ht for a little while, thinking there was nothing so glorious as
the open-air feeling, and the night scents of the bush; then she fell
asleep.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!!"

A cheeky jackass on a gum tree bough fairly roared with laughter, and
Norah woke up with a violent start. The sunlight was streaming across
her bed. For a moment she was puzzled, wondering where she was; then the
walls of the tent caught her eye, and she laughed at herself, and then
lay still in the very pleasure of the dewy morning and the wonderful
freshness of the air. For there is a delight in awaking after a night in
the open that the finest house in the world cannot give.

Presently the flap of the tent was parted and Mr. Linton peeped in.

"Hallo!" he said, smiling, "did the old jackass wake you? I found him as
good as an alarum clock myself. How about a swim?"

"Oh--rather!" said Norah, tumbling out of bed. She slipped on a jacket
and shoes, and presently joined her father, and they threaded their way
through the scrub until they came to a part of the creek where a beach,
flat and sandy, and shelving down to a fairly deep hole, offered
glorious bathing. Mr. Linton left Norah here, and himself went a few
yards farther up, round a bend in the creek.

At the first plunge the water was distinctly cold, but once the first
dip was taken Norah forgot all about chilliness, and only revelled in
the delights of that big pool. She could swim like a fish--her father
had seen to that in the big lagoon at home. Not until Mr. Linton's
warning voice sang out that it was time to dress did she leave the
water, and then with reluctance.

A brisk rub down with a hard towel and she rejoined her father. He cast
an approving look at her glowing face.

"Well, you look as if you'd enjoyed your swim," he said.

"Oh it was lovely, Daddy! Did you have a good bathe?"

"Yes--I struck a very good place--deep enough to dive in," her father
answered. "Not that I counsel diving altogether--you strike such a lot
of mud at the bottom--soft, sticky, black mud! I spent most of my bathe
in getting myself clean after my dive! Still, I had a good swim,
notwithstanding. I say, Norah, I'm ready for breakfast."

"So am I," said his daughter. "I hope Billy's got the fish on!"

However, there was no sign of the black retainer when they reached the
camp. The fire was blazing and the billy boiling, but of the other Billy
no trace existed.

"He's gone after the horses,