But at the Springs
there was no necessity to think of anything but running water; and after
a happy day, Bertie's Nellie, Rosy, and Biddy returned to the
homestead - the goats had to be seen to, Nellie said, thinking nothing of
a twenty-seven-mile walk in a day, with a few hours' washing for
recreation in between whiles.
Part of the staff, a shadow or two, and the puppy dogs, filled in all
time until the yard was pronounced finished then a mob of cattle was
brought in and put through to test its strength; and just as we were
preparing to return to the homestead the Dandy's waggon lumbered into
camp with its loading of stores.
A box of new books kept us busy all afternoon, and then, before sundown,
the Maluka suggested a farewell stroll among the pools.
The Bitter Springs - a chain of clear, crystal pools, a long winding
chain, doubling back on itself in loops and curves - form the source of
the permanent flow of the Roper; pools only a few feet deep, irregular
and wide-spreading, with mossy-green, deeply undermined, overhanging
banks, and lime-stone bottoms washed into terraces that gleam azure-blue
through the transparent water.
