November counted away its days, and tramped down the long stairs of Time. At its heels arrived December. Now was Summer at last begun in this far land.
Seven days of every week a sun rolled through a wide, high, empty sky. Seven noons of every week discovered that sun mounting a little higher. All day long the roofs of the iron houses glared across the distance, and the walls answered hot to the touch. But Surprise—and all that lies within its gates—was not dismayed. Evening by evening, when the sun was getting to bed, frowning clouds banked upon the horizon, and Mrs. , Mrs. Bloxham and Mrs. Niven, in the of their humpies, looked southward and said the rains were coming. And Boulder, Bloxham and Niven put an eye to the roof here, and an eye to the wall there, and thoughtfully picked up hammer and . But always in the morning,[Pg 273] when the sun rolled out of the East, the least cloud had fled away.
Round went the wheel of affairs at Surprise Valley. The whistle blew at eight o'clock, and the waiting cage emptied the men into the dark ways of their world. Overhead the women about their doors, and the children, grown a little browner and a little harder, pattered about the burnt places and sent abroad their calls. Mr. Neville, manager, made his tumultuous early round. Mr. Horrington, general agent, made his nine o'clock march to the hotel. The teams in with firewood. The weekly coach rolled in and out again. The same goats examined once more the same thread-bare strips of ground. The same long-tongued curs dropped down in familiar patches of shade.
Early in December Mrs. Selwyn put her foot down finally and to good purpose. She would not be cooped up in this desperate place with a of presently drowning. If Hilton would not come he could stay behind and take the consequences; but she was going by the very next coach. How they would survive the journey in this heat was beyond her powers of comprehension. Landing her here without an idea for getting her away was exactly what Hilton was capable of.
Selwyn bowed to his wife's decision. Here he was, asked to pack up traps for home just as the river was at its lowest and there was some thundering good crocodile shooting to be had. Soft-hearted fool that he was!
As a result there fell about a great packing up of rods and guns, and a of trunks; and a grey December dawn found the Neville homestead up and awake and hard engaged upon the utmost business of departure. A fire kept vigil in the kitchen, there by Mrs. Nankervis who had bed to speed a favourite guest. There was coffee in the dining-room, and a generous breakfast of bacon and eggs, though Mrs. Selwyn could not touch a thing. Fortunately Selwyn was better able to prepare against the rigours of the day.
Breakfast proved an uneasy meal, disturbed by comings in and goings out, with Selwyn wandering between the window and the table, and Neville strolling round, stick in one hand and coffee cup in the other.
"Well," said Selwyn presently, feeling better now he could boast a decent to his stomach, "you people have given us a first-rate time here, and you wouldn't have got rid of me yet had I my way. ! I'm a different fellow." He smiled on the assembled company, and presently met Maud's[Pg 275] answering smile. "Some day we may have the good luck to find the way here again. In any case we are soon to see you down South I hear?"
"I promised to come next month."
"I wish we could you too, Mr. Neville," Mrs. Selwyn said.
"Eh?" said the old man, jerking about. "Thanks, but I've no time to be running round the country."
"Yes," said Selwyn, taking hold of the conversation again. "I think perhaps I shall be wise to have another go of marmalade and toast. There's nothing like starting a journey well supplied. A couple of months back I couldn't touch a thing. Not a thing. Now I feel another man. I——"
"Haven't you a little pity for us at this hour of the morning?" Mrs. Selwyn .
A terrific frown settled on Selwyn's face.
"I was listening," said Maud. "I was very interested."
Selwyn beamed again.
"You had better get on with the toast then," said Neville, "or ye'll be waiting another week. The fellow doesn't like keeping his horses hanging about. He'll be away without you. I may be wrong. Huh, huh!"
Mrs. Selwyn scorned a buggy, and insisted[Pg 276] upon walking to the coach. The clock the final minute. Selwyn to the back to say his most charming good-bye to Mrs. Nankervis, and with the last hand-shake slipped the smiling sovereign into her clasp. After something of a to-do he brought the dogs round to the front where the rest of the party waited, and they set out upon the journey to the coach. Mr. King had turned a deaf ear to the amours of bed and joined them upon the road; and the company made a bold line advancing across the distances of Surprise.
Day had arrived, but the sun still delayed its arrival.
"It seems incredible to be awake in this place and not see the sun," said Mrs. Selwyn.
Selwyn shook his head in deep of himself. "You had my example."
The day was still in swaddling clothes; but already the men and women of Surprise were waking up. Surly fires were growing here and there. Mrs. Boulder was in time to peer from her at the backs of the retreating company; Mrs. Niven stopped her to Niven as she heard voices across the distance; and Messrs. Bullock and Johnson, who were outside their camps at a morning wash, stayed in the towelling of their faces to view the noble sight. It was the week for the visit of Mr. Pericles Smith, travelling schoolmaster, and his two tents stood and stiff by the side of............