" Good evening, mates,'- he said, dismounting. " Saw
your fires, and thought I'd camp near for company."
Then discovering that one of the " mates " was a woman,
backed a few steps, dazed and open-mouthed — a woman
dough to the elbows, ponnding blithely at a huge damper,
being an unusual sight in a night camp in the heart of one
of the cattle runs in the Never-Never.
" We're conducting a cooking class," the Maluka ex-
plained, amused at the man's consternation.
The traveller grinned a sickly grin, and " begging par-
don, ma'am, for intruding,'' said something about seeing
to his camp, and backed to a more comfortable distance ;
and the damper-making proceeded.
" There's a biUy just thinking of boiling here yon can
have, mate, seeing it's late," Dan called, when he heard
the man rattling tinware, as he prepared to go for water ;
and once more " begging pardon, ma'am, for intruding,"
the traveller came into our camp circle, and busied himself
with the making of tea.
The tea made to his satisfaction, he asked diffidently
if there was a " bit of meat to spare," as his was a " bit
ofi " ; and Dan went to the larder with a hospitable
" stacks I "



We of the Never-Never 141

" How would boiled cabbage and roast turkey go ? "
Dan called, finding himself confronted with the great
slabs of cabbage ; and the traveller, thinking it was sup-
posed to be a joke, favoured us with another nervous
grin and a terse " Thanks 1 " Then Dan reappeared,
laden, and the man's eyes glistened as he forgot his first
surprise in his second. " Real cabbage I " he cried.
