"But 'ow the blazes did he gat out iv th' pathock whin he was knee-haltered?"
"Like enuff 'e worked 'is 'edstall off as 'e 'riggled through. We thought we'd made it tight enuff fur anythin'. Anyways 'e cleared, an', what's more, 'e an' the mares moved off the run an' wasn't 'eard of fur long, then 'e was found bossin' a mob on Bullaroi."
By this time the men had reached the homestead. Leaving the others at the stockyard, Harry proceeded to the house to break the bad news to the owner.
The squatter was greatly put out by the turn the affair had taken. Two of the horses were brood mares on which he set a high value, and for which he had given a big price. They were full of breeding, having the famed Gemma di Vergi strain on the sire's side. The occurrence was no less than a calamity in more ways than one.
Their location was in difficult country, and with such a rogue as the grey outlaw to lead and direct, the job of rescue seemed by no means easy or certain. Mr. M'Intyre, however, was determined to regain his mares, and at the same time to capture or destroy that equine demon. One thing in his favour was the fact that in midsummer there was a scarcity of water in the ranges, and their run, for a while, at any rate, must be in and about the foot-hills.
As was usual in those days, the neighbouring station-holders were invited to join in the brumby hunt, which is, as a rule, the most exciting, and, at times the most dangerous, sport that Australia can furnish, keenly relished by bushmen.
The brumby is no more a native Australian horse than the mustang is a native American horse; that is to say, it is not indigenous to the country. Brumbies are the descendants of imported horses which have escaped into the bush and bred there.
When Australian settlements were confined to the barest fringe of the continent, it was very common for stock, both horses and cattle, to stray from the settled areas into the great wilderness beyond.
An historic illustration is to be found in the genesis of colonial expansion. When the first expedition sailed from England, not only were officials, soldiers, and convicts shipped; but also an assortment of domestic animals to furnish the requirements of the penal colony proposed to be established on the shores of Botany Bay.
As the cattle in the new settlements increased, many beasts strayed beyond the borders of the occupied country to the interior forests and plains; and before very long "brumbies" (wild horses) and "scrubbers" (wild cattle) covered large tracts, often to the great annoyance of the advancing line of settlers.