"To shoot any beast that won't stay with the mob. Some of 'em won't be
stopped. They have to go. Well, if one goes, the rest keep trying to
follow, and no forty men will hold 'em. You just keep your eyes open,
and if a beast breaks out in spite of the whips, you shoot him if the
blacks tell you. See?"

"Where am I to shoot him?"

"Shoot him any place. In the earhole, or the shoulder, or the ribs, or
the flank. Any place at all. Shoot him all over if you like. One or two
bullets don't hurt a beast. It takes a lead-mine to kill some of 'em."

"Do the blacks shoot?" asked Charlie.

"No, I don't never trust no blacks with firearms. One boy knifes well,
though. Races alongside and knifes 'em."

This seemed a fairly difficult performance; while the Englishman was
wondering how it would be carried out, they made a start. They rode mile
after mile in the yellow moonlight, until they discerned a mob of cattle
feeding placidly near some big scrub. They whistled to the blacks,
and all rode away down wind to a spot on the edge of the plain, a
considerable distance from the cattle.

Here they dismounted and waited, Considine and Charlie talking
occasionally in low tones, while the blacks sat silent, holding their
horses. Carew lay down on the long dry grass and gazed away over the
plain. His horse stood over him with head down, apparently sleeping.
Far away under the moon, in vague patches of light and shade, the cattle
were feeding. Hours seemed to pass, and Carew almost fell asleep.

Suddenly a long-drawn bellow, the angry challenge of a bull, broke the
silence. A mob of wild cattle were evidently coming along the edge of
the scrub, and had caught scent of the strangers. Again the bull roared;
there is no animal on earth with so emphatically warlike a note as
the wild bull when advancing to meet a strange mob. The quiet cattle
answered with plaintive, long-drawn lowings, and the din became general
as the two lots met.

"Let 'em get well mixed up," said Considine quietly, tightening his
girths, and swinging into the saddle. Everyone followed his example.
Carew was shaking with excitement. Angry bellowing now arose from the
cattle, which were apparently horning one another--such being their
manner of greeting.

Considine said, "There's a big lot there. Hope to blazes we can hold
'em. Are you ready, Mister?"

"Yes, I'm ready," replied Carew.

"Come on, then. We'll sneak up slowly at first, but once I start
galloping