{"product_id":"2940013758582","title":"Gentlemen at Gyang Gyang","description":"Black Peter threw the reins of his saddle-horse over the horse-shoe on\u003cbr\u003ethe snow-gum beside the grindstone and left the pack-horse to browse\u003cbr\u003eon the budding everlastings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hey! I'm off now,\" he called. \"Did the Boss leave any fresh orders?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was no reply save the conversational warble of magpies all\u003cbr\u003earound the horizon, and the ejaculations of a braw old rooster on the\u003cbr\u003ewood-heap, where he was looking for a handsome black snake, which\u003cbr\u003eearlier had disturbed one of the ladies of his harem. The man entered\u003cbr\u003ea rough slab structure roofed with mountain-ash palings and with a\u003cbr\u003everanda fore and aft. A billy and a kerosene-tin boiled above the logs\u003cbr\u003ein the ten-foot hearth, otherwise the place was deserted. He whistled.\u003cbr\u003eA chained dog yelped in response--the Cook's second-best dog. All the\u003cbr\u003eothers were with the men. The men were on Wild Horse Plain burning off\u003cbr\u003ewinter tussocks. Smoke modified the blue of the ranges far away to the\u003cbr\u003eleft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA hawk out of the limitless blue settled in the blackbutt above the\u003cbr\u003ewood-pile and fixed a predatory gaze on some half-grown pullets. The\u003cbr\u003erooster cackled hysterically. To be threatened from both ground and\u003cbr\u003eair was unnerving. The man disappeared into the main abode and\u003cbr\u003ereappeared with a gun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrack! The report rattled among the timber along the echoing ridges\u003cbr\u003eand seemed to enlarge the far-reaching, uninhabited silence. The\u003cbr\u003ecock's overhead enemy fell almost at his feet. A big white cockatoo\u003cbr\u003escreeched approval from a dead tree near the cowyard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe January sun sparkled in a fleckless blue sky and shimmered in\u003cbr\u003evisible waves above Gyang Gyang Plain, where merinos nipping the blue\u003cbr\u003etussocks were distinguishable only by movement from the outcropping\u003cbr\u003egrey slate and granite. Far and wide to the high blue peaks of the\u003cbr\u003eskyline, space and sunlight, sunlight and space, spring and vale,\u003cbr\u003eplain and rocks, daisies and tussocks and jumbucks reigned in a glory\u003cbr\u003eof solitude. Black Peter gazed all around with sweeping glances born\u003cbr\u003eand trained to distance, missing little, but there was no sign of the\u003cbr\u003eCook. He cooeed preparatory to mounting. The Cook rose up from behind\u003cbr\u003ea tea-tree bush, all bridal with bloom, and approached with two\u003cbr\u003ekerosene-tins of water from the spring-head.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hey! You must have been jolly sound asleep.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Asleep your grandmother! I was gettin' water.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"All right; you were getting water. Did the Boss leave any fresh\u003cbr\u003eorders?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He said you was to take the car to Goonara and bring back a passenger\u003cbr\u003ewho's comin' through on the service car.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Did he say if there would be much luggage?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"He said you was to tell her he'll be home before dark. A wire come\u003cbr\u003ethrough just as the Boss was settin' out.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Whew! a lady. Wonder where'll we put her. Old or young?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I dunno. Some kind of a pommy tart I reckon from what the Boss was\u003cbr\u003esayin' on the telephone--come out from Paris on a ship.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Scissors! She'll find Gyang Gyang a little off. You'll have to put a\u003cbr\u003epatch on your pants to keep your backside out of sight.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Too right!\" said the Cook with a grin. \"An' you'll have to cut a few\u003cbr\u003efeet off your beard or you won't be able to kiss her good night\u003cbr\u003ewithout her gettin' lost in it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'll leave that to the cuckoo geezers who are always after the girls.\u003cbr\u003eYou'll have to give us coffee for breakfast and cakes for tea every\u003cbr\u003eday, and keep your cigar ashes out of the porridge.\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083172233456,"sku":"2940013758582","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013758582_p0.jpg?v=1763589874","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013758582","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}