Bread Sau-ce!" On and on through
mince pies, sweets, cakes, and fruits, went the monotonous chant, the
Maluka and the missus standing gravely at attention, until a triumphant
paeon of "Plum-m-m Poo-dinn!" soared upwards as Cheon waddled off through
the decorated verandah extension for his soup tureen.
But a sudden, unaccountable shyness had come over the Quarters, and as
Cheon trundled away, a hurried argument reached our ears of "Go on! You
go first!" "No, you. Here! none of that"; and then, after a short
subdued scuffle, the Dandy, looking slightly dishevelled, came through
the doorway with just the suspicion of assistance from within; and the
ice being thus broken the rest of the company came forward in a body and
slipped into whichever seat came handiest.
As all of us, with the exception of the Dandy, were Scotch, four of us
being Macs, the Maluka chose our Christmas grace from Bobby Burns; and
quietly and reverently our Scotch hearts listened to those homely words:
"Some ha'e meat, and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we ha'e
meat, and we can eat, And so the Lord be thankit."
Then came Cheon's turn, and gradually and cleverly his triumphs were
displayed.
To begin with, we were served to clear soup - "just to tickle your
palates," the Maluka announced, as Cheon in a hoarse whisper instructed
him to serve "little-fellow-helps" anxious that none of the keenness
should be taken from our appetites.
