The Runaway Settlers by Elsie Locke Read Free Book Online

do,’ she whispered back; and then loudly, in a cheery voice: ‘Shall we stop for a while, and see what’s left in the lunch bag?’
    A small nest was rolled in the fern and the billy opened for its bread and cheese. Archie took a bite on the dry cheese and broke his silence.
    ‘I can’t eat it! I’m thirsty. I want a drink.’
    ‘D’ink, d’ink!’ cried Emma.
    ‘Soon there’ll be water. Here’s bread, Emma!’
    ‘I’m cold,’ she whimpered.
    ‘Ugh, yes! It gives me the shivers,’ said Jack.
    Mrs Phipps rounded on him, speaking softly but bluntly: ‘You boys must say nothing about your discomforts, nothing at all, do you hear? Can’t you see how they will begin, the little ones? We must keep our courage up! The fern won’t go on forever and then there’s home—somewhere to put your foot down!’
    Bill said nothing. He munched his food until the gnawing inside him went away; then he began again to smash down a path. He came at once to a sort of bank densely covered with another growth—tutu. How would they get through that, and if they did, where would it lead? Try this way and that, it was a hopeless puzzle. Overhead the sky was quite grey, and all their hands were now stiff with cold.
    Perhaps this is the moment, thought Mrs Phipps, in spite of all her determination, when we must bed ourselves down, thirsty and cold as we are…
    Suddenly out of the silence came a long, strong sound:
    ‘Ah—oo! Ah—oo!’
    ‘It’s a cow!’ cried Archie, with the joy of one meeting an old friend. ‘It’s a cow!’
    ‘Where there’s a cow, there’s a farm,’ said Mrs Phipps. ‘Come, we’ll call.’
    One—two—three! At the tops of their voices they yelled together, ‘Coo-ee! Coo-ee!’
    Silence. Not even the cow. Only the first owl from the hillside answered, ‘Morepork. Morepork!’
    ‘Again. Coo-ee. COO-EE!’
    Quite near, but lifted up a man’s voice shouted:
    ‘Who’s there? Where a-a-are you?’
    ‘Here. HERE!’
    To and fro they called, giving their position, receiving directions: back there, to the left here, yes, that’ll be right. Then there was a bank miraculously clear of the fern and the tutu, a man’s figure standing on it dark against the sky, two hands outstretched to lift Emma from her mother’s arms and to hand the five others up, one by one. To the friendly voice was now added the friendly face of a young man.
    ‘Well! What a time you’ve had! But you’re safe in Governors Bay. And allow me to introduce myself: I’m John Dyer.’
    ‘We’re much obliged, Mr Dyer. And we’re the Phipps family. We’re looking for a cob hut that’s been left empty.’
    ‘Belonging to Nabob Wilson?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Oh! That’s not far away.’
    ‘Hurrah! Hurrah!’ shouted Jack, and he spun round on his toes for the sheer joy of it. ‘Hurrah!’ cried Bill.
    ‘I want a drink,’ said Archie.
    ‘Do you, young fellow? How about fresh milk and hot cocoa? Leave your things here: we’ll go down to my house.’
    He hoisted Archie on to his back and strode off down his familiar path. Jim clung tight to his Dick Whittington bundle and tried to sing; but somehow the tune had come unstuck from the words. As for Emma, she lay across her mother’s shoulder as if she were already asleep; but the next moment she jerked upright and pointed. ‘Look, look!’
    It was the most beautiful sight in all the world: a candle shining in a window.

7. A Place to Put Your Foot Down
    An hour later there came from John Dyer’s cottage a procession of people, every one of them filled to the brim with food, warmth and friendliness. The light of a storm-lantern made queer-looking patches on the trees; and the familiar scent of young blue-gums mingled with the unfamiliar scent of seaweed from the nearby shore. First went Mr Dyer, leading a pack-bullock with the blanket-rolls strapped to its back. Next came the boys, putting down tired legs one after the other, stiffly, like toy soldiers. Emma was fast asleep in