“No,” said Archie; “we are not sundowners. We are riding straight home to Burley New Farm.”
“’Xcuse me for contradicting you flat, my boy. It strikes me ye ain’t boss o’ the sitivation. Feel a kind o’ bushed, don’t ye?”
Archie was fain to confess it.
“Well, I know the tracks, and if ye stump it along o’ me, ye won’t have to play at babes o’ the wood to-night.”
They did “stump it along o’ him,” and before very long found themselves in the farm pasture lands.
They met Craig coming, tearing along on his big horse, and glad he was to see them.
“Oh, Craig,” cried Etheldene, “we’ve been having such fun, and been bushed, and everything!”
“I found this ’ere young gent a-bolting with this ’ere young lady,” said their guide, whom Craig knew and addressed by the name of Hurricane Bill.
“A runaway match, eh? Now, who was in the fault? But I think I know. Let me give you a bit of advice, sir. Never trust yourself far in the Bush with Miss Ethie. She doesn’t mind a bit being lost, and I can’t be always after her. Well, dinner is getting cold.”
“Did you wait for us?” said Etheldene.