e, much less led
a blood horse through the beastly scrub and ranges he showed us. But the
devil himself could not beat him and that little brute Bilbah in rough
country.'

'I believe you,' I said, thinking of our ride yesterday. 'It's quite
bad enough to follow him on level ground. But don't you think our tracks
will be easy to follow with a thousand head of cattle before us? Any
fool could do that.'

'It ain't that as I'm looking at,' said father; 'of course an old woman
could do it, and knit stockings all the time; but our dart is to be off
and have a month's start before anybody knows they are off the run. They
won't think of mustering before fat cattle takes a bit of a turn. That
won't be for a couple of months yet. Then they may catch us if they
can.'

We had a long talk with Starlight, and what he said came to much the
same. One stockman they had 'squared', and he was to stand in. They had
got two or three flash chaps to help muster and drive, who were to swear
they thought we were dealers, and had bought cattle all right. One or
two more were to meet us farther on. If we could get the cattle together
and clear off before anything was suspected the rest was easy. The yard
was nearly up, and Jim and I wired in and soon finished it. It didn't
want very grand work putting into it as long as it would last our time.
So we put it up roughly, but pretty strong, with pine saplings.
The drawing in was the worst, for we had to 'hump' the most of them
ourselves. Jim couldn't help bursting out laughing from time to time.

'It does seem such a jolly cheeky thing,' he said. 'Driving off a mob of
cattle on the quiet I've known happen once or twice; but I'm dashed if
ever I heard tell of putting up duffing improvements of a superior class
on a cove's run and clearing off with a thousand drafted cattle, all
quiet and regular, and him pottering about his home-station and never
"dropping" to it no more than if he was in Sydney.'

'People ought to look after their stock closer than they do,' I said.
'It is their fault almost as much as ours. But they are too lazy to look
after their own work, and too miserable to pay a good man to do it for
them. They just get a half-and-half sort of fellow that'll take low
wages and make it up with duffing, and of course he's not likely to look
very sharp after the back country.'

'You're not far away,' says Jim; 'but don't you think they'd have to
look precious sharp and get up very early in