Part 94 (1/2)

”A n.o.ble idea,” said Alice, ”and well considered. Now what are you going to do?”

”Have you heard tell yet,” said Sam, ”of the new country to the north, they call the Darling Downs?”

”I have heard of it, from Burnside the cattle dealer. He describes it as a paradise of wealth.”

”He is right. When you get through the Cypress, the plains are endless.

It is undoubtedly the finest piece of country found yet. Now do you know Tom Troubridge?”

”Slightly enough,” said Alice, laughing.

”Well,” said Sam. ”You know he went to Sydney with us, and before he had been three days there he came to me full of this Darling Down country. Quite mad about it in fact. And in the end he said: 'Sam, what money have you got?' I said that my father had promised me seven thousand pounds for a certain purpose, and that I had come to town partly to look for an investment. He said, 'Be my partner;' and I said, 'What for?' 'Darling Downs,' he said. And I said I was only too highly honoured by such a mark of confidence from such a man, and that I closed with his offer at once. To make a long matter short, he is off to the new country to take up ground under the name of Troubridge and Buckley. There!”

”But oughtn't you to have gone up with him, Sam?”

”I proposed to do so, as a matter of course,” said Sam. ”But what do you think he said?”

”I don't know.”

”He gave me a great slap on the back,” said Sam; ”and, said he, 'Go home, my old lad, marry your wife, and fetch her up to keep house.'

That's what he said. And now, my own love, my darling, will you tell me, am I to go up alone, and wait for you; or will you come up, and make a happy home for me in that dreary desert? Will you leave your home, and come away with me into the grey hot plains of the west?”

”I have no home in future, Sam,” she said, ”but where you are, and I will gladly go with you to the world's end.”

And so that matter was settled.

And now Sam disclosed to her that a visitor was expected at the station in about a fortnight or three weeks; and he was no less a person than our old friend the dean, Frank Maberly. And then he went to ask, did she think that she could manage by that time to--, eh? Such an excellent opportunity, you know; seemed almost as if his visit had been arranged, which, between you and I, it had.

She thought it wildly possible, if there was any real necessity for it.

And after this they went in; and Alice went into her bedroom.

”And what have you been doing out there with Alice all this time, eh?”

asked the Captain.

”I've been asking a question, sir.”

”You must have put it in a pretty long form. What sort of an answer did you get?”

”I got 'yes' for an answer, sir.”

”Ah, well! Mrs. Buckley, can you lend Baroona to a new married couple for a few weeks, do you think? There is plenty of room for you here.”

And then into Mrs. Buckley's astonished ear all the new plans were poured. She heard that Sam and Alice were to be married in a fortnight, and that Sam had gone into partners.h.i.+p with Tom Troubridge.

”Stop there,” she said; ”not too much at once. What becomes of Mary Hawker?”

”She is left at Toonarbin, with an overseer, for the present.”

”And when,” she asked, ”shall you leave us, Sam?”