them undisputed right, but they had to be content with it.
Next day the ewe and lamb came again. The lamb bunted several irresponsive objectsânever its damâs udderâbaaing listlessly. Though the first day the ewe had looked at the bunk, and baaed, she was wiser now, though sheep are slow to learn. Around that dried dish outside the lamb sniffed, baaing faintly. Adroitly the ewe led the way to the creek, and the lamb followed. From the bank the lamb looked at her, then faced round to the hut, and, baaing disconsolately, trotted a few paces back. From the waterâs edge the mother ewe called. The lamb looked at her vacantly, and without interest descended. The ewe bent and drank sparingly, meaningly. The lamb sniffed the water, and, unsatisfied, complained. The hut was hidden, but it turned that way. Again the ewe leisurely drank. This time the lambâs lips touched the water, but did not drink. Into its mouth raised to bleat a few drops fell. Hastily the motherâs head went to the water. She did not drink, but the lamb did. Higher up, where the creek was dry, they crossed to tender grass in the billabong, then joined the flock for the first time.
Through the thicker mist that afternoon a white tilted cart sailed joltingly, taking its bearings from the various landmarks rather than from the undefined track. It rounded the scrub, and the woman, with her baby, kept watch for the first glimpse of her home beyond the creek. She told her husband that there was no smoke from the nearer shepherdâs hut, but despite his uneasiness he tried to persuade her that the mist absorbed it.
It was past sundown, yet the straggling unguarded sheep were running in mobs to and from the creek. Both saw the broken roof of the hut, and the man, stopping the horse some distance away, gave the woman the reins and bade her wait. He entered the hut through the broken doorway, but immediately came out to assure himself that his wife had not moved.
The sight inside of that broken-ribbed dogâs fight with those buzzing horrors, and the reproach in his wild eyes, was a memory that the man was not willing she should share.
BILLY SKYWONKIE *
T HE line was unfenced, so with due regard to the possibility of the drought-dulled sheep attempting to chew it, the train crept cautiously along, stopping occasionally, without warning, to clear it from the listless starving brutes. In the carriage nearest the cattle-vans, some drovers and scrub-cutters were playing euchre, and spasmodically chorusing the shrill music from an uncertain concertina. When the train stopped, the player thrust his head from the carriage window. From one nearer the engine, a commercial traveller remonstrated with the guard, concerning the snailâs pace and the many unnecessary halts.
âTake yer time, ole die-âard,â yelled the drover to the guard. âWhips er timeâdonât bust yerself fer no one. Wotâs orl the worlâ to a man wâen his wifeâs a widder.â He laughed noisily and waved his hat at the seething bagman. âGo anâ âave a snooze. Iâll wake yer up ther day after termorrer.â
He craned his neck to see into the nearest cattle-van. Four were down, he told his mates, who remarked, with blasphemous emphasis, that they would probably lose half before getting them to the scrub country.
The listening woman passenger, in a carriage between the drover and the bagman, heard a thud soon after in the cattle-truck, and added another to the list of the fallen.
Before dawn that day the train had stopped at a siding to truck them, and she had watched with painful interest these drought-tamed brutes being driven into the crowded vans. The tireless, greedy sun had swiftly followed the grey dawn, and in the light that even now seemed old and worn, the desolation of the barren shelterless plains, that the night had hidden, appalled her. She realized the sufferings of the emaciated cattle. It was
Dennis Palumbo
Phyllis Bentley
Celia Aaron, Sloane Howell
Nancy Naigle
Diane Haeger
Jill Abramson
Avril Sabine
Eliza Gayle
A J Waines
Georgina Harding