CHAPTER II. 



SEPTEMBER REVELRY. 



WITH the passing of August there develops 

 a steady increase in vitality among the 

 courtiers of the Spring. September, ac- 

 cordingly, is nothing if not frankly exultant. 



Such joyous lips she has, such star-blue eyes, 

 Such slim child-breasts and pulsing, slender throat! 



Less uncertain in her moods, her smile is rather 

 more assured than that of wilful August. She gives 

 her secrets freely to those who will but look and 

 listen, and you may tell the whole world if it pleases 

 you. What else, indeed, might be expected? For 

 the pulse of Spring beats strongly now, the alarums 

 and excursions of Winter are less menacing, and the 

 courtier birds and flowers are revelling in the 

 witchery of which they are part; it is not a time 

 for reservations. 



There is, of course, no clearly noticeable physical 

 distinction between the dying days of August and 

 the early days of the succeeding month. And yet 

 well, it is easy to fill one's head with fancies in the 

 sweet o' the year. The fact is that during many 

 years of fraternising with the birds of central Vic- 

 toria, I found myself at large in the bush on the 



