Part 44 (1/2)
”A goot dog would be wort vivty ht struck several of us, but it did n't strike Bob,” replied Thoht a retriever with theaet hiirl's track Never been trained to track children--and hoere they going to make him understand that a child was lost? However, while two of the well-sinkers were persevering with their retriever, the other fellow drove off like fury to fetch Dan's sheep-dog;the scent In theboth our horses
”Give hi a letter written in a good business hand You must'nt look at what's under your eye; you rasp of what's on ahead, besides spotting each track you pass Otherwise, you'll be always turning back for a fresh race at it And you must no more confine yourself to actual tracks than you would expect to find each letter correctly foro
Of course, our everyday tracking is not tracking at all
”However, Bob run this little track full walk, mile after mile, in places where I would 'n't see a rass, and dead leaves, and so forth One thing in favour of Bob was that she kept a fairly straight course, except when she was blocked by porcupine or supple-jack; then she would swerve off, and keep another ht line At last Bob stopped
”'Here's where she slept last night,' says he; and we could trace the h We even found soround, and others that the ants were carrying away She had made twelve or fourteen mile in the day's walk
”By this time, several chaps had co us in twos and threes As fast as they caht and left, and one cove walked a bit behind Bob, with a frog-bell, shaking it now and then, to give the fellows their latitude
This would be about two in the afternoon, or half-past; and we pushed along the tracks she hadher before dark The thing thatfor a thunderstorm At this time ere in that unstocked country south-east of the station Suddenly Bob rose up from his stoop, and looked round at host
”'God help us now, if we don't get a blackfellow quick!' says he, pointing at the ground before hih, there lay the child's little coppertoed boots, where she had taken theot sore, and walked on in her socks It was just then that a tank-sinker drove up, with Dan and his dog in the buggy”
”Poor old Rory!” I interposed ”Much excited?”
”Well--no But there was a look of suspense in his face that orse
And his dog--a dog that had run the scent of his horse for hundreds ofwould s-foot, only a few hours old, and would wag his tail, and bark, to show that he knehose track it was; and all the tireatest distress to see Dan in trouble; but it was no use trying to start his with just the same success But Bob never lost half-a-second over these attempts He knew
”Anyway, it was fearful work after that; with the thunderstor the track; and us circling round and round in front, so it up a little further ahead But we only made another half-ht was on
I daresay there hteen or twenty horses, and two or three buggies and wagonettes Soht mile away, and some cleared-off in desperation to hunt for blackfellows, and the rest of us scattered out a mile or two ahead of the last track, to listen
”They had been sending lots of tucker frorey everyone had breakfast, and was out again But, do ould, it was slow, sloork; and Bob was the only one that could , of course; and by this tiht hours
”At nine or ten in the forenoon, when Bob hadthrough the scrub fro for the sound of the bell
”'Here, Bob!' says he 'We've found the little girl's billy at the fence of Peter's paddock, where she crossed Take this horse About two ht out there'
”I had my horse with me at the time, and I tailed-up Bob to the fence
He went full tilt, keeping the track that the horse had come, and this fetched us to where a couple of chaps were standing over a little billy, with a luh the fence, and then went on without them The lid was still on the billy, and there was a drop of milk left The ants had eaten the bread out of all shape
”But Bob was through the fence, and bowling down a dusty sheeptrack, where a couple of fellows had gone before him, and where we could all see the s were off by this tihty yards this pad run into another, covered with fresh sheep-tracks since the little girl had passed Nothing for it but to spread out, and examine the network of pads scattered over the country
All this tirumble of thunder now and then, and the air was fearfully close
”At last there was a coo-ee out to the left Young Broome had found three plain tracks, about half-a-et beyond the any headway; and so the time passed till about three in the afternoon
Then up co from the scrub, and his horses in a white lather, and a black lubra sitting in the back of the buggy, and the Mulppa stock-keeper tearing along in front, giving hirey-haired lubra, blind of one eye; but she knew her business, and she was on the job for life or death She picked-up the track at a glance, and run it like a bloodhound We found that the little girl had n't kept the sheep-pads as we expected Generally she went straight till soain, at another angle Very rarely--hardly ever--we could see what signs the lubra was following; but she was all right Uncivilised, even for an old lubra nobody could yabber with her but Bob; and he kept close to her all the tiht came on, but there was no help for it She went slower and slower, and at last she sat dohere she was
We judged that the little girl had ot on her track, and we had added soh, mind you, at this time ere only about twelve or fourteen ht or ten ht I ever passed, though it was one of the shortest in the year
Eyes burning for want of sleep, and could n't bear to lie down for aso it was only one of the other chaps, or soht; even two or three drops of rain, toward ht of the little girl, lying worn-out, half-asleep and half-fainting--far more helpless than a sheep--and I made up my mind that if she came out safe I would lead a better life for the future
”However, between daylight and sunrise--being then about aat a sloalk, listening and dozing in the saddle, when I heard a far-away call that sounded like 'Dad-dee!' It seeht in front of one far when Willia?' says I