I promised to obey, and all went well until I reached
mid-stream. Then, the wire beginning to sag threateningly
towards the water, Mac flung his whole weight on to hi
end of it, and, to his horror, I shot up into the air like a
sky-rocket.
We of the Never-Never 33

" Hang on ) Keep cool I " Mac yelled, in a frenzy of
apprehension, as he swung on his end of the wire. Jackeroo
became convulsed with laughter ; but the Maluka pulled
hard, and I was soon on the right side of the river, declaring
that I preferred experiences when they were over. Later
on, Mac accounted for his terror with another unconscious
flash of humour. " You never can count on a woman
keeping cool when the unexpected happens," he said.
We ofiered to haul him over. " It's only a matter of
holding on and keeping cool," we said ; but he preferred
to swim.
" It's a pity you didn't think of telegraphing this per-
formance,-' I shouted across the floods ; but, in his reUef,
Mac was equal to the occasion.
" I'm glad I didn't," he shouted back gallantly, with a
sweeping flourish of his hat ; "it might have blocked you
from coming." The bushman was learning a new
accompUshment.
As his clothes were to come across on the wire, I was
given a hint to " make myself scarce " ; so retired over
the bank, and helped Jackeroo with the dinner camp — an
arrangement that exactly suited his ideas of the eternal
fitness of things.
