and would have been drowned if I hadn't been born to be hanged.) Well,
a rush came along just as Campbell got free from his horse, and he
went down-stream one side of a snag and his horse the other. Campbell's
pretty stout, you know, and his uniform was tight, and it handicapped
him.

"Just as he was being washed past the lower end of the snag he caught
hold of a branch that stuck out of the water and held on. He swung round
and saw Bogan running down to the point opposite him. Now, you know
there was always a lot of low cunning about Bogan, and I suppose he
reckoned that if he pulled Campbell out he'd stand a good show of
getting clear of his trouble; anyway, if he didn't save Campbell it
might be said that he killed him--besides, Bogan was a good swimmer, so
there wasn't any heroism about it anyhow. Campbell was only a few feet
from the bank, but Bogan started to strip--to make the job look as big
as possible, I suppose. He shouted to Campbell to say he was coming,
and to hold on. Campbell said afterwards that Bogan seemed an hour
undressing. The weight of the current was forcing down the bough that
Campbell was hanging on to, and suddenly, he said, he felt a great
feeling of helplessness take him by the shoulders. He yelled to Bogan
and let go.

"Now, it happened that Jake Boreham and I were passing away the time
between shearings, and we were having a sort of fishing and shooting
loaf down the river in a boat arrangement that Jake had made out of
boards and tarred canvas. We called her the _Jolly Coffin_. We were just
poking up the bank in the slack water, a few hundred yards below the
billabong, when Jake said, `Why, there's a horse or something in the
river.' Then he shouted, `No, by God, it's a man,' and we poked the
_Coffin_ out into the stream for all she was worth. `Looks like two men
fighting in the water,' Jake shouts presently. `Hurry up, or they'll
drown each other.'

"We hailed 'em, and Bogan shouted for help. He was treading water and
holding Campbell up in front of him now in real professional style. As
soon as he heard us he threw up his arms and splashed a bit--I reckoned
he was trying to put as much style as he could into that rescue. But I
caught a crab, and, before we could get to them, they were washed past
into the top of a tree that stood well below flood-mark. I pulled the
boat's head round and let her stern down between the branches. Bogan had
one arm over a limb and was holding Campbell wi