[19]
]Then, as the man came up with the horses and began to saddle them, she said, holding out her hand,—
‘So long! an’ many thanks. You’ve bin a real right bower. We’re a-goin’ into the Bridge, an’ we’ll send the traps out, all square an’ fair. So long! agen.’
‘So long, mate!’ shouted the man, with a tremor in his voice lacking in the woman’s. And then they rode away, two dark shapes against the moonlit scrub.
‘Died by the visitation of God,’ said the Coroner’s Jury.
‘Served him damned well right!’ said the district generally, who knew the story.
But travellers along the Maranoa track make a point of giving ‘Dead Man’s Camp’ a very wide berth.
[20]
]THE SHANGHAI-ING OF PETER BARLOW.
‘Yes, Peter, no doubt they’re a couple of fine colts, and should make good steppers. I hope you’ll have them well broken in for the drag by the time I return. Then, with the other pair of browns, they ought to turn out about the smartest four-in-hand in the district.’
‘Goin’ away, sir?’ asked Peter Barlow, Head Stockman and Chief of Horse at Wicklow Downs.
‘Yes, Peter; I’m thinking of taking a trip to the Old Country,’ replied Mr Forrest, owner of the big cattle station on the border. ‘I mean to take Mrs Forrest and the children, and be away twelve months; so you’ll have plenty of time to fix up a team. We start in three weeks from to-day.’