Part 54 (2/2)

'Pretty fair all round, I should say,' says the other brother, Bill

'Hullo! are we to go on the platform with the parson and the rest of 'eether, all in a heap, with the Barneses and the bride, they thought wechoke-full they shunted us on to the place inside the rails, where we found ourselves drafted into the sroom, the bride, the parson, and all that mob

There wasn't eneral bustle of the day The ave a sort of buzz of admiration as Bella and Maddie and the others came up the aisle They looked very well, there's no ht, but well put together, and had straight features and big bright eyes, with plenty of fun andin 'em All they wanted was a little etting married, a day's work that don't co about a thousand people to look at 'eood deal It set them off first-rate I never saw either of them look so handsome before Old Barnes had coood style--hadn't overdone it neither

When the tying-up fakeroo chap that looked as if as no trouble to him Next to a squatter I think a Governe about froood part of his tiular free bush life, with his camp and his men, and the harder he works the more money he makes Then when he comes back to town he can enjoy hiular hours like other o and coive Bella and her sister a tidy bit of money soh off after a few years

He her, but Bella would ood wife, and so she did him So the parson buckles theht steps forward and says, 'I believe it's the custom in all circles to salute the bride, which I now do,' and he gave Bella a kiss before every one in the hty and respectful manner, just as if he was a prince of the blood

At the saood fortune in her ift as a souvenir of the happy occasion' Then he pulls off a ring frolittered on it for a mo, every one could see Then the Cos to be perh and blush a bit Directly after Mr Chanewood, who had stood quiet enough alongside of his wife, tucked her arm inside of his and walked away down the church, as if he thought this kind of thing ell enough in its way, but couldn't be allowed to last all day

When they got into the carriage and drove off the whole church was cleared, and they got such a cheer as yousoul left near the building in five et back to the course and see the big race of the ht slipped away in the crowd froet a quiet fewhi business, and said she thought he was going to leave off these sort of attentions to other girls

'Not that she knew you at first, a bit in the world,' Aileen said 'I watched her face pretty close, and I'entleman, a friend of the Coirl,' said he, 'it was a pro, and I never break ood friends and true to us in our need We all owe theain'

There wasn't much more time We both had to etthe, and swore he had stayed behind to flirt with so was over

'You're not to be trusted when there's te to that Marston girl If you don't mind you'll have your head knocked off They're a rum lot to deal with, I can tell you'

'I'I have done so in other lands, and I suppose yours is no exception'

'This is a dashed queer country in soe people in it, too, as you'll find by the time you've had your colonial experience,' says Bill Dawson; 'but there goes the saddling-bell!'

The course had 20,000 people on it now if there was one About a dozen horses stood stripped for the race, and the betting h to the stand to hear the ones aht as usual Rainboas nowhere about

Darkie was on the card, but no one see about him We expected he'd start at 20 to 1, but somehow it leaked out that he was entered by old Jacob Benton, and that acted as a daenerally there or thereabouts If he's a duffer, it's the first one he's brought to the post Why don't the old varmint show up?'

This hat I heard about and round, and we began to get uneasy ourselves, for fear that soht have happened to hiet, and that we took over and over again

As the horses ca their pipe-openers, you'd have thought no race had been run that week, to see the interest all the people took in it My word, Australia is a horsey country, and no mistake With the exception of Arabia, perhaps, as they tell us about, I can't think as there's a country on the face of the earth where the people's fonder of horses Froirls, they're able to ride, and ride well See the girls ju under 'eh scrub and forest, down gullies, or along the side of a mountain And a horse race, don't they love it? Wouldn't they give their souls alhbred, able to run away fro in a country race The horse is a fatal animal to us natives, and many a man's ruin starts from a bit of horse-flesh not honestly co forward, and the day's passing fast As I said, everybody was looking at the horses--cohbred when he's 'on his top' for condition; his coat like satin, and his legs like iron There were lots of the bush girls on horseback, and a them I soon picked out Maddie Barnes She was dressed in a handsome habit and hat How she'd had ti I couldn't e to dress faster some times than others She'd wasted no ti chestnut, and Joe Moreton was riding alongside of her on a good-looking bay, togged out very superior also Maddie was in one of her larking huh to do to keep time with her

'I don't see h for h not to talk to me or pretend to know me 'I want to back hi'

'What do you call your horse?' says Joe 'I didn't know your father had one in this race'

'No fear,' says Maddie; 'only this horse was exercised for a bit near our place He's a regular beauty, and there isn't a horse in this lot fit to see the way he goes'

'Who does he belong to?' says Joe

'That's a secret at present,' says she; 'but you'll know some day, when you're a bit older, if you behave yourself He's Mr Jacob Benton's Darkie now, and you bet on him to the coat on your back'