Then out of the gum forests they had gone through the great western plains, covering ground fairly easily, for McKeith had arranged to have fresh horses on the road, and they always drove a spare pair ahead of the buggy.

Occasionally they stopped at a head-station.

Once at night they pulled up at a bush house, and a strange old man had put his head out of a window and shouted to them in the darkness.

'If ye've come to see me, I'm drunk,' he had said, 'and if you've come to drink, the rum-keg's empty, but ye'll find a pint pot outside and a little water in the tank.' And then he had shut the window again and refused further parley.
They had camped, hungry, in the paddock--for provisions had run out, and on that account, and because the horses had strayed in the night, they had to go again to the house.

The old man, sober and ashamed, captivated likewise by Lady Bridget's beauty and charm, apologised almost on his knees--he made Biddy think of Thackeray's picture of Sir Pitt Crawley proposing to Becky Sharp.