Dick Lester of Kurrajong
Dick Lester of Kurrajong is the sequel to Dick. He travels to Western Australia with his mother, to meet up with his father, who is returning from England. On the train over, they meet the Mr and Mrs Warner, and their children Merle, who’s about Dick’s age, and Bobby, aged five. The Warners invite the Lesters to stay with them at their cattle station. The Warners also have three-year-old twins who stayed with their grandmother while the rest of family travelled to eastern Australia.
Boys Overboard!
Bobby falls overboard on the cruise from Adelaide to Perth, and Dick dives straight in and saves his life. A boat is lowered and both boys are rescued from the Southern Ocean.
Dick finds that life on ‘Narrung’, a cattle station north of Coolgardie where mail comes once a fortnight, is very similar to that in Victoria. Of course, with adventures! Merle is a bit fractious with Dick at first, but it all comes good eventually when she let’s him ride her horse, Olaf..
“Jolly good of you to let me ride him.”
Across the grass Mr Warner had suddenly gaped in astonishment.
“Well, I’m blessed!” he ejaculated to his wife. “I believe Merle is repenting in style; she’s actually put Dick on Olaf. That’s in amends for the ride he might have had on old Sergeant, I suppose!
“Making amends isn’t much in Merle’s line,” said Merle’s mother.
“No, so I suppose we should be thankful for any sign of grace. At least, they seem happy enough now—look at them!”
Two small figures on galloping horses dipped down into a grassy hollow, flashed up again on the further side, made for a big log ahead, flew it together, and fled on again across the plain at full speed.
“That’s all right,” said Mrs Warner, comfortably. “They can’t possibly be bad friends now.”
“No. But isn’t it characteristic of Merle that although even the fact that he’d saved Bobby’s life didn’t make her treat him decently, she’s reduced to penitence and friendliness by nearly giving him a ride on a bad horse!”
The Trustee of The Mary Grant Bruce Family Trust owns the extant copyrights to this story.
First Published in: 1920
First Publisher: Ward, Lock & Co. Limited
Places First Published: London, Melbourne and Toronto