A Little Bush Maid | Page 5

and big,
faithful brown eyes, that spoke more eloquently than many persons'
tongues. He was, like most of the breed, ready to be friends with any
one; but his little mistress was dearest of all, and he worshipped her
with abject devotion. Norah never went anywhere without him; Tait
saw to that. He seemed always on the watch for her coming, and she
was never more than a few yards from the house before the big dog was
silently brushing the grass by her side. His greatest joy was to follow
her on long rides into the bush, putting up an occasional hare and
scurrying after it in the futile way of collies, barking at the swallows
overhead, and keeping pace with Bobs' long, easy canter.
Puck used to come on these excursions too. He was the only being for
whom it was suspected that Tait felt a mild dislike--an impudent Irish
terrier, full of fun and mischief, yet with a somewhat unfriendly and
suspicious temperament that made him, perhaps, a better guardian for
Norah than the benevolently disposed Tait. Puck had a nasty, inquiring
mind--an unpleasant way of sniffing round the legs of tramps that
generally induced those gentry to find the top rail of a fence a more
calm and more desirable spot than the level of the ground. Indian
hawkers feared him and hated him in equal measure. He could bite, and
occasionally did bite, his victims being always selected with judgment

and discretion, generally vagrants emboldened to insolence by seeing
no men about the kitchen when all hands were out mustering or busy
on the run. When Puck bit, it was with no uncertain tooth. He was
suspected of a desire to taste the blood of every one who went near
Norah, though his cannibalistic propensities were curbed by stern
discipline.
Only once had he had anything like a free hand--or a free tooth.
Norah was out riding, a good way from the homestead, when a
particularly unpleasant-looking fellow accosted her, and asked for
money. Norah stared.
"I haven't got any," she said. "Anyhow, father doesn't let us give away
money to travellers--only tucker."
"Oh, doesn't he?" the fellow said unpleasantly. "Well, I want money,
not grub." He laid a compelling hand on Bobs' bridle as Norah tried to
pass him. "Come," he said--"that bracelet'll do!"
It was a pretty little gold watch set in a leather bangle--father's birthday
present, only a few weeks old. Norah simply laughed--she scarcely
comprehended so amazing a thing as that this man should really intend
to rob her.
"Get out of my way," she said--"you can't have that!"
"Can't I !" He caught her wrist. "Give it quietly now, or I'll--"
The sentence was not completed. A yellow streak hurled itself though
the air, as Puck, who had been investigating a tussock for lizards,
awoke to the situation. Something like a vice gripped the swagman by
the leg, and he dropped Norah's wrist and bridle and roared like any
bull. The "something" hung on fiercely, silently, and the victim hopped
and raved and begged for mercy.
Norah had ridden a little way on. She called softly to Puck.

"Here, boy!"
Puck did not relinquish his grip. He looked pleadingly at his little
mistress across the swagman's trouser-leg. Norah struck her saddle
sharply with her whip.
"Here, sir!--drop it!"
Puck dropped it reluctantly, and came across to Bobs, his head hanging.
The swagman sat down on the ground and nursed his leg.
"That served you right," Norah said, with judicial severity. "You hadn't
any business to grab my watch. Now, if you'll go up to the house they'll
give you some tucker and a rag for your leg!"
She rode off, whistling to Puck. The swagman gaped and muttered
various remarks. He did not call at the house.
Norah was supposed to manage the fowls, but her management was
almost entirely ornamental, and it is to be feared that the poultry yard
would have fared but poorly had it depended upon her alone. All the
fowls were hers. She said so, and no one contradicted her. Still,
whenever one was wanted for the table, it was ruthlessly slain. And it
was black Billy who fed them night and morning, and Mrs. Brown who
gathered the eggs, and saw that the houses were safely shut against the
foxes every evening. Norah's chief part in the management lay in
looking after the setting hens. At first she firmly checked the broody
instincts by shutting them callously under boxes despite pecks and loud
protests. Later, when their mood refused to change, she loved to
prepare them soft nests in boxes, and to imprison them there until they
took kindly to their seclusion. Then it was hard work to wait three
weeks until the first fluffy heads