.. with all them crazy cattle on board!"
voiced one....
* * * * *
Nevertheless, perhaps because it was, after all, the line of least
resistance, because there regular meals awaited us, and a secure place
of sleep, by twos and threes we drifted back, down the long, hot, dusty
road, to where the _South Sea King_ lay waiting for us ... the mate, the
captain, and the cattle-boss furious at us for our over-stayed
shore-leave....
* * * * *
The cattle had been there these many hours, bellowing and moving
restlessly in their land-pens, the hot sun blazing down upon them.
* * * * *
Our cattle-boss, it seems, knew all about the handling of his animals on
land. But not on sea. When, the following morning, we started early,
trying to drive the cattle on board ship, they refused to walk up the
runway. In vain the boss strewed earth and sod along its course, to make
it seem a natural passage for them ... they rushed around and around
their pens, kicking up a vast, white, choking dust,--snorting,
bellowing, and throwing their rumps out gaily in sidelong gallopades ...
all young Queensland steers; wild, but not vicious. Still full of the
life and strength of the open range....
Then we scattered bits of the broken bales of their prepared food, along
the runway, to lure them .
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