(The
Outsider, by the way, spoke of the Never-Never as a land where you can
Never-Never gel a bally thing you want! the Outsider's wants being of the
flesh pots of Egypt). It goes without saying that the Maluka sent that
neighbour's mail to him without delay, even though it meant a four-days'
journey for a "boy" and station horses, for the bush-folk do what they
can to help each other and the Department in the matter of mails, as in
all else.
Fortunately, the Outsider always remained the only exception, and within
a day or two of the Fizzer's visit a traveller passed through going east
who happened to know that the "chap from Victoria Downs was just about
due at Hodgson going back west," and one letter went forward in his
pocket en route to its owner. But before the other could be claimed Cheon
had opened the last eighty-pound chest of tea, and the homestead fearing
the supply might not be equal to the demands of the Wet, the Dandy was
dispatched in all haste for an extra loading of stores. And all through
his absence, as before it, and before the Fizzer's visit, Dan and the
elements "kept things humming."
Daily the soakage yielded less and less water, and daily Billy Muck and
Cheon scrimmaged over its yield; for Billy's melons were promising to pay
a liberal dividend, and Cheon's garden was crying aloud for water.
