Part 5 (1/2)
The drover stood by the side of his horse, beneath the acacia trees in the yard He had a big scar on his face, apparently the result of collision with a fence; he looked thin and sickly and seeh to disarm hostility Obviously, he was down on his luck Had it not been for that indefinable self-reliant look which drovers--the Ishht have taken hiht It was a ragged, unkeht, an absolute ”lance showed colossal round ribs, square hips, and a great length of rein, the rest hidden beneath a wealth of loose hair He looked like ”a good journey horse”, possibly soor questioned the drover The enerally are It is only the rowdy and the town-bushy that are fluent of speech
”Guid or
”Mornin', boss,” said the drover, shortly
”Is this the horrse ye hae for sale?”
”Yes”
”Ay,” and M'Gregor looked at the pony with a businesslike don't-think-s, and opened the passive creature's mouth ”H'm,” he said Then he turned to the drover ”Ye seem a bit oot o' luck Ye're thin like What's been the matter?”
”Been sick with fever--Queensland fever Just coh from the North Been out on the Diaor ”Hae ye the fever on ye still?”
”Yes--goin' hoet Queensland fever in a oes If he stays, it will sap his strength and pull him to pieces; if hehiular intervals to rack, shake, burn, and sweat its victi its patient out at the sah the experience, and there was a slight change in his voice as he went on with his palaver
”Whaur are ye makin' for the noo?”
”Monaro--in ye sell the horrse?”
”Coach and rail Too sick to care about ridin',” said the drover, while a wan srey features ”I've rode hih I've rode that horse a thousand miles I wouldn't sell hiet the o houid horrse on a caor
”No better camp-horse in Queensland,” said the drover ”You can chuck the reins on his neck, an' he'll cut out a beast by hior's action in thisafter sheep, and a camp-horse would be about asWe had expected Sandy to rush the fellow off the place at once, and we couldn't understand hoas that he took so much interest in him Perhaps the fever-racked drover and the old camp-horse appealed to him in a way incomprehensible to us We had never been on the Queensland cattle-camps, nor shaken and shi+vered with the fever, nor lived the roving life of the overlanders M'Gregor had done all this, and his heart (I can see it all noent out to the ht the old days back to him
”Ah, weel,” he said, ”we hae'na muckle use for a camp-horrse here, ye ken; wi'oot some of these lads wad like to try theer han' cuttin'
oot the hed conteht of the man froor
”Reckon he's worth fifteen notes,” said the drover
This fairly staggered us Our estis and a fiver We thought the negotiations would close abruptly; but M'Gregor, after a little ive the price, provided the saddle and bridle, both grand specireed to, and the drover was sent off to get hisby the coach
”Thethat Queensland fever,” was the only reor made But we kne that there was a soft spot in his heart so cheque He said no hile the cheque was being written, but, as he was going away, the horse happened to be in the yard, and he went over to the old comrade that had carried him so many miles, and laid a hand on his neck
”He ain'tslowly and aardly, ”but he's white when he's wanted” And just before the coach rattled off, the man of feords leant down from the box and nodded impressively, and repeated, ”Yes, he's white when he's wanted”
We didn't trouble to give the new horse a naenerally called after the anthe appellations of our horses at that time As we didn't know the drover's name, we simply called the animal ”The new horse” until a still newer horse was one day acquired Then, one of the hands being told to take the new horse, said, ”D'yer mean the _ne horse or the _old_ new horse?”