92 
MYOLA 
CHAP. 
on the off leader was too much for “ the Speaker ” : away 
they all went forward with a bound, bits between their 
teeth, legs and bodies stretched like greyhounds, every 
muscle strained to its utmost, rattling their hoofs on the 
stones, then on the hard baked ground, pounding through 
sand with such speed that before it could smother us it 
was a long gray cloud in our wake. Every joint and 
plank in our buckboard shivered and groaned as we 
swung to and fro, and I held on like grim death to the 
shaking seat. Mrs. S.’s solid weight steadied her, but 
her spasmodic screams gave fresh stimulus to the excited 
horses. Never in our lives before had we gone at such 
a pace, now almost on to a fallen log, now under a sweep- 
ing bough, and we had to duck our heads sharply to 
keep them from being taken off our bodies ; the veins 
in Joe’s face and arms stood out like cords in his 
desperate efforts to rein the horses in. 
The cockatoos above screeched in derision to see 
us flying by. We started a kangaroo so suddenly 
that she threw her young out of her pouch and the 
horses crushed it to death with their heels as they 
went over it. What a gallop it was ! Now we were 
jerked forward as the wheel caught the root of a 
tree, but we swung to again, and when once more in 
the open we breathed more freely, for the pace was 
beginning to tell on the horses. “ Steady, boys, 
steady ! ” Joe kept persuasively calling to them, and our 
trouble seemed at an end, when suddenly a fresh 
difficulty occurred. We came upon a big dray in front 
blocking up the road, and in trying to pass between 
it and a tree, the heavy wheel came in contact with our 
light one. I have a dim recollection of a confused 
something, and a good womanly scream from behind, 
then a blank. Another moment and we were all 
sorting ourselves from under broken wheels and horses’ 
