Page 102 - A Little Bush Maid

fearful knots.

"Tt must take you a long time to untie those chaps every day," said Wally.

"Tt would," said the Hermit, "if T did untie them. They’re only part of my
poor little scheme for discouraging intruders, Master Wally." He slipped his
fingers inside the flap and undid a hidden fastening, which opened the tent

without disarranging the array of intricate knots.

"A fellow without a knife might spend quite a while in untying all those,"
said the Hermit. "He’d be rather disgusted, on completing the job, to find
they had no bearing on the real fastening of the tent. And perhaps by that

time T might be home!"

The interior of the tent was scrupulously tidy and very plain. A hastily put
up bunk was covered with blue blankets, and boasted a sacking pillow.
From the ridge-pole hung a candlestick, roughly fashioned from a knot of

wood, and the furniture was completed by a rustic table and chair, made
from branches, and showing considerable ingenuity in their fashioning.

Wallaby skins thrown over the chair and upon the floor lent a look of
comfort to the tiny dwelling; and a further touch of homeliness was given
by many pictures cut from illustrated papers and fastened to the canvas

walls. The fly of the tent projected some distance in front, and formed a
kind of verandah, beneath which a second rustic seat stood, as well as a

block of wood that bore a tin dish, and evidently did duty as a washstand.
Several blackened billies hung about the camp, with a frying-pan that bore
marks of long and honourable use.

The children surveyed this unusual home with much curiosity and interest,

and the boys were loud in their praises of the chairs and tables. The Hermit
listened to their outspoken comments with a benevolent look, evidently
pleased with their approval, and soon Jim and he were deep in a discussion

of bush carpentry--Jim, as Wally said, reckoning himself something of an
artist in that line, and being eager for hints. Meanwhile the other boys and

Norah wandered about the camp, wondering at the completeness that had
been arrived at with so little material, and at its utter loneliness and