A kerosene
tin was the toilet apparatus: another, cut in two, was used for boiling
water. Given a supply of kerosene tins in the Bush, one can make a villa
and furnish it, down to cooking utensils and baby's bath.
"Next time's yous happen along, I'll have a bonser hotel," he said, and
leading Marcella outside showed her, under the shade of a tree, a
_cache_ of dozens of eggs laid by the hens that ran wild, and buried in
the earth; half a sheep wrapped in canvas, surrounded by great clouds of
flies gave evidence that it had been long dead.
"Help yourself, missus. We'll all kip together. You'll find a bag o'
flour in the hammock," said the stationmaster, and wandered off to get
on with his hotel and his station.
Marcella looked at Louis and laughed.
"What luck! Here's a chance to experiment! If we get to the station
where they want a cook, to-morrow, I'll be able to say I gave every
satisfaction in my last place."
"Always supposing we're aren't all dead before then," said Louis.
The first job was to boil water and wash the plates on which she amused
herself by tracing the remains of quite half a dozen different meals.
She felt sickened by the sight of the dead sheep; Louis seemed unmoved
as he ran an anatomical eye over it and hacked off slices with a blunt
knife. He became very wise on the subject of flapjacks and felt that
Marcella was not quite playing up to him when she preferred to make
omelets.
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