Sarah looked up from the pot she was stirring, to see the face of her best friend in the doorway.
“Sarah Henderson, if you don’t sit with me and take tea, you will feint with exhaustion, and then what use will you be when they bring Basil home? You have black rings around your eyes.”
Sarah’s mind raced,
‘Oh, God, now she’s said it. The very thing I’ve been trying to avoid for the last twenty-four hours. Basil. Two years old, and wandered off into the bush, in short pants and a shirt, the whole town out looking for him.’
She had six other boys, four born on this very farm, and she had never lost one. For the first time since they had moved to the farm, she wished they had stayed keeping shop. Suddenly she would have given anything to be back there.
Outside was suddenly silent. From the door, they saw someone riding like the devil towards them. Sarah’s legs gave way, as she swooned. It took several women to coax her back into the sitting room.
He burst through the door. Red-faced from the wild ride, and with tears streaming down his dust-encrusted face, he could hardly speak. Someone thrust a glass of water into his hand and he took a great gulp and then a great gulp of air.
” They found him, Mrs Henderson, they found him. And the little tyke is fine! Can you believe it?”
Sarah fainted.
References:
1893 ‘ARDROSSAN.’, Yorke’s Peninsula Advertiser (SA: 1878 – 1922), 21 July, p. 3. , viewed 19 Dec 2016, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/216732788
1885 ‘ARDROSSAN.’, Yorke’s Peninsula Advertiser (SA: 1878 – 1922), 17 February, p. 3. , viewed 19 Dec 2016, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/216321047
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