Ennui forsooth! Never
was a woman farther from death by ennui.
Finally the horses gathered themselves together in the friendly shelter
of some scrub, and as the woman sought safety among them, the Maluka's
rifle rang out, and a charging bull went down before it. Then out of the
thick of the uproar Sambo came full gallop, with a bull at his horse's
heels, and Dan full gallop behind the bull, bringing his rifle to his
shoulder as he galloped, and as all three galloped madly on Dan fired, and
the bull pitching blindly forward, Sambo wheeled, and he and Dan galloped
back to the mob to meet another charging outlaw and deal with it.
Then in quick succession from all sides of the mob bulls darted out with
riders at THEIR heels, or riders shot forward with bulls at their heels,
until the mob looked like a great spoked wheel revolving on its own axis.
Bull after bull went down before the rifles, old Roper, with the Maluka
riding him, standing like a rock under fire; and then, just as the mob
was quieting down, a wild scrub cow with a half-grown calf at her heels
shot out of the mob and headed straight for the pack team, Dan galloping
beside her and cracking thunderclaps out of a stock-whip.
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