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"to be the mast Of some great ammiral." And hark! here comes the cattle-train bearing the cattle of a thousand hills, sheepcots, stables, and cow-yards in the air, drovers with their sticks, and shepherd boys in the midst of their flocks, all but the mountain pastures, whirled along like leaves blown from the mountains by the September gales.
We stayed at Nyngan which place we refrain from sketching for a few hours, because the five trucks of cattle of which we were in charge were shunted there, to be taken on by a very subsequent goods train. The Government allows one man to every five trucks in a cattle-train. We shall pay our fare next time, even if we have not a shilling left over and above.
"Was any one shot?" queried Andy. "Not in the daytime. Nobody killed by this Citizens' Protective League, as they call themselves. They just rounded up all the suspicious men an' herded them on to thet cattle-train an' carried them off. It was at night when the vigilantes worked masked an' secret an' sure bloody. Jest like the old vigilante days! ... An' you can gamble they ain't through yet."
At Cambridge Gifford had been an incorrigible practical joker, and by no means had outgrown the habit; it would be like him to cut across the country in his evening clothes, board a cattle-train, and amuse himself touching up the picture of the sensation in West Riding.
We were all one long afternoon getting them into the trucks, and when we'd finished the boss said to me 'Look here, Jack, you're going on to Sydney, aren't you? 'Yes; I'm going down to have a fly round. 'Well, why not wait and go down with Andy in the morning? He's going down in charge of the cattle. The cattle-train starts about daylight.
That was all I could do for him. 'Good-bye, Jack! he said at the door of the brake-van. 'Good-bye, Andy! keep those bullocks on their feet. The cattle-train went on towards the Blue Mountains. Andy and I sat silent for a while, watching the guard fry three eggs on a plate over a coal-stove in the centre of the van. 'Does the boss never go to Sydney? I asked.
Through the long day and the still longer night of toil and stress the new boss was able to endure hardship with the best man on the ground. This was excellent, as far as it went. But later, with the offending cattle-train crews before him for trial and punishment, Lidgerwood lost all he had gained by being too easy.
We saunter along to the observation car and breathe the glorious freshness of the air, chilled by the great white peaks which rise shining up against a clear sky. Seeing that several of the men passengers have climbed down on to the track and are wandering along it we follow, and round the next corner come upon a cattle-train off the lines and blocking the way.
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