Travelling Quicker Than The Cattle, We Were Camped And At Dinner At
"Abraham's" - Another Lily-Strewn Billabong - When The Mob Came In, The
Thirsty Brutes Travelling With Down-Drooping Heads And Lowing Deeply And
Incessantly.
Their direction showing that they would pass within a few
yards of our camp fire, on their way to the water, as a matter of course
I stood up, and Dan, with a chuckle, assured me that they had "something
else more important on than chivying the missus."
But the recollection of that raging mob was too vividly in mind, and the
cattle beginning to trot at the sight of the water, decided against them,
and the next moment I was three feet from the ground, among the
low-spreading branches of a giant Paper-bark. Jackeroo was riding ahead,
and flashed one swift, sidelong glance after me but as the mob trotted by
he trotted with them as impassive as a statue.
But we had by no means done with Jackeroo; for as we sat in camp that
night at the Springs, with the cattle safe in the yard, shouts of
laughter from the "boys'" camp attracted our attention, and we found
Jackeroo the centre-piece of the camp, preparing to repeat some
performance. For a second or so he stood irresolute; then, clutching
wildly at an imaginary something that appeared to encumber his feet, with
a swift, darting run and a scrambling clamber, he was into the midst of a
sapling; then, our silence attracting attention, the black world
collapsed in speechless convulsions.
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