Books: Mates at Billabong
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Mary Grant Bruce (1878 1958). >> Mates at Billabong
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They had turned the corner of the house leading to the verandah off
which Mr. Linton's office opened, and where that gentleman was
presumably to be found, wrestling with the intricacies of his
income-tax schedule--the squatter's yearly bugbear. Along this verandah
came, slowly, Cecil, beautiful to behold in a loose brown suit, with
buff coloured shirt and flowing orange tie. Wally cast a swift glance
at his ankles, and chuckled.
"He's got new socks on!" he said, in a sepulchral whisper.
"Shut up, you duffer--he'll hear you!" Jim said. He raised his voice.
"Looking for us, Cecil?"
"Yes," Cecil drawled. "Uncle David asked me to find you. Fed
the--ah--poultry, Norah?"
"Yes, thank you," said that damsel.
"Awfully uninteresting things, fowls," said Cecil, turning and walking
back with them. "Noisy and dirty--I can't imagine you bothering your
head over them."
"They're not dirty when they're kept properly," Norah said, a little
warmly. "And I don't think any animal's uninteresting if you look after
it yourself. Of course, if you do nothing more than eat them--"
"I assure you that's all I care to do!" said Cecil. At this point, they
arrived at the door of the office, which was perhaps as well, and found
Mr. Linton half submerged in a sea of stock returns, books, and
bill-files.
"Oh, here you are," he said, smoothing the furrows out of his brow to
smile at Norah. "I had an idea I sent you for the others some time ago,
Jim."
Jim looked somewhat sheepish.
"Yes." He admitted, laughing. "Fact is, I--I got into a kerosene tin!"
He glanced at his left leg expressively.
"I see," said his father, with a smile. "Well, I don't know that it
matters--only a note has just come out from Anderson, and his chauffeur
is waiting for an answer. It seems Cunjee is playing Mulgoa in a great
cricket match on Thursday, and they're short of men. They want to know
if they can recruit from Billabong."
"Good business!" said Jim, joyfully, while Wally hurrahed below his
breath. "But will they let us play, Dad--Wal. and me?"
"Oh, they've fixed that up with the Mulgoa fellows," said his father.
"It's all right. They're kind enough to ask me to play, but it's out of
the question--even if I weren't approaching senile decay"--he smiled--"I
wouldn't be able to go. Mr. Darrell has a buyer coming to look at his
young stock on Friday, and he writes me that if I want any of them--he
knows I did want some--I can have the first pick if I am over at
Killybeg on Thursday. So that means I'll be away from Wednesday
morning--and I think this match will be as efficacious as anything else
in keeping you out of mischief during my absence!"
"I'm glad we'll have something!" Jim said, his grin belying his meek
voice. "Well, we'll have to see who can play."
"You two boys, of course," said his father. "And Cecil--do you play?"
"Not for worlds, thank you," said Cecil, hastily. "It's not in my
line."
"Oh," said his uncle. "Then you can be Norah's escort--if she wants to
go, that is!"
"Want to go! Well, Daddy!" said Norah in expostulation--whereat
everybody laughed.
"Murty can slog, I believe, and of course, Boone is a cricketer," the
squatter said. "They only want four, so if those two fellows are
willing--of which I'm not very doubtful!--that will be just right. You
might go out and see if they're anywhere about, Jim."
Jim and Wally dashed off, to return presently with the tidings that
Murty would play "wid all the pleasure in loife." Boone was away at
work, but his acquiescence could be taken for granted.
"Then I'll send a line to the doctor," Mr. Linton said. "He and Mrs.
Anderson want you all to go there for lunch on the day of the match--a
very good arrangement, seeing that you'll have Norah with you. You'd
better get away from here quite early; it's pretty certain to be hot,
and the day will be a fairly long one, in any case. It will be far
better to get the ride over before the sun is very formidable. And if
you'll take my advice, boys, you'll make those fellows have some
practice before Thursday. You two should be in good form, but they
scarcely ever touch a bat."
Jim and Wally approved of his advice, and each evening before the day
of the match saw the Billabong contingent of the Cunjee eleven hard at
work on a level stretch of ground close to the homestead; while Norah
was generally to be found making herself useful in the outfield. Her
sex did not hinder the daughter of the house from being able to return
balls with force and directness, and when, as a reward for her aid, she
was given a few minutes with the bat, to carefully regulated bowling
from Wally, Norah's cup of joy was full. She was even heard to say that
school might be bearable if they let you play cricket most of the
time!--which was a great admission for Norah, who had kept her word
rigidly about not mentioning the dreaded prospect before her. That she
thought of it continually, Jim knew well and he and his chum were wont,
by all means in their power, to paint school life for girls in
attractive colours without appearing to be directly "preaching" to
Norah; which kindly thought she saw through very well, and was silently
grateful, though it was doubtful if her sentence lost any of its
terrors.
It was always more or less before her. Her own circle had been too
limited to give Norah much experience of the outer world, and she
shrank instinctively from anything that lay beyond Billabong and its
surroundings. No one, meeting her in her home, would have dreamed that
she might be shy; but the truth was that a very passion of shyness came
over her when she thought of confronting a number of girls, all up to
date and smart, and at ease in their environment, and all, if Cecil
were to be believed, ready to look down upon the recruit from the Bush.
For Cecil lost no opportunity to point out to Norah her drawbacks, and
to hint at her inferiority to ordinary girls of her own age; "properly
trained girls" was his phrase. When he talked to her--which was
prudently when no one else was about--Norah felt a complete rustic, and
was well assured that the girls at Melbourne would very soon put her in
her place, even if they did not openly resent the presence among them
of a girl reared in the country, and in so unusual a fashion. She even
wondered miserably sometimes if Dad and Jim were rather ashamed of her,
and did not like to say so; it was quite possible, since the city boy
evidently held her in such low esteem. But then would come a summons
from her father, or Jim would appear and bear her off imperiously on
some expedition with him, and she would forget her fears--until the next
time Cecil persevered in his plan of educating her to a knowledge of
her own deficiencies. It is not hard for a boy, on the verge of
manhood, to instil ideas into an unsuspecting child; and Cecil's
tuition gave poor Norah many a dark hour of which her father and the
other boys never dreamed. It would have gone hard with Cecil had they
done so.
Between cricket-practice, occasional rides and exploring expeditions,
boating on the lagoon, and fishing in the river, to say nothing of much
cheerful intercourse, the days passed quickly--at least to most of the
inhabitants of the homestead, and when Wednesday came Norah rode across
the run with her father to see him on his way to Killybeg. The
Darrells' station was some thirty-five miles away by the usual roads;
but a short cut over the ranges reduced the journey by fifteen miles,
although it was a rough trip, and an impossible one for vehicles.
Mounted on Monarch, however, Mr. Linton thought nothing of it; and
Norah laughed at his self-accusation of old age as she rode beside him,
the lean, erect figure in the saddle giving easily to the black horse's
irresponsible bounds--for Monarch had been "spelled" for the trip, and
was full of spirits and suppressed energy.
"Take care of him, Daddy, won't you?" she said, a little anxiously, as
Monarch executed a more than ordinarily uproarious caper. "He's awfully
fresh."
"He'll steady down presently," said her father, smiling at the upturned
face. "There's some steep country ahead of him."
"Yes, but he's such a mad-headed animal--and those paths on the sides of
the gullies are very steep."
"You sound like the nervous young woman in 'Excelsior,'" David Linton
said, with a laugh. "Cheer up, my girl--there's no need to worry about
Monarch and me. He's only playful; hasn't an atom of vice, and I know
him very well by now. I never put my leg over a better horse."
"Oh, of course," said Norah, cheered, but not altogether convinced.
"Every one knows he's a beauty--but just look out that he doesn't try to
be too playful on the sidings, Daddy. It would be so easy to slip
down."
"Not for anything with four good legs and a fair allowance of sense,"
said her father. "Do you think you could make Bobs slip down?"
Norah laughed.
"Oh, Bobs is like a mountain goat when it comes to sure-footedness,"
she said. "You've said yourself, Daddy that it would hardly be possible
to THROW him down! But then, Bobs is Bobs, and he's seven years old,
and ever so sensible--not like that big four-year-old baby. So promise
me you'll be careful, Daddy."
"I will, little daughter." They were at the boundary fence now, and it
was time for Norah to turn back. "Hurry home--I don't quite like you
being so far afield by yourself."
"Oh, Bobs will look after me." Norah hugged her father so far as
Monarch would permit--Mr. Linton had got off to wrestle with a stiff
padlock on the seldom-used gate, and the black horse was pulling away,
impatient of the delay.
"I expect he will," said the father. "That pony is almost as great a
comfort to me as he is to you, I believe! Make haste home, all the
same." He stood still a moment to watch the little white-coated figure
and the handsome pony swinging across the plain at Bobs' long canter;
his face tender as few people ever saw it. Then he mounted the eager
Monarch, and rode off into the rough country that led to the ranges.
It was comparatively early, but already very hot. Norah was not sorry
when she left the long stretch they called the "Far Plain" behind her,
and came into the welcome shade of a belt of timber. She walked Bobs
through it slowly. Then came the clear stretch to the homestead, and
they cantered steadily across it.
Near the stockyard a cloud of dust hovered, through which might be seen
dimly the forms of Jim, Wally and O'Toole--all engaged in the engrossing
pursuit of inducing three poddy calves to enter the yard. They had but
one dog, which, being young and "whip shy," had vanished into the
distant landscape at the sound of Murty's stockwhip, leaving them but
their own energies to persuade the calves; and when a poddy calf
becomes obstinate there are few animals less easy to persuade. Each was
possessed of a very respectable turn of speed and a rooted
determination to remain in the paddock. When, as frequently happened,
they made separate rushes away in the direction of freedom it was all
but impossible for those on foot to head them off and keep them in the
corner by the yards. They raced hither and thither like mad things,
cutting wild capers as they fled; backed and twisted and dodged, and
occasionally bellowed as they bolted, much as a naughty child might
bellow. To an onlooker there was something distinctly funny in the
spectacle.
Murty and the boys, however, might be excused for failing to see the
finer points of the joke. They were hot beyond expression; they were
also extremely dirty, and were verging on becoming extremely cross. To
and fro they darted wildly, striving to head off the cheerful culprits:
lifted up their voices in fruitless shouting, and wasted much necessary
breath in uttering wild threats of what might be expected to happen
when--if ever--they succeeded in yarding the enemy. Not one had a hat;
they had long ago been used as missiles in checking a rush, and now lay
in the dust, trampled under the racing feet of the poddies. Moreover,
it was distressingly evident that they were becoming tired, whilst the
calves remained fresh and in most excellent spirits. The chances, as
Norah arrived, were distinctly in favour of the calves.
From a comfortable seat on a rail Cecil watch the battle, for once
ceasing to look bored. In his opinion it was funnier than a circus.
Once or twice he shouted words of encouragement to the combatants, and
frequently he laughed outright. As an entertainment this quite outshone
anything that had been offered him on Billabong--and Cecil was not the
man to withhold applause where he thought it due. Finally his attitude
attracted the notice of the perspiring Mr. O'Toole.
"Yerra, come down out o' that an' len' a hand!" he shouted, panting.
"It is laughin' ye'd be, wid these loonattic images gittin' away on
us--!" Further eloquence on Murty's part was checked by a determined
rush on the part of a red and white calf, which would certainly have
ended in freedom but for a well-aimed clod, which, hurled by the
Irishman, took the poddy squarely between the eyes and induced him to
pull up and meditate. Unfortunately Murty tripped in the act of
delivery, and went headlong, picking himself up just in time to stop a
second rush by the calf, which, on seeing his enemy on the ground,
promptly ceased to meditate. Cecil rocked with laughter.
"Oh, get off that fence and try and block these brutes, Cecil!" sang
out Jim, angrily. "Another hand would make all the difference, if you'd
exert yourself!"
Cecil's laughter came to a sudden stop. He looked indignantly at his
grey suit, and with pain at his patent leather shoes; then, apparently
coming to the conclusion that there was no help for it, descended
gingerly, and came into the line of defenders. A sturdy little
Shorthorn singled him out for attention, and charged in his direction.
"Block him! Block him, I say!"
Jim's voice rang out. Cecil uttered a feeble yelp as the calf came
racing past, waved his arms, and executed a few mild steps towards
him--attentions which but served to accelerate the Shorthorn's flight.
He went by the city lad like a meteor, rendering useless a wild run by
Wally, who was just too late to head him. Murty O'Toole uttered a shout
of wrath.
"Howly Ann! He's lost him! The blitherin'--yerra, glory be, there's Miss
Norah!"
The change from indignation to relief was comical. Norah and Bobs came
like a bolt from the blue upon the vision of the astonished Shorthorn,
which made one last gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting,
while gallant effort for freedom, dodging and twisting, while Bobs made
every movement, propping and swinging to cut him off in a manner that
would have disturbed any rider not used to the intricate ways of a
stock horse. Finally the calf gave it up abruptly, and raced back
towards the yard, the pony at his heels. He bolted in at the open gate,
promptly followed by his companions, and Murty cut off their exit with
a grunt of relief.
"Wisha, it's hot!" he said, mopping his brow. "Sure, Miss Norah, y' kem
in the nick av time--'twas run clane off our legs, we was."
"They CAN run, can't they?" said Norah, who was laughing. "Did you hurt
yourself, Murty?"
"Only me timper," said the Irishman, grinning. "But 'twas enough to
make a man angry to see that little omadhaun dancin' an' flapping his
arrums f'r all the world loike a monkey on a stick--an' pardon to ye,
Miss Norah, but I do be forgettin' he's y'r cousin."
"Oh, he's not used to stock; you mustn't be hard on him, Murty," Norah
laughed. "Are you very hot, you poor boys?"--as Wally and Jim came up,
panting. Cecil had withdrawn towards the house, in offended dignity.
"Hot!" said Wally, casting himself on the ground--
"'Far better in the sod to lie,
With pasturing pig above,
Than broil beneath a copper sky,
In sight of all I love!'
That's me!"
"Don't know how you've energy to spout Dr. Watts at that rate," said
Jim, following his example.
"I don't think it is Dr. Watts; I fancy it's Kendall," said Wally,
uncertainly. "Not that it matters, anyhow; I'm not likely to meet
either of them! Did you ever see anything like the way those little
beggars ran?"
"Hope I never will again--with the thermometer at this height," Jim
answered. "Norah, no words can say how glad I was to see you return, my
dear!"
"I can imagine how much of your gladness concerned me, and how much was
due to that Shorthorn calf!" said Norah, laughing.
"Well, he'd have been fleeing yet into the offing if it hadn't been for
you," said Wally. "Will any one take my hand and lead me for a drink?"
"We'll go up to the house--it's cool there," Jim said. "I want a lemon
squash three feet long. There'll be one for you, Murty, if you come
up."
"I will that same," said Mr. O'Toole, promptly. "There's no vegetable
loike the limon on a day loike this!" So they let Bobs go, and all
trooped inside, where Cecil was found, well brushed, and wearing a
martyred expression--which, however, was not proof against refreshments.
He even went so far as to express mild regret for his slowness to
render assistance, remarking that it was against his doctor's advice
for him to run; which remarks were received with fitting demeanour by
his hearers, though, as Wally remarked later, it was difficult to see
how any one who knew Cecil at all could ever have contemplated the
possibility of his running!
"Well, I must go back and help Murty brand those youngsters," Jim said,
at length, bringing his long form in stages off the sofa. "Coming,
Wal.? And, Norah, just you take things quietly. It's uncommon hot, and
you'll have a long day to-morrow."
Norah assented with surprising meekness, and the day passed calmly,
enlivened by an enthusiastic cricket practice in the evening; after
which she was called into requisition at the piano, and played to an
audience stretched on basket chairs and lounges on the verandah
outside. Finally the performer protested, coming out through one of the
long windows for a breath of cooler air.
"Well, then, it's bed," said Jim, yawning prodigiously. "Norah, the men
are going to drive in, with our playing togs, to-morrow; would you
rather go in the buggy?"
"I'd rather drive, thanks, Jim."
"Thought so. Then hurry off to bed, for we're going to make an early
start." Jim paused, looking up at the star-filled sky. "And I give you
all warning, it's going to be a caution for heat!"
CHAPTER XIV
CUNJEE v. MULGOA
I remember
What it was to be young, and glad, and strong,
By a creek that rippled the whole day long.
M. FORREST.
There was no doubt whatever that the heat was, as Jim had prophesied,
"a caution." Pretty little Mrs. Anderson, walking down to the cricket
ground at Cunjee, between Jim and Cecil, inwardly wondered what had
made her come out of her cool, shaded house to encounter so scorching a
sun--with nothing ahead but a bush cricket match. However, Cunjee was no
more lively than other townships of its class, and even a match was
something. Besides, her husband was playing, and the Billabong
contingent, who did not seem to mind the heat at all, had arrived full
of most infectious high spirits, filling her house with a cheerful
atmosphere of youth and jollity. Norah had at once succumbed to the
charms of the baby, and as the baby seemed similarly impressed with
Norah, it had been hard to remove him from her arms even for purposes
of nourishment for either. She had quite seriously proposed to take him
to the match, and had been a little grieved when his mother hastily
vetoed the proposition. As mother of three babies, Mrs. Anderson knew
precisely their worth at an entertainment--particularly on a hot day.
Even Cecil was more than usually inclined to be--if not happy, at least
less bored; although he had begun the day badly, and considered himself
scarcely on speaking terms with Jim. This attitude was somewhat
difficult to sustain, because Jim himself ignored it cheerfully, and
addressed to his cousin whatever remarks came into his head--which Cecil
privately considered a demeanour showing the worst of taste.
Bobs had been the "unhappy cause of all this discord." The bay pony was
always an object of envy to Cecil, and in his heart he was determined
to ride him before leaving Billabong. Particularly he coveted him for
the ride into Cunjee. It was bad enough, he considered, to be condemned
to Brown Betty in the paddocks, but she was certainly not stylish
enough to please him when it came to a township expedition. So he had
sauntered out when the horses were being saddled, and delicately hinted
to Jim that he might ride Bobs.
Jim, wrestling with Garryowen's girth, had found it the easiest way out
of the difficulty to avoid hearing the hint--which he considered "like
Cecil's cheek," and as nothing short of Norah's own command would have
induced him to accede to it, silence seemed the better plan. Cecil had
waited a moment until his head came up from under the saddle flap, and
repeated his remark.
"Afraid not," said Jim, driven to bay, and speaking shortly to cover
his annoyance. "Norah's going to ride him herself." He led Garryowen
off to tie him under the shade of the pepper trees, and did not return
to saddle Bobs until Cecil had retreated to the house, looking very
black.
This little incident--which Jim had not thought is necessary to report
to Norah--had slightly marred the harmony of the early morning. But
Jim's unfailing good humour make it hard to keep up a grievance, and if
Betty were not exactly stylish, her paces were good enough to make her
rider enjoy the trip into Cunjee, especially as Wally and Norah were in
the best of spirits and kept things going with a will. Then had come
lunch at the Andersons', an occasion which called all Cecil's reserve
powers into play. Mrs. Anderson was pretty and smart, and he assumed
his best society manner in talking to her, monopolized most of the
conversation and flattered himself on making a distinct impression on
his country hostess. Possibly he would have been pained had he heard
Mrs. Anderson's remark to her husband while putting on her hat after
lunch.
"Did you ever see such a contrast, Jack?" she asked--"that conceited
boy, and those nice Grammar School youngsters--they're so jolly and
unaffected!" To which the doctor had responded that if he had his way
he'd boil Cecil, and it was time she had that veil fixed--and had led
her forth, protesting that "half the pins weren't in!"
Cecil, however, knew nothing of these comments, and was very well
satisfied with himself as they walked slowly along the lane leading to
the cricket ground. Jim, on the other side of Mrs. Anderson, tall and
handsome in his flannels, with his white hat pulled over his eyes,
discoursed cheerfully of school matches, and promised them something
worth seeing if young Wally got going with the bat--conversation which
did not interest Cecil, who turned it as speedily as might be to
matters more to his taste, whereat Jim grew silent, listening with a
smile hovering on his well-cut mouth to society doing in the city, told
with a view to impressing his hearers with a sense of the narrator's
own important share therein. Once Mrs. Anderson met Jim's eye in a
brief glance, and reflected the smile momentarily. Behind them, Norah,
Wally, and the little doctor kept up a flow of chatter which Wally
described as "quite idiotic and awfully comfortable!" The party arrived
at the cricket ground on very good terms with itself.
The ground boasted no pavilion save a shed used for the preparation of
afternoon tea--a building of which the extreme heat made it almost
possible to boil the kettle without lighting a fire! Naturally, no one
used it for purposes of watching the play, but there was a row of
wattle trees along one side of the ground, and seats placed in their
shade made an excellent natural grand stand. Here the non-players
betook themselves, while the doctor and the two boys went off to the
spot where already most of the other players were gathered--a lean-to
under a huge gum-tree, used as a dressing-room by most of the
combatants, a number of whom arrived on horseback from long distances.
The Billabong boys had changed at the hotel, after putting up their
horses, and before repairing to the Andersons', so that they had no
dressing to do--which was more than fortunate for them, since the
lean-to was so thick with men, boys, valises, discarded garments,
leggings and boots, that it resembled a hive in a strong state of
disorganization.
Finally, the men were ready; a somewhat motley crowd--not more than
seven or eight in flannels, while the remainder were in ordinary dress,
with occasionally riding breeches and leggings to be seen, and not a
few football jerseys. The Mulgoa men, on being mustered, were found to
be a man short, while Cunjee had one to the good. So Murty O'Toole, to
his intense disgust, was solemnly handed over to Mulgoa. Then Dr.
Anderson, who captained Cunjee, won the toss, and Murty took the field
along with his new allies, amid heartless jeers from Mr. Boone, smoking
comfortably under a tree, who desired to know should he fetch Mr.
O'Toole an umbrella?
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