"Life
will be a perennial picnic," I said, "with Rosy and Cheon at the head of
affairs "; and for once I prophesied correctly.
Rosy, having been brought up among white folk, proved an adept little
housemaid and Cheon looked with extreme favour upon her, and held her up
as a bright and shining example to Jimmy's Nellie. But the person Cheon
most approved of at the homestead was Johnny; for not only had Johnny
helped him in many of his wild efforts at carpentry, but was he not
working in the good cause?
"What's 'er matter, missus only got one room?" Cheon had said, angry
with circumstances, and daily and hourly he urged Johnny to work quicker.
"What's the matter indeed!" Johnny echoed, mimicking his furious
gutturals, and sawing, planing, and hammering, with untiring energy,
pointed out that he was doing his best to give her more.
Finding the progress slow with only one man at work, Cheon suggested the
Maluka might lend a hand in his spare time (station books being
considered recreation); and when Dan came in with a mob of cattle from
the Reach country, he hinted that cattle could wait, and that Dan could
employ his time better.
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