He at that time had been a hero. But there were few such heroes. As the mobs followed, one upon the heels of another, the grass disappeared before them. They were driven hither and thither, till they died; but there was no grass. And it is easy to conceive the sort of welcome which these intruders would receive at such a time,--how the shepherds would be desired to move on, and do their six miles a day whatever might become of them afterwards, how hated they would be, coming with their flocks like locusts upon a country that was bare enough at that time even without such strangers! And the life of those who followed their flocks week after week and month after month could not itself have been very pleasant. Among Australian graziers young men are accustomed to this work. It is no uncommon thing that a flock of sheep,--they call them mobs in Australia,--perhaps four or five thousand strong, should have to travel six hundred miles, either being brought home by a purchaser or taken to some city for sale. There must be necessarily five or six men to accompany them, with seven or eight horses, and probably a cart. They kill their own meat as they go; but they carry their flour and tea, and perhaps a tent. They enter no houses and spend little or no money. They travel on their six miles a day;--and though their work be very tedious, it is endurable as long as each day’s work is a portion of a successful commercial operation. But at this terrible time there was no idea of commerce. As they went along, the country was strewed with the bodies of the useless animals, and the only effort was to move on in some district giving still sufficient grass to keep the flock alive. Thousands were slaughtered to reduce the numbers in the scanty herbage, and I heard of one flock-owner who at last adopted the course of drowning a thousand in the sea. In Adelaide a large flock was offered to a merchant, who was also a squatter, at 1_s._ a head. He offered 6_d._ for them, and rejoiced afterwards that his bidding was not taken. At that time sheep were simply an encumbrance. There was imposed on each owner the duty of trying to save his property, but without the hope that he should succeed in doing so. It was a bad time then, in South Australia, for in the same year,--the season of 1865-66,--the wheat crop was also low. But the price of wool was high;--and therefore, though many squatters fell,--they who were already weak on their legs or in debt,--the strong men won their way through, and survived their losses.