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But there had been an important and joyful event: Pava, his best cow, an expensive beast, bought at a show, had calved. "Kouzma, give me my sheepskin. And you tell them to take a lantern. I'll come and look at her," he said to the bailiff. The cowhouse for the more valuable cows was just behind the house. Walking across the yard, passing a snowdrift by the lilac tree, he went into the cowhouse.
There was no kitchen maid to be found; of the nine cows, it appeared from the words of the cowherd-woman that some were about to calve, others had just calved, others were old, and others again hard-uddered; there was not butter nor milk enough even for the children. There were no eggs. They could get no fowls; old, purplish, stringy cocks were all they had for roasting and boiling.
And seeing her husband come home in such a case, his wife said to the others: "An iceberg has calved right on top of Qasiagssaq, so that he barely escaped alive."
'Even the cattle look pretty well bred. 'Always go for pedigree stock, Fifteenth Duke notwithstanding. They take no more keep than rough ones, and they're always saleable. That red short-horn heifer belongs to the Butterfly Red Rose tribe; she was carried thirty miles in front of a man's saddle the day she was calved. We suckled her on an old brindle cow; she doesn't look the worse for it.
When he was almost home the cow again came into his head, and he laid down the money. This time, however, he took his wooden shoes and laid them above the money, thinking that no one would take it after that. Then he ran home and asked his wife whether the cow had calved.
The timber is bloodwood, string-bark, tea-tree, nonda, and acacia. The party camped 5 miles further down; poor "Marion" being now past all hope of recovery had to be abandoned. Three cows that calved at camp 22 were sent for and brought up. They were kept safely all night, but during the morning watch, were allowed to escape by Barney. 'November' 18.
They advanced cautiously into the thicket, following the track of the heifer, and at last came upon her. Apparently she had not calved more than an hour, and was licking the calf which was not yet on its legs. As soon as the animal perceived Jacob and Edward, she shook her head, and was about to run at them; but Jacob told Smoker to seize her, and the dog flew at her immediately.
But when he got out at his own station, when he saw his one-eyed coachman, Ignat, with the collar of his coat turned up; when, in the dim light reflected by the station fires, he saw his own sledge, his own horses with their tails tied up, in their harness trimmed with rings and tassels; when the coachman Ignat, as he put in his luggage, told him the village news, that the contractor had arrived, and that Pava had calved, he felt that little by little the confusion was clearing up, and the shame and self-dissatisfaction were passing away.
"Do as you think; 'tis none of my business with calves and things." "Well, 'twould be a pity to eat up calf, seems to me. And leave us with but one cow on the place." "Don't seem to me like you'd do that anyway," says Isak. That was their way. Lonely folk, ugly to look at and overfull of growth, but a blessing for each other, for the beasts, and for the earth. And Goldenhorns calved.
'And, said cousin Holman, scarcely waiting for her husband to finish his sentence, 'tell him there is new milk and fresh eggs to be had for the asking; it's lucky Daisy has just calved, for her milk is always as good as other cows' cream; and there is the plaid room with the morning sun all streaming in. Phillis said nothing, but looked as much interested in the project as any one.
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