Inquiries proved disappointing. It was certain that the boys would not be allowed to return directly to them. They would travel in hospital trains and a hospital ship; it was difficult to say where men would be taken, when so many, broken and helpless, were being brought to England every day. The Victorian Agent-General was sympathetic and helpful; he promised to find out all that could be found from the overworked authorities, and to let them know at the earliest possible moment. “But I fancy that long son of yours will find a way of letting you know himself, Mr. Linton,” he said. “I’ll do my best—but I wouldn’t mind betting he gets ahead of me.” They came out of the building that is a kind of oasis in London to all homesick Victorians, pausing, as they always did, to look at the exhibits in the outer office—wool and wheat and timber, big model gold nuggets, and the shining fruits that spoke of the orchards on the hillsides at home; with pictures of wide pastures where sleek cattle stood in the knee-high grass, or reapers and binders whirred through splendid crops. It was a little patch of Australia, planted in the very heart of London; hard to realize that just outside the swinging glass doors the grey city—history suddenly become a live thing—stretched away eastward, and, to the west, the roaring Strand carried its mighty burden of traffic. “I’ll always be glad I had the chance of seeing London,” said Norah. “But whenever I come here I know how glad I’ll be to go back!” “I know that without coming here,” said her father, drily. “It would be jolly if we could take those boys home to get strong, Norah.” “To Billabong?” said Norah, wistfully. “Oh-h! But we’ll do it some day, daddy.” “I trust so. Won’t there be a scene when we get back!” “Oh, I dream about it!” said Norah. “And I wake up all homesick. Can’t you picture Brownie, dad!—she’ll have cooked everything any of us ever liked, and the house will be shining from top to bottom, and there won’t be a thing different—I know she dusts your old pipes and Jim’s stockwhips herself every day! And Murty will have the horses jumping out of their skins with fitness, and Lee Wing’s garden will be something marvellous.” “And Billy,” said David Linton, laughing. “Can’t you see his black face—and his grin!” “Oh, and the great wide paddocks—the view from the verandah, across the lagoon and looking right over the plains! I don’t seem to have looked at anything far away since we came off the ship,” said Norah; “all the views are shut in by houses, and the air is so thick one couldn’t see far, in any case!” “They tell me there’s clear air in Ireland,” said her father. “Then I want to go there,” responded his daughter, promptly. “Well—we might do worse than that. I’ve been thinking a good deal, Norah; if the boys don’t get well quickly—and I believe few of the gassed men do—we shall have to take them away somewhere for a change.” “Certainly,” agreed Norah. “We couldn’t keep them in London.”