298 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



miles in twenty-four hours. As I owed my life on 

 this occasion to this animal's marvellous endurance and 

 intelligence, I will briefly describe him. He stood about 

 fifteen hands, had a coarse, Roman-nosed head, an 

 eye full of fire, shoulder perfect in form, a neck like 

 a bull's, short, flat legs, cow-kneed, his body abnor- 

 mally long, his back hollow, his quarters of immense 

 strength, with a girth of a drayhorse. He seemed to 

 have some specialized breathing apparatus in lieu of 

 lungs, for he could gallop fairly fast for hours, up 

 hill, down hill, over rock, dead timber, and heavy grass ; 

 in fact, I never saw the man he could not tire out. 

 His skill in collecting cattle was equal to anything 

 human : he would wait for the charge of a bull or 

 an infuriated cow much the more dangerous of the 

 two and then step aside with all the coolness of a 

 great matador. He was perfectly quiet and good- 

 tempered. His reputation spread far and wide, and, 

 in consequence, he was 'stolen out of our paddock and 

 was ridden for a long time by a celebrated bushranger 

 called Wingey, who was captured and hanged, when 

 old Badger came back to Ravensworth. 



But to return to my story. Early next morning, 

 having got a second horse and some food for the day, 

 I started off to find our camp. But by midday, having 

 eaten my food, I found I had lost all trace of the track 

 and that I began to recognize nothing. I rode on and 

 on, climbed some hills I had never seen before, and 

 towards dusk gave it up as a bad job for that night ; 

 for I had been riding, off and on, for over eleven 

 hours, leading my other horse by a halter, which was 

 tiring work. So I hobbled the horses, off-saddled, and 

 lit a big fire. It was a brilliant night and the country 



