Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-10-05


cranes-going through that remarkable
dance which they indulge in occasion
ally. 1t was indeed an extraordinary
tight
Il wonder now what the niggers call
those festive creatures = Jack remark
ed absently.
The 'barralga, " she replied. rolling
her RS. Don't you notice the resem-
blance of the name to she cry of the
bird!'
/ could not help thinking of Max
O'Rell's statement when talking of
Friend Macdonald-"Sho me people
who roll their RS, and III show you a
people with backbone After all, Norah
Mackenzie was highland Scotch by de
scent.
1t impressed me not little to see the
thoughtful expression in the girls
eyes when only that which amused
would have been visible to nine women
out Of ten l had not given her credit
for seeing beneath the surface of things.
And she was evidently one of those
who have dislike to be taken serious
", for as her father aad Jack rode on
abreast, leading the way-, she checked
her horse until it was alongside mine
and asked me, with the spirit of mis-
chief still lurking in her eyes, how
had liked the chocolate drop she gave
me that morning.
l turned and looked at her steadily.
Il can't say it tasted quite so sweet
afte- the alternative you proposed.
You II play with fire until some day you
get burned, " l answered.
For now | was conscious Hf a strange
feeling of resentment toward her. 1t
was not pleasant to think that she
should hold me so lightly and treat Inc
as she might a child. l had till that
morning almost regarded her as one,
but there had been a dangerous glamour
i'll those soft eyes when my arms had
gone out to her as if by an irresistible
impulse. Then / had ceased to look
upon her as a child and began to regard
her as something infinitely mere dan
gerous.
She checked herself in an uneasy
laugh, and although | gazed right
ahead of me l could tell that she was
favoring me with one of her inscrutable
glances. She was beginning to exercise
subtle influence over me- and perhaps
she OWNED it, for in another minute
her mood had changed. Though she
spoke as frankly as before, she did not
again venture upon such dangerous
ground.
As if by mutual consent we began
talking about many things. 1t would
be difficult for me now to say how it
came about, but she had very soon
learned from me the history of my
checkered connection with the law; how
/ had become duly qualified practi-
tioner in England and ceased TO be one
when fortune came to me; how when
on losing my money / had come out to
South Australia and soon had qualified
to practice there, but how / had found
it impossible to take to the work again,
for, the old nomadic spirit within me
asserting itself, I was drawn into that
bush which had always exercised such
a powerful fascination for me. Norah
Mackenzie listened, as / thought, with
a pleased look on her face, but she made
no comment We were now abreast Of
Jack The girl asked him if he also were
a wanderer by choice and profession.
Certainly, was the prompt reply.
'I'm n rolling stone of the first water.
"You seem proud of it" remarked
the girl
That's so, was the confident reply,
"ever since n certain young lady told
e-confidentially, Of course-that she
preferred rolling stones to the other sort.
80 fH.yy Ii1p1f
moss they gained lots of polish.
"And what did you say to that?"
"Why, | rewarded heron the spot, "
replied Jack with the air of man who
had done his duty. "You see, as she
was a sort Of forty-second cousin, and
rather good looking, one couldn't be
ungrateful. -
That night we camped on the edge of
a pine forest, and to me it was almost
as welcome sight az that of the glori-
ous old ocean when ones eyes have
rested upon nothing for months, and
perhaps years, but the interminable
glaucous green of the eucalyptus till
they have ached for a change. Change
means rest to the senses that have run
too long in one groove.
We had seen many tracks of blacks,
and passed one or two deserted camps
where those children of the bush had
been within the last few weeks. But we
took the bells off our horses when we
turned them out and 50 were not trou-
bled by any Of these connoisseurs of
horsehesh; probably they did not ex-
pect whites so far off the track Norah
Mackenzie produced her violin after
supper and accompanied Jack, who at
the request Of the squatter gave us
Bonnie Mary Of Argyle" with great
feeling, and, on being pressed to sing
again, chose that quaint sweet yet pas
sionate idyl "The Devout Lover" in
which there is the real old world ring in
both words and music. Then Jack and
she sang together and, for the first time,
perhaps, / was not a little envious OF
his accomplishments. 1t seemed TO me
her manner was much more friendly
toward him than it had been.
Next day we passed through the pine
country, and on crossing little iron
stone ridge we saw ahead of us a
great, grassy, lightly timbered valley
surrounded by blue range Of hills
whose sides exhibited an abrupt pre-
cipitous front, which was SCARED and
broken into hundreds of little inlets and
bold headlands. Detached from the cliff
we could see great pillarlike rocks