"How d'yer think they horses got the rails down, Harry?"
The speaker was Denny Kineavy, who was a new chum at this kind of work.
"Why, it's the ole warrigal's work o' course. Trust 'im fur findin' out a way o' gettin' up a flirt with the ladies. He's the cutest cuss in Australia, bar none. Full o' blood he is too. New Warrior strain outer a great arab mare of Kurnel Dumaresque. I know 'im well, fur I was with Captain White just after he'd bought both dam an' foal from the ole Kurnel; or rather, I should say, Dumaresque swopped 'em fur a stud Hereford 'e was terribly struck on.
"Yes; he was allus a wild un. My word, you should 'a' seen 'im as a yearling! Allus leadin' the other youngsters into mischief; breakin' into the lucem paddocks, an' chasin' the dorgs till they was in mortial terror of 'im; gettin' mad fits among the horses; kickin' an' squealin' an' chiveyin' em', till one day the Captain gits in a towerin' rage an' says to me an' one-eyed Bob, who was workin' fur 'im then: 'Run in that dad-busted, bloomin' brute an' fix 'im; it's the only way ter take the divvil outer 'im.'
"You see, 'e was a grand, upstandin' beast as a colt, an' the Captain wunst thought to have 'im fur stud purposes, fur all 'e was a mix breed; but 'e soon seed that was outer the question.
"Well, as I was sayin', the Captain orders me an' one-eyed Bob to yard 'im. 'Twarn't no easy job nuther, I tell you; for the brute soon cottoned what we was up to. At larst, after a lot of trouble, we yards 'im, and with 'im a couple o' colts an' a lot er fillies. Bob threw the lasso a dozen times afore 'e noosed 'im, cause 'e kept dodgin' in an' out among the fillies. It was the deuce's own job to separate 'em.
"At larst, I say, Bob fixed 'im, an' didn't 'e perform. Howe'er, Bob 'olds 'im, an' I gits 'old of the slack to give a turn round the post, so's ter bring 'im up. But all of a suddent 'e makes a mad rush at Bob, sendin' 'im sprawlin' with three ribs broke; whisks the rope outer my hands, an' streaked fur the slip-rails—six on 'em there wor—an' by 'evans! jumps like a cat at 'em; comin' down with 'is belly on top, smashin' the rail, but fallin' on the outside; never, of course, breakin' 'is bloomin' neck—an' galloped orf like mad.
"Must 'a' bin red mad sure enuff, fur 'e broke through the wire fence the Cap had round 'is 'orse-paddock; and that's the larst we seen of 'im fur months.
"Then one day I was on the out station, lookin' after some steers, when I come acrost 'im in a mob of brumbies he'd chummed up with. 'E was 'aving a pretty rough time of it, I could see; fur there was a couple o' stallions in the mob as wasn't agreeable fur 'is company in the 'arem; an that's 'ow we come ter git 'im a few years after, I 'spect."
"Thin you did git hould iv th' grey divvil?" exclaimed Denny.