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e a miracle if it misses Billabong! I've told the men--they're off to get the horses." Norah and Tommy had turned, with dismayed eyes. "Will it be at our place, Murty?" Tommy asked. "I dunno will it, Miss Tommy," the Irishman answered. "But as like as not 'twill miss it--or anyhow, we'll get there first, an' stop it doing much damage. Don't you worry your little head, now." She looked up at him gratefully. Norah's hand was thrust through her arm. "It may not be near the Creek at all, Tommy dear," she said. "Oh, I hope it isn't--my poor old Bob!" Tommy said, under her breath. "Can we hurry, Norah?" "They're bringing the horses," Norah answered. "We'll be off in a minute--see, dad has gone to meet Bob." Wally had turned to Murty. "Murty, do you mind if I ride Shannon and take him across country? I'm on Marshal to-day, you know, and he can't jump for nuts. But Shannon can take every fence between here and the Creek, and I can cut the distance in half if I go across. I'm about the lightest of us, I think." "So ye are--an' the horse'll take ye like a bird," said Murty. "Don't shpare him, Mr. Wally, if ye think ye can do any good. He's over there under the big wattle." "Right-o!" said Wally. "Tell Mr. Jim, will you, Murty?" He turned and ran down the hill with long strides. CHAPTER XV HOW WALLY RODE A RACE Already the cloud was growing in the western sky--so high that it threatened to obscure the sun that still blazed fiercely down. At first a dull brown, there was a curious light behind it; at the edges it trailed away into ragged wisps like floating mist. There was something mysteriously threatening in its dense heaviness. There were other men running for their horses, as Wally raced towards Shannon. The news of a grass fire had spread quickly, and every man wanted to be on his own property, for the whole countryside was covered with long, dry grass, and no one could say where a fire might or might not end. Boone and Shanahan passed Wally, leading several horses--his own amongst them. They hailed him quickly. "We've got Marshal, Mr. Wally." "Give him to Murty," Wally answered as he ran. "I'm riding Shannon." He raced on. "That means he's going across country," said Dave Boone. "For two pins I'd go too." "Don't you--you'd never get your horse over them fences," Shanahan said. "An' it'll take Mr. Wally all his time to get across them wired paddocks of Maclennan's. Hope he do
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