Part 32 (1/2)
”Sunday, December the ninth”
He pondered awhile ”I 've lost count of the days What time is it?”
”Between one and two, I should think My watch is at the bottoht to be dead by this ti you here? I want to be alone”
”Don't talk nonsense, Alf I'll pull you through, if I can only hit the complaint Have you any syetting worse and worse for a week, or more; but still able to yoke up a few quiet bullocks to shi+ft the wagon every day; till at last, one night, I just et away froht it was, or how the time has passed since then Just look at my arms, if you have any curiosity; but don't dare to prescribe forat the Yellow Tank--blast you!”
Without heeding his reminiscence, which has no connection with the present memoir, I untied an old boot-lace which fastened one of his wristbands, and drew up the sleeve The long, sinewy arm, noet and clammy from the effect of the water he had drunk, was helpless and shapeless, round and rigid; the elbow-joint set at a right-angle, and extremely sensitive to pain
”There,” said he, with a quivering groan; ”the other arm is just the same, and so are my knees and ankles; and my head's fit to burst; and I'm one mass of pains all over It's all up with me, Collins Now I only ask one favour of you--and that is to get out of ht”
”I'll be back in two or three hours, Alf,” said I, rising ”Keep your mind as easy as possible, and see if you can doze off to sleep”
So I returned to ht and equipped Cleopatra Then, after chaining Pup in a shady place, I stowed so-tackle in the crown of the soft hat I wore; then shed apparel till I was like the photo of some champion athlete; finally, I stuck the spare clothes, with the rest ofthe branches of a coolibah, out of the way of the wild pigs The next moment, I was in the saddle, and Cleopatra, after perfunctorily illustrating Demosthenes' three rules of oratory:--the first, Action; the second, ditto, the third, ibid--turned obediently toward the river, and was soon breasting the cool current, while, with one ar landing-place on the opposite bank
(Let me remark here, that the man who knows no better than to reht never to go out of sight of a bridge He is the sort of adventurer that is brought to light, a week afterward, per -hook in the hollow of his eye
Perhaps the best plan of all--though no hero of ro on to the horse's tail Also, never wait for an eency to make sure that your h the helpless floundering of a horse bewildered by first and sudden experience of deep water)
My landing-place happened to be none of the best After clearing the water, it required all Cleopatra's strength and activity to cliained footing, I was lying flat against the side of his neck, to help his centre of gravity and give him a hold with his front feet, when he brushed under a low coolibah, and the spur of a broken branch or soar ing round, the vest, wet and sticky, on my arms, like a child's pinny unfastened behind, or, to use a ant simile, like the front half of a herald's tabard What I should have done was to have reversed the thing, and put it on like a jacket; but, being in a desperate hurry, and slightly annoyed by the accident, and not feeling the sun after just leaving the water, I whipped the rag off altogether, and threw it aside In two seconds er, untiring stride, towards Yoongoolee ho speed now and then to cross creeks and rough places, I founda pad, and noticed the fresh tracks of the bullocks, le of a brass bell, and the 'plock, plock' of an iron frog, and presently ht a couple of hundred yards ahead
To do the boundary-rider justice, he was driving the cattle quietly and considerately He looked round on hearing the clatter of horse's feet, but my Mazeppa aspect seemed neither to surprise nor disconcert hier to ht as a solid, phlegmatic cob; and I suppose he had his own crude estie civilities
But now, after a five ht of the ar is erroneously supposed to act on nitre I reined-up beside him The Irresistible was about to encounter the Immovable; and, even in the excitement of the time, I awaited the result with scientific interest When a collision of this kind takes place, it sometimes happens that the Irresistible bounces off in a ed state; at other times, the Immovable is scattered to the four winds of heaven in the forhtly checked, perhaps, in speed, sails on its way But you can never tell
”Where are you taking these bullocks?” I demanded in a tone which, I am sorry to say, reflected as little credit on my politeness as on my philosophy
”Steation yaads,” he replied indifferently, and with a strong English accent
”Did you take the him keenly
”Oi teuk 'e (animals) horf of 'e run,” he re to look at isterially
”Zabbath,” he replied kindly
”And do you know there's a new act passed--'Parkes's Act,' they call it--that -bullocks from pastoral leasehold, on Sundays, a misde twelve months, with or without hard labour?”
”Granny!” he remarked