"
"He's a nice-looking young fellow, isn't he? His father has a small
station away among the hills, and Poss and Binjie help him on it.
Those are only nick-names, of course. Poss's name is Arthur, and
Binjie's is George, I think. They're nice young fellows, but very
bushified; they have lived here all their lives. Their father--well,
he isn't very steady; and they like to get over here when they can,
and each tries to come without the other knowing it. Binjie will
be here before long, I expect. They're great admirers of Miss
Harriott, both of them, and they come over on all sorts of ridiculous
pretexts. Poor fellows, it must be very dull for them over there.
Fancy, week after week without seeing anyone but their father,
the station-hands, and the sheep! Now that you're here, I expect
they'll come more than ever."
As she spoke, the tramp of a horse's hoofs was heard in the yard
and, looking out, Miss Grant saw a duplicate of Poss dismounting
from a duplicate of Poss's horse. And Mrs. Gordon, looking over
her shoulder, said, "Here's Binjie. I thought he'd be here before
long."
"Why do they call him Binjie?" asked Miss Grant, watching the new
arrival tying up his horse. "What does it mean?"
"It's a blackfellow's word, meaning stomach," said the old lady. "He
used to be very fat, and the name stuck to him.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96