Cattle, and cattle only, would be the work of the "Dry." Dan and the
Quiet Stockman, with a dozen or so of cattle "boys" to help them, had the
year's musterings and brandings to get through; the Dandy would be
wherever he was most needed; yard-building, yard-repairing, carting
stores or lending a hand with mustering when necessity arose, while the
Maluka would be everywhere at once, in organisation if not in body.
Where runs are huge, and fenceless, and freely watered the year's
mustering and branding is no simple task Our cattle were scattered
through a couple of thousand square miles of scrub and open timbered
country, and therefore each section of the run had to be gone over again
and again; each mob, when mustered, travelled to the nearest yard and
branded.
Every available day of the Dry was needed for the work; but there is one
thing in the Never-Never that refuses to take a secondary--place the
mailman; and at the end of a week we all found, once again, that we had
business at the homestead; for six weeks had slipped away since our last
mail-day, and the Fizzer was due once more.
Pages:
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183