He is as determined as a dung-beetle.
Another leave of absence was granted. A second raid was made upon
Nelly's wardrobe--two big bailer shells. Elated, freshly shaved and
smiling, he was a different sort from the individual who had
shamefacedly slipped over the side of the steamer, bereft of everything
but life.
He said he would be back in two weeks, and to the day he appeared. His
youthful third wife he handed down into the boat, and the boat was full
of their luggage. Ah, that desolated camp at Lucinda! The young lady's
trousseau was complete even to lingerie. He had won the fight, and the
bride and the spoils were his.
Poor Nelly! She welcomed "Little Jinny" effusively, and "Little
Jinny" gave her a dress and a second-best hat. Life for a couple of
days at the camp was idyllic. Then they took back the gifts of clothing,
and turned Nelly out of the hut. She built a separate establishment--a
dome of dried grass on bent sticks, and in it she wept and upbraided,
and fired up frequently under the torments of jealousy.
Shrill squabbles were of daily occurrence, until the great Peacemaker
removed Tom's favourite wife. And who more sorely grieved than Nelly!
Will the title bear a few words as to Tom the hunter? Was ever a keener,
a more patient, a more self-possessed, and consequently a more
successful, sportsman? He it was who, from a cranky punt (no white man
would venture out to sea in such a craft,) at three o'clock one windy
afternoon, harpooned an immense bull-turtle, which towed him towards the
Barrier Reef, into the track of the big steamers 4 miles to the east.
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