Part 41 (2/2)
Then the conte of Saunders' dog, at a solitary box tree, indicating a possuht
”Gostruth, that 'on't do!””That's visible to the naked eye about three ht like now”
”Recalls the e,” re by coach, had a pet dog, which annoyed her fellow-passengers till one of the,' says the lady; 'he's a real Peruvian'
'We don't object to your Peruvian dog,' says the passenger, 'but ish he would give us less of his Peruvian bark'”
Before our company had recovered from the painful constraint induced by this unfatho by a saddlestrap taken from his own equator
”Dead spit of my poor old Monkey,” re ”Never felt the thing that's on me more distinctly than when I lost poor Monkey”
”Well, I offered you a fiver for him,” rejoined Donovan ”Never know'd a ood bid for
Picked up a bait, I s'pose?”
”Monkey would never have stayed with you,” replied Tho would have broke his heart if he'd been parted from me Tell you how I lost him Last winter, when I was loaded-out for Kenilworth--where I ht remember it was dry, and frosty, and miserable, and the country as bare as a stockyard; and ed round by Yoongoolee, stealing a bite of grass here, and a bite there; and travelling by -off the runs; and staying with the bullocks every night, and keeping the, I left the wagon on that bit of red ground at the Fifteen-mile Gate, and tailed the bullocks down in the dark to sarass in Old Sollicker's horse-paddock About eleven at night, when the first of thean to lie-down, I shi+fted the lot to an open place, so as to have theot full I was in bodily fear of losing so-oolee I knew Old Sollicker was as regular as clockwork, and I was safe till sunrise; so I intended to rouse-up the bullocks just before daylight, to lay in a fresh supply In the meantime, I settled ?” asked Baxter
”Rolled up in the blanket with me, I tell you; and we both slept like the dead”----
”Owing to having no fleas on you?” suggested Stevenson
”Don't knoas the cause; but the thing that woke le of a Barwell horse-bell on one side, and the rattle of a bridle on the other
Sure enough, there was the sun half-an-hour high, and Old Sollicker about thirty yards off, and here on the other side was his two horses dodging away fronum, half-way between; and ether in the open, a bit to the left of the horses It was plain to be seen that the old fellow hadn't caught sight of the bullocks on account of the belt of lignu for an openish place, not twenty yards ahead of hirabbed hold of Monkey, and fired hi when I let hi out of those horses' heels; and, of course, they streaked for the clear ground near the hut As soon as I let the dog go, I turned my attention to Sollicker
At the first alarm, he stopped to consider; then, when the horses shot past hi their heels, he rubbed his chin for about two ave a sort of snort, and said, 'Well, I be dang!' and with that he turned round and went toward his hut That was the signal for me to clear; and in fifteen minutes I had all my stock in safety-bar poor Monkey; and I never saw him from that day to this”
”You (adj) fool! why did n't you hunt for him?” asked Donovan
”And did n't I hunt for hi for hi I went back seven mile, and called at the hut to ask Mrs Sollicker if her oldthe lignuot clear of the hut, I whistled till I was black in the face; and still no dog I hunted everywhere; and still no dog Vanished out of the land of the living
That dog would never leave me while he had breath in his body; and when he did n't coht have”----
”Sh-sh-sh!+” whispered Stevenson And, following the direction of his look, we discerned the approaching figure of a ht,” observed Baxter, after a pause ”Anybody else comin', I wonder? Seerass without the whole (adj) country juht to be prosecuted with the utour o' the (adj) law,” remarked Donovan aloud, as the new-comer dismounted and liberated his horse, a few yards away
”We should certainly be justified in taking the opinion of the Court on a test case,” added Stevenson ”Suppose weyour pardon!” For the intended sacrifice was just collapsing into an easy position beside the speaker
”Been scoutin' for you (fellows) this last half-hour,” he re time and place ”Seen samples o' your workin' plant, an' knoho to expect Heard the dog barkin'
jis' now Soft collar we got here--ain't it?”
”How did you find it?” asked Tho--at the Boree Paddick, about four mile out there? Well, I worked on his horse-paddick las' night, an' he follered me up this mornin', an' talked sus is jis' now; an' I got at the soft side o' the (adj) idolator; an' he laid me on here Reckoned I'd ood point about a Chow boundaryas you don't interfere with his own paddock, he never makes himself nasty”