‘But think of the way we shall enjoy club breakfasts, clean shirts, evening parties, and all that, when we do get back,’ said Neil Barrington. ‘We shall be like sailors after a three years’ cruise. I must say I always envied them.’
‘I think, if the company is unanimous,’ said Hamilton, ‘that we might as well have a serious talk about the route. Captain Warleigh, as we must now call him, will be off early to-morrow, so the greater reason for proceeding to business.’
‘I was going to remind you all,’ said Hubert, ‘that we ought to agree about our plans. It’s plain sailing across Monaro, though the feed is bad until we come to the Snowy River. Of course, we all go on to-morrow.’
‘Which way?’ asked Hamilton.
‘Past Bungendore, Queanbeyan, and Micalago. We cross the Bredbo and the Eumeralla higher up, and go by the Jew’s flat, and Coolamatong.’
‘We shall follow in a couple of days,’ said Argyll.
‘And I in three,’ said Forbes.
‘You needn’t follow in a string, unless you like,’ said their guide; ‘the feed will be cut up if one mob after the other goes over it. All the stock-riders hereabouts know the Monaro country, so you can travel either right or left of me, as long as you fetch up at Buckley’s Crossing, of the Snowy River.’
‘What sort of a ford is it?’ inquired one of the D’Oyleys.
‘It’s always a swim with the Snowy,’ said the captain, ‘summer and winter, and a cold one too, as I can witness. But the grass is better, though rough, after you cross, and we have an old acquaintance waiting there to join the party. He knows the country well.’