In Great Waters
"Short shrift! sharp fate! dark doom to dree!
Hard struggle, though quickly ending!
At home or abroad, by land or sea,
In peace or war, sore trials must be,
And worse may happen to you or to me,
For none are secure and none can flee
From a destiny impending."
—Adam Lindsay Gordon.
"Don't thank me; I'm sure I'm equally obliged to you. I haven't seen a strange face these three months; and though I am that despised animal, a broken-down gentleman, I've never quite been able to overcome a foolish hankering after some dealing with my old caste again. Pardon the implied compliment!
"You'd better hobble your horses and turn them loose towards the creek. I'll run them up in the morning with my own.
"Having done that, if you're hungry, you'll find tea in the billy, and damper and meat in those ration bags. It's Queensland boundary rider's fare, but the best I can offer you.
"Monotonous country? By Heavens, yes! The children in exile knew no worse. On all sides, sand, mulga, and desolation—desolation, mulga, and sand, and unceasing regret, the portion of every man who has his lot in it!
"Have you quite finished? Then light your pipe. No, no! not with a vesta like a new chum, but with a fire-stick—so! When you've been in the Bush as long as I have, you will see in a match something more than a pipe-light. But by that time you will be on the high road to a still more peculiar wisdom, which will never be of service to you.
"Now, draw your blankets to the fire and cease thinking of your horses. They're on good feed, so let them eat their fill. If what I hear of the country out back is true, they'll get no more this side of the Barcoo.