had been a 'brumbee', and wouldn't
let any one touch him, much less ride him, but himself. How he used
to snort if a stranger came near him! He could kick the eye out of a
mosquito, and bite too, if he got the chance.

As for Warrigal, Starlight used to knock him down like a log if he
didn't please him, but he never offered to turn upon him. He seemed
to like it, and looked regular put out once when Starlight hurt his
knuckles against his hard skull.

Us he didn't like, as I said before--why, I don't know--nor we him.
Likes and dislikes are curious things. People hardly know the rights of
them. But if you take a regular strong down upon a man or woman when you
first see 'em it's ten to one that you'll find some day as you've good
reason for it. We couldn't say what grounds we had for hating the sight
of Warrigal neither, for he was as good a tracker as ever followed man
or beasts. He could read all the signs of the bush like a printed book.
He could ride any horse in the world, and find his way, day or night, to
any place he'd ever once been to in his life.

Sometimes we should have been hard pushed when we were making across
country at night only for him. Hour after hour he'd ride ahead through
scrub or forest, up hill or down dale, with that brute of a horse of
his--he called him 'Bilbah'--ambling away, till our horses, except
Rainbow, used to shake the lives out of us jogging. I believe he did it
on purpose.

He was a fine shot, and could catch fish and game in all sorts of ways
that came in handy when we had to keep dark. He had pluck enough,
and could fight a pretty sharp battle with his fists if he wasn't
overweighted. There were white men that didn't at all find him a good
thing if they went to bully him. He tried it on with Jim once, but he
knocked the seven senses out of him inside of three rounds, and that
satisfied him. He pretended to make up, but I was always expecting him
to play us some dog's trick yet. Anyway, so far he was all right, and
as long as Starlight and us were mixed up together, he couldn't hurt one
without the other. He came gliding up to the old hut in the dull light
by bits of moves, just as if he'd been a bush that had changed its
place. We pretended to be asleep near the fire.

He peeped in through a chink. He could see us by the firelight, and
didn't suppose we were watching him.

'Hullo, Warrigal!' sung out Jim suddenly, 'what's up now? Some devil's
work, I suppose, or you wouldn