We held our breaths in astonishment, each feeling like the entire
Cratchit family rolled into one, and by the time we had recovered speech,
Cheon was soberly carrying one third of the pudding to the missus. The
Maluka had put it aside on a plate to simplify the serving of the
pudding, and Cheon, sure that the Maluka could mean such a goodly slice
for no one but the missus, had carried it off.
There were to be no "little-fellow helps" this time. Cheon saw to that,
returning the goodly slice to the Maluka under protest, and urging all to
return again and again for more. How he chuckled as we hunted for the
"luck" and the "wealth," like a parcel of children, passing round bushman
jokes as we hunted.
"Too much country to work," said one of the Macs, when after a second
helping they were both still "missing." "Covered their tracks all
right," said another. The Quiet Stockman "reckoned they were bushed all
right." "Going in a circle," the sick Mac suggested, and then a shout
went up as the Dandy found the "luck" in his last mouthful.
"Perhaps some one's given the "wealth" to his dog," Tam suggested, to our
consternation; for that was more than possible, as the dogs from time to
time had received tit-bits from their masters as a matter of course.
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