Part 3 (1/2)
We soon arrived at a large hole in a gu us no doubt that several opossums were ensconced within Our first care was to collect a quantity of sticks and green leaves; when, a fire being kindled inside the hole, the s the whole of the cavity, which extended to where the boughs branched off The ht Before long, three or four little creatures ean to make their way upwards One, however, als, instantly pouncing upon it, would have torn it to pieces had not their master pulled theround by the sticks which the rest of us hove at the been so unexpectedly smoked out of their nests
We were equally successful with two other trees, round which the dogs gave tongue, and after an hour's hunting we returned carrying our prizes, which took Bracewell and his shepherd so is but ta his hands after having cleaned the last of the beasts; ”but as you are both good horseo in chase of some wild cattle which have appeared in the bush not far off I should not object to kill a couple of them, as we are in want of fresh hter aroo, which is sure to give us good sport”
Next h the open forest
We trusted entirely to Bracewell's guidance, for before we had gone aain
”We are in luck,” cried Bracewell, as in less than half an hour we caught sight of four head of the wild cattle ere in search of As we approached they began pawing on the ground, sticking out their tails and looking anything but ae if we don't take care,” observed Bracewell ”Shout and crack your whips, that will make them show us their flanks”
We had, I should have said, our guns in readiness, and a brace of pistols in our belts, so that ell ar upon huerous character to engage
Bracewell had before instructed us how to act under such ordinary circu of our whips, and our loud shouts, at length frightened the three bulls, and instead of running at us they turned tail and off they went
”Tally-ho!” shouted Bracewell, and we made chase
Our object was now to overtake theot up to a powerful red bull, for a few seconds he and the ani it on his right side he fired, and the superb beast, with a low bellow, crashed headlong to the ground Pulling up for a alloped after led out; but in consequence of a fallen tree which would have co side, so that I could not fire with due effect Fearing however that the bull would escape, I took the best aie, charged wildly at my horse
”Spur for your life,” shouted Bracewell I did so, for I expected every moment to see the bull rip open ored Ibehind me and actually touched my horse, which nearly sent me over its head as it kicked out viciously to defend itself Happily Braceas close behind, and co up presented the muzzle of his pistol at the bull's head The nexta third bull I had heard hi on, with head down, about to run at hied to guide his horse, when the bull for a ht of him he was able to take a steady aim: he fired and the monster rolled over
”Nervous work!” exclaih I really forgot the danger to which you ht be exposed, but I am very thankful that no haro, and get the cart to bring in the oes or black fellows or the ants have taken possession of it”
We agreed that hunting wild cattle was h we fancied that the latter was the finest amusement to be found in Australia Not athe cart under way, and Guy and I undertook to accoain leave the station during the time that old Bob who drove it, and Toby ent to assist hiht sight of a number of what at a distance I should have fancied were ordinary dogs-- with sharpround the spot
”They're dingoes!” cried Guy ”The rascals have already commenced operations on one of the bulls We must drive them off or old Bob won't have much meat to carry ho-whips, which we brought into active play Sooes turn tail and retreat to a safe distance, where they stood watching the operation of cutting up one of the ani Bob and Toby to load the cart with the flesh of the first bullock, the dingoes made a sudden dash at the carcase of the animal on which they had before commenced
This was ive the ourselves on our horses, we rode at the savage pack, using the butts of our whips with such good effect that we knocked over upwards of half a dozen before the rest of the pack took to flight To prevent their returning, we pursued them as they went off in the direction of the station, when, firing our pistols, we brought doo or threeto pull up and reload, and the pack, keeping wonderfully well together, again ed to distance us Still, excited by the chase, we kept on, the dead dingoesbeen somewhat tired by the chase after the wild cattle and the rides to and froht otherwise have done Neither Guy nor I thought of pulling up, however, while we had the chance of killing , threwhi no inclination to be caught I shouted to ot so what had occurred went in chase ofoff again, well-nigh tired out his horse I ran here and there hoping to catch the anith however Guy got hold of it, by which time, of course, the pack had escaped We now had to consider what road we should take, but e looked round we found it was a question difficult to decide
”If we could but cooes, we could easily make our way back to where we left old Bob,” observed Guy
We felt sure that the last dingo we had killed could not be far off
”This is the spot where o,” I said, ”I know it by that peculiar-looking gu to coh we searched about we could nowhere discover it On and on ent, still no dingoes could we see, nor could we distinguish the track made by our horses' feet The sky had becoh we could not see the sun, we knew that itdarknessbenighted
We cooeyed as loudly as we could in the hope that Bob and Toby would hear our voices, but no answer reached us Had we been riding horses belonging to the station, we ht have let them select their course and they would probably have taken us in; but we had mounted our own beasts, which could not be depended on Still, as long as there was light sufficient to enable us to avoid knocking our heads against the boughs of trees, we rode on, hoping that we th reach the station
At last, however, we agreed that we ry and thirsty as we felt Next ht we should, at all events, easily find our way We accordingly dismounted, hobbled our horses, collected rass we soon kindled a fla to cook at it We settled that one should keep watch and look after the horses The poor ani fro away to look for water, for without it they showed little inclination to crop the grass Had we thought it prudent for both of us to sleep, the night would have appeared to pass by much th day broke, and ere saluted by the -jackass We did not shoot him, but we killed a couple of parrots, which we quickly roasted to satisfy the gnawings of hunger, and then ht, in the direction of the station We felt especially vexed with ourselves for losing our way, and causing Bracewell the anxiety he would naturally feel on our account, though he would guess pretty clearly what had happened froive hiht sight of a fire and a colu air
”Perhaps that is the camp of some people Bracewell has sent out to look for us,” said I
”It ers,” observed Guy ”It will be prudent, at all events, to approach it cautiously”