And As The Fence Grew, Dan Lent A Hand Here
And There, The Rejected And The Staff Indulged In Glorious
Washing-days
among the lilies of the Reach; Cheon haunted the vegetable patch like a
disconsolate ghost; while Billy Muck,
The rainmaker, hovered bat-like
over his melons, lending a hand also with the fence when called upon. As
Cheon mourned, his garden also mourned, but when the melons began to
mourn, at the Maluka's suggestion, Billy visited the Reach with two
buckets, and his usual following of dogs, and after a two-mile walk gave
the melons a drink.
Next day Billy Muck pressed old Jimmy into the service and, the Reach
being visited twice, the melons received eight buckets of water Then
Cheon tried every wile he knew to secure four buckets for his garden.
"Only four," he pleaded, lavish in his bribes. But Billy and Jimmy had
"knocked up longa a carry water," and Cheon watched them settle down to
smoke, on the verge of tears. Then a traveller coming in with the news
that heavy ram had fallen in Darwin - news gleaned from the gossiping
wire - Cheon was filled with jealous fury at the good fortune of Darwin,
and taunted Billy with rain-making taunts. "If he were a rain-maker," he
taunted, "he would make a little when he wanted it, instead of walking
miles with buckets," and the taunts rankling in Billy's royal soul, he
retired to the camp to see about it.
"Hope he does the trick," the traveller said, busy unpacking his team.
"Could do with a good bath fairly soon." But Dan cautioned him to "have
a care," settling down in the shade to watch proceedings. "These early
showers are a bit tricky," he explained, "can't tell how long they'll
last. Heard of a chap once who reckoned it was good enough for a bath,
but by the time he'd got himself nicely soaped the shower was travelling
on ten miles a minute, and there wasn't another drop of rain for a
fortnight, which wasn't too pleasant for the prickly heat."
The homestead rubbed its back in sympathy against the nearest upright,
and Dan added that "of course the soap kept the mosquitoes dodged a bit,"
which was something to be thankful for. "There generally is something to
be thankful for, if you only reckon it out," he assured all. But the
traveller, reduced to a sweltering prickliness by his exertions, wasn't
"noticing much at present," as he rubbed his back in his misery against
the saddle of the horse he was unpacking. Then his horse, shifting its
position, trod on his foot; and as he hopped round, nursing his stinging
toes, Dan found an illustration for his argument. "Some chaps," he said,
"'ud be thankful to have toes to be trod on"; and ducking to avoid a
coming missile, he added cheerfully, "But there's even an advantage about
having wooden legs at times. Heard once of a chap that reckoned 'em just
the thing. Trod on a death-adder unexpected-like in his camp, and when
the death-adder whizzed round to strike it, just struck wood, and the
chap enjoyed his supper as usual that night. That chap had a wooden
leg," he added, unnecessarily explicit; and then his argument being
nicely rounded off, he lent a hand with the pack-bags.
The traveller filled in Dan's evening, and Neaves' mate coming through
next day, gave the Quarters a fresh start and then just before that
sundown we felt the first breath of victory from the monsoon - just a few
cool, gusty puffs of wind, that was all, and we ran out to enjoy them,
only to scurry back into shelter, for our first shower was with us. In
pelting fury it rushed upon us out of the northwest, and rushing upon us,
swept over us and away from us into the south-east, leaping from horizon
to horizon in the triumph of victory.
As a matter of course, it left a sweltering awfulness behind it, but it
was a promise of better things; and even as Dan was inquiring with a
chuckle "whether that chap in the Quarters had got a bath out of it," a
second pelting fury rushed over us, filling Cheon's heart with joy, and
Billy with importance. Unfortunately it did not fill the water-butts with
water, but already the garden was holding up its head, and Billy was
claiming that he had scored a win.
"Well?" he said, waylaying Cheon in the garden, "Well, me rainmaker?
Eh?" and Cheon's superstitious heart bowed down before such evidence.
A ten-minutes' deluge half an hour later licked up every grain of dust,
filled the water-butts to overflowing, brought the insect pest to life as
by magic, left a shallow pool in the heart of the billabong, and added
considerably to Billy's importance. Had not Brown of the Bulls come in
during that ten-minutes' deluge, Cheon would probably have fallen to
offering sacrifices to Billy. As it was, he could only load him with
plum-cake, before turning his attention to the welcoming of Brown of the
Bulls.
"What was the boss drover's fancy in the way of cooking?" he inquired of
the missus, bent on his usual form of welcome, and the boss drover, a
great burly Queenslander, with a voice as burly as his frame, answered
for himself with a laughing "Vegetables! and as many as you think I've
room for." Then, as Cheon gravely measured his inches with his eye, a
burly chuckle shook the boss drover's great frame as he repeated: "Just
as many as you think I can hold," adding in half apology: "been away from
women and vegetables for fifteen months."
"That's nothing," we told him, quoting the man from Beyanst, but hopeful
to find the woman placed first. Then acting on a hint from Cheon, we
took him to the banana clump.
During the evening another five-minutes' deluge gladdened our hearts, as
the "lavender" bugs and other sweet pests of the Territory insect pest
saddened our bodies.
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