ace will hump his swag from it in five years, mark me! Come on
down to the house," he continued, picking up the rope and other gear
lying about the fence. "Now, you boys, let that steer out, and then go
and help the gins bring the cattle in. Look lively now, you tallow-faced
crawlers. Come on, Mister. Did you bring any square-face with you?"

"We brought a drop o' rum," replied Charlie.

"Ha! That'll do. That's the real Mackay," said the veteran, slouching
along at a perceptibly quicker gait.

"But, look, see here now, Mister!" he continued, anxiously, "you didn't
let Ah Loy get hold of it, did you? He's a real terror, that Chow of
mine. Did you see him when you came in?"

"Yes, we saw him. He couldn't speak any English, seemingly."

"That's him," said the old man. "That's him! He don't savvy much
English. He knows all he wants, though. He can lower the rum with any
Christian ever I see. It don't do to let him get his hands on a bottle
of anythink in the spirit line. It'll come back half-empty. Now then,
cook," he roared, seating himself at the rough slab table, and drumming
on it with a knife, "let's have some grub, quick, and you'll get a nip
of rum. This new boss b'long you, you savvy. All about station b'long
him. I go buffalo-shooting. Me stony broke. Poor fellow me! Been fifteen
years in this God-forgotten country, too," he said reminiscently,
placing his elbows on the table, and gazing at the wall in front of
him. "Fifteen years livin' mostly with the blacks and the Chineyman, and
livin' like a black or a Chineyman, too. And what have I got to show for
it? I've got to hump my bluey out of this, and take to the road like any
other broken-down old swagman."

"It's a bit rough," said Charlie. "How did you come to grief?"

"Oh, I came out here with a big mob of cattle," said the old man,
filling his pipe, as Ah Loy placed some tin plates, a tin dish, and a
bottle of Worcester sauce on the table, and withdrew to the kitchen for
the provender. "I lived here, and I spent nothing, and I let 'em breed.
I just looked on, and let 'em breed. Oh, there was no waste about my
management. I hadn't an overseer at two pounds ten a week, to boss a lot
of flash stockmen at two pounds. I jest got my own two gins and three
good black boys, and I watched them cattle like a blessed father. I
never saw a stranger's face from year's end to year's end. I rode all
over the face of the earth, keepin' track of 'em. I kep' the wild black