Dick Lester

“ Merle would say, "I'm not comin' with you!" Dick would reply, "Right oh!" and that would end the matter.
"You know," Mrs. Lester said to Dick—they were talking in her cabin one evening—"I'm really sorry for that little girl. She gives herself such a bad time. And if she would only let herself be nice, she would be quite nice."
"You always think people are nice, mother-est," said Dick. He was lying on the spare bunk, his hands crossed under his head, glad to keep still after a hard set of tennis. "But why shouldn't she behave decently? No one does anything to annoy the poor thing!" ”

“ The child in Dick was fast giving way to the manhood stirring in him; and Mrs. Lester—bring an ordinary mother—found herself looking ahead, proud and yet regretful, clinging to her baby, and yet eager for all that she hoped for him.
Dick came in one night with the jackeroos to find the elders discussing plans.
"We're going to be civilised to-morrow," Mr. Warner told him. "That is, we're going to put on our best clothes and take the car and go calling—the Harrisons at Mernda have asked us all over. Means starting at eleven and not home until dark." ”

“ And now—well, I suppose I've got my punishment for being too proud."
"You have his pluck still," the doctor said. "He'll need it, as he never needed it before; and your pride in him, too. You can't let yourself get down, mind; Dick will need every ounce of help you can give him. Don't let him ever feel he is less your son because he can't be the son you've hoped for. You've got to put every personal feeling aside for him and his mother."
"His mother! Oh, my God!" said John Lester desperately. He turned from them and went across the paddock with his head down. ”

“ They would come back for Dick and Merle.
"And that will make it just about breaking-up time," Dick said. "So you three chaps can join up, and we'll all go home in a bunch. Glory, won't it be a day!"
"And Mrs. Fraser and the doctor will come for Christmas," Mrs. Lester said, smiling at them over Dick's head.
"I think you had better arrange to travel with us, Fraser," Mr. Lester said. "I'll need some support if I have to take all these young people home. Four—five of them; and a wife who always forgot to grow up! You can't expect a man to handle an unbroken team like that single-handed!" ”

“ He looked at her eager face pityingly.
"Don't build up false hopes," he said. "These cases are very difficult; there are a hundred reasons why I should not succeed where other men fail. The little girl told me the Perth men had pronounced against your boy's recovery."
"The little girl!" John Lester echoed.
"Yes; the one Dick calls 'Legs.' She came to my cabin and dragged me up to see Dick. I don't know how she knew anything about me, but she begged me, on her knees, to take out her spine and use it for Dick."
"Poor little soul!" said John Lester huskily. He put his arm around his wife. ”

“ Lester, laughing. "He's well able to look after himself."
"I assure you I'm more worried about my own," said his friend. "If I could only inculcate some ordinary good manners into her——"
"Why, she's a nice little soul. I think you worry unduly," said Mr. Lester. "And she's only a baby yet." He gave a short laugh. "Dick is happy enough, at any rate."
They had come into view of Dick and O'Mara—the former perched on the gate-post of the little paddock, while the old man, leaning against the gate, was talking so earnestly that he failed to see his master approaching. ”

“ Lester, smiling. "What is he going to be?"
"Wa-al, of course he thinks he's going to be a sailor—all boys do, don't they?" said the actress. "But he's got bitten with motors now, so I shouldn't wonder if it's something engineering, after all. Jimmy's got plenty of brains. That's one thing. Not that you care much, when he's your only boy, whether he's got brains or not, do you, ma'am?"
"I hope she doesn't, 'cause I'm her only boy, and goodness knows I've got none!" said Dick, grinning.
Mrs. Lester laughed, rising.
"Brains aren't everything, certainly," she said. "We're slowing down. ”

“ He muttered incoherently something about "just telling the kid a yarn."
"You come to breakfast, Bobby," Merle said crossly. "Mother wants you." She seized the unwilling Bobby's hand and led him away.
CHAPTER V.
HOW DICK PRACTISED HIGH DIVING.
Many people find the run across the Great Australian Bight a dull matter; and, indeed, if you should ever find yourself returning from the other side of the world, it is apt to be the longest part of all the long six weeks at sea. But to little Dick Lester, afloat for the first time, it was a voyage full of marvel and delight. ”

“ And it never did them any harm. But somehow nowadays it doesn't seem an easy matter to put on the decorum layer first. I don't know how it is." He looked across the table. "Got any little girls, Mrs. Lester?"
"No, only one bad boy," replied Dick's mother.
"Just as well for your peace of mind. Girls are a great responsibility, especially when they persist in thinking they're boys." He tweaked his small daughter's hair. "Finished? Then suppose we go up on deck, and you can make friends with my cabin mate."
But Merle looked across at Dick scornfully. ”

“ I 'spect you must hate me, but Dick doesn't, though I don't know why he doesn't. Nobody can hate me like I do myself."
"Nobody hates you at all, Merle."
"People must. D'you think I don't know what I've done?" the child stammered. "Wouldn't you let me come, just for a bit, to work for you—to help you to look after Dick? I'd never be any trouble. I can do my own hair and everything. I'd just be legs for Dick!"
"Legs?" queried Mrs. Lester, puzzled.
"Yes. It's all my fault he can't use his. If I came I could just be there to hand him things and run his errands. ”

“ He preferred to stand in the doorway, tucked into a corner out of the way of the hurrying throng of eager women passing in and out—there was fun in watching the crowd, the clanging tram-cars, the beautiful horses—it was before the days of many motors, and good carriage horses were still to be seen in the city streets. Like most bush-bred boys—and girls, for that matter—Dick thought there was no sight to equal that of a good horse. He was staring at a big, taking chestnut, driven by a man in a light buggy, when a voice said, "Hullo, young Lester!" ”

“ Teddy Raine rose.
"Come on, you fellows," he said. "I must take 'em back, Mrs. Lester, or poor old Melville'll be throwing fits. Cricket practice has slumped since you people came here." He patted Dick's head, his merry face gentle. "Going to have a mighty supper in the dormer to-night, old thing!" he said. "Wish you were going to be there."
"I wish I was!" said Dick ruefully. "Never mind, there'll be lots next term!"
"And we'll drink more power to your old back," said Teddy, "in raspberry vinegar!"
"Out of a soap-dish lid?" queried Mrs. Lester demurely. ”

“ Lester. Mr. Warner and Dick had struck up a great friendship; the big man liked his small and unobtrusive cabin-mate and felt for him something of the protective feeling he would have experienced had it been his own little lad who lay asleep in the opposite bunk each night when he came to bed. They used to tramp the deck together in the early mornings and after dinner, and "yarn" of station matters, of the ways of bullocks—and most inexhaustible theme of all—of horses. Dick had been his father's constant companion until Mr. Lester sailed for England ”

“ Lester had kept their vigil in the Quiet Street, when, in the school chapel, the boys had gathered while the chaplain prayed for Dick Lester, whose feet were in the Valley of the Shadow.
Melville himself had been to tea on the balcony since then, and it is safe to say that at no time had Dick been so near pride as when the great man, rather shy and tongue-tied at first in the presence of Mrs. Lester, had sat on his couch and talked to him, a scrubby junior, as an equal!
"You've got to look sharp and well, you know, Lester," he had said, at parting. "We want all our men badly ”

“ Warner. "Are you ready, Mrs. Lester? Shall I go after cars?"
"Quite ready—my luggage is all on deck," she told him.
"Then, come on, Dick, and we'll go car hunting."
They went together down the gangway—there was a new stab of the old jealous pain in Merle's heart as she watched them go. Mrs. Lester called her to her side with a question about Fremantle—her keen eyes had noticed the shadow on the little girl's face.
"I am shockingly ignorant of this part of the world," she said, laughing. "You are an old inhabitant, so you must tell me all about it" ”

“ Her little face, with its wild-rose colouring, looked out from a great collar of brown furs, under a big hat; and pinned in her muff was a knot of violets and boronia that lent their fragrance to her sweetness. Dick could not have told you what she wore, only he knew that everything about her, from the curly hair under her brown hat to the dainty feet in the brown suede shoes, was perfection.
"Not one of the chaps has a mother like you," he told her, stumbling over the eager words. ”

“ Warner?" queried Dick.
"No," said his host, explosively. "I wouldn't give my old Conqueror for a dozen cars! Still, it makes a tremendous difference; we really were pretty well cut off from civilisation before we had it. As it is we seldom get a mail more than once a fortnight, and our stores come up twice a year, by bullock wagons or donkey teams. But we can get down to the railway fairly easily now, if we want to, and we can get a doctor in eight or ten hours. That feeling makes life much easier to a woman."
Mr. Lester pulled at his pipe. ”

“ The expression on her face was not inviting, but her father was too preoccupied to notice it.
"Look after Dick, will you?" he said. "A man is sick in one of the huts in the far paddocks, and Mr. Lester is going with me to have a look at him. Show Dick round a bit and keep him entertained."
Merle scowled.
"Can't Bobby?" she asked.
Her father stared at her.
"You can't leave a boy of Dick's age to a kid like Bobby," he said. "Whatever is the matter with you? One would think you would be only too glad of the chance of a mate. Behave yourself, and remember the boy is our guest." ”

“ It was an ideal spot—a grassy clearing, ringed round with tall trees and low bushes, full of birds that had never learned to be afraid of humans. Dick begged to be taken out, and they lifted his stretcher into the shade, where he could lie watching the business of camping. Mr. Warner and Mr. Lester were old hands at the business; the tents went up, firewood was brought in, and the camp-fire lit, and their evening meal prepared, long before it was time to put Dick back to bed and make him comfortable for the night. ”

“ The great bell of the station crashed out suddenly, in such thunderous clamour that he jumped and then stood still. What Mr. Warner called its "tinkle"—the daily summons to dinner—had seemed to Dick violent enough; but this was a new sound altogether, a resonant, brazen din that clanged furiously, sending its strident clashing far out across the paddocks. The squatter's words came back to him—"It can make a very tolerable din in the hands of an active person." Well, that was no exaggeration—surely its wild clamour must reach every man working out on the run. ”

“ It took him in the face, and he subsided on top of Teddy, who received him without any gratification.
"Get off, young Nuge!" he said, hurling him away. "Trot up and down again, Lester; I want to see."
"Not if I know it," said Dick, lowering himself gently on a couch. "When you haven't used your legs for about seven ages they don't make exercise exactly a joke. And that's my third walk to-day. Trot Bottles up and down; he needs it."
"Don't you; the balcony won't stand it," grinned Nugent. "There's a notice somewhere that nothing over ten tons is allowed to trot on this floor!" ”

“ Neil Fraser gave his verdict next day.
"It's for you to decide," he told Dick's parents. "There is a chance; I'll admit it's a slender one. If you decide to have no operation he will probably live a long time, as they told you before—always a cripple. Will he suffer? Yes, probably, at intervals—a good deal; and there is always a chance of worse trouble developing."
"And the operation?" John Lester said.
"It is a risk. I've done it successfully; I've seen as good a man as I am fail. Should it fail, it means a worse condition ”

“ Lester answered. A vision of Merle's face, square and defiant, came to her. "Only, of course, Bobby is such a friendly little man. I wish she would chum up with you, Dick. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
"Well, a fellow doesn't always want a girl at his heels," Dick said. "She's only a kid, too"—with the condescension that thirteen feels for eleven. ”

“ No hope, so far as they could see, that Dick would ever walk again. In time, with special treatment and massage he might sit up; but further than that they could promise nothing.
"He's wonderfully strong," Dr. Brereton said. "Everything is in his favour, to a limited extent; there's no reason why he should not have a long and happy life, because he has pluck enough to face the future when once it becomes necessary to tell him."
"You would not tell him yet?" Mr. Lester said.
The doctor shook his head. ”

“ Merle was the one fly in the ointment in Dick's cheerful anticipations of his visit to the Warners' station. On the Moondarra and in the hotel it had been easy enough to avoid being much with her, since she so clearly showed that she did not desire his company; but in her own home it would be different. They were too near in age, and too similar in tastes, not to be thrown together. That in itself was painful enough, since girls, to Dick, were rather boring creatures, full of queer whims and notions—not plain, straightforward people like Teddy Raine and Bottles and Nugent. ”