The Foot of Time: A Novel of Australia and the South Seas: (1933)

"It
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254 THE FOOT OF TIME
She sometimes came to see Clare. He liked her—
strong, but devilish unsilent!
"Now, Bruno," the girl was ordering, "You have
to carry your master pick-a-back fashion. Heaven
knows how you will do it, but you have got to,
and so that's all about it. I won't have him
dragged, you have got to carry him, and, please
God, you can, because my bus won't run in bushes,
pup! Do you get that?"
Bruno intimated that he did, but the intimation
took on a louder tone when the full weight of his
master pressed upon him. The animal had to carry
Bruce all the way, with frequent pauses for rest,
while Edith held her lover's hand to support and
balance him. There must have been something in
the mental support, also, because at each halt Bruce
set feet to ground, easing his weight from the dog's
back. As men go, Bruce was enormous, but being
young, there were quite definite limits to his
weight. Bruno, on the other hand, was a giant
among dogs, and being now full seven years old,
there was scarcely any limit to his strength. Further,
carrying Bruce (had Edith only known it) had
been an occasional trick a la St. Bernard (as Clare
called it) ever since they bought him, a fluffy ball
of canine sagacity, jumping up to a string-supported
bone in a George Street shop window.
"What is he—a mastiff?" Clare had enquired of
the man. "Well, Mum, he is and he isn't, as the
saying is," the man had told her. " 'Ere's of 'is
pedigree, and the lowest price I can take for that
there pup is twenty pounds. Seems a lot. Seems
THE FOOT OF TIME 255
ridiculous, but wait till you see him develop. Why,
'eed carry you, Mum, that dog would, when 'ee's
full grown."
Bruno had licked Clare's hand (the one with the
glove off) , following which two ten pound notes
changed hands.
"I expect you saw me coming," Clare told the
man with a smile, "but the pup's a darling, and I
must have him whatever he costs."
And now Bruno earned the dividend on the outlay,
for ahead of them lay the plane.
But Edith, who didn't know the first thing
about engines, and never would, despite all her
study, couldn't start it, and that was a serious matter.
Particularly serious, since it was incapable of
starting until someone who did possess the mechanical
bump got inside it with easy familiarity.
The extent of the refreshment which Mascot
had smuggled into that small bus was amazing.
Perhaps they were thinking of Kingsford Smith
and Ulm. Be that as it may, no young girl should
leave Mascot in a rush, unaccompanied, without her
lifeboat, if Captain Hargreaves knew it. A reconnoitering
patrol (furnished by the nose of Bruno)
brought to earth many hidden treasures in the
food and drink direction when it became realised
that they were there for the night. The nourishment
and rest would give Bruce time to recover
sufficient strength by the following morning to
look inside the engine, and, if possible, mend it. But
the couple were not over worried, because if Edith's
plane failed to return, Mascot would want to know