He provided feasts
all along his route, and was prepared to stand aside while the bush-folk
feasted. Perhaps in the silence that fell over the bush homes, after his
mail-bags were opened, his own heart slipped away to dear ones, who were
waiting somewhere for news of our Fizzer.
Eight mails ONLY in a year is not all disadvantage. Townsfolk who have
eight hundred tiny doses of mail-matter doled out to them, like men on
sick diet can form little idea of the pleasure of that feast of "full
bags and two on 'em," for like thirsty camels we drank it all in - every
drop of it - in long, deep, satisfying draughts. It may have been a
disadvantage, perhaps, to have been so thirsty; but then only the thirsty
soul knows the sweetness of slaking that thirst.
After a full hour's silence the last written sheet was laid down, and I
found the Maluka watching and smiling.
"Enjoyed your trip south, little 'un?" he said, and I came back to the
bush with a start, to find the supper dead cold. But then supper came
every night and the Fizzer once in forty-two.
At the first sound of voices, Cheon bustled in. "New-fellow tea, I
think," he said, and bustled out again with the teapot (Cheon had had
many years' experience of bush mail-days), and in a few minutes the
unpalatable supper was taken away, and cold roast beef and tomatoes stood
in its place.
