The morning call., 1894-02-11

on the f1eshy part of my arm.
Harry he says, IN a kind of whisper.
you must take out these two. and then
must drive that nursegirl from this
Harry-ynu must take her away this verv
night. For il my child Is dead I'll kill her
tool swear L will
but the nurse had seen US drive up. and
as MAD trevor crossed the ward heavily.
IKE daZed man. she ran out from the
Veranda and threw herself at his knees,
sobOing her heart cut. And what he SAID 70
her hrst could not hear distinctly: | Only
hnoW mat 10 another moment he was cry
lug IKE child himself. No wonder either,
when the malice is the worst kind of scrub
TO get lost IN, and there had been enough
oust TO clean out deeper tracks than a
chlld 5, and when it was growing late in
the afternoon, and the our little thing out
LOT hours already. But il was the pitifulest
sight you ever saw-the servant girl in hys-
terlcs aid Mad Trevor steadping MS voice
TO take the blame off her he'd said ned
XIII. Ay, he was standing just in front OF
The veranda, within three yards OF where
we are now, and that rolled-up print was
still IN his hand.
so no more was said about my carting
the poor girl off that night. but yelling
ton ard Butcher were run up all the same
and at sundown they were bowling the
buggy away hack to the twelve mile with
me in her. You see, the twelve-mIle whlm-
driver was Dunbar George, our eldest
hand, who knew every inch OF the run, so
the boss thought that George would lay
hold of little Mona sooner than he could
If she was in the malice. And that's where
she was we were all quite certain, and
George was certain, TOO, hen | told him,
and be told me of a man he himself had
once found in our malice, stone dead. with
died from thirst scratched in the CRIME
on the bottom of his quart pot, and all
within mile of this very homestead.
That wasn't pretty story TO leave be-
hind with new chum who was going TO
camp alone in a lonely hut for the first
time of asking, and nothing TO think about
but the poor little BARN that was lost. |
tell you | shall remember that night as
long as | live, and how / felt when 1 had
seen the last of George and the buggy in
the moonlight: for by that time it was
light, and just such another as this, with
the moon right overhead, as round as an
orange, and not cloud in the sky. Ali
we have plenty of ghts like thai in the
back blocks, and one full moon is as like
the last as two peas, for want of clouds :;
and somehow they always seem TO come
before they're due; yet it's weary while
to look back upon, with that night at the
end of it all. like gate after five miles of
posts and wire. Say now-have you never
heard him all this tme?" He had paused,
with his head bent on one side.
] replied that | had heard nothing but
MS story; that what l wanted to hear was
the end OF il, and that Mad Trevor would
keep until then. He smiled as | said that,
and stood listening FIR another minute or
more, with his eyes drawn back into his
head.
''Ah, WE'LL" he tossed up his head and
went on, sit came to an end in time, like
most nights; hut The worst was before 1t
began, when | could hear George crack
ing his whip whenever | stood still. So
| stood still until [ knew | should hear
him no more, and then | blew uu the fire
for my tea, for | was hungry. But,
Lord, you'll hear how your boots creak
the first time YOU camp alone IN a hut
especially if it's a good one with d floor
TO it like our twelve-mlle. | tell you /
took mine off, and then / put them on
again. because my stocking sOles made
just as much noise in their own way aud it
was a Greer Ter way. Then there are TWO
or three rooms to The hut out there-t's a
fine hut our twelve mile-and | had to
poke my nose into them all before | was
ready for my tea. And then l had to walk
right round the hut in the moonlight, and
| was glad when I'd done that, as if il
had been a desert island. But it was
lighter outside than in, for l lad nothing
but a slush-lamp-you know, a strip OF
mOleskin 10 a tiD OF mutton fat-and
didn't understand the working of one
in those days any better than | suppose
y VI NOhlo bON' NFlls tnCHs Vic ililil-
water at The twelve mile is brackish,
so l had to fill the billy at an open
tank that was getting low, but there'd
been tantallZlDg little shower of sixty
points day or two before that had made
the water muddy; and [ very well remem-
Der that the billy looked full of tea before
l opened my hand to slip the tea IL. Then
the hut vas swarming with bull-ants, and
they came crawling up the sides Of the billy
and into the tea where ] had set 1t TO cool
on the floor; and the light was so bad that
| had 10 chance those ants, because you
couldn't tell them from tea leaves. Well,
| could have enjoyed the experience, and
thought of the fine letter home it would
have made. if | hadn't been thinking all
the time of that poor little thing IN The
malice. L was a newer cnum than you are
and there was a kind of interest in turning
my pouch inside out for the last pipeful OF
the cut-up tobacco | had brought up with
ne from Melbourne. 1t was one of the
last fills of cpt-up that ever | had until Won
banded me your pouch tonight, because
when you once get used to the black cakes
you'll find you'll stick to them. And / sat
ana smoked my pipe on the doorstep and
kept looking at the moon and thinking of
the old people in the old country, and W hat
If they could see me there. / daresay you
think like that sometimes, but you'll find
you get over that too. IL was worse to
think of that little mite in the mall e
scrub, and how she had sat on my knee
the night before, and how she would co me
into my store when l was dong the books,
spill the flour about and keep on asking
questions. That's the store over there at
The other side of the new well. with the
tell on top and the veranda in front. I'll
show you little Mona's height on the CEN
ter-post. | had TO measure her every
morning because | once got her TO bed by
telling her she only grew when she was
asleep.
We'll, thinking wouldn't do any good.
and my last pipe of cnt-up was soon done,
for it was nothing but powder. | bad
brought cake of the black stuff with me,
but 1t was too strong for me in those days.
SO then | thought l had better turn ID,
though ii was only 10 o'clock; so l took my
blanket and the slush-lamp TO the little
dark room at the back and pulled off my
coat and boots and spread my blanket on
Georges bunk. And before l lay down
well, l thought i should like 10 put in a
pray er for the poor little thing that was
lost; and | reckon 1t was about the last
time | was ever on my knees at that bust
ness, for YOU II find these back blocks don't
make man more religious than he need
be. But IL was comfort TO me that q light !;
and while | was kneeIing little kitten Of
Georges that I'd never noticed when first
looked into the room came out and went
for my stocking-soles and that was an