"Looks like more rain," Mac said abruptly, hoping to draw public
attention from the pantomime. "Ought to get off as soon as possible, or
we'll be blocked at the King."
The Katherine seized on the new topic of conversation, and advised
"getting out to the five-mile overnight," declaring it would "take all
day to get away from the Settlement in the morning." Then came another
awkward pause, while every one kept one eye on Tam, until the Maluka
saved the situation by calling for volunteers to help with the horses,
and, Tam being pressed into the service, the boat was launched, and he
was soon safe over the far side of the river.
Once among the horses, the little man was transformed. In the quiet,
confident horseman that rode down the gorge a few minutes later it would
have been difficult to recognise the shy, timid bushman. The saddle had
given him backbone, and it soon appeared he was right-hand man, and, at
times, even organiser in the difficult task of crossing horses through a
deep, swift-running current.
As the flood was three or four hundred yards wide and many feet deep, a
swim was impossible without help, and every horse was to be supported or
guided, or dragged over in the rear of the boat, with a halter held by a
man in the stern.
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