As for Bill, he seemed content. Finn brought rabbits to the camp
every day, with occasional bandicoots, and in the evening,
sometimes, a kangaroo-rat. And, more than once, Bill took these
kills from him, through Jess, and boiled them before giving them to
the hounds to eat. In this he was doubtless moved by friendly
thought for the dogs' welfare, since these little creatures, and
more especially the rabbits, are often inhabited by parasites of a
kind most harmful to dogs. Bill never thought of making any use of
the over-plentiful supply of rabbits for the replenishment of his
own larder. He regarded rabbits as English people regard rats, and
would never have eaten them while any other kind of meat was
available. And, as Finn found later, the same pronounced distaste
for rabbit's flesh holds good, not alone among the men-folk of the
country, but with practically all its wild folk, also; even the
highly carnivorous and fierce native cat paying no heed to bunnies
as game.
The fifth day of Finn's acquaintance with Bill and Jess was a
Sunday, and the boundary-rider was a strict observer of the
Sabbath. His observation of it might not have particularly
commended itself to orthodox Sabbatarians, but, such as it was,
Bill never departed from it. Directly after breakfast he washed the
shirt and vest he had been wearing during the previous week, and
hung them out to dry. Then he brought in his horse and trifled with
it a while, examining its feet, and rubbing its ears, and giving it
a few handfuls of bread. Then he took a very early lunch and went
off hunting. He had no gun, but he had a formidable sheath-knife,
his horse, and Jess. And now, in a way, he had Finn as well. He had
been wondering all the week about Finn's quality as a hunter, and
looking forward to the opportunity of testing the Wolfhound. As for
Jess, she knew perfectly well when a Sunday had arrived. For her,
Sunday was quite the festival day of the week; and, indeed, by
reason of her anticipatory bustle, Finn himself was early given to
understand that this was a special day of some kind.
On the previous day, Bill had paid particular attention to some
tracks he had seen on the far side of a gully some three or four
miles from the gunyah; and Jess had shown herself amazingly anxious
to make further investigations at the time, until brought sternly
to heel by Bill, with the suggestion that--
"You've got mixed up in your almanack, old lady. This is Saturday."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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