Right up to the house verandah they came, and the letter was presented to
the Maluka, and the marrow to the missus in the presence of Cheon's glare
and an intense silence; for most of the bush-folk had heard of the
cabbage insult. Cheon had seen to that.
"Hope you will wish me luck while enjoying my little gift," said the
letter, and mistaking its double meaning, I felt really vexed with our
neighbour, and passing the marrow to Cheon, reflected a little of his
bristling dignity as I said: "This is of no use to any one here, Cheon;
you had better take it away "; and as Cheon accepted it with a grateful
look, those about the verandah, and those without the garden, waited
expectantly.
But there was to be no unseemly rage this time. In dignified silence
Cheon received the marrow--a sinuous yellow insult, and as the homestead
waited he raised it above his head, and stalking majestically from us
towards the finished part of the fence, flung it from him in contemptuous
scorn, adding a satisfied snort as the marrow, striking the base of a
fence post, burst asunder, and the next moment, after a flashing swoop,
he was grovelling under the wires, making frantic efforts to reach a baby
bottle of whisky that had rolled from within the marrow away beyond the
fence.
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