lend a hand to brand these calves; then you may
clear out as soon as you like.'

Well, I didn't quite like leaving the old chap in the middle of the work
like that. I remember thinking, like many another young fool, I suppose,
that I could draw back in time, just after I'd tackled this job.

Draw back, indeed! When does a man ever get the chance of doing that,
once he's regularly gone in for any of the devil's work and wages? He
takes care there isn't much drawing back afterwards. So I said--

'We may as well give you a hand with this lot; but we'll go home then,
and drop all this duffing work. It don't pay. I'm old enough to know
that, and you'll find it out yet, I expect, father, yourself.'

'The fox lives long, and gives the hounds many a long chase before he's
run into,' he said, with a grim chuckle. 'I swore I'd be revenged on 'em
all when they locked me up and sent me out here for a paltry hare; broke
my old mother's heart, so it did. I've had a pound for every hair in
her skin, and I shall go on till I die. After all, if a man goes to work
cautious and runs mute it's not so easy to catch him in this country, at
any rate.'

Jim at this came running out of the cave with a face of joy, a bag of
ship-biscuit, and a lot of other things.

'Here's tea and sugar,' he said; 'and there's biscuits and jam, and a
big lump of cheese. Get the fire right, Dick, while I get some water.
We'll soon have some tea, and these biscuits are jolly.'

The tea was made, and we all had a good meal. Father found a bottle of
rum, too; he took a good drink himself, and gave Jim and me a sip each.
I felt less inclined to quarrel with father after that. So we drafted
all the calves into a small pen-yard, and began to put our brand on them
as quick as we could catch 'em.

A hundred and sixty of 'em altogether--all ages, from a month old to
nearly a year. Fine strong calves, and in rare condition, too. We could
see they were all belonging to Mr. Hunter and Mr. Falkland. How they
came to leave them all so long unbranded I can't say. Very careless
they often are on these large cattle-stations, so that sharp people like
father and the Dalys, and a lot more, get an easy chance at them.

Whatever father was going to do with them all when he had branded 'em,
we couldn't make out.

'There's no place to tail or wean 'em,' whispered Jim. 'We're not above
thirty miles from Banda in a straight line. These cows are dead sure to
make straight back