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
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 thesun that crept down the western sky. The red roofs were half hidden inthe surrounding trees—pine and box and mighty blue gums towering abovethe tenderer green of the orchard, and the wide-flung tendrils of theVirginia creeper that was pushing slender fingers over the old walls.If you came nearer, you found how the garden rioted in colour under thetouch of early summer, from the crimson rambler round the eastern baywindow to the "Bonfire" salvia blazing in masses on the lawn; but fromthe paddocks all that could be seen was the mass of green, and themellow red of the roof glimpsing through. Further back came a glance ofrippled silver, where the breeze caught the surface of the lagoon—toolazy a breeze to do more than faintly stir the reed-fringed water.Towards it a flight of black swans winged slowly, with outstretchednecks, across a sky of perfect blue. Their leader's note floated down,as if in answer to the magpies that carolled in the pine trees by thestables. The sound seemed to hang in the still air.
Beyond the tennis-court, in the farther recesses of the garden, ahammock swung between two grevillea trees, whose orange flowers made agay canopy overhead; and in the hammock Norah swayed gently, andknitted, and pondered. The shining needles flashed in and out of thedark blue silk sock. Outsiders—mothers of prim daughters, whom Norahpictured as finding their wildest excitement in "patting a doll"—werewont to deplore that the only daughter of David Li