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At five-twenty the manager summoned him, complimented him on nothing in particular, and suggested that he stay late with Charley Carpenter and the stock-keeper to inventory a line of desk-clocks which they were closing out. As Mr. Wrenn returned to his desk he stopped at a window on the corridor and coveted the bright late afternoon.
At this time, the stock-keeper and his horse have no sinecure; for the cattle they have to collect, are as wild, and nearly as swift as deer; so much so, that a cattle-hunt in Australia is nearly as much enjoyed by the young men as a fox-hunt in Old England.
During the heavy rains the lazy beasts refused to stir, and when violent storms chanced to occur, the creatures became almost mad with terror, and were seized with a wild, disorderly panic. However, by dint of energy and ambition, the stock-keeper triumphed over these difficulties, incessantly renewed though they were.
A few minutes later, nothing was visible of the stock-keeper and his troop but a cloud of dust. The wagon resumed its course in the opposite direction, and did not stop again till they halted for the night at the foot of Mount Talbot. Paganel made the judicious observation that it was the 25th of December, the Christmas Day so dear to English hearts.
Did n' Hi say, las' lambin' did n' Hi say we war a-gwain ter hev sich anuther year as sixty-hate? Mostly kettle wot we hed then, afore the wool rose; an' wild dogs bein' plentiful them times; an' we'd a sort o' 'ead stock-keeper, name o' Bob Selkirk; an' this feller 'e started f'm 'ere with hate 'underd an' fo'ty sebm 'ead"
The two men rode together from the Old Port up the track over Tom's Cap, and shot two pigeons by the way, which was fortunate, for when they arrived at Kilmany Park William Pearson was absent, and his men were found to be living under a discipline so strict that his stock-keeper, Jimmy Rentoul, had no meat, and dared not kill any without orders; so McMillan and Davy fried the pigeons, and ate one each for supper.
We were circling round for miles, without making any headway; and so the time passed till about three in the afternoon. Then up comes Spanker, with his hat lost, and his face cut and bleeding 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 him our tracks.
The only persons present in the last and most serious affair with the Aborigines, which took place in December of last year, were Frances, a person named Downes, and a stock-keeper in Melbourne. No other admissible evidence of the death of these poor people can be obtained than what Frances's written statement conveys.
The stock-keeper would be himself forced to wait on the banks of a stream that might have been crossed at once. There was nothing to hinder but the obstinacy of the herd. The bullocks would taste the water and turn back. The sheep fled in all directions, afraid to brave the liquid element. The stock-keeper hoped when night came he might manage them better, but they still refused to go forward.
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