A Little Bush Maid | Page 8

defend it, in which case the wrath of the defeated
was awful to behold. But sometimes Caesar managed to anticipate the
leap, and Tim did not readily forget those distressful moments when the
cockatoo had him by the fur with beak and claw. He would escape,
showing several patches where his coat had been torn, and remained in
a state of dejection for two or three days, during which battles were
discontinued. It took Caesar almost as long to recover from the wild
state of triumph into which his rare victories threw him.
CHAPTER III

A MENAGERIE RACE
The first time that Jim returned from school was for the Easter
holidays.
He brought a couple of mates with him--boys from New South Wales
and Queensland, Harry Trevor and Walter Meadows. Harry was a little
older than Jim--a short, thick-set lad, very fair and solemn, with
expressionless grey eyes, looking out beneath a shock of flaxen hair.
Those who knew him not said that he was stupid. Those who knew him
said that you couldn't tell old Harry much that he didn't know. Those
who knew him very well said that you could depend on Trevor to his
last gasp. Jim loved him--and there were few people Jim loved.
Walter--or Wally--Meadows was a different type; long and thin for
fourteen, burnt to almost Kaffir darkness; a wag of a boy, with merry
brown eyes, and a temperament unable to be depressed for more than
five minutes at a time. He was always in scrapes at school, but a great
favourite with masters and boys notwithstanding; and he straightway
laid his boyish heart down at Norah's feet, and was her slave from the
first day they met.
Norah liked them both. She had been desperately afraid that they would
try to take Jim away from her, and was much relieved to find that they
welcomed her cheerfully into their plans. They were good riders, and

the four had splendid gallops over the plains after hares. Also they
admired Bobs fervently, and that was always a passport to Norah's
heart.
It was on the third day of their visit, and they were making the morning
round of the pets, when a brilliant idea came to Wally.
"Let's have a menagerie race!" he cried suddenly.
"What's that?" Norah asked blankly.
"Why, you each drive an animal," explained Wally, the words tumbling
over one another in his haste. "Say you drive the kangaroo, 'n me the
wallabies, 'n Jim the Orpington rooster, 'n we'll give old Harry the
tortoise--turloise, I beg pardon!"
"Thanks," said Harry dryly. "The tortoise scored once, you know,
young Wally!"
"Well, old man, you take him," Wally said kindly. "Wouldn't stand in
your way for a moment. We can use harness, can't we?"
"Don't know," Jim said. "I never studied the rules of menagerie racing.
Use bridles, anyhow. It's a good idea, I think. Let's see how many
starters we can muster."
They cruised round. Dogs were barred as being too intelligent--horses
were, of course, out of the question. Finally they fixed on the possible
candidates. They were the kangaroo, the wallabies, a big black
Orpington "rooster," Fudge the parrot, Caesar the cockatoo, Mrs.
Brown's big yellow cat, Tim, and the "turloise."
"Eight," said Harry laconically. The starters were all mustered in one
enclosure, and were on the worst of terms. "We'll need more jockeys--if
you call 'em jockeys."
"Well, there's black Billy," Jim said; "he's available, and he'll drive
whichever he's told, and that's a comfort. That's five. And we'll rouse

out old Lee Wing, and Hogg, that's a ripping idea, 'cause they hate each
other so. Seven. Who's eight? Oh, I know! We'll get Mrs. Brown."
Mrs. Brown was accordingly bearded in her den and, protesting
vigorously that she had no mind for racing, haled forth into the open.
She was a huge woman, as good-natured as she was fat, which said a
good deal. In her print dress, with enormous white apron and flapping
sun bonnet, she looked as unlikely a "jockey" as could be imagined.
Lee Wing, discovered in the onion bed, was presently brought to the
scratch, despite his protests. He said he "couldn't lun," but was told that
in all probability no running would be required of him. He also said "no
can dlive" many times, and further remarked, "Allee same gleat bosh."
When he saw his arch enemy Hogg among the competitors his
resentment was keen, and Wally was told off to restrain him from flight.
Wally's own idea was to tie him up by the pigtail, but this Jim was
prudent enough to forbid.
Hogg was, as Jim put it, rooting amongst the roses, and grunted freely
on his way to the post. He could never refuse Norah anything, but this
proceeding was much