A tree sawn into short lengths to provide verandah seats for
all comers he passed over as doubtful. He was slightly reassured however,
when he heard that my revolver practice had not been neglected, and
condescended to own that some of the devices were "handy enough." A neat
little tray, made from the end of a packing-case and a few laths,
interested him in particular. "You'll get him dodged for ideas one of
these days," he said, alluding to the Maluka's ingenuity, and when, a day
or two later, I broke the spring of my watch and asked helplessly,
"However was I going to tell the time till the waggons came with the
clock?" Dan felt sure I had set an unsolvable problem.
"That 'ud get anybody dodged," he declared; but it took more than that to
"dodge" the Maluka's resourcefulness. He spent a little while in the sun
with a compass and a few wooden pegs, and a sundial lay on the ground
just outside the verandah.
Dan declared it just "licked creation," and wondered if "that 'ud settle
'em," when I asked for some strong iron rings for a curtain. But the
Dandy took a hobble chain to the forge, and breaking the links asunder,
welded them into smooth round rings.
The need for curtain rings was very pressing, for, scanty as it was, the
publicity of our wardrobe hanging in one corner of the reception room
distressed me, but with the Dandy's rings and a chequered rug for
curtain, a corner wardrobe was soon fixed up.
Dan looked at it askance, and harked back to the sundial and education.
"It's 'cute enough," he said. "But it won't do, boss. She should have
been taught how to tell the time by the sun. Don't you let 'em spoil your
chances of education, missus. You were in luck when you struck this
place; never saw luck to equal it. And if it holds good, something'll
happen to stop you from ever having a house, so as to get you properly
educated."
My luck "held good" for the time being; for when Johnny came along in a
few days he announced, in answer to a very warm welcome, that "something
had gone wrong at No. 3 Well" and that "he'd promised to see to it at
once."
"Oh, Johnny!" I cried reproachfully, but the next moment was "toeing the
line" even to the Head Stockman's satisfaction; for with a look of
surprise Johnny had added: "I - I thought you'd reckon that travellers'
water for the Dry came before your rooms." Out-bush we deal in hard
facts.
"Thought I'd reckon!" I said, appalled to think my comfort should even be
spoken of when men's lives were in question.
