"Whatever
do you do with your time?" asked the South folk.
Dan was in high spirits: cattle were coming in everywhere, and another
beautiful permanent "water" had been discovered in unsuspected ambush.
To know all the waters of a run is important; for they take the part of
fences, keeping the cattle in certain localities; and as cattle must stay
within a day's journey or so of water, an unknown water is apt to upset a
man's calculations.
As the honour of finding the hole was all Dan's, it was named DS. in his
honour, and we had waited beside it while he cut his initials deep into
the trunk of a tree, deploring the rustiness of his education as he
carved. The upright stroke of the D was simplicity itself, but after
that complications arose.
"It's always got me dodged which way to turn the darned thing," Dan said,
scratching faint lines both ways, and standing off to decide the
question. We advised turning to the right, and the D was satisfactorily
completed, but S proved the "dead finish," and had to be wrestled with
separately.
"Can't see why they don't name a chap with something that's easily
wrote," Dan said, as we rode forward, with our united team of horses and
boys swinging along behind us, and M and T and O were quoted as examples.
Pages:
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280