The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mates at Billabong, by Mary Grant Bruce

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Title: Mates at Billabong

Author: Mary Grant Bruce

Posting Date: June 29, 2009 [EBook #4050]
Release Date: May, 2003
First Posted: October 21, 2001

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATES AT BILLABONG ***

Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines.

MATES AT BILLABONG.

by

Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958).

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I NORAH'S HOME
CHAPTER II TOGETHER
CHAPTER III BATH--AND AN INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER IV CUTTING OUT
CHAPTER V TWO POINTS OF VIEW
CHAPTER VI COMING HOME
CHAPTER VII JIM UNPACKS
CHAPTER VIII A THUNDERSTORM
CHAPTER IX THE BILLABONG DANCE
CHAPTER X CHRISTMAS
CHAPTER XI "LO, THE POOR INDIAN!"
CHAPTER XII OF POULTRY
CHAPTER XIII STATION DOINGS
CHAPTER XIV CUNJEE v. MULGOA
CHAPTER XV THE RIDE HOME
CHAPTER XVI A CHILD'S PONY
CHAPTER XVII ON THE HILLSIDE
CHAPTER XVIII BROTHER AND SISTER
CHAPTER XIX THE LONG QUEST
CHAPTER XX MATES

CHAPTER I

NORAH'S HOME

The grey old dwelling, rambling and wide,
With the homestead paddocks on either side,
And the deep verandahs and porches tall
Where the vine climbs high on the trellised wall.
G. ESSEX EVANS.

Billabong homestead lay calm and peaceful in the slanting rays of the
sum that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden in
the surrounding trees--pine and box and mighty blue gums towering above
the tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of the
Virginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls.
If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under the
touch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern bay
window to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but from
the paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and the
mellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance of
rippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon--too
lazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the