“The wail of the lost,” he commented grimly; “they’ve lost, and we’ve lost—or nearly.”
All through the long night the men slaved, and toiled, and fought the unwilling brutes. But it was no good; they could not be stirred to another effort. The men even carried some of them up the slope of the first hill in their arms, in the hopes that they might lead the others to follow and join them. They dragged, and pushed, and hauled, they “sooled” the dogs on to them, they tried to drive them with noise, and blows, and kicks; they built fires and carried the whirling brands amongst them, but even the fear of fire—the deepest rooted and most awful of animal’s fears—failed to rouse them, or put a last spurt of energy into the tired limbs, and sore feet, and parched bodies. All night long the men fought on savagely and stubbornly, drenched with sweat, and aching to the finger-tips with sheer bodily fatigue.
Then the word passed round, and one by one they ceased their efforts, and stumbled clear of the sheep, and dropped to the ground.
A figure leading a horse limped up in the starlight, and Ess spoke eagerly, “What is it—what next?”
Steve Knight flung himself down on the ground.
“The dawn,” he said briefly, and nodded to the faint grey in the eastern sky. “The dawn—and we’re done. The poor old boss has just passed the order to let go. We can do no more—we’re beat.”
Ess said nothing. She felt there was nothing she could say.
Scottie and Mr. Sinclair came up, steering for the little fire one of the men had lit for her beside the buggy.
Ess looked at the old man with her heart swelling. It was so hard—so hard. He had done everything, spent his all, and fought, and borrowed, and fought again, and now he was beaten, and those sheep lying there, instead of a mile or two over the hill, meant Coolongolong slipping from his hands, and himself and his wife and girls left penniless to face the world and begin anew.
Ess could not trust herself to speak, and when the old man clambered heavily down from his sulky, she moved over to him, and slipped a hand inside his arm.