Page 48 - A Little Bush Maid

"Yes, oughtn’t he? Come along and see if he’s coming." They ran out upon
the plain, and cheerful exclamations immediately proclaimed the fact that

Billy and the old packhorse had at length made their appearance in what
Wally called the "offing."

Billy soon clattered up to the little party, the hobbles and quart pot jingling
cheerfully on old Polly’s back. He grinned amiably at the four merry faces

awaiting him in the shade of a wattle tree.

"This feller pretty slow," he said, indicating Polly with a jerk of his thumb.
"You all waitin’ for tackle?"

"Rather," said Jim. "Never mind, we’ve got everything ready. Look sharp
and shy down the hooks, Billy--they’re in that tin, and the lines are tied on

to it, in a parcel. That’s right," as the black boy tossed the tackle down and
he caught it deftly. "Now, you chaps, get to work, and get your lines
ready."

"Right oh!" said the chorus, as it fell to work. Billy made a swift incursion

into the interior of the pack, and fished up a tin of worms and some raw
meat, Wally being the only one to patronize the latter. The other three
baited their hooks with worms, and, all being in readiness, made their way

down the steep bank at a place where a little cleft gave easier access to a
tiny shelving beach below. Here a great tree-trunk had long ago been left by

an unusually high flood, and formed a splendid place to fish from, as it
jutted out for some distance over the stream. Norah scrambled out like a cat
to its farthest extremity, and Harry followed her for part of the way. Wally

and Jim settled themselves at intervals along the trunk. Sinkers, floats and
baits were examined, and the business of the day began.

Everybody knows how it feels to fish. You throw in your hook with such
blissful certainty that no fish can possibly resist the temptation you are

dangling before its eyes. There is suppressed excitement all over you. You
are all on the alert, feeling for imaginary nibbles, for bites that are not there.

Sometimes, of course, the dreams come true, and the bites are realities; but
these occasions are sadly outnumbered by the times when you keep on