In
pelting fury it rushed upon us out of the northwest, and rushing upon us,
swept over us and away from us into the south-east, leaping from horizon
to horizon in the triumph of victory.
As a matter of course, it left a sweltering awfulness behind it, but it
was a promise of better things; and even as Dan was inquiring with a
chuckle "whether that chap in the Quarters had got a bath out of it," a
second pelting fury rushed over us, filling Cheon's heart with joy, and
Billy with importance. Unfortunately it did not fill the water-butts with
water, but already the garden was holding up its head, and Billy was
claiming that he had scored a win.
"Well?" he said, waylaying Cheon in the garden, "Well, me rainmaker?
Eh?" and Cheon's superstitious heart bowed down before such evidence.
A ten-minutes' deluge half an hour later licked up every grain of dust,
filled the water-butts to overflowing, brought the insect pest to life as
by magic, left a shallow pool in the heart of the billabong, and added
considerably to Billy's importance. Had not Brown of the Bulls come in
during that ten-minutes' deluge, Cheon would probably have fallen to
offering sacrifices to Billy.
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