Part 45 (1/2)
”Poor Dan! He walked behind the wagonette all the way, crying softly, like a child, and never taking his eyes fro wet blanket Hard lines for hi him, not an hour before; and now, if he lived till he was a hundred, he would never hear it again
”As soon as we reached the station, I helped Andrews, the storekeeper, to make the little coffin Dan would n't have her buried in the station ceround, at Hay So we boiled a pot of gas-tar to the quality of pitch, and dipped long strips of wool-bale in it, and wrapped theht round the coffin, after the lid was on, till it o ply all over, and as hard and close as sheet-iron
Ay, and by this time more than a dozen blackfellows had rallied-up to the station
”Spanker arranged to send a onette, to look after the horses for Dan The child's o with them, but Dan refused to allow it, and did so with a harshness that surprised ies I happened to ca down fro back to Goolumbulla However,” added Thompson, with subli that, in so uncivilised You see, ere nowhere beside Bob, and Bob was nowhere beside the old lubra”
”Had you much of a yarn with the poor fellohen youonly,” replied Tho the fine apathy due to hiht with the bullocks, in a certain paddock Did n't recognise me; but I told hi but the little girl
Catholic priest in Hay syly with him, he told me, but could n't read the service over the child, on account of her not being baptised So Ward read the service His people are English Catholics
Most likely Spanker thought of this when he sent Ward Dan didn't see uneasy about his paddock; and he thought Spanker ht be at some inconvenience But that black beard of his islikethis to Bob when he was here Absence of mind
Bad habit”
”This Dan hasfeeling in his voice ”Suppose that thunderstorm had come on a few hours sooner-- what then?”
There was a silence for some minutes
”Tell you what in'-out after lost kids,” observed Saunders, at length ”Instigation o' many a pore little (child) perishi+n' unknownst Seen one instance when I was puttin' up a bit o' fence on Grundle--hundred an' thirty-four chain an' some links--forty-odd links, if I don't disremember Top rail an' six wires Jist cuttin' off a bend o' the river, to make a handy cattle-paddick They'd had it fenced-off with dead-wood, twelve or fifteen years before; but when they got it purchased they naterally went-in for a proper fence An' you can't lick a top rail an' six wires, with nine-foot panels ”----
”You're a bit of an authority on fencin',” remarked Baxter drily
”Well, as I was sayin',” continued Saunders; ”this kid belonged to a married man, naht when his missus drafted the lot she ot excited; an' you couldn't blaht-ed to cart the stuff on-to the line Decent, straight-forrid chap, Cunningham is, but a (sheol) of a liar when it shoots him Course, some o' you fellers knows him Meejum-size man, but one o' thein' that heavy red-gum stuff about, as if it was broad palin' Course, he was on'y three-an' twenty; an' fellers o' that age don't know their own strenth His bullocks was fearful low at the time, on account of a trip he had out to Wilcanniar with flour; an' that's how he coham; he's dead now,” observed Donovan indifferently
”Well as I was tellin' you,” pursued Saunders, ”alked that bend the whole (adj) night, singin' out 'Hen-ree! Hen-ree!' an' in the mornin' as jist as fur as e started Toit help; an' by this time I'd come to the conclusion that the kid must be in the river, or out on the plains I favoured the river a lot; but I bethought it it out o' our road, before the grass got dry So I starts at one end to examine the line o' soft ashes that divided the bend off o' the plain--an' har'ly a sign o' traffic across it yet Had n't went, not fifteen chain, before I buen the kid's tracks, plain as A B C, crossin' out towards the plain Coo-ees for Cunningham; shows hiht to the other end, to see if the tracks come back No (adj) tracks So we tells the missus; an' she clears-out for the plain, an' ham, he collars his horse, an' out for the plain too Station chaps turns-up, in ones an' twos; an' when they seen the tracks, they scattered for the plain too
Mostly young fellers, on good horses--soh to be worth enterin' for a saddle, or the like o' that Curious how horses was better an' cheaper theot her off of a traveller for three notes; an' you'd pass her by without lookin' at her; but of all the deceivin' goers you ever co ago,” interposed Thompson
”About two o'clock,” continued Saunders cheerfully, ”I was dead-beat an' leg-tired; an' I went back to the tent, to git a bite to eat; an', coen, I went roun' to have another look at the tracks
Now, thinks I, what road would that little (wanderer) be likeliest to head fro that was layin'
about a chain past the tracks, an' I set there for a minit, thinkin'
like (sheol) You would n't call it a big log for the Murray, or the Lower Goulb'n, but it was a fair-size log for the Murruuest one I ever seen was on the Goulb'n Course, when I say 'big,' I mean measurement; I ain't thinkin' about holler shells, with no timber in 'em This tree I'm speakin' about had eleven thousand two hundred an' sorave, the feller that cut her”----
”His troubles is over too,” un to fancy I could hear the whiination, thinks I Lis'ns fit to break en Seeoes; hunts roun'; lis'ns; calls 'Hen-ree!'; lis'ns agen Not a sound Couple o'
the station hands happened to come roun', an' I told 'em Well, after an hour o' searchin' an' lis'nin', the three of us went back to where I heard the sound I hitches en, an' says I:
”'This is the very spot I was,' says I, 'when I heard it' An' before the as out o' en!
”'There you are!' says I
”'What the (sheol) are you blatherin' about?' says they
”'Don't you hear the (adj) kid?' says I
”'Oh, that ain't the kid, you (adj) fool!' says they, lookin' as wise as Solomon, an' not lettin'-on they could n't hear it But for an' all, they parted, an' rode roun' an' roun', as slow as they could crawl, stoppin' every now an' agen, an' listening for all they orth; an' , puzzlin' my brains At last I hears another whiain!' says I