said.

"I'm getting old and reverend," said Wally severely, "and it's up to
you to treat me with respect, young Norah. Sixteen's an awful age to
support with any cheerfulness." His brown face at the moment gave the
impression of never having been serious during the sixteen years he
lamented. "As for this ancient mariner"--indicating Jim--"you can see the
signs of senile decay quite plainly!"

"Ass!" said Jim affectionately. He broke off. "How are you, Cecil?"

Cecil, coming out of the hotel, a dapper figure beside the two tall
schoolboys, gave languid greetings. He cast at Jim a glance of
something like envy. Height was the one thing he longed for, and it
seemed to him hard that this seventeen-year-old youngster should be
rapidly approaching six feet, while he, three years older, had stopped
short six inches under that measurement. However, generally speaking,
Cecil was uncommonly well satisfied with himself, and not even the
contemplation of Jim's superior inches could worry him for long. He
asked polite questions about the journey, and laughed at the freely
expressed opinion that the day was hot "You should go to Sydney if you
want to know what heat is," he said, with the superiority of the
travelled man; "Victoria really has no heat to talk about!"

"Well, I'm a Queenslander," said Wally bluntly, "and we're supposed to
know about heat there. And I do think to-day is beastly hot--look at my
collar, it's like a concertina! Sydney heat is hot, and Brisbane heat
is hotter, but Victorian heat has a hotness all of its own!" Whereat
everybody laughed, and the discussion was adjourned for lunch.