comment on their smart work. Gradually they draw closer
to the ranks, and are once more in the line, having brought back the
deserters. The big paddock, where the yards are, now comes in sight. It
is recognised by some of the older cattle who have been in before, and
they pull up and sniff the air, which means danger ahead, and puts the
whole mob on the _qui vive_. This is about the most anxious time of
all--to get a leader who will go easily: but should he turn obstinate
they would rush the line, and the whole week's work would have to be
repeated. Besides, in a mob like that, numbering close on ten thousand,
hundreds would be either killed or seriously injured in their mad
career. All seemed to recognise the dangerous situation, and Tyton
begins to get anxious, especially as some of the leaders are snorting
and shewing fight. Now it happened that that black bull and his party
were one of the mobs nearest to the entrance; there was a clear run
before them direct, so without consulting any one, the girls galloped
into the mob, which separated before them, and got on to that bull
again. A couple of smacks were enough. He was only too anxious to get
out of their way, and made straight for the run, followed by his mob.
The others followed suit, and the whole mob were in the big paddock.
While this was going on, Tyton was a picture. He neither spoke nor
moved. 'They're mad. They'll ruin all. Why, they've started the mob, the
others are following. Oh, it's all right. Hurrah, we are saved! Hurrah,
boys! Hurrah!' This is taken up, and even the black boys join in."

It was daring acts of this kind which had made Hilda the heroine of her
own and Cattle Downs stations. Many were the tales told by the station
hands of her feats of horsemanship and of the incorrigible buck-jumpers
she had tamed. Moreover, she could box any man on the station. There was
a certain amount of bush-romance attaching to her name, enough to have
made her a legendary figure had she lived in mediaeval times. And yet,
withal, she was a thorough girl of her century, educated and refined,
but endowed with a masculine strength and a rigid uprightness of
character. She was a genuine product of the land which gave her birth
and she shared with the fullest enthusiasm in the aspirations and ideals
of young Australia.

CHAPTER XX.

BRISBANE.

True to her time, the _Maranoa_ reached Moreton Bay, and entered for the
mouth of the Brisbane river. Here the sc