‘Well, it’s bush slang, sir, for men just as you or I might be now, looking for work or something to eat; if we can’t get work, living on the country, till things turn round a little.’ ‘Oh! that’s it—well, don’t be afraid, things are sure to turn round a little, if we wait long enough. Who’s this, coming galloping at such a rate?’ ‘Looks like the overseer. He’s coming to see if there’s any water in the creek. They’ll camp here most likely. He’s in a hurry.’ The individual thus criticised was a stout man, past middle age, who bore himself with an air of great responsibility and anxiety. ‘Hallo!’ he said, pointing to the creek, ‘is there any water there?’ ‘Lots,’ said the pene-felonious traveller—‘good place to camp.’ ‘How do you know?’ cautiously inquired the overseer. ‘Because I’ve been this road often, and know every water-hole and camping-place and feeding-ground from this to Wentworth.’ ‘All right, you’re the very man I want; that is, I want two men for one of the flocks. I’ve just sacked a couple of idle rascals, and run short—will you and your mate come?’ ‘He’s not used to droving work,’ pleaded the experienced one, doubtful of Ernest’s wish for occupation of that sort. ‘Oh, never mind; any fool can drive travelling sheep; you’re sharp enough, at any rate. I’ll give you five-and-twenty shillings a week each. You can join when they come into camp. What do you say?’ ‘Very well,’ said Ernest, ‘I will engage for a month—not longer, as I have to go to a station called Garrandilla then.’ ‘All right,’ said the overseer, ‘we pass it; it will be something to get hands so far;’ and away the man of many troubles galloped. ‘What do you say now? Here we are provided with easy, honest, and well-paid employment for as long as we please, with high wages, unlimited food, and sleeping accommodation. I shall rather take them in at Garrandilla.’ The army of sheep—about thirty thousand, in fifteen flocks—at length reached the valley before dark, and the overseer, pointing to a flock of two thousand more or less, said, ‘There’s your mob—if either of you want to go, you must give me a week’s notice. If I sack either of you, I shall pay him one week in advance.’ As the sheep approached, feeding in a leisurely manner, and gradually converging towards the flat, the two men walked towards the leading flock. ‘Hallo!’ said the ex-brigand to one of the shepherds, ‘are you the two chaps that the cove has sacked, because we are to take your flock?’ ‘All right—you’re welcome, mates, to my share,’ said an elderly colonist; ‘that super’s a growlin’, ignorant beggar as runs a feller from daylight to dark for nothing at all. If all the other men was of my mind we’d leave him to drive his —— sheep himself.’ ‘That’s the talk!’ said the highwayman cautiously, ‘but we’re hard up, and that makes the difference; we go on till we pick up something better. What will you take for that dog of yours? I suppose he can hunt ’em along.’