Little Did They Guess
That They Were Angels Unaware.
Homely enough angels, though, they
proved, as angels unaware should prove:
One man and two women from
"Queensland way," who had been "inside" for fifteen years, and with them
two fine young lads and a wee, toddling baby - all three children born in
the bush and leaving it for the first time.
Never before had Cheon had such a company to provide for; but as we moved
towards the house in a body - ourselves, the village settlement, and the
Maluka's traveller-guests, with a stockman traveller and the Dandy
looking on from the quarters, his hospitable soul rejoiced at the sight;
and by the time seats had been found for all comers, he appeared laden
with tea and biscuits, and within half an hour had conjured up a
plentiful dinner for all comers.
Fortunately the chairs were all "up" to the weight of the ladies, and the
remainder of the company easily accommodated itself to circumstances, in
the shape of sawn stumps, rough stools, and sundry boxes; and although
the company was large and the dining-table small, and although, at times,
we feared the table was about to fulfil its oft-repeated threat and fall
over, yet the dinner was there to be enjoyed, and, being bush-folk, and
hungry, our guests enjoyed it, passing over all incongruities with simple
merriment - a light-hearted, bubbling merriment, in no way comparable to
that "laughter of fools," that crackling of thorns under a pot, provoked
by the incongruities of the world's freak dinners.
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