"The Emu, now," said Frank, "are they getting scarce?"
"They will soon be among the things of the past," said the Major; "and I am sorry for it, for they are a beautiful and harmless bird."
"Major," said Frank, "how many outlying huts have you?"
"Five," said the Major. "Four shepherds' huts, and one stockkeeper's in the range, which we call the heifer station."
"You have no church here, I know," said Frank; "but do these men get any sort of religious instruction?"
"None whatever," said the Major. "I have service in my house on Sunday, but I cannot ask them to come to it, though sometimes the stockmen do come. The shepherds, you know, are employed on Sunday as on any other day. Sheep must eat!"
"Are any of these men convicts?"
"All the shepherds," said the Major. "The stockman and his assistant are free men, but their hut-keeper is bond."
"Are any of them married?"
"Two of the shepherds; the rest single; but I must tell you that on our run we keep up a regular circulation of books among the huts, and my wife sticks them full of religious tracts, which is really about all that we can do without a clergyman."