Carew awoke next morning to find that it was broad daylight, and
the horses had been run in, caught, and saddled, all ready for a
start to the run. Breakfast was soon disposed of, and the cavalcade
set out. Naturally, the old man had heaps of questions to ask about
his inheritance, and made the Englishman ride alongside while he
questioned him.
"If I go to England after this money, Mister, I suppose they won't
be handin' me out ten years for perjury, same as they done for
Roger Tichborne, eh? I won't have no law case, will I?"
"Shouldn't think so. You've been advertised for all over the place,
I believe."
"Ha! Well, now they've got me they mightn't like me, don't you
see? I never took no stock in them unclaimed-money fakes. I never
see any money goin' beggin' yet, long as I've lived, but what some
chap had his hands on it quick enough. But I s'pose it's all right."
"It's me wife I'm troublin' about. I'm no dandy, Goodness knows,
but if people'll let me alone I'll let them alone, and I don't
interfere with anyone. But if old Peg turns up she'll want to be
right in front of the percession. If she follows me, I'll realise
everything by public auction, unreserved sale, for spot cash, and
I'll sneak back here to a place I knows of, where there's no trooper
can find me. I ain't goin' halves with that woman, I tell you. She
wouldn't stick to me if I was poor, and I ain't goin' to take her
up again now. You'd better come back with me, Mister, and show me
the way round a bit."
"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.