throughout the
length and breadth of Australia's cattle-country as "Government House".
A few yards away was the "cook-house", also made of iron, where meals
for the white men were served. Then there was a store, in which enough
personal and station requirements were stocked to last at least a year,
for the string of camels, which came out from the head of the railway
with loading for Sidcotinga Station, only came once in every twelve
months and was sometimes late. The horse-gear room was a fascinating
place to these two lovers of horses, and though it was rather empty
when they reached the station, because every available man was out
mustering on the run, they found enough in it to interest them for many
hours. The blacksmith's shop also came in for its share of attention,
the more so perhaps because neither of the lads knew anything about
blacksmith's work. Dan Collins, the manager, prided himself on his
blacksmith's shop, and rightly so, for there was no metal work--other
than actual castings--which he could not manage to make or repair for
station use.

Dominating the homestead, by reason of its height, was a large iron
wind-mill mounted on a tall stand, with a huge water-tank raised on a
staging near it. The mill pumped water from a hundred-foot well into
this tank, which supplied, not only the cattle-troughs, but also the
dwellings, for there were taps outside Government House, the
cook-house, and the blacksmith's shop--a very unusual convenience on
such an outlying station.

It was not the buildings, however, which interested the boys most; it
was the stock-yards. The whole station seemed to centre in these
yards, and indeed they were of chief importance, and were the real
reason for everything else being there. At first the mass of yards,
races, pounds, wings, and gates seemed just like a maze to the
new-chums, but they were soon to learn how perfectly everything about
that rough strong stock-yard was arranged for the quick handling of
cattle.

One morning, a couple of days after their arrival at Sidcotinga
Station, the white boys were sitting in the sand with their backs
against the wall of the horse-gear room, which threw a narrow patch of
shade over them, when Yarloo came up. They had been so interested in
all the novel sights and sounds around them since coming to the
station, that they had almost forgotten the faithful black-fellow; but
they looked up now with pleasure, and greeted him with a fri