Part 36 (1/2)
”Muck-a-hi-lo! sen-ling, ay-ya; ilo-ilo!” re his horse aside to let thee to his comprehension, while from my eye the Gladiator broke--”bale you snavel-um that peller bullock
Me fetch-u one dressum down Compranny pah, John?” The Chinaman had turned back with me, and, as if he had been hired for the work, was stolidly assisting to return the cattle to the spot whence he had taken them
”Why don't you speak for yourself, John?” I asked, thanklessly quoting fro ue,” responded the heathen in his blindness
”In contradistinction to the Asiatic and the Australian, who are scrupulously honest,” I observed pleasantly ”You savvy n-ual Alp,” replied the pagan promptly ”Me collal him bullock two-tlee time to-molla, all li; two-tlee time nex day, all li”
”All li, John--you collar-um that peller bullock one more time, me manhandle you; pull-ule; cut-u-a China; bi ant comballee, eat-uo like-it dibil-dibil; budgeree fire long-a that peller You savvy, John?”
”Me tellee Missa Sedly ”All li; you na-a Gullamen Clown; all li; you killee ol turned his horse in the direction of Mondunbarra hoine when there is danger of the belt flying off, gradually worked up his pace to a canter, leaving me in possession of the field
But in cases of this kind, there is only one thing worse than victory
I was fairly in a fix with Alf's bullocks You ht to be anywhere except travelling along the track, or floating down the river If they scattered off the track--not being attended by some capable person--their oould, there and then, and as often as this occurred, be liable for trespass; twenty ti per head each time If I wished to remove theally do so would be by means of a balloon The thousands of homeless bullocks and horses which carry on the land-transport trade had to live and work, or starve and work, on squatters' grass, year after year So the right to live, being in the nature of a boon or benefaction, went largely by favour--like the sobry salute iined by poets--and poor Alf was no favourite with anyone
The ers of all these three stations were out of reach; and besides, there was no great hope in appealing to any of theoolee homestead, across the river, was about sixteen ry M'Intyre, from what I knew of him, was little likely to uild whose representatives had selected within sight of his wool-shed Yoongoolee was avoided by all the floating population of the country, and particularly by those who could n't afford to be independent, forashland eczeer Most squatters have titles; M'Intyre had thich were used indifferently; one of these was derived froer, the other from the eczema
And, of all Alf's enemies, perhaps thepartner of Mondunbarra This gentle all considerations not tending to his own profit, and whose refine things fine about the station, had, a couple of years previously, taken Alf in the very act of running one of his own bullocks out of the station cattle An altercation had ensued, followed by a sus trespass, with six guineas costs, besides having to travel seventy or eighty on This was trying enough to a man of Alf's avaricious and irascible bent It had caused him to speak a word in private to Mr Smythe; and, from that time forward, the squatter hated the bullock driver considerably more than he hated sin, and feared him more than he feared his reputed Maker
Poor Ss my soul with pity, even now
He was parsi, pusillanimous, fastidious, and hysterically excitable He was cruelly sat-on by his inexorable partner, M'Gregor; contemned by his social equals; hated by his inferiors, and popularly known as the Marquis of Canton His only friend was his brother Bert, a quiet youth, who attended him with Montholon-fidelity; and his appreciation of the cheap and reliable Asiatic was passively recognised by a station staff of Joss-devotees
There was no use in h mostAlf under an obligation, I knew his unhappy h to be certain that neither policy nor nanimity could intervene on behalf of a prostrate enemy And to make matters more hopeless, Confucius would be just ahead of me, with his story of forcible rescue, coupled with personal threats of the gravest character
Avondale rerand old colonist, Captain Royce, who governed the seigneury fro an are-hearted patriarchal traditions of early days were still current on the station; but that property had to pay, and pay well, at the er's peril To illustrate this: Captain Royce, in responding to 'Our Pastoral Interests,' never failed to re beast had ever been impounded from Avondale This, of course, conveyed the irass and water for distressed teaer, watched and reported always by at least one narangy, and ground, as you see, between the upper mill-stone of Royce the munificent and the nether and much harder one of Royce the business of cotton-bush, into a filament of wool, or let somebody else have a try Consequently, the boundary riders of Avondale had strict orders to hunt all strays and trespassers across the frontiers of stations that did iot there just the same--also the carriers' teams and the drovers' horses
One characteristic of Avondale was that the rank and file of the station were always treated with fatherly benevolence, and were never discharged They gradually got useless by reason of , slowly mummified, and were duly interred in the cees specified, it was no marvel that a deficiency in the Avondale clip of '83 had led to the resignation of Mr Angus Caer, a feeeks before the date of these incidents But the appoint Alf's camp--an event which had taken place three or four le and break in the corridor of Time
Avondale home-station was nine er; but his name was Wentworth St John Ffrench; and, by all accounts, he acted up to it Popular rumour likened hiainst borrowing or lending Mr Ffrench could afford to be independent of such men as Alf, but couldn't afford to establish a precedent for invalided carriers loafing on the run
Of course, you would n't look at the thing in that light; but then, your name is not Wentworth St John Ffrench, and you would n't do for awith a most tenacious type of trespassers before you knehat you were doing
Moreover, the moral responsibility (if any) of the matter rested on Mondunbarra, not on Avondale
Neither had I ever seen the new Avondale boundary ainst him also It required no deep dive into the ur ill from the nickname of 'Terrible Tommy' The title was, of course, satirical; theStill, this naer's
Evidently, my only chance was to deal directly with some one of the boundaryBriton's eyes; and though I had, in a sense, prevailed over the Mongol, I could ht say, by one strand, that strand being Terrible Tommy
Iaccomplice; and, by my faith, I'll do so before I leave hiiveI left the bullocks near the boundary fence, turned Bunyip adrift, and placed the saddle and bridle where I could find theh a belt of tall lignum, sloppy ater, and alive with h scattered timber until, a mile from the fence, appeared the one-roomed abode of thestayed there one night when Bendigo Bill was in charge of the paddock But now, nearing the house, hoished I had that frank, good-hearted old Eureka rebel to deal with instead of the hard-featured, sandy-co home a couple of buckets of water on a wooden hoop Our old friends, the Irresistible and the I, sir,” I cooed, with an urbanity born of the conditions already set down
”Gude evenin' (Squire Western's expression!) Yefairther, ye ken; fir fient haet o' sipper ye'se hae frae it, lazy loun, flichterin' roun' wi' yir 'Gude evenin' sir!'
an' a' sic' clishmaclaver Ai ye! dinna come fleechin' tae me!
The kintra's I-sy wi' sic' haverils, coh fir thir ain sel's Tak' aff yir coat an' wark, ye glaikit-De'il tak' ye; wha' fir ye girnin' at?”