time she runs one down." Dan always called a thirst a drouth. "Oh Lord!"
he said, picturing the scene in his mind's eye, "'I'll catch a cow and
milk it,' she says."

Then, dancing with fun, the hazel eyes looked round the company, and as
Dan rose, preparatory to turning in, we felt we were about to hear their
verdict. When it came it was characteristic of the man in uniqueness of
wording:

"She's the dead finish!" he said, wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeve.
"Reckoned she was the minute I heard her talking about slap-up dampers";
and in some indescribable way we knew he had paid the woman who was just
entering his life the highest compliment in his power. Then he added,
"Told the chaps the little 'uns were generally all right." It is the
helplessness of little women that makes them appear "all right" in the
eyes of bushmen, helplessness being foreign to snorters.

At breakfast Dan expressed surprise because there was no milk, and the
pleasantry being well received, he considered the moment ripe for one of
his pet theories.

"She'll do for this place!" he said, wagging his head wisely. "I've been
forty years out-bush, and I've known eight or ten women in that time, so
I ought to know something about it. Anyway, the ones that could see jokes
suited best. There was Mrs. Bob out Victoria way. She'd see a joke a
mile off; sighted 'em as soon as they got within cooee. Never knew her
miss one, and never knew anybody suit the bush like she did." And, as we
packed up and set out for the last lap of our journey he was still
ambling about his theory. "Yes," he said, "you can dodge most things out
bush; but you can't dodge jokes for long. They'll run you down sooner or