Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-10-05
CHAPTER VI

Wllu. NtAJ udN We CoAtAAttGl ll4t Jbt4l-
ney, keeping ~ sharp lookout for tracks,
so that we might discover the where
abouts of the cattle the squatter had
sent on ahead Toward the afternoon
SNOWFALL sang out:
Master, track sit down-one fellow
COW and calf, mother fellow track yara-
man belongin to white fellow That one
been fetch i'm up.
SNOWFALL looked keenly at the ground,
and where we could see neither a sign
nor mark he seemed to read his moth
er earth as if il were an open book.
Which way you think it camp sit
down, Snowflake" Norah Mackenzie
asked.
It aroused ones wonder to note how
trippingly the pigeon English came
from her lips.
A breath of wind ever so faint just
then happened to be straying down the
valley, and Yarry threw back his head
and turned his broad nostrils toward it
Il t'ink it that way. All a-same way
that one bullocky go, me smell um fire.
/ link some fellow bin roast um bull
locky alonga fire. -
Long way away, Yarry, you think
ity" she asked soberly, but l could see
her eyes sparkle She knew that this
was riddle, for one thing the Austria
liam blacks can never do is to estimate
distance. They are utterly devoid of
that faculty called "sense of number,
and their rephes--for they do not like
to confess their ignorance-are often
very amusing.
"Well, Yarry, repeated Norah Mac
kenzie feigning impatience, chow
many miles you think it to where bull
locky sit down.
As | have said before, it was a riddle
and Vary scratched his head. Savages
scratch their heads when puzzled all the
world over, whether they are white or
black But Yarry answered with an air
of sang froid and supreme conviction:
Tree miles, maybe; might be two
you know. Oh, well seben miles /
tink it,
And with this ambiguous piece of in
formation Yarry smiled with sense Of
superior intelligence and went ON
ahead to follow up the tracks. Yarry
resen1bled a Scotsman or some gentle
man of the legal persuasion in that he
declined to commit himself to any spe-
ciic statement.
''Do you think the fellow smells fire
and meat roasting on ?" Jack asked
Norah Mackenzie. There lot of mi
raculous stuff talked about these chaps;
but l can't smell fire. let alone the
roast. -
That doesn't prevent them smell
ing " laughingly replied the girl Had
we been born few thousand years ago
when people hunted for living, I've
an idea that our nostrils would have
been just as handsomely broad as Var
rvs It's sad to think what we've lost
through civilization, isn't it?''
"Now that / think of it, you're
right, commented Jack thoughtfully.
"Of course the law of 'disuse' can ac-
count for the modification of our noses.
You know your Darwin better than |
do
Never read him in my life. was
the candid rejoinder.
''But you don't mean TO say you dis
covered that truth for yourselfl" Jack
persisted.
II did, honest Injunp she protest
ed, with mock gravity. "But then it's
perhaps not altogether a matter of in
tellect. Jack looked somewhat foolish
"There are plenty of proofs every
where. Now, | dare say I'm what some
of your bluestockings would call very
ignorant young person, because | don't
know much about books and haven't
got hundred different theories on the
tip of my tongue, but do know enough
to prevent my becoming miserable
agnostic like some of them. Evolution
may be as broad as it's long, but it
it isn't everything. It's only when one
goes direct to nature and finds out how
beautifully it all fits into our lives that
one can see it's only little bit of
great big design. OF course book learn
ing's great thing; ii 8 only those who
won't look beyond them, who won't
take time to study the proofs for them
selves, that I'm sorry for. | don sup
pose, however, it matters what think
Ii'it SiiS dbi upliy hlstdt IL ihiBhliiS
remark about one of the black boys and
changed the subject.
The particular cattle tracks we were
following were now lost in many others,
and "A number of fresh horse tracks be
came visible. We were evidently get
ting near the place where the cattle
were running. We skirted the base of
high. wave worn bluff, down the sides
of which "A spring of water trickled,
shaded by group of magnificent feather
palms; then we heard the crack Of n
stock whip and the distant believing of
mob Of cattle. We could distinctly
smell fire, and Snowfall corroborated
Yarry' assertion that he smelled "bul-
locky' roasting At length we came to
a beautiful open piece of country
bordering on the lagoonlike creek. and
abont mile off could see large mob
of cattle being rounded up for the night
and three or four mounted men riding
slowly round them. We could see the
bell tent of the drover, with bOugh
shed in front of it, and "A little farther
off two or three other tents At "A large
fire were two or three black boys roast
ing various parts Of bullock or, as
Gordon more correctly put il. "toasting
banes, " which bore ont Yarry's asser-
tion that he had smelled this process at
n distance of four miles. A tall, black
bearded rider, with white pugaree
round bis cabbage tree hat. came gal
Looping up.
Gibson. by Jovel" said the squatter
NJ nc pressed forward and shook hands
warmly with the drover "How every
thing. Tomf"
"All 80. X A glorious country. as
Favcnc said. But oome right over 10 the
camp and have some tea. Miss Mac
kenzie, TO see you is sight for sore
eyes He paused and looked shyly
around. "And there s another Of them"
he added in an awcd and audible aside
as hc caught sight of Elsie Gordon on
the wagon, for Tom Gibson was "A
bachelor and susceptible. He straight
way made up his mind 10 adjourn 10
his tent at the first opportunity and
put on a boiled shirt. "A collar and one
of those white silk necktics with which
he proposed some day to take civiliza-
tion by storm.
II was only now | became conscious
of the fact that had not suffered from
n recurrence Of the usual attack Of
fever on the previous day. Indeed my
enemy had been completely forgotten.
But it is always the way with Us
When we are i'll. health seems 20 us the
one thing worth living for, and when