| Show 0 A FELONS P j L ON S LOVE L 0 ef DY BY HENRY W CHAPTER ill III par far away in the interior of new south wales not many miles from the borders of south ku australia there to la it a lovely stretch of 0 country which at the first glance gance a stranger would imagine to bo be one vast plain it la Is a beautifully urdu undulating lating country in reality with low hills and wide spreading ial alleys belts and clumps of shea oak and pine and large lagoons which ahn n filled by the winter rains are the rp re ot of the various wit will I 1 fowl with which abich the country abounds some of the valleys contain vast stretches of 0 dense scrub whilst lotheia ethels present a tempting pasture for the herds of kangaroos in some parts where dams have nen been made to save the water there are huts buts and sheep arda and far ava atta out nations chete solitary men dwell tending the flocks committed to their care seeing no living bout boul for months together and wishing to see none these hatters lie as they are termed frequently go raving mad and the generality of them are moody crackbrained crack brained creatures who have almost lost wh whatever ateer hu hit manity inanity they onie once facing these great plains and nest ling under the brow of a lofty hill on the harrier barrier ranges was a station consisting r of a comfortable dwelling house built front from the boulders which lined the cieck close by a number of men a huts a wool shed sheep and cattle yards and padd paddocks ochs the last stretching out it aiom om the range tor for several era miles into the plains lo 10 the weary who hod had skirted the range bioni the last station tor for over twenty miles on a blazing hot day with ith his roll of blankets slung across his shoulder and his big billy in hla his hand the sight right of station was a noat n oat welcome one indeed tile the toll tall blue gum trees which marked the Ine trie gular if 11 c of 0 the creek its as it debouched debauched debou ched aiom the gully in the hills bills were visible for it a gibat distance and to the footett footed traveler tia veler tolling toiling on towards them it seemed as it if chev were neier neer to be i cached reached but when hen once those trees were g gained a ined the knon knowledge ledge of the certain food and rest reet to 10 be obtained beneath tl them cheered the a fainting it n 1 9 its and the hard day a tramp was soon eoon forgotten in the comfort of the travelers trav eleis hut but and the adril blits of mr air challes halt was the owner of and lord not only of hundreds of it Q baie miles of country surrounding it but of the countless flocks and abd herds which glared thereon here he be lived with his big wife and famely perfectly happy and contented and tar far away from all excitement political or otherwise thell theli livee passed wholesomely among the rural pursuits and interests lale rests with aith which they weis surrounded what was nas it to them that there was a change of government in ingland Cn rn gland it fortune lost or won upon the derby or a new plot against the czar cara IN what hat did they care about tha life of the old less lesa than nothing A good lambing season a leavy heavy clip a rise in wool an occa occasional run down to melbourne or sydney were matters mattera of far keener interest to akem than all the squabbles or ings inga of the people of the old country the owner of Redro had bad left england with his oung wife nearly twenty years previously and aft after erthe the usual amount of struggling inseparable from a colonist colon tet a life had settled down and prospered ills his family consisted of two fine grown groan lads facts and a girl who were rapidly becoming more and more useful to him the elder son con jack though only lust just nineteen already stood to his bla father quite in the place of an overseer on the run the younger george was still at college in sydney shearing had bad commenced and everybody on the station was hold haid at work mrs had bad been bus bua the whole hole day long cooking for the m nion mn n for they had been unfortunate enough at this seaton season of RII all others to lope lose their cook mr hall bad been absent from home tor for the past two weeks business Dusl ness had taken him away to melbourne but that night he was expected home the day had bad been exceedingly hot though it waa as only the middle of No november and mra lira toll hall was so thoroughly tired out with her exertions that sho oho was beating on a lounge chair in the veranda watching wat ehing the track round the to t of the ran range go in the hope of seeing her ausba husband nd in the distance from where she sat the prospect wa vi as lovely indeed fi atom om the house a spacious gardell full ot of shrubs shrub a orange and lemon trees and english flow flo ors ere mingled with exotica stretched down the hillside hill bill side to it a bubbling stream higher up the gully large gum trees waved moved their feathery foliage in the evening air and a grand brand background of precipitous hills formed splendid contrast to the plains across which mrs hall brained bt her yes eyes in vain the sun aun had bad just gone down behind the hills bills and only the brow broms a of the dark were tinged with its ita last rays thousands of sheep which had bad that daa been shorn ahorn bere bleating ao at they streamed out troia from the yards where they had all day been arris cued grazed brazed in the home paddock el cloe oseby eby side by side bide with tb the ti imily cows cowe while shouts from jh a t say ft law CM ald W r i yards bardi tole told that tile the men had not lot yet ceased from their labott labois mary mrs aire halt hall called out pres enty as she heard some one moving about inside the house Is that you dear yes yea mathei replied a toll tall lithe looking girl as she stepped out through a french window on to the veranda poor dear mother you must be quite knocked up 1 I am tired darling admitted mrs airs halt hall has haa jack come up from the shed yeta yet no not yet answered the girl but supper to la quite ready and he be vont on t be long now I 1 expect 1 I do hope thit our father will come home tonight lie he s ild he be would be ten lays days perhaps it la IS now a tort fort night since lie he left 1 I wonder ulie whether ho he will have managed to get a cook said mary as aa she sit on the edge of the veranda at her mothers mother a feet all this cook ing Is quite wearing you out you ought not to have to do it 1 I shall be all light ight i after a good nighta rest and it if only your father would come back can ou see nothing of him I 1 no not a sign said the girl I 1 but here la Is joel jack sooner than I 1 expected now let us go into supper and begin A stalwart auth strode up the garden path and tossing his cabbage tree hat upon a chair threw himself at full length upon the grassplot well polly he exclaimed im I 1 m just juet baked I 1 can all you I 1 wish the I 1 governor would hurry home leaving me all the shearing to look after to Is no catch all this broiling afternoon I 1 ve been drafting out ati angers and m working just like a mothers mother 9 been woi king hard too loo la said id mary I 1 and site she doesn doean t grumble like you do no by jove but then the mater mat ers a an angell angel he be answered springing to his feet and throwing thi owing its his arms around his mothers neck 1 I bet no angel ever cooked dinner tor for seventy men with the thermometer at a hundred and ten in the shade without a murmur ob I 1 ill 1 not no to be irre irreverent erent mother well we 1 1 I won t to please you but upon my word it was nas a shame of that brute johnson to go off on at a moment a no lice jut ju t at the very busiest time nf neter eibi lit T I 1 F yack jack r interrupted mrs lira hall as she leaned her head hoc bade it over the roll rail on the lounge chair and clasped her hands behind her neck don t talk so BO much but look out with your young ea ejea es and see it if your fathel to is not coming coining in the distance or in other morda ll 11 said jack laughl laughing ng sister ann sister ann do you see sea some one coming comingo 9 no mother no one neither bluebeard nor the governor talking of blue I 1 wonder what our new cordon bleu will be like drink like a fish and swear like a trooper I 1 suf tose as they all do I 1 perhaps father won t have got one at all observed mary and if 1 so eo I 1 pity ou all for I 1 im in going to try ray my hand at cooking I 1 stood with my nose close to the meat safe today to break myself into the smell of raw meat which alpaio make me feel more or less ill pshaw ashan you fou might as well ell be an girl said jack it you were anything like a I 1 trump kill as well as aa cook jennie smith does never mind we don dont t want mary to bf be quite such it a masculine person as jennie interposed mrs hall which bi ought brought forth a rejoinder from jach that tillas miss smith was no end of a good fellow after which filch lie he suddenly remembered that he was voas hungry and added hurriedly but I 1 w m rea ready dy for supper if you are I 1 it just run la ili and wash oft off some of this dust anti and be with you in a few moments and mr jack swung himself through the veranda and disappeared the house |
