Seven Little Australians | Page 9

with the uniform on, and one of the sleeves was
soaked with the stuff, and the beautiful white shirt that lay there, too,
waiting for a button, was sticky, horrible! Bunty gave a wild, terrified
look round the room for some place to efface himself, but there were no
sheltering corners or curtains, and there was not time to get into the
bedroom and under the bed. Near the window was a large-sized
medicine chest, and in despair Bunty crushed himself into it, his legs
huddled up, his head between his knees, and an ominous rattle of
displaced bottles in his ears. The next minute his father was in the
room.
"Great Heavens! God bless my soul!" he said, and Bunty shivered from
head to foot.
Then he said a lot of things very quickly--"foreign language" as Judy
called it; kicked something over, and shouted "Esther!" in a terrifying
tone. But Esther was down in one of the paddocks with the General, so
there was no reply.
More foreign language, more stomping about.
Bunty's teeth chattered noisily; he put up his hand to hold his mouth
together, and the cupboard, overbalanced, fell right over, precipitating
its occupant right at his father's feet, and the bottles everywhere.
"I didn't--I haven't--'twasn't me--'twasn't my fault!" he howled, backing
towards the door. "Hoo--yah--boo-hoo-ooo!
Esther--boo--yah--Judy--oh--oh--h! oh--oh--h--h--h--h!" As might be

expected, his father had picked up a strap that lay conveniently near,
and was giving his son a very fair taste of it.
"Oh--h--h--h! o--o--h! o--o--h! ah--h--h! 'twasn't me-- 'twasn't my
fault--its Pip and Judy--oh--h--h--h! hoo--the pant'mime! boo-hoo!
ah--h--h--h--you're killing me! hoo-boo! I was only d--doin'
it--oh--hoo--ah--h--h! d--oin' it to p--please--boo--oo--oo! to p--please
you!"
His father paused with uplifted strap. "And that's why all the others are
behaving in so strange a fashion? Just for me to take them to the
pantomime?"
Bunty wriggled himself free. "Boo--hoo--yes! but not me--I didn't--I
never--true's faith--oh-h-h-hoo-yah! it wasn't my fault, it's all the
others--boo--hoo--hoo! hit them the rest."
He got three more smart cuts, and then fled howling and yelling to the
nursery, where he fell on the floor and kicked and rolled about as if he
were half killed.
"You sn--n--n--n--neaks!" he sobbed, addressing the others, who had
flown from all parts at his noisy outcry, "you m-m--- mean
p--p--p--pigs! I h--hadn't n--n--no fo--o--ow-l, and I've h--h--had all the
b--b--b--beating! y--you s--s--sn--n-neaks! oh--h--h--h! ah--h--h--h!
oh--h--h--h! oh--h--h-h! I'm b--b-- bleeding all over, I kno--o--o--ow!"
They couldn't help laughing a bit; Bunty was always so irresistibly
comic when he was hurt ever so little; but still they comforted him as
well as they could, and tried to find out what had happened.
Esther came in presently, looking very worried. "Well?" they said in a
breath.
"You really are the most exasperating children," she said vexedly.
"But he pantomime--quick, Esther--have you asked him?" they cried
impatiently.
"The pantomime! He says he would rather make it worth Mr. Rignold's
while to take it off the boards than that one of you should catch a
glimpse of it--and it serves you very well right! Meg, for goodness'
sake give Baby some dry clothes--just look at her; and, Judy, if you
have any feeling for me, take off that frock. Bunty, you wicked boy, I'll
call your father if you don't stop that noise. Nell, take the scissors from
the General, he'll poke his eyes out, bless him."
The young stepmother leaned back in her chair and looked round her

tragically. She had never seen her husband so thoroughly angered, and
her beautiful lips quivered when she remembered how he had seemed
to blame her for it all.
Meg hadn't moved; the water was trickling slowly off Baby's clothes
and making a pool on the floor, Bunty was still giving vent to
spasmodic boos and hoos, Judy was whistling stormily, and the General,
mulcted of the scissors, was licking his own muddy shoe all over with
his dear little red tongue.
A sob rose in her throat, two tears welled up in her eyes and fell down
her smooth, lovely cheeks. "Seven of you, and I'm only twenty!" she
said pitifully. "Oh! it's too bad--oh dear! it is too bad."

CHAPTER IV
The General Sees Active Service
"My brain it teems With endless schemes, Both good and new."
It was a day after "the events narrated in the last chapter," as story-book
parlance has it. And Judy, with a wrathful look in her eyes, was sitting
on the nursery table, her knees touching her chin and her thin brown
hands clasped round them.
"It's a shame," she said, "it's a burning, wicked shame! What's the use
of fathers in the world, I'd like to know!"
"Oh, Judy!" said Meg, who was curled up in an armchair, deep in a
book. But she said it mechanically,