Had not Brown of the Bulls come in
during that ten-minutes' deluge, Cheon would probably have fallen to
offering sacrifices to Billy. As it was, he could only load him with
plum-cake, before turning his attention to the welcoming of Brown of the
Bulls.
"What was the boss drover's fancy in the way of cooking?" he inquired of
the missus, bent on his usual form of welcome, and the boss drover, a
great burly Queenslander, with a voice as burly as his frame, answered
for himself with a laughing "Vegetables! and as many as you think I've
room for." Then, as Cheon gravely measured his inches with his eye, a
burly chuckle shook the boss drover's great frame as he repeated: "Just
as many as you think I can hold," adding in half apology: "been away from
women and vegetables for fifteen months."
"That's nothing," we told him, quoting the man from Beyanst, but hopeful
to find the woman placed first. Then acting on a hint from Cheon, we
took him to the banana clump.
During the evening another five-minutes' deluge gladdened our hearts, as
the "lavender" bugs and other sweet pests of the Territory insect pest
saddened our bodies.
Soon after breakfast-time Happy Dick was across "To see how you've
fared," he said, and then, to the diversion of Brown of the Bulls, Cheon
and Happy Dick rejoiced together over the brimming water-butts, and
mourned because the billabong had not done better, regretting the while
that the showers were so "patchy."
Then while Happy Dick was assuring us that "both Warlochs were bankers,"
the Sanguine Scot rode in through the slip-rails at the North track,
waving his hat in greeting and with Bertie and Bertie's Nellie tailing
along behind him.
"Back again!" Mac called, light-hearted as a schoolboy just escaped from
drudgery, while Bertie's Nellie, as a matter of course, was overcome with
ecstatic giggles.
With Mac and the showers with us, we felt there was little left to wish
for, and told Brown of the Bulls that he might now prepare to enjoy
himself, and with a chuckle of anticipation Brown "hoped" the
entertainment would prove "up to samples already met with," as he could
"do with a little enjoyment for a change."
CHAPTER XXII
As a matter of course, Bertie's Nellie quietly gathered the reins of
management into her own hands, and as a matter of course, Jimmy's Nellie
indulged in ear-splitting continuous protest, and Brown of the, Bulls
expressed himself as satisfied, so far, with the entertaining powers of
the homestead.
As a matter of course, we left the servant problem to work out its own
solution, and, also as a matter of course, the Sanguine Scot was full of
plans for the future but particularly bubbling over with the news that he
had secured Tam-o'-Shanter for a partner in the brumby venture.
