"What do you hear?"
"Oh, the fishes are always jumping in the shallows, and sometimes a crocodile sticks his nose up, and times I surprise a turtle in the sands. There's plenty of kangaroos thumping along for a drink—strike me! Hark at that fellow."
"Yes, he's noisy enough for an old man—Molly."
"Can't you get out 'Molly' easier? There's no call to jerk your head over it."
"It was not hard to say. It lies gently on the tongue. And so you make friends with the animals? If you are here in winter time you will find the pelicans fishing at dawn, and spoonbills, too, as white as snow. You have heard of snow, I suppose? It falls among the mountains down South in July and August—Molly."
"It don't come easy yet. I reckon Molly is no harder to say than 'My Princess.'"
"Does it fall as kindly on the ear as 'My Princess?'"
"I like 'My Princess,' and I like Molly. I can do with two friends since I was so long without one.... Now, what are you thinking of, Mister? You sit staring at the Pool and sucking yer pipe. Why don't yer talk? You are as dummy as the fishes what won't come at my hook."
"I was thinking a week or two can make a queer change in a man's fortune."