mentary
horror of some human trap of the Professor's invention; and his
speed approached that of flying, under the spur of a laughing
jackass's raucous cachinnation.

The ring-barked country was soon left behind, and then Finn found
himself among dense living bush, climbing a steep ascent. Here his
speed was necessarily a great deal slower. There was a good deal of
undergrowth upon the mountain side, besides much heavy timber; and
hidden among this lush undergrowth were occasional boulders and
innumerable fallen tree-trunks, over which Finn stumbled heavily
again and again, he being without that curious bush-lore which
enables men-folk born in the bush, no less than its own wild folk,
to steer clear of these obstructions by means of a sort of sixth
sense, which tells them when they must leap, and helps them to know
when the leap must be an extra cautious one, because of the danger
of disturbing the deadly people of the wild. The Australian bush
has many varieties of snakes, and quite a good number of them are
deadly; though some of those most formidable in appearance are not.
Finn had never even seen a snake; so that, though his ignorance
made him run many risks that night, he was at least spared all
anxiety regarding the deadly folk, their quick tempers and swift
methods of attack.

Dawn was not far off when Finn emerged, with heaving flank and
lolling tongue, into the green but stony glade which formed the
ridge and crest of the Tinnaburra range. The last hundred yards of
his progress had been a good deal of a scramble, through thick
scrub and over lichen-covered boulders, on a very steep rise. And
now that he had reached the cool glade of topmost Tinnaburra, he
found that his arrival had caused considerable perturbation among a
small mob of brumbies, or wild horses, consisting of some seven or
eight mares and foals, led by a flea-bitten old grey stallion, who
snorted angrily as he saw Finn, and minced forward toward the
Wolfhound, his long chisel teeth bared, his four-foot tail
billowing out behind him like a flag, and his black hoofs (the feet
of mountain-bred brumbies are prodigiously hard and punishing in
the attack) rising and falling from the dewy earth like spring
hammers.

Finn devoted the little breath he could spare to the rather whining
note of explanation which means: "Don't fear me! I pursue my own
affairs only, and they are harmless for you!" But the old stallion
was taking no chances. Age made him