“ Catch him, Brindle! Hurrah, Brindle is closing; is surely creeping up!
They are now about three hundred yards from the timber belt, and the dingo is slowly but surely being overhauled. Visions of the scalp as a proud trophy fill the boy's imagination. If only Brindle may seize his victim and hold him till he rides up and gives the brute its quietus with the stirrup iron! Brindle is now not more than four lengths behind, and the beasts are still a hundred yards from the scrub.
"On then, doggie: catch him: hold him!" shouts Joe across the widely intervening distance. ”

“ At last the mare, completely done up, comes to grief over a tree root, and tumbles to mother earth. The rider rises, unhurt; not so the mare, who has strained her fetlock. What is to be done now? It is a serious mischance, and the boy feels the gravity of the situation. The only thing to be done is to relieve his steed of saddle and bridle, cache his accoutrements, and trudge along on foot.
"Might have been worse," sighed the philosophic lad. "Poor Jill! I don't like leaving you; but it won't be for long, my beauty. Your master will send some one to look after you to-morrow. ”

“ For the joy of the discovery of the lads is almost quenched at times by sights of the perils of the passage.
The mothers of Joe, Tom, and Jimmy are grouped together, wrought up to such a pitch of anxiety as to be well-nigh silent. They noted every danger and counted every oar-stroke. The gallant rowers lifted their blades in the twilight, as the last rays sparkled on the flowing waters. Beyond a landward look the boys had no time to bestow upon the excited spectators. Eye and mind, in close conjunction, are continuously engaged in evading danger and maintaining the boat's position. ”

“ Thus, with the calico wing on one side, a living, whip-cracking, yelling cordon on the other, and a harrying force behind, the spectacle is as brilliant and as exciting as Australia can furnish in the line of sport.
At sunrise, on a glorious morning in mid January, the Bullaroi party, well mounted, wend their way to the appointed rendezvous, from whence the amalgamated forces are to proceed to the brumby grounds.
The men and boys are variously mounted. All the horses, however, are used to stock work; some of them, within certain limits, being as intelligent as the men who bestride them. ”

“ Not even the hollow note of the night-owl or the familiar thump made by the feeding marsupial breaks the monotony of silence. No sound, indeed, save the crunching of the traveller's boots on the rough ground. How long drawn out the day has been. It seems an eternity since he dowsed Tom and Sandy on the bedroom floor. Lucky beggars, they are snug and sound under the blankets, dreaming the happy dreams of youth; while he, Joe Blain, is tramp, tramp, tramping. ”

“ Down the ridge and along the road they dashed at breakneck speed; the steer roaring and kicking, the four strong billies baaing, and neither driver nor rider could control the brutes. Away they scurried along the rough bush-track, the cart bumping and rocking over the ruts; every jump of the trap bringing a fresh bleat from the fear-stricken goats.
After racing along for nearly a mile and finding his steed unmanageable, getting frightened too, Yellow Billy slipped over the stern, and by good luck dropped upon his feet. It was different with Jimmy, who gallantly hung on to the billies. ”

“ Is not this a challenge to the latent forces in the wild blood of the human? It riots through the youth's veins, giving vim and sparkle to his courage. Who shall win the lordship? Away then, and away!—through the mountain pines till clothes are mere shreds, and breast and thighs are torn and blooded with innumerable scores; slithering down the gorges to the accompaniment of rattling stones; jumping fallen timber, and smashing through the undergrowth, till all pursuit has faded away—the infuriated steed holds his course. ”

“ At a preconcerted signal the men close up, and amid an unceasing fusilade of stock-whip crackings the beasts are hustled, the rear men flogging up the lagging ones.
The calico wing acts effectually on the one side, allowing a strong line to form up on the other. Barring accidents, the hunt is as good as finished; for in a moment or two the horses will be entering the trap mouth.
The outlaw is leading the mob in a direct line for the yard. But, stay! His keen eyes sight the fence. It is a trap! Past adventures flood his recollection and shape judgment and determination. ”

“ He rounds the trap fence, bolts down the grassy valley apace, twists up a gully with a swerve that almosts unseats Billy, dashes into Glen Creek, and mounts the bank to enter a defile. The first shock over, the half-caste begins to realise his position. For a moment a pang of fear seizes him, and some of the dread possibilities of the ride dawn upon him. This soon yields to a different sensation as they rush through space.
There is that in the half-wild nature of the lad which goes out in unconscious sympathy for the bestridden beast. ”

“ Spears hurtle and boomerangs swish through the air; the crash of nulla-nulla on shields supplants the music of the orchestra, the while the gins flee in sheer terror from the bloody scene to their huts in the forest, rending the air with their shrill screams as they speed.
But what of the whites?
They stand a few moments horrorstruck at the raging human cyclone. At first the grim reality seemed unreal, just as previously the sham battle-action appeared real. Joe is the first to size up the situation. Not only are the blacks in blood-red earnest, but there is actual peril to the spectators. ”

“ Dick Gill, his son, who lies across his horse, was known as a fearless and somewhat reckless rider. At the critical moment, with the lust of the chase upon him, the lad made a mad dash for the racing steed. To swerve him he instinctively felt would be a vain attempt. "I'll ride the beggar down!" With naught of tremor, but with a disdainful scorn of consequence, hawk-like he swooped upon his quarry.
But, as we have seen, the outlaw had his own resolves. These, alas! more than defeat the object of the horseman. The warrigal's last hope trembled in the balance. ”

“ As soon as he found himself astride the warrigal, the yellow boy held fast with knees and hands, the stock whip over his shoulder trailing in a long line behind the flying pair. To stick on the racing horse was a comparatively easy thing to Billy, unless, indeed, some fiendish trick should unseat him. But to guide the scurrying brute, unbitted, unreined, were as impossible as to turn and check a Mont Blanc avalanche.
The first instinct of the horse upon escaping from the trap-yard was to dismount his rider by violent means, but there are eager pursuers on the track—so away! ”

“ If you don't believe me ask our black tom-cat. He chased a mouse into the batter and upset the bowl; so there!"
"Mary, Mary!" remonstrated Mrs. Robinson. "There's only a grain of truth in the pound of fiction she's giving you, Joe. The cat, it is true, did chase a mouse; but it did not jump into the batter, nor was the bowl upset. The pancakes are cooked, with currans in 'em; just the sort you like; and they're keeping hot by the fire."
"Thanks awfully, Mrs. Robinson; I believe you anyway. As for Mary, she's like Sandy M'Intyre's old, toothless sheep-dog." ”

“ The woman was dead beyond all doubt, but death is counterbalanced by life. A brief and astonished survey, and the boy leans over the limb and speaks quietly to those below—
"The woman's dead, boys, but there's a baby here. It's tied to her breast. It's alive!"
Just then, as if to demonstrate the truthfulness of the statement, the babe lifted up its voice once more in a feeble cry. The scene in that tree Joe never will forget; the like he will not see again though he rival Methuselah in age. The only thing he can yet see is a little hand and arm, which have wriggled from the covering. ”

“ Joe was made acquainted with this change of course by the frantic cries of his mates. Throwing his head over his shoulder for a moment, he saw the shark heading directly for him. He knew in that moment that unless the miraculous happened his hours were numbered, and in a few seconds—or minutes at most—his body would be mangled by this pitiless sea-tiger. Yet, although this terrible result appeared an absolute certainty to the fleeing youth, he did not lose his head, but swam with a strong and steady stroke. There is such a thing as hoping against hope. He would not surrender life ”

“ Gimme a slice (thick) of Nosey's damper, an' a slab of that corn-beef."
What a sinking seems to fill his being! How heavy his boots have grown! How steep those everlasting ridges have become! How lovely to crouch down on that patch of bracken—for five minutes only! He must stop and rest awhile; not to lie and sleep: just to get his wind and ease his tired limbs. Shall he——? But no! he must first cut the track—then! His limbs are trembling; he must not stand still, or he will fall. On, on—to the station track! Onward, then, creeps the tottering, stumbling lad. Whistle and song have long ceased. ”

“ So the chase continues, and is now but little more than a mile from the scrub belt which fringes the base of the hills. To this ark of safety, therefore, the dingo strains every muscle, and seizes every small advantage which his instinct discerns. No less strenuous is the cattle dog. He has the staying powers of his class, and he too runs to win. In this way the pursued and pursuers hurry-skurry over bush and brake, over stony ridges and across intersecting gullies. ”

“ The wind and flood waters, travelling in opposite directions, conflicted with great violence. The roaring, boastful wind, as it lashed the racing, defiant waters into angry waves, and the universe-filling sounds of the seething, surging flood-waters, as they wrestled with and overbore all opposing forces, made storm music, compared with which the artifices of man touch the infinitely puny. Darkness and the blinding rain had driven most of the river watchers indoors. ”

“ Joe now remembered Sandy relating how his father used to lure the emu he was stalking within shot of his fowling piece, by lying flat, and slowly waving his handkerchief from the point of his ram-rod; or even doubling his leg as he lay breast downward, and elevating his hat on the foot thus raised. With slow and hesitating yet irresistible steps, fascinated by the mysterious object, or a victim to curiosity, the bird would approach to its undoing. ”

“ The horse, by a miracle, was without hurt.
"You're a lucky beggar, Tom," said Sandy, after a few minutes. "From the way you crashed down I made sure every blessed bone in your body was broken. How do you feel now, ole boss?"
"Oh, I'm all right," replied Tom feebly. "Shoulder's the worst. It's not dislocated, but it pains a lot. Phew! but it does hurt when I move it. I expect it felt the full force of the tumble. But—where's Joe?"
"Joe's ahead. Goodness only knows where he's got to by now. He hasn't a ghost's show of getting the dingo if he makes for the hills." ”

“ Forgotten in a moment is all fear, whether of the visible bird or the invisible pursuers. Handicapped as he is, and goaded by his pain and shameful condition, the dingo fires the first shot, as it were, by making a sudden jump at the emu's throat, narrowly missing it, and still more narrowly missing the leg stroke of the bird as it made its counter-stroke.
Both bird and beast are practised in all the arts and devices of animal warfare. Each knows the tactics of the other. But for the disability of the dog through the tenacious trap the chances would be in his favour ”

“ Its innumerable roots, lateral and vertical, hold with frantic clutch to mother earth, as it grimly wrestles with its Gargantuan foe. But the earth, which for years innumerable has mothered the forest lord, furnishing his daily portion of meat and drink, nourishing and cherishing him till he bulks in girth and height as Saul among the prophets, proving faithful in every tussle with wind and flood heretofore, now turns traitor. The soil dissolves in the swirling waters as they ravish the earth. ”

“ To secure four dingoes in one scoop was a great stroke of luck. Not so much luck, on reflection, as skilful management. An amateur might have set a hundred traps with seeming skill and not have bagged a dog. No one save a trapper like George could trap with any degree of certainty.
"I s'pose you'll bag the balance to-night," remarked Tom to the trapper when they had remounted.
"No jolly fear! Never catch any more along this line."
"How's that?"
"Why, d'yer think a dingo's no sense? Be gosh! all the calves in creation wuddent tempt what's left of the vermin to come along this track again. ”

“ The subject of the corrobberie was an emu hunt, and was full of startling incident, presenting ludicrous aspects that created roars of laughter. The descriptive song was chanted in perfect time: a sort of runic lay, beginning in a low and monotonous key and gradually waxing louder as the chase progressed, finally ending crescendo in a cry of victory, what time the animal is overcome and slain.
The spectators, black and white, applauded most generously, our old friends Jacky and Willy being among the loudest. The station boys were in no ways different from their brothers in get up. ”