"I'm sending a few cuttings for
the missus," it read. Cuttings he called them, but the back of the
waggon looked like a nurseryman's van; for all a-growing and a-blowing
and waiting to be planted out, stood a row of flowering, well-grown
plants in tins: crimson hibiscus, creepers, oleanders, and all sorts. A
man is best known by his actions, and Mine Host best understood by his
kindly thoughtfulness.
The store was soon full to overflowing, and so was our one room, for
everything ordered for the house had arrived - rolls of calico heavy and
unbleached, mosquito netting, blue matting for the floors, washstand
ware, cups and saucers, and dozens of smaller necessities piled in every
corner of the room.
"There won't be many idle hands round these parts for a while," a
traveller said, looking round the congested room, and he was right, for
having no sewing machine, a gigantic hand-sewing contract was to be
faced. The ceilings of both rooms were to be calico, and a dozen or so of
seams were to be oversewn for that, the strips of matting were to be
joined together and bound into squares, and after that a herculean task
undertaken: the making of a huge mosquito-netted dining-room, large
enough to enclose the table and chairs, so as to ensure our meals in
comfort - for the flies, like the poor, were to be with us always.
This net was to be nearly ten feet square and twelve high, with a calico
roof of its own drawn taut to the ceiling of the room, and walls of
mosquito netting, weighted at the foot with a deep fold of calico, and
falling from ceiling to floor, with a wide double overlapping curtain for
a doorway. Imagine an immense four-poster bed-net, ten by ten by twelve,
swung taut within a larger room, and a fair idea of the dining-net will
have been formed. A room within a room, and within the inner room we
hoped to find a paradise at mealtime in comparison to the purgatory of
the last few months.
But the sewing did not end at that. The lubras' methods of washing had
proved most disastrous to my meagre wardrobe; and the resources of the
homestead were taxed to the utmost to provide sufficient patching
material to keep the missus even decently clothed.
"Wait for the waggons," the Maluka sang cheerily every time he found me
hunting in the store (unbleached calico or mosquito netting being
unsuitable for patching).
Cheon openly disapproved of this state of affairs, and was inclined to
blame the Maluka. A good husband usually provides his wife with
sufficient clothing, he insinuated; but when he heard that further
supplies were on the bullock waggons, he apologised, and as he waddled
about kept one ear cocked to catch the first sound of the bullock bells.
"Bullocky jump four miles," he informed us; from which we inferred that
the sound of the bells would travel four miles. Cheon's English generally
required paraphrasing.
Almost every day some fresh garment collapsed, and I bitterly regretted
my recklessness in giving Jimmy's Nellie the bath wrapper. Fortunately a
holland dress was behaving beautifully. "A staunch little beast," the
Maluka called it. That, however, had to be washed, every alternate day;
and, fearing possible contingencies, I was beginning a dress of
unbleached calico, when the Maluka, busy among the stores, came on a roll
of bright pink galatea ordered for lubras' dresses, and brought it to the
house in triumph.
Harsh, crudely pink, galatea! Yet it was received as joyfully as ever a
woman received a Paris gown; for although necessity may be the mother of
invention, she more often brings thankful hearts into this world.
A hank of coarse, bristling white braid was also unearthed from among the
stores, and within three days the galatea had become a sturdy
white-braided blouse and skirt, that promised to rival the "staunch
little beast" in staunch-heartedness.
By the time it was finished, Johnny and the Dandy had all the flooring
boards down in the dining-room, and before the last nail was in, Cheon
and the Maluka had carried in every available stick of furniture, and
spread it about the room to the greatest possible advantage. The walls
were still unfinished, and doors and window frames gaped; but what did
that matter? The missus had a dining-room, and as she presided at her
supper-table in vivid pink and the pride of possession, Cheon looked as
though he would have liked to shake hands with every one at once, but
particularly with Johnny.
"Looks A1," the Maluka said, alluding to the stiff, aggressive frock, and
took me "bush" with him, wearing the blouse, and a holland riding skirt
that had also proved itself a true, staunch friend.
Dan, the Quiet Stockman, and the Dandy, had already gone "bush" in
different directions; for with the coming of the year's stores,
horse-breaking, house-building, trunks and waggons had all stepped into
their proper places - a very secondary one - and cattle had come to the
front and would stay there, as far as the men were concerned until next
Wet.
Cattle, and cattle only, would be the work of the "Dry." Dan and the
Quiet Stockman, with a dozen or so of cattle "boys" to help them, had the
year's musterings and brandings to get through; the Dandy would be
wherever he was most needed; yard-building, yard-repairing, carting
stores or lending a hand with mustering when necessity arose, while the
Maluka would be everywhere at once, in organisation if not in body.
Where runs are huge, and fenceless, and freely watered the year's
mustering and branding is no simple task Our cattle were scattered
through a couple of thousand square miles of scrub and open timbered
country, and therefore each section of the run had to be gone over again
and again; each mob, when mustered, travelled to the nearest yard and
branded.
