The Wild Cattle

"There's a mob of cattle, Gordon." he went on, changing the subject
quickly; "let's ride up here, while the boys bring 'em into camp."
And off they went at a carter, leaving the question of his social
prospects in abeyance for the time being.

The ceremony of taking delivery lasted some days, Considine's
signature to the deed of transfer being only the first step. This
long document, prepared in Sydney, kept them going in literature
for about a week; and they were delighted to find that, through
the carelessness of a clerk, in one part of the deed there figured
"one bull of mixed sexes and various ages."

They rode out, day after day, through interminable stretches of dull
timbered country, or over blazing plains waving with long grass.
Here they came on mobs of half-wild cattle, all bearing the same
brand, a huge RL5. These were not mustered into a yard or counted,
except roughly. Gordon was not completing a purchase, but simply
taking over what were there--many or few; good or bad, he could
only take what he found.

Miles and miles they rode, always in the blazing heat, camping for
a couple of hours in the middle of the day. To the Englishman it
seemed always the merest chance that they found the cattle, and
accident that they got home again. At rare intervals they came
upon substantial mustering-yards, where the calves were brought
for branding; near these a rough hut had been constructed, so that
they could camp there at night, instead of returning to the head
station.