.
He will swell himself out so that the girths cannot be fully tightened,
and when he is mounted will suddenly bound off the ground, throw down
his head, and prop violently on his fore feet, and this he will continue
to repeat till the saddle comes on to his withers, and the rider finds
some other resting place. So long as the saddle keeps its position, and
the girths hold, there is a chance for the rider, but if they go he
must, although he frequently goes without them.

There is a special saddle made for buckjumpers, provided with heavy pads
to prop the knee against, and so prevent the rider from being chucked
forward, and this is sometimes assisted by securely fastening an iron
bar with a roll of blanket around it across the pommel of the saddle.
This presses across the thighs just above the knees, and affords great
additional security, and a surcingle is strapped over the seat of the
saddle as a further assistance to the girths.

There is also another plan adopted with a really bad brute--namely, a
crutch of wood or iron fastened to a martingale below, with two rings
above, through which the reins are led. This contrivance is to prevent
the animal lowering his head, which is a necessary movement on his part
for accomplished bucking.

CHAPTER X.

I UNDERTAKE EMPLOYMENT WITH A BUSH CONTRACTOR--GET SERIOUSLY
ILL--START FOR THE SOUTH AND THE GOLD DIGGINGS.

I had now been more than a month on the Ashburton, but as I could not
expect home letters yet for some weeks, and was getting tired of mere
amusement, I accepted an offer made me to join in a new line of work.

A man named Metcalfe, a relative of a neighbouring squatter, had lately
started work as a bush contractor, and had just then undertaken to
construct a number of station buildings for a run holder on the
Ashburton. Metcalfe was an experienced bushman and a good rough
carpenter. He asked me to join him and I at once accepted.

We would have to fell and cut up our own timber in the forest, cart it
down some forty miles, and construct all the works without other
assistance.

Our first business was to provide a habitation for ourselves in the
forest, as we required to stay there a month or two while cutting the
necessary timber. We laid out a space 10 feet by 12 feet, drove in posts
at the corners, and nailed a strong rail on top, then we felled and
split up into slabs a number of white pine trees, and set them upwards
all round with the