Kashima was as out of the
world as Heaven or the Other Place, and the Dosehri hills kept
their secret well. Boulte had no concern in the matter. He was in
camp for a fortnight at a time. He was a hard, heavy man, and
neither Mrs. Boulte nor Kurrell pitied him. They had all Kashima
and each other for their very, very own; and Kashima was the
Garden of Eden in those days. When Boulte returned from his
wanderings he would slap Kurrell between the shoulders and call
him 'old fellow,' and the three would dine together. Kashima was
happy then when the judgment of God seemed almost as distant as
Narkarra or the railway that ran down to the sea. But the
Government sent Major Vansuythen to Kashima, and with him
came his wife.
The etiquette of Kashima is much the same as that of a desert
island. When a stranger is cast away there, all hands go down to
the shore to make him welcome. Kashima assembled at the
masonry platform close to the Narkarra Road, and spread tea for
the Vansuythens. That ceremony was reckoned a formal call, and
made them free of the Station, its rights and privileges. When the
Vansuythens settled down they gave a tiny house-warming to all
Kashima; and that made Kashima free of their house, according to
the immemorial usage of the Station.
Then the Rains came, when no one could go into camp, and the
Narkarra Road was washed away by the Kasun River, and in the
cup-like pastures of Kashima the cattle waded knee-deep.
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