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+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
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