The travellers were deeply interested in the servant wrestle, and when
the Staff was eventually clothed, and the rejected green with envy,
decided that the "whole difficulty was solved, bar Sam."
Sam, however, was about to solve his part of the difficulty to every
one's satisfaction. A master as particular over the men's table as his
own was not a master after Sam's heart, so he came to the Maluka, and
announced, in the peculiar manner of Chinese cooks, that he was about to
write for a new cook for the station, who would probably arrive within
six weeks, when Sam, having installed him to our satisfaction, would,
with our permission, leave our service.
The permission was graciously given, and as Sam retired we longed to tell
him to engage some one renowned for his disobedience. We fancied later
that our willingness piqued Sam, for after giving notice he bestirred
himself to such an extent that one of our visitors tried to secure his
services for himself, convinced we were throwing away a treasure.
In that fortnight we had several visitors, travellers passing through the
station, and as each stayed a day or two, a few of the visits overlapped,
and some merry hours were spent in the little homestead.
Some of the guests knew beforehand of the arrival of a missus at the
station, and came ready groomed from their last camp; but others only
heard of her arrival when inside the homestead enclosure, and there was a
great application of soap, and razors, and towels before they considered
themselves fit for presentation.
With only one room at our disposal it would seem to the uninitiated that
the accommodation of the homestead must have been strained to bursting
point; but "out-bush" every man carries a "bluey" and a mosquito net in
his swag, and as the hosts slept under the verandah, and the guests on
the garden paths, or in their camps among the forest trees, spare rooms
would only have been superfluous. With a billabong at the door, a
bathroom was easily dispensed with; and as every one preferred the roomy
verandahs for lounging and smoking, the House had only to act as a
dressing-room for the hosts and a dining-room for all.
The meals, of course, were served on the dining-table; but no apology
seemed necessary for the presence of a four-poster bed and a washing
stand in the reception-room. They were there, and our guests knew why
they were there, and words, like the spare rooms, would have been
superfluous.
Breakfast at sun-up or thereabouts, dinner at noon and supper at
sun-down, is the long-established routine of meals on all cattle-runs of
the Never-Never, and at all three meals Sam waited, bland and smiling.
