Dan, however, was hopelessly roused. "Never did that before," gurgled
out of his net, just as we were dropping off once more; but a withering
request from the Dandy to "gather experience somewhere else," silenced
him till dawn, when he had the wisdom to rise without further reveille.
After breakfast we all separated again: the Dandy to his yard-building at
the Yellow Hole, and the rest of us, with the cattle boys, in various
directions, to see where the cattle were, each party with its team of
horses, and carrying in its packs a bluey, an oilskin, a mosquito net, a
plate, knife, and fork apiece, as well as a "change of duds" and a bite
of tucker for all: the bite of tucker to be replenished with a killer
when necessary, the change of duds to be washed by the boys also when
necessary, and the plate to serve for all courses, the fastidious turning
it over for the damper and jam course.
The Maluka spent one day with Dan beyond the "frontgate" - his tail
wagging along behind as a matter of course - another day passed
boundary-riding, inspecting water-holes, and doubling back to the Dandy's
camp to see his plans; then, picking up the Quiet Stockman, we struck out
across country, riding four abreast through the open forest-lands, and
were camped at sundown, in the thick of the cattle, miles from the
Dandy's camp, and thirty miles due north from the homestead. "Whatever
do you do with your time?" asked the South folk.
Dan was in high spirits: cattle were coming in everywhere, and another
beautiful permanent "water" had been discovered in unsuspected ambush.
To know all the waters of a run is important; for they take the part of
fences, keeping the cattle in certain localities; and as cattle must stay
within a day's journey or so of water, an unknown water is apt to upset a
man's calculations.
As the honour of finding the hole was all Dan's, it was named DS. in his
honour, and we had waited beside it while he cut his initials deep into
the trunk of a tree, deploring the rustiness of his education as he
carved. The upright stroke of the D was simplicity itself, but after
that complications arose.
"It's always got me dodged which way to turn the darned thing," Dan said,
scratching faint lines both ways, and standing off to decide the
question. We advised turning to the right, and the D was satisfactorily
completed, but S proved the "dead finish," and had to be wrestled with
separately.
"Can't see why they don't name a chap with something that's easily
wrote," Dan said, as we rode forward, with our united team of horses and
boys swinging along behind us, and M and T and O were quoted as examples.
"Reading's always had me dodged," he explained.
