Two Very Full Mailbags Borne By Two Very
Empty Black Boys, And In An Incredibly Short Space Of Time There
Were two
very full black boys, and two very empty mail-bags; for the mail was our
delayed mail, and
Exactly what we wanted; and the boys had found all they
wanted at Cheon's hospitable hands.
But even Christmas days must come to an end; and as the sun slipped down
to the west, Mac and Tam "reckoned it was time to be getting a move on ";
and as they mounted amid further Christmas wishes, with saddle-pouches
bursting with offerings from Cheon for "Clisymus supper," a strange
feeling of sadness crept in among us, and we wondered where "we would all
be next Christmas." Then our Christmas guests rode out into the forest,
taking with them the sick Mac, and as they faded from our sight we knew
that the memory of that Christmas day would never fade out of our lives;
for we bush-folk have long memories and love to rest now and then beside
the milestones of the past.
CHAPTER XXIV
A Day or two after Christmas, Dan came in full of regrets because he had
"missed the celebrations," and gratified Cheon's heart with a minute and
detailed account of the "Clisymus" at Pine Creek. Then the homestead
settled down to the stagnation of the Wet, and as the days and weeks
slipped by, travellers came in and went on, and Mac and Tam paid us many
visits, as with the weeks we slipped through a succession of
anniversaries.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 300 of 304
Words from 83370 to 83632
of 84691
