, she went so far as to commend
in perfectly sincere superlatives.

"Oh, the tea's not so dusty," said the rabbiter grimly; "it didn't ought
to be at the price you charge for it in your store, mister! But the tea
don't matter so much; it's the water's the thing; and what's the matter
with the water in these here tanks, that you should go shifting all your
sheep, Mr. Rigden?"

This was obviously Rigden's business, and Moya, pricking an involuntary
ear, thought that he might have said so in as many words. But Rigden
knew his type, and precisely when and in what measure to ignore its
good-humoured effrontery.

"It's the sort of thing to do in time, or not at all," said he. "You
catch me wait till my sheep begin to bog!"

"Bog!" cried the rabbiter. "Who said they were beginning to bog? I tell
you there's tons of good water in this here tank; you come and look!"

And he made as if to lead the way to the long yellow lip of excavation
that showed through the clump. But Rigden shook his head and smiled,
under two scrutinies; and this time he did not say that he knew his own
business best; but his manner betrayed no annoyance.

Moya, however, contrived to obtain a glimpse of the water as they rode
away. It looked cool and plentiful in the slanting sunlight--a rippling
parallelogram flecked with gold. There was very little mud about the
margin.

"So it is quite an event, this mustering?"

The question had been carefully considered over a mile or so of
lengthening shadows, with the cool hand of evening on their brows
already. It was intended to lead up to another question, which, however,
Rigden's reply was so fortunate as to defer.

"Oh, it's nothing to some of our other functions," said he.

And Moya experienced such a twinge of jealousy that she was compelled to
ask what those functions were; otherwise she would never know.

"First and foremost there's the shearing; if this interests you, I
wonder what you'll think of that?" speculated Rigden, exactly as though
they had no quarrel. "It's the thing to see," he continued, with
deliberate enthusiasm: "it means mustering the whole run, that does, and
travelling mob after mob to the shed; and then the drafting; that's
another thing for you to see, though it's nothing to the scene in the
shed. But it's no good telling you about that till you've seen the shed
itself. We shore thirty-eight thousand last year. I was over the board
myself. Two dozen shearers and a round doze