"Might It Missus
Like Puppy Dog," It Said To Explain Its Presence Hinting Also That The
Missus Might Require A Little Clothes-Washing Done.
Lately, washing-days at the homestead had lost all their vim, for the
creek having stopped running, washing had to be conducted in tubs, so as
to keep the billabong clear for drinking purposes.
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.
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