Of Brown, and both dogs knew that
lunge too well to let the other "get in."
As usual, Happy Dick had hunted through the store, and taken anything he
"really needed," paying, of course, by cheque; but when he came to sign
that cheque, after the Maluka had written it, he entered the dining-room
for the first time since its completion.
With calm scrutiny he took in every detail, including the serviettes as
they lay folded in their rings on the waiting dinner-table, and before he
left the homestead he expressed his approval in the Quarters:
"Got everything up to the knocker, haven't they ?" he said. "Often heard
toffs decorated their tables with rags in hobble rings, but never
believed it before."
Happy Dick gone, Cheon turned his attention to the health of the missus;
but Dan, persuading the Maluka that "all she needed was a breath of fresh
air," we went bush on a tour of inspection.
CHAPTER XVI
Within a week we returned to the homestead, and for twenty-four hours
Cheon gloated over us, preparing every delicacy that appealed to him as
an antidote to an outbush course of beef and damper. Then a man rode
into our lives who was to teach us the depth and breadth of the meaning
of the word mate - a sturdy, thick-set man with haggard, tired eyes and
deep lines about his firm strong mouth that told of recent and prolonged
tension.
