" PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING " 273 



The horses stood limply, as much out of the shade 

 as in, the big swag leaned against the wall, the handcuffs 

 lay half buried in the dust, but Tsing Hi had vanished. 



"Me sowl to glory ! The little divil's scooted ! It's 

 a ruined man I am ! In the name of the Saints, why is 

 blasted Chinkees made with han's an' 'em like a 'possum ? 

 Look at the wee han's on *em to slip out of darbies 

 like the same. He's slipped out as aisily as meself out 

 of a horse-collar, and the face a' him as bould and as 

 big as the hill o' hope ! I'm the ruined man, I am !" 



"Off after him/' advised Jerry. "There's his tracks." 



"Just none o' your blasted interfarances ! Lave 'im 

 to me. He's away back to hell, an' I'll folly him ! 

 How much does I owe yer, Jerry ?" 



"Nothing at all, sure, Tim. 'Tis little ye've had, 

 and yer welcome as posies in May, though it's little we 

 see of 'em here. And good luck. Shall I tell him away 

 back to look out ?" 



"Say nothing and be damned to yer! Keep your 

 mout closed and lave me to do the bizinis me own road," 

 shouted Tim as he disappeared in the dust, led horse, 

 swag and all. 



A mile and a half back and a bit off the road lay the 

 narrow, sheltered flat between two forbiddingly barren 

 ridges which Hu Dra, the gardener, had converted 

 into an oasis. Thin-leaved tea-trees fringed the little 

 dam whence the industrious fellow hauled water for 

 his vegetables. Drought-stricken, broad, blue-leaved, 

 scented ironbarks stood in envious array on the steep 

 sides of the ridges, and grass-trees, blackened at the 

 butts, struggled with loose boulders for foothold. The 

 muddy water which the forethought of Hu Dra had 

 conserved created the green patch which insulted the 

 aridity of the ridge. He was a proud and happy man, a 

 follower of the heaUng Buddha^ a new-chum with scarce 



18 



