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That
brought
the
eyes
wide
open
!
he
noted
with
glee
.
For
once
Father
Ralph
did
n't
attempt
to
dissimulate
,
or
conceal
his
true
feelings
.
He
just
beamed
.
It
was
amazing
how
quickly
the
land
mended
;
within
a
week
little
green
shoots
of
grass
were
poking
out
of
the
gluey
morass
,
and
within
two
months
the
roasted
trees
were
coming
into
leaf
.
If
the
people
were
tough
and
resilient
,
it
was
because
the
land
gave
them
no
opportunity
to
be
otherwise
;
those
who
were
faint
in
heart
or
lacking
a
fanatical
streak
of
endurance
did
not
stay
long
in
the
Great
Northwest
.
But
it
would
be
years
before
the
scars
faded
.
Many
coats
of
bark
would
have
to
grow
and
fall
to
eucalyptoid
tatters
before
the
tree
trunks
became
white
or
red
or
grey
again
,
and
a
certain
percentage
of
the
timber
would
not
regenerate
at
all
,
but
remain
dead
and
dark
.
And
for
years
disintegrating
skeletons
would
dew
the
plains
,
subsiding
into
the
matting
of
time
,
gradually
covered
by
dust
and
marching
little
hoofs
.
And
straggling
out
across
Drogheda
to
the
west
the
sharp
deep
channels
cut
by
the
corners
of
a
makeshift
bier
in
the
mud
remained
,
were
pointed
out
by
wanderers
who
knew
the
story
to
more
wanderers
who
did
not
,
until
the
tale
became
a
part
of
black-soil
plains
lore
.
Drogheda
lost
perhaps
a
fifth
of
its
acreage
in
the
fire
,
and
25,000
sheep
,
a
mere
bagatelle
to
a
station
whose
sheep
tally
in
the
recent
good
years
lay
in
the
neighborhood
of
125,000
.
There
was
absolutely
no
point
in
railing
at
the
malignity
of
fate
,
or
the
wrath
of
God
,
however
those
concerned
might
choose
to
regard
a
natural
disaster
.
The
only
thing
to
do
was
cut
the
losses
and
begin
again
.
In
no
case
was
it
the
first
time
,
and
in
no
case
did
anyone
assume
it
would
be
the
last
.
But
to
see
Drogheda
's
homestead
gardens
bare
and
brown
in
spring
hurt
badly
.
Against
drought
they
could
survive
thanks
to
Michael
Carson
's
water
tanks
,
but
in
a
fire
nothing
survived
.
Even
the
wistaria
failed
to
bloom
;
when
the
flames
came
its
tender
clusters
of
buds
were
just
forming
,
and
shriveled
.
Roses
were
crisped
,
pansies
were
dead
,
stocks
turned
to
sepia
straw
,
fuchsias
in
shady
spots
withered
past
rejuvenation
,
babies
'
-
breath
smothered
,
sweet
pea
vines
were
sere
and
scentless
.
What
had
been
bled
from
the
water
tanks
during
the
fire
was
replaced
by
the
heavy
rain
that
followed
hard
on
it
,
so
everyone
on
Drogheda
sacrificed
a
nebulous
spare
time
to
helping
old
Tom
bring
the
gardens
back
.
Bob
decided
to
keep
on
with
Paddy
's
policy
of
more
hands
to
run
Drogheda
,
and
put
on
three
more
stockmen
;
Mary
Carson
's
policy
had
been
to
keep
no
permanent
non-Cleary
men
on
her
books
,
preferring
to
hire
extra
hands
at
mustering
,
lambing
and
shearing
time
,
but
Paddy
felt
the
men
worked
better
knowing
they
had
permanent
jobs
,
and
it
did
n't
make
much
difference
in
the
long
run
.
Most
stockmen
were
chronically
afflicted
with
itchy
feet
,
and
never
stayed
very
long
anywhere
.
The
new
houses
sitting
farther
back
from
the
creek
were
inhabited
by
married
men
;
old
Tom
had
a
neat
new
three-room
cottage
under
a
pepper
tree
behind
the
horse
yards
,
and
cackled
with
proprietary
glee
every
time
he
entered
it
.
Meggie
continued
to
look
after
some
of
the
inner
paddocks
,
and
her
mother
the
books
.
Fee
had
taken
over
Paddy
's
task
of
communicating
with
Bishop
Ralph
,
and
being
Fee
failed
to
pass
on
any
information
save
those
items
concerned
with
the
running
of
the
station
.
Meggie
longed
to
snatch
his
letters
,
read
them
greedily
,
but
Fee
gave
her
no
chance
to
do
so
,
locking
them
in
a
steel
box
the
moment
she
had
digested
their
contents
.
With
Paddy
and
Stu
gone
there
was
just
no
reaching
Fee
.
As
for
Meggie
,
the
minute
Bishop
Ralph
had
gone
Fee
forgot
all
about
her
promise
.
Meggie
answered
dance
and
party
invitations
with
polite
negatives
;
aware
of
it
,
Fee
never
remonstrated
with
her
or
told
her
she
ought
to
go
.
Liam
O'Rourke
seized
any
opportunity
to
drive
over
;
Enoch
Davies
phoned
constantly
,
so
did
Connor
Carmichael
and
Alastair
MacQueen
.
But
with
each
of
them
Meggie
was
pre-occupied
,
curt
,
to
the
point
where
they
despaired
of
interesting
her
.
The
summer
was
very
wet
,
but
not
in
spates
protracted
enough
to
cause
flooding
,
only
keeping
the
ground
perpetually
muddy
and
the
thousand-mile
Barwon-Darling
flowing
deep
,
wide
and
strong
.
When
winter
came
sporadic
rain
continued
;
the
flying
brown
sheets
were
made
up
of
water
,
not
dust
.
Thus
the
Depression
march
of
foot-loose
men
along
the
track
tapered
off
,
for
it
was
hell
tramping
through
the
black-soil
plains
in
a
wet
season
,
and
with
cold
added
to
damp
,
pneumonia
raged
among
those
not
able
to
sleep
under
warm
shelter
.
Bob
was
worried
,
and
began
to
talk
of
foot
rot
among
the
sheep
if
it
kept
up
;
merinos
could
n't
take
much
moisture
in
the
ground
without
developing
diseased
hoofs
.
The
shearing
had
been
almost
impossible
,
for
shearers
would
not
touch
soaked
wool
,
and
unless
the
mud
dried
before
lambing
many
offspring
would
die
in
the
sodden
earth
and
the
cold
.
