
+The telephone bell whirred in the hall, and Jim went out to answer it.
+In a few minutes they heard his voice.
+
+"Norah, just come here a moment." He came back presently, leaving Norah
+at the telephone.
+
+"It's Dr. Anderson," he said. "They're in trouble in Cunjee--there's a
+pretty bad outbreak of influenza. Some returned men came up with it,
+and now it's spreading everywhere, Anderson says. Mrs. Anderson has been
+nursing in the hospital, but now two of her own kiddies have got it, so
+she has had to go home, and they're awfully shorthanded. Nurses seem to
+be scarce everywhere; they could only get one from Melbourne, and she's
+badly overworked."
+
+"Norah will go, I suppose," said David Linton, with a half-sigh--the
+sigh of a man who has looked forward to peace and security, and finds it
+again slipping from his grasp.
+
+"Oh, yes, I'm sure she will. They have a certain number of volunteers,
+not nearly enough."
+
+"I'm going," said Tommy, and David Linton nodded at her kindly.
+
+"What about you and me, Jim?" Bob asked.
+
+"Well, Anderson says they have a number of men volunteers. Such a lot of
+returned fellows about with nothing to do yet. I told him to count on us
+for anything he wanted, but the need seems chiefly for women."
+
+"Must they go to-night? It's pretty late," said Mr. Linton.
+
+"No, not to-night," Norah answered, entering. "It would be eight o'clock
+before I could get in, and Dr. Anderson says I'm to get a good sleep and
+come in early in the morning. Tommy, darling, will you mind if I leave
+you for a few days?"
+
+"Horribly," said Tommy drily. "It would be unpardonably rude for a
+hostess. So I 'm coming too."
+
+Norah laughed down at her.
+
+"Somehow, I thought you would," she said. "Well, Jimmy, you'll take us
+in after breakfast, won't you? We'll have it early." She perched on the
+arm of her father's chair, letting her fingers rest for a moment on
+his close-cropped grey hair. "And I've never asked you if I could go,
+daddy."
+
+"No," said David Linton; "you haven't." He put his arm gently round her.
+
+"But then I knew that you'd kick me out if I didn't. So that simplifies
+matters. You'll take care of yourself while I'm away, won't you, dad? No
+wild rides by yourself into the ranges, or anything of that sort?"
+
+"Certainly not," said her father. "I'll sit quietly at home, and let
+Brownie give me nourishment at short intervals."
+
+"Nothing she'd like better." Norah laughed. "I don't believe Brownie
+will really feel that she owns us again until one of us is considerate
+enough to fall ill and give her a real chance of nursing and feeding us.
+Then the only thing to do is to forget you ever had a will of your
+own, and just to open your mouth and be fed like a young magpie, and
+Brownie's perfectly happy."
+
+"She won't be happy when she hears of this new plan," Mr. Linton said.
+"Poor old soul, I'm sorry she should have any worry, when she has just
+got you home."
+
+"Yes; I'm sorry," Norah answered. "But it can't be helped. I'll go and
+talk to her now, and arrange things--early breakfast among them."
+
+"You might make it a shade earlier than you meant to, while you're at
+it, Nor," Jim observed. "Then we could turn off the track as we go in
+to-morrow to let Tommy have a look at the place that has been offered
+Bob--you know that place of Henderson's, off the main road. Bob can go
+over the land with us when we're coming back. But once you and Tommy get
+swallowed up in Cunjee, there's no knowing when we could get you out;
+and Tommy ought to inspect the house."
+
+"Oh, I'd love to," said Tommy enthusiastically. "No mere man can be
+trusted to buy a house."
+
+"Don't go to look at it with any large ideas of up-to-date improvements
+floating in your mind," Jim warned her. "It's sure to be pretty
+primitive, and probably there isn't even a bathroom."
+
+"Don't you worry, Tommy; we'll build you one," said Mr. Linton.
+
+"I'm not going to worry about anything; there are always washtubs,"
+spoke Tommy cheerfully--"and thank you, all the same, Mr. Linton. I
+didn't expect much when I came out to Australia, but I'm getting so much
+more than I expected that I'm in a state of bewilderment all the time.
+Someday I feel that I shall come down with a bump, and I shall be
+thankful if it's only over a bathroom."
+
+"Distressing picture of the valiant pioneer looking for discomforts and
+failing to find them," said Bob, laughing. "It's so difficult to feel
+really pioneerish in a place where there are taps, and electric
+light, and motors, and no one appears to wear a red shirt, like every
+Australian bushman I ever saw on the stage."
+
+"Did you bring any out with you?" demanded Norah wickedly.
+
+"I didn't. But honest, it was only because I had so many khaki ones, and
+I thought they'd do. Otherwise I'd certainly have thought that scarlet
+shirts were part of the ordinary outfit for the Colonies. And if you
+believed all the things they tell you in outfitting shops, you would
+bring a gorgeous assortment. We'd have even arrived here with tinware.
+It was lucky I knew some Australians--they delicately hinted that you
+really had a shop or two in the principal cities."
+
+"I've often marvelled at the queer collection people seem to bring out,"
+said Mr. Linton. "It's not so bad of late years, but ten years ago a
+jackeroo would arrive here with about a lorry-load of stuff, most of
+which he could have bought much more cheaply in Melbourne or Sydney--and
+he'd certainly never use the greater part of it. Apparently a London
+shop will sell you the same kind of outfit for a Melbourne suburb as
+if you were going into the wilds of West Africa. They haven't any
+conscience."
+
+"They just never learn geography," said Norah. "And 'the Colonies' to
+them mean exactly the same thing, no matter in what continent the colony
+may be. If they can sell pioneers tinware to take out to Melbourne, so
+much the better for them. Well, I must see Brownie, or there may not be
+early breakfast for pioneers or any one else."
+
+Brownie rose to the occasion--there had never been any known occasion
+to which Brownie did not rise--and the hospital at Cunjee was still
+grappling with early morning problems next day when the Billabong motor
+pulled up at the door, after a flying visit to the new home--which
+Tommy, regarding with the large eye of faith, had declared to be full of
+boundless possibilities. Dr. Anderson came out to meet the new-comers,
+Norah and Tommy, neat and workmanlike; Jim, bearing their luggage; and
+Mr. Linton and Bob sharing a large humper, into which Brownie had packed
+everything eatable she could find--and Brownie's capacity for finding
+things eatable at short notice was one of her most astonishing traits.
+The little doctor, harassed as he was, greeted them with a twinkle.
+
+"You Lintons generally appear bearing your sheaves with you," he said.
+"Well, you're very welcome. How many of you do I keep?"
+
+"Tommy and Norah, for certain," said Mr. Linton. "And as many more of us
+as you please. Want us all, doctor?"
+
+"Well, I really don't; there are a good many men volunteers. But if
+I might commandeer the car and a driver for a few hours, I should be
+glad," the doctor went on. "There are some cases to be brought in
+from Mardale and Clinthorpe. I heard of them only this morning, on the
+telephone, and I was wondering how to get them in."
+
+"We're at your disposal, and you've only to telephone for us or the car
+whenever you want it," said Mr. Linton. "How are things this morning?"
+
+"Oh--bad enough. We have several very troublesome cases; people simply
+won't give in soon enough. My youngsters are very ill, but I'm not
+really worried about them as long as my wife keeps up. Our biggest
+trouble is that our cook here went down this morning. She told me she
+couldn't sleep a wink all night, and when she woke up in the morning
+her tongue was sticking to the roof of her head!--and certainly she has
+temperature enough for any strange symptoms. But we feel rather as if
+the bottom had dropped out of the universe, for none of our volunteers
+are equal to the job."
+
+"I can cook," said Norah and Tommy together.
+
+"Can you?" said the little doctor, staring at them as though the heavens
+had opened and rained down angels on his head. "Are you sure? You don't
+look like it!"
+
+"I can guarantee them," said Mr. Linton, laughing. "Only you'll have to
+watch Norah, for the spell of the war is heavy upon her, and she'll boil
+your soup bones thirteen times, and feed you all on haricot beans and
+lentils if nobody checks her!"
+
+"Dad, you haven't any manners," said Norah severely. "May I cook,
+Doctor?"
+
+"You can share the job," said Dr. Anderson thankfully. "I really think
+it's more than enough for one of you. This place is getting pretty full.
+Of course, I've wired to town for a cook, but goodness knows if we'll
+get one; it's unlikely. Come on, now, and I'll introduce you to Sister."
+
+Sister proved to be a tall, capable, quiet woman, with war decorations.
+She greeted the volunteers thankfully, and unhesitatingly pronounced
+their place to be cooks, rather than nurses.
+
+"I can get girls who will do well enough in the wards," she said, "where
+I can direct them. But I can't be in the kitchen too. If you two can
+carry on without supervision it will be a godsend."
+
+So the kitchen swallowed up Norah and Tommy, and there they worked
+during the weeks that followed, while the influenza scourge raged
+round Victoria. The little cottage-hospital became full almost to
+bursting-point. Even the rooms for the staff had to be appropriated, and
+nurses and helpers slept in a cottage close by. Luckily for the cooks,
+Cunjee now boasted a gas supply and its citizens supplied them with
+gas-stoves, as Norah said, "in clutches," so that they worked in
+comfort. It was hard work, with little time to spare, but the girls had
+learned method, and they soon mapped out a routine that prevented their
+ever being rushed or flurried. And they blessed the cold weather that
+saved constant watching lest supplies should go bad.
+
+From Billabong came daily hampers that greatly relieved their labours.
+It was a matter of some amazement to the Lintons that Brownie did not
+volunteer for the hospital, and indeed, it had been the first thought of
+Brownie herself. But she repressed it firmly, though by no means feeling
+comfortable. To Murty she confided her views, and was relieved by his
+approval.
+
+"I know I did ought to go," she said, almost tearfully. "There's those
+two blessed lambs in the kitchen, doing wot I'd ought to be doing; and
+I know Mrs. Archdale 'ud come up an' run things 'ere for me. But wot 'ud
+'appen if I did go, I ask you, Murty? Simply they'd take the two blessed
+lambs out of the kitchen an' put 'em to nursing in the wards, an' next
+thing you knew they'd both be down with the beastly flu' themselves.
+They're safer among the pots and pans, Murty. But when the master looks
+at me I don't feel comferable."
+
+"Yerra, let him look," said Murty stoutly. "'Tis the great head ye have
+on ye; I'd never have thought of it. Don't go worryin', now. Are ye not
+sendin' them in the heighth of good livin' every day?"
+
+"That's the least I can do," said Brownie, brightening a little. "Only
+I'd like to think Miss Norah and Miss Tommy got some of it, and not just
+them patients, gethered up from goodness knows where."
+
+"Yerra, Miss Norah wouldn't want to know their addresses before she'd
+feed 'em," said the bewildered Murty. But there came a suspicious smell
+from the kitchen, as of something burning, and Mrs. Brown fled with a
+swiftness that was surprising, considering her circumference.
+
+Jim lived a moving existence in those days, flying between Billabong
+and Cunjee in the car, bringing supplies, always on hand for a job if
+wanted, and insisting that on their daily "time off" Norah and Tommy
+should come out for a spin into the country. Sometimes they managed to
+take Sister, too, or some of the other helpers. The car never went out
+with any empty seats. Presently they were recovering patients to be
+given fresh air or taken home; white-faced mothers, longing to be back
+to the house and children left in the care of "dad," and whatever kindly
+neighbours might drop in; or "dads" themselves, much bewildered at the
+amazing illness that had left them feeling as if neither their legs nor
+their heads belonged to them. Occasionally, after dropping one of these
+convalescents, Jim would find jobs waiting to his hand about the bush
+homestead; cows to milk, a fence to be mended, wood waiting to be
+chopped. He used to do them vigorously, while in the house "mum" fussed
+over her restored man and tried to keep him from going out to run the
+farm immediately. There were generally two or three astonished children
+to show him where tools were kept--milk buckets, being always up-ended
+on a fence post, needed no introduction, and the pump, for a sluice
+afterwards, was not hard of discovery. The big Rolls-Royce used to purr
+gently away through the bush paddock afterwards, often with a bewildered
+"mum" looking amazedly at the tall young man who drove it.
+
+Meanwhile Bob Rainham, left alone with his host, set about the business
+of his new farm in earnest, since there seemed nothing else for him to
+do; and David Linton, possibly glad of the occupation, threw himself
+into the work. The farm was bought on terms that seemed to Bob
+very easy--he did not know that Mr. Linton stood security for his
+payments--and then began the task of stocking it and of planning just
+what was best to do with each paddock. The house, left bare and clean by
+the last owners, was in good repair, save that the dingy white painting
+of the exterior, and the varnished pine walls and ceilings within were
+depressing and shabby. Mr. Linton decided that his house-warming present
+to Tommy should be a coat of paint for her mansion, and soon it looked
+new--dark red, with a gleaming white roof, while the rooms were painted
+in pretty fresh colours. "Won't Tommy get a shock!" chuckled Bob
+gleefully. The dinginess of the house had not escaped him on the
+morning that they had made their first inspection, but Tommy, who loved
+freshness and colours, had made no sign. Had you probed the matter,
+Tommy would probably have remarked, with some annoyance, that it was not
+her job to begin by grumbling.
+
+Wally came hurtling back from Queensland at the first hint of the
+influenza outbreak, and was considerably depressed at finding his twin
+souls, Jim and Norah, engaged in jobs that for once he could not share.
+Therefore he, too, fell back on the new farm, and found Bob knitting his
+brow one evening over the question of furniture.
+
+"I don't want to buy much," he said. "Tommy doesn't, either; we talked
+it over. We'd rather do with next to nothing, and buy decent stuff by
+degrees if we get on well. Tommy says she doesn't want footling little
+gimcracky tables and whatnots and things, nor dressing-tables full of
+drawers that won't pull out. But I've been looking at the cheap stuff in
+Cunjee, and, my word, it's nasty! Still, I can't afford good things now,
+and Tommy wouldn't like it if I tried to get 'em. Tommy's death on the
+simple life."
+
+"How are you on tools?" queried Wally.
+
+"Using tools? Pretty fair," admitted Bob. "I took up carpentering at
+school; it was always a bit of a hobby of mine. I'm no cabinet-maker, if
+that's what you mean."
+
+"You don't need to be," Wally answered. "Up where I come from--we were
+pretty far back in Queensland--we hardly ever saw real furniture, the
+stuff you buy in shops. It was all made out of packing-cases and odd
+bits of wood. Jolly decent, too; you paint 'em up to match the rooms, or
+stain 'em dark colours, and the girls put sort of petticoats round some
+of the things."
+
+"We began that way," said David Linton, with a half-sigh. "There was
+surprisingly little proper furniture in our first house, and we were
+very comfortable."
+
+"Couldn't we begin, sir?" asked Wally eagerly. "This wet weather looks
+like setting in. Bob can't do much on the farm. If we could get out
+a few odd lengths of timber and some old packing cases from the
+township--"
+
+"Heavens, you don't need to do that!" exclaimed their host. "The place
+is full of both; packing-cases have been arriving at Billabong since Jim
+was a baby, and very few of them have gone away again. There's plenty of
+timber knocking about, too. We'll go over to the farm if you like, Bob,
+and plan out measurements."
+
+"I think it's a splendid idea, thanks, sir," said Bob slowly. "Only I
+don't quite see why I should bother you--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk rubbish!" said David Linton, getting up. "I believe I'm
+glad of the job--the place seems queer without Jim and Norah."
+
+"My word!" said Wally. "Let's all turn carpenters, and give Tommy the
+surprise of her life!"
+
+They flung themselves at the work with energy. A visit to the new house,
+and a careful study of each room, revealed unsuspected possibilities to
+Bob, whose English brain, "brought up," as Wally said, "on a stodgy
+diet of bedroom suites," had failed to grasp what might be done by handy
+people with a soul above mere fashion in the matter of furniture. They
+came back with a notebook bulging with measurements and heads seething
+with ideas. First, they dealt with the bedrooms, and made for each a set
+of long shelves and a dressing-table-cupboard--the latter a noble piece
+of furniture, which was merely a packing-case, smoothed, planed and
+fitted with shelves; the whole to be completed with a seemly petticoat
+when Tommy should be able to detach her mind from influenza patients.
+They made her, too, a little work-table, which was simply a wide, low
+shelf, at which she could write or sew--planned to catch a good light
+from her window, so that as she sat near it, she could see the line of
+willows that marked the creek and the rolling plains that ended in the
+ranges behind Billabong. Tommy's room was painted in pale green; and
+when they had stained all these exciting additions dark green, Bob
+heaved a great sigh, and yearned audibly for the swift recovery of
+the influenza patients, so that Tommy could return and behold her new
+possessions.
+
+"We could make washstands," said Mr. Linton, when they had fitted out
+the two remaining bedrooms. "But washstands are depressing things, and
+would take up a good deal of space in these little rooms. You have a
+good water supply, Bob; why not have built-in basins with taps, and lay
+on water through the bedrooms?"
+
+Bob whistled.
+
+"My aunt! Is that really possible?"
+
+"Quite, I should say. It wouldn't take elaborate plumbing, and the pipes
+could discharge into an irrigation drain for your vegetable garden. It
+would save Tommy ever so much work in carrying water, too. There's a
+fearsome amount of water carried in and out of bedrooms, and I can't see
+why pipes shouldn't do the work. It need not cost you much--just a shelf
+across a corner, with an enamelled basin let in."
+
+"Save you buying jugs and basins," said Wally. "Great money-saving
+idea!"
+
+"Rather," said Bob. "Is there anyone in Cunjee who can plumb?"
+
+"Oh, yes; there's a handy man who can do the whole thing. We'll get Jim
+to go and see him tomorrow."
+
+They left this job to the handy man, who proved equal to all demands,
+and went on themselves to higher flights. Kitchen and pantry were
+already fitted with shelves, but they built in a dresser, and found a
+spare corner, where they erected a linen press warranted to bring tears
+of joy to the eye of any housewife. Round the little dining-room and
+sitting-room they ran a very narrow shelf, just wide enough to carry
+flowers and ornaments, and they made wide, low window seats in each
+room. Then, becoming bold by success, they turned to cabinet making,
+and built into the dining-room a sideboard, which was only a glorified
+edition of the kitchen dresser, but looked amazingly like walnut, aided
+by a little stain; and for both sitting-rooms made low cupboards,
+with tops wide enough to serve as little tables. Even the verandah was
+furnished with wide shelf tables and a cupboard, and with low and broad
+seats.
+
+"And it's all done by kindness--and packing cases!" said Jim, surveying
+the result with admiration.
+
+"Indeed, I'm afraid a lot of your father's good timber has gone into
+it," said Bob half ruefully. "He was awfully good about it, and the
+supply of just-what-you-want timber on Billabong seemed inexhaustible."
+
+"No, you really used very little good stuff," David Linton said. "It's
+chiefly packing cases, truly, Jim. But we had plenty of time to plane it
+up and make it look decent. Bob ran an electric light into the workshop
+and we worked every night. I believe it's kept us from getting influenza
+from sheer boredom, with all you people away."
+
+"They'll soon be home," Jim said cheerfully. "Influenza's dying out, I
+believe. No fresh cases for three days, and all the patients are getting
+better. The little Andersons are up and about. By the way, Dad, couldn't
+we bring those kiddies out to Billabong for a change?"
+
+"Why, of course," his father answered. "Tell Mrs. Anderson to come too,
+or, if she won't leave her husband, Brownie will be delighted at the
+chance of getting two children to look after again. Are the cooks quite
+cheery, Jim?"
+
+"As cheery as possible," Jim answered. "They got off early to-day, and I
+took them and Sister and the Anderson youngsters out for a run. Did 'em
+all good. I'm coming home to-night, and they don't want me to-morrow,
+because they're going to afternoon tea with some one or other. Flighty
+young things, those cooks! So I can help you carpenters or do any odd
+jobs."
+
+"We've lots," said Wally, who was putting a finishing coat of dark green
+enamel to a rod destined as a towel rail for Tommy's room. "Simple jobs,
+suitable for your understanding. Take care, Jimmy, I've a wet paint
+brush, and you have a good suit on! I want to put shelves from floor to
+ceiling of the bathroom, because the walls are rough and unlined, and
+nothing on earth will make it a beautiful room. So Tommy may as well
+store there all the things she doesn't want anywhere else. And you can
+make her a medicine cupboard. I shan't have time to look at any of you
+unskilled labourers, for I'm going to build her a draining-rack for
+plates and things over the kitchen sink. And I can tell you, that takes
+brains!"
+
+"Then it's not your job!" said Jim definitely.
+
+"Isn't it? I'll show you, you old Bond Street fashion plate!" Wally
+stretched his long form, simply attired in a khaki shirt and dungaree
+trousers, much be-splashed by paint, and looked scornfully at his neatly
+dressed friend. "You needn't think, because you come here dressed like
+the lilies of the field and fresh from motoring girls round the country,
+that--"
+
+"My hat!" said Jim justly incensed. "And I after cleaning out and
+whitewashing the hospital fowl-houses all the morning! Young Wally, you
+need some one to sit on your head." He took off his coat slowly.
+
+"Ten to one," said Wally hastily, "if we had time to look into the
+matter we'd find you'd whitewashed the fowls as well! These Army
+Johnnies are so beastly impractical!" He gathered up his brushes and
+fled, pursued by his chum. Sounds of warfare came faintly from the
+distance.
+
+"It's a good thing some of us are sane," said Mr. Linton laughing.
+"Nearly finished, Bob?"
+
+He was painting a shelf-table, screwed to the wall within a space at
+the end of the verandah, which they had completely enclosed with wire
+mosquito netting. Bob was hanging the door of this open-air room in
+position, a task requiring judgment, as the floor of the verandah was
+old and uneven.
+
+"Nearly, sir," he mumbled, his utterance made difficult by the fact
+of having several screws in his mouth. He worked vigorously for a few
+moments, and then stood back to survey his job. "This is going to be
+a great little room--though it's hard just now to imagine that it will
+ever be warm enough for it."
+
+"Just you wait a few months until we get a touch of hot weather, and
+the mosquitoes come out!" said David Linton. "Then you and Tommy will
+thankfully entrench yourselves in here at dusk, and listen to the
+singing hordes dashing themselves against the netting in the effort to
+get at you!"
+
+"That's the kind of thing they used to tell me on the Nauru," Bob said
+laughing; "but I didn't quite expect it from you, Mr. Linton!"
+
+The squatter chuckled.
+
+"Well, indeed, it's no great exaggeration in some years," he said. "They
+can be bad enough for anything, though it isn't always they are. But an
+open-air room is never amiss, for if there aren't mosquitoes a lamp will
+attract myriads of other insects on a hot night. That looks all right,
+Bob; you've managed that door very well."
+
+"First rate!" said Jim and Wally approvingly, returning arm in arm.
+
+"You're great judges!" David Linton rejoined, looking at the pair. "Have
+you returned to work, may I ask, or are you still imitating the lilies
+of the field?"
+
+"Jim is; he couldn't help it," said Wally. "But I have been studying
+that oak tree out in the front, Mr. Linton. It seems to me that a
+seat built round it would be very comforting to weary bones on warm
+evenings--"
+
+Bob gathered up his tools with decision in each movement.
+
+"Wally has come to that state of mind in which he can't look at anything
+on the place without wanting to build something out of a packing case
+in it, or round it, or on top of it!" he said. "When the sheep come I'll
+have to keep you from them, or you'll be building shelves round them!"
+
+"Why, you're nearly as bad yourself!" grinned Wally.
+
+"I know I am, and that's why I've got to stop. I'm going to leave nice
+little chisels and spokeshaves and smoothing planes, and mend up the
+pigsty; it needs it badly, and so does the cow-shed. And then I've
+got to think of ploughing, and cutting that drain across the flat, and
+generally earning my living."
+
+"Don't you worry," said David Linton. "You couldn't have done much
+outside in this wet weather, and at least your house is half-furnished.
+And we'll help you through with the other things."
+
+"You're all just bricks," said Bob, his fair skin flushing--"only I
+begin to feel as if I were fed with a spoon. I can't always expect to
+have my work done for me."
+
+"You haven't shown much wish to leave it for anyone else," Jim said
+drily. "Neither you nor Tommy strikes this district as a loafer. Just
+stop talking bosh, old man, and think what Tommy's going to say to her
+mansion."
+
+"Say?" queried Mr. Linton. "Why, she'll point out to us all the places
+where she wants shelves!"
+
+"Shelves?" yelled the three as one man.
+
+"Yes, certainly. There was never a woman born who had enough. Don't lose
+sight of your tools, Bob, for you'll go on putting up shelves as long
+as you've an inch of wall to put them on. Come along, boys, and we'll go
+home."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+
+"I think it's the loveliest home that ever was!" said Tommy solemnly.
+
+"Well, indeed, it takes some beating," Wally agreed.
+
+"Creek Cottage"--the name was of Tommy's choosing--was ready for
+occupation, and they had just finished a tour of it. There was nothing
+in it that was not fresh and bright and dainty--like Tommy herself.
+The rooms were small, but they had good windows, where the crisp, short
+curtains were not allowed to obscure the view. There were fresh mattings
+and linoleums on the floors, and the home-made furniture now boasted,
+where necessary, curtains of chintz or cretonne, that matched its
+colouring. Norah and Tommy had spent cheery hours over those draperies.
+The curtains for Tommy's "suite" had been Norah's gift--of dark-green
+linen, embroidered in dull blue silks; and in the corner there was a
+little sofa with cushions of the same. Tommy had purred--was, in fact,
+still purring--over that home-made furniture, and declared it superior
+to any that money could buy. She had also suggested new ideas for
+shelves.
+
+They had not troubled furniture shops much. Save for a few comfortable
+arm-chairs, there was nothing solid and heavy in the house; but it was
+all pleasant and home-like, and the little rooms, bright with books
+and pictures and flowers, had about them the touch of welcome and
+restfulness that makes the difference between a home and a mere house.
+The kitchen was Tommy's especial pride--it was cool and spotless, with
+fresh-painted walls and ceilings, and shining white tiles round the
+white sink--over which Wally's draining-rack sat in glory. Dazzling
+tin-ware decorated the walls, and the dresser held fresh and pretty
+china. For weeks it had been a point of honour for no one to visit
+Cunjee without bringing Tommy a gift for the kitchen--meat fork, a set
+of skewers, a tin pepper castor; offerings wrapped in many coverings of
+tissue paper, and presented with great solemnity, generally at dinner.
+The last parcel had been from Mr. Linton, and had eclipsed all the
+others--an alarum clock, warranted to drive the soundest sleeper from
+her bed. Bob declared it specially designed to ensure his getting fed at
+something approaching a reasonable hour.
+
+A wide verandah ran round the whole house, and rush lounges and deck
+chairs stood about invitingly--Tommy had insisted that there should
+be plenty of seating accommodation on the verandah for all the Linton
+party, since they filled the little rooms to an alarming extent.
+Near where they stood the drawing-room opened out by a French window.
+Something caught Tommy's eye, and she dived into the room--to return,
+laughing with new treasure-trove--a sink brush and saucepan-scrubber,
+tied up with blue ribbon.
+
+"Your doing?" she asked, brandishing them.
+
+"Not mine." Wally shook his head. "I don't do frivolous things like
+that. But I heard Jim wheedling blue ribbon out of Norah this morning,
+and I don't fancy he has much use for it ordinarily. You'd better ask
+him."
+
+"It's like both of you--you nice stupids!" she said.
+
+"What?--the pot-scrub! That's not polite of you, Miss Rainham; and so
+untrue, where I'm concerned." Wally sat down on the arm of a lounge and
+regarded her with a twinkle. "What's old Bob doing?"
+
+Tommy laughed happily.
+
+"I think whenever we don't know where Bob is, he's safe to be out
+looking at either the sheep or the pigs," she said. "He just loves them;
+and he says he can see them growing."
+
+There was a hint of Spring in the air, and more than a hint of good
+grass in the green paddocks stretching away from the house. By the creek
+the willows were putting out long, tender shoots that would soon be a
+thick curtain. The lucerne patch that stretched along its bank was dense
+and high. The Rainhams had been delayed in taking possession of Creek
+Cottage; a severe cold had smitten Tommy just at the end of her labours
+in the hospital, and, being thoroughly tired out, it had been some time
+before she could shake off its effects. Mr. Linton and Norah had put
+down their feet with joint firmness, declaring that in no circumstances
+should she begin housekeeping until she was thoroughly fit; so the
+Rainhams had remained at Billabong. Tommy was petted and nursed in a
+way she had not known since Aunt Margaret had died, while Bob worked
+feverishly at his farm, riding over every day from Billabong, with a
+package of Brownie's sandwiches in his pocket, and returning at
+dusk, dirty and happy. Bob was responding to Australian conditions
+delightfully, and was only discontented because he could not make his
+farm all that he wanted it to be within the first week.
+
+Therein, however, he had unexpected help. The Cunjee district was a
+friendly one; station owners and farmers alike looked kindly on
+the young immigrant who turned so readily to work after four years'
+fighting. Moreover, Tommy's work in the hospital was well known; the
+general opinion being that "anything might be expected from young
+Norah Linton, but you wouldn't think a bit of a new-chum kid like Bob
+Rainham's sister would turn to and cook for a crowd, and she hardly off
+the ship!" So the district laid its heads together and consulted Mr.
+Linton; with the result that one morning Bob found himself unexpectedly
+accompanied to work by his host. It was nothing unusual for Jim or
+Wally, or both, to go with him. He was cutting a drain, which they
+declared to be a job for which they had a particular fancy. But to-day
+he found Monarch saddled with the other horses, and Mr. Linton, not only
+ready to start, but hurrying them off; and there was no lunch to carry,
+Norah airily declaring that since she and Tommy were to be deserted
+they declined to be downtrodden, and would motor over with a hamper and
+picnic at Creek Cottage. There was a mysterious twinkle in Norah's eye;
+Bob scented something afoot, and tried--in vain--to pump her on the
+matter. He rode away, his curiosity unsatisfied.
+
+But when they rode up the homestead paddock at his farm, he gave a long
+whistle.
+
+"What on earth--?" he began amazedly.
+
+There were men in sight everywhere, and all working. Eight or nine
+ploughs were moving across the paddocks destined for cultivation;
+already wide strips of freshly turned earth showed that they had been
+some time at work. On the flat where Bob had begun his drain was a line
+of men, and some teams with earth-scoops, cutting a deep channel. There
+were even men digging in the garden; and the sound of axes came faintly
+from a belt of scrub that Bob was planning to clear--some day. He gaped
+at them.
+
+"What does it mean?"
+
+"It's a bee," said Wally kindly. "A busy bee, improving each shining
+hour."
+
+Bob turned a puzzled, half-distressed face to Mr. Linton.
+
+"I say, sir--what is it?"
+
+"It's just that, my boy," said David Linton. "The district had a fancy
+to help you--Cunjee thinks a heap of soldiers, you see. So a lot of the
+fellows got together and planned to put in a day on the creek, doing odd
+jobs."
+
+"I say," said poor Bob flushing scarlet, "I never heard such a
+thing--and I hardly know any of them. Whatever am I to say to them,
+sir?"
+
+"I wouldn't say much at all," said David Linton laughing. "You'll only
+embarrass them if you do. Just take a hand in any job you like, and
+carry on--as we're all going to do."
+
+"There's one man you know, anyhow," said Jim grinning. He pointed out
+old Joe Howard, the nearest to them among the ploughmen.
+
+"Heavens!" ejaculated Bob. "You don't mean to tell me old Joe has come
+of his own accord!"
+
+"Couldn't keep him away," Jim said. "He remarked that you were a very
+decent young feller, and he'd taught you how to work, so he might as
+well lend an 'and. It's like old Joe's cheek, but he'll claim for ever
+that he made you a worker."
+
+"Oh, let him," said Bob. "It doesn't hurt me, and it may amuse him." His
+gaze travelled across the busy paddocks. "Well--I'm just staggered," he
+said. "The least I can do is to get to work quickly."
+
+They turned the horses out and scattered; Bob to cutting scrub--it was
+the job he liked least, so it seemed to him the decent thing to tackle
+it--Jim to the drain construction, while Wally joined the band of
+workers in the garden, since he knew Tommy's plans concerning it; and
+Mr. Linton attacked a fence that needed repairs. In the middle of the
+morning came the Billabong motor, driven by Norah, with Brownie and a
+maid in the tonneau with Tommy, and hampers packed wherever possible. A
+cart with other supplies had been driven over by Evans in the very early
+morning, since Billabong had undertaken the feeding of the workers for
+the day. The Rolls-Royce picked its way delicately round the paddocks,
+while the girls carried drinks and huge slabs of cake to the different
+bands of workers--this being the time for "smoke-oh." Then they hurried
+back to the cottage, where Brownie and Maria were busy unpacking hampers
+on the verandah, and Brownie was preparing to carve great joints of beef
+and mutton and pork in readiness for the hungry horde that would descend
+on them at dinner time.
+
+It was all ready when the men trooped up from the paddocks--squatters
+and stockmen, farmers, horse breakers, bush workers of every degree;
+all dirty and cheery, and filled with a mighty hunger. Soap and water
+awaited them at the back; then they came round to sit on the edge of the
+long verandahs, balancing heaped plates on their knees, and making short
+work of Brownie's provisions. Jokes and cheery talk filled the air.
+Tommy, carrying plates shyly at first, found herself the object of much
+friendly interest. "Little Miss Immigrant," they called her, and vied
+with each other in making her feel that they were all welcoming her. But
+they did not waste much time over dinner--soon one after another got
+up and sauntered away, lighting his pipe, and presently there were
+straggling lines of figures going back to work across the paddocks.
+After which Norah and Tommy bullied Bob into eating something--he had
+been far too anxious to wait on his hungry "bee" to think of feeding
+himself, and then the ladies of the party lunched with the ardour of the
+long-delayed, and fell upon the colossal business of dish-washing.
+
+Afternoon tea came early, by which time nearly all the ploughing was
+done, and the brown ribbon of the new drain stretched, wide and deep,
+across the flat. The girls took the meal round the paddocks, this time
+with Bob to carry the steaming billies of tea; it gave him a chance to
+thank his helpers, when it was difficult to say whether the thanker or
+the thanked were the more embarrassed. Soon after "cow time" loomed for
+some of the workers, and whatever waits in Australia, it must not be
+the cow; so that here and there a man shouldered his tools, and, leaving
+them at the shed, caught his horse and rode away--apologizing to Bob, if
+he happened to meet him, for going so early, with the brief apology of
+the dairy farmer, "Gotter get home an' milk." But the majority worked on
+until dusk came down and put an end to their efforts, and then came up
+for their horses, singing and laughing.
+
+Bob stood at the gate, bareheaded, as they rode away. By this time he
+had no words at all. He wished from the bottom of his heart that he
+could tell them what good fellows he thought them; but he could only
+stand, holding the gate for them with Tommy by his side; and it may
+be that the look on each tired young face moved "the bee" more than
+eloquence would have done. They shouted cheery good-byes as they went.
+"Good luck, Miss Immigrant! Good luck, Captain!" And the dusk swallowed
+them up, leaving only the sound of the cantering hoofs.
+
+Thanks to "the bee," the little farm on the creek looked very
+flourishing on the great day when the lady of the house came down in
+state to take possession of her domain. Bob had worked hard in the
+garden, where already rows of vegetables showed well; Jim and Wally had
+aided Norah and Tommy in the making of a flower garden, laying heavy
+toll on Hogg's stores for the purpose; to-day it was golden and white
+with daffodils and narcissi and snowdrops. The cultivation paddocks, no
+longer brown, rippled with green oats; and cattle were grazing on
+the rough grass of the flats, once a swamp, but already showing the
+influence of the big drain. Bob had great plans for ploughing all his
+flats next year. Dairy cows pastured in the creek paddock near the
+house; beyond, Bob's beloved sheep were steadily engrossed in the
+fascinating pursuit of "turning into wool and mutton." He never grew
+tired of watching the process.
+
+The ever-present problem of labour, too, had solved itself pleasantly
+enough. Sarah, for many years housemaid at Billabong, had married a
+man on a farm near Cunjee, whose first attempt at renting a place for
+himself had been brought to an untimely end by the drought; and Sarah
+had returned to Billabong, to help in preparing for the home-coming of
+the long-absent family, while her husband secured a temporary job in
+Cunjee and looked about for another chance. There Jim had found him,
+while helping at the hospital; the end of the matter being that Sarah
+and Bill and their baby were installed at Creek Cottage, Bill to be
+general utility man on the farm, and to have a share of profits, while
+Sarah helped Tommy in the house. Every one was satisfied, and already
+there were indications that Tommy would be daft over the baby.
+
+Sarah came out now to say that tea was ready--she had insisted on being
+responsible for everything on this first day. Not that there was much
+to do, for Brownie had sent over a colossal hamper, declaring that Miss
+Tommy shouldn't be bothered with thinking about food when she wasn't
+'ardly settled. So they packed into the little dining-room; where,
+indeed, it took no small ingenuity to stow so large a party, when three
+of the six happened to be of the size of David Linton and Jim and Wally;
+and Tommy did the honours of her own table for the first time.
+
+"And to think," she said presently, "that six months ago there was only
+Lancaster Gate! Of course, there was always Bob"--she flashed him a
+quick smile--"but Bob was--"
+
+"In the air," put in Norah.
+
+"Very much so. And it didn't seem a bit certain that I could ever get
+him out of it; or, if I did, that I could ever escape from Lancaster
+Gate."
+
+"And you wouldn't, if the she-dragon had had her way," Bob said.
+
+"No. There was nothing to do but run. But even when I dreamed of
+running, I never thought of more than a workman's cottage, with you
+earning wages and me trying to make both ends meet. And now--look at us!
+Bloated capitalists and station owners."
+
+"Well, you were a cook not so long ago. I wouldn't be too proud," Wally
+gibed.
+
+"All the more reason for me to be proud--I've risen in the world,"
+declared Tommy. "Left my situation to better myself--isn't that
+the right way to put it? And we've got the jolliest home in
+Australia--thanks to all of you. Do have some more cake, Mr. Linton; I'd
+love to say I made it myself, but Brownie did--still, all the same, it's
+mine."
+
+"Don't you worry," he told her. "I'm coming here plenty of times for
+cake of your own baking."
+
+"That's what I want." She beamed at him. "All of you. Bob and I will
+feel lost and lonesome if we don't see you all--oh, often."
+
+"But you're going to," Norah said. "We'll be over goodness knows how
+many times a week, and you two are always coming to dinner on Sunday,
+and ever so many other days as well."
+
+"Was it in your plans that any work should be done on this estate?"
+queried Bob solemnly.
+
+"Why, yes, in your spare time," Wally answered. "Any time you're not on
+the road between here and Billabong, or catching a horse to go there, or
+letting one go after coming back, or minding the Billabong horde when it
+comes over, you can do a little towards improving the creek. I say, Bob,
+it sounds the sort of life I'd love. Can't you give me a job, old man?"
+
+"Seeing that you've done little but work on this place since you came
+back from Queensland, I shouldn't think you'd need to ask for a job,"
+retorted Bob. "However, I'll take you on as milker if you like--it's
+about the only thing you haven't sampled."
+
+"No," said Wally, "you won't. Whatever beast I finally take to by way
+of earning my living, it won't be the cow--if I can help it. I'd sooner
+graze giraffes!"
+
+"Oh, do try!" Norah begged. "I'd love to see you trying to put a bridle
+on one in a hurry!"
+
+"Wonder what would happen if one rode a giraffe and he reared?" pondered
+Jim.
+
+"You'd have to swarm up his neck and hang on to his little horns," Wally
+said. "But they're nice, silent beasts, giraffes, and I think they'd be
+very restful to deal with."
+
+Every one laughed unsympathetically. Restfulness was the last quality
+to be associated with Wally, who had been remarkable throughout his life
+for total inability to keep still.
+
+"It's always the way," said Wally, in tones of melancholy. "Every
+fortune teller I ever saw told me that no one understood me."
+
+"All fortune tellers say that, and that's why people think them so
+clever," said Tommy. "It's so soothing to think one is misunderstood. My
+stepmother always thought so. Did Bob tell you, Mr. Linton, that we had
+had letters from home?"
+
+"No--from your people?"
+
+"From Papa. The she-dragon didn't write. I think her words would
+have been too burning to put on paper. But Papa wrote a pretty decent
+letter--for him. He didn't speak of our letters from Liverpool--the
+notes we wrote from the hotel, saying we were leaving for Australia.
+But he acknowledged Bob's letter from Melbourne, saying we were going
+up country under your wing, and actually wished us luck! Amazing, from
+Papa!"
+
+"I think he's jolly glad we got away," Bob said.
+
+"I think that's highly probable," said David Linton. "You'll write to
+him occasionally, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I suppose so," Bob answered. "Sometimes I'm a bit sorry
+for him; it must be pretty awful to be always under the heel of a
+she-dragon. Oh, and there was a really fatherly sort of letter from old
+Mr. Clinton. He's an old brick; and he's quite pleased about our finding
+you--or you finding us. He was always a bit worried lest Tommy should
+feel lonesome in Australia."
+
+"And not you?" Norah asked laughing.
+
+"No, he didn't worry a bit about me; he merely hoped I'd be working
+too hard to notice lonesomeness. I think the old chap always was a bit
+doubtful that any fellow would get down to solid work after flying; he
+used to say the two things wouldn't agree. But you sent him a decent
+report of me, didn't you, sir?"
+
+"Oh, yes--I wrote when you asked me, just after you bought this place,"
+David Linton said. "Told him you were working like a cart-horse, which
+was no more than the truth, and that Tommy was serving her adopted
+country as a cook; and that I considered your prospects good. He'll have
+had that letter before now--and I suppose others from you."
+
+"We wrote a few weeks ago--sent him a photograph of the house, and
+of Tommy on a horse, and Tommy told him all about our furniture," Bob
+chuckled. "I don't quite know how a staid old London lawyer will regard
+the furniture; he won't understand its beauty a bit. But he ought to be
+impressed with our stern regard for economy."
+
+"He should," said Mr. Linton with a twinkle. "And I presume you
+mentioned the sheep?"
+
+"As a matter of fact," said Tommy confidentially, "his letter was little
+but mutton. He described all his ewes in detail--"
+
+"Colour of their eyes?" queried Wally.
+
+"And their hair," nodded Tommy. "I never read anything so poetical. And
+any enthusiasm he had over went to the pigs and the Kelpie pup!"
+
+"But what about the cows?" laughed Norah. "And the young bullocks?"
+
+"Oh, he mentioned them. But cattle are just four-legged animals to
+Bob; they don't stir his soul like sheep and pigs. He couldn't write
+beautiful things about them. But when it comes to sheep, he just
+naturally turns into a poet!"
+
+The object of these remarks helped himself serenely to cake.
+
+"Go on," he nodded at his sister cheerfully. "Wait until my wool cheque
+comes in, and you want a new frock--then you'll speak respectfully of my
+little merinoes. And if you don't, you won't get the frock!"
+
+"Why, I wouldn't disrespect them for anything," Tommy said. "I think
+they're lovely beasts. So graceful and agile. Will any of them come yet
+when you whistle, Bobby?"
+
+"Are you going to put up with this sort of thing, Bob?" demanded Jim.
+
+Bob smiled sweetly.
+
+"I'm letting her have her head," he said confidently. "It's badly
+swelled just now, because she's got a house of her own--but you wait
+until she wants a new set of shelves, or a horse caught in a hurry
+so that she can tear over and find out from Norah how to cook
+something--then she'll come to heel. It's something in your climate, I
+think, because she was never so cheeky at home--meek was more the word
+to describe her."
+
+"Meek!" said his sister indignantly. "Indeed, I never was meek in my
+life!"
+
+"Indeed you were, and it was very becoming," Bob assured her. "Now
+you're more like a suffragette--" He stopped, staring. "Why, that's it!
+It must be in the air! She knows she'll have the vote pretty soon!" He
+broke into laughter. "Glory! Fancy little Tommy with a vote!"
+
+Tommy joined in the general mirth.
+
+"I hadn't realized it," she said, "and I needn't bother for over
+eighteen months, anyhow. And I don't believe that any of you have ever
+voted, even if you are twenty-one--except Mr. Linton, of course; and you
+don't know a bit more about it than I do."
+
+"Hear, hear!" said Wally. "I certainly don't, and neither does Jim. But
+when we do vote, it's going to be for the chap who'll let us go and dig
+our own coal out if there's a strike. That's sense; and it seems to me
+the only sensible thing I've ever heard of in politics!" A speech which
+manifested so unusual an amount of reflection in Wally that every one
+was spellbound, and professed inability to eat any more.
+
+Bob and Tommy stood on the verandah to watch their visitors go; Mr.
+Linton and Norah in the motor, while Jim and Wally rode. The merry
+shouts of farewell echoed through the gathering dusk.
+
+"Bless them," said Tommy--"the dears. I don't believe we'd have a home
+now but for them, Bob."
+
+"We certainly wouldn't," Bob answered. "And sometimes I feel as if
+they'd spoon-fed us. Look at all they've done for us--these months at
+Billabong and all they've taught us, and all the things that they've
+showered on us. We couldn't pay them back in twenty years."
+
+"And they talk as if the favour were on their side," his sister said.
+"There's the buggy they've lent us--Mr. Linton spent quite a long time
+in pointing out to me how desirable it was for them that we should use
+it, now that they have the car and don't need it. And the horses that
+apparently would have gone to rack and ruin from idleness if we hadn't
+come."
+
+"And the cows that don't seem to have had any reason for existence
+except to supply us with milk," Bob said laughing; "and the farm
+machinery that never was really appreciated until immigrants came
+along--at least, you'd think so to hear Jim talk, only its condition
+belies him. Oh, they're bricks, all right. Only I don't seem as if I
+were standing squarely on my own feet."
+
+"I don't think we could expect to, just yet," said Tommy pondering. "And
+if they have helped us, Bobby, you can see they have loved doing it. It
+would be ungracious for us not to take such help--given as it has been."
+
+"Yes, of course," Bob answered and squared his shoulders. "Well,
+I'm going to work like fury. The only thing I can do now is not to
+disappoint them. I feel an awful new-chum, Tommy, but I've got to make
+good."
+
+"Why, of course you're going to," she said, slipping a hand through his
+arm. "Jim wouldn't let you make mistakes; and the land is good, and
+even if we strike a bad season, there's always the creek--we'll never be
+without water, Jim says. And we're going to have the jolliest home--it's
+that now, and we're going to make it better."
+
+"It's certainly that now," Bob said. "I just can't believe it's ours.
+Come and prowl round, old girl."
+
+They prowled round in the dusk; up and down the garden paths by the
+nodding daffodils, out round the sheds and the pigsties, and so down
+to where the creek rippled and murmured in the gloom, flowing through
+paddocks that, on either side, were their own. Memories of war and of
+gloomy London fell away from them; only the bright present and a future
+yet more bright filled them; and there was no loneliness, since all
+the big new country had smiled to them and stretched out hands of
+friendliness. They came back slowly to their house, arm in arm; two
+young things, like shadows in the gloom, but certain in their own minds
+that they could conquer Australia.
+
+Bob lit the hanging lamp in the little sitting-room, and looked round
+him proudly. A photograph caught his eye; a large group at his Surrey
+Aerodrome, young officers clustered round a bi-plane that had just
+landed.
+
+"Poor chaps," he said, and stared at them. "Most of 'em don't know yet
+that there's anything better in the world than flying."
+
+"But they've never met merino sheep," said Tommy solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+
+"Who's going to the races?" demanded Jim.
+
+He had ridden over to the creek alone, and Tommy had come to the garden
+gate to greet him, since the young horse he was riding firmly declined
+to be tied up. It was a very hot morning in Christmas week. Tommy was in
+a blue print overall, and her face was flushed, her hair lying in little
+damp rings on her forehead. Jim, provokingly cool in riding breeches and
+white silk shirt, smiled down at her across the gate.
+
+"Races!" said Tommy. "But what frivolity. Why, I'm bottling apricots."
+
+"No wonder you look warm, you poor little soul," said Jim. "You oughtn't
+to choose a scorcher like this for bottling. Anyhow, the races aren't
+to-day, but New Year's day--Cunjee Picnic meeting. We're all going, so
+you and Bob have got to come. Orders from Norah."
+
+"Oh, New Year's day. I'd love to come," Tommy said. "I've never seen
+races."
+
+"Never seen races!" ejaculated young Australia in sheer amazement.
+"Where were you dragged up?" They laughed at each other.
+
+"Aunt Margaret wasn't what you'd call a racing woman," Tommy said. "I
+don't fancy Bob has seen any, either. Bill and Sarah, to say nothing of
+the baby, are going. I offered to mind the baby, but Sarah didn't seem
+to think the picnic would be complete without her."
+
+"People have queer tastes," Jim said. "I wouldn't choose a long day
+at races as the ideal thing for a baby; but Sarah seems to think
+differently. Wonder what Bill thinks? Still, I'm glad she didn't take
+you at your word, because we'd have had to dispose of the baby somewhere
+if she had. I suppose we could put it under the seat of the car!"
+
+"Oh, do you?" Tommy regarded him with a glint in her eye. "No; we'd have
+made you nurse her--she isn't 'it.' She's the nicest baby ever, and I
+won't have her insulted."
+
+"Bless you, I wouldn't insult the baby for worlds," grinned Jim. "I'll
+look forward to meeting her at the races--especially as you won't be
+minding her. Then it's settled, is it, Tommy? We thought of riding; will
+it be too far for you?"
+
+"Not a bit," Tommy said. "Bob and I rode in and out of Cunjee the other
+day, and I wasn't tired--and it was dreadfully hot."
+
+"Then you'll be all right on New Year's day, because the racecourse is
+two miles this side of the township," Jim said. "But Norah said I was to
+tell you some of us could easily go in the car if you'd rather drive."
+
+"Oh, no, thanks; I know you always ride, and I should love it," Tommy
+answered. "Is Mr. Linton going?"
+
+"Oh, yes. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the whole station's going," Jim
+said. "All except Brownie, of course; she scorns races. She says she
+can't imagine why anyone should make anything run fast in the 'eat if
+they don't want to."
+
+"Does Brownie ever leave Billabong?"
+
+"Hardly ever," Jim answered, laughing--"and it's getting more and more
+difficult to make her. I think in a year or two it will need a charge
+of dynamite. Oh, but, Tommy, we got her out in the car the other
+evening--had to do it almost by main force. It was a hot evening, and
+we took her for a spin along the road. She trembled like a jelly when we
+started, and all the time she gripped the side with one hand and Norah's
+knee with the other--quite unconsciously."
+
+"Do you think she enjoyed it at all?" Tommy smiled.
+
+"No, I'm jolly well sure she didn't," Jim responded. "Brownie's much too
+well mannered to criticize anyone else's property, but when she got
+out she merely said, 'You have great courage, my dear.' And wild horses
+wouldn't get her into it again, unless we promised to 'make it walk,'
+like we did the day we brought her over to help at your working bee. The
+funny part of it is that Norah believes she was just as frightened that
+morning, only she had a job on, and so was too busy to think of it. But
+as for going in a car for mere pleasure--not for Brownie!"
+
+"Brownie's a dear," said Tommy irrelevantly. "Jim, can't you put that
+fierce animal in the stable or the horse paddock, or somewhere, and come
+in for some tea? I simply must get back to my apricots."
+
+"And I've certainly no business to be keeping you standing here in the
+heat," Jim said. "No, I can't stay, thanks, Tommy--I promised dad I'd
+meet him at the Far Plain gate at eleven o'clock, and it's nearly that
+now. You run in to your apricots, and don't kill your little self over
+them; it's no day for cooking if you can avoid it."
+
+"Oh, but I couldn't," Tommy answered. "They were just right for
+bottling; the sun to-day would have made them a bit too soft. And it's
+better to get them done; to-morrow may be just as hot, or hotter."
+
+"That's true enough," Jim said. "Feeling the heat much, little Miss
+Immigrant?"
+
+"Oh, not enough to grumble at," she answered, smiling. "And the
+bathing-hole in the creek is a joy; it's almost worth a hot day to get a
+swim at the end of it. Bob has built me a bathing-box out of a tree, and
+it's a huge success; he's very pleased with himself as an architect."
+
+"That's good business," approved Jim. "You two never grumble, no matter
+what comes along."
+
+"Well, but nothing has come along but good luck," Tommy said. "What have
+we had to grumble at, I should like to know?"
+
+"Oh, some people find cause for grousing, no matter how good their luck
+is," Jim answered. "I believe you and old Bob would decline to recognize
+bad luck even if it did come your way."
+
+"It's not coming," Tommy said, laughing. "So don't talk about it--I
+don't believe it exists." She stood watching him for a moment as he
+tried to mount; his big young thoroughbred resented the idea of anyone
+on his back, and Jim had to hop beside him, with one foot in the
+stirrup, while he danced round in a circle, trying to get away. Jim
+seized an opportunity, and was in the saddle with a lithe swing;
+whereupon the horse tried to get his head down to buck, and, being
+checked in that ambition, progressed down the paddock in a succession of
+short, staccato bounds.
+
+"I think I should have to recognize bad luck coming if I had to ride him
+instead of Jim," remarked Tommy quaintly. She turned and ran in to her
+neglected apricots.
+
+New Year's day broke clear and hot, like all the week before it. Norah,
+arriving at the Creek about ten o'clock, looked a little anxiously at
+her friend.
+
+"We're used to riding in the heat, Tommy, dear," she said. "But you're
+not--are you sure you feel up to it?"
+
+"Why, I'm going to love it," Tommy said. She looked cool and
+workman-like in a linen habit and white pith helmet--Norah's Christmas
+present. "I hadn't these nice things to wear when Bob and I brought the
+sheep out from Cunjee three weeks ago; and it was just as hot, and so
+dusty. And that didn't kill me. I liked it, only I never got so dirty in
+my life."
+
+"Well, we shall only have a hot ride one way," said Norah
+philosophically. "There's a concert in Cunjee, and the boys want to stay
+for it. The concert won't be much, but the ride home in the moonlight
+will be lovely. You and Bob can stay, of course?"
+
+"Oh, yes. Bill must bring Sarah and the baby home in good time, so he
+will milk the cows," Tommy answered. "He wanted them to stay for the
+concert, but Sarah had an amazing attack of common sense, and said it
+was no place for a baby. I didn't think she considered any place unfit
+for a baby, and certainly Bill doesn't."
+
+"Bush people don't," said Norah, laughing. "If they did, they would
+never go anywhere, because the babies must go too, no matter what
+happens. And the babies get accustomed to it, and don't cry nearly as
+much as pampered ones that are always in the nursery."
+
+"Bush kiddies grow a stock of common sense quite early," said Wally's
+voice from the door. "It leaves them in later life, and they stay
+gossiping with immigrants in new riding-kit, leaving their unfortunate
+fathers grilling in the sun. Which he says--" But at this point Norah
+and Tommy brushed the orator from their path, and hastened out to the
+horses--finding all the men comfortably smoking under a huge pepper
+tree, and apparently in no hurry to start.
+
+Bob bewailed his yellow paddocks as they rode down to the gate.
+
+"They were so beautifully green a few weeks ago," he said. "Now look at
+them--why, they're like a crop. The sun has burnt every bit of moisture
+out of them."
+
+"Don't let that worry you, my boy," David Linton said. "The stock are
+doing all right; as long as they have plenty of good water at this time
+of the year they won't ask you for green grass." He gave a low chuckle.
+"You wouldn't think this was bad feed if you had seen the country in the
+drought years--why, the paddocks were as bare as the palm of your hand.
+Now you've grass, as you say yourself, like a crop." He looked at it
+critically. "I could wish you hadn't as much; fires will be a bit of an
+anxiety later on."
+
+"Grass fires?" queried Bob.
+
+"Yes. There's not enough timber here to have a real bush fire. But this
+grass is dry enough now, and by February it will go like tinder if any
+fool swagman drops a match carelessly. However, you'll just have to keep
+your eyes open. Luckily, your creek can't burn--you'll always have so
+much safeguard, because your stock could take to it; and that row of
+willows along the bank would check any grass fire."
+
+"My word, wouldn't a fire race across the Billabong plains this year!"
+said Wally.
+
+"Yes, it would certainly travel," agreed Mr. Linton. "Well, we've
+ploughed fire-breaks, and burned round the house, and we can only hope
+for good luck. You'd better burn a break round your house soon, Bob."
+
+"Bill was saying so only this morning," Bob answered. "I nearly chucked
+the races and stayed at home to do it--only I was afraid it might get
+away from me single-handed, and I couldn't very well keep Bill at home."
+
+"Oh, time enough," the squatter said lightly. "You're not so dry as we
+are, and we only burned last week."
+
+"We'll come over and help you to-morrow, if you like," Jim said. "Wally
+wants work; he's getting too fat. A little gentle exercise with a racing
+fire on a hot day would be the very thing for him. We'll come and burn
+off with you, and then have a bathing party in the creek, and then you
+and Tommy must come back to tea with us." Which was a sample of the way
+much of the work was done on the Creek Farm. It had never occurred to
+the two Rainhams that life in Australia was lonely.
+
+The road to Cunjee was usually bare of much traffic, but on the one
+race day of the year an amazing number of vehicles were dotted along
+it, light buggies, farm wagonettes, spring carts and the universal
+two-wheeled jinker, all crammed with farmers and settlers and their
+families. Wives, a little red-faced and anxious, resplendent in their
+Sunday finery, kept a watchful eye on small boys and girls; the boys
+in thick suits, the girls with white frocks, their well-crimped hair
+bearing evidence of intense plaiting overnight. Hampers peeped from
+under the seats, and in most cases a baby completed the outfit. Now and
+then a motor whizzed by, leaving a long trail of dust-cloud in its wake,
+and earning hearty remarks from every slower wayfarer. There were riders
+everywhere, men and women--most of the latter with riding-skirts slipped
+on over light dresses that would do duty that night at the concert and
+the dance that was to follow. Sometimes a motor-cycle chugged along,
+always with a girl perched on the carrier at the back, clinging
+affectionately to her escort. As Cunjee drew nearer and the farms closer
+together the crowd on the road increased, and the dust mounted in a
+solid cloud.
+
+The Billabong people drew to one side, as close as possible to the
+fence, cantering over the short, dusty grass. It was with a sigh of
+relief that Jim at last pointed out a paddock across which buggies and
+horsemen were making their way.
+
+"There's the racecourse," he said.
+
+"Racecourse!" Tommy ejaculated. "But it just looks like an ordinary
+paddock."
+
+"That's all it is," said Jim, laughing. "You didn't expect a grand-stand
+and a lawn, did you? Cunjee is very proud of itself for having a turf
+club at all, and nobody minds anything as long as they get an occasional
+glimpse of the horses."
+
+"But where do they run?"
+
+"Oh, the track goes in and out among the trees. There's some talk of
+clearing it before the next meeting by means of a working bee. But
+they won't worry if it doesn't get done--every one will come and have a
+picnic just the same. You see, there are only two days in the year when
+a bush place can really let itself go--Show day and Race day. Show
+day is more serious and business-like, but Race day is a really
+light-hearted affair, and the horses don't matter to most of the
+people."
+
+They turned into a gate where two men were busily collecting shillings
+and keeping a wary eye lest foot passengers should dodge in through the
+fence without paying. There were no buildings at all in the bush paddock
+in which they found themselves. It lay before them, flat, save for
+a rise towards the southern boundary, where already the crowd was
+thickening, and sparsely timbered. As they cantered across it they came
+to a rough track, marked out more or less effectively by pink calico
+flags nailed to the trees.
+
+"That's the racing track," Wally said. "Let's ride round it, and we'll
+have a faint idea of what the horses are doing later on."
+
+They turned along the track, where the grass had been worn by horses
+training for the races during the few weeks preceding the great day. The
+trees had been cleared from it, so that it was good going. In shape it
+was roughly circular, with an occasional dint or bulge where a big red
+gum had been too tough a proposition to clear, and the track had had to
+swing aside to avoid it--a practice which must, as Jim remarked, make
+interesting moments in riding a race, if the field were larger than
+usual and the pace at all hot. Presently they emerged from the timber
+and came into the straight run that marked the finish--running along the
+foot of the southern rise, so that, whatever happened in the mysterious
+moments in the earlier parts of a race, the end was within full view of
+the crowd. The winning-post was a sawed-off sapling, painted half-black
+and half-white; opposite to it was the judge's box, a huge log which
+made a natural grand-stand, capable of accommodating the racing
+committee as well. Behind, a rough wire fence enclosed a small
+space known as the saddling paddock. The crowd picked out its own
+accommodation--it was necessary to come early if you wanted a good
+place on the rise. Already it was dotted with picnic parties, preparing
+luncheon, and a procession of men and boys, bearing teapots and billies,
+came and went about a huge copper, steaming over a fire, where the
+racing club dispensed hot water free of charge, a generosity chiefly
+intended to prevent the casual lighting of fires by the picnickers.
+All over the paddock people were hastening through the business of the
+midday meal; the men anxious to get it over before the real excitement
+of the day began with the racing, the women equally keen to feed their
+hungry belongings and then settle down to a comfortable gossip with
+friends perhaps only seen once or twice in the twelve months. Children
+tore about wildly, got in the way of buggies and motors, climbed trees
+and clustered thickly round any horse suspected of taking part in
+the racing. More than one candidate for a race appeared on the course
+drawing a jinker; and, being released from the shafts, was being
+vigorously groomed by his shirt-sleeved owner.
+
+"There's an awful lot to see!" ejaculated Tommy, gazing about her.
+
+"That is if you've eyes," Jim said. "But most of it can be seen on foot,
+so I vote Wally and Bob and I take the horses and tie them up while
+there's still a decent patch of shade left for them to stand in--every
+tree in the paddock will have horses tied to it before long. Do you know
+where Evans was to leave the buggy, Dad?"
+
+"Yes--it's under a tree over there," said his father, nodding towards a
+bushy clump of wattles. "I told him to pick out a good shady place for
+lunch. We'll go on and get ready, boys. I'll take the teapot for hot
+water."
+
+"Not you!" said Jim. "We'll be back in a few minutes and can easily get
+it. Just help the girls with the things, Dad, and we'll get lunch over;
+I'm as hungry as a hawk."
+
+"I'm not hungry," said Norah. "But I want, oh! gallons of tea."
+
+Tea seemed the main requirement of everybody. It was almost too hot to
+eat, even in the deep shade of the wattles. The boys, taught by the war
+to feed wherever and whenever possible, did some justice to Brownie's
+hamper; but Mr. Linton soon drew aside and lit his pipe at a little
+distance, while Tommy and Norah nibbled tomato and lettuce sandwiches,
+kept fresh and cool by being packed in huge nasturtium leaves, and drank
+many cups of tea. Then they lay under the trees until a bell, ringing
+from the saddling paddock, hinted that the first race was at hand. There
+was a surge of people towards the rise.
+
+"Come on," Jim said, jumping up. "Help me to stow these things in the
+buggy, Wally--we'll want most of them for afternoon tea later on. Then
+we might as well go and see the fun. You girls rested?"
+
+They were, they declared; and presently they set off towards the rise.
+Already the horses were appearing on the track, most of the jockeys
+wearing silk jackets and caps, although a few were content with doffing
+coat and waistcoat, and riding in blue and pink shirts--occasionally,
+but not always, complete with collar and tie. The horses were a mixed
+lot; some bore traces of birth and breeding, but the majority were just
+grass-fed horses from the neighbouring farms and stations, groomed and
+polished in a way that only happened to them once a year. The well-bred
+performers were handicapped with heavy weights, while the others had
+been let off lightly, so that all had a chance.
+
+"Billabong has a horse running to-day--did you know?" Jim inquired.
+
+"No!" Tommy looked up, dimpling with interest. "But how exciting, Jim.
+Is it yours?"
+
+"No." Jim shook his head. "I won't enter a horse if I can't ride him
+myself, and of course I'm too heavy. He belongs to the station, but he's
+always looked upon as Murty's, and black Billy's going to ride him. He's
+in the Hurdle Race."
+
+"Do you think he has any chance?"
+
+"Well, he can gallop and jump all right," Jim said. "But he hasn't had
+much training, and whether he'll jump in company is open to doubt. But
+I don't think he'll disgrace us. You've seen Murty riding him--a big
+chestnut with a white blaze."
+
+"Oh, yes--he calls him Shannon, doesn't he?" said Tommy. "I saw him jump
+three fences on him last time we were out mustering with your people.
+He's a beauty, Jim."
+
+"Yes, he's pretty good. Murty thinks he's better than Garryowen, but I
+don't," Jim observed.
+
+"If the Archangel Gabriel turned into a horse you wouldn't think he was
+up to Garryowen!" said Wally.
+
+"No, and he probably wouldn't be," said Jim, laughing. "If you begin
+life as an archangel, how would you settle down to being a horse after?"
+
+"I suppose it needs practice," Wally admitted. "Look out--here they
+come!"
+
+The horses were coming down the straight in their preliminary canter,
+and the crowd abandoned the business of picnicking and turned its
+attention to the first race. The riders, mostly local boys, looked
+desperately serious, and, as they pulled up after their canter, and
+turning, trotted slowly back past the rise, shouts of warning and
+encouragement and instruction came to them--from the owners of their
+mounts--which had the effect of making the boys look yet more unhappy.
+A bookmaker, the sole representative of his profession, yelled steadily
+from under a lightwood tree; those who were venturesome enough to do
+business with him were warned solemnly by more experienced men to keep a
+sharp look-out that he did not get away with their money before the end
+of the day.
+
+"That happened in Cunjee some years ago," said Mr. Linton. "A bookmaker
+appeared from goodness knows where, and struck a very solid patch of bad
+luck. All the district seemed to know how to pick winners that day,
+and he lost solidly on every race. He plunged a bit on the fourth race,
+hoping to get his money back; but that was worse still, and when he
+saw the favourite winning, he knew he had no hope of settling up. So he
+quietly collected his horse, which he had tied up in a convenient
+place, in case it was wanted in a hurry, and made tracks before the race
+finished."
+
+"What happened to him?" asked Bob.
+
+Mr. Linton chuckled.
+
+"Well, he added considerably to the excitement of the day. Some one
+saw him going, and passed the word round, and every man to whom he owed
+money--and they were many--ran for his horse and went after him. He had
+a good start, and no one knew what road he would take, so it was quite
+a cheery hunt. I think it was Dave Boone who tracked him at last, and he
+paused at a cross-roads, and coo-eed steadily until he had a number
+of followers. Then they set sail after the poor bookie, and caught
+him about seven or eight miles away. They found he had practically no
+money--not nearly enough to divide up; so they took what he had and
+presented it to the Cunjee Hospital, and finished up the day happily by
+tarring and feathering the bookie, and riding him on a fence rail round
+Cunjee that night!"
+
+"What do your police do in a case like that?" Bob asked.
+
+"Well, there's only one policeman in Cunjee, and, being a wise man, he
+went to the concert, and probably enjoyed himself very much," said Mr.
+Linton, laughing.
+
+"And what happened to the bookie?"
+
+"Just what you might expect--the boys got sorry for him, made a
+collection for him, bought him some cheap clothes--I believe they didn't
+err on the side of beauty!--and shipped him off to Melbourne by the
+first train in the morning. I don't think he'll try his artful dodges
+on this section of the bush again; and it has made all the boys very
+watchful about betting, so it wasn't a bad thing, on the whole. They
+think they know all about the ways of the world now. Look, Tommy--the
+horses are off! Watch through the trees, and you'll get a glimpse
+presently."
+
+The gay jackets flashed into view in a gap in the timber, and then were
+lost again. Soon they came in sight once more and rounded the last
+curve into the straight, amid shouts from the crowd. They came up the
+straight, most of the jockeys flogging desperately, while everyone
+rushed to get as near the winning-post as possible. Hats were flung in
+the air and yells rose joyfully, as a Cunjee boy, riding a desperate
+finish, got his horse's nose in front in the last couple of lengths and
+won cleverly.
+
+"She's excited!" said Wally, looking down at Tommy's flushed face.
+
+"I should think so," said Tommy. "Why, it was dreadfully exciting. I'd
+love to have been riding myself." At which everyone laughed extremely,
+and a tall young stockman from a neighbouring station, overhearing, was
+so impressed that he hovered as near as possible to Tommy for the rest
+of the day.
+
+The next event was the Hurdle Race, and interest for the Linton party
+centred in the candidate described on the race-card as Mr. M. O'Toole's
+Shannon. Nothing further could be done for Shannon--he was groomed until
+the last hair on his tail gleamed; but black Billy, resplendent in a
+bright green jacket and cap, the latter bearing an embroidered white
+shamrock, became the object of advice and warning from every man from
+Billabong, until anyone except Billy would probably have turned in wrath
+upon the multitude of his counsellors. Billy, however, had one refuge
+denied to most of his white brothers. He hardly ever spoke; and if some
+reply was absolutely forced upon him, he merely murmured "Plenty!" in a
+vague way, which, as Wally said, left you guessing as to his meaning.
+
+"Yerra, lave off badgerin' the boy," said Murty at last, brushing aside
+Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan, and the other Billabong enthusiasts.
+"If he listens to the lot of ye anny longer he won't know whether he's
+ridin' a horse or an airyplane. There's only wan insthruction to be
+kapin' in your head, Billy--get to the front an' stay there. Ridin' a
+waitin' race is all very well on the flat, but whin it comes to jumpin',
+anything that's in front of ye is apt to turn a somersault an' bring ye
+down in a heap."
+
+"Plenty!" agreed Billy; and lit a cigarette.
+
+"Shannon don't like anny other horse in front of him at all," went on
+Murty. "He's that full of pride he never tuk kindly to bein' behind, not
+since he was bruk in. He'll gallop like a machine an' lep like a deer if
+he gets his head."
+
+"I don't b'lieve you've much show, anyhow," Dave Boone said. "There's
+that horse from the hotel at Mulgoa--Blazer, they call him. He's done no
+end of racin', and won, too."
+
+"Well, an' if he has, hasn't he the great weight itself to be carryin'?"
+demanded Murty.
+
+"Why, he's top weight, of course; but you're carryin' ever so much over
+weight," responded Mr. Boone. "If you'd put up a boy instead of Billy,
+you could be pounds lighter."
+
+"Ah, git away with your advisin'," replied Murty. "Billy knows the
+horse--an' where'd a shlip of a boy be if Shannon cleared out with him?
+I'd rather carry too much weight, an' know I'd put a man up as could
+hold the horse." His anxious eye fell on the girls. "Miss Norah and Miss
+Tommy!--come here an' wish him luck without offerin' me any advice, or
+I'll lose me life over the ould race! They have desthroyed me with all
+the things they're afther tellin' me to do."
+
+"We won't tell you a thing, Murty--except that he's looking splendid,"
+Norah said, stroking Shannon's nose, to which the horse responded by
+nuzzling round her pocket in search of an apple. "No, I can't give you
+one, old man--I wouldn't dare. But you shall have one after the race,
+whether you win or not, can't he, Murty?"
+
+"He can so," said Murty. "Wance he's gone round that thrack he can live
+on the fat of the land--an' Billy, too. It's a dale aisier to get the
+condition off a horse than off Billy. No man on this earth 'ud make a
+black fellow see why he shouldn't have a good blow-out whenever it came
+his way. Only that Providence made him skinny by nature, he'd be fat
+as a porpoise this day. I've been watchin' over his meals like a mother
+with a delicate baby these three weeks back; but what hope 'ud I have
+with Christmas comin' in the way? He got away on me at Christmas dinner,
+an' what he didn't ate in the way of turkey an puddin' wouldn't be worth
+mentioning--an' him booked to ride to-day! 'Plenty' always did be his
+motter, an' he lives up to it. So he's pounds overweight, an' no help
+for it."
+
+"Never mind, Murty," Jim said. "He knows the horse, and Shannon's able
+to stand a few pounds extra. He'll give us a good run."
+
+"I believe ye, Masther Jim," said Murty, beaming. "He'll not disgrace
+us, an' if he don't win itself, then he'll not be far behind. There you
+are, Billy--that's the bell for weighin'. Hurry up now, and get over to
+the scales."
+
+The black boy's lean figure, saddle and bridle on arm, threaded its way
+through the crowd round the weighing enclosure--a little space fenced
+off by barbed wire. Presently they saw him coming back grinning.
+
+"That pfeller sayin' I plenty too much pounds," he said in an unusual
+burst of eloquence.
+
+"Ah, don't be rubbin' it in--don't I know it?" quoth Murty, taking the
+saddle and slipping it deftly on Shannon's back. "I dunno, did he think
+he was givin' me a pleasant surprise with the information by way of a
+New Year's gift. Does he think we've never a scales on Billabong, did
+ye ask him? There now, he's ready. Get on him, Billy, an' shove out into
+the track for a canter. I'll get nothing but chat from every one as
+long as you're here. Take him for a look at some of the hurdles, the way
+he'll know all about them when he comes to jump." He stood with a frown
+on his good-humoured face as Shannon and his rider made off.
+
+Norah laid a hand on his arm.
+
+"There's not a horse on the course better turned out, Murty," she said.
+"No one can say the Billabong representative doesn't look fit."
+
+Murty turned on her, beaming again.
+
+"Well, indeed, he'll not be doin' the station any discredit, Miss
+Norah," he said happily, "an' if he don't win, well, we can't all be
+winnin', can we? Only we did win a race last year, whin none of ye
+were here to be watchin' us an' make it worth while. I'd like to score
+to-day, now that ye're all here to see--an' Miss Tommy too, that's never
+seen racin'." He smiled down at the English girl's pink face.
+
+"I'm going to see you win to-day, Murty--I feel it in my bones," said
+Tommy promptly. "I've always loved Shannon, ever since I saw you jump
+those big fences with him when we put up the hare out mustering."
+
+"Yerra, that one'd make a steeplechaser if he got the trainin',"
+declared Murty, all his troubles forgotten. "Come a little higher up,
+won't ye, Miss Norah; we can see every jump from the top of the rise,
+barrin' the wan that's in the timber."
+
+They followed him up the little hill until he declared himself satisfied
+with his position; and he spent the time until the flag fell in pointing
+out to Tommy the exact places where the hurdles were erected--pausing
+only for a proud look when Shannon thundered past below them in his
+preliminary canter, the green jacket bright in the sun, and every muscle
+in the horse's gleaming body rippling as he moved. He was reefing and
+plunging in his gallop, trying to get his head; but Billy soon steadied
+him, and presently brought him up the straight again at a quiet trot.
+The other horses went out, one by one, until at length a field of eight
+faced the starter; and presently they were off, and over the first jump
+in a body. They came down the straight on the first time round, packed
+closely, a glittering mass of shining horses and bright colours. One
+dropped at the jump near the judge's box, and as the other horses raced
+away round the turn the riderless horse followed, while his jockey lay
+still for a moment, a little scarlet blur upon the turf. Eager helpers
+ran forward to pick him up, but he was on his feet before they could
+reach him, and came limping up the hill, a little bruised and infinitely
+disgusted.
+
+"He's all right," Murty said. "Yerra, Mr. Jim, did ye see the ould horse
+jump! He wint ahead at his fences like a deer!"
+
+The horses were in the timber; they peered anxiously at the bright patch
+of colour that showed from time to time, trying to see the familiar
+green jacket. Then, as the field came into view Murty uttered an
+irrepressible yell, for his horse shot ahead at the next jump and came
+into the straight in the lead. Murty gripped at the nearest object,
+which happened to be Norah's shoulder, and clenched it tightly,
+muttering, in his excitement, words in his native Irish. They thundered
+up the straight, Billy crouching on Shannon's neck, very still. Then
+behind him the Mulgoa horse drew out from the ruck and came in chase.
+Nearer and nearer he came, while the shouts from the crowd grew louder.
+Up, up, till his nose was at Shannon's quarter--at his girth--at his
+shoulder, and the winning-post was very near. Then suddenly Billy lifted
+his whip and brought it down once, and Shannon shot forward with a last
+wild bound. Murty's hat went up in the air--and Wally's with it.
+
+"He's done it!" Murty babbled. "Yerra, what about Billabong now?" He
+suddenly found himself gripping Norah's shoulder wildly, and would have
+apologized but that Norah herself was dancing with delight, and looking
+for his hand to grasp. And the crowd was shouting "Shannon! Shannon!
+Billabong!"--since all of these Cunjee folk loved Billabong and were
+steadily jealous of Mulgoa. Jim and Wally were thumping Murty on the
+back. Bob and Mr. Linton stood beaming at him. Below them Billy came
+trotting back on his victorious steed, sitting with a grave face, as
+expressionless as if he had not just accomplished his heart's desire.
+But his dark, mysterious eyes scanned the crowd as he turned from
+weighing in, and only grew satisfied when he saw the Billabong party
+hurrying to greet him. They shook his hand, and smote him on the back,
+Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan prancing with joy. And Shannon, his glossy
+coat dark with sweat, nuzzled again at Norah's pocket for an apple--and
+this time got it.
+
+This glorious event over, interest became focused on a trotting race,
+which brought out a queer assortment of competitors, ranging from
+King Lightfoot, a horse well known in Melbourne, to Poddy, an animal
+apparently more fitted to draw a hearse than to trot in a race--a lean,
+raw-boned horse of a sad countenance and a long nose, with a shaggy
+black coat which rather resembled that of a long-haired Irish goat.
+There were other candidates, all fancied by their owners, but the public
+support was only for King Lightfoot, who ran in elaborate leather and
+rubber harness, and was clearly regarded by his rider as of infinite
+condescension to be taking part in such a very mixed company.
+
+It proved, however, not to be King Lightfoot's lucky day. The horses
+started at intervals, according to their performances or merit, Poddy
+being the first to move, the Melbourne horse the last. King Lightfoot,
+however, obstinately refused to trot, whereas Poddy revealed unexpected
+powers, flinging his long legs abroad in a whirlwind fashion, and
+pounding along doggedly, with his long nose outstretched as if hoping
+to get it past the winning-post as soon as possible. No other horse came
+near him; his initial lead was never lessened, and he plugged doggedly
+to victory, while the crowd roared with laughter, and out in the timber
+King Lightfoot's rider wrestled with his steed in vain. Later, his
+prejudice against trotting in the bush removed by stern measures, King
+Lightfoot flashed up the track like a meteor, with his furious rider
+determined to show something of what his steed could do. By that time
+Poddy was once more unsaddled, and was standing under a tree with his
+weary nose drooping earthwards, so that the crowd merely yelled with
+laughter anew, while the stewards unfeelingly requested the Melbourne
+man to get off the track.
+
+"Oh, isn't it hot!" Norah fanned herself with a bunch of gum leaves, and
+cast an anxious look at Tommy.
+
+It was breathlessly hot. Not a hint of air stirred among the trees or
+moved the long dry grass that covered the paddock--now showing many
+depressions, where tired people or horses had lain down to rest. The
+horses stood about, drooping their heads, and swishing their tails
+ceaselessly at the tormenting flies; men and women sought every
+available patch of shade, while dogs stretched themselves under the
+buggies, panting, with lolling tongues. Children alone ran about, as
+though nothing could mar their enjoyment; but babies fretted wearily in
+their mothers' arms. Overhead the sun blazed fiercely in a sky of brass.
+Now and then came a low growl of thunder, giving hope of a change at
+night; but it was very far distant, although a dull bank of cloud lay to
+the west. David Linton watched the cloud a little uneasily.
+
+"I don't quite like the look of it," he muttered to himself. "I'll go
+and ask Murty what he thinks of it." But Murty had been swallowed up
+in a crowd anxious to congratulate him on Shannon's success, and
+his employer failed to find him at the moment. He came upon Sarah,
+however--sitting under a tree, with her baby wailing dismally.
+
+"To hot for her, Sarah," David Linton said kindly.
+
+"That's right, sir--it's too hot for anyone, let alone a little tiny
+kid," Sarah said wearily. "I'd get Bill to go home if I could, but I
+can't get on his tracks--and it's too hot to take baby out in the sun
+looking for him. If you come across him, sir, you might tell him I want
+him."
+
+"All right," said the squatter. "But you wouldn't take that long drive
+home yet, Sarah--better wait until the sun goes down."
+
+"Well, I'd go into Cunjee, to me sister-in-law's," said Sarah. "She'd
+let me take baby's things off an' sponge her--an' I'd give a dollar to
+do it. No more races with kids for me in weather like this!" She crooned
+to the fretting baby as Mr. Linton went off.
+
+He found Tommy and Norah together under a tree near the track--hot, but
+interested.
+
+"Where are the boys?"
+
+"They're all holding ponies," Norah said. "I don't quite know why, but a
+very hot and worried man collected them to help start the race. What is
+it for, Dad, do you know?"
+
+"Oh, I see!" David Linton laughed. "It's--a distance handicap--the
+ponies all start at the same moment, but from different points along the
+track."
+
+"Yes, that must be it," Norah said. "Jim's away over near the timber
+with a little rat of a pony, and Bob is shepherding another fifty yards
+behind him, while Wally is quite near here with that big pony of the
+blacksmith's that has won ever so many races. She'll have a lot of
+ground to make up. But why must each one be shepherded, Dad?"
+
+"Human nature," said David Linton, smiling. "These youngsters who are
+riding would sneak a yard or two if they weren't closely watched, and
+they would never start fair; the only way is to put each in charge of a
+responsible man with a good watch, and let him start them. What time
+is the race? Oh, four o'clock. Well, I never yet saw a pony race that
+started on time; neither the ponies nor the boys are easy to handle, and
+I see there are ten of them. Watch them; it's after four, and they must
+be nearly ready to start."
+
+The ponies were strung out round the course, each with a "shepherd"
+standing to attention near its bridle, watch in hand. They could see
+Jim's great form standing sentinel over a tiny animal, whose diminutive
+rider was far too afraid of the huge Major to try to snatch even a yard
+of ground; nearer, Wally kept a wary eye on the experienced jockey
+on the blacksmith's racing mare, who was afraid of nothing, but
+nevertheless had a certain wholesome respect for the tall fellow who
+lounged easily against a tree near him, but never for an instant shifted
+his gaze. The shepherds were waiting for a signal from the official
+starter.
+
+It came presently, a long shrill whistle, and simultaneously each
+guardian stepped back, and the released ponies went off like a
+flash--all save Bob's charge, who insisted on swinging round and bolting
+in the wrong direction, while his jockey sawed at his mouth in vain.
+Yawing across the track the rebel encountered the blacksmith's pony,
+who swerved violently in her swift course to avoid him, and lost so much
+ground that any chance she had in the race was hopelessly lost, whereat
+the blacksmith, who was standing on the hill, raved and tore his hair
+unavailingly. A smart little bay pony fought out the finish with Jim's
+tiny charge, and was beaten by a short head, just as Wally, walking
+quickly, came back to his party.
+
+"That was a great race," said Norah. "Wally, you shouldn't walk so fast
+on such a day. It makes one warm only to look at you."
+
+Wally answered with an absent air that was unlike his usual alertness.
+The girls, watching the ponies come in, noticed nothing, and presently
+he drew Mr. Linton aside.
+
+"Did you notice that cloud, sir?" he asked, in a low voice. "I didn't
+until I was down on the track with the pony, looking in that direction.
+But it's twice the size it was when I went down."
+
+"I've been looking at it, and I don't like it," said Mr. Linton.
+"It's smoke, I'm positive, and too near Billabong and the Creek to be
+comfortable. I think we'll make tracks for home, Wally. Have you seen
+Murty anywhere?"
+
+As if in answer, Mr. O'Toole came running down the hill.
+
+"I've been huntin' ye's everywhere," he panted. "There's a man just
+kem out from Cunjee lookin' for ye, sir--some one's tallyphoned in
+that there's a big grass fire comin' down on the Creek, an' 'twill be
+a miracle if it misses Billabong! I've told the men--they're off to get
+the horses."
+
+Norah and Tommy had turned, with dismayed eyes.
+
+"Will it be at our place, Murty?" Tommy asked.
+
+"I dunno will it, Miss Tommy," the Irishman answered. "But as like as
+not 'twill miss it--or anyhow, we'll get there first, an' stop it doing
+much damage. Don't you worry your little head, now."
+
+She looked up at him gratefully. Norah's hand was thrust through her
+arm.
+
+"It may not be near the Creek at all, Tommy dear," she said.
+
+"Oh, I hope it isn't--my poor old Bob!" Tommy said, under her breath.
+"Can we hurry, Norah?"
+
+"They're bringing the horses," Norah answered. "We'll be off in a
+minute--see, dad has gone to meet Bob."
+
+Wally had turned to Murty.
+
+"Murty, do you mind if I ride Shannon and take him across country? I'm
+on Marshal to-day, you know, and he can't jump for nuts. But Shannon can
+take every fence between here and the Creek, and I can cut the distance
+in half if I go across. I'm about the lightest of us, I think."
+
+"So ye are--an' the horse'll take ye like a bird," said Murty. "Don't
+shpare him, Mr. Wally, if ye think ye can do any good. He's over there
+under the big wattle."
+
+"Right-o!" said Wally. "Tell Mr. Jim, will you, Murty?" He turned and
+ran down the hill with long strides.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+
+Already the cloud was growing in the western sky--so high that it
+threatened to obscure the sun that still blazed fiercely down. At first
+a dull brown, there was a curious light behind it; at the edges it
+trailed away into ragged wisps like floating mist. There was something
+mysteriously threatening in its dense heaviness.
+
+There were other men running for their horses, as Wally raced towards
+Shannon. The news of a grass fire had spread quickly, and every man
+wanted to be on his own property, for the whole countryside was covered
+with long, dry grass, and no one could say where a fire might or might
+not end. Boone and Shanahan passed Wally, leading several horses--his
+own amongst them. They hailed him quickly.
+
+"We've got Marshal, Mr. Wally."
+
+"Give him to Murty," Wally answered as he ran. "I'm riding Shannon." He
+raced on.
+
+"That means he's going across country," said Dave Boone. "For two pins
+I'd go too."
+
+"Don't you--you'd never get your horse over them fences," Shanahan said.
+"An' it'll take Mr. Wally all his time to get across them wired paddocks
+of Maclennan's. Hope he don't break Shannon's laigs."
+
+"Not he; Mr. Wally's no fool," said Boone. "Git up, y' ol' sardine!" He
+kicked the horse he was leading, and they trotted up to Norah and Tommy.
+
+Shannon, standing with drooping head, showed little interest as Wally
+flung the saddle on his back. He had won his race handsomely, and it was
+a scorching day; possibly the big chestnut felt that no more should be
+required of him; in which case he was soon to be rudely awakened. Wally
+swung into the saddle with a quick movement, and turned him, not towards
+the gate, but in the opposite direction, which further puzzled Shannon.
+But he was a stock horse first and a hurdle racer as an afterthought;
+and a good stock horse knows his rider's mind, if that rider is a good
+man. He made one tentative movement towards his paddock mates, now
+moving away towards the gate; then, feeling the touch of Wally's hand
+on the bit, and the light pressure of his knee, he decided that some new
+game was on foot, and cantered easily away.
+
+They crossed the racing track, going westward over the big paddock, away
+from the buggies and the crowd. A belt of timber checked their swift
+progress a moment; then they came out into clear ground in sight of
+the boundary fence, a stiff three-railer. Wally peered at it anxiously,
+unable, for an instant, to see if there were a wire on top; but it was
+clear, and he shook up his horse, putting him straight at the middle of
+a panel. Shannon pricked his ears and flew it daintily--this was work he
+loved, and hot though the day might be, he was ready for any amount of
+it. Also Wally was lighter than Murty, his usual rider; and although he
+loved Murty, and respected him greatly, this new man had a seat like a
+feather and a hand gentle as silk upon his tender mouth. Shannon broke
+into the gallop that he felt sure his rider wanted.
+
+They were in a wide paddock, bare, save for a few clumps of timber,
+in the shade of which sheep were thickly clustered. It was good, sound
+going, with a few little rises; and, knowing that he would have to
+slacken speed presently, Wally let the chestnut have his head across the
+clear grass. They took the next fence and the next before he drew rein.
+He was in country he did not know--all big farms, with many stubble
+fields with newly erected stacks, and with good homesteads, where now
+and then a woman peered curiously from a verandah at him. There were
+no men in sight; every man in the neighbourhood was at the races on New
+Year's day.
+
+He found himself in a paddock where rough ground, thickly strewn with
+fallen timber, sloped down abruptly to a creek. Checking Shannon, he
+rode more steadily down to the water, and trotted along the bank for
+a hundred yards, looking for a good place to ford--the banks shelved
+abruptly down, and the water was unusually deep. But the only promising
+fords were too thickly snagged to be tempting; and presently, with a
+shrug, Wally gave up the quest, and choosing a place where the fall of
+the bank was a shade less abrupt, he put the horse at it.
+
+Shannon hesitated, drawing back. Water was the one thing to which he had
+not been schooled on Billabong, and this place was mysterious and deep.
+But Wally's hand was firm, and he spoke sharply--so that the chestnut
+repented of the error of his ways, and plunged obediently downwards.
+The bank gave under them, and they slithered down among its remnants and
+landed in the water with a profound splash, almost hidden for a moment
+by the spray that drenched Wally's thin silk coat and shirt. Shannon
+floundered violently, and nearly lost his footing--and then, deciding
+that this was an excellent entertainment on a hot day, he thrust his
+thirsty nose into the water. Wally checked him after one mouthful.
+
+"I'm sorry, old chap," he said regretfully. "I'd like it as much as you.
+But I can't let you have a drink just now."
+
+He pressed him on across the muddy stream, floundering over sunken logs,
+slipping into holes, dodging half-concealed snags; and so they came to a
+bank which scarcely seemed a possible place, so steep was it. But Wally
+looked at the smoke-cloud, and grew desperate, and for the first
+time touched Shannon with the spur; and the chestnut answered gamely,
+springing at the bank and climbing almost like a cat. Twice it broke
+under him; the third time he made some footing, and Wally suddenly flung
+himself from his back, scrambling up ahead of him, and hauling at the
+bridle. Shannon followed, floundering and snorting; desperately relieved
+to find himself on firm ground again. Wally swung into the saddle and
+they galloped forward.
+
+The next two fences were log ones, and the chestnut took them almost in
+his stride. Then Wally's lips tightened, for he saw a homestead that
+he knew must be Maclennan's, the most prosperous farmer about; and
+Maclennan had strong views on the subject of inflammable fences in a
+country so liable to grass fires, and all his property was wire-fenced.
+The first fence stretched before him, taut and well-strung; he looked up
+and down its length in search of a gate, but there was none in sight.
+
+"I could put my coat on the top wire for you to jump if it was a thick
+one, old chap," he told Shannon. "But a scrap of wet silk wouldn't be
+much good to you. We'll have to chance a post."
+
+He drew rein, trotting up to the fence, where he let the horse put his
+nose over a post--and set his lips again when he saw that the top wire
+was barbed.
+
+"Just you remember to pick up all your toes well, old man," he said.
+
+He trotted back a little way, and, turning, came hard at the fence,
+putting Shannon directly at the post. This also was new to the chestnut;
+but once, when a foal, he had been badly pricked on barbed wire, and,
+ever since, one glance at its hideous spikes had been enough for him.
+Refusing was out of the question--Wally was leaning forward, keeping
+him absolutely straight, lifting him at the post with a little shout of
+encouragement. He flew over it as if it had been a hurdle. Wally patted
+his neck with a big sigh of relief.
+
+"Eh, but I was scared for your legs, old man!" he said.
+
+They galloped across a wide stubble field, while Wally's keen eyes
+searched the fence for a gate. He caught sight of one presently, a
+stiff, four-railed gate, considerably higher than the fence. High as it
+was, Wally preferred it to barbed wire; and by this time he had a queer
+feeling that no jump would prove too much for the big, honest chestnut,
+who was doing so gamely everything that he was asked. Nor did Shannon
+disappoint him; he rose at the gate cheerfully, and barely tipped it
+with one hind foot as he cleared it. Wally fancied there was something
+of apology in the little shake of his head as he galloped on.
+
+"If I'd time to take you back over that you wouldn't lay a toe on it
+again, I believe. Never mind, there's sure to be another."
+
+There was, and the chestnut flew it with never a touch. Maclennan's
+paddocks were wide and well cleared--such galloping ground as Wally
+dared not waste--and he took full advantage of them, leaving one after
+another behind swiftly, to the beat of Shannon's sweeping stride. Fence
+after fence the chestnut cleared, taking them cleanly, with his keen
+ears pricked; never faltering or flagging as he galloped. Wally sat him
+lightly, leaning forward to ease him, cheering him on with voice and
+touch. Before him the cloud grew dense and yet more dense; he could feel
+its hot breath now, although a bush-covered paddock ahead blocked the
+fire itself from his immediate view. He had to choose between picking
+his way through the trees or galloping round them; and chose the latter,
+since Shannon showed no sign of fatigue. He put the last wire fence
+behind him with a sigh of relief. A small farm with easy enough fences
+remained to be crossed, and then he swung round the timber at top speed.
+Once round it, he should come within view of the Rainhams' house.
+
+He came into the open country, and pulled up with a shout of dismay.
+Before him was the long line of timber marking the creek, but between
+lay nothing but a rolling cloud of smoke, lit with flashes of flame. A
+hot gust of wind blew it aside for a moment, and through it he caught
+a glimpse of Creek Cottage, burning fiercely. Wally uttered a smothered
+groan, and thrust Shannon forward, over the last fence, and up a little
+lane that led near the Rainhams' back gate.
+
+The paddock was nearly all on fire. It had started somewhere back in
+the bush country, and had swept across like a wall, burning everything
+before it. As Wally reached the gate, it was rolling away across the
+paddocks, a sheet of flame, licking up the dry grass; leaving behind it
+bare and blackened ground, with here and there a fence post, or a
+tree burning, and, in the midst of its track, Creek Cottage wrapped in
+flames.
+
+The boy slipped from his saddle and flung Shannon's bridle over the
+gate-post. Then, as a thought struck him, he turned back and released
+him, buckling the reins into one stirrup.
+
+"I don't dare to tie you up, old man," he said. "The beastly fire might
+swing round. Go home, if you like. I can't take you across that hot
+ground." He gave the chestnut's neck a hasty pat; then, putting one hand
+on the gate, he vaulted it cleanly and ran across the burnt ground.
+
+The grass was yet smouldering; it broke away under his feet, crackling
+and falling into black powder. He ran desperately, not feeling the
+burning breath of the fire, in blind hope of being able to save
+something. The house itself, he knew, was doomed; no fire-brigade could
+have checked the flames which had laid hold of the flimsy weatherboard.
+The fire had divided round it, checked a little by Tommy's
+flower-garden, which was almost uninjured yet, and by Bob's rows of
+green vegetables which lay singed and ruined; then, unable to wait,
+it had swept on its way through the long dry grass, which carried it
+swiftly forward, leaving the burning cottage and the green garden in the
+midst of a blackened waste.
+
+The front verandah, and one side, were yet untouched, nor had the front
+rooms caught. Wally raced through the garden and tried the front door.
+It was locked. He sprang to the nearest window and smashed it with quick
+blows from a hoe standing near; then, flinging up the sash, dived in.
+The room was full of smoke, the heat stifling. It was Tommy's room. He
+gathered up her little personal belongings from the dressing-table and
+flung them on the quilt, following them with armfuls of clothes hastily
+swept from shelves. A trunk, covered with a bright Navajo blanket, stood
+near the window. He thrust it through to the verandah, and scrambled
+out after it with the quilt and blankets bundled round the things he had
+saved. Dragging them across the lawn, he thrust them under some green
+bushes, and returned for the trunk.
+
+"I don't believe you'll catch there," he said, choking. "Wonder if I can
+try another room?"
+
+He had opened the door from Tommy's room into the hall, but the rush of
+flame and smoke were so appalling that he had to shut it again quickly,
+realizing that the draught only helped the fire. To break in by another
+window was the only way. He smashed his way in to the other front
+room, and hurriedly gathered up all he could. There was no time to save
+anything heavy. His quick mind guided him to the things he knew Bob and
+Tommy valued most--things that had been Aunt Margaret's in the past,
+that spoke of their old happy life in France. He spread an embroidered
+cloth on the floor and pitched his treasure trove into it--working
+feverishly, choking and gasping, until the flames began to crackle
+through the wall, and the ceiling above him split across. Then he
+plunged through the window, and staggered across the lawn with his
+burden--falling beside it at last, spent and breathless, his throat
+parched with smoke, and his eyes almost sightless. But he picked himself
+up presently and went back. All the rooms were blazing now. The side
+verandah had not yet caught, and on it he saw an old oaken chest that
+did double duty as a seat and as a wardrobe for Bob's spare clothes. The
+sight brought fresh energy back to Wally.
+
+"By Jove, there's old Bob's box!" he uttered. "I'll have to get that."
+
+He dragged it across the verandah and on to the path. It was cruelly
+heavy. He had to stop and rest again and again; but still he struggled
+on, a few yards at a time, until it, too, was in comparative safety.
+Then there was nothing else that he could do but sit on the grass and
+watch the gay little home that they had all loved as it fell into ruins.
+The flames made mercifully short work of it; they roared and crackled
+and spat wreathing fiery tongues round the chimneys and up and down
+the verandah posts; shooting out of the broken windows and turning the
+white-painted iron of the roof into a twisted and blackened mass. It
+fell in presently with a deafening roar, bringing one chimney with it;
+and soon all that Wally had to look at was a smouldering heap of coals,
+in the midst of which one chimney stood, tottering and solitary,
+with the kitchen stove a glowing mass of red-hot iron, and strangely
+contorted masses of metal that once were beds. The boy uttered a groan.
+
+"And they were so proud of it," he said. "Poor souls--how are they going
+to stick it?"
+
+He got up presently and made his way round to the back. All the sheds
+and buildings were burned; he turned with a shudder from where Bob's
+beloved Kelpie had died at his post chained in helplessness. The metal
+parts of the buggy, writhed into knots and tangles, lay in the ashes of
+the big shed; beyond, the pigsty smouldered.
+
+"They've gone, too, I suppose," Wally said. "By George, where are all
+his stock? They can't all be burned, surely."
+
+There was nothing visible in the bare, black paddocks. He cast a wild
+look round, and then made for the creek at a staggering run. The fire
+had died away for lack of material as it neared the banks, for great
+willows overhung them, a camping-ground for the stock all through the
+summer heat, and the ground was always beaten hard and bare. Wally
+uttered a shout of relief as he came to the trees. Below in the wide,
+shallow pools, all the stock had taken refuge--carthorses and cows,
+sheep and pigs, all huddled together, wild-eyed and panting, but safe.
+They stared up at Wally, dumbly bewildered.
+
+"Poor brutes," said Wally. "Well, you chose a good spot, anyhow. I say,
+what a jolly good thing Bob let his pigs out. Poor old chap--he's
+not broke yet." He leaned against the gnarled trunk of a willow for a
+moment. "Well, I suppose I'd better get up to the gate and tell them--it
+won't do for Tommy to come on the ruins all of a sudden."
+
+But he realized, as he made his slow way up from the creek, that he was
+too late. There was a little knot of horses beside the garden gate. His
+eye caught the light linen habit coats that Tommy and Norah wore. They
+were looking silently at the blackened heap of ashes, with the tottering
+chimney standing gaunt in its midst, Bob's face grey under its coating
+of smoky dust. Norah was holding Tommy's hand tightly. They did not hear
+Wally as he came slowly across the black powder that had been grass.
+
+"I suppose the stock have gone, too," Bob said heavily.
+
+"No, they haven't, old man," Wally said. "I believe every head is safe;
+they're in the creek."
+
+They turned sharply, and cried out at the sight of him--blackened and
+ragged, his eyes red-rimmed in his grimy face, his hands, cut by the
+broken window glass, smeared with dried blood. His coat and shirt, burnt
+in a score of places, hung in singed fragments round him. There were
+great holes burnt in his panama hat, even in his riding breeches. Jim
+flung himself from his horse, and ran to him.
+
+"Wal, old man! Are you hurt?"
+
+"Not me," said Wally briefly. "Only a bit singed. I say, you two, you
+don't know how sorry I am. Tommy, I wish I could have got here in time."
+
+"You seem to have got here in time to try, anyhow," said Tommy, and her
+lip trembled. "Are you sure you're not hurt, Wally?" She slipped from
+her saddle, and came to him. "Were you in the fire?"
+
+"No, I'm truly all right," Wally assured her. He suddenly realized that
+he had not known how tired he was; something in his head began to whirl
+round, and a darkness came before his aching eyes. He felt Jim catch
+him; and then he was sitting on the ground, propped against the fence,
+and blinking up at them all, while indignantly assuring them that he had
+never been better.
+
+"Did you meet the fire? It was away from here before I got here."
+
+"It crossed the road in front of us," Mr. Linton said. "There were a
+good many men about by that time--we got it stopped before it reached
+Elston's." His pitying eyes went back to the brother and sister. Anxiety
+for Wally had drawn them from their own disaster for a moment; now they
+had moved away together, and stood looking at the ashes of their home,
+where so many hopes were ashes, too. David Linton went over to them, and
+put a hand on a shoulder of each.
+
+"You're not to be down-hearted," he said firmly. "It's bad enough, and
+bitter enough--but it might be worse. The stock are safe, and the land
+is there--one good shower will turn the paddocks green again. Why,
+there's even most of your garden left, Tommy. And we'll build the house
+and sheds better than before."
+
+"You're jolly good, Mr. Linton," Bob said, with dry lips. "But we owe
+you enough already."
+
+"If you talk that sort of nonsense, I'll be really annoyed," David
+Linton said. "Why, hard luck comes to all of us--we got burned out
+ourselves once, didn't we, Norah?"
+
+"Rather--and had to live in tents," said Norah. "No, you'll have to come
+back to us at Billabong until we build up the cottage again--oh, and,
+Tommy darling, I've been lonesome for you!" She put a hand on Bob's arm.
+"You won't worry, Bob? One bit of bad luck isn't going to beat you!"
+
+"I suppose it won't," Bob said slowly. "There's the insurance money,
+anyhow. But it was the jolliest little home--and our very own. And I was
+so jolly proud of being independent."
+
+"Well, you're that still," Jim said. "This is a country where everybody
+helps everybody else--because you and Tommy come to stay with us, and
+run your stock for a while on Billabong until your own grass grows, that
+isn't going to make you less independent. Wouldn't you do the same for
+us, if we were in the same box?"
+
+"That goes without saying--and I'm as grateful as I can be," Bob said.
+"But the cases are different. I'm deep enough in your debt, as it is.
+I--" His lip quivered, and he turned away, staring at the ruins.
+
+"I don't see any good arguing about it, at all events," said Norah,
+practically. "We're all hot and tired, and I vote we just get home and
+have tea. We'll all feel better after a tub, and then we can begin to
+make plans. Come on, Tommy dear, it's just lovely to think we're going
+to have you."
+
+Bob stood with one hand on the scorched gate.
+
+"I wish I could have got here in time to get out a few things," he
+muttered.
+
+"Oh, I did that," said Wally, brightening. "I forgot, in the shock of
+finding all Noah's Ark turned out in the creek. Come along, Tommy, and
+see my little lot of salvage!"
+
+He dragged himself up from the ground and seized Tommy's hand. They
+trooped across the lawn.
+
+"I saved the cuckoo clock and that set of Swiss bears," said Wally. "And
+lots of oddments from goodness knows where--the sort of thing you can't
+buy in Cunjee. I expect I've hauled out all the things you wouldn't have
+saved, Tommy, but you'll just have to let me down lightly--I'd have made
+a shot for the beloved cake tins, only I hadn't time."
+
+"Oh, Wally, you dear old idiot," said Tommy. "And that's how you nearly
+killed yourself." They came in sight of Wally's heap of loot, and she
+stopped in amazement.
+
+"Bob--just look!"
+
+"By Jupiter!" said Bob, "you saved my old box! You old brick. How did
+you manage it? Why, it weighs a ton!"
+
+Tommy was on her knees by the bundles. "Look!" she said. "Look, Bobby!
+My silver things--and all Aunt Margaret's, and my little jewel box. And
+my clothes! How did you do it, Wally?" Suddenly her voice broke. She put
+her head down on the bundle in a passion of sobs.
+
+"That's the best thing she could do," said David Linton gently. He
+turned to Norah. "Let her cry--and bring her along presently, and we'll
+take her home. Come along, boys, we'll get the horses and go and see
+Wally's Noah's Ark."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+It was three months later, and Billabong lay in the peace of an
+exquisite autumn evening. The orchard showed yellow and bronze against
+the green of the pine trees; here and there oak and elm leaves fluttered
+down lazily upon the lawn. The garden flamed with dahlias and asters,
+amidst which Hogg worked contentedly. And there was utter content upon
+the face of David Linton, as he stood on the broad stone steps of his
+home, and looked towards the setting sun. Beyond the garden gleamed
+the reed-fringed waters of the lagoon; further yet, the broad paddocks
+stretched away, dotted with feeding Shorthorns. It was the view, of all
+others, that he loved--his soul had longed for it during weary years of
+exile and war. Now, it seemed that he could never tire of looking at it.
+
+Brownie came up from the garden, a basket on her arm laden with splendid
+mauve and pink asters. David Linton strolled across the gravel sweep to
+meet her.
+
+"What, Brownie--taking Miss Norah's job, are you?"
+
+"Well, it ain't 'ardly that, sir," Brownie answered. "Miss Norah she
+done the vases this morning, same as ushul, an' Miss Tommy elpin' her.
+Only she wouldn't pick these 'ere astors, 'cause they're 'Oggs best, an'
+she didn't like to 'urt 'im; you see she always remembers that onst they
+go into the 'ouse, 'Ogg, 'e don't see 'em no more. An' she do love 'em
+in the vases. So I just put the matter sensible like to 'Ogg, an', of
+course, 'e saw reason and give me 'alf; an' I'll 'ave 'em on the table
+to-night. Only they've filled every vase in the house already, I believe
+I'll be druv to puttin' 'em in Mason jars!"
+
+"Miss Norah will love them, no matter what they're in," said Mr. Linton.
+"There's no sign of them yet, Brownie--it's nearly time they were home."
+
+"Well, they meant to 'ave a long day's work fixin' the 'ouse," said
+Brownie comfortably. "Mrs. Archdale druv me over to see them, an' Sarah
+gave us all afternoon tea--she an' Bill are real toffs in their little
+new cottage there. Sarah ain't indulgin' in any regrets over that fire!
+And they were all busy as bees. Miss Tommy's room's fixed, an' her
+little sleep-out place off it, and so's Mr. Bob's, an' they were workin'
+at the drorin'-room; 'omelike it looked with all their nice old things
+in it again."
+
+"I'm sure it will," David Linton agreed. "How do you like the new house,
+Brownie?"
+
+"Why, it's lovely," said Brownie. "An' a fair treat to work, with all
+them new improvements--no corners to the rooms, an' no silly skirtin'
+boards that'll catch dust, an' the water laid on everywhere, an' the air
+gas, an' all them other patent fixings. An' so comferable; better than
+the old one, any way you look at it. Miss Tommy's the lucky young lady
+to be comin' in for such a place."
+
+"Well, she deserves it, Brownie."
+
+"She do," said Brownie heartily. "Ain't it lovely to see Miss Norah an'
+'er so 'appy together? Our blessed lamb never 'ad a friend like that
+before, and she needed one--every girl do."
+
+"Long may it last, that's all I say," agreed the squatter. "Norah needed
+her badly, although she didn't know it. And she and her brother are the
+best type of immigrants, aren't they?"
+
+"They are that," said Brownie, "always cheery, an' workin' 'ard, an'
+takin' the ups and downs sensibly. Now, it was a real nasty knock to
+find their nice little 'ome burnt down on New Year's day, but after the
+first shock they never 'ung their lip at all--just bucked in to make
+good again."
+
+She went on her way with her asters, and David Linton walked slowly
+across the lawn and stood looking over the gate, along the track where
+his children would come riding home. Somehow, he found it difficult not
+to think of them all as his children. Wally had made an attempt to go
+away and set up a place for himself, but the idea had been received with
+such amazed horror by the whole household that it had been temporarily
+shelved. After all, Wally had more money than was good for him, the
+result of having always been an orphan. He could establish himself in a
+place at any time if he wished. And meanwhile, he was never idle. David
+Linton had handed over most of the outside management of the big run
+to Jim and his mate. They worked together as happily as they had played
+together as boys. There was time for play now, as well; Mr. Linton saw
+to that. The years that they had left on Flanders fields were not to rob
+them of their boyhood.
+
+There had also been time to help the Rainhams--and there again the
+district had taken a hand. It was not to be imagined that the people
+who had helped in the first working bee would sit calmly by when so
+stupendous a piece of bad luck as the New Year fire overtook the just
+established young immigrants; and so there had been several other bees,
+to replace Bob's burnt fencing, to clear away the ruins of the house and
+sheds, and, finally, to rebuild for him. There had been long discussions
+at Billabong over plans--the first Creek Cottage had taught them much
+of what was desirable in the way of a house; so that the second Creek
+Cottage, which rose from the ashes of the old one when kindly rains had
+drawn a green mantle over all the blackened farm, was a very decided
+improvement upon the old house, and contained so many modern ideas and
+"dodges" that the wives and sisters of all the working bees, who helped
+to build it, came miles to see it, and went home, in most cases, audibly
+wishing that they could have a fire. It was illuminating, too, to the
+working bees, to see how Bob and the Billabong men planned for the
+comfort of the women who were to run the house, and for its easy
+working; so that presently a wave of labour-saving devices swept through
+the Cunjee district in imitation, and wives who had always carried
+buckets of water found taps conveniently placed where they were
+needed, and sinks and draining racks built to ease the dreary round
+of dish-washing, and air-gas plants established to supersede the old
+kerosene lamps. After which the district was very much astonished that
+it had not done it before.
+
+The cottage was finished now, and nearly ready for its occupants; Bill,
+Sarah and the baby had been installed for some time in a neat little
+two-roomed place with a side verandah, a short distance from the main
+building. Home-made furniture, even more ambitious than the first built,
+had been erected, and a fresh supply of household goods bought during
+an exciting week in Melbourne, where Mr. Linton had taken them all--all,
+that is, but Bob, who had steadfastly declined to go away and play when
+other people were helping him. So Bob had remained at his post, giving
+Tommy a free hand as to shopping; a freedom cautiously used by Tommy,
+but supplemented by the others with many gifts, both useful and idiotic.
+Tommy had an abiding affection for the idiotic efforts.
+
+She had spent so much time in the saddle that she now rode like an old
+hand; the brown-faced girl who came up the paddock presently with the
+cheery band of workers was very different to the pink and white "little
+Miss Immigrant" of eight months before. She rode Jim's big favourite,
+Garryowen, who, although years had added wisdom to him, was always
+impatient when nearly home; he was reefing and pulling, as they swept
+up at a hand gallop, but Tommy held him easily, and pulled up near Mr.
+Linton, laughing. He looked at them with grave content.
+
+"I began to think you meant me to have tea alone," he said. "Have they
+been doing any work, Bob, or couldn't you keep them in hand at all?"
+
+"Oh, they've been working," Bob answered. "I told Sarah not to give them
+any afternoon tea if they didn't, and it acted like a charm."
+
+"You to talk!" said Norah, with tilted nose. "They said they'd sample
+the new deck chairs, dad, and it took them about an hour to make sure if
+they liked them--they just smoked while Tommy and I toiled."
+
+"Well, you'd only have been annoyed with us if we hadn't done the
+sampling properly, and had grumbled afterwards," said Wally. "I'm always
+trying to teach you to be thorough, Norah. Of course, they say they work
+all the time, sir--but when they disappear into Tommy's room there's an
+awful lot of talking."
+
+"There would be something wrong with them if there weren't," said the
+squatter sagely. "And I have no doubt there yet remains much awaiting
+their expert supervision in Tommy's room." Whereat Tommy and Norah
+beamed at him, and commended him as a person of understanding, while
+Wally remarked feelingly to Bob that there was no chance of justice
+where those two females were concerned. At this point Jim observed that
+the conversation showed signs of degenerating into a brawl, and that,
+in any case, it was time the horses were let go. They trotted off to the
+stables, a light-hearted body.
+
+Tommy slipped her arm into Bob's as they went upstairs to dress.
+
+"Come into my room and talk for a moment."
+
+He came in and sat down in a low chair by the window.
+
+"Your quarters at the new place won't be as big as this, old girl."
+
+"They'll be bigger, for it will all be ours," rejoined Tommy promptly.
+"Who wants a big room, anyway? I don't. Bobby, I'd be hard to please if
+I wanted more than I've got."
+
+"You're always satisfied," he said. "There never was anything easier
+than pleasing you, old Tommy."
+
+"Life's all so good, now," she said. "No hideous anxiety about you--no
+Lancaster Gate--no she-dragon. Only peace, and independence, and the
+work we like. Aren't you satisfied, Bob?"
+
+"I'd like to be really independent," he said slowly. "Our amount of
+debt isn't heavy, of course, and it doesn't cause real anxiety, with Mr.
+Linton guaranteeing us to the bank--"
+
+"And as we had to build again, it was worth while to improve the house
+and make it just what we wanted," Tommy added. "We'll pay the debt off,
+Bob. Mr. Linton assures me that with ordinary seasons we should easily
+do it."
+
+"I know, and I'm not anxious," Bob said. "Only I'll be glad when it's
+done; debt, even such an easy debt as this, gives me the creeps. And I
+want to feel we stand on our own feet."
+
+"And not on the Lintons'!" said Tommy, laughing. "I quite agree--though
+it's amazing to see how little they seem to mind our weight. Was there
+ever such luck as meeting them, Bob?"
+
+"Never," he agreed. "We'd have been wage-earners still, or struggling
+little cocky farmers at the best, but for that letter of General
+Harran's--though, I think more was due to the way you butted into their
+taxi!"
+
+"I believe it was," laughed Tommy. "It was the sort of thing to appeal
+to the Lintons--it wouldn't to everybody. But the letter was behind it,
+saying what a worthy young man you were!"
+
+"Well, when you start calling me such a thing as 'worthy,' it's time I
+left and got dressed for tea," said her brother, rising slowly. "English
+mail ought to be in, by the way; I'm wondering what old Mr. M'Clinton
+will say when he hears we were burned out in our first season."
+
+"He'll wish he'd sent us to the snows of Canada, where such things
+don't happen on New Year's day," Tommy said. "Still, he ought not to be
+anxious about us--Mr. Linton wrote and told him our position was quite
+sound."
+
+"Oh, I don't think he'll worry greatly," said Bob. "I must hurry, old
+girl, or I'll be late--and I want a tub before tea."
+
+The boys came down in flannels, ready for a game of tennis after tea;
+and Bob and Wally were just leaving the court after a stoutly-contested
+set, when black Billy brought the mail-bag across the lawn to Mr.
+Linton. The squatter unlocked it and sorted out the letters quickly.
+
+"Nothing for you, Tommy; two for Norah; three for Bob, and bundles for
+Wally and Jim. Papers beyond counting, and parcels you girls can deal
+with." He gathered up a package of his own letters. "Chiefly stock
+and station documents--though, I see, there's a letter from your aunt,
+Norah; I expect she's anxious to know when I'm going to cease bringing
+you up like a boy, and send you to Melbourne to be a perfect lady."
+
+"Tell her, never," said Norah lazily. "I don't see any spare time
+ahead--not enough to make me into a lady after Aunt Winifred's pattern.
+Cecil is much more lady-like than I am."
+
+"He always was," Jim said. "Years ago we used to wonder that he didn't
+take to wool-work, and I expect he'll do it yet. Even serving in the war
+didn't keep Cecil from manicuring his nails--he gets a polish on them
+that beats anything I ever saw."
+
+"Never mind--he's got a limp," said Norah, in whose eyes that legacy of
+the war covered a multitude of sins.
+
+"Well, he has. But he even limps in a lady-like way," grinned Jim. "And
+he has no time for Wal and me. He told me that he was surprised that
+five years of France and England hadn't made us less Australian."
+
+"It's a matter of regret to us all," said Norah placidly. "We hoped for
+great things when you came out--more attention to polite conversation,
+and a passion for top-hats, and--" At which point further eloquence was
+checked by a cushion placed gently, but firmly, by a brotherly hand on
+her face, and so she subsided, with a gurgle of laughter, into the cool
+depths of the buffalo grass where they were all lying.
+
+"Oh, by Jove!" said Bob suddenly. He looked at them, and finally at
+Tommy, his eyes dancing.
+
+"What's up, old man?" Jim asked. "Not your stepmother coming out?"
+
+"England couldn't spare her," Bob said. "But the sky has fallen, for all
+that. Just listen to old M'Clinton.
+
+"'. . . It was with deep regret that I learned from you and from Mr.
+Linton of the calamity which had befallen you on New Year's day. Such
+disasters seem common in Australia, like blizzards in Canada, and I
+presume every settler is liable to them. In your case your loss,
+being partly covered by insurance, will not, Mr. Linton assures me,
+be crushing, although it seems to me very severe. To have your initial
+endeavours, too, handicapped by so calamitous an occurrence would have
+excused despondency, but--'"
+
+"Hasn't he a lovely style?" chuckled Wally, as the reader paused to turn
+over.
+
+"'But Mr. Linton assures me that you and your sister are facing the
+situation with calmness and courage.' Did you know you were calmly
+courageous, Tommy?"
+
+"I am not," said Tommy. "I am courageously calm. Go on, Bobby--my
+calmness will waver if you don't get to the point. Where does the sky
+fall?"
+
+"Half a second. 'Further, I am immensely interested to learn from Mr.
+Linton, who appears to be the kindest of benefactors'--that's you,
+sir--'that the people of the district, who have already helped you so
+remarkably by a working bee, are so much in sympathy with you both that
+they intend again lending you their assistance over rebuilding your
+house. This shows me, even without Mr. Linton's letter, that you have
+earned their esteem and regard. Nevertheless, I estimate that you cannot
+fail to be at some monetary embarrassment, and this I am luckily able
+to ease for you. Certain rubber investments of your late aunt's have
+recently risen in value, after the long period of depression due to
+the war; and I deemed it prudent to sell them while their price in the
+market was high. The terms of your aunt's will enable me to reinvest
+this money, amounting to a little over nine hundred pounds, for you, or,
+at my discretion, to hand it over to you; and such is the confidence
+I repose in you, after Mr. Linton's letter, that I feel justified in
+remitting you the money, to use as you think best. I presume that will
+be in the reduction of your liabilities. I should like to think you had
+the benefit of Mr. Linton's advice in the matter.' Shall I, sir?"
+
+"I never listened to such language," returned the squatter. "I should
+like it read three times a day, before meals. But if it's my advice you
+want, Bob, you can have it. Meanwhile, I'm very glad for you to have
+such a windfall, my boy."
+
+Tommy and Norah had collapsed on each other's shoulders, speechless.
+
+"Joy never kills, they say," said Wally, regarding them anxiously. "But
+it's been known to turn the brain, when the brain doesn't happen to be
+strong. Will we turn the hose on them, Jim?"
+
+"Sit on him, Bob," came faintly from Norah.
+
+"I will--with the weight of nine hundred pounds!" said Bob--and did so.
+
+"Get off, you bloated capitalist," said Wally, struggling. He succeeded
+in dislodging him, with a mighty effort. "You're just purse-proud,
+that's what's the matter with you. What'll you do with it, Bobby--go
+racing? Or buy an aeroplane?"
+
+"Get out of debt," said Bob, sitting up with rumpled hair and a face
+like a happy child's. "And there'll be a bit over to play with. What
+shall we put it into, Tommy? Want any pretty things?"
+
+"Just merino sheep," said Tommy.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Back To Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+***** This file should be named 7047.txt or 7047.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/7/0/4/7047/
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/7047.zip b/7047.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49fbc00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/7047.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5afebcc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #7047 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7047)
diff --git a/old/bkblb10.txt b/old/bkblb10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a23f58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/bkblb10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9331 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Back to Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
+copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
+this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
+
+This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
+Gutenberg file.  Please do not remove it.  Do not change or edit the
+header without written permission.
+
+Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
+eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file.  Included is
+important information about your specific rights and restrictions in
+how the file may be used.  You can also find out about how to make a
+donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: Back To Billabong
+
+Author: Mary Grant Bruce
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7047]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on February 28, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by Don Lainson [dlainson@sympatico.ca]
+
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+by
+
+
+MARY GRANT BRUCE
+
+
+
+1921
+
+
+
+
+"Beyond the distant sky-line
+(Now pansy-blue and clear),
+We know a land is waiting,
+A brown land, very dear:
+A land of open spaces,
+Gaunt forest, treeless plain:
+And if we once have loved it
+We must come back again."
+
+(Dorothea Mackellar.)
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAP.
+
+I.  LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+II.  THE RAINHAMS
+
+III.  PLAYING TRUANT
+
+IV.  COMING HOME
+
+V.  THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+VI.  SAILING ORDERS
+
+VII.  THE WATCH DOGS
+
+VIII.  HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+IX.  THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+X.  BILLABONG
+
+XI.  COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+XII.  ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+XIII.  THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+XIV.  THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+XV.  HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+XVI.  BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+
+
+BACK TO BILLABONG
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+LANCASTER GATE, LONDON, W
+
+
+"Do the beastly old map yourself, if you want it.  I shan't,
+anyhow!"
+
+"Wilfred!"
+
+"Aw, Wil-fred!"  The boy at the end of the schoolroom table, red-
+haired, snub-nosed and defiant, mimicked the protesting tone.
+"I've done it once, and I'm blessed if I do it again."
+
+"No one would dream that it was ever meant for Africa."  The young
+teacher glanced at the scrawled and blotted map before her.  "It--
+it doesn't look like anything earthly.  You must do it again,
+Wilfred."
+
+"Don't you, Wilf."  Wilfred's sister leaned back in her chair,
+tilting it on its hind legs.
+
+"You have nothing to do with Wilfred's work, Avice.  Go on with
+your French."
+
+"Done it, thanks," said Avice.  "And I suppose I can speak to my
+own brother if I like."
+
+"No, you can't--in lesson time," said the teacher.
+
+"Who's going to stop me?"
+
+Cecilia Rainham controlled herself with an effort.
+
+"Bring me your work," she said.
+
+She went over the untidy French exercise with a quick eye.  When
+she had finished it resembled a stormy sky--a groundwork of blue-
+black, blotted writing, lit by innumerable dashes of red.  Cecilia
+put down her red pencil.
+
+"It's hopeless, Avice.  You haven't tried a bit.  And you know it
+isn't hard--you did a far more difficult piece of translation
+without a mistake last Friday."
+
+"Yes, but the pantomime was coming off on Saturday," said Wilfred,
+with a grin.  "Jolly little chance of tickets from Bob if she
+didn't!"
+
+"You shut up!" said Avice.
+
+"Be quiet, both of you," Cecilia ordered, a spot of red in each
+pale cheek.  "Remember, there will be other Saturdays.  Bob will do
+nothing for you if I can't give him a decent report of you."  It
+was the threat she hated using, but without it she was helpless.
+And the red-haired pair before her knew to a fraction the extent of
+her helplessness.
+
+For the moment the threat was effective.  Avice went back to her
+seat, taking with her the excited-looking French exercise, while
+Wilfred sullenly recommenced a dispirited attack upon the African
+coastline.  Cecilia leaned back in her chair, and took up a half-
+knitted sock--to drop it hastily, as a long-drawn howl came from a
+low chair by the window.
+
+"Whatever is the matter, Queenie?"
+
+"I per-ricked my finger," sobbed the youngest Miss Rainham.  She
+stood up, tears raining down her plump cheeks.  No one, Cecilia
+thought, ever cried so easily, so copiously, and so frequently as
+Queenie.  As she stood holding out a very grubby forefinger, on
+which appeared a minute spot of blood, great tears fell in splashes
+on the dark green linoleum, while others ran down her face to join
+them, and others trembled on her lower eyelids, propelled from some
+artesian fount within.
+
+"Oh, dry up, Queenie!" said Wilfred irritably.  "Anyone 'ud think
+you'd cut your silly finger off!"
+
+"Well--it'th bleed-in'!" wailed Queenie.  She dabbed the injured
+member with the pillow case she was hemming, adding a scarlet touch
+in pleasant contrast to its prevailing grime.
+
+"Well--you're too big a girl to cry for a prick," said Cecilia
+wearily.  "People who are nearly seven really don't cry except for
+something awfully bad."
+
+"There--I'll tell the mater you said awfully!" Avice jeered.  "Who
+bites our heads off for using slang, I'd like to know?"
+
+"You wouldn't have much head left if I bit for every slang word you
+use," retorted her half-sister.  "Do get on with your French,
+Avice--it's nearly half-past twelve, and you know Eliza will want
+to lay the table presently.  Come here, Queenie."  She took the
+pillow case, and unpicked a few stitches, which clearly indicated
+that the needle had been taking giant strides.  "Just hem that last
+inch or two again, and see if you can't make it look nice.  I
+believe the needle only stuck into your finger because you were
+making it sew so badly.  Have you got a handkerchief?--but, of
+course, you haven't."  She polished the fat, tear-stained cheek
+with her own.  "Now run and sit down again."
+
+Queenie turned to go obediently enough--she was too young, and
+possibly too fat, to plan, as yet, the deliberate malice in which
+her brother and sister took their chief pleasure.  Unfortunately,
+Wilfred arrived at the end of Africa at the wrong moment for her.
+He pushed the atlas away from him with a jerk that overturned the
+ink bottle, sending a stream of ink towards Avice--who, shoving her
+chair backwards to escape the deluge, cannoned into Queenie, and
+brought her headlong to the floor.  Howls broke out anew, mingled
+with a crisp interchange of abuse between the elder pair, while
+Cecilia vainly sought to lessen the inky flood with a duster.  Upon
+this pleasant scene the door opened sharply.
+
+"A nice way you keep order at lessons," said Mrs. Mark Rainham
+acidly.  "And the ink all over the cloth.  Well, all I can say is,
+you'll pay for a new one, Cecilia."
+
+"I did not knock it over," said Cecilia, in a low tone.
+
+"It's your business to look after the children, and see that they
+do not destroy things," said her stepmother.
+
+"The children will not obey me."
+
+"Pouf!" said Mrs. Rainham.  "A mere question of management.  High-
+spirited children want tact in dealing with them, that is all.  You
+never trouble to exercise any tact whatever."  Her eyes dwelt
+fondly on her high-spirited son, whose red head was bent
+attentively over Africa while he traced a mighty mountain range
+along the course of the Nile.  "Wilfred, have you nearly finished
+your work?"
+
+"Nearly, Mater," said the industrious Wilfred, manufacturing
+mountains tirelessly.  "Just got to stick in a few more things."
+
+"Say 'put,' darling, not 'stick.'  Cecilia, you might point out
+those little details--that is, if you took any interest in their
+English."
+
+"Thethilia thaid 'awfully' jutht now," said Queenie, in a shrill
+pipe.
+
+"I don't doubt it," said Mrs. Rainham, bitterly.  "Of course,
+anyone brought up in Paris is too grand to trouble about English--
+but we think a good deal of these things in London."  A little
+smile hovered on her thin lips, as Cecilia flushed, and Avice and
+her brother grinned broadly.  The Mater could always make old
+Cecilia go as red as a beetroot, but it was fun to watch,
+especially when the sport beguiled the tedium of lessons.
+
+A clatter of dishes on a tray heralded the approach of Eliza.
+
+"It is time the table was clear," Mrs. Rainham said.  "Wilfred,
+darling, I want you to post a letter.  Put up your work and get
+your cap.  Cecilia, you had better try to clean the cloth before
+lunch; it is ruined, of course, but do what you can with it.  I
+will choose another the next time I am in London.  And just make
+sure that the children's things are all in order for the dancing
+lesson this afternoon.  Avice, did you put out your slippers to be
+cleaned?"
+
+"Forgot all about it, Mater," said Avice cheerfully.
+
+"Silly child--and it is Jackson's day off.  Just brush them up for
+her, Cecilia.  When the children have gone this afternoon, I want
+you to see to the drawing-room; some people are coming in to-night,
+and there are fresh flowers from Brown's to arrange."
+
+Cecilia looked up, with a sudden flush of dismay.  The children's
+dancing lesson gave her one free afternoon during the week.
+
+"But--but I am going to meet Bob," she stammered.
+
+"Oh, Bob will wait, no doubt; you need not keep him long, if you
+hasten yourself.  Yes, Eliza, you can have the table."  Mrs.
+Rainham left the room, with the children at her heels.
+
+Cecilia whisked the lesson books hastily away; Eliza was waiting
+with a lowering brow, and Eliza was by no means a person to be
+offended.  Maids were scarce enough in England in the months after
+the end of the war; and, even in easier times, there had been a
+dreary procession of arriving and departing servants in the Rainham
+household--the high-spirited characteristics of the children being
+apt to pall quickly upon anyone but their mother.  In days when
+there happened to be no Eliza, it was Cecilia who naturally
+inherited the vacant place, adding the duties of house-maid to
+those of nurse, governess, companion and general factotum; all
+exacting posts, and all of them unpaid.  As Mrs. Rainham gracefully
+remarked, when a girl was not earning her own living, as so many
+were, but was enjoying the comfort of home, the least she could do
+was to make herself useful.
+
+"Half a minute, Eliza."  She smiled at the slatternly girl.  "Sorry
+to keep you waiting; there's a river of ink gone astray here."  She
+placed the soaked cloth on the waste-paper basket and polished the
+top of the table vigorously.
+
+"I'll bet it worn't you wot spilt it--but it's you wot 'as the
+cleanin' up," muttered Eliza.  "Lemme rub that up now, Miss."  She
+put down her tray and took the cloth from Cecilia's hand.
+
+"Thanks, ever so, Eliza--but you've got plenty to do yourself."
+
+"Well, if I 'ave, I ain't the on'y one wot 'as," said Eliza darkly.
+Her wizened little face suddenly flushed.  "Lor, Miss," she said
+confidentially, "you doan't know wot a success that 'at you trimmed
+for me is.  It's a fair scream.  I wore it larst night, an' me
+young man--'im wot's in the Royal Irish--well, it fair knocked 'im!
+An' 'e wants me to go out wiv 'im next Benk 'Oliday--out to
+'Ampstead 'Eath.  'E never got as far as arstin' me that before.
+I know it was that 'at wot done it."
+
+"Not it, Eliza," Cecilia laughed.  "It was just your hair under the
+hat.  I told you how pretty it would be, if you would only brush it
+more."
+
+"Well, I never 'ad no brush till you give me your old one," said
+Eliza practically.  "I did brush it, though, a nundred times every
+night, till Cook reckoned I was fair cracked.  But 'air's on'y
+'air, an' anyone 'as it--it's not every one 'as an 'at like that."
+She clattered plates upon the table violently.  "You goin' out this
+awfternoon, Miss?"
+
+"As soon as I can, Eliza."  Cecilia's face fell.  "I must arrange
+flowers first."
+
+"I'll 'ave the vawses all ready wiv clean water for you," said
+Eliza.  "An' don't you worry about the drorin'-room--I'll see as
+it's nice."
+
+"Oh, you can't, Eliza--you have no time.  I know it's silver-
+cleaning afternoon."
+
+"Aw, I'll squeeze it in some'ow."  Eliza stopped suddenly, at a
+decided footstep in the passage, and began to rattle spoons and
+forks with a vigour born of long practice.  Cecilia picked up the
+inky cloth, and went out.
+
+Her stepmother was standing by the hall-stand, apparently intent on
+examining Wilfred's straw hat.  She spoke in a low tone as the girl
+passed her.
+
+"I wish you did not find so much pleasure in gossiping with
+servants, Cecilia.  It is such a bad example for Avice.  I have
+spoken about it to you before."
+
+Cecilia did not answer.  She went upstairs with flaming cheeks, and
+draped the cloth across the hand basin in the bathroom, turning the
+tap vengefully.  A stream of water flowed through the wide stain.
+
+"There's more real kindness in that poor little Cockney's finger
+than there is in your whole body!" Cecilia whispered, apparently
+addressing the unoffending cloth--which, having begun life as a
+dingy green and black, did not seem greatly the worse for its new
+decoration.  "Hateful old thing!"  A smile suddenly twitched the
+corners of her mouth.  "Well, she can't stop the money for a new
+cloth out of this quarter's allowance, because I've just got it.
+That's luck, anyhow.  I'll give it to Bob to keep, in case she goes
+through my desk again."  She poured some ammonia upon the stain,
+and rubbed gingerly, surveying the result with a tilted nose.  It
+was not successful.  "Shall I try petrol?  But petrol's an awful
+price, and I've only got the little bottle I use for my gloves.
+Anyhow, the horrible old cloth is so old and thin that it will fall
+to pieces if I rub it.  Oh, it's no use bothering about it--nothing
+will make it better."  She squeezed the water from the cloth and
+spread the stained area over a chair to dry, looking disgustedly at
+her own dyed finger-nails.  "Now for Avice's shoes before I scrub
+my hands."
+
+Avice's shoes proved a lengthy task, since the younger Miss Rainham
+had apparently discovered some clay to walk through in Regent's
+Park on her way home from the last dancing lesson; and well-
+hardened clay resists ordinary cleaning methods, and demands edged
+tools.  The luncheon bell rang loudly before Cecilia had finished.
+She gave the shoes a final hurried rub, and then fell to cleansing
+her hands; arriving in the dining-room, pink and breathless, some
+minutes later, to find a dreary piece of tepid mutton rapidly
+congealing on her plate.
+
+"I think you might manage to be down in time for meals, Cecilia,"
+was Mrs. Rainham's chilly greeting.
+
+Cecilia said nothing.  She had long realized the uselessness of any
+excuses.  To be answered merely gave her stepmother occasion for
+further fault-finding--you might, as Cecilia told Bob, have a
+flawless defence for the sin of the moment, but in that case Mrs.
+Rainham merely changed her ground, and waxed eloquent about the sin
+of yesterday, or of last Friday week, for which there might happen
+to be no defence at all.  It was so difficult to avoid being a
+criminal in Mrs. Rainham's eyes that Cecilia had almost given up
+the attempt.  She attacked her greasy mutton and sloppy cabbage in
+silence, unpleasantly conscious of her stepmother's freezing
+glance.
+
+Mrs. Rainham was a short, stout woman, with colourless, rather
+pinched features, and a wealth of glorious red hair.  Some one had
+once told her that her profile was classic, and she still rejoiced
+in believing it, was always photographed from a side view, and wore
+in the house loose and flowing garments of strange tints,
+calculated to bring out the colour of her glowing tresses.
+Cecilia, who worshipped colour with every bit of her artist soul,
+adored her stepmother's hair as thoroughly as she detested her
+dresses.  Bob, who was blunt and inartistic, merely detested her
+from every point of view.  "Don't see what you find to rave about
+in it," he said.  "All the warmth of her disposition has simply
+gone to her head."
+
+There was certainly little warmth in Mrs. Rainham's heart, where
+her stepdaughter was concerned.  She disapproved very thoroughly of
+Cecilia in every detail--of her pretty face and delicate colouring,
+of the fair hair that rippled and curled and gleamed in a manner so
+light-hearted as to seem distinctly out of place in the dingy room,
+of the slender grace that was in vivid contrast to her own
+stoutness.  She resented the very way Cecilia put on her clothes--
+simple clothes, but worn with an air that made her own elaborate
+dresses cheap and common by comparison.  It was so easy for her to
+look well turned out; and it would never be easy to dress Avice,
+who bade fair to resemble her mother in build, and had already a
+passion for frills and trimmings, and a contempt for plain things.
+Mrs. Rainham had an uneasy conviction that the girl who bore all
+her scathing comments in silence actually dared to criticize her in
+her own mind--perhaps openly to Bob, whose blue eyes held many
+unspoken things as he looked at her.  Once she had overheard him
+say to Cecilia:  "She looks like an over-ornamented pie!"  Cecilia
+had laughed, and Mrs. Rainham had passed on, unsuspected, her mind
+full of a wild surmise.  They would never dare to mean her--and
+yet--that new dress of hers was plastered with queer little bits of
+purposeless trimmings.  She never again wore it without that
+terrible sentence creeping into her mind.  And she had been so
+pleased with it, too!  An over-ornamented pie.  If she could only
+have been sure they meant her!
+
+She thought of it again as she sat looking at Cecilia.  The new
+dress was lying on her bed, ready to be worn that afternoon; and
+Cecilia was going to meet Bob--Bob, who had uttered the horrible
+remark.  Well, at least there should be no haste about the meeting.
+It would do Bob no harm to cool his heels for a little.  She set
+her thin lips tightly together, as she helped the rice pudding.
+
+The meal ended, amidst loud grumbles from Wilfred that the pudding
+was rice; and Cecilia hurried off to find the flowers and arrange
+them.  The florist's box was near the vases left ready by the
+faithful Eliza; she cut the string with a happy exclamation of
+"Daffodils!" as she lifted the lid.  Daffodils were always a joy;
+this afternoon they were doubly welcome, because easy to arrange.
+She sorted them into long-necked vases swiftly, carrying each vase,
+when filled, to the drawing-room--a painful apartment, crowded with
+knick-knacks until it resembled a bazaar stall, with knobby and
+unsteady bamboo furniture and much drapery of a would-be artistic
+nature.  It was stuffy and airless.  Cecilia wrinkled her pretty
+nose as she entered.  Mrs. Rainham held pronounced views on the
+subject of what she termed the "fresh-air fad," and declined to let
+London air--a smoky commodity at best--attack her cherished
+carpets; with the result that Cecilia breathed freely only in her
+little attic, which had no carpet at all.
+
+The lady of the house rustled in, in her flowing robe, as Cecilia
+put the last vase into position on the piano--finding room for it
+with difficulty amid a collection of photograph frames and china
+ornaments.  She carried some music, and cast a critical eye round
+the room.
+
+"This place looks as if it had not been properly dusted for a
+week," she remarked.  "See to it before you go, Cecilia."  She
+opened the piano.  "Just come and try the accompaniment to this
+song--it's rather difficult, and I want to sing it to-night."
+
+Cecilia sat down before the piano, with woe in her heart.  Her
+stepmother's delusion that she could sing was one of the minor
+trials of her life.  She had been thoroughly trained in Paris,
+under a master who had prophesied great things for her; now her
+hours at the Rainhams' tinkly piano, playing dreary accompaniments
+to sentimental songs with Mrs. Rainham's weak soprano wobbling and
+flattening on the high notes, were hours of real distress, from
+which she would escape feeling her teeth on edge.  Her stepmother,
+however, had thoroughly enjoyed herself since the discovery that no
+accompaniment presented any difficulty to Cecilia.  It saved her a
+world of trouble in practising; moreover, when standing, it was far
+easier to let herself go in the affecting passages, which always
+suffered from scantiness of breath when she was sitting down.
+Therefore she would stand beside Cecilia, pouring forth song after
+song, with her head slightly on one side, and one hand resting
+lightly on the piano--an attitude which, after experiment with a
+mirror, she had decided upon as especially becoming.
+
+The song of the moment did make some demands upon her attention.
+It had a disconcerting way of changing from sharps to flats;
+trouble being caused by the singer failing to change also.  Cecilia
+took her through it patiently, going over and over again the tricky
+passages, and devoutly wishing that Providence in supplying her
+stepmother with boundless energy, a tireless voice and an enormous
+stock of songs, had also equipped her with an ear for music.  At
+length the lady desisted from her efforts.
+
+"That's quite all right," she said, with satisfaction.  "I'll sing
+it to-night.  The Simons will be here, and they do like to hear
+what's new.  Go on with your dusting; I'll just run through a few
+pieces, and you can tell me if I go wrong."
+
+Cecilia hesitated, glancing at the clock.
+
+"It is getting very late," she said.  "Eliza told me she could dust
+the room."
+
+"Eliza!" said Mrs. Rainham.  "Why, it's her silver day; she had no
+business to tell you anything of the sort--and neither had you, to
+ask her to do it.  Goodness knows it's hard enough to make the lazy
+thing do her own work.  Just get your duster, and make sure as you
+come down that the children are properly dressed for the dancing
+class."  She broke into a waltz.
+
+Cecilia ran.  Sounds of woe greeted her as she neared Avice's room,
+and she entered, to find that damsel plunged in despair over a
+missing button.
+
+"It was on all right last time I wore the beastly dress," wailed
+she.  "If you'd look after my clothes like Mater said you had to, I
+wouldn't be late.  Whatever am I to do?  I can't make the old dress
+shut with a safety pin."
+
+"No, you certainly can't," said her half-sister.  "Never mind;
+there are spare buttons for that frock, and I can sew one on."  She
+accomplished the task with difficulty, since Avice appeared quite
+unable to stand still.
+
+"Now, are you ready, Avice?  Shoes, hat, gloves--where are your
+gloves?  How do you ever manage to find anything in that drawer?"
+She rooted swiftly in a wild chaos, and finally unearthed the
+gloves.  "Yes, you'll do.  Now, where's Wilfred?"  Search revealed
+Wilfred, who hated dancing, reading a "penny dreadful" in his room--
+ready to start, save for the trifling detail of having neglected
+to wash an extremely dirty face.  Cecilia managed to make him
+repair the omission, after a struggle, and saw them off with a
+thankful heart--which sank anew as she heard a neighbouring clock
+strike three.  Three--and already she should be meeting Bob in Hyde
+Park.  She fled for a duster, and hurried to the drawing-room.
+Eliza encountered her on the way.
+
+"Now, wotcher goin' to do wiv that duster, Miss?" she inquired.
+"I told yer I'd do it for yer."
+
+"Mrs. Rainham is waiting for me to do it, Eliza.  I'm sorry."
+
+"Ow!"  Eliza's expression and her tilted nose spoke volumes.
+"Suppose she finks I wouldn't clean 'er old silver proper.  Silver,
+indeed!--'lectrer-plyte, an' common at that.  Just you cut and run
+as soon as she's out of the 'ouse, Miss; I know she's goin', 'cause
+'er green and yaller dress is a-airin' on 'er bed."
+
+"It's not much good, Eliza.  I ought to be in the Park now."
+Cecilia knew she should not allow the girl to speak of her mistress
+so contemptuously.  But she was disheartened enough at the moment
+not to care.
+
+"Lor!" said Eliza.  "A bloomin' shyme, I calls it!"
+
+Cecilia found her stepmother happily engaged upon a succession of
+wrong notes that made her wince.  She dusted the room swiftly,
+aware all the time of a watchful eye.  Occasionally came a crisp
+comment:  "You didn't dust that window-sill."  "Cecilia, that table
+has four legs--did you only notice two?"--the effort to speak while
+playing generally bringing the performer with vigour upon a wrong
+chord.  The so-called music became almost a physical torment to the
+over-strained girl.
+
+"If she would only stop--if she would only go away!" she found
+herself murmuring, over and over.  Even the thought of Bob waiting
+in Hyde Park in the chill east wind became dim beside that horrible
+piano, banging and tinkling in her ear.  She dusted mechanically,
+picking up one cheap ornament after another--leaving the collection
+upon the piano until the last, in the hope that by the time she
+reached it the thirst for music would have departed from the
+performer.  But Mrs. Rainham's tea appointment was not yet; she was
+thoroughly enjoying herself, the charm of her own execution added
+to the knowledge that Cecilia was miserable, and Bob waiting
+somewhere, with what patience he might.  She held on to the bitter
+end, while the girl dusted the piano's burden with a set face.
+Then she finished a long and painful run, and shut the piano with a
+bang.
+
+"There--I've had quite a nice practice, and it isn't often the
+drawing-room gets really decently dusted," she remarked.  "Nothing
+like the eye of the mistress; I think I must practise every day
+while you are dusting, Cecilia.  Oh, and, Cecilia, give the legs of
+the piano a good rubbing.  Dear me, I must go and dress."
+
+Cecilia dragged herself upstairs a few minutes later.  All the
+spring was gone out of her; it really did not seem to matter much
+now whether she met Bob or not; she was too tired to care.  This
+was only a sample of many days; so it had been for two years--so it
+would be for two more, until she was twenty-one, and her own
+mistress.  But it did not seem possible that she could endure
+through another two years.
+
+She reached her own room, and was about to shut the door, when the
+harsh voice rasped upwards.
+
+"Cecilia!  Cecilia!  Come here a minute."
+
+The girl went down slowly.  Mrs. Rainham was standing before her
+mirror.
+
+"Just come and hook my dress, Cecilia.  This new dressmaker has a
+knack of making everything hard to fasten.  There--see that you
+start with the right hook and eye."
+
+At the moment, physical contact with her stepmother was almost the
+last straw for the girl.  She obeyed in silence, shrinking back as
+far as she could from the stout, over-scented body and the powdered
+face with the thin lips.  Mrs. Rainham watched her with a little
+smile.
+
+"Yes, that's all right," she said.  "Now, my hat, Cecilia--it's in
+the bandbox under the bed.  I can't stoop in this dress, that's the
+worst of it.  And my gloves are in that box on the chest of
+drawers--the white pair.  Hurry, Cecilia, my appointment is for
+four o'clock."
+
+"Mine was for three o'clock," said the girl in a low voice.
+
+"Oh, well, you should manage your work better.  I always tell you
+that.  Nothing like method in getting through every day.  However,
+Bob is only your brother--it would be more serious if it was a
+young man you were meeting.  Brothers don't matter much."
+
+Cecilia flamed round upon her.
+
+"Bob is more to me than anyone in the world," she cried.  "And I
+would rather keep any other man waiting."
+
+"Really?  But I shouldn't think it very likely that you'll ever
+have to trouble about other young men, Cecilia; you're not the
+sort.  Too thin and scraggy."  Mrs. Rainham surveyed her own
+generous proportions in the glass, and gathered up her gloves with
+a pleased air.  For the moment she could not possibly believe that
+anyone could have referred to her as "an over-ornamented pie."
+"Good-bye, Cecilia; don't be late for tea."  She sailed down the
+stairs.
+
+Even the bang of the hall door failed to convey any relief to
+Cecilia.  For the second time she toiled upstairs, to the bare
+freshness of her little room.  Generally, it had a tonic effect
+upon her; to-day it seemed that nothing could help her.  She leaned
+her head against the window, a wave of homesick loneliness flooding
+all her soul.  So deep were its waters that she did not hear the
+hall door open and close again, and presently swift feet pounding
+up the stairs.  Someone battered on her door.
+
+"Cecilia!  Are you there?"
+
+She ran to open the door.  Bob stood there, a short, muscular
+fellow, in Air Force blue, with twinkling eyes.  She put out her
+hands to him with a little pitiful gesture.
+
+"Don't say that horrible name again," she whispered.  "If anyone
+else calls me Cecilia I'll just go mad."
+
+Bob came in, and flung a brotherly arm round her shoulders.
+
+"Has it been so beastly?" he said.  "Poor little Tommy.  Oh, Tommy,
+I saw the over-ornamented pie sailing down the street, and I dived
+into a side alley until she'd gone out of range.  I guessed from
+her proud and happy face that you'd been scarified."
+
+"Scarified!" murmured Cecilia.  But Bob was not listening.  His
+face was radiant.
+
+"I couldn't wait in the park any longer," he said.  "I had to come
+and tell you.  Tommy, old thing--I'm demobilized!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE RAINHAMS
+
+
+It was one of Mrs. Mark Rainham's grievances that, comparatively
+late in her married life, she should suddenly find herself brought
+into association with the children of her husband's first marriage.
+They were problems that Fate had previously removed from her path;
+she found it extremely annoying--at first--that Fate should cease
+to be so tactful, casting upon her a burden long borne by other
+shoulders.  It was not until she had accepted Mark Rainham, eleven
+years before, that she found out the very existence of Bob and
+Cecilia; she resented the manner of the discovery, even as she
+resented the children themselves.  Not that she ever dreamed of
+breaking off her engagement on their account.  She was a milliner
+in a Kensington shop, and to marry Mark Rainham, who was vaguely
+"something in the city," and belonged to a good club, and dressed
+well, was a distinct step in the social scale, and two unknown
+children were not going to make her draw back.  But to mother them
+was quite another question.
+
+Luckily, Fate had a compassionate eye upon the young Rainhams, and
+was quite willing to second their stepmother's resolve that they
+should come into her life as little as possible.  Their father had
+never concerned himself greatly about them.  A lazy and selfish
+man, he had always been willing to shelve the care of his small son
+and daughter--babies were not in his line, and the aunt who had
+brought up their mother was only too anxious to take Bob and
+Cecilia when that girl-mother had slipped away from life, leaving a
+week-old Cecilia and a sturdy, solemn Bob of three.
+
+The arrangement suited Mark Rainham very well.  Aunt Margaret's
+house at Twickenham was big enough for half a dozen babies; the
+children went there, with their nurse, and he was free to slip back
+into bachelor ways, living in comfortable chambers within easy
+reach of his club and not too far, with a good train service, from
+a golf links.  The regular week-end visits to the babies suffered
+occasional interruptions, and gradually grew fewer and fewer, until
+he became to the children a vague and mysterious person named Papa,
+who dropped from the skies now and then, asked them a number of
+silly questions, talked with great politeness to Aunt Margaret--
+who, they instinctively felt, liked him no better than they did--
+and then disappeared, whereupon every one was immensely relieved.
+Even the fact that he generally brought them a packet of expensive
+sweets was as nothing beside the harrowing knowledge that they must
+kiss him, thereby having their faces brushed with a large and
+scrubby moustache.  Aunt Margaret and nurse did not have to endure
+this infliction--which seemed to Bob and Cecilia obviously unfair.
+But the visits did not often happen--not enough to disturb
+seriously an existence crammed with interesting things like puppies
+and kittens, the pony cart, boats on the river that ran just beyond
+the lawn, occasional trips to London and the Zoo, and delirious
+fortnights at the seaside or on Devonshire moors.  Cecilia had
+never known even Bobby's shadowy memories of their own mother.
+Aunt Margaret was everything that mattered, and the person called
+Papa was merely an unpleasant incident.  Other little boys and
+girls whom they knew owned, in their houses, delightful people
+named Daddy and Mother; but Cecilia and Bob quite understood that
+every one could not have the same things, for possibly these
+fortunate children had no puppies or pony carts.  Nurse had pointed
+out this, so that it was perfectly clear.
+
+It was when Cecilia was eight and Bob eleven, that their father
+married again.  To the children it meant nothing; to Aunt Margaret
+it was a bomb.  If Mark Rainham had happened to die, or go to the
+North Pole, she would have borne the occurrence calmly; but that he
+should take a step which might mean separating her from her beloved
+babies shook her to her foundations.  Even when she was assured
+that the new Mrs. Rainham disliked children, and had not the
+slightest intention of adding Bob and Cecilia to her household,
+Aunt Margaret remained uneasy.  The red-haired person, as she
+mentally labelled her, might change her mind.  Mark Rainham was wax
+in her hands, and would always do as he was told.  Aunt Margaret,
+goaded by fear, became heroic.  She let the beloved house at
+Twickenham while Mr. and Mrs. Rainham were still on their
+honeymoon; packed up the children, her maids, nurse, the parrot and
+most of the puppies; and kept all her plans a profound secret until
+she was safely established in Paris.
+
+To the average Londoner, Paris is very far off.  There are, of
+course, very many people who run across the Channel as easily as a
+Melbourne man may week-end in Gippsland or Bendigo, but the
+suburban section of London is not fond of voyaging across a strip
+of water with unpleasant possibilities in the way of choppiness, to
+a strange country where most of the inhabitants have the bad taste
+not to speak English.  Neither Mark Rainham nor his new wife had
+ever been in France, and to them it seemed, as Aunt Margaret had
+shrewdly hoped it would, almost as though the Twickenham household
+had gone to the North Pole.  A great relief fell upon them, since
+there could now be no question of assuming duties when those duties
+were suddenly beyond their reach.  And Aunt Margaret's letter was
+convincing--such a good offer, suddenly, for the Twickenham house;
+such excellent educational opportunities for the children, in the
+shape of semi-English schools, where Bob and Cecilia might mix with
+English children and retain their nationality while acquiring
+Parisian French.  If Mark Rainham felt any inward resentment at the
+summary disposal of his son and daughter, he did not show it; as of
+old, it was easier to let things slide.  Aunt Margaret was given a
+free hand, save that at fourteen Bob returned to school in England;
+an arrangement that mattered little, since all his holidays were
+spent at the new home at Fontainebleau--a house which, even to the
+parrot, was highly reminiscent of Twickenham.
+
+Bob and Cecilia found life extremely interesting.  They were
+cheery, happy-go-lucky youngsters, with an immense capacity for
+enjoyment; and Aunt Margaret, while much too shrewd an old lady to
+spoil children, delighted in giving them a good time.  They found
+plenty of friends in the little English community in Paris, as well
+as among their French neighbours.  Paris itself was full of
+fascination; then there were wonderful excursions far afield--
+holidays in Brussels, in the South of France, even winter sporting
+in Switzerland.  Aunt Margaret was determined that her nurselings
+should miss nothing that she could give them.  The duty letters
+which she insisted on their writing, once a month, to their father
+told of happenings that seemed strangely remote from the humdrum
+life of London.  "By Jove, the old lady gives those youngsters a
+good time!" Mark Rainham would comment, tossing them across the
+table to his wife.  He did not guess at the dull rage that filled
+her as she read them--the unreasoning jealousy that these children
+should have opportunities so far beyond any that were likely to
+occur for her own, who squabbled angrily over their breakfast while
+she read.
+
+"She seems to have any amount of money to spend on gadding about,"
+she would say unpleasantly.
+
+"Oh, pots of money.  Wish to goodness I had some of it," her
+husband would answer.  Money was always scarce in the Rainham
+household.
+
+When the thunderbolt of war fell upon the world, Aunt Margaret,
+after the first pangs of panic, stiffened her back, and declined to
+leave France.  England, she declared, was not much safer than
+anywhere else; and was it likely that she and Cecilia would run
+away when Bob was coming back?  Bob, just eighteen, captain of his
+school training corps, stroke of its racing boat, and a mighty man
+of valour at football, slid naturally into khaki within a month of
+the outbreak of war, putting aside toys, with all the glad company
+of boys of the Empire, until such time as the Hun should be taught
+that he had no place among white men.  Aunt Margaret and Cecilia,
+knitting frantically at socks and mufflers and Balaclava helmets,
+were desperately proud of him, and compared his photograph, in
+uniform, with all the pictures of Etienne and Henri and Armand, and
+other French boys who had played with him under the trees at
+Fontainebleau, and had now marched away to join him at the greater
+game.  It was difficult to realize that they were not still little
+boys in blouses and knickerbockers--difficult even when they
+swooped down from time to time on short leave, filling the quiet
+houses with pranks and laughter that were wholly boyish.  Even when
+Bob had two stars on his cuff, and wore the ribbon of the Military
+Cross, it would have astonished Aunt Margaret and Cecilia very much
+had anyone suggested that he was grown up.
+
+Indeed, Aunt Margaret was never to think of him as anything but
+"one of the children."  Illness, sudden and fierce, fell upon her
+after a long spell of duty at the hospital where she worked from
+the first few months of the war--working as cook, since she had no
+nursing experience, and was, she remarked, too old to learn a new
+trade.  Brave as she was, there was no battling for her against the
+new foe; she faded out of life after a few days, holding Cecilia's
+hand very tightly until the end.
+
+Bob, obtaining leave with much difficulty, arrived a few days
+later, to find a piteous Cecilia, white-faced, stunned and
+bewildered.  She pleaded desperately against leaving France; amidst
+all the horror and chaos that had fallen upon her, it seemed
+unthinkable that she should put the sea between herself and Bob.
+But to remain was impossible.  Aunt Margaret's English maids wanted
+to go back to their friends, and a girl of seventeen could scarcely
+stay alone in a country torn by two years of war.  Besides, Aunt
+Margaret's affairs were queerly indefinite; there seemed very
+little money where there had formerly been plenty.  There was no
+alternative for Cecilia but England--and England meant the Rainham
+household, and such welcome as it might choose to give her.
+
+She was still bewildered when they made the brief journey across
+the Channel--a new Channel, peopled only with war-ships of every
+kind, from grim Dreadnoughts to submarines; with aircraft, bearing
+the red, white and blue circles of Britain, floating and circling
+overhead.  Last time Cecilia had crossed, it had been with Aunt
+Margaret on a big turbine mail boat; they had reached Calais just
+as an excursion steamer from Margate came up, gay with flags and
+light dresses, with a band playing ragtime on the well-deck, and
+people dancing to a concertina at the stern.  Now they zig-zagged
+across, sometimes at full speed, sometimes stopping dead or
+altering their course in obedience to the destroyer nosing ahead of
+them through the Channel mist; and she could see the face of the
+captain on the bridge, strained and anxious.  There were so few
+civilians on board that Cecilia and the two old servants were
+greeted with curious stares; nearly all the passengers were in
+uniform, their boots caked with the mud of the trenches, their
+khaki soiled with the grime of war.  It was all rather dream-like
+to Cecilia; and London itself was a very bad dream; darkened and
+silent, with the great beams of searchlights playing back and forth
+over the black skies in search of marauding Zeppelins.  And then
+came her father's stiff greeting, and the silent drive to the tall,
+narrow house in Lancaster Gate, where Mrs. Rainham met her coldly.
+In after years Cecilia never could think without a shudder of that
+first meal in her father's house--the struggle to eat, the lagging
+talk round the table, with Avice and Wilfred, frankly hostile,
+staring at her in silence, and her stepmother's pale eyes
+appraising every detail of her dress.  It was almost like happiness
+again to find herself alone, later; in a dingy little attic bedroom
+that smelt as though it had never known an open window--a sorry
+little hole, but still, out of the reach of those unblinking eyes.
+
+For the first year Cecilia had struggled to get away to earn her
+own living.  But a very few weeks served to show Mrs. Rainham that
+chance had sent her, in the person of the girl whose coming she had
+sullenly resented, a very useful buffer against any period of
+domestic stress.  Aunt Margaret had trained Cecilia thoroughly in
+all housewifely virtues, and her half-French education had given
+her much that was lacking in the stodgy damsels of Mrs. Rainham's
+acquaintance.  She was quick and courteous and willing; responding,
+moreover, to the lash of the tongue--after her first wide-eyed
+stare of utter amazement--exactly as a well-bred colt responds to a
+deftly-used whip.  "I'll keep her," was Mrs. Rainham's inward
+resolve.  "And she'll earn her keep too!"
+
+There was no doubt that Cecilia did that.  Wilfred and Avice saw to
+it, even had not their mother been fully capable of exacting the
+last ounce from the only helper she had ever had who had not the
+power to give her a week's notice.  Cecilia's first requests to be
+allowed to take up work outside had been shelved vaguely.  "We'll
+find some nice war-work for you presently". . . and meanwhile, the
+household was short-handed, Mrs. Rainham was overstrained--Cecilia
+found later that her stepmother was always "overstrained" whenever
+she spoke of leaving home--and duties multiplied about her and
+hemmed her in.  Mrs. Rainham was clever; the net closed round the
+girl so gradually that she scarcely realized its meshes until they
+were drawn tightly.  Even Bob helped.  "You're awfully young to
+start work on your own account," he wrote.  "Can't you stick it for
+a bit, if they are decent to you?"  And, rather than cause him any
+extra worry, Cecilia decided that she must "stick it."
+
+Of her father she saw little.  He was, just as she remembered him
+in her far-back childhood at Twickenham, vague and colourless.
+Rather to her horror, she found that the ordeal of being kissed by
+his large and scrubby moustache was just as unpleasant as ever.
+Cecilia had no idea of how he earned his living--he ate his
+breakfast hurriedly, concealed behind the Daily Mail, and then
+disappeared, bound for some mysterious place in the city--the part
+of London that was always full of mystery to Cecilia.  Golf was the
+one thing that roused him to any enthusiasm, and golf was even more
+of a mystery than the city.  Cecilia knew that it was played with
+assorted weapons, kept in a bag, and used for smiting a small ball
+over great expanses of country, but beyond these facts her
+knowledge stopped.  Mrs. Rainham had set her to clean the clubs one
+day, but her father, appearing unexpectedly, had taken them from
+her hands with something like roughness.  "No, by Jove!" he said.
+"You do a good many odd jobs in this house, but I'm hanged if you
+shall clean my golf sticks."  Cecilia did not realize that the
+assumed roughness covered something very like shame.
+
+Money matters were rather confusing.  A lawyer--also in the city--
+paid her a small sum quarterly--enough to dress on, and for minor
+expenses.  Bob wrote that Aunt Margaret's affairs were in a beastly
+tangle.  An annuity had died with her, and many of her investments
+had been hit by the war, and had ceased to pay dividends--had even,
+it seemed, ceased to be valuable at all.  There was a small
+allowance for Bob also, and some day, if luck should turn, there
+might be a little more.  Bob did not say that his own allowance was
+being hoarded for Cecilia, in case he "went west."  He lived on his
+pay, and even managed to save something out of that, being a youth
+of simple tastes.  His battalion had been practically wiped out of
+existence in the third year of the war, and after a peaceful month
+in a north country hospital, near an aerodrome, the call of the air
+was too much for him--he joined the cheerful band of flying men,
+and soon filled his letters to Cecilia with a bewildering mixture
+of technicalities and aviation slang that left her gasping.  But he
+got his wings in a very short time, and she was prouder of him than
+ever--and more than ever desperately afraid for him.
+
+The children's daily governess, a down-trodden person, left after
+Cecilia had been in England for a few months, and the girl stepped
+naturally into the vacant position until some one else should be
+found.  She had no idea that Mrs. Rainham made no effort at all to
+discover any other successor to Miss Simpkins.  Where, indeed, Mrs.
+Rainham demanded of herself, would she be likely to find anyone
+with such qualifications--young, docile, with every advantage of a
+modern education, speaking French like a native, and above and
+beyond all else, requiring no pay?  It would be flying in the face
+of Providence to ignore such a chance.  Wherefore Cecilia continued
+to lead her step-sisters and brother in the paths of learning, and
+life became a thing of utter weariness.  For Mrs. Rainham, though
+shrewd enough to get what she wanted, in the main was not a far-
+sighted woman; and in her unreasoning dislike and jealousy of
+Cecilia she failed to see that she defeated her own ends by making
+her a drudge.  Whatever benefit the girl might have given the
+children was lost in their contempt for her.  She had no authority,
+no power to enforce a command, or to give a punishment, and the
+children quickly discovered that, so long as they gave her the
+merest show of obedience in their mother's presence, any
+shortcomings in education would be laid at Cecilia's door.  Lesson
+time became a period of rare sport for the young Rainhams; it was
+so easy to bait the new sister with cheap taunts, to watch the
+quick blood mount to the very roots of her fair hair, to do just as
+little as possible, and then to see her blamed for the result.
+Mrs. Rainham's bitter tongue grew more and more uncontrolled as
+time went on and she felt the girl more fully in her power.  And
+Cecilia lived through each day with tight-shut lips, conscious of
+one clear thing in her mist of unhappy bewilderment--that Bob must
+not know: Bob, who would probably leave his job of skimming through
+the air of her beloved France after the Hun, and snatch an hour to
+fly to England and annihilate the entire Rainham household,
+returning with Cecilia tucked away somewhere in his aeroplane.  It
+was a pleasant dream, and served to carry her through more than one
+hard moment.  But it did not always serve; and there were nights
+when Cecilia mounted to her attic with dragging footsteps, to sit
+by her window in the darkness, gripping her courage with both
+hands, afraid to let herself think of the dear, happy past; of Aunt
+Margaret, whose very voice was love; least of all of Bob, perhaps
+even now flying in the dark over the German lines.  There was but
+one thing that she could hold to: she voiced it to herself, over
+and over with clenched hands, "It can't last for ever!  It can't
+last for ever!"
+
+And then, after the long years of clutching anxiety, came the
+Armistice, and Cecilia forgot all her troubles in its overwhelming
+relief.  No one would shoot at Bob any longer; there were no more
+hideous, squat guns, with muzzles yawning skywards, ready to shell
+him as he skimmed high overhead, like a swallow in the blue.
+Therefore she sang as she went about her work, undismayed by the
+laboured witticisms of Avice and Wilfred, or by Mrs. Rainham's
+venom, which increased with the realization that her victim might
+possibly slip from her grasp, since Bob would come home, and Bob
+was a person to be reckoned with.  Certainly Bob had scarcely any
+money; moreover, Cecilia was not of age, and, therefore, still
+under her father's control.  But Mrs. Rainham felt vaguely uneasy,
+and visions floated before her of the old days when governesses and
+maids had departed with unpleasant frequency, leaving her to face
+all sorts of disagreeable consequences.  She set her thin lips,
+vowing inwardly that Cecilia should remain.
+
+Nevertheless it was a relief to her that early demobilization did
+not come for Bob.  At the time of the Armistice he was attached to
+an Australian flying squadron, and for some months remained abroad;
+then he was sent back to England, and employed in training younger
+fliers at a Surrey aerodrome.  This had its drawbacks in Mrs.
+Rainham's eyes, since he was often able to run up to London, and,
+to Bob, London merely meant Cecilia.  It was only a question of
+time before he discovered something of what life at Lancaster Gate
+meant--his enlightenment beginning upon an afternoon when, arriving
+unexpectedly, and being left by Eliza to find Cecilia for himself,
+he had the good fortune to overhear Mrs. Rainham in one of her best
+efforts--a "wigging" to which Avice and Wilfred were listening
+delightedly, and which included not only Cecilia's sin of the
+moment, but her upbringing, her French education, her "foreign
+fashion of speaking," and her sinful extravagance in shoes.  These,
+and other matters, were furnishing Mrs. Rainham with ample material
+for a bitter discourse when she became aware of another presence in
+the room, and her eloquence faltered at the sight of Bob's
+astonished anger.
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not recall with any enjoyment the interview which
+followed--Cecilia and the children having been brushed out of the
+way by the indignant soldier.  Things which had been puzzling to
+Bob were suddenly made clear--traces of distress which Cecilia had
+often explained away vaguely, the children's half-contemptuous
+manner towards her, even Eliza's tone in speaking of her--a queer
+blend of anger and pity.  Mrs. Rainham held her ground to some
+extent, but the brother's questions were hard to parry, and some of
+his comments stung.
+
+"Well, I'll take her away," he stormed at length.  "It's evident
+that she does not give you satisfaction, and she certainly isn't
+happy.  She had better come away with me to-day."
+
+"Ah," said his stepmother freezingly, "and where will you take
+her?"
+
+Bob hesitated.
+
+"There are plenty of places--" he began.
+
+"Not for a young girl alone.  Cecilia is very ignorant of England;
+you could not be with her.  Your father would not hear of it.  You
+must remember that Cecilia is under his control until she is
+twenty-one."
+
+"My father has never bothered about either of us," Bob said
+bitterly.  "He surely won't object if I take her off your hands."
+
+"He will certainly not permit any such thing.  Whatever arrangement
+he made during your aunt's lifetime was quite a different matter.
+If you attempt to take Cecilia from his control you commit an
+illegal action," said Mrs. Rainham--hoping she was on safe ground.
+To her relief Bob did not contradict her.  English law and its
+mysteries were beyond him.
+
+"I don't see that that matters," he began doubtfully.  His
+stepmother cut him short.
+
+"You would very soon find that it matters a good deal," she said
+coldly.  "It would be quite simple for your father to get some kind
+of legal injunction, forbidding you to interfere with your sister.
+Home training is what she needs, and we are determined that she
+shall get it.  You will only unsettle and injure her by trying to
+induce her to disobey us."
+
+The hard voice fell like lead on the boy's ears.  He felt very
+helpless; if he did indeed snatch his sister away from this
+extremely unpleasant home, and their father had only to stretch out
+a long, legal tentacle and claw her back, it was clear that her
+position would be harder than ever.  He could only give in, at any
+rate, for the present, and in his anxiety for the little sister
+whom Aunt Margaret had always trained him to protect, he humbled
+himself to beg for better treatment for her.  "No one ever was
+angry with her," he said.  "She'll do anything for you if you're
+decent to her."
+
+"She might give less cause for annoyance if she had had a little
+more severity," said Mrs. Rainham with an unspoken sneer at poor
+Aunt Margaret.  "You had better advise her to do her best in return
+for the very comfortable home we give her."  With which Bob had to
+endeavour to be content, for the present.  He went off to find
+Cecilia, with a lowering brow, leaving his stepmother not nearly so
+easy in her mind as she seemed.  For Bob had a square jaw, and was
+apt to talk little and do a good deal; and his affection for
+Cecilia was, in Mrs. Rainham's eyes, little short of ridiculous.
+
+Thereafter, the brother and sister took counsel together and made
+great plans for the future, when once the Air Force should decide
+that it had no further wish to keep Captain Robert Rainham from
+earning his living on terra firma.  What that future was to be for
+Bob was very difficult to plan.  Aunt Margaret had intended him for
+a profession; but the time for that had gone by, even had the money
+been still available.  "I'm half glad that it isn't," Bob said; "I
+don't see how a fellow could go back to swotting over books after
+being really alive for nearly five years."  There seemed nothing
+but "the land" in some shape or form; they were not very clear
+about it, but Bob was strenuously "keeping his ears open"--like so
+many lads of his rank in the early months of 1919, when the future
+that had seemed so indefinite during the years of war suddenly
+loomed up, very large and menacing.  Cecilia had less anxiety; she
+had a cheerful faith that Bob would manage something--a three-
+roomed cottage somewhere in the country, where he could look after
+sheep, or crops, or something of the kind, while she cooked and
+mended for him, and grew such flowers as had bloomed in the dear
+garden at Fontainebleau.  Sheep and crops, she was convinced, grew
+themselves, in the main; a person of Bob's ability would surely
+find little difficulty in superintending the process.  And,
+whatever happened, nothing could be worse than life in Lancaster
+Gate.
+
+Neither of them ever thought of appealing to their father, either
+for advice or for help.  He remained, as he had always been to
+them, utterly colourless; a kind of well-bred shadow of his wife,
+taking no part in her hard treatment of Cecilia, but lifting not a
+finger to save her.  He did not look happy; indeed, he seldom
+spoke--it was not necessary, when Mrs. Rainham held the floor.  He
+had a tiny den which he used as a smoking-room, and there he spent
+most of his time when at home, being blessed in the fact that his
+wife disliked the smell of smoke, and refused to allow it in her
+drawing-room.  Nobody took much notice of him.  The younger
+children treated him with cool indifference; Bob met him with a
+kind of strained and uncomfortable civility.
+
+Curiously enough, it was only Eliza who divined in him a secret
+hankering after his eldest daughter--Cecilia, who would have been
+very much astonished had anyone hinted at such a thing to her.  The
+sharp eyes of the little Cockney were not to be deceived in any
+matter concerning the only person in the house who treated her as
+if she were a human being and not a grate-cleaning automaton.
+
+"You see 'im foller 'er wiv 'is eyes, that's all," said Eliza to
+Cook, in the privacy of their joint bedroom.  "Fair 'ungry he
+looks, sometimes."
+
+"No need for 'im to be 'ungry, if 'e 'ad the sperrit of a man,"
+said Cook practically.  "Ain't she 'is daughter?"
+
+"Well, yes, in a manner of speakin'," said Eliza doubtfully.  "But
+there ain't much of father an' daughter about them two.  I'd ruther
+'ave my ole man, down W'itechapel way; 'e can belt yer a fair
+terror, w'en 'e's drunk, but 'e'll allers tike yer out an' buy yer
+a kipper arterwards.  Thet's on'y decent, fatherly feelin'."
+
+"Well, Master don't belt 'er, does 'e?"
+
+"No; but 'e don't buy 'er the kipper, neither.  An' I'd ruther 'ave
+the beltin' from my ole man, even wivout no kipper, than 'ave us
+allers lookin' at each other as if we was wooden images.  Even a
+beltin' shows as 'ow a man 'as some regard for 'is daughter."
+
+"It do," said Cook.  "Pity is, you ain't 'ad more of it, that's the
+only thing!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PLAYING TRUANT
+
+
+"Demobilized!  Oh, Bob--truly?"
+
+"Truly and really," said Bob.  "At least, I shall be in twenty-
+seven days.  Got my orders.  Show up for the last time on the
+fifteenth of next month.  Get patted on the head, and told to run
+away and play.  That's the programme, I believe, Tommy.  The
+question is--What shall we play at?"
+
+Cecilia brushed the hair from her brow.
+
+"I don't know," she said vaguely.  "It's too big to think of; and I
+can't think in this awful house, anyhow.  Take me out, quick,
+please, Bobby."
+
+"Sure," said Bob, regarding her with an understanding eye.  "But
+you want to change or something, don't you, old girl?"
+
+"Why, yes, I suppose I do," said Cecilia, with a watery smile,
+looking at her schoolroom overall.  "I forgot clothes.  I've had a
+somewhat packed morning."
+
+"You look as if this had been your busy day," remarked Bob.
+"Right-oh, old girl; jump into your things, and I'll wait on the
+mat.  Any chance of the she-dragon coming back?"
+
+"No; she's gone out to tea."
+
+"More power to her," said Bob cheerfully.  "And the dragon
+puppies?"
+
+"Oh, they're safely out of the way.  I won't be five minutes, Bob.
+Don't shut the door tight--you might disappear before I opened it."
+
+"Not much," said Bob, through the crack of the door.  "I'm a
+fixture.  Want any shoes cleaned?"
+
+"No, thanks, Bobby dear.  I have everything ready."
+
+"From what the other fellows say about their sisters, I'm inclined
+to believe that you're an ornament to your sex," remarked Bob.
+"When you say five minutes, it really does mean not more than five
+and a half, as a rule; other girls seem to mean three-quarters of
+an hour."
+
+"I get all my things ready the night before when I'm going to meet
+you," said Cecilia.  "Catch me losing any time on my one day out.
+You can come back again--my coat's on the hanger there, Bobby."  He
+put her into it deftly, and she leaned back against him.  "If you
+knew how good it is to see you again--and you smell of clean fresh
+air and good tobacco and Russia leather, and all sorts of nice
+things."
+
+"Good gracious, I'll excite attention in the street!" grinned Bob.
+"I didn't imagine I was a walking scent-factory!"
+
+"Neither you are--but everything in this house smells of coal-smoke
+and cabbage-water and general fustiness, and you're a nice change,
+that's all," said Cecilia.  They ran downstairs together light-
+heartedly, and let themselves out into the street.
+
+"Do we catch a train or a 'bus?"
+
+"Oh, can't we walk?" Cecilia said.  "I think if I walked hard I
+might forget Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"I'd hate you to remember her," Bob said.  "Tell me what she has
+been doing, anyhow, and then we won't think of her any more."
+
+"It doesn't sound much," Cecilia said.  "There never is anything
+very much.  Only it goes on all the time."  She told him the story
+of her day, and managed to make herself laugh now and then over it.
+But Bob did not laugh.  His good-humoured young face was set and
+angry.
+
+"There isn't a whole lot in it, is there?" Cecilia finished.  "And
+no one would think I was badly off--especially when the thing that
+hit me hardest of all was just dusting that awful drawing-room
+while she plays her awful tunes.  Yes, I know I shouldn't say
+awful, and that no lady says it--that must be true because Mrs.
+Rainham frequently tells me so--but it's such a relief to say
+whatever I feel like."
+
+"You can say what you jolly well please," said Bob wrathfully.
+"Who's she, I'd like to know, to tell us what to say?  And she kept
+you there all the afternoon, when she knew you were due to meet
+me!--my hat, she is a venomous old bird!  And now it's half-past
+four, and what time does she expect you back?"
+
+"Oh--the usual thing; the children's tea-time at six.  She told me
+not to be late."
+
+Bob set his jaw.
+
+"Well, you won't be late, because you won't be there," he said.
+"No going back to tea for you.  We'll have dinner at the Petit
+Riche in Soho, and then we'll do a theatre, and then I'll take you
+home and we'll face the music.  Are you game?"
+
+Cecilia laughed.
+
+"Game?  Why, of course--but there will be awful scenes, Bobby."
+
+"Well, what can she do to you?" asked Bob practically.  "You're too
+big to beat, or she'd certainly do it; she can't stop your pay,
+because you don't get any; and as you have your meals with the
+youngsters, she can't dock your rations.  That doesn't leave her
+much beside her tongue.  Of course, she can do a good deal with
+that; do you think you can stand it?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Cecilia.  "You see, I generally have it, so it
+really doesn't matter much.  But if she forbids me to go out with
+you again, Bobby?"
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+"Well--you're nineteen," he said.  "And the very first minute I
+can, I'm going to take you away from her altogether.  If you were a
+kid I wouldn't let you defy her.  But, hang it all, Tommy, I'm not
+going to let her punish you as though you were ten.  If she forbids
+you to meet me--well, you must just take French leave, that's all."
+
+"Oh, Bob, you are a satisfying person!" said Cecilia, with a sigh.
+
+"Well, I don't know--it's you who will have to stand the racket,"
+said Bob.  "I only wish I could take my share, old girl.  But,
+please goodness, it won't be for long."
+
+"Bob," said Cecilia, and paused.  "What about that statement of
+hers--that it would be illegal for you to take me away?  Do you
+think it's true?"
+
+"I've asked our Major, and he's a bit doubtful," said Bob.  "All
+the other fellows say it's utter nonsense.  But I'm going to ask
+the old lawyer chap who has charge of Aunt Margaret's money--he'll
+tell me.  We won't bother about it, Tommy; if I can't get you
+politely, I'll steal you.  Just forget the she-dragon and all her
+works."
+
+"But have you thought about what you are going to do?"
+
+"I don't think of much else, and that's the truth, Tommy," said her
+brother ruefully.  "You see, there's mighty little in sight.  I
+could get a clerkship, I suppose.  I could certainly get work as a
+day labourer.  But I don't see much in either of those possibilities
+towards a little home with you, which is what I want.  I'm going to
+answer every advertisement I can find for fellows wanted on farms."
+He straightened his square shoulders.  "Tommy, there must be plenty
+of work for any chap as strong as an ox, as I am."
+
+"I'm sure there's work," said Cecilia.  "But the men who want jobs
+don't generally advertise themselves as 'complete with sister.'
+I'm what's technically known as an encumbrance, Bob."
+
+"You!" said Bob.  "You're just part of the firm, so don't you
+forget it.  Didn't we always arrange that we should stick
+together?"
+
+"We did--but it may not be easy to manage," Cecilia said,
+doubtfully.  "Perhaps we could get some job together; I could do
+inside work, or teach, or sew."
+
+"No!" said Bob explosively.  "If I can't earn enough for us both, I
+ought to be shot, Aunt Margaret didn't bring you up to work."
+
+"But the world has turned upside down since Aunt Margaret died,"
+said Cecilia.  "And I have worked pretty hard for the last two
+years, Bob; and it hasn't hurt me."
+
+"It has made you older--and you ought to be only a kid yet," said
+Bob wistfully.  "You haven't had any of the fun girls naturally
+ought to have.  I don't want you to slave all your time, Tommy."
+
+"Bless you!" said his sister.  "But I wouldn't care a bit, as long
+as it was near you--and not in Lancaster Gate."
+
+They had turned across Hyde Park, where a big company of girl
+guides was drilling, watched by a crowd of curious on-lookers.
+Across a belt of grass some boy scouts were performing similar
+evolutions, marching with all the extra polish and swagger they
+could command, just to show the guides that girls were all very
+well in their way, but that no one with skirts could really hope to
+do credit to a uniform.  Cecilia paused to watch them.
+
+"Thank goodness, the children can come and drill in the park
+again!" she said.  "I hated to come here before the armistice--
+soldiers, soldiers, drilling everywhere, and guns and searchlight
+fixings.  Whenever I saw a squad drilling it made me think of you,
+and of course I felt sure you'd be killed!"
+
+"I do like people who look on the bright side of life!" said Bob
+laughing.  "And whenever you saw an aeroplane I suppose you made
+sure I was crashing somewhere?"
+
+"Certainly I did," said his sister with dignity.
+
+"Women are queer things," Bob remarked.  "If you had these
+unpleasant beliefs, how did you manage to write as cheerfully as
+you did?  Your letters were a scream--I used to read bits of 'em
+out to the fellows."
+
+"You had no business to do any such thing," said Cecilia, blushing.
+
+"Well, I did, anyhow.  They used to make 'em yell.  How did you
+manage them?"
+
+"Well, it was no good assuring you you'd be killed," said Cecilia
+practically.  "I thought it was more sensible to try to make you
+laugh."
+
+"You certainly did that," said Bob.  "I fancied from your letters
+that life with the she-dragon was one huge joke, and that Papa was
+nice and companionable, and the kids, sweet little darlings who ate
+from your hand.  And all the time you were just the poor old toad
+under the harrow!"
+
+"I'm not a toad!" rejoined his sister indignantly.  "Don't you
+think you could find pleasanter things to compare me to?"
+
+"Toads aren't bad," said Bob, laughing.  "Ever seen the nice old
+fellow in the Zoo who shoots out a tongue a yard long and picks up
+a grub every time?  He's quite interesting."
+
+"I certainly never had any inclination to do any such thing,"
+Cecilia laughed.
+
+They had turned into Piccadilly and were walking down, watching the
+crowded motor traffic racing north and south.  Suddenly Bob
+straightened up and saluted smartly, as a tall staff officer,
+wearing a general's badges, ran down the steps of a big club, and
+nearly cannoned into Cecilia.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" he said--and then, noticing Bob--"How are you,
+Rainham?"  He dived into a waiting taxi, and was whisked away.
+
+"Did he bump you?" inquired Bob.
+
+"No--though it would be almost a privilege to be bumped by anyone
+as splendid as that!" Cecilia answered.  "He knows you, too!--who
+is he, Bobby?"
+
+"That's General Harran, the Australian," said Bob proudly.  "He's a
+great man.  I've run into him occasionally since I've been with the
+Australians in France."
+
+"He looks nice."
+
+"He is nice," replied Bob.  "Awful martinet about duty, but he
+treats every one under him jolly well.  Never forgets a face or a
+name, and he's always got a decent word for everybody.  He's had
+some quite long talks to me, when we were waiting for some 'plane
+or other to come back."
+
+"Why wouldn't he?" asked Cecilia, who considered it a privilege for
+anyone to talk to her brother.
+
+Bob regarded her in amazement.
+
+"Good gracious!" he ejaculated.  "Why, he's a major-general; I can
+tell you, most men of his rank haven't any use for small fry like
+me--to talk to, that is."
+
+Cecilia had a flash of memory.
+
+"Isn't he the general who was close by when you brought that German
+aeroplane down behind our lines?  Didn't he say nice things to you
+about it?"
+
+"Oh, that was only in the way of business," said Bob somewhat
+confused.  "The whole thing was only a bit of luck--and, of course,
+it was luck, too, that he was there.  But he is just as nice to
+fellows who haven't had a chance like that."
+
+Out of the crowd two more figures in Air Force uniform came,
+charging at Bob with outstretched hands.
+
+"By Jove, old chap!  What luck to meet you!"
+
+They shook hands tumultuously, and Bob made them known to Cecilia--
+comrades he had not seen for months, but with whom he had shared
+many strange experiences in the years of war.  They fell into quick
+talk, full of the queer jargon of the air.  The newcomers, it
+appeared, had been with the army of occupation in Germany; there
+seemed a thousand things they urgently desired to tell Bob within
+the next few minutes.  One turned to Cecilia, presently, with a
+laughing interpretation of some highly technical bit of slang.
+
+"Oh, you needn't bother to translate to Tommy," Bob said.  "She
+knows all about it."
+
+The other boys suddenly gave her all their attention.
+
+"Are you Tommy?  But we know you awfully well."
+
+"Me?"  Cecilia turned pink.
+
+"Rather.  We used to hear your letters."
+
+The pink deepened to a fine scarlet.
+
+"Bob!" said his sister reproachfully.  "You really shouldn't."
+
+"Oh, don't say that," said the taller boy, by name Harrison.  "They
+were a godsend--there used to be jolly little to laugh about,
+pretty often, and your letters made us all yell.  Didn't they,
+Billy?"
+
+"They did," said Billy, who was small and curly-haired--and
+incidentally a captain, with a little row of medal ribbons.
+"Jolliest letters ever.  We passed a vote of thanks to you in the
+mess, Miss Tommy, after old Bob here had gone.  Some one was to
+write and tell him about it, but I don't believe anyone ever did.
+I say, you must have had a cheery time--all the funny things that
+ever happened seemed to come your way."
+
+Cecilia stammered something, her scarlet confusion deepening.  A
+rather grim vision of the war years swept across her mind--of the
+ceaseless quest in papers and journals, and wherever people talked,
+for "funny things" to tell Bob; and of how, when fact and rumour
+gave out, she used to sit by her attic window at night, deliberately
+inventing merry jests.  It had closely resembled a job of hard work
+at the time; but apparently it had served its purpose well.  She
+had made them laugh; and some one had told her that no greater
+service could be rendered to the boys who risked death, and worse
+than death, during every hour of the day and night.  But it was
+extremely difficult to talk about it afterwards.
+
+Bob took pity on her.
+
+"I'll tell you just what sort of a cheery time she had, some time
+or other," he remarked.  "What are you fellows doing this evening?"
+
+"We were just going to ask you the same thing," declared Billy.
+"Can't we all go and play about somewhere?  We've just landed, and
+we want to be looked after.  Any theatres in this little town
+still?"
+
+"Cheer-oh!" ejaculated Billy.  "Let's all go and find out."
+
+So they went, and managed very successfully to forget war and even
+stepmothers.  They were all little more than children in enjoyment
+of simple pleasures still, since war had fallen upon them at the
+very threshold of life, cutting them off from all the cheery
+happenings that are the natural inheritance of all young things.
+The years that would ordinarily have seen them growing tired of
+play had been spent in grim tasks; now they were children again,
+clamouring for the playtime they had lost.  They found enormous
+pleasure in the funny little French restaurant, where Madame, a
+lady whose sympathies were as boundless as her waist, welcomed them
+with wide smiles, delighting in the broken French of Billy and
+Harrison, and deftly tempting them to fresh excursions in her
+language.  She put a question in infantile French to Bob presently,
+whereupon that guileless youth, with a childlike smile, answered
+her with a flood of idiomatic phrases, in an accent purer than her
+own--collapsing with helpless laughter at her amazed face.  After
+which, Madame neglected her other patrons to hover about their
+table like a stout, presiding goddess, guiding them gently to the
+best dishes on the menu, and occasionally putting aside their own
+selection with a hasty, "Mon-non; you vill not like that one to-
+day."  She patted Cecilia in a motherly fashion at parting, and
+their bill was only about half what it should have been.
+
+They found a musical comedy, and laughed their way through it--
+Billy and Harrison had apparently no cares in the world, and Bob
+and Cecilia were caught up in the whirl of their high spirits, so
+that anything became a huge joke.  The evening flew by on airy
+wings, when Billy insisted on taking them to supper after the
+theatre.  Cecilia allowed herself a fleeting vision of Mrs.
+Rainham, and then, deciding that she might as well be hanged for a
+sheep as a lamb, followed gaily.  And supper was so cheery a meal
+that she forgot all about time--until, just at the end, she caught
+sight of the restaurant clock.
+
+"Half-past eleven!  Oh, Bobby!"
+
+"Well, if it is--you poor little old Cinderella," said Bob.
+
+But he hurried her away, for all that, amid a chorus of farewells
+and efforts, on the part of Billy and Harrison, to arrange further
+meetings.  They ran to the nearest tube station, and dived into its
+depths; and, after being whisked underground for a few minutes,
+emerged into the cool night.  Cecilia slipped her arm through her
+brother's as they hurried along the empty street.
+
+"Now, you keep your nose in the air," Bobby told her.  "You aren't
+exactly a kid now, and she can't really do anything to you.  Oh, by
+Jove--I was thinking, in the theatre, she might interfere with our
+letters."
+
+"She's quite equal to it," said Cecilia.
+
+"Just what she'd revel in doing.  Well, you can easily find out.
+I'll write to you to-morrow, and again the next day--just ordinary
+letters, with nothing particular in them except an arrangement to
+meet next Saturday.  If you don't get them you'll know she's
+getting at the mail first."
+
+"What shall I do, then?"
+
+"Drop me a line--or, better still, wire to me," said Bob.  "Just
+say, 'Address elsewhere.'  Then I'll write to you at Mr.
+M'Clinton's; the old solicitor chap in Lincoln's Inn; and you'll
+have to go there and get the letters.  You know his address, don't
+you?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  I have to write to him every quarter when he sends me my
+allowance.  You'll explain to him, then, Bob, or he'll simply
+redirect your letters here."
+
+"Oh, of course.  I want to go and see the old chap, anyhow, to talk
+over Aunt Margaret's affairs.  I might as well know a little more
+about them.  Tommy, the she-dragon can't actually lock you up, can
+she?"
+
+"No--it couldn't be done," said Cecilia.  "Modern houses aren't
+built with dungeons and things.  Moreover, if she tried to keep me
+in the house she would have to take the children out for their
+walks herself; and she simply hates walking."
+
+"Then you can certainly post to me, and get my letters, and I'll be
+up again as soon as ever I can.  Buck up, old girl--it can't be for
+long now."
+
+They turned in at the Rainhams' front gate, and Cecilia glanced up
+apprehensively.  All the windows were in darkness; the grey front
+of the house loomed forbiddingly in the faint moonlight.
+
+"You're coming in, aren't you?" she asked, her hand tightening on
+his arm.
+
+"Rather--we'll take the edge off her tongue together."  Bob rang
+the bell.  "Wonder if they have all gone to bed.  The place looks
+pretty dark."
+
+"She's probably in the little room at the back--the one she calls
+her boudoir."
+
+"Horrible little den, full of bamboo and draperies and pampas
+grass--I know," nodded Bob.  "Well, either she's asleep or she
+thinks it's fun to keep us on the mat.  I'll try her again."  He
+pressed the bell, and the sound of its whirring echoed through the
+silent house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+COMING HOME
+
+
+The bolt grated, as if grudgingly, and slowly the door opened as
+far as the limits of its chain would permit, and Mrs. Rainham's
+face appeared in the aperture.  She glared at them for a minute
+without speaking.
+
+"So you have come home?" she said at last.  The chain fell, and the
+door opened.  "I wonder you trouble to come home at all.  May I ask
+where you have been?"
+
+"She has been with me, Mrs. Rainham," Bob said cheerfully.  "May I
+come in?"
+
+Mrs. Rainham did not move.  She held the door half open, blocking
+the way.
+
+"It is far too late for me to ask you in," she answered frigidly.
+"Cecilia can explain her conduct, I presume."
+
+"Oh, there's really nothing to explain," Bob answered.  "It was so
+late when she got out this afternoon that I kept her--why, it was
+after half-past four before she was dressed."
+
+"I told her to be in for tea."
+
+"Yes; but I felt sure you couldn't realize how late she was in
+getting out," said Bob in a voice of honey.
+
+"That was entirely her own mismanagement--" began the hard tones.
+
+"Oh, no, Mrs. Rainham; really it wasn't," said Cecilia mildly.
+"Your accompaniments, you remember--your dress--your music," she
+stopped, in amazement at herself.  It was rarely indeed that she
+answered any accusation of her stepmother's.  But to be on the mat
+at midnight, with Bob in support, seemed to give her extraordinary
+courage.
+
+"You see, Mrs. Rainham, there seems to have been quite a number of
+little details that Cecilia couldn't mismanage," said Bob,
+following up the advantage.  It was happily evident that his
+stepmother's rage was preventing her from speaking, and, as he
+remarked later, there was no knowing when he would ever get such a
+chance again.  "She really needed rest.  I'm sure you'll agree that
+every one is entitled to some free time.  Of course, you couldn't
+possibly have realized that it was a week since she had been off
+duty."
+
+"It's her business to do what I tell her," said Mrs. Rainham,
+finding her voice, in an explosive fashion that made a passing
+policeman glance up curiously.  "She knew I had company, and
+expected her help.  I had to see to the children's tea myself.  And
+how do I know where she's been?--gallivanting round to all sorts of
+places!  I tell you, young lady, you needn't think you're going to
+walk in here at midnight as if nothing was the matter."
+
+"I never expected to," said Cecilia cheerfully.  "But it was worth
+it."
+
+Bob regarded her in solemn admiration.
+
+"I don't think we gallivanted at all reprehensibly," he said.
+"Just dinner and a theatre.  I haven't made much claim to her time
+during the last four years, Mrs. Rainham; surely I'm entitled to a
+little of it now."
+
+"You!"  Mrs. Rainham's tone was vicious.  "You don't give her a
+home, do you?  And as long as I do, she'll do what I tell her."
+
+"No; I don't give her a home--yet," said Bob very quietly.  "But I
+very soon will, I assure you; and meanwhile, she earns a good deal
+more than her keep in her father's house.  You can't treat her
+worse than your servants--"
+
+Cecilia suddenly turned to him.
+
+"Ah, don't, Bob darling.  It doesn't matter--truly--not a bit."
+With the end of the long penance before her, it seemed beyond the
+power of the angry woman in the doorway to hurt her much.  What she
+could not bear was that their happy evening should be spoiled by
+hard and cruel words at its close.  Bob's face, that had been so
+merry, was sterner than she had ever seen it, all its boyishness
+gone.  She put up her own face, and kissed him.
+
+"Good night--you mustn't stay any longer.  I'll be all right."  She
+whispered a few quick words of French, begging him to go, and Bob,
+though unwillingly, gave in.
+
+"All right," he said.  "Go to bed, little 'un.  I'll do as I
+promised about writing."  He saluted Mrs. Rainham stiffly.  "You'll
+remember, Mrs. Rainham, that she stayed out solely at my wish--I
+take full responsibility, and I'll be ready to tell my father so."
+The door closed behind Cecilia, and he strode away down the street,
+biting his lip.  He felt abominably as though he had deserted the
+little sister--and yet, what else could he do?  One could not
+remain for ever, brawling on a doorstep at midnight--and Tommy had
+begged him to go.  Still--
+
+"Hang it!" he said viciously.  "If she were only a decent Hun to
+fight!"
+
+In the grim house in Lancaster Gate Cecilia was facing the music
+alone.  She listened unmoved, as she had listened many times
+before, to the catalogue of her sins and misdeeds--only she had
+never seen her stepmother quite so angry.  Finally, a door above
+opened, and Mark Rainham looked out, his dull, colourless face
+weakly irritable.
+
+"I wish you'd stop that noise, and let the girl go to bed," he
+said.  "Come here, Cecilia."
+
+She went to him hesitating, and he looked at her with a spark of
+compassion.  Then he kissed her.
+
+"Good night," he said, as though he had called her to him simply to
+say it, and not to separate her from the furious woman who stood
+looking at them.  "Run off to bed, now--no more talking."  Cecilia
+ran upstairs obediently.  Behind her, as she neared her attic, she
+heard her stepmother's voice break out anew.
+
+"Just fancy Papa!" she muttered.  Any mother sensations were lost
+in wonder at her father's actually having intervened.  The
+incredible thing had happened.  For a moment she felt a wave of
+pity for him, left alone to face the shrill voice.  Then she
+shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Ah, well--he married her," she said.  "I suppose he has had it
+many a time.  Perhaps he knows how to stop it--I don't!"  She
+laughed, turning the key in the lock, and sitting down beside the
+open window.  The glamour of her happy evening was still upon her;
+even the scene with her stepmother had not had power to chase it
+away.  The scene was only to be expected; the laughter of the
+evening was worth so every-day a penalty.  And the end of Mrs.
+Rainham's rule was nearly in sight.  Not even to herself for a
+moment would she admit that there was any possibility of Bob
+failing to "make good" and take her away.
+
+She went downstairs next morning to an atmosphere of sullen
+resentment.  Her father gave her a brief, abstracted nod, in
+response to her greeting, and went on with his bacon and his Daily
+Mail; her stepmother's forbidding expression checked any attempt at
+conversation.  The children stared at her with a kind of malevolent
+curiosity; they knew that a storm had been brewing for her the
+night before, and longed to know just how thoroughly she had
+"caught it."  Eliza, bringing in singed and belated toast, looked
+at her with pity, tinged with admiration.  Cook and she had been
+awakened at midnight by what was evidently, in the words of Cook,
+"a perfickly 'orrible bust-up," and knowing Cecilia to have been
+its object, Eliza looked at her as one may look who expects to see
+the scars of battle.  Finding none, but receiving instead a
+cheerful smile, she returned to the kitchen, and reported to Cook
+that Miss Cecilia was "nuffink less than a neroine."
+
+But as that day and the next wore on, Cecilia found it difficult to
+be cheerful.  That she was in disgrace was very evident, Mrs.
+Rainham said no more about her sins of the night before; instead,
+she showed her displeasure by a kind of cold rudeness that gave a
+subtle insult to her smallest remark.  The children were manifestly
+delighted.  Cecilia was more or less in the position of a beetle on
+a pin, and theirs was the precious opportunity of seeing her
+wriggle.  Wherefore they adopted their mother's tone, openly defied
+her, and turned school-hours into a pandemonium.
+
+Cecilia at last gave up the attempt to keep order.  She opened her
+desk and took out her knitting.
+
+"Well, this is all very pleasant," she said, calmly.  "You seem
+determined to do no work at all, so I can only hope that in time
+you will get tired of being idle.  I can't attempt to teach you any
+more.  I am quite ready, however, if you bring your lessons to me."
+
+"You'll get into a nice row from the Mater," jeered Wilfred.
+
+"Very possibly.  She may even punish me by finding another
+governess," said Cecilia, with a twinkle.  "However that may be, I
+do not feel compelled to talk to such rude little children as you
+any more.  When you are able to speak politely you may come to me
+for anything you want; until then, I shall not answer you."  She
+bent her attention to the mysteries of heel-turning.
+
+The children were taken aback.  To pinprick with rudeness a victim
+who answered back was entertaining; but there was small fun in
+baiting anybody who sat silently knitting with a half-smile of
+contempt at the corners of her mouth.  They gave it up after a
+time, and considered the question of going out; a pleasant thing to
+do, only that their mother had laid upon them a special injunction
+not to leave Cecilia, and she was in a mood that made disobedience
+extremely dangerous.  Cecilia quite understood that she was being
+watched.  No letters had yet come from Bob, and she knew that her
+stepmother had been hovering near the letter-box whenever the
+postman had called.  Mrs. Rainham had accompanied them on their
+walk the day before; a remark of Avice's revealed that she meant to
+do so again to-day.
+
+"It's all so silly," the girl said to herself.  "If I chose to dive
+into a tube station or board a motor-bus she couldn't stop me;
+and she can't go on watching me and intercepting my letters
+indefinitely.  I suppose she will get tired of it after a while."
+But meanwhile she found the spying rather amusing.  Avice popped up
+unexpectedly if she went near the front door; Wilfred's bullet head
+peeped in through the window whenever she fancied herself alone in
+the schoolroom.  Only her attic was safe--since to spy upon it
+would have required an aeroplane.
+
+The third day brought no letter from Bob.  Cecilia asked for her
+mail when she went down to breakfast, and was met by a blank stare
+from her stepmother--"I suppose if there had been any letters for
+you they would be on your plate."  She flushed a little under the
+girl's direct gaze, and turned her attention to Queenie's table
+manners, which were at all times peculiar; and Cecilia sat down
+with a faint smile.  It was time to obey orders and telegraph to
+Bob.
+
+She planned how to do it, during a long morning when the children
+actually did some work--since to be rude or idle meant that their
+teacher immediately retired into her shell of silence, and knitted,
+and life became too dull.  To employ Eliza was her first thought--
+rejected, since it seemed unlikely that Eliza would be able to get
+time off to go out.  If Mrs. Rainham's well-known dislike for
+walking proved too strong for her desire to watch her stepdaughter,
+it would be easy enough to do it during the afternoon; but this
+hope proved vain, for when she appeared in the hall with her
+charges at three o'clock the lady of the house sailed from the
+drawing-room, ready for the march.  They moved off in procession;
+Mrs. Rainham leading the way, with Avice and Wilfred, while Cecilia
+brought up the rear, holding Queenie's podgy hand.
+
+She had telegraph forms in her desk, and the message, already
+written, and even stamped, was in the pocket of her coat.  There
+was nothing for it but to act boldly, and accordingly, when they
+entered a street in which there was a post office, she let Queenie
+lag until they were a little distance behind the others.  Then, as
+they reached the post office, she turned sharply in.
+
+"Wait a minute, Queenie."
+
+She thrust her message across the counter hurriedly.  The clerk on
+duty was provokingly slow; he finished checking a document, and
+then lounged across to the window and took the form, running over
+it leisurely.
+
+"Oh, you've got the stamps on.  All right," he said, and turned
+away just as quick steps were heard, and Mrs. Rainham bustled in,
+panting.
+
+"What are you doing?"
+
+Cecilia met her with steady eyes.
+
+"Nothing wrong, I assure you."  She had had visions of covering her
+real purpose by buying stamps--but rejected it with a shrug.
+
+"Thethilia gave the man a pieth of paper!" said Queenie shrilly.
+
+"What was it?  I demand to know!" cried Mrs. Rainham.  She turned
+to the clerk, who stood open-mouthed, holding the telegram in his
+hand.  "Show me that telegram.  I am this young lady's guardian."
+
+The clerk grinned broadly.  The stout and angry lady made no appeal
+to him, and Cecilia was a pretty girl, and moreover her telegram
+was for a flying captain.  The clerk wore a returned soldier's
+badge himself.  He fell back on Regulations.
+
+"Can't be done, ma'am.  The message is all in order."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+"Much as my billet's worth, if I did," said the clerk.  "Property
+of the Postmaster-General now, ma'am.  Couldn't even give it back
+to the young lady."
+
+"I'll report you!" Mrs. Rainham fumed.
+
+"Do, ma'am.  I'll get patted on the head for doin' me duty."  The
+clerk's grin widened.  Cecilia wished him good afternoon gravely,
+and slipped out of the office, pursued by her stepmother.
+
+"What was in that telegram?"
+
+"It was to my brother."
+
+"What was in it?"
+
+"It was to Bob, and that is guarantee that there was nothing wrong
+in it," Cecilia said steadily.  "It was on private business."
+
+"You have no right to have any business that I do not know about."
+
+Cecilia found her temper rising.
+
+"My father may have the power to say that--I do not know," she
+said.  "But you have none, Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"I'll let you see whether I have the right!" her stepmother blazed.
+"For two pins, young lady, I'd lock you up."
+
+Cecilia laughed outright.
+
+"Ah, that's not done now," she said.  "You really couldn't, Mrs.
+Rainham--especially as I have done nothing wrong."  She dropped her
+voice--passers-by were looking with interest at the elder woman's
+face.  "Why not let me go?  You do not approve of me--let me find
+another position."
+
+"You'll stay in your father's house," Mrs. Rainham said.  "We'll
+see what the law has to say to your leaving with your precious Bob.
+Your father's your legal guardian, and in his control you stay
+until you're twenty-one, and be very thankful to make yourself
+useful.  The law will deal with Bob if he tries to take you away--
+you're a minor, and it'd be abduction."  The word had a pleasantly
+legal flavour; she repeated it with emphasis.  "Abduction; that's
+what it is, and there's a nice penalty for it.  Now you know, and
+if you don't want to get Bob into trouble, you'd best be careful."
+
+Cecilia had grown rather white.  The law was a great and terrible
+instrument, of which she knew nothing.  It seemed to have swallowed
+up Aunt Margaret's money; it might very well have left her
+defenceless.  Her stepmother seemed familiar with its powers, and
+able to evoke them at will; and though she did not trust her, there
+was something in her glib utterance that struck fear into the
+girl's heart.  She did not answer, and Mrs. Rainham followed up her
+advantage.
+
+"We'll go home," she said.  "And you make up your mind to tell me
+what was in that telegram, and not to have any secrets from me.
+One thing I can tell you--until you decide to behave yourself--Bob
+shan't show his nose in my house, and you shan't go out to meet
+him, either.  He only leads you into mischief; I don't consider he
+has at all a good influence over you.  The sooner he's away
+somewhere, earning his own living in a proper manner, the better
+for every one; and it'll be many a long day before he can give you
+as good a home as you've got now."  She paused for breath.
+"Anyhow, he's not going to have the chance," she finished grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE TURN OF FORTUNE'S WHEEL
+
+
+"Is Mr. M'Clinton in?"
+
+The clerk, in a species of rabbit hutch, glanced out curiously at
+the young flying officer.
+
+"Yes; but he's very busy.  Have you an appointment?"
+
+"No--I got leave unexpectedly.  Just take him my card, will you?"
+
+The clerk handed the card to another clerk, who passed it to an
+office-boy, who disappeared with it behind a heavy oaken door.  He
+came back presently.
+
+"Mr. M'Clinton will see you in ten minutes, if you can wait, sir."
+
+"I'll wait," said Bob, sitting down upon a high stool.  "Got a
+paper?"
+
+"To-day's Times is here, sir."  He whisked off, to return in a
+moment with the paper, neatly folded.
+
+"You'll find a more comfortable seat behind the screen, sir."
+
+"Thanks," said Bob, regarding him with interest--he was so dapper,
+so alert, so all that an office-boy in a staid lawyer's
+establishment ought to be.  "How old might you be?"
+
+"Fourteen, sir."
+
+"And are you going to grow into a lawyer?"
+
+"I'm afraid I'll never do that, sir," said the office-boy gravely.
+"I may be head clerk, perhaps.  But--" he stopped, confused.
+
+"But what?"
+
+"I'd rather fly, sir, than anything in the world!"  He looked
+worshippingly at Bob's uniform.  "If the war had only not stopped
+before I was old enough, I might have had a chance!"
+
+"Oh, you'll have plenty of chances," Bob told him consolingly.  "In
+five years' time you'll be taking Mr. M'Clinton's confidential
+papers across to Paris in an aeroplane--and bringing him back a
+reply before lunch!"
+
+"Do you think so, sir?"  The office-boy's eyes danced.  Suddenly he
+resumed his professional gravity.
+
+"I must get back to my work, sir."  He disappeared behind another
+partition; the office seemed to Bob to be divided into water-tight
+compartments, in each of which he imagined that a budding lawyer or
+head clerk was being brought up by hand.  It was all rather grim
+and solid and forbidding.  To Bob the law had always been full of
+mystery; this grey, silent office, in the heart of the city, was a
+fitting place for it.  He felt a little chill at his heart, a
+foreboding that no comfort could come of his mission there.
+
+The inner door opened, after a little while, and a woman in black
+came out.  She passed hurriedly through the outer office, pulling
+down her veil over a face that showed traces of tears.  Bob looked
+after her compassionately.
+
+"Poor soul!" he thought.  "She's had her gruel, evidently.  Now I
+suppose I'll get mine."
+
+A bell whirred sharply.  The alert office-boy sprang to the
+summons, returning immediately.
+
+"Mr. M'Clinton can see you now, sir."
+
+Bob followed him through the oaken door, and along a narrow passage
+to a room where a spare, grizzled man sat at a huge roll-top desk.
+He rose as the boy shut the door behind his visitor.
+
+"Well, Captain Rainham.  How do you do?"
+
+Bob gripped the lean hand offered him--it felt like a claw in his
+great palm.  Then he sat down and looked uncomfortably at the
+lawyer.
+
+"I had thought to have seen you here before, Captain."
+
+"I suppose I should have shown up," said Bob--concealing the fact
+that the idea had never occurred to him.  "But I've been very busy
+since I've been back to England."
+
+"And what brings you now?"
+
+"I'm all but demobilized," Bob told him, "and I'm trying to get
+employment."
+
+"What--in this office?"
+
+"Heavens, no!" ejaculated Bob, and at once turned a fine red.
+"That is--I beg your pardon, sir; but I'm afraid I'm not cut out
+for an office.  I want to get something to do in the country, where
+I can support my sister."
+
+"Your sister?  But does not your father support her?  She is an
+inmate of his house, is she not?"
+
+"Very much so," said Bob bitterly.  "She's governess, and lady-
+help, and a good many other things.  You couldn't call it a home.
+Besides, we have always been together.  I want to take her away."
+
+"And what does your father say?"
+
+"He says she mustn't go.  At least, that's what my stepmother says,
+so my father will certainly say it too."
+
+"Your sister is under age, I think?"
+
+"She's just nineteen--I'm over twenty-two.  Can my father prevent
+her going with me, sir?"
+
+"Mph," said the lawyer, pondering.  "Do I gather that the young
+lady is unhappy?"
+
+"If she isn't, it's because she has pluck enough for six people,
+and because she always hopes to get away."
+
+"And do you consider that you could support her?"
+
+"I don't know," said Bob unhappily.  "I would certainly have
+thought I could, but there seems mighty little chance for a fellow
+whose only qualification is that he's been fighting Huns for nearly
+five years.  I've answered advertisements and interviewed people
+until my brain reels; but there's nothing in it, and I can't leave
+Tommy there."
+
+"Tommy?" queried the lawyer blankly.
+
+Bob laughed.
+
+"My sister, I mean, sir.  Her name's Cecilia, but, of course, we've
+never called her that.  Even Aunt Margaret called her Tommy."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton made no reply.  He thought deeply for a few moments.
+Then he looked up, and there was a glint of kindness in his hard
+grey eyes.
+
+"I think you had better tell me all about it, Captain Rainham.
+Would it assist you to smoke?"
+
+"Thanks awfully, sir," said Bob, accepting the proffered cigarette.
+He plunged into his story; and if at times it was a trifle
+incoherent, principally from honest wrath, yet on the whole
+Cecilia's case lost nothing in the telling.  The lawyer nodded from
+time to time, comprehendingly.
+
+"Aye," he said at last, when Bob paused.  "Just so, just so.  And
+why did you come to me, Captain?"
+
+"I want your advice, sir," Bob answered.  "And I should like to
+know something about my aunt's property--if I can hope for any help
+from that source.  I should have more chance of success if I had a
+little capital to start with.  But I understand that most of it was
+lost.  My father seemed very disappointed over the small amount she
+left."  He hesitated.  "But apart from money, I should like to know
+if I am within the law in taking my sister away."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton thought deeply before replying.
+
+"I had better speak frankly to you, Captain Rainham," he said.
+"Your aunt, as you probably know, did not like your father.  I am
+not sure that she actually distrusted him.  But she considered him
+weak and indolent, and she recognized that he was completely under
+the thumb of his second wife.  Your late aunt, my old friend, had
+an abhorrence for that lady that was quaint, considering that she
+had scarcely ever seen her."  He permitted himself the ghost of a
+smile.  "She was deeply afraid of any of her property coming under
+the control of your father--and through him, of his wife.  And so
+she tied up her money very carefully.  She left direct to you and
+your sister certain assets.  The rest of her property she left, in
+trust, to me."
+
+"To you, sir?"
+
+"Aye.  Very carefully tied up, too," said Mr. M'Clinton, with a
+twinkle.  "I can't make ducks and drakes of it, no matter how much
+I may wish to.  It is tied up until your sister comes of age.  Then
+my trust ceases."
+
+"By Jove!"  Bob stared at him.  "Then--do we get something?"
+
+"Certainly.  Unfortunately, many of your aunt's investments were
+very hard hit through the war.  Certain stocks which paid large
+dividends ceased to pay altogether; others fell to very little.
+The sum left to you and your sister for immediate use should have
+been very much larger, but all that is left of it is the small
+allowance paid to you both.  I imagine that a smart young officer
+like yourself found it scarcely sufficient for tobacco."
+
+"I've saved it all," said Bob simply.  "A bit more, too."
+
+"Saved it!" said the lawyer in blank amazement.  "Do you tell me,
+now?  You lived on your pay?"
+
+"Flying pay's pretty good," said Bob.  "And there was always Tommy
+to think of, you know, sir.  I had to put something away for her,
+in case I crashed."
+
+"Dear me," said Mr. M'Clinton.  "Your aunt had great confidence in
+you as a boy, and it seems she was justified.  I'm very glad to
+hear this, Captain, for it enables me to do with a clear conscience
+something which I have the power to do.  There is a discretionary
+clause in your aunt's will, which gives me power to realize a
+certain sum of money, should you need it.  I could hand you over
+about three thousand pounds."
+
+"Three thousand!"  Bob stared at him blankly.
+
+"Aye.  And I see no reason why I should not do it--provided I am
+satisfied as to the use you will make of it.  As a matter of form I
+should like a letter from your commanding officer, testifying to
+your general character."
+
+"That's easy enough," said Bob.  "But--three thousand!  My hat,
+what a difference it will make to Tommy and me!  Poor old Aunt
+Margaret--I might have known she'd look after us."
+
+"She loved you very dearly.  And now, Captain, about your sister."
+
+"She's the big thing," said Bob.  "Can I kidnap her?"
+
+"It's rather difficult to say just how your father might act.  Left
+to himself, I do not believe he would do anything.  But urged by
+your stepmother, he might make trouble.  And the good lady is more
+likely to make trouble if she suspects that there is any money
+coming to your sister."
+
+"That's very certain," Bob remarked.  "I wish to goodness I could
+get her right out of England, sir.  How about Canada?"
+
+The lawyer pondered.
+
+"Do you know any one there?"
+
+"Not a soul.  But I suppose one could get introductions.  And one
+can always get Government expert advice there, I believe, to
+prevent one chucking away one's money foolishly."
+
+Mr. M'Clinton nodded approvingly.
+
+"I don't know, but you might do worse," he said.  "I believe in
+these new countries for young people; the old ones are getting
+overcrowded and worn out.  And your relations are likely to give
+trouble if you are within their reach.  A terrible woman, that
+stepmother of yours; a terrible woman.  She came to see me with
+your father; he said nothing, but she talked like a mill-race.
+Miss Tommy has my full sympathy.  A brawling woman in a wide house,
+as the Scripture says.  I reproach myself, Captain, that I did not
+inquire personally into Miss Tommy's well-being.  She told you
+nothing of her trials, you say, during the war?"
+
+"Not a word.  Wrote as if life were a howling joke always.  I only
+found out for myself by accident a few months ago."
+
+"A brave lassie.  Well, I'll do what I can to help you, Captain.
+I'll keep a lookout for a likely land investment for your money,
+and endeavour to prepare a good legal statement to frighten Mrs.
+Rainham if she objects to your taking your sister away.  Much may
+be done by bluffing, especially if you do it very solemnly and
+quietly.  So keep a good heart, and come and see me next time
+you're in London.  Miss Tommy will be in any day, I presume, after
+the telegram you told me about?"
+
+"Sure to be," said Bob.  "She'll be anxious for her letters.  I'm
+leaving one for her, if you don't mind, and I'll write to her again
+to-night."  He got up, holding out his hand.  "Good-bye--and I
+don't know how to thank you, sir."
+
+"Bless the boy--you've nothing to thank me for," said the lawyer.
+"Just send me that letter from your commanding officer, and
+remember that there's no wild hurry about plans--Miss Tommy can
+stand for a few weeks longer what she has borne for two years."
+
+"I suppose she can--but I don't want her to," Bob said.
+
+The brisk office-boy showed him out, and he marched down the grey
+streets near Lincoln's Inn with his chin well up.  Life had taken a
+sudden and magical turn for the better.  Three thousand pounds!--
+surely that meant no roughing it for Tommy, but a comfortable home
+and a chance of success in life.  It seemed a sum of enormous
+possibilities.  Everything was very vague still, but at least the
+money was certain--it seemed like fairy gold.  He felt a sudden
+desire to get away somewhere, with Tommy, away from crowded England
+to a country where a man could breathe; his heart rejoiced at the
+idea, just as he had often exulted when his aeroplane had lifted
+him away from the crowded, buzzing camp, into the wide, free places
+of the air.  Canada called to him temptingly.  His brain was
+seething with plans to go there when, waiting for a chance to cross
+a crowded thoroughfare, he heard his own name.
+
+"Asleep, Rainham?"
+
+Bob looked up with a start.  General Harran, the Australian, was
+beside him, also waiting for a break in the crawling string of
+motor-buses and taxi-cabs.  He was smiling under his close-clipped
+moustache.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," stammered the boy, coming to the salute
+stiffly.  "I was in a brown study, I believe."
+
+"You looked it.  I spoke to you twice before you heard me.  What is
+it?--demobilization problems?"
+
+"Just that, sir," said Bob, grinning.  "Most of us have got them, I
+suppose--fellows of my age, anyhow.  It's a bit difficult to come
+down to earth again, after years spent in the air."
+
+"Very difficult," Harran agreed gravely.  He glanced down with
+interest at the alert face and square-built figure of the boy
+beside him.  There were so many of them, these boys who had played
+with Death for years.  They have saved their country from horror
+and ruin, and now it seemed very doubtful if their country wanted
+them.  They were in every town in England, looking for work; their
+pitiful, plucky advertisements greeted the eye in every newspaper.
+The problem of their future interested General Harran keenly.  He
+liked his boys; their freshness and pluck and unspoiled enthusiasm
+had been a tonic to him during the long years of war.  Now it hurt
+him that they should be looking for the right to live.
+
+"I'm just going to lunch, Rainham," he said.  "Would you care to
+come with me?"
+
+Bob lifted a quaintly astonished face.
+
+"Thanks, awfully, sir," he stammered.
+
+"Then jump on this 'bus, and we'll go to my club," said the
+General, swinging his lean, athletic body up the stairs of a
+passing motor-'bus as he spoke.  Bob followed, and they sped,
+rocking, through the packed traffic until the General, who had sat
+in silence, jumped up, threaded his way downstairs, and dropped to
+the ground again from the footboard of the hurrying 'bus--with a
+brief shake of the head to the conductor, who was prepared to check
+the speed of his craft to accommodate a passenger with such
+distinguished badges of rank.  Bob was on the ground almost as
+quickly, and they turned out of the crowded street into a quieter
+one that presently led them into a silent square, where dignified
+grey houses looked out upon green trees, and the only traffic was
+that of gliding motors.  General Harran led the way into one of the
+grey houses, up the steps of which officers were constantly coming
+and going.  A grizzled porter in uniform, with the Crimean medal on
+his tunic, swung the door open and came smartly to attention as
+they passed through.  The General greeted him kindly.
+
+"How are you, O'Shea?  The rheumatism better?"
+
+"It is, sir, thank you."  They passed on, through a great hall
+lined with oil-paintings of famous soldiers, and trophies of big
+game from all over the world; for this was a Service club, bearing
+a proud record of soldier and sailor members for a hundred years.
+Presently they were in the dining-room, already crowded.  The
+waiter found them a little table in a quiet corner.
+
+There was a sprinkling of men whom Bob already knew; he caught
+several friendly nods of recognition us he glanced round.  Then
+General Harran pointed out others to him--Generals, whose names
+were household words in England--a notable Admiral, and a Captain
+with the V.C. ribbon--earned at Zeebrugge.  He seemed to know every
+one, and once or twice he left his seat to speak to a friend--
+during which absence Bob's friends shot him amazed glances, with
+eyebrows raised in astonishment that he should be lunching with a
+real Major-General.  Bob was somewhat tongue-tied with bewilderment
+over the fact himself.  But when their cold beef came, General
+Harran soon put him at his ease, leading him to talk of himself and
+his plans with quiet tact.  Before Bob fairly realized it he had
+unfolded all his little story--even to Tommy and her hardships.
+The General listened with interest.
+
+"And was it Tommy I saw you with on Saturday?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  She was awfully interested because it was you," blurted
+Bob.  "You see, she and I have always been pals.  I'm jolly keen to
+get some place to take her to."
+
+"And you think of Canada.  Why?"
+
+"Well--I really don't know, except that it would be out of reach of
+England and unpleasantness," Bob answered.  "And my money would go
+a lot further there than here, wouldn't it, sir?  Three thousand
+won't buy much of a place in England--not to make one's living by,
+I mean."
+
+"That's true.  I advise every youngster to get out to one of the
+new countries, and, of course, a man with a little capital has a
+far greater chance.  But why Canada?  Why not Australia?"
+
+"There's no reason why not," said Bob laughing.  "Only it seems
+further away.  I don't know more of one country than the other--
+except the sort of vague idea we all have that Canada is all cold
+and Australia all heat!"
+
+General Harran laughed.
+
+"Yes--the average Englishman's ideas about the new countries are
+pretty sketchy," he said.  "People always talk to me about the
+fearfully hot climate of Australia, and seem mildly surprised if I
+remark that we have about a dozen different climates, and that we
+have snow and ice, and very decent winter sports, in Victoria.  I
+don't think they believe me, either.  But seriously, Rainham, if
+you have no more leaning towards one country than the other, why
+not think of Australia?  I could help you there, if you like."
+
+"You, sir!" Bob stammered.
+
+"Well, I can pull strings.  I dare say I could manage a passage out
+for you and your sister--you see, you were serving with the
+Australians, and you're both desirable immigrants--young and
+energetic people with a little capital.  That would be all right, I
+think, especially now that the first rush is over.  And I could
+give you plenty of introductions in Australia to the right sort of
+people.  You ought to see something of the country, and what the
+life and work are, before investing your money.  It would be easy
+enough to get you on to a station or big farm--you to learn the
+business, and your sister to teach or help in the house.  She
+wouldn't mind that for about a year, with nice people, would she?"
+
+"Not she!" said Bob.  "It was her own idea, in fact; only I didn't
+want to let her work.  But I can see that it might be best.  Only I
+don't know how to thank you, sir--I never imagined--"
+
+General Harran cut him short.
+
+"Don't worry about that.  If I can help you, or any of the flying
+boys, out of a difficulty, and at the same time get the right type
+of settlers for Australia--she needs them badly--then I'm doing a
+double-barrelled job that I like.  But see here--do I understand
+that what you really want to do is to take your sister without
+giving your father warning?  To kidnap her, in short?"
+
+"I don't see anything else to do, sir.  I spoke to him a while ago
+about taking her away, and he only hummed and hawed and said he'd
+consult Mrs. Rainham.  And my stepmother will never let her go as
+long as she can keep her as a drudge.  We owe them nothing--he's
+never been a father to us, and as for my stepmother--well, she
+should owe Tommy for two years' hard work.  But honestly, to all
+intents and purposes, they are strangers to us--it seems absolutely
+ridiculous that we should be controlled by them."
+
+"You say your aunt's family lawyer approves?"
+
+"Yes, or he wouldn't let me have the money.  I could get him to see
+you, sir, if you like; though I don't see why you should be
+bothered about us," said Bob flushing.
+
+"Give me his address--I'll look in on him next time I'm in
+Lincoln's Inn," said the General.  "Your own, too.  Now, if I get
+you and your sister passages on a troopship, can you start at short
+notice--say forty-eight hours?"
+
+Bob gasped, but recovered himself.  After all, his training in the
+air had taught him to make swift decisions.
+
+"Any time after the fifteenth, sir.  I'll be demobilized then, and
+a free agent.  I'll get my kit beforehand."
+
+"Don't get much," counselled the General.  "You can travel in
+uniform--take flannels for the tropics; everything you need in
+Australia you can get just as well, or better, out there.  Most
+fellows who go out take tons of unnecessary stuff.  Come into the
+smoking-room and give me a few more details."
+
+They came out upon the steps of the club a little later.  Bob's
+head was whirling.  He tried to stammer out more thanks and was cut
+short, kindly but decisively.
+
+"That's all right, my boy.  I'll send you letters of introduction
+to various people who will help you, and a bit of advice about
+where to go when you land.  Tell your sister not to be nervous--she
+isn't going to a wild country, and the people there are much the
+same as anywhere else.  Now, good-bye, and good luck"; and Bob
+found himself walking across the Square in a kind of solemn
+amazement.
+
+"This morning I was thinking of getting taken on as a farm hand in
+Devonshire, with Tommy somewhere handy in a labourer's cottage," he
+pondered.  "And now I'm a bloated capitalist, and Tommy and I are
+going across the world to Australia as calmly as if we were off to
+Margate for the day!  Well, I suppose it's only a dream, and I'll
+wake up soon.  I guess I'd better go back and tell Mr. M'Clinton;
+and I've got to see Tommy somehow."  He bent his brows over the
+problem as he turned towards Lincoln's Inn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+SAILING ORDERS
+
+
+"Are you there, miss?"
+
+The sepulchral whisper came faintly to Cecilia's ears as she sat in
+her little room, sewing a frock of Queenie's.  The children were
+out in the garden at the back of the house.  Mrs. Rainham was
+practising in the drawing-room.  The sound of a high trill floated
+upwards as she opened the door.
+
+"What is it, Eliza?"
+
+"It's a letter, miss.  A kid brought it to the kitchen door--a bit
+of a boy.  Arsked for me as if 'e'd known me all 'is life--called
+me Elizer!  'E's waitin' for an answer.  I'll wait in me room,
+miss, till you calls me."  The little Cockney girl slipped away,
+revelling in furthering any scheme to defeat Mrs. Rainham and help
+Cecilia.
+
+Cecilia opened the letter hurriedly.  It contained only one line.
+
+"Can you come at once to Lincoln's Inn?  Important.--BOB."
+
+Cecilia knitted her brows.  It was nearly a month since the
+memorable evening when she and Bob had revolted; and though she was
+still made to feel herself in disgrace, and she knew her letters
+were watched, the close spying upon her movements had somewhat
+relaxed.  It had been too uncomfortable for Mrs. Rainham to keep it
+up, since it made heavy demands upon her own time, and interfered
+with too many plans; moreover, in spite of it, Cecilia had slipped
+away from the house two or three times, going and coming openly,
+and replying to any questions by the simple answer that she had
+been to meet Bob.  Angry outbreaks on the part of her stepmother
+she received in utter silence, against which the waves of Mrs.
+Rainham's wrath spent themselves in vain.
+
+Indeed, the girl lived in a kind of waking dream of happy
+anticipation, beside which none of the trials of life in Lancaster
+Gate had power to trouble her.  For on her first stolen visit to
+Mr. M'Clinton's office the wonderful plan of flight to Australia
+had been revealed to her, and the joy of the prospect blotted out
+everything else.  Mr. M'Clinton, watching her face, had been amazed
+by the wave of delight that had swept over it.
+
+"You like it, then?" he had said.  "You are not afraid to go so
+far?"
+
+"Afraid--with Bob?  Oh, the farther I can get from England the
+better," she had answered.  "I have no friends here; nothing to
+leave, except the memory of two bad years.  And out there I should
+feel safe--she could not get a policeman to bring me back."  There
+was no need to ask who "she" was.
+
+Cecilia had made her preparations secretly.  She had not much to
+do--Aunt Margaret had always kept her well dressed, and the simple
+and pretty things she had worn two years before, and which had
+never been unpacked since she put on mourning for her aunt, still
+fitted her, and were perfectly good.  It had never seemed worth
+while to leave off wearing mourning in Lancaster Gate--only when
+Bob had come home had she unpacked some of her old wardrobe.  Much
+was packed still, and in store under Mr. M'Clinton's direction,
+together with many of Aunt Margaret's personal possessions.  It was
+as well that it was so, since Mrs. Rainham had managed to annex a
+proportion of Cecilia's things for Avice.  To Lancaster Gate she
+had only taken a couple of trunks, not dreaming of staying there
+more than a short time.  So packing and flitting would be easy,
+given ordinary luck and the certain co-operation of Eliza.  Her few
+necessary purchases had been made on one of her hurried excursions
+with Bob; she had not dared to have the things sent home, and they
+had been consigned in a tin uniform case to Bob's care.
+
+She pondered over his note now, knitting her brows.  It would be
+easy enough to act defiantly and go at once; but if this meant that
+the final flight were near at hand she did not wish to excite anew
+her stepmother's anger and suspicion.  Then, as she hesitated, she
+heard a heavy step on the stairs, and she crushed the note
+hurriedly into her pocket.
+
+Mrs. Rainham came into the room without the formality of knocking--
+a formality she had never observed where Cecilia was concerned.
+The afternoon post had just come, and she carried some letters in
+her hand.
+
+"Cecilia, I want you to put on your things and go to Balding's for
+me," she said, her voice more civil than it had been for a month.
+"I'm asked up to Liverpool for a few days; my sister there is
+giving a big At Home--an awfully big thing, with the Lady Mayoress
+and all the Best People at it--and she wants me to go up.  I
+suppose she'll want me to sing."
+
+"That is nice," said Cecilia, speaking with more truth than Mrs.
+Rainham guessed.  "What will you wear?"
+
+"That's just it," said her stepmother eagerly.  "My new evening
+dress isn't quite finished--we ran short of trimming.  I can't go
+out, because the Simons are coming in to afternoon tea; so you just
+hurry and go over to Balding's to match it.  I got it there, and
+they had plenty.  Here's a bit."  She held out a fragment of gaudy
+sequin trimming.  "I think you could finish the dress without me
+getting in the dressmaker again--she's that run after she makes a
+regular favour of coming."
+
+"Very well," said Cecilia--who would, at the moment, have agreed to
+sew anything or everything that might hasten her stepmother's
+journey.  "When do you go?"
+
+"The day after to-morrow.  I'll stay there a few days, I suppose;
+not worth going so far for only one evening.  Mind, Cecilia, you're
+not to have Bob here while I'm away.  When I come back, if I'm
+satisfied with you, I'll see about asking him again."
+
+"That is very good of you," said the girl slowly.
+
+"Well, that's all right--you hurry and get ready; there's always a
+chance they may have sold out, because it was a bargain line, and
+if they have you'll have to try other places.  I don't know what on
+earth I'll do if you can't match it."  She turned to go, and then
+hesitated.  "I was thinking you might take Avice with you--but
+you'll get about quicker alone, and she isn't ready.  The tubes and
+buses are that crowded it's no catch to take a child about with
+you."  In moments of excitement Mrs. Rainham's English was apt to
+slip from her.  At other times she cultivated it carefully,
+assisted by a dramatic class, which an enthusiastic maiden lady,
+with leanings towards the stage, conducted each winter among
+neighbouring kindred souls.
+
+Cecilia had caught her breath in alarm, but she breathed a sigh of
+relief as the stout, over-dressed figure went down the narrow
+stairs, with a final injunction to hurry.  There was, indeed, no
+need to give Cecilia that particular command.  She scribbled one
+word, "Coming," on Bob's note, thrust it into an envelope and
+addressed it hastily, and then tapped on the wall between the
+servants' room and her own.
+
+Eliza appeared with the swiftness of a Jack-in-the-box, full of
+suppressed excitement.
+
+"Lor!  I fought she was never goin'," she breathed.  "Got it ready,
+Miss?  The boy'll fink I've gorn an' eloped wiv it."  She took the
+envelope and pattered swiftly downstairs.
+
+A very few moments saw Cecilia flying in her wake--to Balding's
+first, as quickly as tube and motor-bus could combine to take her,
+since she dared not breathe freely until Mrs. Rainham's commission
+had been settled.  Balding's had never seemed so huge and so
+complicated, and when she at length made her way to the right
+department the suave assistant regretted that the trimming was sold
+out.  It was Cecilia's face of blank dismay that made him suddenly
+remember that there was possibly an odd length somewhere, and a
+search revealed it, put away in a box of odds and ends.  Cecilia's
+thanks were so heartfelt that the assistant was mildly surprised.
+
+"For she don't seem the sort to wear ghastly stuff like that," he
+pondered, glancing after the pretty figure in the well-cut coat and
+skirt.
+
+Outside the great shop Cecilia glanced up and caught the eye of a
+taxi-driver who had just set down a fare.
+
+"I'll be extravagant for once," she thought.  She beckoned to the
+man, and in a moment was whirring through the streets in the
+peculiar comfort a motor gives to anyone in a hurry in London--
+since it can take direct routes instead of following the roundabout
+methods of buses and underground railways.  She leaned back,
+closing her eyes.  If this summons to Bob indeed meant that their
+sailing orders had come, she would need all her wits and her
+coolness.  For the first time she realized what her stepmother's
+absence from home might mean--a thousandfold less plotting and
+planning, and no risk of a horrible scene at the end.  Cecilia
+loathed scenes; they had not existed in Aunt Margaret's scheme of
+existence.  Since Bob's plans had become at all definite, she had
+looked forward with dread to a final collision with Mrs. Rainham--
+it was untold relief to know that it might not come.
+
+She hurried up the steps of Mr. M'Clinton's office.  The alert
+office boy--who had been Bob's messenger to Lancaster Gate--met
+her.
+
+"You're to go straight in, miss.  The Captain's there."
+
+Bob was in the inner sanctum with Mr. M'Clinton.  They rose to meet
+her.
+
+"Well--are you ready, young lady?" the old man asked.
+
+"Is it--are we to sail soon?"
+
+"Next Saturday--and this is Monday.  Can you manage it, Tommy?"
+Bob's eyes were dancing with excitement.
+
+"Oh, Bobby--truly?"  She caught at his coat sleeve.  "When did you
+hear?"
+
+"I had a wire from General Harran this morning.  A jolly good ship,
+too, Tommy; one of the big Australian liners--the Nauru.  You're
+all ready, aren't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  And there's the most tremendous piece of luck, Bobby--
+Mrs. Rainham's going away on Wednesday!"
+
+"Going away!  How more than tactful!" ejaculated Bob.  "Where is
+she going?"
+
+"To Liverpool."
+
+"Liverpool?  Oh, by Jove!"  Bob ended on a low whistle, while his
+face assumed a comical expression of dismay.  He turned to the
+lawyer.  "Did you ever hear of anything so queer?"
+
+"Queer?  Why?" demanded Cecilia.
+
+"Well, it looks as if she wanted to see the last of you, that's
+all.  The Nauru sails from Liverpool."
+
+"Bobby!"  Cecilia's face fell.  "I thought we went from Gravesend
+or Tilbury, or somewhere."
+
+"So did I.  But the General's wire says Liverpool, so it seems we
+don't," said Bob.  "And that she-dragon is going there too!"
+
+"I don't think you need really worry," Mr. M'Clinton said drily.
+"Liverpool is not exactly a village.  The chances are that if you
+went there, trying to meet some one, you would hunt for him for a
+week in vain.  And you'll probably go straight from the train to
+the docks, so that you won't be in the least likely to encounter
+Mrs. Rainham."
+
+"Why, of course, we'd never run into her in a huge place like
+Liverpool," Bob said, laughing.  "Don't be afraid, Tommy--you'll
+have seen the last of her when you say good-bye on Wednesday."
+
+"It seems too good to be true," said Cecilia solemnly.  "I remember
+how I felt once before, when she went away to visit her sister in
+Liverpool; the beautiful relief when one woke, to think that not
+all through the day would one even have to look at her.  It's
+really very terrible to look at her often; her white face and hard
+eyes seem to fascinate one.  Oh, I don't suppose I ought to talk
+like that, especially here."  She looked shamefacedly at Mr.
+M'Clinton, and blushed scarlet.
+
+Both men laughed.
+
+"The good lady had something of the same effect on me," Mr.
+M'Clinton admitted.  "I found her a very terrible person.  Cheer
+up, Miss Tommy, you've nearly finished with her.  And, now, what
+about getting you away?"
+
+Cecilia turned to her brother.
+
+"What am I to do, Bob?"
+
+"We'll have to go to Liverpool on Friday," Bob replied promptly.
+"I can't find out the Nauru's sailing time, and it isn't safe to
+leave it until Saturday.  There's a train somewhere about two
+o'clock that gets up somewhere about seven or eight that evening.
+Mr. M'Clinton and I don't want to leave it to the last moment to
+get your luggage away from Lancaster Gate.  Can you have it ready
+the night before?"
+
+"It would really be safer to take it in the afternoon," Cecilia
+said after a moment's thought.  "Mrs. Rainham's absence will make
+that quite easy, for I know I can depend upon Eliza and Cook.  I
+can get my trunks ready, leave them in my room, and tell Eliza you
+will be there to call for them, say, at four o'clock.  Then I take
+the three children out for a walk, and when we return everything is
+gone.  Will that do?"
+
+"Perfectly," said Bob, laughing.  "And four o'clock suits me all
+right.  Then you'll saunter out on Friday morning with an
+inoffensive brown paper parcel containing the rest of your worldly
+effects, and meet me for lunch at the Euston Hotel.  Is that
+clear?"
+
+"Quite.  I suppose I had better put no address on my trunks?"
+
+"Not a line--I'll see to that.  And don't even mention the word
+'Australia' this week, just in case your eye dances unconsciously,
+and sets people thinking!  I think you'd better cultivate a
+downtrodden look, at any rate until Mrs Rainham is out of the
+house; at present you look far too cheerful to be natural--doesn't
+she, sir?"
+
+"You have to see to it that she does not look downtrodden again,
+after this week," said Mr. M'Clinton.  "Remember that, Captain--
+she's going a long way, and she'll have no one but you."
+
+"I know, sir.  But, bless you, it's me that will look downtrodden,"
+said Bob with a grin.  "She bullies me horribly--always did."  He
+slipped his hand through her arm, and they looked up at him with
+such radiant faces that the old man smiled involuntarily.
+
+"Ah, I think you'll be all right," he said.  "Remember, Miss Tommy,
+I'll expect to hear from you--fairly often, too.  I shall not say
+good-bye now--you'll see me on Friday at luncheon."
+
+They found themselves down in the grey precincts of Lincoln's Inn,
+which, it may be, had rarely seen two young things prancing along
+so dementedly.  In the street they had to sober down, to outward
+seeming; but there was still something about them, as they hurried
+off to find a teashop to discuss final details, that made people
+turn to look at them.  Even the waitress beamed on them, and
+supplied them with her best cakes--and London waitresses are a
+bored race.  But at the moment, neither Cecilia nor Bob could have
+told you whether they were eating cakes or sausages.
+
+"The money is all right," Bob said.  "It'll be available at a
+Melbourne bank when we get there; and meanwhile, there's plenty of
+ready money, with what I've saved and my war gratuity.  So if you
+want anything, Tommy, you just say so, and don't go without any
+pretties just because you think we'll be in the workhouse."
+
+"Bless you--but I don't really need anything," she told him
+gratefully.  "It would be nice to have a little money to spend at
+the ports, but I think we ought to keep the rest for Australia,
+don't you, Bob?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course; but you're not to go without a few pounds if
+you want 'em," said Bob.  "And, Tommy, don't leave meeting me on
+Friday until lunch time.  I'll be worrying if you do, just in case
+things may have gone wrong.  Make it eleven o'clock at the Bond
+Street tube exit, and if you're not there in half an hour I'll
+jolly well go and fetch you."
+
+"I'll be there," Cecilia nodded.  "You had better give me the half-
+hour's grace, though, in case I might be held up at the last
+moment.  One never knows--and Avice and Wilfred are excellent
+little watchdogs."
+
+"Anyhow, you won't have the she-dragon to reckon with, and that's a
+big thing," Bob said.  "I don't see how you can have any trouble--
+Papa certainly will not give you any."
+
+"No, he won't bother," said Cecilia slowly.  "It's queer to think
+how little he counts--our own father."
+
+"A pretty shoddy apology for one, I think," Bob said bitterly.
+"What has he ever done for us?  But I'd forgive him that when I
+can't forgive him something else--the way he has let you be treated
+these two years."
+
+"He hasn't known everything, Bobby."
+
+"He has known quite enough.  And if he had the spirit of a man he'd
+have saved you from it.  No; we don't owe him any consideration,
+Tommy; and he saw to it years ago that we should never owe him any
+affection.  So we really needn't worry our heads about him.  By the
+way, there are to be some Australians on the Nauru who General
+Harran says may be of use to us--I don't remember their names, but
+he's going to give me a letter to them.  And probably there will be
+some other flying people whom I may know.  I think the voyage ought
+to be rather good fun."
+
+"I think so, too.  It will be exciting to be on a troopship,"
+Cecilia said.  "But, then, anything will be heavenly after
+Lancaster Gate!"
+
+She hurried home, as soon as the little meal was over, knowing that
+Mrs. Rainham would be impatiently awaiting her.  Luckily, her
+success in matching the trimming made her stepmother forget how
+long she had been away; and from that moment until a welcome four-
+wheeler removed the mistress of the house on Wednesday, she sewed
+and packed for her unceasingly.  Her journey excited Mrs. Rainham
+greatly.  She talked almost affably of her sister's grandeur, and
+of the certainty of meeting wealthy and gorgeously dressed people
+at her party.
+
+"Not that I'll be at all ashamed of my dress," she added, looking
+at the billowy waves on which Cecilia was plastering yet more
+trimming.  "Unusual and artistic, that's what it is; and it'll show
+off my hair.  Don't forget the darning when I'm gone, Cecilia.
+There's a tablecloth to mend, as well as the stockings.  I'll be
+home on Saturday night, unless they persuade me to stay over the
+week-end."
+
+Cecilia nodded, sewing busily.
+
+"And just see if you can't get on a bit better with the children.
+You've got to make allowances for their high spirits, and treat
+them tactfully.  Of course you can't expect them to be as obedient
+to you as they would be to a regular governess, you being their own
+half-sister, and not so much older than Avice, after all.  But tact
+does wonders, especially with children."
+
+"Yes," said Cecilia, and said no more.
+
+"Well, just bear it in mind.  I don't suppose you'll see much of
+your father, so you needn't worry about him.  But don't let Eliza
+gossip and idle; she never does any work if she's not kept up to
+it, and you know you're much too familiar with her.  Always keep
+girls like her at a distance, and they'll work all the better,
+that's what I say.  Treat her as an equal, and the next thing you
+know she'll be trying on your hats!"
+
+"I haven't caught Eliza at that yet," said Cecilia with the ghost
+of a smile.
+
+"It'll come, though, if you're not more stand-offish with her--you
+mark my words.  Keep them in their place--that's what I always do
+with my servants and governesses," said Mrs. Rainham without the
+slightest idea that she was saying anything peculiar.  "Now, I'll
+go and put my things out on my bed, and as soon as you've finished
+that you can come up and pack for me."
+
+Cecilia stood at the hall door that afternoon to watch her go--
+bustling into the cab, with loud directions to the cabman, her hard
+face full of self-importance and satisfaction.  The plump hand
+waved a highly scented handkerchief as the clumsy four-wheeler
+moved off.
+
+"To think I'll never see you again!" breathed the girl.  "It seems
+too good to be true!"
+
+A kind of wave of relief seemed to have descended upon the house.
+The children were openly exulting in having no one to obey; an
+attitude which, in the circumstances, failed to trouble their half-
+sister.  Eliza went about her work with a cheery face; even Cook,
+down in the basement, manifested lightness of heart by singing love
+songs in a cracked soprano and by making scones for afternoon tea.
+Mark Rainham did not come home until late--he had announced his
+intention of dining at his club.  Late in the evening he sauntered
+into the dining-room, where Cecilia sat sewing.
+
+"Still at it?" he asked.  He sat down and poked the fire.  "What
+are you sewing?"
+
+"Just darning," Cecilia told him.
+
+He sat looking at her for a while--at the pretty face and the well-
+tended hair; and who shall say what thoughts stirred in his dull
+brain?
+
+"You look a bit pale," he said at last.  "Do you go out enough?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so," Cecilia answered in astonishment.  Not in
+two years had he shown so much interest in her; and it braced her
+to a sudden resolve.  She had never been quite satisfied to leave
+him without a word; whatever he was, he was still her father.  She
+put her darning on her knee, and looked at him gravely.
+
+"You know Bob is demobilized, don't you, Papa?"
+
+"Yes--he told me so," Mark Rainham answered.
+
+"And you know he wants to take me away?"
+
+Her father's eyes wavered and fell before her.
+
+"Oh, yes--but the idea's ridiculous, I'm afraid.  You're under age,
+and your stepmother won't hear of it."  He poked the fire savagely.
+
+"But if Bob could make a home for me!  We have always been
+together, you know, Papa."
+
+"Oh, well--wait and see.  Time enough when you're twenty-one, and
+your own mistress; Bob will have had a chance to make good by then.
+I--I can't oppose my wife in the matter--she says she's not strong
+enough to do without your help."
+
+"But she never seems satisfied with me."
+
+Mark Rainham rose with an irritably nervous movement.
+
+"Oh, no one is ever perfect.  I suspect, if each of you went a
+little way to meet the other, things would be better.  Your
+stepmother says her nerves are all wrong, and I'm sure you do take
+a great deal of trouble off her shoulders."
+
+"Then you won't let me go?"  The girl's low voice was relentless,
+and her father wriggled as though he were a beetle and she were
+pinning him down.
+
+"I--I'm afraid it's out of the question, Cecilia.  I should have to
+be very satisfied first that Bob could offer you a home--and by
+that time he'll probably be thinking of getting married, and won't
+want you.  Why can't you settle down comfortably to living at
+home?"
+
+"There isn't any home for me apart from Bob," said the girl.
+
+"Well, I can't help it."  Mark Rainham's voice had a hopeless tone.
+He walked to the door, and then half turned.  "If you can make my
+wife agree to your going, I won't forbid it.  Good night."
+
+"Good night," said Cecilia.  The slow footsteps went up the stairs,
+and she turned to her darning with a lip that curled in scorn.
+
+"Well, that let's me out.  I don't owe you anything--not even a
+good-bye note on my pincushion," she said presently; and laughed a
+little.  She folded a finished pair of socks deliberately, and,
+rising, stretched her arms luxuriously above her head.  "Two more
+days," she whispered.  She switched off the light, and crept
+noiselessly upstairs.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE WATCH DOGS
+
+
+"Well, if you ask me, she's up to something," said Avice with
+conviction.
+
+"How d'you mean?"  Wilfred looked up curiously.
+
+"Lots of things.  She looks all different.  First of all--look how
+red she is all the time, and the excited look in her eyes."
+
+"That's all look--look!" jeered her brother.  "Girls always have
+those rotten ideas about nothing at all.  Just because Cecilia's
+got a bit sunburnt, and because she's havin' an easy time 'cause
+Mater's away--"
+
+"Oh, you think because you're a boy, you know everything," retorted
+his sister hotly.  "You just listen, and see if I've got rotten
+ideas.  Did you know, she's kept her room locked for days?"
+
+"Well--if she has?  That's nothing."
+
+"You shut up and let me go on.  Yesterday she forgot, and left it
+open while she was down talking to Cook, and I slipped in.  And
+there was one of her great big trunks, that she always keeps in the
+box room, half-packed with her things.  I nicked this necklace out
+of it, too," said Avice with triumph, producing a quaint string of
+Italian beads.
+
+"Good business," said Wilfred with an appreciative grin.  "Did she
+catch you?"
+
+"Not she--I can tell you I didn't wait long, 'cause she always
+comes upstairs as quick as lightning.  She did come, too, in an
+awful hurry, and locked up the room--I only got out of the way just
+in time.  And every minute she could, yesterday, she was up there."
+
+"Well, I don't see much in that."
+
+"No, but look here, I got another chance of looking into her room
+this morning, and that trunk was gone!"
+
+"Gone back to the box-room," said Wilfred with superiority.
+
+"No, it wasn't--I went up and looked.  And her other trunk's not
+there, either."
+
+"Oh, you're dreaming!  I bet she'd just pushed it under her bed."
+
+"Pooh!" said Avice.  "That great big trunk wouldn't go under her
+bed--you know she's only got a little stretcher-bed.  And I tell
+you they'd both gone.  I bet you anything she's going to run away."
+
+"Where'd she run to?"
+
+"Oh, somewhere with Bob."
+
+"Well, let her go."
+
+"Yes, and Mater 'd have to spend ever so much on a new governess;
+and most likely she'd be a worse beast than Cecilia.  And no
+governess we ever had did half the things Mater makes Cecilia do to
+help in the house.  Why she's like an extra servant, as well as a
+governess.  Mater told me all about it.  I tell you what, Wilfred,
+it's our business to see she doesn't run away."
+
+"All right," said Wilfred, "I suppose we'd better watch out.  When
+do you reckon she'd go?  People generally run away at night, don't
+they?"
+
+"Well, anyone can see she's just taking advantage of Mater being
+away.  Yes, of course she'd go at night.  She might have sent her
+boxes away yesterday by a carrier--I bet that horrid little Eliza
+would help her.  Ten to one she means to sneak out to-night--she
+knows Mater will be home to-morrow."
+
+"What a sell it will be for her if we catch her!" said Wilfred with
+glee.  "I say, what about telling Pater?"
+
+Avice looked sour.
+
+"I did tell him something yesterday, and he only growled at me.  At
+least, I said, 'Do you think Cecilia would ever be likely to run
+away?'  And he just stared at me, and then he said, 'Not your
+business if she does.'  So I'm not going to speak to him again."
+
+"Well, we'd better take it in turns to watch her," Wilfred said.
+"After dark's the most likely time, I suppose, but we'd better be
+on the look-out all the time.  Where's she now, by the way?"
+
+"Why, I don't know.  I say, she's been away a long time--I never
+noticed," said Avice, in sudden alarm.  "She said we were to go on
+with our French exercises--and that's ages ago."
+
+"Come on and see," said Wilfred jumping up.
+
+Outside the room he caught Avice by the arm.
+
+"Kick off your shoes," he said.  "We'll sneak up to her room."
+
+They crept up silently.  The door of Cecilia's room was ajar.
+Peeping in, they saw her standing before her tiny looking-glass,
+pinning on her hat.  A small parcel lay upon her bed, with her
+gloves and parasol.  The children were very silent--but something
+struck upon the girl's tightly strung nerves.  She turned swiftly
+and saw them.
+
+"What are you doing?" she demanded.  "How dare you come into my
+room?"
+
+"Why, we thought you were lost," said Avice.  "We finished our
+French ages ago.  Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going out," said Cecilia.  "I'll set you more work to do
+while I'm away."
+
+"But where are you going?"
+
+"That has nothing to do with you.  Come down to the schoolroom."
+
+Avice held her brother firmly by the arm.  Together they blocked
+the way.
+
+"Mater wouldn't let you go out in lesson time.  I believe you're
+going to run away!"
+
+A red spot flamed in each of Cecilia's white cheeks.
+
+"Stand out of my way, you little horrors!" she said angrily.  She
+caught up her things and advanced upon them.
+
+"I'm hanged if you're going," said Wilfred doggedly.  He pushed her
+back violently, and slammed the door.
+
+The attic doors in Lancaster Gate, like those of many London
+houses, were fitted with heavy iron bolts on the outside--a
+precaution against burglars who might enter the house by rooms
+ordinarily little used.  It was not the first time that Cecilia had
+been bolted into her room by her step-brother.  When first she
+came, it had been a favourite pastime to make her a prisoner--until
+their mother had made it an offence carrying a heavy penalty, since
+it had often occurred that Cecilia was locked up when she happened
+to need her.
+
+But this time Cecilia heard the heavy bolt shoot home with feelings
+of despair.  It was already time for her to leave the house.  Bob
+would be waiting for her in Bond Street, impatiently scanning each
+crowd of passengers that the lift shot up from underground.  She
+battered at the door wildly.
+
+"Let me out!  How dare you, Wilfred?  Let me out at once!"
+
+Wilfred laughed disagreeably.
+
+"Not if we know it--eh, Avice?"
+
+"Rather not," said Avice.  "What d'you think Mater'd say to us if
+we let you run away?"
+
+"Nonsense!" said Cecilia, controlling her voice with difficulty.
+"I was going to meet Bob."
+
+There was silence, and a whispered consultation.  Then Avice spoke.
+
+"Will you give us your word of honour you weren't going to run
+away?"
+
+Words of honour meant little to the young Rainhams.  But they knew
+that Cecilia held it as a commonplace of decent behaviour that
+people did not tell lies.  They had, indeed, often marvelled that
+she preferred to "take her gruel" rather than use any ready untruth
+that would have shielded her from their mother's wrath.  Avice and
+Wilfred had no such scruples on their own account: but they knew
+that they could depend upon Cecilia's word.  They were, indeed,
+just a little afraid of their own action in locking her up; their
+mother might have condoned it as "high spirits," but their father
+was not unlikely to take a different view.  So they awaited her
+reply with some anxiety.
+
+Cecilia hesitated.  Never in her life had she been so tempted.
+Perhaps because the temptation was so strong she answered swiftly.
+
+"No--I won't tell you anything of the kind.  But look here--if you
+will let me out I'll give you each ten shillings."
+
+Ten shillings!  It was wealth, and the children gasped.  Wilfred,
+indeed, would have shot back the bolt instantly.  It was Avice who
+caught at his arm.
+
+"Don't you!" she whispered.  "It'll cost heaps more than that to
+get a new governess--and we'll make Mater give us each ten
+shillings for keeping her.  I say, we'll have to get the Pater
+home."
+
+"How?"  Wilfred looked at her blankly.
+
+"Easy.  You go to the post office and telephone to him at his
+office.  Tell him to come at once.  I'll watch here, in case Eliza
+lets her out.  Run--hard as you can.  Mater'll never forgive us if
+she gets away."
+
+Wilfred clattered off obediently, awed by his sister's urgency.
+Avice sat down on the head of the stairs, close to the bolted door;
+and when Cecilia spoke again, repeating her offer, she answered her
+in a voice unpleasantly like her mother's:
+
+"No, you don't, my fine lady.  Wilfred's gone for the Pater--he'll
+be here presently.  You just stay there quietly till he comes."
+
+"Avice!"  The word was a wail.  "Oh, you don't know how important
+it is--let me out.  I'll give you anything in the world."
+
+"So'll Mater if I stop your little game," said Avice.  "You just
+keep quiet."
+
+Eliza's sharp little face appeared at the foot of the flight of
+stairs.
+
+"Wot's up, Miss Avice?  Anyfink wrong with Miss 'Cilia?"
+
+"Nothing to do with you," said Avice rudely.  "I'm looking after
+her."  But Cecilia's sharp ears had caught the new voice.
+
+"Eliza!  Eliza!" she called.
+
+The girl came up the stairs uncertainly.  Avice rose to confront
+her.
+
+"Now, you just keep off," she said.  "You're not coming past here.
+The master'll be home directly, and till he comes, no one's going
+up these stairs."  She raised her voice, to drown that of Cecilia,
+who was speaking again.
+
+Eliza looked at her doubtfully.  She was an undersized, wizened
+little Cockney, and Avice was a big, stoutly-built girl--who held,
+moreover, the advantage of a commanding position on the top step.
+In an encounter of strength there was little doubt as to who would
+win.  She turned in silence, cowed, and went down to the kitchen,
+while Avice sang a triumphant song, partly as a chant of victory,
+and partly to make sure that no one would hear the remarks that
+Cecilia was steadily making.  She herself had caught one phrase--
+"Tell my brother"--and her sharp little mind was busy.  Did that
+mean that Bob would be coming, against its mistress's orders, to
+Lancaster Gate.
+
+In the kitchen Eliza poured out a frantic appeal to Cook.
+
+"She's got Miss 'Cilia locked up--the little red-'eaded cat!  An'
+Master Wilfred gorn to fetch the Master!  Oh, come on, Cookie
+darlin', an' we'll let 'er out."
+
+Cook shook her head slowly.
+
+"Not good enough," she said.  "I got a pretty good place.  I ain't
+goin' to risk it by 'avin' a rough-an'-tumble with the daughter of
+the 'ouse on the hattic stairs.  You better leave well alone, Liza.
+You done your bit, 'elpin' 'er git them trunks orf yes'day."
+
+"Wot's the good of 'avin the trunks off if she can't go, too?"
+demanded Eliza.
+
+"Oh, she'll git another chance.  Don't worry your 'ead so much over
+other people's business.  If the Master comes 'ome an' finds us
+scruffin' 'is daughter, 'e'll 'and us both over to the police for
+assault--an' then you'll 'ave cause for worry.  Now you git along
+like a good gel--I got to mike pastry."  Cook turned away
+decisively.
+
+Wilfred had come home and had raced up the stairs.
+
+"Did you get him?" Avice cried.
+
+"No--he was out.  So I left a message that he was to come home at
+once, 'cause something was wrong."
+
+"That'll bring him," said Avice with satisfaction.  "Now, look
+here, Wilf--I believe Bob may come.  You go and be near the front
+door, to block Eliza, if he does.  Answer any ring."
+
+"What'll I say if he comes?"
+
+"Say she's gone out to meet him--if he thinks that, he'll hurry
+back to wherever they were to meet.  Don't give him a chance to get
+in.  Hurry!"
+
+"Right," said Wilfred, obeying.  He sat down in a hall chair, and
+took up a paper, with an eye wary for Eliza.  Half an hour passed
+tediously, while upstairs Cecilia begged and bribed in vain.  Then
+he sprang to his feet as a ring came.
+
+Bob was at the door; and suddenly Wilfred realized that he had
+always been afraid of Bob.  He quailed inwardly, for never had he
+seen his half-brother look as he did now--with a kind of still,
+terrible anger in his eyes.
+
+"Where's Cecilia?"
+
+"Gone out," said the boy.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Gone to meet you."
+
+"Did she tell you so?"
+
+"Yes, of course--how'd I know if she didn't?"
+
+"Then that's a lie, for she wouldn't tell you.  Let me in."
+
+"I tell you, she's gone out," said Wilfred, whose only spark of
+remaining courage was due to the fact that he had prudently kept
+the door on the chain.  "And Mater said you weren't to come in
+here."
+
+From the area below a shrill voice floated upwards.
+
+"Mr. Bob!  Mr. Bob!  Daon't you believe 'im.  They got Miss 'Cilia
+locked up in 'er room."
+
+"By Jove!" said Bob between his teeth.  "Bless you, Eliza!  Open
+that door, Wilfred, or I'll make it hot for you."  He thrust a foot
+into the opening, with a face so threatening that Wilfred shrank
+back.
+
+"I shan't," he said.  "You're not going to get her."
+
+"Am I not?" said Bob.  He leaned back, and then suddenly flung all
+his weight against the door.  The chain was old and the links eaten
+with rust--it snapped like a carrot, and the door flew open.  Bob
+brushed Wilfred out of his way, and went upstairs, three at a time.
+
+Avice blocked his path.
+
+"You aren't coming up."
+
+"Oh, yes, I think so," Bob said.  He stooped, with a quick
+movement, and picked her up, holding her across his shoulder, while
+she beat and clawed unavailingly at his back.  So holding her, he
+thrust back the bolt of Cecilia's door and flung it open.
+
+"Did you think they had got you, Tommy?"
+
+She could only cling to his free arm for a moment speechless.  Then
+she lifted her face, her voice shaking, still in fear.
+
+"We must hurry, Bob.  They've sent for Papa."
+
+"Have they?" said Bob, with interest.  "Well, not a regiment of
+papas should stop you now, old girl.  Got everything?"
+
+Cecilia gathered up her things, nodding.
+
+"Then we'll leave this young lady here," said Bob.  He placed Avice
+carefully on Cecilia's bed, and made for the door, having the
+pleasure, as he shot the bolt, of hearing precisely what the
+younger Miss Rainham thought of him and all his attributes,
+including his personal appearance.
+
+"A nice gift of language, hasn't she?" he said.  "Inherits it from
+her mamma, I should think."  He put his arm round Cecilia and held
+her closely as they went downstairs, his face full of the joy of
+battle.  Wilfred was nowhere to be seen, but by the door Eliza
+waited.  Bob slipped something into her hand.
+
+"I expect you'll lose your place over this, Eliza," he said.
+"Well, you'll get a better--I'll tell my lawyer to see to that.
+He'll write to you--by the way, what's your surname?  Oh, Smithers--
+I'll remember.  And thank you very much."
+
+They shook hands with her, and passed out into the street.  Cecilia
+was still too shaken to speak--but as Bob pulled her hand through
+his arm and hurried her along, her self-control returned, and the
+face that looked up at his presently was absolutely content.  Bob
+returned the look with a little smile.
+
+"Didn't you know I'd come?" he asked.  "You dear old stupid."
+
+"I knew you'd come--but I thought Papa would get there first,"
+Cecilia answered.  "Somehow, it seemed the end of everything."
+
+"It isn't--it's only the beginning," Bob answered.
+
+There was a narrow side street that made a short cut from the tube
+station to the Rainhams' home; and as they passed it Mark Rainham
+came hurrying up it.  Bob and Cecilia did not see him.  He looked
+at them for a moment, as if reading the meaning of the two happy
+faces--and then shrank back into an alley and remained hidden until
+his son and daughter had passed out of sight.  They went on their
+way, without dreaming that the man they dreaded was within a
+stone's throw of them.
+
+"So it was that," said Mark Rainham slowly, looking after them.
+"Out of gaol, are you--poor little prisoner!  Well, good luck to
+you both!"  He turned on his heel, and went back to his office.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+HOW TOMMY BOARDED A STRANGE TAXI
+
+
+"We're nearly in, Tommy."
+
+Cecilia looked up from her corner with a start, and the book she
+had been trying to read slipped to the floor of the carriage.
+
+"I believe you were asleep," said Bob, laughing.  "Poor old Tommy,
+are you very tired?"
+
+"Oh, nothing, really.  Only I was getting a bit sleepy," his sister
+answered.  "Are we late, Bob?"
+
+"Very, the conductor says.  This train generally makes a point of
+being late.  I wish it had made a struggle to be on time to-night;
+it would have been jolly to get to the ship in daylight."  Bob was
+strapping up rugs briskly as he talked.
+
+"How do we get down to the ship, Bob?"
+
+"Oh, no doubt there'll be taxis," Bob answered.  "But it may be no
+end of a drive--the conductor tells me there are miles and miles of
+docks, and the Nauru may be lying anywhere.  But he says there's
+always a military official on duty at the station--a transport
+officer, and he'll be able to tell me everything."  He did not
+think it worth while to tell the tired little sister what another
+man had told him, that it was very doubtful whether they would be
+allowed to board any transport at night, and that Liverpool was so
+crowded that to find beds in it might be an impossibility.  Bob
+refused to be depressed by the prospect.  "If the worst came to the
+worst, there'd be a Y.W.C.A. that would take in Tommy," he mused.
+"And it wouldn't be the first time I've spent a night in the open."
+Nothing seemed to matter now that they had escaped.  But, all the
+same, there seemed no point in telling Tommy, who was extremely
+cheerful, but also very white-faced.
+
+They drew into an enormous station, where there seemed a dense
+crowd of people, but no porters at all.  Bob piled their hand
+luggage on the platform, and left Cecilia to guard it while he went
+on a tour of discovery.  He hurried back to her presently.
+
+"Come on," he said, gathering up their possessions.  "There's a big
+station hotel opening on to the platforms.  I can leave you sitting
+in the vestibule while I gather up the heavy luggage and find the
+transport officer.  I'm afraid it's going to take some time, so
+don't get worried if I don't turn up very soon.  There seem to be
+about fifty thousand people struggling round the luggage vans, and
+I'll have to wait my turn.  But I'll be as quick as I can."
+
+"Don't you worry on my account," Cecilia said.  "This is ever so
+comfortable.  I don't mind how long you're away!"  She laughed up
+at him, sinking into a big chair in the vestibule of the hotel.
+There were heavy glass doors on either side that were constantly
+swinging to let people in or out; through them could be seen the
+hurrying throng of people on the station, rushing to and fro under
+the great electric lights, gathered round the bookstall, struggling
+along under luggage, or--very occasionally--moving in the wake of a
+porter with a barrow heaped with trunks.  There were soldiers
+everywhere, British and Australian, and officers in every variety
+of Allied uniform.
+
+An officer came in with a lady and two tiny boys--Cecilia
+recognized them as having been passengers on their train.  With
+them came an old Irish priest, who had met them, and the officer
+left them in his care while he also went off on the luggage quest.
+The small boys were apparently untired by their journey; they
+immediately began to use the swinging glass doors as playthings to
+the imminent risk of their own necks, since they were too little to
+be noticed by anyone coming in or out, and were nearly knocked flat
+a dozen times by the swing of the doors.  The weary mother spent a
+busy time in rescuing them, and was not always entirely successful--
+bumps and howls testified to the doors being occasionally quicker
+than the boys.  Finally, the old priest gathered up the elder, a
+curly-haired, slender mite, into his arms and told him stories,
+while his plump and solemn brother curled up on his mother's knee
+and dozed.  It was clearly long after their bed-time.
+
+The procession of people came and went unceasingly, the glass doors
+always aswing.  In and out, in and out, men and women hurried, and
+just beyond the kaleidoscope of the platforms moved and changed
+restlessly under the glaring arc lights.  Cecilia's bewildered mind
+grew weary of it all, and she closed her eyes.  It was some time
+later that she woke with a start, to find Bob beside her.
+
+"Sleepy old thing," he said.  "Oh, I've had such a wild time,
+Tommy; to get information of any kind is as hard as to get one's
+luggage.  However, I've got both.  And the first thing is we can't
+go on board to-night."
+
+"Bob!  What shall we do?"
+
+"I was rather anxious about that same thing myself," said Bob,
+"since everyone tells me that Liverpool is more jammed with people
+than even London--which is saying something.  However, we've had
+luck.  I went to ask in here, never imagining I had the ghost of a
+chance, and they'd just had telegrams giving up two rooms.  So
+we're quite all right; and so is the luggage.  I've had all the
+heavy stuff handed over to a carrier to be put on the Nauru to-
+morrow morning."
+
+"You're the great manager," said Cecilia comfortably.  "Where is
+the Nauru, by the way?"
+
+"Sitting out in the river, the transport officer says.  She doesn't
+come alongside until the morning; and we haven't to be on board
+until three o'clock.  She's supposed to pull out about six.  So we
+really needn't have left London to-day--but I think it's as well we
+did."
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Cecilia, with a shiver.  "I don't think I could
+have stood another night in Lancaster Gate.  I've been awake for
+three nights wondering what we should do if any hitch came in our
+plans."
+
+"Just like a woman!" said Bob, laughing.  "You always jump over
+your hedges before you come to them."  He pulled her gently out of
+her chair.  "Come along; I'll have these things sent up to our
+rooms, and then we'll get some dinner--after which you'll go to
+bed."  It was a plan which sounded supremely attractive to his
+sister.
+
+Not even the roar and rattle of the trains under the station hotel
+kept Cecilia awake that night.  She slept, dreamlessly at first;
+then she had a dream that she was just about to embark in a great
+ship for Australia; that she was going up the gangway, when
+suddenly behind her came her father and her stepmother, with Avice,
+Wilfred and Queenie, who all seized her, and began to drag her
+back.  She fought and struggled with them, and from the top of the
+gangway came Mr. M'Clinton and Eliza, who tugged her upwards.
+Between the two parties she was beginning to think she would be
+torn to pieces, when suddenly came swooping from the clouds an
+areoplane, curiously like a wheelbarrow, and in it Bob, who leaned
+out as he dived, grasped her by the hair, and swung her aboard with
+him.  They whirred away over the sea; where, she did not know, but
+it did not seem greatly to matter.  They were still flying between
+sea and sky when she woke, to find the sunlight streaming into her
+room, and some one knocking at her door.
+
+"Are you awake, Tommy?"  It was Bob's voice.  "Lie still, and I'll
+send you up a cup of tea."
+
+That was very pleasant, and a happy contrast to awakening in
+Lancaster Gate; and breakfast a little later was delightful, in a
+big sunny room, with interesting people coming and going all the
+time.  Bob and Cecilia smiled at each other like two happy
+children.  It was almost unbelievable that they were free; away
+from tryanny and coldness, with no more plotting and planning, and
+no more prying eyes.
+
+Bob went off to interview the transport officer after breakfast,
+and Cecilia found the officer's wife with the two little boys
+struggling to attend to her luggage, while the children ran away
+and lost themselves in the corridors or endeavoured to commit
+suicide by means of the lift.  So Cecilia took command of them and
+played with them until the harassed mother had finished, and came
+to reclaim her offspring--this time with the worry lines smoothed
+out of her face.  She sat down by Cecilia and talked, and presently
+it appeared that she also was sailing in the Nauru.
+
+"Indeed, I thought it was only wives who were going," she said.  "I
+didn't know sisters were permitted."
+
+"I believe General Harran managed our passages," Cecilia said.  "He
+has been very kind to my brother."
+
+"Well, you should have a merry voyage, for there will be scarcely
+any young girls on board," said Mrs. Burton, her new friend.  "Most
+of the women on the transports are brides, of course.  Ever so many
+of our men have married over here."
+
+"You are an Australian?" Cecilia asked.
+
+"Oh, yes.  My husband isn't.  He was an old regular officer, and
+returned to his regiment as soon as war broke out.  I don't think
+there will be many women on board: the Nauru isn't a family ship,
+you know."
+
+"What is that?" Cecilia queried.
+
+"Oh, a ship with hundreds of women and children--privates' wives
+and families, as well as officers'.  I believe they are rather
+awful to travel on--they must be terrible in rough weather.  The
+non-family ships carry only a few officers' wives, as a rule: a
+much more comfortable arrangement for the lucky few."
+
+"And we are among the lucky few?"
+
+"Yes.  I only hope my small boys won't be a nuisance.  I've never
+been without a nurse for them until last night.  However, I suppose
+I'll soon get into their ways."
+
+"You must let me help you," Cecilia said.  "I love babies."  She
+stroked Tim's curly head as she spoke: Dickie, his little brother,
+had suddenly fallen asleep on his mother's knee.
+
+Mrs. Burton smiled her thanks.
+
+"Well, it is pleasant to think we shan't go on board knowing no
+one," she said.  "I hope our cabins are not far apart.  Oh, here is
+my husband; I hope that means all our luggage is safely on board."
+
+Colonel Burton came up--a pleasant soldierly man, bearing the
+unmistakable stamp of the regular officer.  They were still
+chatting when Bob arrived, to be introduced--a ceremony which
+appeared hardly necessary in the case of the colonel and himself.
+
+"We've met at intervals since last night in various places where
+they hide luggage," said the colonel.  "I'm beginning to turn faint
+at the sight of a trunk!"
+
+"It's the trunks I can't get sight of that make me tremble,"
+grinned Bob.  "One of mine disappeared mysteriously this morning,
+and finally, after a breathless hunt, turned up in a lamp-room--
+your biggest Saratoga, Tommy!  Why anyone should have put it in a
+lamp-room seems to be a conundrum that is going to excite the
+station for ever.  But there it was."
+
+"And have they really started for the ship?" asked Cecilia.
+
+"Well--I saw them all on a lorry, checked over my list with the
+driver's, and found everything right, and saw him start," said Bob,
+laughing.  "More than that no man may say."
+
+"It would simplify matters if we knew our cabin numbers," said
+Colonel Burton.  "But we don't; neither does anyone, as far as I
+can gather, since cabins appear to be allotted just as you go on
+board--a peculiar system.  Can you imagine the ghastly heap of
+miscellaneous luggage that will be dumped on the Nauru, with
+frenzied owners wildly trying to sort it out!"
+
+"It doesn't bear thinking of," said Bob, laughing.  "Come along,
+Tommy, and we'll explore Liverpool."
+
+They wandered about the crowded streets of the great port, where
+may, perhaps, be seen a queerer mixture of races than anywhere in
+England, since ships from all over the world ceaselesly come and go
+up and down the Mersey.  Then they boarded a tram and journeyed out
+of the city, among miles of beautiful houses, and, getting down at
+the terminus, walked briskly for an hour, since it would be long
+before there would be any land for them to walk on again.  They got
+back to the hotel rather late for lunch, and very hungry; and
+afterwards it was time to pack up their light luggage and get down
+to the docks.  General Harran had warned them to take enough hand-
+baggage to last them several nights, since it was quite possible
+that their cabin trunks would be swept into the baggage room, and
+fail to turn up for a week after sailing.
+
+A taxi whisked them through streets that became more and more
+crowded.  The journey was not a long one; they turned down a slope
+presently, and drew up before a great gate across the end of a pier
+where two policemen were on duty to prevent the entrance of anyone
+without a pass.  Porters were there in singular numbers--England
+had grown quite used to being without them; and Bob had just
+transferred their luggage to the care of a cheerful lad with a
+barrow when Cecilia gave a little start of dismay.
+
+"Bob, I've left my watch!"
+
+"Whew!" whistled her brother.  "Where?"
+
+"I washed my hands just before I left my room," said the shamefaced
+Cecilia.  "I remember slipping it off my wrist beside the basin."
+
+"Well, there's no need to worry," said Bob cheerfully.  "Ten to one
+it's there still.  You'll have to take the taxi and go back for it,
+Tommy: I can't leave the luggage, and I may be wanted to show our
+papers, besides; but you won't have any difficulty.  Come along,
+and I'll see that the policeman lets you through when you come
+back."
+
+The constable was sympathetic.  He examined Cecilia's passport,
+declared that he would know her anywhere again, and that she had no
+cause for anxiety.
+
+"Is it time?  Sure, ye'll be tired of waitin' on the ould pier
+hours afther ye get back," he said cheerfully.  "I know thim
+transports.  Why, there's not one of the throops marched in yet.
+There comes the furrst lot."
+
+A band swung round the turn of the street playing a quickstep:
+behind it, a long line of Australian soldiers, marching at ease,
+each man with his pack on his shoulder.  A gate with a military
+sentry swung wide to admit them, and they passed on to where a high
+overhead bridge carried them aboard a great liner moored to the
+pier.
+
+"'Tis the soldiers have betther treatment than the officers whin it
+comes to boardin' transports," said the friendly policeman.  "They
+get marched straight on board.  The officers and their belongin's
+has to wait till they've gone through hivin knows what formalities.
+So you needn't worry, miss, an' take your time.  The ould ship'll
+be there hours yet."
+
+The taxi driver appeared only too glad of further employment, and
+Cecilia, much cheered, though still considerably ashamed of
+herself, leaned back comfortably in the cab as they whisked through
+the streets.  At the hotel good fortune awaited her, for a
+chambermaid had just found her watch and had brought it to the
+office for safe keeping.  Cecilia left her thanks, with something
+more substantial, for the girl, and hurried back to the cab.
+
+The streets seemed more thronged than ever, and presently traffic
+was blocked by a line of marching men--more "diggers" on their way
+to the transport.  Cecilia's chauffeur turned back into a side
+street, evidently a short cut.  Half-way along it the taxi jarred
+once or twice and came to a standstill.
+
+The chauffeur got out and poked his head into the bonnet,
+performing mysterious rites, while Cecilia watched him, a little
+anxiously.  Presently he came round to the door.
+
+"I'm awful sorry, miss," he said respectfully.  "The old bus has
+broke down.  I'm afraid I can't get another move out of 'er--I'll
+'ave to get 'er towed to a garage."
+
+"Oh!" said Cecilia, jumping out.  "Do you think I can find another
+near here?"
+
+"You oughter pick one up easy in the street up there," said the
+chauffeur.  "Plenty of 'em about 'ere.  Even if you shouldn't,
+miss, you can get a tram down to the docks--any p'liceman 'll
+direct you.  You could walk it, if you liked--you've loads of
+time."  He touched his cap as she paid him.  "Very sorry to let you
+down like this, miss--it ain't my fault.  All the taxis in England
+are just about droppin' to pieces--it'll be a mercy when repair
+shops get goin' again."
+
+"It doesn't matter," Cecilia said cheerfully.  She decided that she
+would walk; it would be more interesting, and the long wait on the
+pier would be shortened.  She set off happily towards the main
+street where the tram lines ran, feeling that short cuts were not
+for strangers in a big city.
+
+Even in the side street the shops were interesting.  She came upon
+a fascinating curio shop, and stopped a moment to look at the queer
+medley in its window; such a medley as may be seen in any port
+where sailor-men bring home strange things from far countries.  She
+was so engrossed that she failed to notice a woman who passed her,
+and then, with an astonished stare, turned back.  A heavy hand fell
+on her wrist.
+
+"Cecilia!"
+
+She turned, with a little cry.  Mrs. Rainham's face, inflamed with
+sudden anger, looked into her own.  The hard grasp tightened on her
+wrist.
+
+"What are you doing here, you wicked girl?  You've run away."
+
+At the moment no speech was possible to Cecilia.  She twisted her
+arm away fiercely, freeing herself with difficulty, and turning,
+ran, with her stepmother at her heels.  Once, Mrs. Rainham gasped
+"Police!" after which she required all the breath to keep near the
+flying girl.  The street was quiet; only one or two interested
+passers-by turned to look at the race, and a street urchin shouted:
+"Go it, red 'ead--she's beatin' yer!"
+
+It follows naturally, when one person pursues another through city
+streets, that the pursued falls under public suspicion and is
+liable to be caught and held by any officious person.  Cecilia felt
+this, and her anxiety was keen as she darted round the corner into
+the next street, looking about wildly for a means of escape.  A big
+van, crawling across the road, held Mrs. Rainham back for a moment,
+giving her a brief respite.
+
+Just in front of her, a block in the traffic was beginning to move.
+A taxi was near her.  She held up her hand desperately, trying to
+catch the driver's eye.  He shook his head, and she realized that
+he was already engaged--there was a pile of luggage beside him with
+big labels, and a familiar name struck her--"H.M.T. Nauru."  A
+girl, leaning from the window of the taxi, met her glance, and
+Cecilia took a sudden resolve.  She sprang forward, her hand on the
+door.
+
+"I am a passenger by the Nauru.  Could you take me in your car?"
+she gasped.
+
+"Why, of course," said the other girl.  "Plenty of room, isn't
+there, dad?"
+
+"Yes, certainly," said the other occupant of the cab--a big,
+grizzled man, who looked at the new-comer in blank amazement.  He
+had half risen, but there was no time for him to assist his self-
+invited guest; she had opened the door and jumped in before his
+daughter had finished speaking.  Leaning forward, Cecilia saw her
+stepmother emerge from the traffic, crimson-faced, casting wild and
+wrathful glances about her.  Then her wandering eye fell upon
+Cecilia, and she began to run forward.  Even as she did the
+chauffeur quickened his pace, and the taxi slid away, until the
+running, shouting figure was lost to view.
+
+Cecilia sat back with a gasp, and began to laugh helplessly.  The
+others watched her with faces that clearly showed that they began
+to suspect having entertained a lunatic unawares.
+
+"I do beg your pardon," said Cecilia, recovering.  "It was
+inexcusable.  But I was running away."
+
+"So it seemed," said the big man, in a slow, pleasant voice.  "I
+hope it wasn't from the police?"
+
+"Oh no!"  Cecilia flushed.  "Only from my stepmother.  My own taxi
+had just broken down, and she found me, and she would have made a
+scene in the street--and scenes are so vulgar, are they not?  When
+I saw Nauru on your luggage, you seemed to me to have dropped from
+heaven."
+
+She looked at them, her pretty face pink, her eyes dancing with
+excitement.  There was something appealing about her, in the big
+childish eyes, and in the well-bred voice with its faint hint of a
+French accent.  The girl she looked at could hardly have been
+called pretty--she was slender and long-limbed, with honest grey
+eyes and a sensitive mouth that seemed always ready to break into
+smiles.  A little smile hovered at its corners now, but her voice
+held a note of protection.
+
+"I don't think we need bother you to tell us," she said.  "In our
+country it's a very ordinary thing to give anyone a lift, if you
+have a seat to spare.  Isn't it, daddy?"
+
+"Of course," said her father.  "And we are to be fellow-passengers,
+so it was very lucky that we were there in the nick of time."
+
+Cecilia looked at them gratefully.  It might have been so
+different, she thought; she might have flung herself on the mercy
+of people who would have been suspicious and frigid, or of others
+who would have treated her with familiarity and curious questioning.
+These people were pleasantly matter-of-fact; glad to help, but
+plainly anxious to show her that they considered her affairs none
+of their business.  There was a little catch in her throat as she
+answered.
+
+"It is very good of you to take me on trust--I know I did an
+unwarrantable thing.  But my brother, Captain Rainham, will explain
+everything, and he will be as grateful to you as I am.  He is at
+the ship now."
+
+"Then we can hand you over to his care," said her host.  "By the
+way, is there any need to guard against the--er--lady you spoke of?
+Is she likely to follow you to the docks?"
+
+"She doesn't know I'm going," said Cecilia, dimpling.  "Of course,
+if it were in a novel she would leap into a swift motor and bid the
+driver follow us, and be even now on our heels--"
+
+"Goodness!" said the other girl.  She twisted so that she could
+look out of the tiny window at the back; turning back with a
+relieved face.
+
+"Nothing near us but a carrier's van and a pony cart," she said.
+"I shouldn't think you need worry."
+
+"No.  I really don't think I need.  My stepmother did see me in the
+taxi, but her brain doesn't move very swiftly, nor does she, for
+that matter--and I'm sure she wouldn't try to follow me.  She
+knows, too, that if she found me she couldn't drag me away as if I
+were two years old.  Oh, I'm sure I'm safe from her now," finished
+Cecilia, with a sigh of relief.
+
+"At any rate, if she comes to the docks she will have your brother
+to deal with," said the big man.  "And here we are."
+
+They got out at the big gate where the Irish policeman greeted
+Cecilia with a friendly "Did ye find it now, miss?" and beamed upon
+her when she held up her wrist, with her watch safely in its place.
+He examined her companions' passports, but let her through with an
+airy "Sure, this young lady's all right," which made Cecilia feel
+that no further proof could be needed of her respectability.  Then
+Bob came hurrying to meet her.
+
+"I was just beginning to get uneasy about you," he said.  "Did you
+have any trouble?"
+
+"My taxi broke down," Cecilia answered.  "But this lady and
+gentleman most kindly gave me a seat, and saved me ever so much
+trouble.  I'll tell you my story presently."
+
+Bob turned, saluting.
+
+"Thanks, awfully," he said.  "I wasn't too happy at letting my
+little sister run about alone in a strange city, but it couldn't be
+helped."
+
+"I'm very glad we were there," said the big man.  "Now, can you
+tell me where luggage should go?  My son and a friend are somewhere
+on the pier, I suppose, but it doesn't seem as though finding them
+would be an easy matter."
+
+The pier, indeed, resembled a hive in which the bees have broken
+loose.  Beside it lay the huge bulk of the transport, towering high
+above all the dock buildings near.  Already she swarmed with
+Australian soldiers, and a steady stream was still passing aboard
+by the overhead gangway to the blare and crash of a regimental
+march.  The pier itself was crowded with officers, with a
+sprinkling of women and children--most of them looking impatient
+enough at being kept ashore instead of being allowed to seek their
+quarters on the ship.  Great heaps of trunks were stacked here and
+there, and a crane was steadily at work swinging them aboard.
+
+"We can't go aboard yet, nobody seems to know why," Bob said.  "An
+individual called an embarkation officer, or something of the kind,
+has to check our passports; he was supposed to be here before three
+o'clock, but there's no sign of him yet, and every one has to wait
+his convenience.  It's hard on the women with little children--the
+poor mites are getting tired and cross.  Luggage can be left in the
+care of the ship's hands, to be loaded; I'll show you where, sir,
+if you like.  Is this yours?"  His eye fell on a truck-load of
+trunks, wheeled up by a porter, and lit up suddenly as he noticed
+the name on their labels.
+
+"Oh--are you Mr. Linton?" he exclaimed.  "I believe I've got a
+letter for you, from General Harran."
+
+"Now, I was wondering where I'd heard your name before, when your
+sister happened to say you were Captain Rainham," said the big man.
+"How stupid of me--of course, I met Harran at my club this week,
+and he told me about you."  He held out his hand, and took Bob's
+warmly; then he turned to his daughter.  "Norah, it's lucky that we
+have made friends with Miss Rainham already, because you know she's
+in our care, after a fashion."
+
+Norah Linton turned with a quick smile.
+
+"I'm so glad," she said.  "I've been wondering what you would be
+like, because we didn't know of anyone else on board."
+
+"General Harran told my brother that you would befriend us, but I
+did not think you would begin so early," Cecilia said.  "Just
+fancy, Bob, they rescued me almost from the clutches of the she-
+dragon!"
+
+Bob jumped.
+
+"You don't mean to say you met her?"
+
+"I did--as soon as my cab broke down.  And I lost my head and ran
+from her like a hare, and jumped into Mr. Linton's car!"
+
+Bob regarded her with solemn amazement.
+
+"So this is what happens when I let you go about alone!" he
+ejaculated.  "Why, you might have got yourself into an awful mess--
+it might have been anybody's car--"
+
+"Yes, but it wasn't," said his sister serenely.  "You see, I looked
+at Miss Linton first, and I knew it would be all right."
+
+The Lintons laughed unrestrainedly.
+
+"That's your look of benevolent old age, Norah," said her father.
+"I've often noticed it coming on."
+
+"I wish you'd mention it to Wally," Norah said.  "He might treat me
+with more respect if you did."
+
+"I doubt it; it isn't in Wally," said her father.  "Now, Rainham,
+shall we see about this luggage?"
+
+They handed it over to the care of deck hands, and watched it
+loaded, with many other trunks, into a huge net, which the crane
+seized, swung to an enormous height and then lowered gently upon
+the deck of the Nauru.  Just as the operation was finished two
+figures threaded their way through the crowd towards them;
+immensely tall young officers, with the badge of a British regiment
+on their caps.
+
+"Hullo, dad," said the taller--a good-looking grave-faced fellow,
+with a strong resemblance to Norah.  "We hardly expected you down
+so early."
+
+"Well, Norah and I had nothing to do, so we thought we might as
+well come; though it appears that we would have been wiser not to
+hurry," said Mr. Linton.  "Jim, I want to introduce you to two
+courageous emigrants--Miss Rainham, Captain Rainham--my son."
+
+Jim Linton shook hands, and introduced his companion, Captain
+Meadows, who was dark and well built, with an exceedingly merry
+eye.
+
+"We've been trying to get round the powers that be, to make our way
+on board," he said.  "The chief difficulty is that the powers that
+be aren't there; everything is hung up waiting for this blessed
+official.  I suppose the honest man is sleeping off the effects of
+a heavy lunch."
+
+"If he knew what hearty remarks are being made about him by over
+two hundred angry people, it might disturb his rest," said Wally
+Meadows.  "Come along and see them--you're only on the fringe of
+the crowd here."
+
+"Wally's been acting as nursemaid for the last half hour," Jim
+said, as they made their way along the pier.  "He rescued a curly-
+haired kid from a watery grave--at least, it would have been in if
+he hadn't caught it by the hind leg--and after that the kid refused
+to let him go."
+
+"He was quite a jolly kid," said Wally.  "Only he seems to have
+quicksilver in him, instead of blood.  I'm sorry for his mother--
+she'll have a packed time for the next five weeks."  He sighed.
+"Hide me, Norah--there he is now!"
+
+The curly-haired one proved to be little Tim Burton, who detached
+himself from his mother on catching sight of Wally, and trotted
+across to him with a shrill cry of "There's mine officer!"--whereat
+Wally swung him up on his shoulder, to his infinite delight.  Mrs.
+Burton hurried up to claim her offspring, and was made known to
+every one by Cecilia.
+
+"It's such an awful wait," she said wearily.  "We came here soon
+after two o'clock, thinking we would get the children on board
+early for their afternoon sleep; now it's after four, and we have
+stood here ever since.  It's too tantalizing with the ship looking
+at us, and the poor babies are so tired.  Still, I'm not the worst
+off.  Look at that poor girl."
+
+She pointed out a white-faced girl who was sitting in a drooping
+attitude on a very dirty wooden case.  She was dainty and refined
+in appearance; and looking at her, one felt that the filthy case
+was the most welcome thing she had found that afternoon.  Her
+husband, an officer scarcely more than a boy, stood beside, trying
+vainly to hush the cries of a tiny baby.  She put up her arms
+wearily as they looked at her.
+
+"Oh, give her to me, Harry."  She took the little bundle and
+crooned over it; and the baby wailed on unceasingly.
+
+"Oh!" said Norah Linton.  She took a quick stride forward.  They
+watched her accost the young mother--saw the polite, yet stiff,
+refusal on the English girl's face; saw Norah, with a swift decided
+movement stoop down and take the baby from the reluctant arms,
+putting any protest aside with a laugh.  A laugh went round the
+Linton party also.
+
+"I knew she'd get it," said Jim.
+
+"Rather!" his friend echoed.  "But she hasn't arms enough for all
+the babies who want mothering here."
+
+There were indeed plenty of them.  Tired young mothers stood about
+everywhere, with children ranging from a few months to three or
+four years, all weary by this time, and most of them cross.
+Harassed young husbands, unused to travelling with children--
+unused, indeed, to anything but War--went hither and thither trying
+to hasten the business of getting on board--coming back, after each
+useless journey, to try and soothe a screaming baby or restrain a
+tiny boy anxious to look over the edge of the pier.  It was only a
+few minutes before Cecilia had found a mother exhausted enough to
+yield up her baby without much protest; and Jim and Wally Meadows
+and Bob "adopted" some of the older children, and took them off to
+see the band; which diversions helped to pass the time.  But it was
+after five o'clock before a stir went round the pier, and a rush of
+officers towards a little wooden room at the foot of the gangway
+told that the long-waited-for official had arrived.
+
+"Well, we won't hurry," said Mr. Linton.  "Let the married men get
+on first."
+
+There were not many who did not hurry.  A few of the older officers
+kept back; the majority, who were chiefly subalterns, made a dense
+crowd about the little room, their long-pent impatience bursting
+out at last.  Passports examined, a procession began up the
+gangway; each man compelled to halt at a barrier on top, where two
+officers sat allotting cabins.  It was difficult to see why both
+these preliminaries could not have been managed before, instead of
+being left until the moment of boarding; the final block strained
+every one's patience to breaking-point.
+
+The Lintons and the Rainhams were almost the last to board the
+ship, having, not without thankfulness, relinquished their adopted
+babies.  The officers allotting berths nodded comprehendingly on
+hearing the names of the two girls.
+
+"Oh yes--you're together."  He gave them their number.
+
+"Together--how curious!" said Cecilia.
+
+"Not a bit; you're the only unmarried ladies on board.  And they're
+packed like sardines--not a vacant berth on the ship.  Over two
+thousand men and two hundred officers, to say nothing of wives and
+children."  He leaned back, thankful that his rush of work was
+over.  "Well, when I make a long voyage I hope it won't be on a
+trooper!"
+
+"Well, that's a bad remark to begin one's journey on," said Jim
+Linton, following the girls up the gangway.  "Doesn't it scare you,
+Miss Rainham?"
+
+"No," she said, with a little laugh.  "Nothing would scare me
+except not going."
+
+"Why, that's all right," he said.  His hand fell on his sister's
+shoulder.  "And what about you, Nor?"
+
+The face she turned him was so happy that words were hardly needed.
+
+"Why--I'm going back to Billabong!" she said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE WELCOME OF AUSTRALIA
+
+
+A path of moonlight lay across the sea.  Into it drifted a great
+ship, her engines almost stopped, so that only a dull, slow throb
+came up from below, instead of the swift thud-thud of the screw
+that had pounded for many weeks.  It was late; so late that most of
+the ship's lights were extinguished.  But all through her was a
+feeling of pulsating life, of unrest, of a kind of tense
+excitement, of long-pent expectation.  There were low voices
+everywhere; feet paced the decks; along the port railings on each
+deck soldiers were clustered thickly, looking out across the grey,
+tossing sea to a winking light that flashed and twinkled out of the
+darkness like a voice that cried "Greeting!"  For it was the Point
+Lonsdale light, at the sea gate of Victoria; and the men of the
+Nauru were nearly home.
+
+There was little sleep for anyone on board on that last night.
+Most of the Nauru's great company were to disembark in Melbourne;
+the last two days had seen a general smartening up, a mighty
+polishing of leather and brass, a "rounding-up" of scattered
+possessions.  The barber's shop had been besieged by shaggy crowds;
+and since the barber, being but human, could not cope with more
+than a small proportion of his would-be customers, amateur clipping
+parties had been in full swing forward, frequently with terrifying
+results.  Nobody minded.  "Git it orf, that's all that matters!"
+was the motto of the long-haired.
+
+No one knew quite when the Nauru would berth; it was wrapped in
+mystery, like all movements of troopships.  So every one was ready
+the night before--kit bags packed, gear stowed away, nothing left
+save absolute necessaries.  Then, with the coming of dusk, unrest
+settled down upon the ship, and the men marched restlessly, up and
+down, or, gripping pipe stems between their teeth, stared from the
+railings northwards.  And then, like a star at first, the Point
+Lonsdale light twinkled out of the darkness, and a low murmur ran
+round the decks--a murmur without words, since it came from men
+whose only fashion of meeting any emotion is with a joke; and even
+for a "digger" there is no joke ready on the lips, but only a catch
+at the heart, at the first glimpse of home.
+
+Norah Linton had tucked herself away behind a boat on the hurricane
+deck, and there Cecilia Rainham found her just after dusk.  The two
+girls had become sworn friends during the long voyage out, in the
+close companionship of sharing a cabin--which is a kind of acid
+test that generally brings out the best--and worst--of travellers.
+There was something protective in Norah's nature that responded
+instantly to the lonely position of the girl who was going across
+the world to a strange country.  Both were motherless, but in
+Norah's case the blank was softened by a father who had striven
+throughout his children's lives to be father and mother alike to
+them, while Cecilia had only the bitter memory of the man who had
+shirked his duty until he had become less than a stranger to her.
+If any pang smote her heart at the sight of Norah's worshipping
+love for the tall grey "dad" for whom she was the very centre of
+existence, Cecilia did not show it.  The Lintons had taken them
+into their little circle at once--more, perhaps, by reason of
+Cecilia's extraordinary introduction to them than through General
+Harran's letter--and Bob and his sister were already grateful for
+their friendship.  They were a quiet quartet, devoted to each other
+in their undemonstrative fashion; Norah was on a kind of boyish
+footing with Jim, the huge silent brother who was a major, with
+three medal ribbons to his credit, and with Wally Meadows, his
+inseparable chum, who had been almost brought up with the brother
+and sister.
+
+"They were always such bricks to me, even when I was a little scrap
+of a thing," she had told Cecilia.  "They never said I was 'only a
+girl,' and kept me out of things.  So I grew up more than three
+parts a boy.  It was so much easier for dad to manage three boys,
+you see!"
+
+"You don't look much like a boy," Cecilia had said, looking at the
+tall, slender figure and the mass of curly brown hair.  They were
+getting ready for bed, and Norah was wielding a hair-brush
+vigorously.
+
+"No, but I really believe I feel like one--at least, I do whenever
+I am with Jim and Wally," Norah had answered.  "And when we get
+back to Billabong it will be just as it always was--we'll be three
+boys together.  You know, it's the most ridiculous thing to think
+of Jim and Wally as grown-ups.  Dad and I can't get accustomed to
+it at all.  And as for Jim being a major!--a major sounds so
+dignified and respectable, and Jim isn't a bit like that!"
+
+"And what about Captain Meadows?"
+
+"Oh--Wally will simply never grow up."  Norah laughed softly.
+"He's like Peter Pan.  Once he nearly managed it--in that bad time
+when Jim was a prisoner, and we thought he was killed.  But Jim got
+back just in time to save him from anything so awful.  One of the
+lovely parts of getting Jim again was to see the twinkle come back
+into Wally's eyes.  You see, Wally is practically all twinkle!"
+
+"And when you get back to Australia, what will you all do?"
+
+Norah had looked puzzled.
+
+"Why, I don't know that we've ever thought of it," she said.
+"We'll just all go to Billabong--we don't seem to think further
+than that.  Anyway, you and Bob are coming too--so we can plan it
+all out then."
+
+Looking at her, on this last night of the voyage, Cecilia wondered
+whether the unknown "Billabong" would indeed be enough, after the
+long years of war.  They had been children when they left; now the
+boys were seasoned soldiers, with scars and honours, and such
+memories as only they themselves could know; and Norah and her
+father had for years conducted what they termed a "Home for Tired
+People," where broken and weary men from the front had come to be
+healed and tended, and sent back refitted in mind and body.  This
+girl, who leaned over the rail and looked at the Point Lonsdale
+light, had seen suffering and sorrow; the mourning of those who had
+given up dear ones, the sick despair of young and strong men
+crippled in the very dawn of life; and had helped them all.  Beside
+her, in experience, Cecilia felt a child.  And yet the old bush
+home, with its simple life and the pleasures that had been
+everything to her in childhood, seemed everything to her now.
+
+Cecilia went softly to her side, and Norah turned with a start.
+
+"Hallo, Tommy!" she said, slipping her arm through the new-comer's--
+Cecilia had become "Tommy" to them all in a very short time, and
+her hated, if elegant, name left as a legacy to England.  "I didn't
+hear you come.  Oh, Tommy, it's lovely to see home again!"
+
+"You can't see much," said Tommy, laughing.
+
+"No, but it's there.  I can feel it; and that old winking eye on
+Point Lonsdale is saying fifty nice things a minute.  And I can
+smell the gum leaves--don't you tell me I can't, Tommy, just
+because your nose isn't tuned up to gum leaves yet!"
+
+"Does it take long to tune a nose?" asked Tommy, laughing.
+
+"Not a nice nose like yours."  Norah gave a happy little sigh.  "Do
+you see that glow in the sky?  That's the lights of Melbourne.  I
+went to school near Melbourne, but I never loved it much; but
+somehow, it seems different now.  It's all just shouting welcomes.
+And back of beyond that light is Billabong."
+
+"I want to see Billabong," said the other girl.  "I never had a
+home that meant anything like that--I want to see yours."
+
+"And I suppose you'll just think it's an ordinary, untidy old
+place--not a bit like the trim English places, where the woods look
+as though they were swept and dusted before breakfast every
+morning.  I suppose it is all ordinary.  But it has meant just
+everything I wanted, all my life, and I can't imagine its meaning
+anything less now."
+
+"And what about Homewood--the Home for Tired People?"
+
+"Oh, Homewood certainly is lovely," Norah said.  "I like it better
+than any place in the world that isn't Billabong--and it was just
+wonderful to be able to carry it on for the Tired People: dad and I
+will always be thankful we had the chance.  But it never was home:
+and now it's going to run itself happily without us, as a place for
+partly-disabled men, with Colonel Hunt and Captain Hardress to
+manage it.  It was just a single chapter in our lives, and now it
+is closed.  But we're--all of us--parts of Billabong."
+
+Some one came quietly along the deck and to the vacant place on her
+other side.
+
+"Who's talking Billabong again, old kiddie?"  Jim Linton's deep
+voice was always gentle.  Norah gave his shoulder a funny little
+rub with her head.
+
+"Ah, you're just as bad as I am, so you needn't laugh at me,
+Jimmy."
+
+"I wasn't laughing at you," Jim defended himself.  "I expected to
+find you ever so much worse.  I thought you'd sing anthems on the
+very word Billabong all through the voyage, especially in your
+bath.  Of course I don't know what Tommy has suffered!"
+
+"Tommy doesn't need your sympathy," said that lady.  "However, she
+wants to look her best for Melbourne, so she's going to bed.  Don't
+hurry, Norah; I know you want to exchange greetings with that light
+for hours yet!"
+
+She slipped away, and Norah drew closer to Jim.  Presently came
+Wally, on her other side, and a few moments later a deep voice
+behind them said, "Not in bed yet, Norah?"--and Wally made room for
+Mr. Linton.
+
+"I couldn't go to bed, dad."
+
+"Apparently most of the ship is of your mind--I didn't feel like
+bed myself," admitted the squatter, letting his hand rest for a
+moment on his daughter's shoulder.  He gave a great sigh of
+happiness.  "Eh, children, it's great to be near home again!"
+
+"My word, isn't it!" said Jim.  "Only it's hard to take in.  I keep
+fancying that I'll certainly wake up in a minute and find myself in
+a trench, just getting ready to go over the top.  What do you
+suppose they're doing at Billabong now, Nor?"
+
+"Asleep," said Norah promptly.  "Oh, I don't know--I don't believe
+Brownie's asleep."
+
+"I know she's not," Wally said.  He and the old nurse-housekeeper
+of Billabong were sworn allies; though no one could ever quite come
+up to Jim and Norah in Brownie's heart, Wally had been a close
+third from the day, long years back, that he had first come to the
+station, a lonely, dark-eyed little Queenslander.  "She's made the
+girls scrub and polish until there's nothing left for them to rub,
+and she's harried Hogg and Lee Wing until there isn't a leaf
+looking crooked in all the garden, and she and Murty have planned
+all about meeting you for the hundred and first time."
+
+"And she's planning to make pikelets for you!" put in Norah.
+
+"Bless her.  I wouldn't wonder.  She's planning the very wildest
+cooking, of course--do you remember what the table used to be the
+night we came home from school?  And now she's gone round all the
+rooms to make sure she couldn't spend another sixpence on them, and
+she's sitting by her window trying to see us all on the Nauru.
+'Specially you, old Nor."
+
+"'Tis the gift of second sight you have," said Jim admiringly.  "A
+few hundred years ago you'd have got yourself ducked as a witch or
+something."
+
+"Oh, Wally and Brownie were always twin souls; no wonder each knows
+what the other is thinking of," Norah said, laughing.  "It all
+sounds exactly true, at any rate.  Boys, what a pity you can't land
+in uniform--wouldn't they all love to see you!"
+
+"Can't do it," Jim said.  "Too long since we were shot out of the
+army; any enterprising provost-marshal could make himself obnoxious
+about it."
+
+"I know--but I'm sorry," answered Norah.  "Brownie won't be
+satisfied unless she sees you in all your war paint."
+
+"We'll put it on some night for dinner," Jim promised.  He peered
+suddenly into the darkness.  "There's a moving light--it's the
+pilot steamer coming out for us."
+
+They watched the light pass slowly from the dim region that meant
+the Heads, until, as the pilot boat swung out through the Rip to
+where the Nauru lay, her other lights grew clear, and presently her
+whole outline loomed indistinctly, suddenly close to them.  She lay
+to across a little heaving strip of sea, and presently the pilot
+was being pulled across to them by a couple of men and was coming
+nimbly up the Nauru's ladder, hand over hand.  He nodded cheerily
+at his welcome--a fusillade of greetings from every "digger" who
+could find a place at the railings, and a larger number who could
+not, but contented themselves with shouting sweet nothings from
+behind their comrades.  A lean youngster near Jim Linton looked
+down enviously at the retreating boat.
+
+"If I could only slide down into her, an' nick off to the old
+Alvina over there, I'd be home before breakfast," he said.  "Me
+people live at Queenscliff--don't it seem a fair cow to have to go
+past 'em, right up to Melbourne?"
+
+The pilot's head appeared above on the bridge, beside the
+captain's, and presently the Nauru gathered way, and, slowly
+turning, forged through the tossing waters of the Rip.  Before her
+the twin lights of the Heads opened out; soon she was gliding
+between them, and under the silent guns of the Queenscliff forts,
+and past the twinkling house lights of the little seaside town.
+There were long coo-ees from the diggers, with shrill, piercing
+whistles of greeting for Victoria; from ashore came faint answering
+echoes.  But the four people from Billabong stood silently, glad of
+each other's nearness, but with no words, and in David Linton's
+heart and Norah's was a great surge of thankfulness that, out of
+many perils, they were bringing their boys safely home.
+
+The Nauru turned across Port Phillip Bay, and presently they felt
+the engines cease, and there came the rattle of the chain as the
+anchor shot into the sea.
+
+"As the captain thought," said Jim.  "He fancied they'd anchor us
+off Portsea for the night and bring us up to Port Melbourne in the
+morning, after we'd been inspected.  Wouldn't it be the limit if
+some one developed measles now, and they quarantined us!"
+
+"You deserve quarantining, if ever anyone did," said Norah,
+indignantly.  "Why do you have such horrible ideas?"
+
+"I don't know--they just seem to waft themselves to me," said Jim
+modestly.  "Anyhow, the quarantine station is a jolly little place
+for a holiday, and the sea view is delightful."  He broke off,
+laughing, and suddenly flung his arm round her shoulders in the
+dusk of the deck.  "I think I'm just about insane at getting home,"
+he said.  "Don't mind me, old kiddie--and you'd better go to bed,
+or you'll be a ghost in the morning."
+
+They weighed anchor after breakfast, following a perfunctory
+medical inspection--so perfunctory that one youth who, having been
+a medical student, and knowing well that he had a finely-developed
+feverish cold, with a high temperature, and not wishing to
+embarrass his fellow-passengers, placed in his mouth the wrong end
+of the clinical thermometer handed him by the visiting nurse.  He
+sucked this gravely for the prescribed time, reversing it just as
+she reappeared; and, being marked normal and given a clean bill of
+health, returned to his berth to shiver and perspire between huge
+doses of quinine.  More than one such hero evaded the searching eye
+of regulations; until finally the Nauru, free to land her
+passengers, steamed slowly up the Bay.
+
+One by one the old, familiar landmarks opened out--Mornington,
+Frankston, Mordialloc, while Melbourne itself lay hidden in a mist
+cloud ahead.  Then, as the sun grew stronger the mist lifted, and
+domes and spires pierced the dun sky, towering above the jumbled
+mass of the grey city.  They drew closer to Port Melbourne, and lo!
+St. Kilda and all the foreshore were gay with flags, and all the
+ships in the harbour were dressed to welcome them; and beyond the
+pier were long lines of motors, each beflagged, waiting for the
+fighting men whom the Nauru was bringing home.
+
+"Us!" said a boy.  "Why, it's us!  Flags an' motors--an' a blessed
+band playin' on the pier!  Wot on earth are they fussin' over us
+for?  Ain't it enough to get home?"
+
+The band of the Nauru was playing Home, Sweet Home, very low and
+tenderly, and there were lumps in many throats, and many a pipe
+went out unheeded.  Slowly the great ship drew in to the pier,
+where officers in uniform waited, and messengers of welcome from
+the Government.  Beyond the barriers that held the general public
+back from the pier was a black mass of people; cheer upon cheer
+rose, to be wafted back from the transport, where the "diggers"
+lined every inch of the port side, clinging like monkeys to yards
+and rigging.  Then the Nauru came to rest at last, and the gangways
+rattled down, and the march off began, to the quick lilt of the
+band playing "Oh, it's a Lovely War."  The men took up the words,
+singing as they marched back to Victoria--coming back, as they had
+gone, with a joke on their lips.  So the waiting motors received
+them, and rolled them off in triumphal procession to Melbourne,
+between the cheering crowds.
+
+From the top deck the Lintons, with the Rainhams, watched the men
+go--disembarkation was for the troops first, and not till all had
+gone could the unattached officers leave the ship.  The captain
+came to them, at last a normal and friendly captain--no more the
+official master of a troopship, in which capacity, as he ruefully
+said, he could make no friends, and could scarcely regard his ship
+as his own, provided he brought her safely from port to port.  He
+cast a disgusted glance along the stained and littered decks.
+
+"This is her last voyage as a trooper, and I'm not sorry," he said.
+"After this she'll lie up for three months to be refitted; and then
+I'll command a ship again and not a barracks.  You wouldn't think
+now, to see her on this voyage, that the time was when I had to
+know the reason why if there was so much as a stain the size of a
+sixpence on the deck.  Oh yes, it's been all part of the job, and
+I'm proud of all the old ship has done, and the thousands of men
+she's carried; and we've had enough narrow squeaks, from mines and
+submarines, to fill a book.  But I'm beginning to hanker mightily
+to see her clean!"
+
+The Lintons laughed unfeelingly.  A little mild grumbling might
+well be permitted to a man with his record; few merchant captains
+had done finer service in the war, and the decoration on his breast
+testified to his cool handling of his ship in the "narrow squeaks"
+he spoke of lightly.
+
+"Oh yes.  I never get any sympathy," said the captain, laughing
+himself.  "And yet I'll wager Miss Linton was 'house-proud' in that
+'Home for Tired People' of hers, and she ought to sympathize with a
+tidy man.  You should have seen my wife's face when she came aboard
+once at Liverpool, and saw the ship; and she's never had the same
+respect for me since!  There--the last man is off the ship, and the
+gangways are clear; nothing to keep all you homesick people now."
+He said good-bye, and ran up the steps to his cabin under the
+bridge.
+
+It was a queer home-coming at first, to a vast pier, empty save for
+a few officials and policemen--for no outsiders were allowed within
+the barriers.  But once clear of customs officials and other
+formalities they packed themselves into cabs, and in a few moments
+were outside the railed-off space, turning into a road lined on
+either side with people--all peering into the long procession of
+cabs, in the hope of finding their own returning dear ones.  It was
+but a few moments before a posse of uncles, aunts and cousins
+swooped down upon the Lintons, whose cab prudently turned down a
+side street to let the wave of welcome expend itself.  In the side
+street, too, were motors belonging to the aunts and uncles; and
+presently the new arrivals were distributed among them, and were
+being rushed up to Melbourne, along roads still crowded by the
+people who had flocked to welcome the "diggers" home.  The Rainhams
+found themselves adopted by this new and cheery band of people--at
+least half of whose names they never learned; not that this seemed
+to matter in the least.  It was something new to them, and very un-
+English; but there was no doubt that it made landing in a new
+country a very different thing from their half-fearful anticipations.
+
+"And you really came out all alone--not knowing anyone!" said an
+aunt.  "Aren't you English people plucky!  And I believe that most
+of you think we're all black fellows--or did until our diggers went
+home, and proved unexpectedly white!"
+
+"I don't think we're quite so bad as that!" Bob said, laughing.
+"But certainly we never expected quite so kind a welcome."
+
+"Oh, we're all immensely interested in people who take the trouble
+to come across the world to see us," said Mrs. Geoffrey Linton.
+"That is, if they don't put on 'side'; we don't take kindly to
+being patronized.  And you have no idea how many new chums do
+patronize us.  Did you know, by the way, that you're new chums
+now?"
+
+"It has been carefully drilled into us on the ship," Bob said
+gravely.  "I think we know pretty well all we have to face--the
+snakes that creep into new chums' boots and sleep under their
+pillows, the goannas that bite our toes if we aren't watchful, and
+the mosquitoes that sit on the trees and bark!"
+
+"Also the tarantulas that drop from everywhere, especially into
+food," added Tommy, dimpling.  "And the bush fires every Sunday
+morning, and the blacks that rush down--what is it?  Oh yes, the
+Block, casting boomerangs about!  There is much spare time on a
+troopship, Mrs. Linton, and all of it was employed by the
+subalterns in telling us what we might expect!"
+
+"I can quite imagine it," Mrs. Geoffrey laughed.  "Oh well,
+Billabong will be a good breaking-in.  Norah tells me you are going
+up there at once?"
+
+"Well, not quite at once," Bob said.  "We think it is only fair to
+let them get home without encumbrances, and as we have to present
+other letters of introduction in Melbourne, we'll stay here for a
+few days, and then follow them."
+
+"Then you must come out to us," said Mrs. Geoffrey firmly.  "No use
+to ask my brother-in-law, of course; he has just one idea, and that
+is to stay at Scott's, get his luggage through the customs, see his
+bankers as quickly as possible, and then get back to his beloved
+Billabong.  If we get them out to dinner to-night, it's as much as
+we can hope for.  But you two must come to us--we can run you here
+and there in the car to see the people you want."  She put aside
+their protests, laughing.  "Why, you don't know how much we like
+capturing bran-new English people--and think what you have done for
+our boys all these four years!  From what they tell us, if anyone
+wants to go anywhere or do anything he likes in England, all he has
+to do is to wear a digger's slouched hat!"
+
+They stopped in Collins Street, and in a moment the new-comers,
+slightly bewildered, found themselves in a tea-room; a new thing in
+tea-rooms to Tommy and Bob, since it was a vision of russet and
+gold--brown wood, masses of golden wattle and daffodils, and of
+bronze gum leaves; and even the waitresses flitted about in russet-
+brown dresses.  David Linton hung back at the doorway.
+
+"It isn't a party, Winifred?"
+
+"My dear David, only a few people who want to welcome you back.
+Really, you're just as bad as ever!" said his sister-in-law, half
+vexed.  "The children's school friends, too--Jim and Wally's mates.
+You can't expect us to get you all back, after so long--and with
+all those honours, too!--and not give people a chance of shaking
+hands with you."  At which point Norah said, gently, but firmly,
+"Dad, you mustn't be naughty," and led him within.
+
+Some one grasped his hand.  "Well, Linton, old chap!"  And he found
+himself greeting the head of a big "stock and station" firm.  Some
+one else clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to meet his
+banker; behind them towered half a dozen old squatter friends, with
+fellow clubmen, all trying at once to get hold of his hand.  David
+Linton's constitutional shyness melted in the heartiness of their
+greeting.  Beyond them Norah seemed to be the centre of a mass of
+girls, one of whom presently detached herself, and came to him.  He
+said in amazement, "Why, it's Jean Yorke--and grown up!" and
+actually kissed her, to the great delight of Jean, who had been an
+old mate of Norah's.  As for Jim and Wally, they were scarcely to
+be seen, save for their heads, in a cluster of lads, who were
+pounding and smiting them wherever space permitted.  Altogether,
+it was a confused and cheerful gathering, and, much to the
+embarrassment of the russet-brown waitresses, the last thing
+anybody thought of was tea.
+
+Still, when the buzz of greetings had subsided, and at length
+"morning tea"--that time-honoured institution of Australia--had a
+chance to appear, it was of a nature to make the new arrivals gasp.
+The last four years in England had fairly broken people in to plain
+living; dainties and luxuries had disappeared so completely from
+the table that every one had ceased to think about them.
+Therefore, the Linton party blinked in amazement at the details of
+what to Melbourne was a very ordinary tea, and, forgetting its
+manners, broke into open comment.
+
+"Cakes!" said Wally faintly.  "Jean, you might catch me if I
+swoon."
+
+"What's wrong with the cakes?" said Jean Yorke, bewildered.
+
+"Nothing--except that they are cakes!  Jim!"--he caught at his
+chum's sleeve--"that substance in enormous layers in that enormous
+slice is called cream.  Real cream.  When did you see cream last,
+my son?"
+
+"I'm hanged if I know," Jim answered, grinning.  "About four years
+ago, I suppose.  I'd forgotten it existed.  And the cakes look as
+if they didn't fall to pieces if you touched 'em."
+
+"What, do the English cakes do that?" asked a pained aunt.
+
+"Rather--when there are any.  It's something they take out of the
+war flour--what is it, Nor?"
+
+"Gluten, I think it's called," said Norah doubtfully.  "It's
+something that ordinarily makes flour stick together, but they took
+it all out of the war flour, and put it into munitions.  So
+everything you made with war flour was apt to be dry and crumbly.
+And when you made cakes with it, and war sugar, which was half full
+of queer stuff like plaster of paris, and egg substitute, because
+eggs--when you could get them--were eightpence halfpenny, and
+butter substitute (and very little of that)--well, they weren't
+exactly what you would call cakes at all."
+
+"Butter substitute!" said the aunt faintly.  "I could not live
+without good butter!"
+
+"Bless you, Norah and dad hadn't tasted butter for nearly three
+years before they came on board the Nauru," said Jim.  "It was
+affecting to see Nor greeting a pat of butter for the first time!"
+
+"But you had some butter--we read about it."
+
+"Two ounces per head weekly--but they put all their ration into the
+'Tired People's food,'" said Wally.
+
+"It wasn't only dad and I," said Norah quickly.  "Every soul we
+employed did that--Irish maids, butler, cook-lady and all.  And we
+hadn't to ask one of them to do it.  The Tired People always had
+butter.  They used to think we had a special allowance from
+Government, but we hadn't."
+
+"Dear me!" said the aunt.  "It's too terrible.  And meat?"
+
+"Oh, meat was very short," said Norah, laughing.  "Of course we
+were fairly well off for our Tired People, because they had
+soldiers' rations; but even so, we almost forgot what a joint
+looked like.  Stews and hot pots and made dishes--you call them
+that because you make them of anything but meat!  We became very
+clever at camouflaging meat dishes.  Somehow the Tired People ate
+them all.  But"--she paused, laughing--"you know I never thought I
+could feel greedy for meat.  And I did--I just longed, quite often,
+for a chop!"
+
+"And could you not have one?"
+
+"Gracious, no!"  Norah looked amazed.  "Chops were quite the most
+extravagant thing of all--too much bone.  You see, the meat ration
+included bone and fat, and I can tell you we were pretty badly
+worried if we got too much of either."
+
+"To think of all she knows," said the aunt, regarding her with a
+tearful eye.  Whereat Norah laughed.
+
+"Oh, I could tell you lots of homely things," she said.  "How we
+always boiled bones for soup at least four times before we looked
+on them as used up; and how we worked up sheep's heads into the
+most wonderful chicken galantines; and--but would you mind if I ate
+some walnut cake instead?  It's making me tremble even to look at
+it."
+
+After which Jean Yorke and the russet-brown waitresses vied in
+plying the new-comers with the most elaborate cakes, until even Jim
+and Wally begged for mercy.
+
+"You ought to remember we're not used to these things," Wally
+protested, waving away a strange erection of cream, icing and
+wafery pastry.  "If I ate that it would go to my head, and I'd have
+to be removed in an ambulance.  And the awful part of it is--I want
+to eat it.  Take it out of my sight, Jean, or I'll yield, and the
+consequences will be awful."
+
+"But it is too dreadful to think of all you poor souls have gone
+through," said an aunt soulfully.  "How little we in Australia know
+of what war means!"
+
+"But if it comes to that, how little we knew!" Norah exclaimed,
+"Why, there we were, only a few miles from the fighting--you could
+hear the guns on a still day, when a big action was going on; and
+except for the people who came directly in the way of air raids,
+England knew little or nothing of war: I mean, war as the people of
+Belgium and Northern France knew it.  The worst we had to admit was
+that we didn't get everything we liked to eat, and that was a joke
+compared to what we might have had.  Hardly anyone in England went
+cold or hungry through the war, and so I don't think we knew much
+about it either."  She broke off blushing furiously, to find every
+one listening to her.  "I didn't mean to make a speech."
+
+"It's quite true, though," said her father, "even if you did make a
+speech about it.  There were privations in some cases, no doubt--
+invalids sometimes suffered, or men used to a heavy meat diet,
+whose wives had not knowledge--or fuel--enough to cook substitutes
+properly.  On the other hand, there was no unemployment, and the
+poor were better fed than they had ever been, since every one could
+make good wages at munitions.  The death rate among civilians was
+very much lower than usual.  People learned to eat less, and not to
+waste--and the pre-war waste in England was terrific.  And I say--
+and I think we all say--that anyone who grumbles about 'privations'
+in England deserves to know what real war means--as the women of
+Belgium know it."
+
+He stopped, and Norah regarded him with great pride, since his
+remarks were usually strictly limited to the fewest possible words.
+
+"Well, it's rather refreshing to hear you talk," remarked another
+squatter.  "A good many people have come back telling most pathetic
+tales of all they had to endure.  I suppose, though, that some were
+worse off than you?"
+
+"Oh, certainly," David Linton said.  "We knew one Australian, an
+officer's wife, who was stranded in a remote corner of South Wales
+with two servants and two babies; it was just at the time of
+greatest scarcity before compulsory rationing began, when most of
+the food coming in was kept in the big towns and the Midlands.
+That woman could certainly get milk for her youngsters; but for
+three months the only foods she and her maids were sure of getting
+were war bread, potatoes, haricot beans and salt herrings.  She was
+a good way from the nearest town, and there was deep snow most of
+the time.  There was no carting out to her place, and by the time
+she could get into the town most of the food shops would be empty."
+
+"And if you saw the salt herrings!" said Norah.  "They come down
+from Scotland, packed thousands in a barrel.  They're about the
+length and thickness of a comb, and if you soak them for a day in
+warm water and then boil them, you can begin to think about them as
+a possible food.  But Mrs. Burton and her maids ate them for three
+months.  She didn't seem to think she had anything to grumble
+about--in fact, she said she still felt friendly towards potatoes,
+but she hoped she'd never see a herring or a bean again!"
+
+"She had her own troubles about coal, too," remarked Jim.  "The
+only coal down there is a horrible brownish stuff that falls into
+damp slack if you look at it; it's generally used only for
+furnaces, but people had to draw their coal allowance from the
+nearest supply, and it was all she could get.  The only way to use
+the beastly stuff was to mix it with wet, salt mud from the river
+into what the country people call culm--then you cut it into
+blocks, or make balls of it, and it hardens.  She couldn't get a
+man to do it for her, and she used to mix all her culm herself--and
+you wouldn't call it woman's work, even in Germany.  But she used
+to tell it as a kind of joke."
+
+"She used to look on herself as one of the really lucky women,"
+said David Linton, "because her husband didn't get killed.  And I
+think she was--herrings and culm and all.  And we're even luckier,
+since we've all come back to Australia, and to such a welcome as
+you've given us."  He stood up, smiling his slow, pleasant smile at
+them all.  "And now I think I've got to go chasing the Customs, if
+I'm ever to disinter our belongings and get home."
+
+The girls took possession of Norah and Tommy, who left their
+menfolk to the drear business of clearing luggage, and thankfully
+spent the afternoon in the Botanical Gardens, glad to have firm
+ground under their feet after six weeks of sea.  Then they all met
+at dinner at Mrs. Geoffrey Linton's, where they found her son,
+Cecil, who greeted Norah with something of embarrassment.  There
+was an old score between Norah and Cecil Linton, although they had
+not seen each other for years; but its memory died out in Norah's
+heart as she looked at her cousin's military badge and noted that
+he dragged one foot slightly.  Indeed, there was no room in Norah's
+heart for anything but happiness.
+
+The aunts and uncles tried hard to persuade David Linton to remain
+a few days in Melbourne, but he shook his head.
+
+"I've been homesick for five years," he told them.  "And it feels
+like fifty.  I'll come down again, I promise--yes, and bring the
+children, of course.  But just now I can't wait.  I've got to get
+home."
+
+"That old Billabong!" said Mrs. Geoffrey, half laughing.  "Are you
+going to live and die in the backblocks, David?"
+
+"Why, certainly--at least I hope so," he said.  "I suppose there
+must be lucid intervals, now that Norah is grown up, or imagines
+she is--not that she seems to me a bit different from the time when
+her hair was down.  Still I suppose I must bring her to town, and
+let her make her curtsy at Government House, and do all the correct
+things--"
+
+Some one slipped a hand through his arm.
+
+"But when we've done them, daddy," said Norah cheerfully, "there
+will always be Billabong to go home to!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BILLABONG
+
+
+"Will it be fine, Murty?"
+
+The person addressed made no answer for a moment, continuing to
+stare at the western horizon with his eyes wrinkled and his face
+anxious.  He turned presently; a tall, grizzled man, with the
+stooping shoulders and the slightly bowed legs that are the
+heritage of those who spend nine-tenths of their time in the
+saddle.
+
+"Sorra a one of me knows," he said.  "It's one of thim unchancy
+days that might be annything.  Have ye looked at the glass?"
+
+"It's mejum," replied the first speaker.  She was a vast woman,
+with a broad, kindly face, lit by shrewd and twinkling blue eyes,
+dressed, as was her custom, in a starched blue print, with a snowy
+apron.  "Mejum only.  But I don't feel comferable at that there
+bank of clouds, Murty."
+
+"I'd not say meself it was good," admitted Murty O'Toole, head
+stockman on the Billabong run.  He looked again at the doubtful
+sky, and then back to Mrs. Brown.  "Have ye no corns, at all, that
+'ud be shootin' on ye if rain was coming?"
+
+"Corns I 'ave, indeed," said Mrs. Brown, with the sigh of one who
+admits that she is but human.  "But no--they ain't shootin' worth
+speakin' about, Murty.  Nor me rheumatic knee ain't givin' tongue,
+as Master Jim would say."
+
+"Yerra, that's all to the good," said the stockman, much cheered.
+"I'll not look at the ould sky anny longer--leastways, not till I
+have that cup of tea ye were speakin' about."
+
+"Come in then," said Mrs. Brown, leading the way into the kitchen--
+a huge place so glittering with cleanliness and polish that it
+almost hurt the eye.  "Kettle's boilin'--I'll have it made in a
+jiffy.  No, Murty, you will not sit on that table.  Pounds of bath-
+brick 'ave gone into me tables this last week."
+
+"Ye have them always that white I do not see how ye'd want them to
+be whiter," remarked Murty, gazing round him.  "But I niver see
+anything to aiqual the shine ye have on them tins an' copper.  And
+the stove is that fine it's a shame to be cookin' with it."  He
+looked with respect at the black satin and silver of the stove,
+where leaping flames glowed redly.  "Well, I'll always say there
+isn't a heartsomer place to come into than the Billabong kitchen.
+And isn't it the little misthress that thinks so?"
+
+"Bless her, she was always in and out of it from the time she could
+toddle," said Mrs. Brown, pausing with the teapot in her hand.
+"And she wasn't much more than toddlin' before she was at me to
+teach her to cook.  When she was twelve she could cook a dinner as
+well as anyone twice her age.  I never see the beat of her--handy
+as a man out on the run, too--"
+
+"She was that," said Murty solemnly.  "Since she was a bit of a
+thing I never see the bullock as could get away from her.  And the
+ponies she'd ride!  There was nothin' ever looked through a bridle
+that cud frighten her."
+
+"Poof!  Miss Norah didn't know what it was to be afraid," said Mrs.
+Brown, filling the huge brown teapot.  "Sometimes I've wished she
+was, for me heart's been in me mouth often and often when I see her
+go caperin' down the track on some mad-'eaded pony."
+
+"An' there was niver a time when they was late home but you made
+sure the whole lot of 'em was killed," said Murty, grinning.  "I'd
+come in here an' find you wit' all the funerals planned, so to
+speak--"
+
+"Ah, go on!  At least, I alwuz stayed at home when I was nervis,"
+said Mrs. Brown.  "Who was it I've known catch an 'orse in the
+dark, an' go off to look for 'em when they were a bit late?  Not
+me, Mr. O'Toole!"  She filled his cup and handed it to him with a
+triumphant air.
+
+"Yerra, I misremember doin' any such thing," said Murty, slightly
+confused.  "'Tis the way I was most likely goin' afther a sick
+bullock, or it might be 'possum shootin'."  He raised his cup and
+took a deep draught; then, with a wry face, gazed at its contents.
+"I dunno is this a new brand of tea you're afther usin', now?
+Sure, it looks pale."
+
+Mrs. Brown cast a glance at the cup he held out, and gave a gasp of
+horror.
+
+"Well, not in all me born days 'ave I made tea an' forgot to put
+the tea in!" she exclaimed, snatching it from his hand.  "Don't you
+go an' tell Dave and Mick, Murty, or I'll never hear the end of it.
+Lucky there's plenty of hot water."  She emptied the teapot
+swiftly, and refilled it, this time with due regard to the tea-
+caddy.
+
+"Now, Murty, don't you sit there grinnin' at me like a hyener--it
+isn't every day I get Miss Norah home."
+
+"It is not," said Murty, taking his renewed cup and a large piece
+of bread and butter.  "Sure, I'd not blame ye if ye fried bacon in
+the tea-pot--not this morning.  I dunno, meself, am I on me head or
+me heels.  All the men is much the same; they've been fallin' over
+each other, tryin' to get a little bit of extra spit-an'-polish on
+the whole place.  I b'lieve Dave Boone wud 'a' set to work an'
+whitewashed the paddock fences if I'd encouraged him at all."
+
+"There's that Sarah," said Mrs. Brown.  "Ornery days it takes me,
+an alarum clock, an' Mary, to say nothin' of a wet sponge, to get
+her out of bed.  But bless you--these last three days she's up
+before the pair of us, rubbin' an' polishin' in every corner.  An'
+she an' 'Ogg at each other's throats over flowers; she wantin' to
+pick every one to look pretty in the 'ouse, an' 'Ogg wantin' every
+one to look pretty in the garden."
+
+"Well, Hogg's got enough an' to spare," was Murty's comment.  "No
+union touch about his work.  I reckon he's put in sixteen hours a
+day at that garden since we heard they were comin'."
+
+"But there never was any union touch about Billabong," said Mrs.
+Brown.
+
+"Not much!  We all know when we're well off," said Murty.  "I'll
+bet no union was ever as good a boss as David Linton."
+
+Two other men appeared at the kitchen door--Mick Shanahan and Dave
+Boone--each wearing, in defiance of regulations, some battered
+remnant of uniform that marked the "digger," while Mick, in
+addition, would walk always with a slight limp.  He was accustomed
+to say 'twas a mercy it didn't hinder his profession--which, being
+that of a horsebreaker, freed him, as a rule, from the necessity of
+much walking.  Other men Billabong had sent to the war, and not all
+of them had come back; the lonely station had been a place of
+anxiety and of mourning.  But to-day the memories of the long years
+of fighting and waiting were blotted out in joy.
+
+"Come in, boys," Mrs. Brown nodded at the men.  "Tea's ready.
+What's it going to be?"
+
+"Fine, I think," said Boone, replying to this somewhat indefinite
+question with complete certainty as to the questioner's meaning.
+"I seen you an' Murty pokin' your heads up at them clouds, but
+there ain't nothin' in them."  A smile spread over his good-
+looking, dark face.  "Bless you, it couldn't rain today, with Miss
+Norah comin' home!"
+
+"I don't believe, meself, that Providence 'ud 'ave the 'eart," said
+Mrs. Brown.  "Picksher them now, all flyin' round and gettin' ready
+to start, and snatchin' a bite of breakfast--"
+
+"If I know Master Jim 'twill be no bite he'll snatch!" put in Mick.
+
+"Well, all I 'ope is that the 'otel don't poison them," said Mrs.
+Brown darkly.  "I on'y stopped in a Melbin' 'otel once, and then I
+got pot-o'-mine poisoning, or whatever they call it.  I've 'eard
+they never wash their saucepans!"
+
+"No wonder you get rummy flavours in what you eat down there, if
+that's so," said Dave.  "Surprisin' what the digestions of them
+city people learn to put up with.  Well, I suppose you won't be
+addin' to their risks by puttin' up much of a dinner for them to-
+day, Mrs. Brown."  He grinned wickedly.
+
+"You go on, imperence!" said the lady.  "If I let you look into the
+larder now (w'ich I won't, along of knowin' you too well), there'd
+be no gettin' you out to work to-day.  Murty, that turkey weighed
+five-and-thirty pound!"
+
+"Sure he looked every ounce of it," said Murty.  "I niver see his
+aiqual--he was a regular Clydesdale of a bird!"
+
+"I rose him from the aig meself," said Mrs. Brown, "and I don't
+think I could 'a' brung meself to 'ave 'im killed for anythink less
+than them comin' 'ome.  As it was, I feel 'e's died a nobil death.
+An' 'e'll eat beautiful, you mark my words."
+
+"Well, it'll be something to think of the Boss at the head of his
+table, investigatin' a Billabong turkey again," said Boone, putting
+down his empty cup.  "And as there's nothing more certain than that
+they'll all be out at the stables d'reckly after dinner, wantin' to
+see the 'orses, you an' I'd better go an' shine 'em up a bit more,
+Mick."  They tramped out of the kitchen, while Mrs. Brown waddled
+to the veranda and cast further anxious glances at the bank of
+clouds lying westward.
+
+Norah was watching them, too.  She was sitting in the corner of the
+compartment, as the swift train bore them northward, with her eyes
+glued to the country flying past.  Just for once the others did not
+matter to her; her father, Jim, and Wally, each in his own corner,
+as they had travelled so many times in the past, coming back from
+school.  Then she had had eyes only for them; to-day her soul was
+hungry for the dear country she had not seen for so long.  It lay
+bare enough in the early winter--long stretches of stone-walled
+paddocks where the red soil showed through the sparse, native
+grass; steep, stony hillsides, with little sheep grazing on them--
+pygmies, after the great English sheep; oases of irrigation, with
+the deep green of lucerne growing rank among weed-fringed water-
+channels; and so on and on, past little towns and tiny settlements,
+and now and then a stop at some place of more importance.  But
+Norah did not want the towns; she was homesick for the open
+country, for the scent of the gum trees coming drifting in through
+the open window, for the long, lonely plains where grazing cattle
+raised lazy eyes to look at the roaring engine, or horses flung up
+nervous heads and went racing away across the grass--more for the
+fun of it than from fear.  The gum trees called to her, beckoned to
+her; she forgot the smooth perfection of the English landscape as
+she feasted her eyes on the dear, untidy trees, whose dangling
+strips of bark seemed to wave to her in greeting, telling her she
+was coming home.  They passed a great team of working bullocks in a
+wagon loaded with an enormous tree trunk; twenty-four monsters,
+roan and red and speckled, with a great pair of polled Angus in the
+lead; they plodded along in their own dust, their driver beside
+them with his immense whip over his shoulder.  Norah pointed them
+out to the others with a quick exclamation, and Jim and Wally came
+to look out from her window.
+
+"By Jove, what a team!" said Jim.  "Well, just at this moment I'd
+rather see those fellows than the meet of the Coaching Club in Hyde
+Park--and I had a private idea that that was the finest sight in
+the world!"
+
+"Aren't you a jungly animal!" quoth Wally.
+
+"Rather--just now," Jim rejoined.  "Some day, I suppose, I'll be
+glad to go back to London, and look at it all again.  But just now
+there doesn't seem to be anything to touch a fellow's own country--
+and that team of old sloggers there is just a bit of it.  Isn't it,
+old Nor?"  She nodded up at him; there was no need of words.
+
+The morning was drawing towards noon when they came in sight of
+their own little station: Cunjee, looking just as they had left it
+years ago, its corrugated iron roofs gleaming in the sunlight, its
+one street green with feathery pepper trees along each side.  The
+train pulled up, and they all tumbled out hastily; presumably the
+express wasted no more time upon Cunjee than in days gone by, when
+it was necessary to hustle out of the carriage, and to race along
+to the van, lest the whistle should sound and your trunks be
+whisked away somewhere down the line.
+
+There were many people on the platform, and, wonderful to relate, a
+band was playing--Home Sweet Home; a little band, some of its
+musicians still in the aprons in which they had rushed from their
+shop duties; with instruments few and poor, and with not much
+training, so that the cornet was apt to be half a bar ahead of the
+euphonium.  The Lintons had heard many bands since they had been
+away, and some had played before the King himself; but no music had
+ever gripped at their heartstrings like the music of the little
+backblocks band that stood on the gravelled platform of Cunjee and
+played to welcome them home.
+
+Suddenly, as they stood bewildered, there seemed people all round
+them; kindly, homely faces, gripping their hands, shouting
+greetings.  Evans, the manager of Billabong, showed a delighted
+face for a moment, said, "Luggage in the van.  I'll see to it;
+don't you bother," and was gone.  Little Dr. Anderson and his wife,
+friends of long years, were trying to shake hands with all four at
+once.  They were the centre of an excited little crowd--and found
+it hard to believe that it was really for them.  The train roared
+away, unnoticed, and the station-master and the porter ran up to
+add their voices to the chorus.  Somehow they were outside the
+station, gently propelled; and there was a great arch of gum
+leaves, with a huge WELCOME in red letters, and beneath it were the
+shire president and his councillors, and other weighty men, all
+with speeches ready.  But the speeches did not come to much, for
+the shire president had lads himself who had gone to the war, and a
+lump came in his throat as he looked at the tall boys from
+Billabong, whom he had known as little children; so that half the
+fine things he had prepared were never said--which did not matter,
+since he had it all written out and gave it to the reporter of the
+local paper afterwards!  Something of speech-making there
+undoubtedly was, but no one could have told you much about it--and
+suddenly it ended in some one calling for "Three cheers!" which
+every one gave with a will, while the band played that they were
+Jolly Good Fellows--and some of the band cheered while they played,
+with very curious results.  Then David Linton tried to speak, and
+that was a failure also, as far as eloquence went; but nobody
+seemed to mind.  So, between hand grips and cheers, they made their
+way through the welcome of Cunjee to where the big double buggy of
+Billabong stood, with three fidgeting brown horses, each held by a
+volunteer.  Beyond that was the carry-all of the bush; an express
+wagon, with a grinning black boy at the horses' heads--and Norah
+went to him with outstretched hands.
+
+"Why, Billy!" she said.
+
+Billy's grin expanded in a perfectly reckless fashion.
+
+"Plenty glad!" he stammered--and thereby doubled his usual output
+of words.
+
+Willing hands were tossing their luggage into the wagon--unfamiliar
+luggage to Cunjee, with its jumble of ship labels, Continental
+hotel brands, and the names of towns all over England, Ireland and
+Scotland.  There were battered tin uniform cases of Jim and
+Wally's, bearing their rank and regiment in half effaced letters:
+"Major J. Linton"; "Captain W. Meadows"--it was hard to realize
+that they belonged to the two merry-faced boys, who did not seem
+much changed from the days when Cunjee had seen them arrive light-
+heartedly from school.  Mr. Linton ran his eye over the pile,
+pronouncing it complete.  Then Evans was at his side.
+
+"The motor you sent is ready at the garage in the township if you
+want it," he said.  "But you wired that I was to bring the buggy."
+
+"I did," said David Linton, with a slow smile.  "I suppose for
+convenience sake we'll have to shake down to using the motor.  But
+I drove the old buggy away from Billabong, and I'll drive home now.
+Jump in, children."
+
+He gathered up the reins, sitting, erect and spare, with one foot
+on the brake, while the brown horses plunged impatiently, and the
+volunteers found their work cut out in holding them.  Norah was by
+him, Evans on her other hand; Jim and Wally "tumbled up" into the
+back seat, as they had done so many times.  David Linton looked
+down at the crowd below.
+
+"Thank you all again," he said.  "We'll see you soon--it's not
+good-bye now, only 'so-long.'  Let 'em go, boys."
+
+The volunteers sprang back, thankfully.  The browns stood on their
+hind legs for a moment, endeavouring to tie themselves in knots;
+then the whip spoke, and they came to earth, straightened
+themselves out with a flying plunge, and wheeled out of the station
+yard and up the street.  Behind them cheers broke out afresh, and
+the band blared once more--which acted as a further spur to the
+horses; they were pulling double as the high buggy flashed along
+the street, where every house and every shop showed smiling faces,
+and handkerchiefs waved in welcome.  So they passed through Cunjee,
+and wheeled to the right towards the open country--the country that
+meant Billabong.
+
+There were seventeen miles of road ahead, but the browns made
+little of them.  They had come into the township the evening
+before, and had done nothing since but eat the hotel oats and wish
+to be out of a close stable and back in their own free paddocks.
+They took the hills at a swift, effortless trot, and on the down
+slopes broke into a hand-gallop; light-hearted, but conscious all
+the time of the hand on the reins, that was as steel, yet light as
+a feather upon a tender mouth.  They danced merrily to one side
+when they met a motor or a hawker's van with flapping cover; when
+the buggy rattled over a bridge they plainly regarded the drumming
+of their own hoofs as the last trump, and fled wildly for a few
+hundred yards, before realizing that nothing was really going to
+happen to them.  But the miles fled under their swift feet.  The
+trim villas near the township gave place to scattered farms.  These
+in their turn became further and further apart, and then they
+entered a wide belt of timber, ragged and wind-swept gums, with
+dense undergrowth of dogwood and bracken fern.  The metalled road
+gave place to a hard, earthern track, on which the spinning tyres
+made no sound; it curved in and out among the trees, which met
+overhead and cast upon it a waving pattern of shadows.  Grim things
+had once happened to Norah in this belt of trees, and the past came
+back to her as she looked at its gloomy recesses again.
+
+They were all silent.  There had been few questions to ask of
+Evans, a few to be answered; then speech fled from them and the old
+spell of the country held them in its power.  Every yard was
+familiar; every little bridge, every culvert, every quaint old
+skeleton tree or dead grey log.  Here Jim's pony had bolted at
+sight of an Indian hawker, in days long gone, and had ended by
+putting his foot into a hole and turning a somersault, shooting Jim
+into a well-grown clump of nettles.  Here Norah had dropped her
+whip when riding alone, and her fractious young mare had succeeded
+in pulling away when she dismounted, and had promptly departed
+post-haste for home; leaving her wrathful owner to follow as she
+might.  A passing bullock-wagon had given her a lift, and the
+somewhat anxious rescue party, setting out from Billabong, had met
+its youthful mistress, bruised from much bumping, but otherwise
+cheerful, progressing in slow majesty towards its gates.  Here--but
+the memories were legion, even to the girl and the two boys.  And
+David Linton's went further back, to the day when he had first
+driven Norah's mother over the Billabong track; little and dainty
+and merry, while he had been as always, silent, but unspeakably
+proud of her.  The little mother's grave had long been green, and
+the world had turned topsy-turvy since then, but the old track was
+the same, and the memory, and the pride, were no less clear.
+
+They emerged from the timber at last, and spun across a wide plain,
+scattered with clumps of gum-trees.  Then another belt of bush, a
+narrow one this time; and they came out within view of a great
+park-like paddock where Shorthorn bullocks, knee-deep in grass,
+scarcely moved aside as the buggy spun past, with the browns
+pulling hard.  The track ran near the fence, and turned in at a big
+white gate glistening with new paint.  It stood wide open, and
+beside it was a man on a splendid bay horse.
+
+"There's Murty, and he's on Garryowen," spoke Jim quickly.  "The
+old brick!"
+
+"I guess if anyone else had wanted to open the gate for you to-day,
+he'd have had to fight Murty for the job," said Evans.  "And
+Garryowen's been groomed till he turns pale at the sight of a
+brush, Great horse he's made, Mr. Jim."
+
+"He's all that," said his owner, leaning out to view him better,
+with his eyes shining.  He raised his voice in a shout as they
+swung in through the gateway.  "Good for you, Murty!  Hurroo!"
+
+"Hurroo for ye all!" said Murty, and found to his amazement that
+his voice was shaky.  "Ah, don't shtop, sir, they're all waitin' on
+ye.  I'll be up as soon as ye."
+
+Norah had tried to speak, and had found that she had no voice at
+all.  She could only smile at him, tremulously--and be sure the
+Irishman did not fail to catch the smile.  Then, as they dashed up
+the paddock, her hand sought for her father's knee under the rug,
+in the little gesture that had been hers from babyhood.  The track
+curved round a grove of great pines, and suddenly they were within
+sight of Billabong homestead, red-walled and red-roofed, nestled in
+the deep green of its trees.
+
+"By Jove!" said Jim, under his breath.  "I thought once I'd never
+see the old place again."
+
+They flashed through mighty red gums and box trees, Murty galloping
+beside them now.  There was a big flag flying proudly on Billabong
+house--they found later that the household had unanimously
+purchased it on the day they heard that Jim had got his captaincy.
+The gate of the great sanded yard stood open, and near it, on a
+wide gravel sweep, were the dear and simple and faithful people
+they loved.  Mrs. Brown first, starched and spotless, her hair
+greyer than it had been five years before, with Sarah and Mary
+beside her--they had married during the war, but nothing had
+prevented them from coming back to make Billabong ready.  Near them
+the storekeeper, Jack Archdale, and his pretty wife, with their
+elfish small daughter; and Mick Shanahan and Dave Boone, with the
+Scotch gardener, Hogg, and his Chinese colleague--and sworn enemy--
+Lee Wing.  They were all there, a little welcoming group--but Norah
+could see them only through a mist of happy tears.  The buggy
+stopped, and Evans sprang out over the wheel; she followed him
+almost as swiftly, running to the old woman who had been all the
+mother she had known.
+
+"Oh, Brownie--Brownie!"
+
+"My precious lamb!" said Brownie, and held her tightly.  She had no
+hands left for Jim and Wally, and they did not seem to mind; they
+kissed her, patting her vast shoulders very hard.  Then Mrs.
+Archdale claimed Norah, and Brownie found herself looking mistily
+up at David Linton and he was gripping her hand tightly, the other
+hand on her shoulder.
+
+"Why, old Brownie!" he said.  "Dear old Brownie!"
+
+They were shaking hands all round, over and over again.  Nobody
+made any speeches of welcome--there were only disjointed words, and
+once or twice a little sob.  Indeed, Brownie only found her tongue
+when they had drifted across the yard in a confused group, and had
+reached the wide veranda.  Then she looked up at Jim and seemed
+suddenly to realize his mighty height and breadth.
+
+"Oh!" she said.  "Oh!  Ain't 'e grown big an' beautiful!"  Whereat
+Wally howled with laughter, and Jim, scarlet, kissed her again, and
+told her she was a shameful old woman.
+
+No one on Billabong could have told you much of that day, after the
+first wonderful moment of getting home.  It was a day of blurred
+memories.  The new-comers had to wander through the house where
+every big window stood open to the sunlight, and every room was gay
+with flowers; and from every window it was necessary to look out at
+the view across the paddocks and down at the gardens, and to follow
+the winding course of the creek.  The gong summoned them to dinner
+in the midst of it, and Brownie's dinner deserved to be remembered;
+the mammoth turkey flanked by a ham as gigantic, and somewhat
+alarming to war-trained appetites; followed by every sweet that
+Brownie could remember as having been a favourite.  They drifted
+naturally to the stables afterwards, to find their special horses,
+apparently little changed by five years, though some old station
+favourites were gone, and the men spoke proudly of some new young
+ones that were going to be "beggars to go," or "a caution to jump."
+Then they wandered down to the big lagoon, where the old boat yet
+lay at the edge of the reed-fringed water; and on through the home
+paddock to look at the little herd of Jerseys that were kept for
+the use of the house, and some great bullocks almost ready for the
+Melbourne market.  So they came back to the homestead, wandering up
+from the creek through Lee Wing's rows of vegetables, and came to
+rest naturally in the kitchen, where they had afternoon tea with
+Brownie, who beamed from ear to ear at the sight of Jim and Wally
+again sitting on her table.
+
+"I used to think of you in them 'orrible trenches, an' wonder wot
+you got to eat, an' if it was anything at all," she said
+tremulously.
+
+"We got something, but it was apt to be queer," said Jim, laughing.
+"We used to think of sitting on the table here, Brownie, and eating
+hot scones--like this.  May I have another?"
+
+"My pore dears!" said Brownie, hastily supplying him with the
+largest scone in sight.  "Now, Master Wally, my love, ain't you
+ready for another?  Your appetite's not 'alf wot it used to be.
+A pikelet, now?"
+
+"I believe I've had six!" said Wally, defending himself.
+
+"An' wot used six pikelets to be to you?  A mere fly in the
+ointment," said Brownie, whose similes were always apt to be
+peculiar.  "Just another, then, my dear.  An' I've got your
+fav'rite sponge cake, Miss Norah--ten aigs in it!"
+
+"Ten!" said Norah faintly.  "Hold me, daddy!  Doesn't it make you
+feel light-headed to think of putting ten eggs in one cake again?"
+
+"An' why not?" sniffed Brownie.  "Ah, you got bad treatment in that
+old England.  I never could see why you should go short, an' you
+all 'elpin' on the war as 'ard as you could."  Brownie's
+indifference to national considerations where her nurselings were
+concerned was well known, and nobody argued with her.  "Any'ow, the
+cake's there, an' just you try it--it's as light as a feather,
+though I do say it."
+
+Once in the kitchen Norah and the boys went no further.  They
+remained sitting on the tables, talking, while presently David
+Linton went away to his study, and, one by one, Murty and Boone and
+Mick Shanahan drifted in.  There was so much to tell, so much to
+ask about; they talked until the dusk of the short winter afternoon
+stole into the kitchen, making the red flames in the stove leap
+more redly.  It was time to dress for tea.  They went round the
+wide verandas and ran upstairs to their rooms, while old Brownie
+stood in the kitchen doorway listening to the merry voices.
+
+"Ain't it just 'evinly to 'ear 'em again!" she uttered.
+
+"It is that," said Murty.  "We've been quare an' lonesome an' quiet
+these five years."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+COLONIAL EXPERIENCES
+
+
+Cecilia--otherwise Tommy--and Bob Rainham came up to Billabong
+three days later, and were met by Jim, who had ridden into Cunjee
+with Black Billy, and released the motor from inglorious seclusion
+in the local garage.  Billy jogged off, leading Garryowen, and Jim
+watched them half wistfully for a minute before turning to the car.
+Motors had their uses certainly; but no Linton ever dreamed of
+giving a car the serious and respectful consideration that
+naturally belonged to a horse.
+
+Nevertheless, it was a good car; a gift to Norah from an Irishman
+they had known and loved; and Jim drove well, having developed the
+accomplishment over Flemish roads that were chiefly a succession of
+shell holes.  He took her quietly up to the station, and walked on
+to the platform as the train thundered in.
+
+Tommy and Bob were looking eagerly from their carriage window, and
+hailed him with delight; they had been alone, for the first time
+since leaving England, and had begun to feel that Australia was a
+large and slightly populated country, and that they were
+inconsiderable atoms, suddenly dumped into its vacant spaces.  Jim
+was like a large and friendly rock, and Australia immediately
+became less wide and desolate in their eyes.  He greeted them
+cheerily and helped Bob to pack their luggage into the car.
+
+"Now, I could get you afternoon tea here," he said; "and I warn
+you, it will be bad.  Or I could have you home in well under an
+hour, and you wouldn't be too late for tea there.  Which is it to
+be, Tommy?"
+
+"Oh--home," said Tommy.  "I don't care a bit about tea; and I want
+to see this Billabong of yours.  Do let's go, Jim."
+
+"I hoped you wouldn't choose tea here," said Jim, striding off to
+the car.  "Bush townships don't run to decent tea places, as a
+rule; the hotel is the only chance, and though they can give you a
+fair dinner, tea always seems to be a weak spot."  He packed them
+in, and they moved off down the winding street.
+
+"Do you know," Jim said, "that I never went down this street before
+except on a horse, or behind one?  It seems quite queer and
+unnatural to be doing it in a car.  I suppose I'll get used to it.
+Had a good trip up?"
+
+"Oh, quite," Tommy told him.  "Jim, how few people seem to be
+living in Australia!"
+
+Jim gave a crack of laughter.
+
+"Well, you saw a good many in Melbourne, didn't you?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, yes.  But Melbourne isn't Australia.  It's only away down in a
+wee little corner."  Tommy flushed a little.  "You see, I haven't
+seen much of any country except France and the England that's near
+London," she said.  "And there isn't much waste space there."
+
+"No, there isn't," Jim agreed.  "I suppose we'll fill up Australia
+some day.  But the people who come out now seem to have a holy
+horror of going into the 'waste spaces,' as you call 'em, Tommy.
+They want to nestle up to the towns, and go to picture theatres."
+
+"Well, I want to go and find a nice waste space," said Tommy.  "Not
+too waste, of course, only with room to look all round.  And I'd
+like it to be not too far from Norah, 'cause she's very cheering to
+a lone new-chum.  But don't you go planning to settle in one of
+those horrid little tin-roofed towns, Bobby, for I should simply
+hate it."
+
+"Certainly, ma'am," said Bob cheerfully.  "We'll get out into the
+open.  I can always run you about in an aeroplane, if you feel
+lonesome, provided we make enough money to buy one, that is.  Only
+new-chums don't always make heaps of money, do they, Jim?"
+
+"Not at first, I'm afraid," Jim said.  "The days of picking up
+fortunes in Australia seem to be over; anyway, there's no more gold
+lying about.  Nowadays, you have to put your back into it extremely
+hard, if you've no capital to start with; and even if you have, you
+can't loaf.  How did you get on in Melbourne?  I hope you didn't
+buy a station without consulting us."
+
+"Rather not," Bob answered.  "We raced round magnificently in your
+aunt's car and presented our letters, and had more invitations to
+sundry meals than we could possibly accept.  Every one was
+extraordinarily kind to us.  I've offers and promises of advice in
+whatever district we settle; three squatters asked me up to their
+places, to stay awhile and study the country; and one confiding
+man--I hadn't a letter to him at all, by the way, only some one
+introduced us to him in Scott's--actually offered me a job as
+jackeroo on a Queensland run.  But he was a lone old bachelor, and
+when he heard I had a sister he shied off in terror.  I think he's
+running yet."
+
+Jim shouted with laughter.
+
+"Poor old Tommy!" he said.
+
+"Yes, is it not unfair?" said Tommy.  "I told Bob I was a mere
+encumbrance, but he would bring me."
+
+"You wait until you've settled, and Bob wants some one to run his
+house, and then see how much of an encumbrance you are," rejoined
+Jim.  "Then you'll suddenly stop being meek and get swelled head."
+
+"And not be half so nice," interjected Bob.
+
+"But so useful!" said Tommy demurely.  "Only sometimes I become
+afraid--for you seem always to kill a whole sheep or bullock up in
+the bush, and how I am to deal with it I do not know!"
+
+"It sounds as if you preferred some one to detach an occasional
+limb from the sheep as it walked about!" said Jim, laughing.
+
+"Much easier for me--if not for the sheep," said Tommy.
+
+"Well, don't you worry--the meat problem will get settled somehow,"
+Jim told her cheerfully.  "All problems straighten out, if you give
+'em time.  Now we're nearly home--that's the fence of our home-
+paddock.  And there are Norah and Wally coming to meet you."
+
+"Oh--where?"  Tommy started up, looking excitedly round the
+landscape.  "Oh--there she is--the dear!  And isn't that a
+beautiful horse!"
+
+"That's Norah's special old pony, Bosun," said Jim.  "We're making
+her very unhappy by telling her she's grown too big for him, but he
+really carries her like a bird.  A habit might look too much on
+him, but not that astride kit.  You got yours, by the way, Tommy, I
+hope?"
+
+"Oh yes.  I look very strange in it," said Tommy.  "And Bob thinks
+I might as well have worn out his old uniforms.  But I shall never
+ride like that--as Norah does."
+
+She looked at Norah, who was coming across the paddock with Wally,
+at a hard canter.  Her pony was impatient, reefing and plunging in
+his desire to gallop; and Norah was sitting him easily, her hands,
+well down, giving to the strain on the bit, her slight figure, in
+coat and breeches, swaying lightly to each bound.  The sunlight
+rippled on Bosun's glossy, bay coat, and on the big black horse
+Wally rode.  They pulled up, laughing, at the gateway, just as the
+car turned off the road.  There were confused and enthusiastic
+greetings, and the car dashed on up the track, with an outrider on
+each side--both horses strongly resenting this new and ferocious
+monster.  The years had brought a good deal of sober sense to Bosun
+and Monarch, but motors were still unfamiliar objects on Billabong.
+Indeed, no car of the size of Norah's Rolls-Royce had ever been
+seen in the district, and the men gaped at it open-mouthed as Jim
+drove it round to the stable after unloading his passengers.
+
+"Yerra, but that's the fine carry-van," said Murty.  "Is that the
+size they have them in England, now?"
+
+"No, it isn't, Murty--not as a rule," Jim answered.  "This was
+built specially for a man who was half an invalid; he used to go
+for long tours, and sleep in the car because he hated hotels.  So
+it's a special size.  It used to be jolly useful taking out wounded
+men in England."
+
+"Sure, it would be," Murty said.  "Only--somehow, it don't seem to
+fit into Billabong, Mr. Jim!"
+
+"So big as that!  I say, Murty!"
+
+"Yerra, there's room enough for it," grinned the Irishman.  "Only,
+motors and Billabong don't go hand in hand--we've always stuck to
+horses, haven't we, Mr. Jim?"
+
+"We'll do that still," Jim said.  "But it will be useful, all the
+same, Murty."  He laughed at the stockman's lugubrious face.  "Oh,
+I know it's giving you the sort of pain you had when dad had the
+telephone put on--"
+
+"Well, 'tis the quare onnatural little machine, an' I niver feel
+anyways at home with it, Mr. Jim," Murty defended himself.
+
+"There's lots like you, Murty.  But you'll admit that when we've
+got to send a telegram, it's better to telephone it than make a man
+ride thirty-four miles with it?"
+
+"I suppose it is," said the Irishman doubtfully.  "I dunno, though--
+if 'twas that black imp of a Billy he'd as well be doing that as
+propping up the stable wall an' smokin'!"
+
+Jim chuckled.
+
+"There's no getting round an Irishman when he makes up his mind,"
+he said.  "And if you had to catch the eight o'clock train to
+Melbourne I believe you'd rather get up at three in the morning and
+run up the horses to drive in, than leave here comfortably in the
+car at seven."
+
+"Is it me to dhrive in it?" demanded Murty, in horror.  "Begob, I'd
+lose me life before I'd get into one of thim quare, sawed-off
+things.  Give me something with shafts, Mr. Jim, and a dacint horse
+in them.  More by token, I would not get up at three in the morning
+either, but dhrive in aisy an' comfortable the night before."  He
+beamed on Jim with so clear a conviction that he was unanswerable
+that Jim hadn't the heart to argue further.  Instead he ran the car
+deftly into a buggy-shed whence an ancient double buggy had been
+deposed to make room for her, and then fell to discussing with
+Murty the question of building a garage, with a turn-table and pit
+for cleaning and repairs.  To which Murty gave the eager interest
+and attention he would have shown had Jim proposed building
+anything, even had it been an Eiffel Tower on the front lawn.
+
+Brownie came out through the box-trees to the stables, presently.
+
+"Now, Master Jim, afternoon tea's in these ten minutes."
+
+"Good gracious!  I forgot all about tea!" Jim exclaimed.  "Thanks
+awfully, Brownie.  Had your own?"  He slipped his arm through hers
+as they turned back to the house.
+
+"Not yet, my dear," said Brownie, beaming up at him.  That this
+huge Major, with four years of war service to his credit, was
+exactly the same to her as the little boy she had bathed and
+dressed in years gone by, was a matter of nightly thanksgiving in
+her prayers.  "I was just goin' to settle to it when it come over
+me that you weren't in--and the visitors there an' all."
+
+"I'd come and have mine with you in the kitchen if they weren't
+there," Jim told her.  "Tea in your kitchen is better than anything
+else."  He patted her shoulders as he left her at the door of her
+domain, going off with long strides to wash his hands.
+
+"We didn't wait for you," Norah said, as he came into the drawing-
+room; a big cheery room, with long windows opening out upon the
+veranda, and a conservatory at one end.  A fire of red gum logs
+made it pleasantly warm; the tea table was drawn near its blaze,
+and the arm-chairs made a semicircle round it.  "These poor people
+looked far too hungry to wait--to say nothing of Wally and myself.
+How did the car go, Jimmy?"
+
+"Splendidly," Jim said, taking his cup, and retiring from the tea-
+table with a scone.  "Never ran better; that man in Cunjee knows
+his job, which I didn't expect.  Are you tired, Tommy?"
+
+"Tired?--no," said Tommy.  "I was very hungry, but that is getting
+better.  And Norah is going to show me Billabong, so I could not
+possibly dream of being tired."
+
+"If Norah means to show you all Billabong before dark, she'll have
+to hurry," said Jim lazily.  "Don't you let yourself be persuaded
+into anything so desperate, Tommy."
+
+"Don't you worry; I'll give her graduated doses," Norah said.
+"I'll watch the patient carefully, and see if there is any sign of
+strength failing.  When do you begin to teach Bob to run a
+station?"
+
+"I never saw anyone in such a hurry," said Jim.  "Why, the poor
+beggar hasn't had his tea yet--give him time."
+
+"But we are in a hurry," said Tommy.  "We're burning to learn all
+about it.  Norah is to teach me the house side, while you instruct
+Bob how to tell a merino bullock--is it not?--from an Ayrshire."
+Everybody ate with suspicious haste, and she looked at them
+shrewdly.  "Now, I have said that all wrong, I feel sure, but it's
+just as well for you to be prepared for that.  Norah will have a
+busy time correcting my mistakes."
+
+"You aren't supposed to know anything about cattle and things like
+that," said Norah.  "And when it comes to the house side, I don't
+think you'll find I can teach you much--if anyone brought up to
+know French cooking and French housekeeping has much to learn from
+a backblocks Australian, I'll be surprised."
+
+"In fact," said Mr. Linton, "I should think that the lessons will
+generally end in the students of domestic economy fleeing forth
+upon horses and studying how to deal with beef--on the hoof.  Don't
+you, Wally?"
+
+"Rather," said Wally.  "And Brownie will wash up after them, and
+say, 'Bless their hearts, why would they stay in a hot kitchen!'
+And so poor old Bob will go down the road to ruin!"
+
+"It's a jolly prospect," said Bob placidly.  "I think we'll knock a
+good deal of fun out of it!"
+
+They trooped out in a body presently on their preliminary voyage of
+discovery; touring the house itself, with its big rooms and wide
+corridors, and the broad balconies that ran round three sides, from
+which you looked far across the run--miles of rolling plains,
+dotted with trees and clumps of timber, and merging into a far line
+of low, scrub-grown hills.  Then outside, and to the stables--a
+massive red brick pile, creeper-covered, where Monarch and
+Garryowen, and Bosun, and the buggy ponies, looked placidly from
+their loose boxes, and asked for--and got--apples from Jim's
+pockets.  Tommy even made her way up the steep ladder to the loft
+that ran the whole length of the stables--big enough for the men's
+yearly dance, but just now crammed with fragrant oaten hay.  She
+wanted to see everything, and chatted away in her eager, half-
+French fashion, like a happy child.
+
+"It is so lovely to be here," she told Norah later, when the keen
+evening wind had driven them indoors from a tour of the garden.
+She was kneeling on the floor of her bedroom, unpacking her trunk,
+while Norah perched on the end of the bed.  "You see, I am no
+longer afraid; and I have always been afraid since Aunt Margaret
+died.  In Lancaster Gate I was afraid all the time, especially when
+I was planning to run away.  Then, on the ship, though every one
+was so kind, the big, unknown country was like a wall of Fear
+ahead; even in Melbourne everything seemed uncertain, doubtful.
+But now, quite suddenly, it is all right.  I just know we shall get
+along quite well."
+
+"Why, of course you will," Norah said, laughing down at the earnest
+face.  "You're the kind of people who must do well, because you are
+so keen.  And Billabong has adopted you, and we're going to see
+that you make a success of things.  You're our very own immigrants!"
+
+"It's nice to be owned by some one who isn't my step-mother," said
+Tommy happily.  "I began to think I was hers, body and soul--when
+she appeared on that awful moment in Liverpool.  I made sure all
+hope was over.  Bob says I shouldn't have panicked, but then Bob
+had not been a toad under her harrow for two years."
+
+"I'm very glad you panicked, since it sent you straight into our
+arms," said Norah.  "If we had met you in an ordinary, stodgy way--
+you and Bob presenting your letter of introduction, and we saying
+'How do you do?' politely--it would have taken us ages to get to
+know you properly.  And as it was, we jumped into being friends.
+You did look such a poor, hunted little soul as you came dodging
+across that street!"
+
+"And you took me on trust, when, for all you know, the police might
+have been after me," said Tommy.  "Well, we won't forget; not that
+I suppose Bob and I will ever be able to pay you back."
+
+"Good gracious, we don't want paying back!" exclaimed Norah,
+wrinkling her nose disgustedly.  "Don't talk such utter nonsense,
+Tommy Rainham.  And just hurry up and unpack, because tea will be
+ready at half-past six."
+
+"My goodness!" exclaimed the English girl, to whom dinner at half-
+past seven was a custom of life not lightly to be altered.  "And I
+haven't half unpacked, and oh, where is my blue frock?  I don't
+believe I've brought it."  She sought despairingly in the trunk.
+
+"Yes, you have--I hung it up for you in the wardrobe ages ago,"
+said Norah.  "And it doesn't matter if you don't finish before tea.
+There's lots of time ahead.  However, I certainly won't be dressed
+if I don't hurry, because I've to see Brownie first, and then sew
+on a button for Jim.  You'll find me next door when you're ready."
+Tommy heard her go, singing downstairs, and she sighed happily.
+This, for the first time for two years, was a real home.
+
+The education of the new-chums began next morning, and was carried
+out thoroughly, since Mr. Linton did not believe in showing their
+immigrants only the pleasanter side of Australian life.  Bob was
+given a few days of riding round the run, spying out the land, and
+learning something about cattle and their handling as he rode.
+Luckily for him, he was a good horseman.  The stockmen, always on
+the alert to "pick holes" in a new-chum, had little fault to find
+with his easy seat and hands, and approved of the way in which he
+waited for no one's help in saddling up or letting go his horse; a
+point which always tells with the man of the bush.
+
+"We've had thim on this run," said Murty, "as wanted their horses
+led gently up to thim, and then they climb into the saddle like a
+lady.  And when they'd come home, all they'd be lookin' for 'ud be
+some one to casht their reins to, the way they cud strowl off to
+their tay.  Isn't that so, Mick?"
+
+"Yairs," said Mick.  He was riding an unbroken three-year-old, and
+had no time for conversation.
+
+After a few days of "gentle exercise," Bob found himself put on to
+work.  He learned something of cutting out and mustering, both in
+cleared country and in scrub; helped bring home young cattle to
+brand, and studied at first hand the peculiar evilness of a scrub
+cow when separated from her calf.  They gave him jobs for himself,
+which he accomplished fairly well, aided by a stock horse of
+superhuman intelligence, which naturally knew far more of the work
+than its rider could hope to do.  Bob confided to Tommy that never
+had he felt so complete a fool as when he rode forth for the first
+time to cut out a bullock alone under the eyes of the experts.
+
+"Luckily, the old mare did all the work," he said.  "But I knew
+less about it than I did the first time I went up alone at the
+flying school!"
+
+His teaching went on all the time.  Mr. Linton and Jim were
+tireless in pointing out the points of cattle, and the variations
+in the value of feed on the different parts of the run, with all
+the details of bush lore; and the airman's eyes, trained to
+observe, and backed by keen desire to learn, picked up and retained
+knowledge quickly.  Billabong was, in the main, a cattle run, but
+Mr. Linton kept as well a flock of high class sheep, with the usual
+small mob for killing for station use, and through these a certain
+amount of sheep knowledge was imparted to the new-chum.  To their
+surprise, for all his instructors were heart and soul for cattle,
+Bob showed a distinct leaning towards mutton.
+
+"They're easier to understand, I think," he said.  "Possibly it's
+because they're not as intelligent as cattle, and I don't think I
+am, either!"
+
+"Well, I know something about bullocks, but these woolly objects
+have always been beyond me," said Jim.  "Necessary evils, but I
+can't stand them.  I used to think there was nothing more hopeless
+than an old merino ewe, until I met a battery mule--he's a shade
+worse!"
+
+"Wait till you've worked with a camel in a bad temper, Mr. Jim,"
+said Dave Boone darkly; he had put in a weary time in Egypt.  "For
+downright wickedness them snake-headed beggars is the fair limit!"
+
+"Yes, I've heard so," said Jim.  "Anyhow, we haven't added mules
+and camels to our worries in Victoria yet; sheep are bad enough for
+me.  Norah says turkey hens are worse, and she's certainly tried
+both; there isn't much about the run young Norah doesn't know.  But
+you aren't going to make a living out of turkeys."
+
+"No--Tommy can run them as a side line," said Bob.  "I fancy sheep
+will give me all I want in the way of worry."
+
+"And you really think you'll go in for sheep, old man?" asked Jim
+with pity.
+
+Bob set his lips obstinately.
+
+"I don't think anything yet," he said.  "I don't know enough.  Wait
+until I've learned a bit more--if you're not sick of teaching such
+an idiot."
+
+"Yerra, ye're no ijit," said Murty under his breath.
+
+Education developed as the weeks went on.  Wally had gone to
+Queensland, to visit married brothers who were all the "people" he
+possessed; and Jim, bereft of his chum, threw himself energetically
+into the training of the substitute.  Bob learned to slaughter a
+bullock and kill a sheep--being instructed that the job in winter
+was not a circumstance to what it would be in summer, when flies
+would abound.  He never pretended to like this branch of learning,
+but stuck to it doggedly, since it was explained to him that the
+man who could not be his own butcher in the bush was apt to go
+hungry, and that not one hired hand in twenty could be trusted to
+kill.
+
+More to Bob's taste were the boundary riding expeditions made with
+Jim to the furthest corners of the run; taking a pack horse with
+tucker and blankets, and camping in ancient huts, of which the sole
+furniture was rough sacking bunks, a big fireplace, and empty
+kerosene cases for seats and tables.  It was unfortunate, from the
+point of view of Bob's instruction, that the frantic zeal of Murty
+and the men to have everything in order for "the Boss" had left no
+yard of the Billabong boundary unvisited not a month before.
+Still, winter gales were always apt to bring down a tree or two
+across the wires, laying a few panels flat; the creeks, too, were
+all in flood, and where a wire fence crossed one, floating
+brushwood often damaged the barrier, or a landslip in a water-worn
+bank might carry away a post.  So Jim and his pupil found enough
+occupation to make their trips worth while; and Bob learned to sink
+post holes, to ram a post home beyond the possibility of moving,
+and to strain a wire fence scientifically.  He was not a novice
+with an axe, though Jim's mighty chopping made him feel a child;
+still, when it was necessary to cut away a fallen tree, he could do
+his share manfully.  His hands blistered and grew horny callouses,
+even as his muscles toughened and his shoulders widened; and all
+the time the appeal of the wide, free country called to his heart
+and drew him closer and closer to his new life.
+
+"But he's too comfortable, you know," David Linton said to Jim one
+night.  "He's shaping as well as anyone could expect; but he won't
+always have Billabong at his back."
+
+Jim nodded wisely.
+
+"I know," he said.  "Been thinking of that.  If you can spare me
+for a bit we'll go over and lend ourselves as handy men to old Joe
+Howard."
+
+His father whistled.
+
+"He'll make you toe the mark," he said, laughing.  "He won't have
+you there as gentlemen boarders, you know."
+
+"Don't want him to," said Jim.
+
+So it came about that early on Monday morning Jim and Bob fixed
+swags more or less scientifically to their saddles--Jim made his
+disciple unstrap his three times before he consented to pass it--
+and rode away from Billabong, amidst derisive good wishes from
+Norah and Tommy, who kindly promised to feed them up on their
+return, prophesying that they would certainly need it.  They took a
+westerly direction across country, and after two or three hours'
+riding came upon a small farm nestling at the foot of a low range
+of hills.
+
+"That's old Howard's," Jim said.  "And there's the old chap
+himself, fixing up his windmill.  You wait a minute, Bob; I'll go
+over and see him."
+
+He gave Bob his bridle, and went across a small paddock near the
+house.  Howard, a hard-looking old man with a long, grey beard, was
+wrestling with a home-made windmill--a queer erection, mainly
+composed of rough spars with sails made from old wheat-sacks.  He
+clambered to the ground as Jim approached, and greeted him civilly.
+
+"I thought you'd have forgotten me, Mr. Howard," said Jim.
+
+"Too like your dad--an', anyhow, I know the horses," was the
+laconic answer.  "So you're back.  Like Australia better'n
+fightin'?"
+
+"Rather!" said Jim.  "Fighting's a poor game, I think, when you
+hardly ever see the other fellow.  Want any hands, Mr. Howard?"
+
+"No."  The old man shook his head.  "They want too much money
+nowadays, an' they're too darned partickler about their tucker.
+Meat three times a day, whether you've killed it or not.  An'
+puddin'.  Cock 'em up with puddin'--a fat lot of it I ever saw
+where I was raised.  An' off to the township on Saturday afternoon,
+an' lucky if they get back in time for milkin' nex' mornin'.  No--
+the workin' man ain't what 'e was, an' the new kind'll make
+precious little of Australia!"
+
+"That's about right, I'm afraid," said Jim, listening sympathetically
+to this oration.  "Well, will you take me and my friend as hands
+for a few weeks, Mr. Howard?"
+
+"You!"  The old man stared at him.  "Ain't 'ad a quarrel with yer
+dad, 'ave yer?  You take my tip, if yer 'ave--go back and make it
+up.  Not many men in this districk like yer dad."
+
+"I know that, jolly well," said Jim, laughing.  "No--but my
+friend's a new-chum, and I want to show him something of work on a
+place like yours.  We've been breaking him in on Billabong, but
+he'll have to take a small place for himself, if he settles, and
+he'd better see what it's like."
+
+The old man shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"English officer, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I dunno," said Howard.  "Too much of the fine gent about that
+sort, Mr. Jim.  I dunno 'ow I'd get down to orderin' the pair of
+yous about.  An' I ain't got no 'comodation for yous; an' the
+tucker's not what yous 'ave bin used ter."
+
+"You needn't let any of that worry you," said Jim cheerfully.  "He
+isn't a bit of a fine gent, really, and we'll tackle any job that's
+going.  As for accommodation, we've brought our blankets, and, in
+case you were short of tucker, we've a big piece of corned beef and
+some bread.  I wish you'd try it, Mr. Howard; we don't want pay,
+and we'll do no end of work.  Murty reckons you won't be sorry if
+you take on Captain Rainham."
+
+"Oh, Murty says that, does 'e?" asked the old man, visibly cheered.
+"Well, Murty ain't the man to barrack for a useless new-chum."
+
+"Great Scott, do you think I am?" demanded Jim, laughing.  "Or my
+father?"
+
+"Yous cert'nly didn't ought to be," agreed Howard.  "All the same"--
+he pushed his hat back from his worried brow--"I dunno as I quite
+like it.  If I take on a chap I like 'im to step quick an' lively
+when I tell him anything I want done; an' I don't make no guests of
+'em either.  They got to do their own cookin', an' keep things
+clean an' tidy, too."
+
+"We'll take our share," said Jim.  "As for stepping quick and
+lively, we've both been trained to that pretty thoroughly during
+the last few years.  If you're worse than some of the Sergeant-
+majors I met when I was training, I'll eat my hat."
+
+"I'm told they're 'ard," said Howard.  "Well, I s'pose I'd better
+take yous on, though it's a queer day when the son of Linton of
+Billabong comes askin' old Joe Howard for a job.  But, I say"--and
+anguish again settled on his brow--"wot am I to call yous?  I can't
+order you about as Mr. Jim.  It wouldn't seem to come natural."
+
+"Oh, call us any old thing," said Jim, laughing.
+
+The old man pondered.
+
+"Well, I'll call yous Major an' Captin," he declared, at length.
+"That'll sound like a pair of workin' bullocks, an' I'll feel more
+at 'ome."
+
+"Right-o," said Jim, choking slightly.  "Where shall we put our
+horses?"
+
+"Put 'em in the little paddock over there, an' stick yer saddles in
+the shed," said his employer.  "An' then bring in yer beef, an'
+we'll 'ave a bit o' dinner.  I ain't killed for a fortnight."
+
+Then began for Bob Rainham one of the most strenuous fortnights of
+his existence.  Once having agreed to employ them, old Joe speedily
+became reconciled to the prospect of cheap labour, and worked his
+willing guests with a devouring energy.  Before dawn had reddened
+the eastern sky a shout of "Hi, Captin!  Time the cow was in!"
+drove him from his blankets, to search in the darkness of a scrub-
+covered paddock for a cow, who apparently loved a game of hide-and-
+seek, and to drive her in and milk her by the fitful light of a
+hurricane lantern.  Then came the usual round of morning duties;
+chopping wood, feeding pigs, cleaning out sheds and outhouses,
+before the one-time airman had time to think of breakfast.  By the
+time he came in Howard and Jim had generally finished and gone out--
+the old man took a sly delight in keeping "Major" away from
+"Captin"--and after cooking his meal, it was his job to wash up and
+to clean out the kitchen, over which old Joe proved unexpectedly
+critical.  Then came a varied choice of tasks to tackle to while
+away the day.  Sometimes he would be sent to scrub cutting, which
+he liked best, particularly as Jim was kept at it always; sometimes
+he slashed mightily at a blackberry-infested paddock, where the
+brambles would have daunted anyone less stout of heart--or less
+ignorant.  Then came lessons in ploughing on a dry hillside; he
+managed badly at first, and came in for a good deal of the rough
+side of old Joe's tongue before he learned to keep to anything
+approaching a straight line.  Ploughing, Bob reflected, was clearly
+an art which needed long apprenticeship before you learned to
+appreciate it, and he developed a new comprehension and sympathy
+for the ploughman described by Gray as "homeward plodding his weary
+way."  He also wondered if Gray's ploughman had to milk and get his
+own tea after he got home.
+
+Other relaxations of the bush were open to him.  Old Joe had a
+paddock, once a swamp, which he had drained; it was free of water,
+but abounded in tussocks and sword grass which "Captin" was
+detailed to grub out whenever no duty more pressing awaited him.
+And sword grass is a fearsome vegetable, clinging of root and so
+tough of stem that, if handled unwarily, it can cut a finger almost
+to the bone; wherefore the unfortunate "Captin" hated it with a
+mighty hatred, and preferred any other branch of his education.
+There were stones to pick up and pile in cairns; red stones, half
+buried in grass and tussocks, and weighing anything from a pound to
+half a hundredweight.  He scarred his hands and broke his
+fingernails to pieces over them, but, on the whole, considered it
+not a bad employment, except when old Joe took it into his head to
+perch on the fence and spur him on to greater efforts by
+disparaging remarks about England.  Whatever his work, there was
+never any certainty that old Joe would not appear, to sit down,
+light his short, black pipe, and make caustic remarks about his
+methods or his country--or both.  Bob took it all with a grin.  He
+was a cheerful soul.
+
+They used to meet for dinner--dinner consisting of corned beef and
+potatoes until the corned beef ran out; then it became potatoes and
+bread and jam for some days, until Joe amazed them by saddling an
+ancient grey mare and riding into Cunjee, returning with more
+corned beef--and more jam.  He boiled the beef in a kerosene tin,
+and Bob thought he had never tasted anything better.  Appetites did
+not need pampering on Howard's Farm.  Work in the evening went on
+until there was barely light enough to get home and find the cow;
+it was generally quite dark by the time milking was finished, and
+Bob would come in with his bucket to find Jim just in, and lighting
+the fire--"Major," not being the milking hand, worked in the
+paddocks a little longer.  Tea required little preparation, since
+the only menu that occurred to old Joe seemed to be bread and jam.
+Jim, being a masterful soul, occasionally took the matter into his
+own hands and, aided by Bob, made "flap-jacks" in the frying-pan;
+they might have been indigestible for delicately-constituted
+people, but at least they had the merit of being hot and comforting
+on a biting winter night.  Old Joe growled under his breath at the
+"softness" of people who required "cocking up with fal-lals."  But
+he ate the flap-jacks.
+
+After tea the "hands" divided the duties of the evening; taking it
+in turn, one to wash up, while the other "set" bread.  Joe's only
+baking implement was a camp-oven, which resembles a large saucepan
+on three legs; it could hold just enough for a day's supply, so
+that it was necessary to set bread every night, and bake every
+morning.  This wounded their employer, who never failed to tell
+them, with some bitterness, that when alone he had to bake only
+twice a week.  However, he knew all that there was to know about
+camp-oven baking, and taught them the art thoroughly, as well as
+that of making yeast from potatoes.  "That's an extry," he remarked
+thoughtfully, "but I won't charge yer for it, yous 'avin' bin
+soldiers!"
+
+With the bread set, and rising pleasantly before the fire, under a
+bit of old blanket, and the kitchen tidy, a period of rest ensued,
+when "Major" and "Captin" were free to draw up chairs--seated with
+greenhide with the hair left on, and very comfortable--and smoke
+their pipes.  This was the only time of the day when old Joe
+unbent.  At first silent, he would presently shift his pipe to the
+corner of his mouth and spin them yarns of the early days, told
+with a queer, dry humour that kept his hearers in a simmer of
+laughter.  It was always a matter of regret to poor "Captin" that
+he used to be the one to end the telling, since no story on earth
+could keep him, after a while, from nodding off to sleep.  He would
+drag himself away to his blankets in the next room, hearing, as
+sleep fully descended upon him, the droning voice still entertaining
+Jim--whose powers of keeping awake seemed more than human!
+
+Saturday brought no slackening of work.  Whatever his previous
+hired men had done, old Joe was evidently determined that his
+present "parlour-boarders" should not abate their efforts, and even
+kept them a little later than usual in the paddocks, remarking that
+"ter-morrer bein' Sunday, yous might as well cut a bit more scrub."
+The next morning broke fine and clear, and he looked at them a
+little doubtfully after breakfast.
+
+"Well, there ain't no work doin' on Sunday, I reckon.  I can manage
+the ol' keow to-night, if yous want to go home."
+
+The guests looked at each other doubtfully.
+
+"What do you say, Bob?  Shall we ride over?"
+
+Bob pondered.
+
+"All one to me, o' course," said Joe, getting up and stumping out.
+He paused at the door.  "On'y if yous mean ter stick on 'ere a bit
+you'll find comin' back a bit 'ard, onced yous see Billabong."
+
+"Just what I was thinking," said Bob, as the old man disappeared.
+"I'm not going, Jim; I know jolly well I'd hate to come back after--
+er--fleshpotting at your place.  But look here, old chap--why
+don't you go home and stay there?  You've done quite enough of
+this, especially as you've no earthly need to do it at all.  You go
+home, and I'll stay out my fortnight."
+
+"What, leave you here alone?" queried Jim.  "Not much, Bobby."
+
+"But why not?  I've Joseph, and we'd become bosom friends.  And
+your father must think it ridiculous for you to be kept over here,
+slaving--"
+
+"Don't you worry your old head about dad," said Jim cheerfully.
+"It's a slack time, and he doesn't need me, and he's perfectly
+satisfied at my being here.  Bless you, it's no harm for me to get
+a bit of this sort of life."
+
+"You'll never have to do it."
+
+"No one can tell that," said Jim.  "The bottom has dropped out of
+land in other countries, and it may happen here.  Besides, if
+you've got to employ labour it's just as well to know from
+experience what's a fair thing to expect from a man as a day's
+work.  For which reason, I have desired our friend Joseph to take
+me off scrub-duty, which I feel I know pretty well, and to detail
+me for assorted fatigues, like yours, next week.  And anyhow, my
+son, having brought you to this savage place, I'm not going to
+leave you.  Finally, we couldn't go anywhere, because this is the
+day that we must wash."
+
+"I have washed!" said Bob indignantly.
+
+"I didn't mean your person, Bobby, but your clothes.  The laundress
+doesn't call out here."
+
+"Oh!" said Bob, and grinned.  "Then I'd better put on a kettle."
+
+So they washed, very cheerfully, taking turns in the one bucket,
+which was all Joe could offer as laundry equipment.  He had an
+iron, but after brief consultation, "Major" and "Captin" decided
+that to iron working shirts would be merely painting the lily.  Old
+Joe watched them with a twinkle, saying nothing.  But a spirit of
+festivity and magnificence must have entered into him, for when the
+washermen went for a walk, after disposing their damp raiment upon
+bushes, he entered the kitchen hurriedly and dived for the flour-
+bag; and later, they found unwonted additions to the corned beef
+and potatoes--the said additions being no less than boiled onions
+and a jam tart.
+
+The week that followed was a repetition of the first, save for a
+day of such rain that even old Joe had to admit that work in the
+paddocks was out of the question.  He consoled himself by making
+them whitewash the kitchen.  Large masses of soot fell down into
+the fireplace throughout the day, seriously interfering with
+cooking operations, which suggested to Joe that "Captin" might
+acquire yet another art--that of bush chimney sweeping--which he
+accomplished next day, under direction, by the simple process of
+tugging a great bunch of tea-tree up and down the flue.  "Better'n
+all them brushes they 'ave in towns," said Joe, watching his
+blackened assistant with satisfaction.
+
+"Well, we're off to-morrow, Mr. Howard," said Jim on Saturday
+night.  They were seated round the fire, smoking.
+
+"I s'pose so.  Didn't think yous'd stick it out as long," the old
+man said.
+
+"We've had a very good time," said Bob; and was astonished to find
+himself speaking truthfully.  "Jolly good of you to have me; I know
+a new-chum isn't much use."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't say as how you weren't," said old Joe deliberately.
+"I ain't strong on new-chums, meself--some of them immy-grants
+they send out are a fair cow to handle; but I will say, Captin,
+you ain't got no frills, nor you don't mind puttin' your back into
+a job.  I worked you pretty 'ard, too."  He chuckled deeply.
+
+"Did you?" asked Bob--and chuckled in his turn.
+
+"Well, I didn't see no points in spoon-feedin' you.  If a man's
+goin' on the land he may as well know wot 'e's likely to strike.
+There's lots'll tell you you won't strike anythink 'arder than ol'
+Joe--an' p'raps you won't," he added.  "Any'ow, yous asked fer
+work, an' it was up ter me ter see that yous got it.  But don't go
+imaginin' you've learned all there is ter know about farmin' yet."
+
+"If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that," said Bob a trifle
+grimly.
+
+"That's right.  I ain't got much of a farm, an' any'ow, it's
+winter.  I on'y showed yous a few of the odd jobs--an' wot it is to
+'ave to batch fer yerself, not comin' in like a lord to Billabong
+ter see wot Mrs. Brown's been cookin' for yous.  Nothin' like a bit
+o' batchin' ter teach a cove.  An' you mind, Captin--if you start
+anywhere on yer own, you batch decent; keep things clean an' don't
+get into the way o' livin' just any'ow.  I ain't much, nor the
+meenoo ain't excitin'; but things is clean."
+
+"Well--I have a sister," said Bob.  "So I'm in luck.  But I guess I
+know a bit more about her side of the job now."
+
+"And that's no bad thing for Tommy," said Jim.
+
+"Oo's 'e?" demanded Joe.
+
+"Oh--that's his sister."
+
+"Rum names gals gets nowadays," said Joe, pondering.  "Not on'y
+gels, neither.  'S a chap on top of the 'ill 'as a new baby, an'
+'e's called it 'Aig Wipers Jellicoe.  'Course, 'e did go to the
+war, but 'e ain't got no need ter rub it into the poor kid like
+that."  He paused to ram the tobacco into the bowl of his pipe with
+a horny thumb.  "One thing--I'd like to pay you chaps somethin'.
+Never 'ad blokes workin' fer me fer nothin', an' I don't much care
+about it."
+
+"No, thanks, Mr. Howard," said Jim.  "We came for colonial
+experience."
+
+"You!" said old Joe, and permitted himself the ghost of a grin.
+"Well, I ain't goin' ter fight yous about it, an' I'm not worryin'
+a mighty lot about you, Major, 'cause your little bit o' country's
+ready made for you.  But Captin's different.  We won't 'ave no
+fight about cash, Captin; but that last year's calf of the ol'
+keow's goin' ter be a pretty decent steer, an' when you gets yer
+farm 'e's goin' on it as yer first bit o' stock.  An' 'e'll get the
+best o' my grass till 'e goes."
+
+"Rubbish!" said Bob, much embarrassed.  "Awfully good of you, Mr.
+Howard, but that wasn't the agreement.  I know I'm not worth wages
+yet."
+
+"Oh, ain't you?" Joe asked.  "Well, there's two opinions about
+that.  Any'ow, 'e's yours, an' I've christened 'im Captin, so there
+ain't no way out of it."  He rose, cutting short further protests.
+"Too much bloomin' argument about this camp; I'm off ter bed."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON INFLUENZA AND FURNITURE
+
+
+"So you think he'll do, Jim?"
+
+"Yes, I certainly do," Jim answered.  He was sitting with his
+father in the smoking-room at Billabong, his long legs outstretched
+before the fire, and his great form half-concealed in the depths of
+an enormous leather armchair.  "Of course he'll want guidance; you
+couldn't expect him to know much about stock yet, though he's
+certainly picked up a good bit."
+
+"Yes--so it seems.  His great point is his quick eye and his
+keenness.  I haven't found him forget much."
+
+"No, and he's awfully ashamed if he does.  He's a tiger for work,
+and very quick at picking up the way to tackle any new job.  That
+was one of the things that pleased old Joe about him.  I fancy the
+old chap had suffered at the hands of other new-chums who reckoned
+they could teach him how to do his work.  'Captin ain't orffered me
+not one bit of advice,' he told me with relief."
+
+Mr. Linton laughed.
+
+"Yes, I've had them here like that," he said.  "Full of sublime
+enthusiasm for reforming Australia and all her ways.  I don't say
+we don't need it, either, but not from a new-chum in his first five
+minutes."
+
+"Not much," agreed Jim.  "Well, there's nothing of that sort about
+old Bob.  He just hoes in at anything that's going, and doesn't
+talk about it.  Joe says he must have been reared sensible.  He's
+all right, dad.  I've had a lot of men through my hands in the last
+few years, and you learn to size 'em up pretty quickly."
+
+David Linton nodded, looking at his big son.  Sometimes he had a
+pang of regret for Jim's lost boyhood, swallowed up in war.  Then,
+when he was privileged to behold him rough-and-tumbling with Wally,
+singing idiotic choruses with Norah and Tommy, or making himself
+into what little Babs Archdale ecstatically called "my bucking
+donkey," it was borne in upon him that there still was plenty of
+the boy left in Jim--and that there always would be.  Nevertheless,
+he had great confidence in his judgment; and in this instance it
+happened to coincide with his own.
+
+The door opened, and Bob Rainham came in, hesitating as he caught
+sight of the father and son.
+
+"Come in, Bob," Mr. Linton said.  "I was just wishing you would
+turn up.  We've been talking about you.  I understand you've made
+up your mind to get a place of your own."
+
+"If you don't think I'm insane to tackle it, sir," Bob answered.
+"Of course, I know I'm awfully ignorant.  But I thought I could
+probably get hold of a good man, and if I can find a place anywhere
+in this district, Jim says he'll keep an eye on me.  Between the
+two, I oughtn't to make very hopeless mistakes.  And I might as
+well have my money invested."
+
+"Quite so.  I think you're wise," the squatter answered.  "As it
+happens, I was in Cunjee yesterday, talking to an agent, and I
+heard of a little place that might suit you very well--just about
+the price you ought to pay, and the land's not bad.  There's a
+decent cottage on it--you and Tommy could be very comfortable
+there.  It's four miles from here, so we should feel you hadn't got
+away from us."
+
+"That sounds jolly," said Bob.  "I'd be awfully glad to think Tommy
+was so near to Norah.  Is it sheep country, Mr. Linton?"
+
+"So it's to be sheep, is it?  Well, I'd advise you to put some
+young cattle on to some scrub country at the back, but you could
+certainly run sheep on the cleared paddocks," Mr. Linton answered.
+"We could drive over and look at it to-morrow, if you like.  The
+terms are easy; you'd have money over to stock it, or nearly so.
+And there's plenty to be done in improving the place, if you should
+buy it; you could easily add a good deal to its value."
+
+"That's what I'd like," Bob answered eagerly.  "It doesn't take a
+whole lot of brains to dig drains and cut scrub.  I could be doing
+that while the sheep turn into wool and mutton!"
+
+"So you could; though there's a bit more to be done to sheep than
+just to watch them turn," said the squatter, with a twinkle.  "I
+fancy Tommy will be pleased if you get this place."
+
+"Tommy's mad keen to start," Bob said.  "She says Norah has taught
+her more than she ever dreamed that her head could contain, and she
+wants to work it all off on me.  I think she has visions of making
+me kill a bullock, so that she can demonstrate all she knows about
+corning and spicing and salting beef.  I mentioned it would take
+two of us quite a little while to work through a whole bullock, but
+she evidently didn't think much of the objection."
+
+"I'll see you get none fat enough to kill," grinned Jim.  "Norah
+says Tommy's a great pupil, dad."
+
+"Oh, they have worked as if they were possessed," Mr. Linton
+answered.  "I never saw such painfully busy people.  But Norah
+tells me she has had very little to teach Tommy--in fact, I think
+the teaching has been mutual, and they've simply swapped French and
+Australian dodges.  At all events they and Brownie have lived in
+each other's pockets, and they all seem very content."
+
+"Are you all talking business, or may we come in?" demanded a
+cheery voice; and Norah peeped in, with Tommy dimly visible in the
+background.
+
+"Come in--'twas yourselves we were talking about," Jim said, rising
+slowly from the armchair; a process which, Norah was accustomed to
+say, he accomplished yard by yard.  "Sit here, Tommy, and let's
+hear your views on Australia!"
+
+Tommy shook her head.
+
+"Too soon to ask me--and I've only seen Billabong," she said,
+laughing.  "Wait until I've kept house for Bob for a while, and
+faced life without nice soft buffers like Norah and Mrs. Brown!"
+
+"I'm not a nice soft buffer!" said Norah indignantly.  "Do I look
+like one, Jimmy?"
+
+"Brownie certainly fits the description better," Jim said.  "Never
+mind, old girl, you'll probably grow into one.  We'd be awfully
+proud of you if you got really fat, Norah."
+
+"Then I hope you'll never have cause for pride," retorted his
+sister.  "I couldn't ride Bosun if I did, and that would be too
+awful to think about.  Oh, and Tommy's making a great stock-rider,
+Bob.  She declared she could never ride astride, but she's
+perceiving the error of her ways."
+
+"I thought I could never stick on without the moral support of the
+pommels," said Tommy.  "When you arrange yourself among pommels and
+horns and things on a side-saddle, there seems no real reason why
+you should ever come off, except of your own free will.  But a
+man's saddle doesn't offer any encouragement to a poor scared new-
+chum.  I pictured myself sliding off it whenever the horse side-
+stepped.  However, somehow, it doesn't happen."
+
+"And what happens when your steed slews around after a bullock?"
+asked Jim.
+
+"Indeed, I hardly know," said Tommy modestly.  "I generally shut my
+eyes, and hold on to the front of the saddle.  After a while I open
+them, and find, to my astonishment, that nothing has occurred, and
+I'm still there.  Then we sail along after Norah, and I hold up my
+head proudly and look as if that were really the way I have always
+handled cattle.  And she isn't a bit taken in.  It's dreadfully
+difficult to impress Norah."
+
+Every one laughed, and looked at the new-chum affectionately.  This
+small English girl, so ready to laugh at her own mistakes, had
+twined herself wonderfully about their hearts.  Even Brownie,
+jealous to the point of prickliness for her adored Norah, and at
+first inclined to turn up a scornful nose at "Miss Tommy's" pink
+and white daintiness, had been forced to admit that she "could
+'andle things like a workman."  And that was high praise from
+Brownie.
+
+The telephone bell whirred in the hall, and Jim went out to answer
+it.  In a few minutes they heard his voice.
+
+"Norah, just come here a moment."  He came back presently, leaving
+Norah at the telephone.
+
+"It's Dr. Anderson," he said.  "They're in trouble in Cunjee--
+there's a pretty bad outbreak of influenza.  Some returned men came
+up with it, and now it's spreading everywhere, Anderson says.  Mrs.
+Anderson has been nursing in the hospital, but now two of her own
+kiddies have got it, so she has had to go home, and they're awfully
+shorthanded.  Nurses seem to be scarce everywhere; they could only
+get one from Melbourne, and she's badly overworked."
+
+"Norah will go, I suppose," said David Linton, with a half-sigh--
+the sigh of a man who has looked forward to peace and security, and
+finds it again slipping from his grasp.
+
+"Oh, yes, I'm sure she will.  They have a certain number of
+volunteers, not nearly enough."
+
+"I'm going," said Tommy, and David Linton nodded at her kindly.
+
+"What about you and me, Jim?" Bob asked.
+
+"Well, Anderson says they have a number of men volunteers.  Such a
+lot of returned fellows about with nothing to do yet.  I told him
+to count on us for anything he wanted, but the need seems chiefly
+for women."
+
+"Must they go to-night?  It's pretty late," said Mr. Linton.
+
+"No, not to-night," Norah answered, entering.  "It would be eight
+o'clock before I could get in, and Dr. Anderson says I'm to get a
+good sleep and come in early in the morning.  Tommy, darling, will
+you mind if I leave you for a few days?"
+
+"Horribly," said Tommy drily.  "It would be unpardonably rude for a
+hostess.  So I 'm coming too."
+
+Norah laughed down at her.
+
+"Somehow, I thought you would," she said.  "Well, Jimmy, you'll
+take us in after breakfast, won't you?  We'll have it early."  She
+perched on the arm of her father's chair, letting her fingers rest
+for a moment on his close-cropped grey hair.  "And I've never asked
+you if I could go, daddy."
+
+"No," said David Linton; "you haven't."  He put his arm gently
+round her.
+
+"But then I knew that you'd kick me out if I didn't.  So that
+simplifies matters.  You'll take care of yourself while I'm away,
+won't you, dad?  No wild rides by yourself into the ranges, or
+anything of that sort?"
+
+"Certainly not," said her father.  I'll sit quietly at home, and
+let Brownie give me nourishment at short intervals."
+
+"Nothing she'd like better."  Norah laughed.  "I don't believe
+Brownie will really feel that she owns us again until one of us is
+considerate enough to fall ill and give her a real chance of
+nursing and feeding us.  Then the only thing to do is to forget you
+ever had a will of your own, and just to open your mouth and be fed
+like a young magpie, and Brownie's perfectly happy."
+
+"She won't be happy when she hears of this new plan," Mr. Linton
+said.  "Poor old soul, I'm sorry she should have any worry, when
+she has just got you home."
+
+"Yes; I'm sorry," Norah answered.  "But it can't be helped.  I'll
+go and talk to her now, and arrange things--early breakfast among
+them."
+
+"You might make it a shade earlier than you meant to, while you're
+at it, Nor," Jim observed.  "Then we could turn off the track as we
+go in to-morrow to let Tommy have a look at the place that has been
+offered Bob--you know that place of Henderson's, off the main road.
+Bob can go over the land with us when we're coming back.  But once
+you and Tommy get swallowed up in Cunjee, there's no knowing when
+we could get you out; and Tommy ought to inspect the house."
+
+"Oh, I'd love to," said Tommy enthusiastically.  "No mere man can
+be trusted to buy a house."
+
+"Don't go to look at it with any large ideas of up-to-date
+improvements floating in your mind," Jim warned her.  "It's sure to
+be pretty primitive, and probably there isn't even a bathroom."
+
+"Don't you worry, Tommy; we'll build you one," said Mr. Linton.
+
+"I'm not going to worry about anything; there are always washtubs,"
+spoke Tommy cheerfully--"and thank you, all the same, Mr. Linton.
+I didn't expect much when I came out to Australia, but I'm getting
+so much more than I expected that I'm in a state of bewilderment
+all the time.  Someday I feel that I shall come down with a bump,
+and I shall be thankful if it's only over a bathroom."
+
+"Distressing picture of the valiant pioneer looking for discomforts
+and failing to find them," said Bob, laughing.  "It's so difficult
+to feel really pioneerish in a place where there are taps, and
+electric light, and motors, and no one appears to wear a red shirt,
+like every Australian bushman I ever saw on the stage."
+
+"Did you bring any out with you?" demanded Norah wickedly.
+
+"I didn't.  But honest, it was only because I had so many khaki
+ones, and I thought they'd do.  Otherwise I'd certainly have
+thought that scarlet shirts were part of the ordinary outfit for
+the Colonies.  And if you believed all the things they tell you in
+outfitting shops, you would bring a gorgeous assortment.  We'd have
+even arrived here with tinware.  It was lucky I knew some
+Australians--they delicately hinted that you really had a shop or
+two in the principal cities."
+
+"I've often marvelled at the queer collection people seem to bring
+out," said Mr. Linton.  "It's not so bad of late years, but ten
+years ago a jackeroo would arrive here with about a lorry-load of
+stuff, most of which he could have bought much more cheaply in
+Melbourne or Sydney--and he'd certainly never use the greater part
+of it.  Apparently a London shop will sell you the same kind of
+outfit for a Melbourne suburb as if you were going into the wilds
+of West Africa.  They haven't any conscience."
+
+"They just never learn geography," said Norah.  "And 'the Colonies'
+to them mean exactly the same thing, no matter in what continent
+the colony may be.  If they can sell pioneers tinware to take out
+to Melbourne, so much the better for them.  Well, I must see
+Brownie, or there may not be early breakfast for pioneers or any
+one else."
+
+Brownie rose to the occasion--there had never been any known
+occasion to which Brownie did not rise--and the hospital at Cunjee
+was still grappling with early morning problems next day when the
+Billabong motor pulled up at the door, after a flying visit to the
+new home--which Tommy, regarding with the large eye of faith, had
+declared to be full of boundless possibilities.  Dr. Anderson came
+out to meet the new-comers, Norah and Tommy, neat and workmanlike;
+Jim, bearing their luggage; and Mr. Linton and Bob sharing a large
+humper, into which Brownie had packed everything eatable she could
+find--and Brownie's capacity for finding things eatable at short
+notice was one of her most astonishing traits.  The little doctor,
+harassed as he was, greeted them with a twinkle.
+
+"You Lintons generally appear bearing your sheaves with you," he
+said.  "Well, you're very welcome.  How many of you do I keep?"
+
+"Tommy and Norah, for certain," said Mr. Linton.  "And as many more
+of us as you please.  Want us all, doctor?"
+
+"Well, I really don't; there are a good many men volunteers.  But
+if I might commandeer the car and a driver for a few hours, I
+should be glad," the doctor went on.  "There are some cases to be
+brought in from Mardale and Clinthorpe.  I heard of them only this
+morning, on the telephone, and I was wondering how to get them in."
+
+"We're at your disposal, and you've only to telephone for us or the
+car whenever you want it," said Mr. Linton.  "How are things this
+morning?"
+
+"Oh--bad enough.  We have several very troublesome cases; people
+simply won't give in soon enough.  My youngsters are very ill, but
+I'm not really worried about them as long as my wife keeps up.  Our
+biggest trouble is that our cook here went down this morning.  She
+told me she couldn't sleep a wink all night, and when she woke up
+in the morning her tongue was sticking to the roof of her head!--
+and certainly she has temperature enough for any strange symptoms.
+But we feel rather as if the bottom had dropped out of the
+universe, for none of our volunteers are equal to the job."
+
+"I can cook," said Norah and Tommy together.
+
+"Can you?" said the little doctor, staring at them as though the
+heavens had opened and rained down angels on his head.  "Are you
+sure?  You don't look like it!"
+
+"I can guarantee them," said Mr. Linton, laughing.  "Only you'll
+have to watch Norah, for the spell of the war is heavy upon her,
+and she'll boil your soup bones thirteen times, and feed you all on
+haricot beans and lentils if nobody checks her!"
+
+"Dad, you haven't any manners," said Norah severely.  "May I cook,
+Doctor?"
+
+"You can share the job," said Dr. Anderson thankfully.  "I really
+think it's more than enough for one of you.  This place is getting
+pretty full.  Of course, I've wired to town for a cook, but
+goodness knows if we'll get one; it's unlikely.  Come on, now, and
+I'll introduce you to Sister."
+
+Sister proved to be a tall, capable, quiet woman, with war
+decorations.  She greeted the volunteers thankfully, and
+unhesitatingly pronounced their place to be cooks, rather than
+nurses.
+
+"I can get girls who will do well enough in the wards," she said,
+"where I can direct them.  But I can't be in the kitchen too.  If
+you two can carry on without supervision it will be a godsend."
+
+So the kitchen swallowed up Norah and Tommy, and there they worked
+during the weeks that followed, while the influenza scourge raged
+round Victoria.  The little cottage-hospital became full almost
+to bursting-point.  Even the rooms for the staff had to be
+appropriated, and nurses and helpers slept in a cottage close by.
+Luckily for the cooks, Cunjee now boasted a gas supply and its
+citizens supplied them with gas-stoves, as Norah said, "in
+clutches," so that they worked in comfort.  It was hard work, with
+little time to spare, but the girls had learned method, and they
+soon mapped out a routine that prevented their ever being rushed or
+flurried.  And they blessed the cold weather that saved constant
+watching lest supplies should go bad.
+
+From Billabong came daily hampers that greatly relieved their
+labours.  It was a matter of some amazement to the Lintons that
+Brownie did not volunteer for the hospital, and indeed, it had been
+the first thought of Brownie herself.  But she repressed it firmly,
+though by no means feeling comfortable.  To Murty she confided her
+views, and was relieved by his approval.
+
+"I know I did ought to go," she said, almost tearfully.  "There's
+those two blessed lambs in the kitchen, doing wot I'd ought to be
+doing; and I know Mrs. Archdale 'ud come up an' run things 'ere for
+me.  But wot 'ud 'appen if I did go, I ask you, Murty?  Simply
+they'd take the two blessed lambs out of the kitchen an' put 'em to
+nursing in the wards, an' next thing you knew they'd both be down
+with the beastly flu' themselves.  They're safer among the pots and
+pans, Murty.  But when the master looks at me I don't feel
+comferable."
+
+"Yerra, let him look," said Murty stoutly.  "'Tis the great head ye
+have on ye; I'd never have thought of it.  Don't go worryin', now.
+Are ye not sendin' them in the heighth of good livin' every day?"
+
+"That's the least I can do," said Brownie, brightening a little.
+"Only I'd like to think Miss Norah and Miss Tommy got some of it,
+and not just them patients, gethered up from goodness knows where."
+
+"Yerra, Miss Norah wouldn't want to know their addresses before
+she'd feed 'em," said the bewildered Murty.  But there came a
+suspicious smell from the kitchen, as of something burning, and
+Mrs. Brown fled with a swiftness that was surprising, considering
+her circumference.
+
+Jim lived a moving existence in those days, flying between
+Billabong and Cunjee in the car, bringing supplies, always on hand
+for a job if wanted, and insisting that on their daily "time off"
+Norah and Tommy should come out for a spin into the country.
+Sometimes they managed to take Sister, too, or some of the other
+helpers.  The car never went out with any empty seats.  Presently
+they were recovering patients to be given fresh air or taken home;
+white-faced mothers, longing to be back to the house and children
+left in the care of "dad," and whatever kindly neighbours might
+drop in; or "dads" themselves, much bewildered at the amazing
+illness that had left them feeling as if neither their legs nor
+their heads belonged to them.  Occasionally, after dropping one of
+these convalescents, Jim would find jobs waiting to his hand about
+the bush homestead; cows to milk, a fence to be mended, wood
+waiting to be chopped.  He used to do them vigorously, while in the
+house "mum" fussed over her restored man and tried to keep him from
+going out to run the farm immediately.  There were generally two or
+three astonished children to show him where tools were kept--milk
+buckets, being always up-ended on a fence post, needed no
+introduction, and the pump, for a sluice afterwards, was not hard
+of discovery.  The big Rolls-Royce used to purr gently away through
+the bush paddock afterwards, often with a bewildered "mum" looking
+amazedly at the tall young man who drove it.
+
+Meanwhile Bob Rainham, left alone with his host, set about the
+business of his new farm in earnest, since there seemed nothing
+else for him to do; and David Linton, possibly glad of the
+occupation, threw himself into the work.  The farm was bought on
+terms that seemed to Bob very easy--he did not know that Mr. Linton
+stood security for his payments--and then began the task of
+stocking it and of planning just what was best to do with each
+paddock.  The house, left bare and clean by the last owners, was in
+good repair, save that the dingy white painting of the exterior,
+and the varnished pine walls and ceilings within were depressing
+and shabby.  Mr. Linton decided that his house-warming present to
+Tommy should be a coat of paint for her mansion, and soon it looked
+new--dark red, with a gleaming white roof, while the rooms were
+painted in pretty fresh colours.  "Won't Tommy get a shock!"
+chuckled Bob gleefully.  The dinginess of the house had not escaped
+him on the morning that they had made their first inspection, but
+Tommy, who loved freshness and colours, had made no sign.  Had you
+probed the matter, Tommy would probably have remarked, with some
+annoyance, that it was not her job to begin by grumbling.
+
+Wally came hurtling back from Queensland at the first hint of the
+influenza outbreak, and was considerably depressed at finding his
+twin souls, Jim and Norah, engaged in jobs that for once he could
+not share.  Therefore he, too, fell back on the new farm, and found
+Bob knitting his brow one evening over the question of furniture.
+
+"I don't want to buy much," he said.  "Tommy doesn't, either; we
+talked it over.  We'd rather do with next to nothing, and buy
+decent stuff by degrees if we get on well.  Tommy says she doesn't
+want footling little gimcracky tables and whatnots and things, nor
+dressing-tables full of drawers that won't pull out.  But I've been
+looking at the cheap stuff in Cunjee, and, my word, it's nasty!
+Still, I can't afford good things now, and Tommy wouldn't like it
+if I tried to get 'em.  Tommy's death on the simple life."
+
+"How are you on tools?" queried Wally.
+
+"Using tools?  Pretty fair," admitted Bob.  "I took up carpentering
+at school; it was always a bit of a hobby of mine.  I'm no cabinet-
+maker, if that's what you mean."
+
+"You don't need to be," Wally answered.  "Up where I come from--we
+were pretty far back in Queensland--we hardly ever saw real
+furniture, the stuff you buy in shops.  It was all made out of
+packing-cases and odd bits of wood.  Jolly decent, too; you paint
+'em up to match the rooms, or stain 'em dark colours, and the girls
+put sort of petticoats round some of the things."
+
+"We began that way," said David Linton, with a half-sigh.  "There
+was surprisingly little proper furniture in our first house, and we
+were very comfortable."
+
+"Couldn't we begin, sir?" asked Wally eagerly.  "This wet weather
+looks like setting in.  Bob can't do much on the farm.  If we could
+get out a few odd lengths of timber and some old packing cases from
+the township--"
+
+"Heavens, you don't need to do that!" exclaimed their host.  "The
+place is full of both; packing-cases have been arriving at
+Billabong since Jim was a baby, and very few of them have gone away
+again.  There's plenty of timber knocking about, too.  We'll go
+over to the farm if you like, Bob, and plan out measurements."
+
+"I think it's a splendid idea, thanks, sir," said Bob slowly.
+"Only I don't quite see why I should bother you--"
+
+"Oh, don't talk rubbish!" said David Linton, getting up.  "I
+believe I'm glad of the job--the place seems queer without Jim and
+Norah."
+
+"My word!" said Wally.  "Let's all turn carpenters, and give Tommy
+the surprise of her life!"
+
+They flung themselves at the work with energy.  A visit to the new
+house, and a careful study of each room, revealed unsuspected
+possibilities to Bob, whose English brain, "brought up," as Wally
+said, "on a stodgy diet of bedroom suites," had failed to grasp
+what might be done by handy people with a soul above mere fashion
+in the matter of furniture.  They came back with a notebook bulging
+with measurements and heads seething with ideas.  First, they dealt
+with the bedrooms, and made for each a set of long shelves and a
+dressing-table-cupboard--the latter a noble piece of furniture,
+which was merely a packing-case, smoothed, planed and fitted with
+shelves; the whole to be completed with a seemly petticoat when
+Tommy should be able to detach her mind from influenza patients.
+They made her, too, a little work-table, which was simply a wide,
+low shelf, at which she could write or sew--planned to catch a good
+light from her window, so that as she sat near it, she could see
+the line of willows that marked the creek and the rolling plains
+that ended in the ranges behind Billabong.  Tommy's room was
+painted in pale green; and when they had stained all these exciting
+additions dark green, Bob heaved a great sigh, and yearned audibly
+for the swift recovery of the influenza patients, so that Tommy
+could return and behold her new possessions.
+
+"We could make washstands," said Mr. Linton, when they had fitted
+out the two remaining bedrooms.  "But washstands are depressing
+things, and would take up a good deal of space in these little
+rooms.  You have a good water supply, Bob; why not have built-in
+basins with taps, and lay on water through the bedrooms?"
+
+Bob whistled.
+
+"My aunt!  Is that really possible?"
+
+"Quite, I should say.  It wouldn't take elaborate plumbing, and the
+pipes could discharge into an irrigation drain for your vegetable
+garden.  It would save Tommy ever so much work in carrying water,
+too.  There's a fearsome amount of water carried in and out of
+bedrooms, and I can't see why pipes shouldn't do the work.  It need
+not cost you much--just a shelf across a corner, with an enamelled
+basin let in."
+
+"Save you buying jugs and basins," said Wally.  "Great money-saving
+idea!"
+
+"Rather," said Bob.  "Is there anyone in Cunjee who can plumb?"
+
+"Oh, yes; there's a handy man who can do the whole thing.  We'll
+get Jim to go and see him tomorrow."
+
+They left this job to the handy man, who proved equal to all
+demands, and went on themselves to higher flights.  Kitchen and
+pantry were already fitted with shelves, but they built in a
+dresser, and found a spare corner, where they erected a linen press
+warranted to bring tears of joy to the eye of any housewife.  Round
+the little dining-room and sitting-room they ran a very narrow
+shelf, just wide enough to carry flowers and ornaments, and they
+made wide, low window seats in each room.  Then, becoming bold by
+success, they turned to cabinet making, and built into the dining-
+room a sideboard, which was only a glorified edition of the kitchen
+dresser, but looked amazingly like walnut, aided by a little stain;
+and for both sitting-rooms made low cupboards, with tops wide
+enough to serve as little tables.  Even the verandah was furnished
+with wide shelf tables and a cupboard, and with low and broad
+seats.
+
+"And it's all done by kindness--and packing cases!" said Jim,
+surveying the result with admiration.
+
+"Indeed, I'm afraid a lot of your father's good timber has gone
+into it," said Bob half ruefully.  "He was awfully good about it,
+and the supply of just-what-you-want timber on Billabong seemed
+inexhaustible."
+
+"No, you really used very little good stuff," David Linton said.
+"It's chiefly packing cases, truly, Jim.  But we had plenty of time
+to plane it up and make it look decent.  Bob ran an electric light
+into the workshop and we worked every night.  I believe it's kept
+us from getting influenza from sheer boredom, with all you people
+away."
+
+"They'll soon be home," Jim said cheerfully.  "Influenza's dying
+out, I believe.  No fresh cases for three days, and all the
+patients are getting better.  The little Andersons are up and
+about.  By the way, Dad, couldn't we bring those kiddies out to
+Billabong for a change?"
+
+"Why, of course," his father answered.  "Tell Mrs. Anderson to come
+too, or, if she won't leave her husband, Brownie will be delighted
+at the chance of getting two children to look after again.  Are the
+cooks quite cheery, Jim?"
+
+"As cheery as possible," Jim answered.  "They got off early to-day,
+and I took them and Sister and the Anderson youngsters out for a
+run.  Did 'em all good.  I'm coming home to-night, and they don't
+want me to-morrow, because they're going to afternoon tea with some
+one or other.  Flighty young things, those cooks!  So I can help
+you carpenters or do any odd jobs."
+
+"We've lots," said Wally, who was putting a finishing coat of dark
+green enamel to a rod destined as a towel rail for Tommy's room.
+"Simple jobs, suitable for your understanding.  Take care, Jimmy,
+I've a wet paint brush, and you have a good suit on!  I want to put
+shelves from floor to ceiling of the bathroom, because the walls
+are rough and unlined, and nothing on earth will make it a
+beautiful room.  So Tommy may as well store there all the things
+she doesn't want anywhere else.  And you can make her a medicine
+cupboard.  I shan't have time to look at any of you unskilled
+labourers, for I'm going to build her a draining-rack for plates
+and things over the kitchen sink.  And I can tell you, that takes
+brains!"
+
+"Then it's not your job!" said Jim definitely.
+
+"Isn't it?  I'll show you, you old Bond Street fashion plate!"
+Wally stretched his long form, simply attired in a khaki shirt and
+dungaree trousers, much be-splashed by paint, and looked scornfully
+at his neatly dressed friend.  "You needn't think, because you come
+here dressed like the lilies of the field and fresh from motoring
+girls round the country, that--"
+
+"My hat!" said Jim justly incensed.  "And I after cleaning out and
+whitewashing the hospital fowl-houses all the morning!  Young
+Wally, you need some one to sit on your head."  He took off his
+coat slowly.
+
+"Ten to one," said Wally hastily, "if we had time to look into the
+matter we'd find you'd whitewashed the fowls as well!  These Army
+Johnnies are so beastly impractical!"  He gathered up his brushes
+and fled, pursued by his chum.  Sounds of warfare came faintly from
+the distance.
+
+"It's a good thing some of us are sane," said Mr. Linton laughing.
+"Nearly finished, Bob?"
+
+He was painting a shelf-table, screwed to the wall within a space
+at the end of the verandah, which they had completely enclosed with
+wire mosquito netting.  Bob was hanging the door of this open-air
+room in position, a task requiring judgment, as the floor of the
+verandah was old and uneven.
+
+"Nearly, sir," he mumbled, his utterance made difficult by the fact
+of having several screws in his mouth.  He worked vigorously for a
+few moments, and then stood back to survey his job.  "This is going
+to be a great little room--though it's hard just now to imagine
+that it will ever be warm enough for it."
+
+"Just you wait a few months until we get a touch of hot weather,
+and the mosquitoes come out!" said David Linton.  "Then you and
+Tommy will thankfully entrench yourselves in here at dusk, and
+listen to the singing hordes dashing themselves against the netting
+in the effort to get at you!"
+
+"That's the kind of thing they used to tell me on the Nauru," Bob
+said laughing; "but I didn't quite expect it from you, Mr. Linton!"
+
+The squatter chuckled.
+
+"Well, indeed, it's no great exaggeration in some years," he said.
+"They can be bad enough for anything, though it isn't always they
+are.  But an open-air room is never amiss, for if there aren't
+mosquitoes a lamp will attract myriads of other insects on a hot
+night.  That looks all right, Bob; you've managed that door very
+well."
+
+"First rate!" said Jim and Wally approvingly, returning arm in arm.
+
+"You're great judges!" David Linton rejoined, looking at the pair.
+"Have you returned to work, may I ask, or are you still imitating
+the lilies of the field?"
+
+"Jim is; he couldn't help it," said Wally.  "But I have been
+studying that oak tree out in the front, Mr. Linton.  It seems to
+me that a seat built round it would be very comforting to weary
+bones on warm evenings--"
+
+Bob gathered up his tools with decision in each movement.
+
+"Wally has come to that state of mind in which he can't look at
+anything on the place without wanting to build something out of a
+packing case in it, or round it, or on top of it!" he said.  "When
+the sheep come I'll have to keep you from them, or you'll be
+building shelves round them!"
+
+"Why, you're nearly as bad yourself!" grinned Wally.
+
+"I know I am, and that's why I've got to stop.  I'm going to leave
+nice little chisels and spokeshaves and smoothing planes, and mend
+up the pigsty; it needs it badly, and so does the cow-shed.  And
+then I've got to think of ploughing, and cutting that drain across
+the flat, and generally earning my living."
+
+"Don't you worry," said David Linton.  "You couldn't have done much
+outside in this wet weather, and at least your house is half-
+furnished.  And we'll help you through with the other things."
+
+"You're all just bricks," said Bob, his fair skin flushing--"only I
+begin to feel as if I were fed with a spoon.  I can't always expect
+to have my work done for me."
+
+"You haven't shown much wish to leave it for anyone else," Jim said
+drily.  "Neither you nor Tommy strikes this district as a loafer.
+Just stop talking bosh, old man, and think what Tommy's going to
+say to her mansion."
+
+"Say?" queried Mr. Linton.  "Why, she'll point out to us all the
+places where she wants shelves!"
+
+"Shelves?" yelled the three as one man.
+
+"Yes, certainly.  There was never a woman born who had enough.
+Don't lose sight of your tools, Bob, for you'll go on putting up
+shelves as long as you've an inch of wall to put them on.  Come
+along, boys, and we'll go home."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE HOME ON THE CREEK
+
+
+"I think it's the loveliest home that ever was!" said Tommy
+solemnly.
+
+"Well, indeed, it takes some beating," Wally agreed.
+
+"Creek Cottage"--the name was of Tommy's choosing--was ready for
+occupation, and they had just finished a tour of it.  There was
+nothing in it that was not fresh and bright and dainty--like Tommy
+herself.  The rooms were small, but they had good windows, where
+the crisp, short curtains were not allowed to obscure the view.
+There were fresh mattings and linoleums on the floors, and the
+home-made furniture now boasted, where necessary, curtains of
+chintz or cretonne, that matched its colouring.  Norah and Tommy
+had spent cheery hours over those draperies.  The curtains for
+Tommy's "suite" had been Norah's gift--of dark-green linen,
+embroidered in dull blue silks; and in the corner there was a
+little sofa with cushions of the same.  Tommy had purred--was, in
+fact, still purring--over that home-made furniture, and declared it
+superior to any that money could buy.  She had also suggested new
+ideas for shelves.
+
+They had not troubled furniture shops much.  Save for a few
+comfortable arm-chairs, there was nothing solid and heavy in the
+house; but it was all pleasant and home-like, and the little rooms,
+bright with books and pictures and flowers, had about them the
+touch of welcome and restfulness that makes the difference between
+a home and a mere house.  The kitchen was Tommy's especial pride--
+it was cool and spotless, with fresh-painted walls and ceilings,
+and shining white tiles round the white sink--over which Wally's
+draining-rack sat in glory.  Dazzling tin-ware decorated the walls,
+and the dresser held fresh and pretty china.  For weeks it had been
+a point of honour for no one to visit Cunjee without bringing Tommy
+a gift for the kitchen--meat fork, a set of skewers, a tin pepper
+castor; offerings wrapped in many coverings of tissue paper, and
+presented with great solemnity, generally at dinner.  The last
+parcel had been from Mr. Linton, and had eclipsed all the others--
+an alarum clock, warranted to drive the soundest sleeper from her
+bed.  Bob declared it specially designed to ensure his getting fed
+at something approaching a reasonable hour.
+
+A wide verandah ran round the whole house, and rush lounges and
+deck chairs stood about invitingly--Tommy had insisted that there
+should be plenty of seating accommodation on the verandah for all
+the Linton party, since they filled the little rooms to an alarming
+extent.  Near where they stood the drawing-room opened out by a
+French window.  Something caught Tommy's eye, and she dived into
+the room--to return, laughing with new treasure-trove--a sink brush
+and saucepan-scrubber, tied up with blue ribbon.
+
+"Your doing?" she asked, brandishing them.
+
+"Not mine."  Wally shook his head.  "I don't do frivolous things
+like that.  But I heard Jim wheedling blue ribbon out of Norah this
+morning, and I don't fancy he has much use for it ordinarily.
+You'd better ask him."
+
+"It's like both of you--you nice stupids!" she said.
+
+"What?--the pot-scrub!  That's not polite of you, Miss Rainham; and
+so untrue, where I'm concerned."  Wally sat down on the arm of a
+lounge and regarded her with a twinkle.  "What's old Bob doing?"
+
+Tommy laughed happily.
+
+"I think whenever we don't know where Bob is, he's safe to be out
+looking at either the sheep or the pigs," she said.  "He just loves
+them; and he says he can see them growing."
+
+There was a hint of Spring in the air, and more than a hint of good
+grass in the green paddocks stretching away from the house.  By the
+creek the willows were putting out long, tender shoots that would
+soon be a thick curtain.  The lucerne patch that stretched along
+its bank was dense and high.  The Rainhams had been delayed in
+taking possession of Creek Cottage; a severe cold had smitten Tommy
+just at the end of her labours in the hospital, and, being
+thoroughly tired out, it had been some time before she could shake
+off its effects.  Mr. Linton and Norah had put down their feet with
+joint firmness, declaring that in no circumstances should she begin
+housekeeping until she was thoroughly fit; so the Rainhams had
+remained at Billabong.  Tommy was petted and nursed in a way she
+had not known since Aunt Margaret had died, while Bob worked
+feverishly at his farm, riding over every day from Billabong, with
+a package of Brownie's sandwiches in his pocket, and returning at
+dusk, dirty and happy.  Bob was responding to Australian conditions
+delightfully, and was only discontented because he could not make
+his farm all that he wanted it to be within the first week.
+
+Therein, however, he had unexpected help.  The Cunjee district was
+a friendly one; station owners and farmers alike looked kindly on
+the young immigrant who turned so readily to work after four years'
+fighting.  Moreover, Tommy's work in the hospital was well known;
+the general opinion being that "anything might be expected from
+young Norah Linton, but you wouldn't think a bit of a new-chum kid
+like Bob Rainham's sister would turn to and cook for a crowd, and
+she hardly off the ship!"  So the district laid its heads together
+and consulted Mr. Linton; with the result that one morning Bob
+found himself unexpectedly accompanied to work by his host.  It was
+nothing unusual for Jim or Wally, or both, to go with him.  He was
+cutting a drain, which they declared to be a job for which they had
+a particular fancy.  But to-day he found Monarch saddled with the
+other horses, and Mr. Linton, not only ready to start, but hurrying
+them off; and there was no lunch to carry, Norah airily declaring
+that since she and Tommy were to be deserted they declined to be
+downtrodden, and would motor over with a hamper and picnic at Creek
+Cottage.  There was a mysterious twinkle in Norah's eye; Bob
+scented something afoot, and tried--in vain--to pump her on the
+matter.  He rode away, his curiosity unsatisfied.
+
+But when they rode up the homestead paddock at his farm, he gave a
+long whistle.
+
+"What on earth--?" he began amazedly.
+
+There were men in sight everywhere, and all working.  Eight or nine
+ploughs were moving across the paddocks destined for cultivation;
+already wide strips of freshly turned earth showed that they had
+been some time at work.  On the flat where Bob had begun his drain
+was a line of men, and some teams with earth-scoops, cutting a deep
+channel.  There were even men digging in the garden; and the sound
+of axes came faintly from a belt of scrub that Bob was planning to
+clear--some day.  He gaped at them.
+
+"What does it mean?"
+
+"It's a bee," said Wally kindly.  "A busy bee, improving each
+shining hour."
+
+Bob turned a puzzled, half-distressed face to Mr. Linton.
+
+"I say, sir--what is it?"
+
+"It's just that, my boy," said David Linton.  "The district had a
+fancy to help you--Cunjee thinks a heap of soldiers, you see.  So a
+lot of the fellows got together and planned to put in a day on the
+creek, doing odd jobs."
+
+"I say," said poor Bob flushing scarlet, "I never heard such a
+thing--and I hardly know any of them.  Whatever am I to say to
+them, sir?"
+
+"I wouldn't say much at all," said David Linton laughing.  "You'll
+only embarrass them if you do.  Just take a hand in any job you
+like, and carry on--as we're all going to do."
+
+"There's one man you know, anyhow," said Jim grinning.  He pointed
+out old Joe Howard, the nearest to them among the ploughmen.
+
+"Heavens!" ejaculated Bob.  "You don't mean to tell me old Joe has
+come of his own accord!"
+
+"Couldn't keep him away," Jim said.  "He remarked that you were a
+very decent young feller, and he'd taught you how to work, so he
+might as well lend an 'and.  It's like old Joe's cheek, but he'll
+claim for ever that he made you a worker."
+
+"Oh, let him," said Bob.  "It doesn't hurt me, and it may amuse
+him."  His gaze travelled across the busy paddocks.  "Well--I'm
+just staggered," he said.  "The least I can do is to get to work
+quickly."
+
+They turned the horses out and scattered; Bob to cutting scrub--it
+was the job he liked least, so it seemed to him the decent thing to
+tackle it--Jim to the drain construction, while Wally joined the
+band of workers in the garden, since he knew Tommy's plans
+concerning it; and Mr. Linton attacked a fence that needed repairs.
+In the middle of the morning came the Billabong motor, driven by
+Norah, with Brownie and a maid in the tonneau with Tommy, and
+hampers packed wherever possible.  A cart with other supplies had
+been driven over by Evans in the very early morning, since
+Billabong had undertaken the feeding of the workers for the day.
+The Rolls-Royce picked its way delicately round the paddocks, while
+the girls carried drinks and huge slabs of cake to the different
+bands of workers--this being the time for "smoke-oh."  Then they
+hurried back to the cottage, where Brownie and Maria were busy
+unpacking hampers on the verandah, and Brownie was preparing to
+carve great joints of beef and mutton and pork in readiness for the
+hungry horde that would descend on them at dinner time.
+
+It was all ready when the men trooped up from the paddocks--
+squatters and stockmen, farmers, horse breakers, bush workers of
+every degree; all dirty and cheery, and filled with a mighty
+hunger.  Soap and water awaited them at the back; then they came
+round to sit on the edge of the long verandahs, balancing heaped
+plates on their knees, and making short work of Brownie's
+provisions.  Jokes and cheery talk filled the air.  Tommy, carrying
+plates shyly at first, found herself the object of much friendly
+interest.  "Little Miss Immigrant," they called her, and vied with
+each other in making her feel that they were all welcoming her.
+But they did not waste much time over dinner--soon one after
+another got up and sauntered away, lighting his pipe, and presently
+there were straggling lines of figures going back to work across
+the paddocks.  After which Norah and Tommy bullied Bob into eating
+something--he had been far too anxious to wait on his hungry "bee"
+to think of feeding himself, and then the ladies of the party
+lunched with the ardour of the long-delayed, and fell upon the
+colossal business of dish-washing.
+
+Afternoon tea came early, by which time nearly all the ploughing
+was done, and the brown ribbon of the new drain stretched, wide and
+deep, across the flat.  The girls took the meal round the paddocks,
+this time with Bob to carry the steaming billies of tea; it gave
+him a chance to thank his helpers, when it was difficult to say
+whether the thanker or the thanked were the more embarrassed.  Soon
+after "cow time" loomed for some of the workers, and whatever waits
+in Australia, it must not be the cow; so that here and there a man
+shouldered his tools, and, leaving them at the shed, caught his
+horse and rode away--apologizing to Bob, if he happened to meet
+him, for going so early, with the brief apology of the dairy
+farmer, "Gotter get home an' milk."  But the majority worked on
+until dusk came down and put an end to their efforts, and then came
+up for their horses, singing and laughing.
+
+Bob stood at the gate, bareheaded, as they rode away.  By this time
+he had no words at all.  He wished from the bottom of his heart
+that he could tell them what good fellows he thought them; but he
+could only stand, holding the gate for them with Tommy by his side;
+and it may be that the look on each tired young face moved "the
+bee" more than eloquence would have done.  They shouted cheery
+good-byes as they went.  "Good luck, Miss Immigrant!  Good luck,
+Captain!"  And the dusk swallowed them up, leaving only the sound
+of the cantering hoofs.
+
+Thanks to "the bee," the little farm on the creek looked very
+flourishing on the great day when the lady of the house came down
+in state to take possession of her domain.  Bob had worked hard in
+the garden, where already rows of vegetables showed well; Jim and
+Wally had aided Norah and Tommy in the making of a flower garden,
+laying heavy toll on Hogg's stores for the purpose; to-day it was
+golden and white with daffodils and narcissi and snowdrops.  The
+cultivation paddocks, no longer brown, rippled with green oats; and
+cattle were grazing on the rough grass of the flats, once a swamp,
+but already showing the influence of the big drain.  Bob had great
+plans for ploughing all his flats next year.  Dairy cows pastured
+in the creek paddock near the house; beyond, Bob's beloved sheep
+were steadily engrossed in the fascinating pursuit of "turning into
+wool and mutton."  He never grew tired of watching the process.
+
+The ever-present problem of labour, too, had solved itself
+pleasantly enough.  Sarah, for many years housemaid at Billabong,
+had married a man on a farm near Cunjee, whose first attempt at
+renting a place for himself had been brought to an untimely end by
+the drought; and Sarah had returned to Billabong, to help in
+preparing for the home-coming of the long-absent family, while her
+husband secured a temporary job in Cunjee and looked about for
+another chance.  There Jim had found him, while helping at the
+hospital; the end of the matter being that Sarah and Bill and their
+baby were installed at Creek Cottage, Bill to be general utility
+man on the farm, and to have a share of profits, while Sarah helped
+Tommy in the house.  Every one was satisfied, and already there
+were indications that Tommy would be daft over the baby.
+
+Sarah came out now to say that tea was ready--she had insisted on
+being responsible for everything on this first day.  Not that there
+was much to do, for Brownie had sent over a colossal hamper,
+declaring that Miss Tommy shouldn't be bothered with thinking about
+food when she wasn't 'ardly settled.  So they packed into the
+little dining-room; where, indeed, it took no small ingenuity to
+stow so large a party, when three of the six happened to be of the
+size of David Linton and Jim and Wally; and Tommy did the honours
+of her own table for the first time.
+
+"And to think," she said presently, "that six months ago there was
+only Lancaster Gate!  Of course, there was always Bob"--she flashed
+him a quick smile--"but Bob was--"
+
+"In the air," put in Norah.
+
+"Very much so.  And it didn't seem a bit certain that I could ever
+get him out of it; or, if I did, that I could ever escape from
+Lancaster Gate."
+
+"And you wouldn't, if the she-dragon had had her way," Bob said.
+
+"No.  There was nothing to do but run.  But even when I dreamed of
+running, I never thought of more than a workman's cottage, with you
+earning wages and me trying to make both ends meet.  And now--look
+at us!  Bloated capitalists and station owners."
+
+"Well, you were a cook not so long ago.  I wouldn't be too proud,"
+Wally gibed.
+
+"All the more reason for me to be proud--I've risen in the world,"
+declared Tommy.  "Left my situation to better myself--isn't that
+the right way to put it?  And we've got the jolliest home in
+Australia--thanks to all of you.  Do have some more cake, Mr.
+Linton; I'd love to say I made it myself, but Brownie did--still,
+all the same, it's mine."
+
+"Don't you worry," he told her.  "I'm coming here plenty of times
+for cake of your own baking."
+
+"That's what I want."  She beamed at him.  "All of you.  Bob and I
+will feel lost and lonesome if we don't see you all--oh, often."
+
+"But you're going to," Norah said.  "We'll be over goodness knows
+how many times a week, and you two are always coming to dinner on
+Sunday, and ever so many other days as well."
+
+"Was it in your plans that any work should be done on this estate?"
+queried Bob solemnly.
+
+"Why, yes, in your spare time," Wally answered.  "Any time you're
+not on the road between here and Billabong, or catching a horse to
+go there, or letting one go after coming back, or minding the
+Billabong horde when it comes over, you can do a little towards
+improving the creek.  I say, Bob, it sounds the sort of life I'd
+love.  Can't you give me a job, old man?"
+
+"Seeing that you've done little but work on this place since you
+came back from Queensland, I shouldn't think you'd need to ask for
+a job," retorted Bob.  "However, I'll take you on as milker if you
+like--it's about the only thing you haven't sampled."
+
+"No," said Wally, "you won't.  Whatever beast I finally take to by
+way of earning my living, it won't be the cow--if I can help it.
+I'd sooner graze giraffes!"
+
+"Oh, do try!" Norah begged.  "I'd love to see you trying to put a
+bridle on one in a hurry!"
+
+"Wonder what would happen if one rode a giraffe and he reared?"
+pondered Jim.
+
+"You'd have to swarm up his neck and hang on to his little horns,"
+Wally said.  "But they're nice, silent beasts, giraffes, and I
+think they'd be very restful to deal with."
+
+Every one laughed unsympathetically.  Restfulness was the last
+quality to be associated with Wally, who had been remarkable
+throughout his life for total inability to keep still.
+
+"It's always the way," said Wally, in tones of melancholy.  "Every
+fortune teller I ever saw told me that no one understood me."
+
+"All fortune tellers say that, and that's why people think them
+so clever," said Tommy.  "It's so soothing to think one is
+misunderstood.  My stepmother always thought so.  Did Bob tell you,
+Mr. Linton, that we had had letters from home?"
+
+"No--from your people?"
+
+"From Papa.  The she-dragon didn't write.  I think her words would
+have been too burning to put on paper.  But Papa wrote a pretty
+decent letter--for him.  He didn't speak of our letters from
+Liverpool--the notes we wrote from the hotel, saying we were
+leaving for Australia.  But he acknowledged Bob's letter from
+Melbourne, saying we were going up country under your wing, and
+actually wished us luck!  Amazing, from Papa!"
+
+"I think he's jolly glad we got away," Bob said.
+
+"I think that's highly probable," said David Linton.  "You'll write
+to him occasionally, won't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I suppose so," Bob answered.  "Sometimes I'm a bit sorry
+for him; it must be pretty awful to be always under the heel of a
+she-dragon.  Oh, and there was a really fatherly sort of letter
+from old Mr. Clinton.  He's an old brick; and he's quite pleased
+about our finding you--or you finding us.  He was always a bit
+worried lest Tommy should feel lonesome in Australia."
+
+"And not you?" Norah asked laughing.
+
+"No, he didn't worry a bit about me; he merely hoped I'd be working
+too hard to notice lonesomeness.  I think the old chap always was a
+bit doubtful that any fellow would get down to solid work after
+flying; he used to say the two things wouldn't agree.  But you sent
+him a decent report of me, didn't you, sir?"
+
+"Oh, yes--I wrote when you asked me, just after you bought this
+place," David Linton said.  "Told him you were working like a cart-
+horse, which was no more than the truth, and that Tommy was serving
+her adopted country as a cook; and that I considered your prospects
+good.  He'll have had that letter before now--and I suppose others
+from you."
+
+"We wrote a few weeks ago--sent him a photograph of the house, and
+of Tommy on a horse, and Tommy told him all about our furniture,"
+Bob chuckled.  "I don't quite know how a staid old London lawyer
+will regard the furniture; he won't understand its beauty a bit.
+But he ought to be impressed with our stern regard for economy."
+
+"He should," said Mr. Linton with a twinkle.  "And I presume you
+mentioned the sheep?"
+
+"As a matter of fact," said Tommy confidentially, "his letter was
+little but mutton.  He described all his ewes in detail--"
+
+"Colour of their eyes?" queried Wally.
+
+"And their hair," nodded Tommy.  "I never read anything so
+poetical.  And any enthusiasm he had over went to the pigs and the
+Kelpie pup!"
+
+"But what about the cows?" laughed Norah.  "And the young
+bullocks?"
+
+"Oh, he mentioned them.  But cattle are just four-legged animals to
+Bob; they don't stir his soul like sheep and pigs.  He couldn't
+write beautiful things about them.  But when it comes to sheep, he
+just naturally turns into a poet!"
+
+The object of these remarks helped himself serenely to cake.
+
+"Go on," he nodded at his sister cheerfully.  "Wait until my wool
+cheque comes in, and you want a new frock--then you'll speak
+respectfully of my little merinoes.  And if you don't, you won't
+get the frock!"
+
+"Why, I wouldn't disrespect them for anything," Tommy said.  "I
+think they're lovely beasts.  So graceful and agile.  Will any of
+them come yet when you whistle, Bobby?"
+
+"Are you going to put up with this sort of thing, Bob?" demanded
+Jim.
+
+Bob smiled sweetly.
+
+"I'm letting her have her head," he said confidently.  "It's badly
+swelled just now, because she's got a house of her own--but you
+wait until she wants a new set of shelves, or a horse caught in a
+hurry so that she can tear over and find out from Norah how to cook
+something--then she'll come to heel.  It's something in your
+climate, I think, because she was never so cheeky at home--meek was
+more the word to describe her."
+
+"Meek!" said his sister indignantly.  "Indeed, I never was meek in
+my life!"
+
+"Indeed you were, and it was very becoming," Bob assured her.  "Now
+you're more like a suffragette--"  He stopped, staring.  "Why,
+that's it!  It must be in the air!  She knows she'll have the vote
+pretty soon!"  He broke into laughter.  "Glory!  Fancy little Tommy
+with a vote!"
+
+Tommy joined in the general mirth.
+
+"I hadn't realized it," she said, "and I needn't bother for over
+eighteen months, anyhow.  And I don't believe that any of you have
+ever voted, even if you are twenty-one--except Mr. Linton, of
+course; and you don't know a bit more about it than I do."
+
+"Hear, hear!" said Wally.  "I certainly don't, and neither does
+Jim.  But when we do vote, it's going to be for the chap who'll let
+us go and dig our own coal out if there's a strike.  That's sense;
+and it seems to me the only sensible thing I've ever heard of in
+politics!"  A speech which manifested so unusual an amount of
+reflection in Wally that every one was spellbound, and professed
+inability to eat any more.
+
+Bob and Tommy stood on the verandah to watch their visitors go; Mr.
+Linton and Norah in the motor, while Jim and Wally rode.  The merry
+shouts of farewell echoed through the gathering dusk.
+
+"Bless them," said Tommy--"the dears.  I don't believe we'd have a
+home now but for them, Bob."
+
+"We certainly wouldn't," Bob answered.  "And sometimes I feel as if
+they'd spoon-fed us.  Look at all they've done for us--these months
+at Billabong and all they've taught us, and all the things that
+they've showered on us.  We couldn't pay them back in twenty
+years."
+
+"And they talk as if the favour were on their side," his sister
+said.  "There's the buggy they've lent us--Mr. Linton spent quite a
+long time in pointing out to me how desirable it was for them that
+we should use it, now that they have the car and don't need it.
+And the horses that apparently would have gone to rack and ruin
+from idleness if we hadn't come."
+
+"And the cows that don't seem to have had any reason for existence
+except to supply us with milk," Bob said laughing; "and the farm
+machinery that never was really appreciated until immigrants came
+along--at least, you'd think so to hear Jim talk, only its
+condition belies him.  Oh, they're bricks, all right.  Only I don't
+seem as if I were standing squarely on my own feet."
+
+"I don't think we could expect to, just yet," said Tommy pondering.
+"And if they have helped us, Bobby, you can see they have loved
+doing it.  It would be ungracious for us not to take such help--
+given as it has been."
+
+"Yes, of course," Bob answered and squared his shoulders.  "Well,
+I'm going to work like fury.  The only thing I can do now is not to
+disappoint them.  I feel an awful new-chum, Tommy, but I've got to
+make good."
+
+"Why, of course you're going to," she said, slipping a hand through
+his arm.  "Jim wouldn't let you make mistakes; and the land is
+good, and even if we strike a bad season, there's always the creek--
+we'll never be without water, Jim says.  And we're going to have
+the jolliest home--it's that now, and we're going to make it
+better."
+
+"It's certainly that now," Bob said.  "I just can't believe it's
+ours.  Come and prowl round, old girl."
+
+They prowled round in the dusk; up and down the garden paths by the
+nodding daffodils, out round the sheds and the pigsties, and so
+down to where the creek rippled and murmured in the gloom, flowing
+through paddocks that, on either side, were their own.  Memories of
+war and of gloomy London fell away from them; only the bright
+present and a future yet more bright filled them; and there was no
+loneliness, since all the big new country had smiled to them and
+stretched out hands of friendliness.  They came back slowly to
+their house, arm in arm; two young things, like shadows in the
+gloom, but certain in their own minds that they could conquer
+Australia.
+
+Bob lit the hanging lamp in the little sitting-room, and looked
+round him proudly.  A photograph caught his eye; a large group at
+his Surrey Aerodrome, young officers clustered round a bi-plane
+that had just landed.
+
+"Poor chaps," he said, and stared at them.  "Most of 'em don't know
+yet that there's anything better in the world than flying."
+
+"But they've never met merino sheep," said Tommy solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CUNJEE RACES
+
+
+"Who's going to the races?" demanded Jim.
+
+He had ridden over to the creek alone, and Tommy had come to the
+garden gate to greet him, since the young horse he was riding
+firmly declined to be tied up.  It was a very hot morning in
+Christmas week.  Tommy was in a blue print overall, and her face
+was flushed, her hair lying in little damp rings on her forehead.
+Jim, provokingly cool in riding breeches and white silk shirt,
+smiled down at her across the gate.
+
+"Races!" said Tommy.  "But what frivolity.  Why, I'm bottling
+apricots."
+
+"No wonder you look warm, you poor little soul," said Jim.  "You
+oughtn't to choose a scorcher like this for bottling.  Anyhow, the
+races aren't to-day, but New Year's day--Cunjee Picnic meeting.
+We're all going, so you and Bob have got to come.  Orders from
+Norah."
+
+"Oh, New Year's day.  I'd love to come," Tommy said.  "I've never
+seen races."
+
+"Never seen races!" ejaculated young Australia in sheer amazement.
+"Where were you dragged up?"  They laughed at each other.
+
+"Aunt Margaret wasn't what you'd call a racing woman," Tommy said.
+"I don't fancy Bob has seen any, either.  Bill and Sarah, to say
+nothing of the baby, are going.  I offered to mind the baby, but
+Sarah didn't seem to think the picnic would be complete without
+her."
+
+"People have queer tastes," Jim said.  "I wouldn't choose a long
+day at races as the ideal thing for a baby; but Sarah seems to
+think differently.  Wonder what Bill thinks?  Still, I'm glad she
+didn't take you at your word, because we'd have had to dispose of
+the baby somewhere if she had.  I suppose we could put it under the
+seat of the car!"
+
+"Oh, do you?"  Tommy regarded him with a glint in her eye.  "No;
+we'd have made you nurse her--she isn't 'it.'  She's the nicest
+baby ever, and I won't have her insulted."
+
+"Bless you, I wouldn't insult the baby for worlds," grinned Jim.
+"I'll look forward to meeting her at the races--especially as you
+won't be minding her.  Then it's settled, is it, Tommy?  We thought
+of riding; will it be too far for you?"
+
+"Not a bit," Tommy said.  "Bob and I rode in and out of Cunjee the
+other day, and I wasn't tired--and it was dreadfully hot."
+
+"Then you'll be all right on New Year's day, because the racecourse
+is two miles this side of the township," Jim said.  "But Norah said
+I was to tell you some of us could easily go in the car if you'd
+rather drive."
+
+"Oh, no, thanks; I know you always ride, and I should love it,"
+Tommy answered.  "Is Mr. Linton going?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  Indeed, as far as I can tell, the whole station's
+going," Jim said.  "All except Brownie, of course; she scorns
+races.  She says she can't imagine why anyone should make anything
+run fast in the 'eat if they don't want to."
+
+"Does Brownie ever leave Billabong?"
+
+"Hardly ever," Jim answered, laughing--"and it's getting more and
+more difficult to make her.  I think in a year or two it will need
+a charge of dynamite.  Oh, but, Tommy, we got her out in the car
+the other evening--had to do it almost by main force.  It was a hot
+evening, and we took her for a spin along the road.  She trembled
+like a jelly when we started, and all the time she gripped the side
+with one hand and Norah's knee with the other--quite unconsciously."
+
+"Do you think she enjoyed it at all?"  Tommy smiled.
+
+"No, I'm jolly well sure she didn't," Jim responded.  "Brownie's
+much too well mannered to criticize anyone else's property, but
+when she got out she merely said, 'You have great courage, my
+dear.'  And wild horses wouldn't get her into it again, unless we
+promised to 'make it walk,' like we did the day we brought her over
+to help at your working bee.  The funny part of it is that Norah
+believes she was just as frightened that morning, only she had a
+job on, and so was too busy to think of it.  But as for going in a
+car for mere pleasure--not for Brownie!"
+
+"Brownie's a dear," said Tommy irrelevantly.  "Jim, can't you put
+that fierce animal in the stable or the horse paddock, or
+somewhere, and come in for some tea?  I simply must get back to my
+apricots."
+
+"And I've certainly no business to be keeping you standing here in
+the heat," Jim said.  "No, I can't stay, thanks, Tommy--I promised
+dad I'd meet him at the Far Plain gate at eleven o'clock, and it's
+nearly that now.  You run in to your apricots, and don't kill your
+little self over them; it's no day for cooking if you can avoid
+it."
+
+"Oh, but I couldn't," Tommy answered.  "They were just right for
+bottling; the sun to-day would have made them a bit too soft.  And
+it's better to get them done; to-morrow may be just as hot, or
+hotter."
+
+"That's true enough," Jim said.  "Feeling the heat much, little
+Miss Immigrant?"
+
+"Oh, not enough to grumble at," she answered, smiling.  "And the
+bathing-hole in the creek is a joy; it's almost worth a hot day to
+get a swim at the end of it.  Bob has built me a bathing-box out of
+a tree, and it's a huge success; he's very pleased with himself as
+an architect."
+
+"That's good business," approved Jim.  "You two never grumble, no
+matter what comes along."
+
+"Well, but nothing has come along but good luck," Tommy said.
+"What have we had to grumble at, I should like to know?"
+
+"Oh, some people find cause for grousing, no matter how good their
+luck is," Jim answered.  "I believe you and old Bob would decline
+to recognize bad luck even if it did come your way."
+
+"It's not coming," Tommy said, laughing.  "So don't talk about it--
+I don't believe it exists."  She stood watching him for a moment as
+he tried to mount; his big young thoroughbred resented the idea of
+anyone on his back, and Jim had to hop beside him, with one foot in
+the stirrup, while he danced round in a circle, trying to get away.
+Jim seized an opportunity, and was in the saddle with a lithe
+swing; whereupon the horse tried to get his head down to buck, and,
+being checked in that ambition, progressed down the paddock in a
+succession of short, staccato bounds.
+
+"I think I should have to recognize bad luck coming if I had to
+ride him instead of Jim," remarked Tommy quaintly.  She turned and
+ran in to her neglected apricots.
+
+New Year's day broke clear and hot, like all the week before it.
+Norah, arriving at the Creek about ten o'clock, looked a little
+anxiously at her friend.
+
+"We're used to riding in the heat, Tommy, dear," she said.  "But
+you're not--are you sure you feel up to it?"
+
+"Why, I'm going to love it," Tommy said.  She looked cool and
+workman-like in a linen habit and white pith helmet--Norah's
+Christmas present.  "I hadn't these nice things to wear when Bob
+and I brought the sheep out from Cunjee three weeks ago; and it was
+just as hot, and so dusty.  And that didn't kill me.  I liked it,
+only I never got so dirty in my life."
+
+"Well, we shall only have a hot ride one way," said Norah
+philosophically.  "There's a concert in Cunjee, and the boys want
+to stay for it.  The concert won't be much, but the ride home in
+the moonlight will be lovely.  You and Bob can stay, of course?"
+
+"Oh, yes.  Bill must bring Sarah and the baby home in good time, so
+he will milk the cows," Tommy answered.  "He wanted them to stay
+for the concert, but Sarah had an amazing attack of common sense,
+and said it was no place for a baby.  I didn't think she considered
+any place unfit for a baby, and certainly Bill doesn't."
+
+"Bush people don't," said Norah, laughing.  "If they did, they
+would never go anywhere, because the babies must go too, no matter
+what happens.  And the babies get accustomed to it, and don't cry
+nearly as much as pampered ones that are always in the nursery."
+
+"Bush kiddies grow a stock of common sense quite early," said
+Wally's voice from the door.  "It leaves them in later life, and
+they stay gossiping with immigrants in new riding-kit, leaving
+their unfortunate fathers grilling in the sun.  Which he says--"
+But at this point Norah and Tommy brushed the orator from their
+path, and hastened out to the horses--finding all the men
+comfortably smoking under a huge pepper tree, and apparently in no
+hurry to start.
+
+Bob bewailed his yellow paddocks as they rode down to the gate.
+
+"They were so beautifully green a few weeks ago," he said.  "Now
+look at them--why, they're like a crop.  The sun has burnt every
+bit of moisture out of them."
+
+"Don't let that worry you, my boy," David Linton said.  "The stock
+are doing all right; as long as they have plenty of good water at
+this time of the year they won't ask you for green grass."  He gave
+a low chuckle.  "You wouldn't think this was bad feed if you had
+seen the country in the drought years--why, the paddocks were as
+bare as the palm of your hand.  Now you've grass, as you say
+yourself, like a crop."  He looked at it critically.  "I could wish
+you hadn't as much; fires will be a bit of an anxiety later on."
+
+"Grass fires?" queried Bob.
+
+"Yes.  There's not enough timber here to have a real bush fire.
+But this grass is dry enough now, and by February it will go like
+tinder if any fool swagman drops a match carelessly.  However,
+you'll just have to keep your eyes open.  Luckily, your creek can't
+burn--you'll always have so much safeguard, because your stock
+could take to it; and that row of willows along the bank would
+check any grass fire."
+
+"My word, wouldn't a fire race across the Billabong plains this
+year!" said Wally.
+
+"Yes, it would certainly travel," agreed Mr. Linton.  "Well, we've
+ploughed fire-breaks, and burned round the house, and we can only
+hope for good luck.  You'd better burn a break round your house
+soon, Bob."
+
+"Bill was saying so only this morning," Bob answered.  "I nearly
+chucked the races and stayed at home to do it--only I was afraid it
+might get away from me single-handed, and I couldn't very well keep
+Bill at home."
+
+"Oh, time enough," the squatter said lightly.  "You're not so dry
+as we are, and we only burned last week."
+
+"We'll come over and help you to-morrow, if you like," Jim said.
+"Wally wants work; he's getting too fat.  A little gentle exercise
+with a racing fire on a hot day would be the very thing for him.
+We'll come and burn off with you, and then have a bathing party in
+the creek, and then you and Tommy must come back to tea with us."
+Which was a sample of the way much of the work was done on the
+Creek Farm.  It had never occurred to the two Rainhams that life in
+Australia was lonely.
+
+The road to Cunjee was usually bare of much traffic, but on the one
+race day of the year an amazing number of vehicles were dotted
+along it, light buggies, farm wagonettes, spring carts and the
+universal two-wheeled jinker, all crammed with farmers and settlers
+and their families.  Wives, a little red-faced and anxious,
+resplendent in their Sunday finery, kept a watchful eye on small
+boys and girls; the boys in thick suits, the girls with white
+frocks, their well-crimped hair bearing evidence of intense
+plaiting overnight.  Hampers peeped from under the seats, and in
+most cases a baby completed the outfit.  Now and then a motor
+whizzed by, leaving a long trail of dust-cloud in its wake, and
+earning hearty remarks from every slower wayfarer.  There were
+riders everywhere, men and women--most of the latter with riding-
+skirts slipped on over light dresses that would do duty that night
+at the concert and the dance that was to follow.  Sometimes a
+motor-cycle chugged along, always with a girl perched on the
+carrier at the back, clinging affectionately to her escort.  As
+Cunjee drew nearer and the farms closer together the crowd on the
+road increased, and the dust mounted in a solid cloud.
+
+The Billabong people drew to one side, as close as possible to the
+fence, cantering over the short, dusty grass.  It was with a sigh
+of relief that Jim at last pointed out a paddock across which
+buggies and horsemen were making their way.
+
+"There's the racecourse," he said.
+
+"Racecourse!" Tommy ejaculated.  "But it just looks like an
+ordinary paddock."
+
+"That's all it is," said Jim, laughing.  "You didn't expect a
+grand-stand and a lawn, did you?  Cunjee is very proud of itself
+for having a turf club at all, and nobody minds anything as long as
+they get an occasional glimpse of the horses."
+
+"But where do they run?"
+
+"Oh, the track goes in and out among the trees.  There's some talk
+of clearing it before the next meeting by means of a working bee.
+But they won't worry if it doesn't get done--every one will come
+and have a picnic just the same.  You see, there are only two days
+in the year when a bush place can really let itself go--Show day
+and Race day.  Show day is more serious and business-like, but Race
+day is a really light-hearted affair, and the horses don't matter
+to most of the people."
+
+They turned into a gate where two men were busily collecting
+shillings and keeping a wary eye lest foot passengers should dodge
+in through the fence without paying.  There were no buildings at
+all in the bush paddock in which they found themselves.  It lay
+before them, flat, save for a rise towards the southern boundary,
+where already the crowd was thickening, and sparsely timbered.  As
+they cantered across it they came to a rough track, marked out more
+or less effectively by pink calico flags nailed to the trees.
+
+"That's the racing track," Wally said.  "Let's ride round it, and
+we'll have a faint idea of what the horses are doing later on."
+
+They turned along the track, where the grass had been worn by
+horses training for the races during the few weeks preceding the
+great day.  The trees had been cleared from it, so that it was good
+going.  In shape it was roughly circular, with an occasional dint
+or bulge where a big red gum had been too tough a proposition to
+clear, and the track had had to swing aside to avoid it--a practice
+which must, as Jim remarked, make interesting moments in riding a
+race, if the field were larger than usual and the pace at all hot.
+Presently they emerged from the timber and came into the straight
+run that marked the finish--running along the foot of the southern
+rise, so that, whatever happened in the mysterious moments in the
+earlier parts of a race, the end was within full view of the crowd.
+The winning-post was a sawed-off sapling, painted half-black and
+half-white; opposite to it was the judge's box, a huge log which
+made a natural grand-stand, capable of accommodating the racing
+committee as well.  Behind, a rough wire fence enclosed a small
+space known as the saddling paddock.  The crowd picked out its own
+accommodation--it was necessary to come early if you wanted a good
+place on the rise.  Already it was dotted with picnic parties,
+preparing luncheon, and a procession of men and boys, bearing
+teapots and billies, came and went about a huge copper, steaming
+over a fire, where the racing club dispensed hot water free of
+charge, a generosity chiefly intended to prevent the casual
+lighting of fires by the picnickers.  All over the paddock people
+were hastening through the business of the midday meal; the men
+anxious to get it over before the real excitement of the day began
+with the racing, the women equally keen to feed their hungry
+belongings and then settle down to a comfortable gossip with
+friends perhaps only seen once or twice in the twelve months.
+Children tore about wildly, got in the way of buggies and motors,
+climbed trees and clustered thickly round any horse suspected of
+taking part in the racing.  More than one candidate for a race
+appeared on the course drawing a jinker; and, being released from
+the shafts, was being vigorously groomed by his shirt-sleeved
+owner.
+
+"There's an awful lot to see!" ejaculated Tommy, gazing about her.
+
+"That is if you've eyes," Jim said.  "But most of it can be seen on
+foot, so I vote Wally and Bob and I take the horses and tie them up
+while there's still a decent patch of shade left for them to stand
+in--every tree in the paddock will have horses tied to it before
+long.  Do you know where Evans was to leave the buggy, Dad?"
+
+"Yes--it's under a tree over there," said his father, nodding
+towards a bushy clump of wattles.  "I told him to pick out a good
+shady place for lunch.  We'll go on and get ready, boys.  I'll take
+the teapot for hot water."
+
+"Not you!" said Jim.  "We'll be back in a few minutes and can
+easily get it.  Just help the girls with the things, Dad, and we'll
+get lunch over; I'm as hungry as a hawk."
+
+"I'm not hungry," said Norah.  "But I want, oh! gallons of tea."
+
+Tea seemed the main requirement of everybody.  It was almost too
+hot to eat, even in the deep shade of the wattles.  The boys,
+taught by the war to feed wherever and whenever possible, did some
+justice to Brownie's hamper; but Mr. Linton soon drew aside and lit
+his pipe at a little distance, while Tommy and Norah nibbled tomato
+and lettuce sandwiches, kept fresh and cool by being packed in huge
+nasturtium leaves, and drank many cups of tea.  Then they lay under
+the trees until a bell, ringing from the saddling paddock, hinted
+that the first race was at hand.  There was a surge of people
+towards the rise.
+
+"Come on," Jim said, jumping up.  "Help me to stow these things in
+the buggy, Wally--we'll want most of them for afternoon tea later
+on.  Then we might as well go and see the fun.  You girls rested?"
+
+They were, they declared; and presently they set off towards the
+rise.  Already the horses were appearing on the track, most of the
+jockeys wearing silk jackets and caps, although a few were content
+with doffing coat and waistcoat, and riding in blue and pink
+shirts--occasionally, but not always, complete with collar and tie.
+The horses were a mixed lot; some bore traces of birth and
+breeding, but the majority were just grass-fed horses from the
+neighbouring farms and stations, groomed and polished in a way that
+only happened to them once a year.  The well-bred performers were
+handicapped with heavy weights, while the others had been let off
+lightly, so that all had a chance.
+
+"Billabong has a horse running to-day--did you know?" Jim inquired.
+
+"No!"  Tommy looked up, dimpling with interest.  "But how exciting,
+Jim.  Is it yours?"
+
+"No."  Jim shook his head.  "I won't enter a horse if I can't ride
+him myself, and of course I'm too heavy.  He belongs to the
+station, but he's always looked upon as Murty's, and black Billy's
+going to ride him.  He's in the Hurdle Race."
+
+"Do you think he has any chance?"
+
+"Well, he can gallop and jump all right," Jim said.  "But he hasn't
+had much training, and whether he'll jump in company is open to
+doubt.  But I don't think he'll disgrace us.  You've seen Murty
+riding him--a big chestnut with a white blaze."
+
+"Oh, yes--he calls him Shannon, doesn't he?" said Tommy.  "I saw
+him jump three fences on him last time we were out mustering with
+your people.  He's a beauty, Jim."
+
+"Yes, he's pretty good.  Murty thinks he's better than Garryowen,
+but I don't," Jim observed.
+
+"If the Archangel Gabriel turned into a horse you wouldn't think he
+was up to Garryowen!" said Wally.
+
+"No, and he probably wouldn't be," said Jim, laughing.  "If you
+begin life as an archangel, how would you settle down to being a
+horse after?"
+
+"I suppose it needs practice," Wally admitted.  "Look out--here
+they come!"
+
+The horses were coming down the straight in their preliminary
+canter, and the crowd abandoned the business of picnicking and
+turned its attention to the first race.  The riders, mostly local
+boys, looked desperately serious, and, as they pulled up after
+their canter, and turning, trotted slowly back past the rise,
+shouts of warning and encouragement and instruction came to them--
+from the owners of their mounts--which had the effect of making the
+boys look yet more unhappy.  A bookmaker, the sole representative
+of his profession, yelled steadily from under a lightwood tree;
+those who were venturesome enough to do business with him were
+warned solemnly by more experienced men to keep a sharp look-out
+that he did not get away with their money before the end of the
+day.
+
+"That happened in Cunjee some years ago," said Mr. Linton.  "A
+bookmaker appeared from goodness knows where, and struck a very
+solid patch of bad luck.  All the district seemed to know how to
+pick winners that day, and he lost solidly on every race.  He
+plunged a bit on the fourth race, hoping to get his money back; but
+that was worse still, and when he saw the favourite winning, he
+knew he had no hope of settling up.  So he quietly collected his
+horse, which he had tied up in a convenient place, in case it was
+wanted in a hurry, and made tracks before the race finished."
+
+"What happened to him?" asked Bob.
+
+Mr. Linton chuckled.
+
+"Well, he added considerably to the excitement of the day.  Some
+one saw him going, and passed the word round, and every man to whom
+he owed money--and they were many--ran for his horse and went after
+him.  He had a good start, and no one knew what road he would take,
+so it was quite a cheery hunt.  I think it was Dave Boone who
+tracked him at last, and he paused at a cross-roads, and coo-eed
+steadily until he had a number of followers.  Then they set sail
+after the poor bookie, and caught him about seven or eight miles
+away.  They found he had practically no money--not nearly enough to
+divide up; so they took what he had and presented it to the Cunjee
+Hospital, and finished up the day happily by tarring and feathering
+the bookie, and riding him on a fence rail round Cunjee that
+night!"
+
+"What do your police do in a case like that?" Bob asked.
+
+"Well, there's only one policeman in Cunjee, and, being a wise man,
+he went to the concert, and probably enjoyed himself very much,"
+said Mr. Linton, laughing.
+
+"And what happened to the bookie?"
+
+"Just what you might expect--the boys got sorry for him, made a
+collection for him, bought him some cheap clothes--I believe they
+didn't err on the side of beauty!--and shipped him off to Melbourne
+by the first train in the morning.  I don't think he'll try his
+artful dodges on this section of the bush again; and it has made
+all the boys very watchful about betting, so it wasn't a bad thing,
+on the whole.  They think they know all about the ways of the world
+now.  Look, Tommy--the horses are off!  Watch through the trees,
+and you'll get a glimpse presently."
+
+The gay jackets flashed into view in a gap in the timber, and then
+were lost again.  Soon they came in sight once more and rounded the
+last curve into the straight, amid shouts from the crowd.  They
+came up the straight, most of the jockeys flogging desperately,
+while everyone rushed to get as near the winning-post as possible.
+Hats were flung in the air and yells rose joyfully, as a Cunjee
+boy, riding a desperate finish, got his horse's nose in front in
+the last couple of lengths and won cleverly.
+
+"She's excited!" said Wally, looking down at Tommy's flushed face.
+
+"I should think so," said Tommy.  "Why, it was dreadfully exciting.
+I'd love to have been riding myself."  At which everyone laughed
+extremely, and a tall young stockman from a neighbouring station,
+overhearing, was so impressed that he hovered as near as possible
+to Tommy for the rest of the day.
+
+The next event was the Hurdle Race, and interest for the Linton
+party centred in the candidate described on the race-card as Mr. M.
+O'Toole's Shannon.  Nothing further could be done for Shannon--he
+was groomed until the last hair on his tail gleamed; but black
+Billy, resplendent in a bright green jacket and cap, the latter
+bearing an embroidered white shamrock, became the object of advice
+and warning from every man from Billabong, until anyone except
+Billy would probably have turned in wrath upon the multitude of his
+counsellors.  Billy, however, had one refuge denied to most of his
+white brothers.  He hardly ever spoke; and if some reply was
+absolutely forced upon him, he merely murmured "Plenty!" in a vague
+way, which, as Wally said, left you guessing as to his meaning.
+
+"Yerra, lave off badgerin' the boy," said Murty at last, brushing
+aside Dave Boone and Mick Shanahan, and the other Billabong
+enthusiasts.  "If he listens to the lot of ye anny longer he won't
+know whether he's ridin' a horse or an airyplane.  There's only wan
+insthruction to be kapin' in your head, Billy--get to the front an'
+stay there.  Ridin' a waitin' race is all very well on the flat,
+but whin it comes to jumpin', anything that's in front of ye is apt
+to turn a somersault an' bring ye down in a heap."
+
+"Plenty!" agreed Billy; and lit a cigarette.
+
+"Shannon don't like anny other horse in front of him at all," went
+on Murty.  "He's that full of pride he never tuk kindly to bein'
+behind, not since he was bruk in.  He'll gallop like a machine an'
+lep like a deer if he gets his head."
+
+"I don't b'lieve you've much show, anyhow," Dave Boone said.
+"There's that horse from the hotel at Mulgoa--Blazer, they call
+him.  He's done no end of racin', and won, too."
+
+"Well, an' if he has, hasn't he the great weight itself to be
+carryin'?" demanded Murty.
+
+"Why, he's top weight, of course; but you're carryin' ever so much
+over weight," responded Mr. Boone.  "If you'd put up a boy instead
+of Billy, you could be pounds lighter."
+
+"Ah, git away with your advisin'," replied Murty.  "Billy knows the
+horse--an' where'd a shlip of a boy be if Shannon cleared out with
+him?  I'd rather carry too much weight, an' know I'd put a man up
+as could hold the horse."  His anxious eye fell on the girls.
+"Miss Norah and Miss Tommy!--come here an' wish him luck without
+offerin' me any advice, or I'll lose me life over the ould race!
+They have desthroyed me with all the things they're afther tellin'
+me to do."
+
+"We won't tell you a thing, Murty--except that he's looking
+splendid," Norah said, stroking Shannon's nose, to which the horse
+responded by nuzzling round her pocket in search of an apple.  "No,
+I can't give you one, old man--I wouldn't dare.  But you shall have
+one after the race, whether you win or not, can't he, Murty?"
+
+"He can so," said Murty.  "Wance he's gone round that thrack he can
+live on the fat of the land--an' Billy, too.  It's a dale aisier to
+get the condition off a horse than off Billy.  No man on this earth
+'ud make a black fellow see why he shouldn't have a good blow-out
+whenever it came his way.  Only that Providence made him skinny by
+nature, he'd be fat as a porpoise this day.  I've been watchin'
+over his meals like a mother with a delicate baby these three weeks
+back; but what hope 'ud I have with Christmas comin' in the way?
+He got away on me at Christmas dinner, an' what he didn't ate in
+the way of turkey an puddin' wouldn't be worth mentioning--an' him
+booked to ride to-day!  'Plenty' always did be his motter, an' he
+lives up to it.  So he's pounds overweight, an' no help for it."
+
+"Never mind, Murty," Jim said.  "He knows the horse, and Shannon's
+able to stand a few pounds extra.  He'll give us a good run."
+
+"I believe ye, Masther Jim," said Murty, beaming.  "He'll not
+disgrace us, an' if he don't win itself, then he'll not be far
+behind.  There you are, Billy--that's the bell for weighin'.  Hurry
+up now, and get over to the scales."
+
+The black boy's lean figure, saddle and bridle on arm, threaded its
+way through the crowd round the weighing enclosure--a little space
+fenced off by barbed wire.  Presently they saw him coming back
+grinning.
+
+"That pfeller sayin' I plenty too much pounds," he said in an
+unusual burst of eloquence.
+
+"Ah, don't be rubbin' it in--don't I know it?" quoth Murty, taking
+the saddle and slipping it deftly on Shannon's back.  "I dunno, did
+he think he was givin' me a pleasant surprise with the information
+by way of a New Year's gift.  Does he think we've never a scales on
+Billabong, did ye ask him?  There now, he's ready.  Get on him,
+Billy, an' shove out into the track for a canter.  I'll get nothing
+but chat from every one as long as you're here.  Take him for a
+look at some of the hurdles, the way he'll know all about them when
+he comes to jump."  He stood with a frown on his good-humoured face
+as Shannon and his rider made off.
+
+Norah laid a hand on his arm.
+
+"There's not a horse on the course better turned out, Murty," she
+said.  "No one can say the Billabong representative doesn't look
+fit."
+
+Murty turned on her, beaming again.
+
+"Well, indeed, he'll not be doin' the station any discredit, Miss
+Norah," he said happily, "an' if he don't win, well, we can't all
+be winnin', can we?  Only we did win a race last year, whin none of
+ye were here to be watchin' us an' make it worth while.  I'd like
+to score to-day, now that ye're all here to see--an' Miss Tommy
+too, that's never seen racin'."  He smiled down at the English
+girl's pink face.
+
+"I'm going to see you win to-day, Murty--I feel it in my bones,"
+said Tommy promptly.  "I've always loved Shannon, ever since I saw
+you jump those big fences with him when we put up the hare out
+mustering."
+
+"Yerra, that one'd make a steeplechaser if he got the trainin',"
+declared Murty, all his troubles forgotten.  "Come a little higher
+up, won't ye, Miss Norah; we can see every jump from the top of the
+rise, barrin' the wan that's in the timber."
+
+They followed him up the little hill until he declared himself
+satisfied with his position; and he spent the time until the flag
+fell in pointing out to Tommy the exact places where the hurdles
+were erected--pausing only for a proud look when Shannon thundered
+past below them in his preliminary canter, the green jacket bright
+in the sun, and every muscle in the horse's gleaming body rippling
+as he moved.  He was reefing and plunging in his gallop, trying to
+get his head; but Billy soon steadied him, and presently brought
+him up the straight again at a quiet trot.  The other horses went
+out, one by one, until at length a field of eight faced the
+starter; and presently they were off, and over the first jump in a
+body.  They came down the straight on the first time round, packed
+closely, a glittering mass of shining horses and bright colours.
+One dropped at the jump near the judge's box, and as the other
+horses raced away round the turn the riderless horse followed,
+while his jockey lay still for a moment, a little scarlet blur upon
+the turf.  Eager helpers ran forward to pick him up, but he was on
+his feet before they could reach him, and came limping up the hill,
+a little bruised and infinitely disgusted.
+
+"He's all right," Murty said.  "Yerra, Mr. Jim, did ye see the ould
+horse jump!  He wint ahead at his fences like a deer!"
+
+The horses were in the timber; they peered anxiously at the bright
+patch of colour that showed from time to time, trying to see the
+familiar green jacket.  Then, as the field came into view Murty
+uttered an irrepressible yell, for his horse shot ahead at the next
+jump and came into the straight in the lead.  Murty gripped at the
+nearest object, which happened to be Norah's shoulder, and clenched
+it tightly, muttering, in his excitement, words in his native
+Irish.  They thundered up the straight, Billy crouching on
+Shannon's neck, very still.  Then behind him the Mulgoa horse drew
+out from the ruck and came in chase.  Nearer and nearer he came,
+while the shouts from the crowd grew louder.  Up, up, till his nose
+was at Shannon's quarter--at his girth--at his shoulder, and the
+winning-post was very near.  Then suddenly Billy lifted his whip
+and brought it down once, and Shannon shot forward with a last wild
+bound.  Murty's hat went up in the air--and Wally's with it.
+
+"He's done it!" Murty babbled.  "Yerra, what about Billabong now?"
+He suddenly found himself gripping Norah's shoulder wildly, and
+would have apologized but that Norah herself was dancing with
+delight, and looking for his hand to grasp.  And the crowd was
+shouting "Shannon!  Shannon!  Billabong!"--since all of these
+Cunjee folk loved Billabong and were steadily jealous of Mulgoa.
+Jim and Wally were thumping Murty on the back.  Bob and Mr. Linton
+stood beaming at him.  Below them Billy came trotting back on his
+victorious steed, sitting with a grave face, as expressionless as
+if he had not just accomplished his heart's desire.  But his dark,
+mysterious eyes scanned the crowd as he turned from weighing in,
+and only grew satisfied when he saw the Billabong party hurrying to
+greet him.  They shook his hand, and smote him on the back, Dave
+Boone and Mick Shanahan prancing with joy.  And Shannon, his glossy
+coat dark with sweat, nuzzled again at Norah's pocket for an apple--
+and this time got it.
+
+This glorious event over, interest became focused on a trotting
+race, which brought out a queer assortment of competitors, ranging
+from King Lightfoot, a horse well known in Melbourne, to Poddy, an
+animal apparently more fitted to draw a hearse than to trot in a
+race--a lean, raw-boned horse of a sad countenance and a long nose,
+with a shaggy black coat which rather resembled that of a long-
+haired Irish goat.  There were other candidates, all fancied by
+their owners, but the public support was only for King Lightfoot,
+who ran in elaborate leather and rubber harness, and was clearly
+regarded by his rider as of infinite condescension to be taking
+part in such a very mixed company.
+
+It proved, however, not to be King Lightfoot's lucky day.  The
+horses started at intervals, according to their performances or
+merit, Poddy being the first to move, the Melbourne horse the last.
+King Lightfoot, however, obstinately refused to trot, whereas Poddy
+revealed unexpected powers, flinging his long legs abroad in a
+whirlwind fashion, and pounding along doggedly, with his long nose
+outstretched as if hoping to get it past the winning-post as soon
+as possible.  No other horse came near him; his initial lead was
+never lessened, and he plugged doggedly to victory, while the crowd
+roared with laughter, and out in the timber King Lightfoot's rider
+wrestled with his steed in vain.  Later, his prejudice against
+trotting in the bush removed by stern measures, King Lightfoot
+flashed up the track like a meteor, with his furious rider
+determined to show something of what his steed could do.  By that
+time Poddy was once more unsaddled, and was standing under a tree
+with his weary nose drooping earthwards, so that the crowd merely
+yelled with laughter anew, while the stewards unfeelingly requested
+the Melbourne man to get off the track.
+
+"Oh, isn't it hot!"  Norah fanned herself with a bunch of gum
+leaves, and cast an anxious look at Tommy.
+
+It was breathlessly hot.  Not a hint of air stirred among the trees
+or moved the long dry grass that covered the paddock--now showing
+many depressions, where tired people or horses had lain down to
+rest.  The horses stood about, drooping their heads, and swishing
+their tails ceaselessly at the tormenting flies; men and women
+sought every available patch of shade, while dogs stretched
+themselves under the buggies, panting, with lolling tongues.
+Children alone ran about, as though nothing could mar their
+enjoyment; but babies fretted wearily in their mothers' arms.
+Overhead the sun blazed fiercely in a sky of brass.  Now and then
+came a low growl of thunder, giving hope of a change at night; but
+it was very far distant, although a dull bank of cloud lay to the
+west.  David Linton watched the cloud a little uneasily.
+
+"I don't quite like the look of it," he muttered to himself.  "I'll
+go and ask Murty what he thinks of it."  But Murty had been
+swallowed up in a crowd anxious to congratulate him on Shannon's
+success, and his employer failed to find him at the moment.  He
+came upon Sarah, however--sitting under a tree, with her baby
+wailing dismally.
+
+"To hot for her, Sarah," David Linton said kindly.
+
+"That's right, sir--it's too hot for anyone, let alone a little
+tiny kid," Sarah said wearily.  "I'd get Bill to go home if I
+could, but I can't get on his tracks--and it's too hot to take baby
+out in the sun looking for him.  If you come across him, sir, you
+might tell him I want him."
+
+"All right," said the squatter.  "But you wouldn't take that long
+drive home yet, Sarah--better wait until the sun goes down."
+
+"Well, I'd go into Cunjee, to me sister-in-law's," said Sarah.
+"She'd let me take baby's things off an' sponge her--an' I'd give a
+dollar to do it.  No more races with kids for me in weather like
+this!"  She crooned to the fretting baby as Mr. Linton went off.
+
+He found Tommy and Norah together under a tree near the track--hot,
+but interested.
+
+"Where are the boys?"
+
+"They're all holding ponies," Norah said.  "I don't quite know why,
+but a very hot and worried man collected them to help start the
+race.  What is it for, Dad, do you know?"
+
+"Oh, I see!"  David Linton laughed.  "It's--a distance handicap--
+the ponies all start at the same moment, but from different points
+along the track."
+
+"Yes, that must be it," Norah said.  "Jim's away over near the
+timber with a little rat of a pony, and Bob is shepherding another
+fifty yards behind him, while Wally is quite near here with that
+big pony of the blacksmith's that has won ever so many races.
+She'll have a lot of ground to make up.  But why must each one be
+shepherded, Dad?"
+
+"Human nature," said David Linton, smiling.  "These youngsters who
+are riding would sneak a yard or two if they weren't closely
+watched, and they would never start fair; the only way is to put
+each in charge of a responsible man with a good watch, and let him
+start them.  What time is the race?  Oh, four o'clock.  Well, I
+never yet saw a pony race that started on time; neither the ponies
+nor the boys are easy to handle, and I see there are ten of them.
+Watch them; it's after four, and they must be nearly ready to
+start."
+
+The ponies were strung out round the course, each with a "shepherd"
+standing to attention near its bridle, watch in hand.  They could
+see Jim's great form standing sentinel over a tiny animal, whose
+diminutive rider was far too afraid of the huge Major to try to
+snatch even a yard of ground; nearer, Wally kept a wary eye on the
+experienced jockey on the blacksmith's racing mare, who was afraid
+of nothing, but nevertheless had a certain wholesome respect for
+the tall fellow who lounged easily against a tree near him, but
+never for an instant shifted his gaze.  The shepherds were waiting
+for a signal from the official starter.
+
+It came presently, a long shrill whistle, and simultaneously each
+guardian stepped back, and the released ponies went off like a
+flash--all save Bob's charge, who insisted on swinging round and
+bolting in the wrong direction, while his jockey sawed at his mouth
+in vain.  Yawing across the track the rebel encountered the
+blacksmith's pony, who swerved violently in her swift course to
+avoid him, and lost so much ground that any chance she had in the
+race was hopelessly lost, whereat the blacksmith, who was standing
+on the hill, raved and tore his hair unavailingly.  A smart little
+bay pony fought out the finish with Jim's tiny charge, and was
+beaten by a short head, just as Wally, walking quickly, came back
+to his party.
+
+"That was a great race," said Norah.  "Wally, you shouldn't walk so
+fast on such a day.  It makes one warm only to look at you."
+
+Wally answered with an absent air that was unlike his usual
+alertness.  The girls, watching the ponies come in, noticed
+nothing, and presently he drew Mr. Linton aside.
+
+"Did you notice that cloud, sir?" he asked, in a low voice.  "I
+didn't until I was down on the track with the pony, looking in that
+direction.  But it's twice the size it was when I went down."
+
+"I've been looking at it, and I don't like it," said Mr. Linton.
+"It's smoke, I'm positive, and too near Billabong and the Creek to
+be comfortable.  I think we'll make tracks for home, Wally.  Have
+you seen Murty anywhere?"
+
+As if in answer, Mr. O'Toole came running down the hill.
+
+"I've been huntin' ye's everywhere," he panted.  "There's a man
+just kem out from Cunjee lookin' for ye, sir--some one's
+tallyphoned in that there's a big grass fire comin' down on the
+Creek, an' 'twill be a miracle if it misses Billabong!  I've told
+the men--they're off to get the horses."
+
+Norah and Tommy had turned, with dismayed eyes.
+
+"Will it be at our place, Murty?" Tommy asked.
+
+"I dunno will it, Miss Tommy," the Irishman answered.  "But as like
+as not 'twill miss it--or anyhow, we'll get there first, an' stop
+it doing much damage.  Don't you worry your little head, now."
+
+She looked up at him gratefully.  Norah's hand was thrust through
+her arm.
+
+"It may not be near the Creek at all, Tommy dear," she said.
+
+"Oh, I hope it isn't--my poor old Bob!" Tommy said, under her
+breath.  "Can we hurry, Norah?"
+
+"They're bringing the horses," Norah answered.  "We'll be off in a
+minute--see, dad has gone to meet Bob."
+
+Wally had turned to Murty.
+
+"Murty, do you mind if I ride Shannon and take him across country?
+I'm on Marshal to-day, you know, and he can't jump for nuts.  But
+Shannon can take every fence between here and the Creek, and I can
+cut the distance in half if I go across.  I'm about the lightest of
+us, I think."
+
+"So ye are--an' the horse'll take ye like a bird," said Murty.
+"Don't shpare him, Mr. Wally, if ye think ye can do any good.  He's
+over there under the big wattle."
+
+"Right-o!" said Wally.  "Tell Mr. Jim, will you, Murty?"  He turned
+and ran down the hill with long strides.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+HOW WALLY RODE A RACE
+
+
+Already the cloud was growing in the western sky--so high that it
+threatened to obscure the sun that still blazed fiercely down.  At
+first a dull brown, there was a curious light behind it; at the
+edges it trailed away into ragged wisps like floating mist.  There
+was something mysteriously threatening in its dense heaviness.
+
+There were other men running for their horses, as Wally raced
+towards Shannon.  The news of a grass fire had spread quickly, and
+every man wanted to be on his own property, for the whole
+countryside was covered with long, dry grass, and no one could say
+where a fire might or might not end.  Boone and Shanahan passed
+Wally, leading several horses--his own amongst them.  They hailed
+him quickly.
+
+"We've got Marshal, Mr. Wally."
+
+"Give him to Murty," Wally answered as he ran.  "I'm riding
+Shannon."  He raced on.
+
+"That means he's going across country," said Dave Boone.  "For two
+pins I'd go too."
+
+"Don't you--you'd never get your horse over them fences," Shanahan
+said.  "An' it'll take Mr. Wally all his time to get across them
+wired paddocks of Maclennan's.  Hope he don't break Shannon's
+laigs."
+
+"Not he; Mr. Wally's no fool," said Boone.  "Git up, y' ol'
+sardine!"  He kicked the horse he was leading, and they trotted up
+to Norah and Tommy.
+
+Shannon, standing with drooping head, showed little interest as
+Wally flung the saddle on his back.  He had won his race
+handsomely, and it was a scorching day; possibly the big chestnut
+felt that no more should be required of him; in which case he was
+soon to be rudely awakened.  Wally swung into the saddle with a
+quick movement, and turned him, not towards the gate, but in the
+opposite direction, which further puzzled Shannon.  But he was a
+stock horse first and a hurdle racer as an afterthought; and a good
+stock horse knows his rider's mind, if that rider is a good man.
+He made one tentative movement towards his paddock mates, now
+moving away towards the gate; then, feeling the touch of Wally's
+hand on the bit, and the light pressure of his knee, he decided
+that some new game was on foot, and cantered easily away.
+
+They crossed the racing track, going westward over the big paddock,
+away from the buggies and the crowd.  A belt of timber checked
+their swift progress a moment; then they came out into clear ground
+in sight of the boundary fence, a stiff three-railer.  Wally peered
+at it anxiously, unable, for an instant, to see if there were a
+wire on top; but it was clear, and he shook up his horse, putting
+him straight at the middle of a panel.  Shannon pricked his ears
+and flew it daintily--this was work he loved, and hot though the
+day might be, he was ready for any amount of it.  Also Wally was
+lighter than Murty, his usual rider; and although he loved Murty,
+and respected him greatly, this new man had a seat like a feather
+and a hand gentle as silk upon his tender mouth.  Shannon broke
+into the gallop that he felt sure his rider wanted.
+
+They were in a wide paddock, bare, save for a few clumps of timber,
+in the shade of which sheep were thickly clustered.  It was good,
+sound going, with a few little rises; and, knowing that he would
+have to slacken speed presently, Wally let the chestnut have his
+head across the clear grass.  They took the next fence and the next
+before he drew rein.  He was in country he did not know--all big
+farms, with many stubble fields with newly erected stacks, and with
+good homesteads, where now and then a woman peered curiously from a
+verandah at him.  There were no men in sight; every man in the
+neighbourhood was at the races on New Year's day.
+
+He found himself in a paddock where rough ground, thickly strewn
+with fallen timber, sloped down abruptly to a creek.  Checking
+Shannon, he rode more steadily down to the water, and trotted along
+the bank for a hundred yards, looking for a good place to ford--the
+banks shelved abruptly down, and the water was unusually deep.  But
+the only promising fords were too thickly snagged to be tempting;
+and presently, with a shrug, Wally gave up the quest, and choosing
+a place where the fall of the bank was a shade less abrupt, he put
+the horse at it.
+
+Shannon hesitated, drawing back.  Water was the one thing to which
+he had not been schooled on Billabong, and this place was
+mysterious and deep.  But Wally's hand was firm, and he spoke
+sharply--so that the chestnut repented of the error of his ways,
+and plunged obediently downwards.  The bank gave under them, and
+they slithered down among its remnants and landed in the water with
+a profound splash, almost hidden for a moment by the spray that
+drenched Wally's thin silk coat and shirt.  Shannon floundered
+violently, and nearly lost his footing--and then, deciding that
+this was an excellent entertainment on a hot day, he thrust his
+thirsty nose into the water.  Wally checked him after one mouthful.
+
+"I'm sorry, old chap," he said regretfully.  "I'd like it as much
+as you.  But I can't let you have a drink just now."
+
+He pressed him on across the muddy stream, floundering over sunken
+logs, slipping into holes, dodging half-concealed snags; and so
+they came to a bank which scarcely seemed a possible place, so
+steep was it.  But Wally looked at the smoke-cloud, and grew
+desperate, and for the first time touched Shannon with the spur;
+and the chestnut answered gamely, springing at the bank and
+climbing almost like a cat.  Twice it broke under him; the third
+time he made some footing, and Wally suddenly flung himself from
+his back, scrambling up ahead of him, and hauling at the bridle.
+Shannon followed, floundering and snorting; desperately relieved to
+find himself on firm ground again.  Wally swung into the saddle and
+they galloped forward.
+
+The next two fences were log ones, and the chestnut took them
+almost in his stride.  Then Wally's lips tightened, for he saw a
+homestead that he knew must be Maclennan's, the most prosperous
+farmer about; and Maclennan had strong views on the subject of
+inflammable fences in a country so liable to grass fires, and all
+his property was wire-fenced.  The first fence stretched before
+him, taut and well-strung; he looked up and down its length in
+search of a gate, but there was none in sight.
+
+"I could put my coat on the top wire for you to jump if it was a
+thick one, old chap," he told Shannon.  "But a scrap of wet silk
+wouldn't be much good to you.  We'll have to chance a post."
+
+He drew rein, trotting up to the fence, where he let the horse put
+his nose over a post--and set his lips again when he saw that the
+top wire was barbed.
+
+"Just you remember to pick up all your toes well, old man," he
+said.
+
+He trotted back a little way, and, turning, came hard at the fence,
+putting Shannon directly at the post.  This also was new to the
+chestnut; but once, when a foal, he had been badly pricked on
+barbed wire, and, ever since, one glance at its hideous spikes had
+been enough for him.  Refusing was out of the question--Wally was
+leaning forward, keeping him absolutely straight, lifting him at
+the post with a little shout of encouragement.  He flew over it as
+if it had been a hurdle.  Wally patted his neck with a big sigh of
+relief.
+
+"Eh, but I was scared for your legs, old man!" he said.
+
+They galloped across a wide stubble field, while Wally's keen eyes
+searched the fence for a gate.  He caught sight of one presently, a
+stiff, four-railed gate, considerably higher than the fence.  High
+as it was, Wally preferred it to barbed wire; and by this time he
+had a queer feeling that no jump would prove too much for the big,
+honest chestnut, who was doing so gamely everything that he was
+asked.  Nor did Shannon disappoint him; he rose at the gate
+cheerfully, and barely tipped it with one hind foot as he cleared
+it.  Wally fancied there was something of apology in the little
+shake of his head as he galloped on.
+
+"If I'd time to take you back over that you wouldn't lay a toe on
+it again, I believe.  Never mind, there's sure to be another."
+
+There was, and the chestnut flew it with never a touch.
+Maclennan's paddocks were wide and well cleared--such galloping
+ground as Wally dared not waste--and he took full advantage of
+them, leaving one after another behind swiftly, to the beat of
+Shannon's sweeping stride.  Fence after fence the chestnut cleared,
+taking them cleanly, with his keen ears pricked; never faltering or
+flagging as he galloped.  Wally sat him lightly, leaning forward to
+ease him, cheering him on with voice and touch.  Before him the
+cloud grew dense and yet more dense; he could feel its hot breath
+now, although a bush-covered paddock ahead blocked the fire itself
+from his immediate view.  He had to choose between picking his way
+through the trees or galloping round them; and chose the latter,
+since Shannon showed no sign of fatigue.  He put the last wire
+fence behind him with a sigh of relief.  A small farm with easy
+enough fences remained to be crossed, and then he swung round the
+timber at top speed.  Once round it, he should come within view of
+the Rainhams' house.
+
+He came into the open country, and pulled up with a shout of
+dismay.  Before him was the long line of timber marking the creek,
+but between lay nothing but a rolling cloud of smoke, lit with
+flashes of flame.  A hot gust of wind blew it aside for a moment,
+and through it he caught a glimpse of Creek Cottage, burning
+fiercely.  Wally uttered a smothered groan, and thrust Shannon
+forward, over the last fence, and up a little lane that led near
+the Rainhams' back gate.
+
+The paddock was nearly all on fire.  It had started somewhere back
+in the bush country, and had swept across like a wall, burning
+everything before it.  As Wally reached the gate, it was rolling
+away across the paddocks, a sheet of flame, licking up the dry
+grass; leaving behind it bare and blackened ground, with here and
+there a fence post, or a tree burning, and, in the midst of its
+track, Creek Cottage wrapped in flames.
+
+The boy slipped from his saddle and flung Shannon's bridle over the
+gate-post.  Then, as a thought struck him, he turned back and
+released him, buckling the reins into one stirrup.
+
+"I don't dare to tie you up, old man," he said.  "The beastly fire
+might swing round.  Go home, if you like.  I can't take you across
+that hot ground."  He gave the chestnut's neck a hasty pat; then,
+putting one hand on the gate, he vaulted it cleanly and ran across
+the burnt ground.
+
+The grass was yet smouldering; it broke away under his feet,
+crackling and falling into black powder.  He ran desperately, not
+feeling the burning breath of the fire, in blind hope of being able
+to save something.  The house itself, he knew, was doomed; no fire-
+brigade could have checked the flames which had laid hold of the
+flimsy weatherboard.  The fire had divided round it, checked a
+little by Tommy's flower-garden, which was almost uninjured yet,
+and by Bob's rows of green vegetables which lay singed and ruined;
+then, unable to wait, it had swept on its way through the long dry
+grass, which carried it swiftly forward, leaving the burning
+cottage and the green garden in the midst of a blackened waste.
+
+The front verandah, and one side, were yet untouched, nor had the
+front rooms caught.  Wally raced through the garden and tried the
+front door.  It was locked.  He sprang to the nearest window and
+smashed it with quick blows from a hoe standing near; then,
+flinging up the sash, dived in.  The room was full of smoke, the
+heat stifling.  It was Tommy's room.  He gathered up her little
+personal belongings from the dressing-table and flung them on the
+quilt, following them with armfuls of clothes hastily swept from
+shelves.  A trunk, covered with a bright Navajo blanket, stood near
+the window.  He thrust it through to the verandah, and scrambled
+out after it with the quilt and blankets bundled round the things
+he had saved.  Dragging them across the lawn, he thrust them under
+some green bushes, and returned for the trunk.
+
+"I don't believe you'll catch there," he said, choking.  "Wonder if
+I can try another room?"
+
+He had opened the door from Tommy's room into the hall, but the
+rush of flame and smoke were so appalling that he had to shut it
+again quickly, realizing that the draught only helped the fire.  To
+break in by another window was the only way.  He smashed his way in
+to the other front room, and hurriedly gathered up all he could.
+There was no time to save anything heavy.  His quick mind guided
+him to the things he knew Bob and Tommy valued most--things that
+had been Aunt Margaret's in the past, that spoke of their old happy
+life in France.  He spread an embroidered cloth on the floor and
+pitched his treasure trove into it--working feverishly, choking and
+gasping, until the flames began to crackle through the wall, and
+the ceiling above him split across.  Then he plunged through the
+window, and staggered across the lawn with his burden--falling
+beside it at last, spent and breathless, his throat parched with
+smoke, and his eyes almost sightless.  But he picked himself up
+presently and went back.  All the rooms were blazing now.  The side
+verandah had not yet caught, and on it he saw an old oaken chest
+that did double duty as a seat and as a wardrobe for Bob's spare
+clothes.  The sight brought fresh energy back to Wally.
+
+"By Jove, there's old Bob's box!" he uttered.  "I'll have to get
+that."
+
+He dragged it across the verandah and on to the path.  It was
+cruelly heavy.  He had to stop and rest again and again; but still
+he struggled on, a few yards at a time, until it, too, was in
+comparative safety.  Then there was nothing else that he could do
+but sit on the grass and watch the gay little home that they had
+all loved as it fell into ruins.  The flames made mercifully short
+work of it; they roared and crackled and spat wreathing fiery
+tongues round the chimneys and up and down the verandah posts;
+shooting out of the broken windows and turning the white-painted
+iron of the roof into a twisted and blackened mass.  It fell in
+presently with a deafening roar, bringing one chimney with it; and
+soon all that Wally had to look at was a smouldering heap of coals,
+in the midst of which one chimney stood, tottering and solitary,
+with the kitchen stove a glowing mass of red-hot iron, and
+strangely contorted masses of metal that once were beds.  The boy
+uttered a groan.
+
+"And they were so proud of it," he said.  "Poor souls--how are they
+going to stick it?"
+
+He got up presently and made his way round to the back.  All the
+sheds and buildings were burned; he turned with a shudder from
+where Bob's beloved Kelpie had died at his post chained in
+helplessness.  The metal parts of the buggy, writhed into knots and
+tangles, lay in the ashes of the big shed; beyond, the pigsty
+smouldered.
+
+"They've gone, too, I suppose," Wally said.  "By George, where are
+all his stock?  They can't all be burned, surely."
+
+There was nothing visible in the bare, black paddocks.  He cast a
+wild look round, and then made for the creek at a staggering run.
+The fire had died away for lack of material as it neared the banks,
+for great willows overhung them, a camping-ground for the stock all
+through the summer heat, and the ground was always beaten hard and
+bare.  Wally uttered a shout of relief as he came to the trees.
+Below in the wide, shallow pools, all the stock had taken refuge--
+carthorses and cows, sheep and pigs, all huddled together, wild-
+eyed and panting, but safe.  They stared up at Wally, dumbly
+bewildered.
+
+"Poor brutes," said Wally.  "Well, you chose a good spot, anyhow.
+I say, what a jolly good thing Bob let his pigs out.  Poor old
+chap--he's not broke yet."  He leaned against the gnarled trunk of
+a willow for a moment.  "Well, I suppose I'd better get up to the
+gate and tell them--it won't do for Tommy to come on the ruins all
+of a sudden."
+
+But he realized, as he made his slow way up from the creek, that he
+was too late.  There was a little knot of horses beside the garden
+gate.  His eye caught the light linen habit coats that Tommy and
+Norah wore.  They were looking silently at the blackened heap of
+ashes, with the tottering chimney standing gaunt in its midst,
+Bob's face grey under its coating of smoky dust.  Norah was holding
+Tommy's hand tightly.  They did not hear Wally as he came slowly
+across the black powder that had been grass.
+
+"I suppose the stock have gone, too," Bob said heavily.
+
+"No, they haven't, old man," Wally said.  "I believe every head is
+safe; they're in the creek."
+
+They turned sharply, and cried out at the sight of him--blackened
+and ragged, his eyes red-rimmed in his grimy face, his hands, cut
+by the broken window glass, smeared with dried blood.  His coat and
+shirt, burnt in a score of places, hung in singed fragments round
+him.  There were great holes burnt in his panama hat, even in his
+riding breeches.  Jim flung himself from his horse, and ran to him.
+
+"Wal, old man!  Are you hurt?"
+
+"Not me," said Wally briefly.  "Only a bit singed.  I say, you two,
+you don't know how sorry I am.  Tommy, I wish I could have got here
+in time."
+
+"You seem to have got here in time to try, anyhow," said Tommy, and
+her lip trembled.  "Are you sure you're not hurt, Wally?"  She
+slipped from her saddle, and came to him.  "Were you in the fire?"
+
+"No, I'm truly all right," Wally assured her.  He suddenly realized
+that he had not known how tired he was; something in his head began
+to whirl round, and a darkness came before his aching eyes.  He
+felt Jim catch him; and then he was sitting on the ground, propped
+against the fence, and blinking up at them all, while indignantly
+assuring them that he had never been better.
+
+"Did you meet the fire?  It was away from here before I got here."
+
+"It crossed the road in front of us," Mr. Linton said.  "There were
+a good many men about by that time--we got it stopped before it
+reached Elston's."  His pitying eyes went back to the brother and
+sister.  Anxiety for Wally had drawn them from their own disaster
+for a moment; now they had moved away together, and stood looking
+at the ashes of their home, where so many hopes were ashes, too.
+David Linton went over to them, and put a hand on a shoulder of
+each.
+
+"You're not to be down-hearted," he said firmly.  "It's bad enough,
+and bitter enough--but it might be worse.  The stock are safe, and
+the land is there--one good shower will turn the paddocks green
+again.  Why, there's even most of your garden left, Tommy.  And
+we'll build the house and sheds better than before."
+
+"You're jolly good, Mr. Linton," Bob said, with dry lips.  "But we
+owe you enough already."
+
+"If you talk that sort of nonsense, I'll be really annoyed," David
+Linton said.  "Why, hard luck comes to all of us--we got burned out
+ourselves once, didn't we, Norah?"
+
+"Rather--and had to live in tents," said Norah.  "No, you'll have
+to come back to us at Billabong until we build up the cottage
+again--oh, and, Tommy darling, I've been lonesome for you!"  She
+put a hand on Bob's arm.  "You won't worry, Bob?  One bit of bad
+luck isn't going to beat you!"
+
+"I suppose it won't," Bob said slowly.  "There's the insurance
+money, anyhow.  But it was the jolliest little home--and our very
+own.  And I was so jolly proud of being independent."
+
+"Well, you're that still," Jim said.  "This is a country where
+everybody helps everybody else--because you and Tommy come to stay
+with us, and run your stock for a while on Billabong until your own
+grass grows, that isn't going to make you less independent.
+Wouldn't you do the same for us, if we were in the same box?"
+
+"That goes without saying--and I'm as grateful as I can be," Bob
+said.  "But the cases are different.  I'm deep enough in your debt,
+as it is.  I--"  His lip quivered, and he turned away, staring at
+the ruins.
+
+"I don't see any good arguing about it, at all events," said Norah,
+practically.  "We're all hot and tired, and I vote we just get home
+and have tea.  We'll all feel better after a tub, and then we can
+begin to make plans.  Come on, Tommy dear, it's just lovely to
+think we're going to have you."
+
+Bob stood with one hand on the scorched gate.
+
+"I wish I could have got here in time to get out a few things," he
+muttered.
+
+"Oh, I did that," said Wally, brightening.  "I forgot, in the shock
+of finding all Noah's Ark turned out in the creek.  Come along,
+Tommy, and see my little lot of salvage!"
+
+He dragged himself up from the ground and seized Tommy's hand.
+They trooped across the lawn.
+
+"I saved the cuckoo clock and that set of Swiss bears," said Wally.
+"And lots of oddments from goodness knows where--the sort of thing
+you can't buy in Cunjee.  I expect I've hauled out all the things
+you wouldn't have saved, Tommy, but you'll just have to let me down
+lightly--I'd have made a shot for the beloved cake tins, only I
+hadn't time."
+
+"Oh, Wally, you dear old idiot," said Tommy.  "And that's how you
+nearly killed yourself."  They came in sight of Wally's heap of
+loot, and she stopped in amazement.
+
+"Bob--just look!"
+
+"By Jupiter!" said Bob, "you saved my old box!  You old brick.  How
+did you manage it?  Why, it weighs a ton!"
+
+Tommy was on her knees by the bundles.  "Look!" she said.  "Look,
+Bobby!  My silver things--and all Aunt Margaret's, and my little
+jewel box.  And my clothes!  How did you do it, Wally?"  Suddenly
+her voice broke.  She put her head down on the bundle in a passion
+of sobs.
+
+"That's the best thing she could do," said David Linton gently.  He
+turned to Norah.  "Let her cry--and bring her along presently, and
+we'll take her home.  Come along, boys, we'll get the horses and go
+and see Wally's Noah's Ark."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BUILDING UP AGAIN
+
+
+It was three months later, and Billabong lay in the peace of an
+exquisite autumn evening.  The orchard showed yellow and bronze
+against the green of the pine trees; here and there oak and elm
+leaves fluttered down lazily upon the lawn.  The garden flamed with
+dahlias and asters, amidst which Hogg worked contentedly.  And
+there was utter content upon the face of David Linton, as he stood
+on the broad stone steps of his home, and looked towards the
+setting sun.  Beyond the garden gleamed the reed-fringed waters of
+the lagoon; further yet, the broad paddocks stretched away, dotted
+with feeding Shorthorns.  It was the view, of all others, that he
+loved--his soul had longed for it during weary years of exile and
+war.  Now, it seemed that he could never tire of looking at it.
+
+Brownie came up from the garden, a basket on her arm laden with
+splendid mauve and pink asters.  David Linton strolled across the
+gravel sweep to meet her.
+
+"What, Brownie--taking Miss Norah's job, are you?"
+
+"Well, it ain't 'ardly that, sir," Brownie answered.  "Miss Norah
+she done the vases this morning, same as ushul, an' Miss Tommy
+elpin' her.  Only she wouldn't pick these 'ere astors, 'cause
+they're 'Oggs best, an' she didn't like to 'urt 'im; you see she
+always remembers that onst they go into the 'ouse, 'Ogg, 'e don't
+see 'em no more.  An' she do love 'em in the vases.  So I just put
+the matter sensible like to 'Ogg, an', of course, 'e saw reason and
+give me 'alf; an' I'll 'ave 'em on the table to-night.  Only
+they've filled every vase in the house already, I believe I'll be
+druv to puttin' 'em in Mason jars!"
+
+"Miss Norah will love them, no matter what they're in," said Mr.
+Linton.  "There's no sign of them yet, Brownie--it's nearly time
+they were home."
+
+"Well, they meant to 'ave a long day's work fixin' the 'ouse," said
+Brownie comfortably.  "Mrs. Archdale druv me over to see them, an'
+Sarah gave us all afternoon tea--she an' Bill are real toffs in
+their little new cottage there.  Sarah ain't indulgin' in any
+regrets over that fire!  And they were all busy as bees.  Miss
+Tommy's room's fixed, an' her little sleep-out place off it, and
+so's Mr. Bob's, an' they were workin' at the drorin'-room; 'omelike
+it looked with all their nice old things in it again."
+
+"I'm sure it will," David Linton agreed.  "How do you like the new
+house, Brownie?"
+
+"Why, it's lovely," said Brownie.  "An' a fair treat to work, with
+all them new improvements--no corners to the rooms, an' no silly
+skirtin' boards that'll catch dust, an' the water laid on
+everywhere, an' the air gas, an' all them other patent fixings.
+An' so comferable; better than the old one, any way you look at it.
+Miss Tommy's the lucky young lady to be comin' in for such a
+place."
+
+"Well, she deserves it, Brownie."
+
+"She do," said Brownie heartily.  "Ain't it lovely to see Miss
+Norah an' 'er so 'appy together?  Our blessed lamb never 'ad a
+friend like that before, and she needed one--every girl do."
+
+"Long may it last, that's all I say," agreed the squatter.  "Norah
+needed her badly, although she didn't know it.  And she and her
+brother are the best type of immigrants, aren't they?"
+
+"They are that," said Brownie, "always cheery, an' workin' 'ard,
+an' takin' the ups and downs sensibly.  Now, it was a real nasty
+knock to find their nice little 'ome burnt down on New Year's day,
+but after the first shock they never 'ung their lip at all--just
+bucked in to make good again."
+
+She went on her way with her asters, and David Linton walked slowly
+across the lawn and stood looking over the gate, along the track
+where his children would come riding home.  Somehow, he found it
+difficult not to think of them all as his children.  Wally had made
+an attempt to go away and set up a place for himself, but the idea
+had been received with such amazed horror by the whole household
+that it had been temporarily shelved.  After all, Wally had more
+money than was good for him, the result of having always been an
+orphan.  He could establish himself in a place at any time if he
+wished.  And meanwhile, he was never idle.  David Linton had handed
+over most of the outside management of the big run to Jim and his
+mate.  They worked together as happily as they had played together
+as boys.  There was time for play now, as well; Mr. Linton saw to
+that.  The years that they had left on Flanders fields were not to
+rob them of their boyhood.
+
+There had also been time to help the Rainhams--and there again the
+district had taken a hand.  It was not to be imagined that the
+people who had helped in the first working bee would sit calmly by
+when so stupendous a piece of bad luck as the New Year fire
+overtook the just established young immigrants; and so there had
+been several other bees, to replace Bob's burnt fencing, to clear
+away the ruins of the house and sheds, and, finally, to rebuild for
+him.  There had been long discussions at Billabong over plans--the
+first Creek Cottage had taught them much of what was desirable in
+the way of a house; so that the second Creek Cottage, which rose
+from the ashes of the old one when kindly rains had drawn a green
+mantle over all the blackened farm, was a very decided improvement
+upon the old house, and contained so many modern ideas and "dodges"
+that the wives and sisters of all the working bees, who helped to
+build it, came miles to see it, and went home, in most cases,
+audibly wishing that they could have a fire.  It was illuminating,
+too, to the working bees, to see how Bob and the Billabong men
+planned for the comfort of the women who were to run the house, and
+for its easy working; so that presently a wave of labour-saving
+devices swept through the Cunjee district in imitation, and wives
+who had always carried buckets of water found taps conveniently
+placed where they were needed, and sinks and draining racks built
+to ease the dreary round of dish-washing, and air-gas plants
+established to supersede the old kerosene lamps.  After which the
+district was very much astonished that it had not done it before.
+
+The cottage was finished now, and nearly ready for its occupants;
+Bill, Sarah and the baby had been installed for some time in a neat
+little two-roomed place with a side verandah, a short distance from
+the main building.  Home-made furniture, even more ambitious than
+the first built, had been erected, and a fresh supply of household
+goods bought during an exciting week in Melbourne, where Mr. Linton
+had taken them all--all, that is, but Bob, who had steadfastly
+declined to go away and play when other people were helping him.
+So Bob had remained at his post, giving Tommy a free hand as to
+shopping; a freedom cautiously used by Tommy, but supplemented by
+the others with many gifts, both useful and idiotic.  Tommy had an
+abiding affection for the idiotic efforts.
+
+She had spent so much time in the saddle that she now rode like an
+old hand; the brown-faced girl who came up the paddock presently
+with the cheery band of workers was very different to the pink and
+white "little Miss Immigrant" of eight months before.  She rode
+Jim's big favourite, Garryowen, who, although years had added
+wisdom to him, was always impatient when nearly home; he was
+reefing and pulling, as they swept up at a hand gallop, but Tommy
+held him easily, and pulled up near Mr. Linton, laughing.  He
+looked at them with grave content.
+
+"I began to think you meant me to have tea alone," he said.  "Have
+they been doing any work, Bob, or couldn't you keep them in hand at
+all?"
+
+"Oh, they've been working," Bob answered.  "I told Sarah not to
+give them any afternoon tea if they didn't, and it acted like a
+charm."
+
+"You to talk!" said Norah, with tilted nose.  "They said they'd
+sample the new deck chairs, dad, and it took them about an hour to
+make sure if they liked them--they just smoked while Tommy and I
+toiled."
+
+"Well, you'd only have been annoyed with us if we hadn't done the
+sampling properly, and had grumbled afterwards," said Wally.  "I'm
+always trying to teach you to be thorough, Norah.  Of course, they
+say they work all the time, sir--but when they disappear into
+Tommy's room there's an awful lot of talking."
+
+"There would be something wrong with them if there weren't," said
+the squatter sagely.  "And I have no doubt there yet remains much
+awaiting their expert supervision in Tommy's room."  Whereat Tommy
+and Norah beamed at him, and commended him as a person of
+understanding, while Wally remarked feelingly to Bob that there was
+no chance of justice where those two females were concerned.  At
+this point Jim observed that the conversation showed signs of
+degenerating into a brawl, and that, in any case, it was time the
+horses were let go.  They trotted off to the stables, a light-
+hearted body.
+
+Tommy slipped her arm into Bob's as they went upstairs to dress.
+
+"Come into my room and talk for a moment."
+
+He came in and sat down in a low chair by the window.
+
+"Your quarters at the new place won't be as big as this, old girl."
+
+"They'll be bigger, for it will all be ours," rejoined Tommy
+promptly.  "Who wants a big room, anyway?  I don't.  Bobby, I'd be
+hard to please if I wanted more than I've got."
+
+"You're always satisfied," he said.  "There never was anything
+easier than pleasing you, old Tommy."
+
+"Life's all so good, now," she said.  "No hideous anxiety about
+you--no Lancaster Gate--no she-dragon.  Only peace, and
+independence, and the work we like.  Aren't you satisfied, Bob?"
+
+"I'd like to be really independent," he said slowly.  "Our amount
+of debt isn't heavy, of course, and it doesn't cause real anxiety,
+with Mr. Linton guaranteeing us to the bank--"
+
+"And as we had to build again, it was worth while to improve the
+house and make it just what we wanted," Tommy added.  "We'll pay
+the debt off, Bob.  Mr. Linton assures me that with ordinary
+seasons we should easily do it."
+
+"I know, and I'm not anxious," Bob said.  "Only I'll be glad when
+it's done; debt, even such an easy debt as this, gives me the
+creeps.  And I want to feel we stand on our own feet."
+
+"And not on the Lintons'!" said Tommy, laughing.  "I quite agree--
+though it's amazing to see how little they seem to mind our weight.
+Was there ever such luck as meeting them, Bob?"
+
+"Never," he agreed.  "We'd have been wage-earners still, or
+struggling little cocky farmers at the best, but for that letter of
+General Harran's--though, I think more was due to the way you
+butted into their taxi!"
+
+"I believe it was," laughed Tommy.  "It was the sort of thing to
+appeal to the Lintons--it wouldn't to everybody.  But the letter
+was behind it, saying what a worthy young man you were!"
+
+"Well, when you start calling me such a thing as 'worthy,' it's
+time I left and got dressed for tea," said her brother, rising
+slowly.  "English mail ought to be in, by the way; I'm wondering
+what old Mr. M'Clinton will say when he hears we were burned out in
+our first season."
+
+"He'll wish he'd sent us to the snows of Canada, where such things
+don't happen on New Year's day," Tommy said.  "Still, he ought not
+to be anxious about us--Mr. Linton wrote and told him our position
+was quite sound."
+
+"Oh, I don't think he'll worry greatly," said Bob.  "I must hurry,
+old girl, or I'll be late--and I want a tub before tea."
+
+The boys came down in flannels, ready for a game of tennis after
+tea; and Bob and Wally were just leaving the court after a stoutly-
+contested set, when black Billy brought the mail-bag across the
+lawn to Mr. Linton.  The squatter unlocked it and sorted out the
+letters quickly.
+
+"Nothing for you, Tommy; two for Norah; three for Bob, and bundles
+for Wally and Jim.  Papers beyond counting, and parcels you girls
+can deal with."  He gathered up a package of his own letters.
+"Chiefly stock and station documents--though, I see, there's a
+letter from your aunt, Norah; I expect she's anxious to know when
+I'm going to cease bringing you up like a boy, and send you to
+Melbourne to be a perfect lady."
+
+"Tell her, never," said Norah lazily.  "I don't see any spare time
+ahead--not enough to make me into a lady after Aunt Winifred's
+pattern.  Cecil is much more lady-like than I am."
+
+"He always was," Jim said.  "Years ago we used to wonder that he
+didn't take to wool-work, and I expect he'll do it yet.  Even
+serving in the war didn't keep Cecil from manicuring his nails--he
+gets a polish on them that beats anything I ever saw."
+
+"Never mind--he's got a limp," said Norah, in whose eyes that
+legacy of the war covered a multitude of sins.
+
+"Well, he has.  But he even limps in a lady-like way," grinned Jim.
+"And he has no time for Wal and me.  He told me that he was
+surprised that five years of France and England hadn't made us less
+Australian."
+
+"It's a matter of regret to us all," said Norah placidly.  "We
+hoped for great things when you came out--more attention to polite
+conversation, and a passion for top-hats, and--"  At which point
+further eloquence was checked by a cushion placed gently, but
+firmly, by a brotherly hand on her face, and so she subsided, with
+a gurgle of laughter, into the cool depths of the buffalo grass
+where they were all lying.
+
+"Oh, by Jove!" said Bob suddenly.  He looked at them, and finally
+at Tommy, his eyes dancing.
+
+"What's up, old man?" Jim asked.  "Not your stepmother coming out?"
+
+"England couldn't spare her," Bob said.  "But the sky has fallen,
+for all that.  Just listen to old M'Clinton.
+
+"'. . . It was with deep regret that I learned from you and from
+Mr. Linton of the calamity which had befallen you on New Year's
+day.  Such disasters seem common in Australia, like blizzards in
+Canada, and I presume every settler is liable to them.  In your
+case your loss, being partly covered by insurance, will not, Mr.
+Linton assures me, be crushing, although it seems to me very
+severe.  To have your initial endeavours, too, handicapped by so
+calamitous an occurrence would have excused despondency, but--'"
+
+"Hasn't he a lovely style?" chuckled Wally, as the reader paused to
+turn over.
+
+"'But Mr. Linton assures me that you and your sister are facing the
+situation with calmness and courage.'  Did you know you were calmly
+courageous, Tommy?"
+
+"I am not," said Tommy.  "I am courageously calm.  Go on, Bobby--my
+calmness will waver if you don't get to the point.  Where does the
+sky fall?"
+
+"Half a second.  'Further, I am immensely interested to learn from
+Mr. Linton, who appears to be the kindest of benefactors'--that's
+you, sir--'that the people of the district, who have already helped
+you so remarkably by a working bee, are so much in sympathy with
+you both that they intend again lending you their assistance over
+rebuilding your house.  This shows me, even without Mr. Linton's
+letter, that you have earned their esteem and regard.  Nevertheless,
+I estimate that you cannot fail to be at some monetary embarrassment,
+and this I am luckily able to ease for you. Certain rubber
+investments of your late aunt's have recently risen in value, after
+the long period of depression due to the war; and I deemed it
+prudent to sell them while their price in the market was high.  The
+terms of your aunt's will enable me to reinvest this money,
+amounting to a little over nine hundred pounds, for you, or, at my
+discretion, to hand it over to you; and such is the confidence I
+repose in you, after Mr. Linton's letter, that I feel justified in
+remitting you the money, to use as you think best.  I presume that
+will be in the reduction of your liabilities.  I should like to
+think you had the benefit of Mr. Linton's advice in the matter.'
+Shall I, sir?"
+
+"I never listened to such language," returned the squatter.  "I
+should like it read three times a day, before meals.  But if it's
+my advice you want, Bob, you can have it.  Meanwhile, I'm very glad
+for you to have such a windfall, my boy."
+
+Tommy and Norah had collapsed on each other's shoulders,
+speechless.
+
+"Joy never kills, they say," said Wally, regarding them anxiously.
+"But it's been known to turn the brain, when the brain doesn't
+happen to be strong.  Will we turn the hose on them, Jim?"
+
+"Sit on him, Bob," came faintly from Norah.
+
+"I will--with the weight of nine hundred pounds!" said Bob--and did
+so.
+
+"Get off, you bloated capitalist," said Wally, struggling.  He
+succeeded in dislodging him, with a mighty effort.  "You're just
+purse-proud, that's what's the matter with you.  What'll you do
+with it, Bobby--go racing?  Or buy an aeroplane?"
+
+"Get out of debt," said Bob, sitting up with rumpled hair and a
+face like a happy child's.  "And there'll be a bit over to play
+with.  What shall we put it into, Tommy?  Want any pretty things?"
+
+"Just merino sheep," said Tommy.
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of BACK TO BILLABONG, by MARY GRANT BRUCE
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK TO BILLABONG ***
+
+This file should be named bkblb10.txt or bkblb10.zip
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, bkblb11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, bkblb10a.txt
+
+This eBook was produced by Don Lainson [dlainson@sympatico.ca]
+
+Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we usually do not
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
+even years after the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our Web sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net or
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
+Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
+eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
+can get to them as follows, and just download by date.  This is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.   Our
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If the value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
+files per month:  1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
+We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
+
+eBooks Year Month
+
+    1  1971 July
+   10  1991 January
+  100  1994 January
+ 1000  1997 August
+ 1500  1998 October
+ 2000  1999 December
+ 2500  2000 December
+ 3000  2001 November
+ 4000  2001 October/November
+ 6000  2002 December*
+ 9000  2003 November*
+10000  2004 January*
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
+and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
+Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
+Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
+Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
+Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
+Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
+Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
+Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
+will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
+Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
+request donations in all 50 states.  If your state is not listed and
+you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
+just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
+not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
+donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
+donate.
+
+International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
+how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
+deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
+ways.
+
+Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
+method other than by check or money order.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
+the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
+[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154.  Donations are
+tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law.  As fund-raising
+requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
+made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information online at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from. If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this eBook,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     eBook or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
+when distributed free of all fees.  Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
+Michael S. Hart.  Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
+used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
+they hardware or software or any other related product without
+express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
diff --git a/old/bkblb10.zip b/old/bkblb10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0147013
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/bkblb10.zip